Hi fintech friends, I'm Osborne, investor in early stage startups.

Please enjoy all the news and updates from the past week in today’s edition. If you feel TWIF brings you value, please share it with your friends (and maybe suggest they subscribe too).

Are you considering starting up? I’d love to help. DM me here: osborne.vc/dm

📝 Posts of the week

📈 Chart of the week

🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. IndiaGold, a loan against gold startup, turned profitable and obtained NBFC licence while gold-backed credit demand grew 36% YoY.
2. CRED reported ₹2,735cr ($297M) revenue, 16% YoY growth, with operating losses falling 51% to ₹298cr ($32M) in FY2025.
3. Paytm reported revenue of ₹2,194cr ($239M) and net profit of ₹225cr ($24.5M) in Q3 FY2026, growing revenue by 20% YoY.
4. Indian households shifted fixed deposit share from 57.9% to 35.2% in FY2025, increasing equity market engagement.
5. CMS Info Systems reported monthly ATM cash dispensed per machine dropped to INR 1.21 crore in 2025, with average withdrawal size growing 4.5%.
6. HDFC Bank led new credit card additions, with total card spends reaching INR 2.05 lakh crore ($22.3bn) in Dec, 25, growing 8% YoY and MoM.
7. Pine Labs reported ₹42.4cr ($4.6M) profit in Q3 FY26, driven by strong digital payments demand and 24% YoY revenue growth.
8. WazirX partnered with Fireblocks to upgrade digital asset custody infrastructure following a major cyberattack.
9. Canara Bank reported Q3FY26 net profit of ₹5,155cr ($561M), a 26% YoY increase, driven by higher operating profit and improved asset quality.
10. Axis Bank paused stake sale in consumer lending arm Axis Finance after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) eased proposed restrictions on bank subsidiary businesses.
11. National Stock Exchange (NSE) received approval from SEBI for IPO, targeting launch in 8-9 months with estimated market cap of ₹5 lakh crore ($54bn).
12. Groww reduced derivatives revenue share to 53% in Q3 FY26, expanding margin trading facility to ₹2,307cr ($251M).
13. ACKO Life launched pure term life insurance, avoiding investment-linked products to increase transparency and consumer trust.
14. KoinX reported that 73% of India's crypto trading volume in FY25 occurred on offshore exchanges, totaling ₹51,252cr ($5.6bn).
15. Turtlemint, an insurance distribution startup, filed its updated draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI for a ₹660cr ($72M) initial public offering (IPO).

🚀 Product Launches

1. CSB Bank partnered with GrayQuest, an education payments SaaS startup, to create digital infrastructure for simplifying education fee management and payments in India.
2. SMFG India Credit partnered with Google Pay to offer collateral-free personal loans directly within the app.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Easy Home Finance, a home loan facilitation startup, raised $30M.
2. Mysa, an accounting and automation startup, raised INR 31cr ($3.4M).

1-min Anonymous Feedback: Your feedback helps me improve this newsletter. Click UPVOTE 👍🏽 or DOWNVOTE 👎🏽

🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. Thunes launched direct instant money transfers to China through UnionPay International's network.
2. Fingular, a Southeast Asian financial services startup, secured a $8M credit line from Kilde for regional growth, focusing on Malaysia's consumer financing market.
3. Payoneer launched local collection services in Indonesia and Mexico, supporting Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) in accessing fast-growing ecommerce markets.
4. Pine Labs partnered with Pan Asia Bank to implement end-to-end card issuing and processing platform in Sri Lanka.
5. Raiz Invest, an Australian micro-investing startup, grew to $2.1bn in funds under management, grew active customers to 336K, and planned AI-driven product expansions.
6. Artajasa partnered with Ant International to integrate cross-border payment systems and digital solutions for Indonesian SMEs, launching initial collaboration in 2026.
7. OCBC launched securities lending programme with Citi, enabling customers to lend idle securities to institutional borrowers.
8. Sumsub, an identity management and verification startup, introduced a public registry and badge system to recognise companies with strong fraud prevention and compliance frameworks across multiple industries.
9. GIC and SoftBank sought local investors in South Korean for their VNLife stakes.
10. Change Financial, an Australian card issuing infra company, reported Q2FY26 revenue of $4.7M (A$7.0M), up 34% QoQ.
11. MoneyMe, an Australian non-bank lending startup, grew its loan book to $1.75B and reduced credit losses to 2.9% while securing exclusive credit card partnership.
12. UAE's WIO Bank partnered with Pine Labs, a payments company, to enhance merchant payment technology infrastructure.
13. YouTrip, a Singaporean multi currency wallet startup, launched a global eSIM service enabling mobile data access in over 140 countries with plans starting at $1, targeting travelers in Asia Pacific and Europe.
14. HitPay, a Singaporean payments company, launched Borderless QR feature enabling merchants to accept international wallet payments across 20,000 MSMEs in Asia.
15. Pakistan's government mandated QR code payments for all retail outlets to promote a cashless economy.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. HeyMax, a Singaporean loyalty and rewards management startup, raised $11M.
2. PayRex, a Philippine fintech startup providing end-to-end payment solutions, raised $2M.

If you’ve made it this far - thanks! As always, you can always reach me at osborne@thisweekinfintech.com. I’d genuinely appreciate any and all feedback. If you liked what you read, please consider sharing or subscribing.

1-min Anonymous Feedback: Your feedback helps me improve this newsletter. Click UPVOTE 👍🏽 or DOWNVOTE 👎🏽

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn