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

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🧐🏆 Posts of the Week

📈 Chart of the week

🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. Jar, an investments and savings startup, reduced net loss to INR 50.5 Cr ($5.6M) and increased operating revenue to INR 2,448 Cr ($272M) in FY25.
2. Pine Labs reported net profit of INR 6cr ($0.67M) in Q2 Fy26, growing operating revenue by 18% to INR 650cr ($72M) with transaction value reaching $48bn.
3. PhonePe's Pincode discontinued its B2C shopping app to focus exclusively on B2B solutions for offline merchants in India.
4. India's consumer durable lending market experienced muted growth in Oct 2025 despite festive sales, with total outstanding loans growing only 1% YoY and stringent lending practices limiting disbursals.
5. GIFT City managed $100bn in assets as of Nov, 2025.
6. UIDAI recorded 231 cr (2.3bn) Aadhaar authentication transactions in Nov 2025, representing 8.5% YoY growth driven by face authentication and e-KYC services.
7. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched Banking Connect platform to improve net banking transaction data reporting and interoperability for Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
8. NPCI announced live programmable Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) with targeted subsidy transfer capabilities.
9. Sberbank, Russia's largest lender, planned branch expansion in India, investment in government bonds, and increased bilateral trade engagement.
10. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reported term deposits above 7% fell from 73% in March to 54% in September 2025 due to policy rate changes.
11. Indian banks increased lending to higher-risk segments like personal and micro-enterprise loans to maintain Net Interest Margins (NIMs).
12. Razorpay secured RBI Payments Cross-Border License, enabling Indian businesses to accept 130+ currencies and global companies to enter India seamlessly.
13. Groww invested INR 104cr ($12M) into Fisdom to diversify revenue streams and strengthen wealth management capabilities after its Oct 2025 acquisition.
14. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company obtained regulatory approval from SEBI for its INR 10,000 crore ($1.1bn) Initial Public Offering (IPO).

🚀 Product Launches

1. Razorpay launched a no-code payment automation node with n8n
2. Raise Financial Services launched Artham, a Small Language Model (SLM) trained exclusively on Indian financial markets.
3. Pine Labs launched Tap to Pay on smartphones, a new online payment system eliminating CVVs and OTPs through patented technology.

📝 Regulatory Updates

1. Reserve Bank of India processed 23,325 license applications.
2. Reserve Bank of India issued ten amendment directions to improve credit information reporting frequency and accuracy.
3. Reserve Bank of India issued updated Gold Metal Loans regulations to streamline operations.
4. SEBI introduced Single Window Automatic & Generalised Access for Trusted Foreign Investors (SWAGAT-FI), simplifying regulatory processes for low-risk foreign investment entities.
5. Cayman Islands offered to sign memorandum of understanding (MoUs) with SEBI and GIFT City regulators to facilitate transparent global investment exchanges, representing $15Bn in current Indian investments.
6. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology blocked 87 illegal loan lending applications.
7. Reserve Bank of India mandated mobile and internet banking services for basic savings accounts without additional charges.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. MoneyView, a consumer credit startup, raised $75 million in Series D funding from Winter Capital, Evolvence India, and existing investors in 2023.
2. Ambit's wealth management division raised INR 285 crore ($32M) for a 15% stake from Daiwa Securities.
3. Finfactor, the holding company of Finvu an Account Aggregator (AA) operator, raised $15M.
4. StockGro, an investment learning platform, raised INR 145cr (USD 17M) at a $362M valuation.
5. Mannjal, a co-lending SaaS startup, raised INR 17.5 cr ($2M).

ACQUISITION:

1. Credlix, the fintech arm of B2B commerce platform Moglix, acquired a majority stake in Vanik Finance for INR 80 crore ($9.3M) to expand Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSME) lending capabilities across India.

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🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. Ripple partnered with RedotPay to launch stablecoin payment feature enabling fast XRP and crypto-to-NGN remittances.
2. Stakk, an Australian fintech infrastructure startup, signed a multi-year Master Services Agreement with Panacea Financial to provide embedded finance infrastructure for mobile document processing and transaction orchestration.
3. UnionPay International and NAPAS launched cross-border QR payment pilot enabling Chinese tourists to make cashless payments in Vietnam.
4. CIMB Group grew net profit to $502.6M in Q3 2025, with non-interest income rising 20.3% QoQ.
5. Pakistan's fintech sector raised $391M in venture capital, ranking third globally in crypto adoption and expanding digital banking operations.
6. YouTrip, a Singaporean multi-currency wallet startup, launched operations in Australia, marking third market entry after Singapore and Thailand.
7. Fingular, Singapore-based neobanking startup, crossed $150M in consumer financing through Malaysian brand Tambadana, processing 600,000 individual cases with double-digit monthly growth.
8. FinVolution secured multi-million-peso credit facility from HSBC to extend financial services to underserved Filipinos through technology-driven credit assessment.
9. OCBC partnered with UnionPay International to launch scan-and-pay merchant QR codes in China.
10. NH NongHyup Bank in South Korea completed a blockchain-based cross-border payments pilot using Partior's platform with J.P. Morgan as settlement bank.
11. Circle Asia Technologies, Visa, and Pismo partnered to launch an AI-powered PayLater virtual credit card in Vietnam for early 2026 rollout.
12. Mastercard introduced Credit Intelligence, an analytics suite helping lenders assess consumers and small businesses more efficiently across multiple markets.
13. DANA Indonesia launched a verified digital wallet for teens aged 13-17, addressing financial inclusion gaps and supporting responsible digital finance participation.
14. HitPay partnered with Visa Acceptance Solutions to enable Philippine SMEs to process in-store and online transactions without bank contracts.
15. FIUU, a Singaporean payments startup, launched tap-to-pay functionality for iPhone users in Singapore.
16. InvestiFi partnered with Sesimi to deliver scalable, compliant marketing assets for financial institutions.
17. Thai authorities seized over $300M in assets from Prince Holding Group and related suspects involved in regional cyber scam operations.
18. Monetary Authority of Singapore cracked down on financial product promotion by social media influencers.
19. Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) expanded Ripple's payment activities scope under its major payment institution licence in Singapore.
20. Pakistan enforced strict Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) regulations, mandating full tracking of crypto transactions exceeding PKR 1M.
21. Thunes obtained In-Principle Approval from Monetary Authority of Singapore to expand Major Payment Institution licence scope

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Tonik, a digital banking startup, raised $12M.

ACQUISITION:

1. Embed Financial, a Singapore fintech infrastructure startup, planned US listing via SPAC with WinVest Acquisition Corp at $425M enterprise value.
2. Global InsurTech bolttech acquired Kenya-based digital insurance platform mTek to strengthen its presence and embedded insurance capabilities in Africa.
3. Roadzen, an insurance underwriting and fraud management startup, acquired majority stake in EliteCover Insurance Solutions.

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