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. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed penalties totalling INR 54.8cr ($6.4M) on 353 regulated entities including banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), and cooperatives for various violations in FY24-25.
2. State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, and two other PSU banks collaborated to set up a common collection firm to recover retail and SME loans below INR 5cr ($0.6M) in FY25-26.
3. CheQ, a credit management startup, reported INR 8,400cr (~$1bn) in credit card bill payments value, INR 32cr ($3.7M) in monthly revenue, INR 150cr ($17M) ARR and profitability over the last 3 months (ended Mar-2025).
4. Flipkart, an e-commerce company, received a lending licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowing it to directly underwrite and disburse loans through its subsidiary Super.Money.
5. Belong, an NRI-focused fintech startup, received a Broker Dealer license from the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) in GIFT City, India.
6. CapitalXB secured Authorised Dealer-Category III (AD-Cat III) license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to offer export factoring in foreign currency for Indian SME exporters.

🚀 Product Launches

1. ToneTag partnered with Tata Motors to launch DrivePay, an in-car payment system enabling EV charging station discovery, FASTag balance tracking, and secure UPI payments.
2. Perfios, a fintech B2B SaaS startup, partnered with Mastercard to launch an AI-driven platform simplifying commercial card issuance for SMEs in Middle East and African regions.
3. CoinSwitch, a crypto trading startup, launched Crypto Options trading with 0.015% fees, 24x7 trading, and instant settlement.

📝 Regulatory Updates

1. RBI (central bank): Reduced policy repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.50%, projecting 6.5% GDP growth and 3.7% CPI inflation for FY25-26. Collaborated with JioHotstar to launch 'RBI Unlocked: Beyond the Rupee', a five-part documentary series portraying RBI's functions. Reduced the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for all banks by 100 basis points in four tranches of 25 basis points each to 3.0% effective from September to November 2025. Issued revised directions on lending against gold and silver collateral, effective from April 2026, to harmonise regulatory framework across lending entities.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Stable Money, a fixed-income investment startup, raised INR 173cr ($20M).
2. Loantap, a digital lending startup, raised INR 54cr ($6.2M).
3. Decentro, a fintech infrastructure startup, raised INR 30cr ($3.5M).
4. Spense, a fintech infrastructure for secured credit issuance, raised INR 16cr ($2M).

ACQUISITION:

1. PhonePe acquired the GSPay, a technology stack IP from Gupshup, to launch UPI on feature phones.
2. Zaggle acquired Dice Enterprises, a Pune-based enterprise spend management startup, for INR 123 Crore ($14.3M).

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🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. Binance launched a new spot Altcoin LiquidityBoost Program with rebates of up to 1 bps to bridge a gap for altcoin liquidity and complement existing programs.
2. StraitsX, a Singapore-based stablecoin infrastructure company, unveiled a refreshed brand identity to expand in enabling real-time payment settlements, having processed over USD 10 billion in on-chain stablecoin transactions.
3. Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced plans to block access to five unlicensed crypto trading platforms - Bybit, 1000X, CoinEx, OKX, and XT.COM.
4. Visa launched new AI-enabled commerce products, stablecoin-backed cards, and digital payment partnerships across Asia Pacific.
5. GrabInsure, Grab's insurance arm, launched motor insurance products in Singapore.
6. Zalopay, a Vietnamese e-wallet company with over 16M users, partnered with Cake Digital Bank by VPBank to integrate credit cards, loans, and savings services into its mobile app.
7. Digital wallets overtook credit cards and cash as the preferred payment method in Singapore, accounting for 39% of e-commerce transactions and 29% of Point of Sale (POS) transaction value in 2024.
8. PingPong, a global cross-border payments platform, secured a Money Services Business License in Malaysia, expanding its presence in Southeast Asia.
9. Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC) formed a technical committee to review and propose digital asset regulations aligned with global standards, aiming to create a future-ready financial infrastructure.
10. FoneMoney, a South Korean overseas remittance company, partnered with MoneyGram to provide FoneMoney customers access to MoneyGram's global network for payments to over 200 countries and territories.
11. MoneyHero partnered with Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) to tap into the Philippines' expanding credit card and Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) market.
12. Ant International introduced the Alipay+ GenAI Cockpit, an AI-as-a-Service platform, to support fintech firms and super apps in developing AI-native financial services, with initial client integrations beginning in Southeast Asia and South Asia.
13. TerraPay, a United Kingdom-based digital cross-border payments firm, secured a Class B license from Bank Negara Malaysia, Malaysia's central bank.
14. Pluang, an Indonesian investment platform, became the first approved participant in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the Philippines' Regulatory Sandbox to offer digital micro-savings and wealth management services allowing Filipinos to invest in US fractional stocks with capital as low as PHP 100 ($1.8).

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Bolttech, a Singapore-based embedded insurance startup, raised $147M at a $2.1bn valuation.
2. Syfe, a Singapore-based digital wealth management platform, raised $80M.

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