Asian fintech M&A activity is heating up đ„” (TWIF 1/8)
Hello Fintech Friends,
I hope you have a relaxing, empty Sunday planned, because there are a lot of Deeper Reads in this weekâs newsletter, including a long list of 2022 recaps and 2023 predictions.
Speaking of predictions, I wrote for Forbes this week about the future of fintech in agriculture. Iâve seen a lot more pitches in the last year for AgriFin startups. With the new appreciation for well-functioning food supply chains following the covid epidemic, itâs encouraging to see the level of thought and innovation going into this space.
Nik Milanovic
There is also a salient climate angle to building tools for sustainable farming and agricultural resiliency (one of the few real current climatetech business models, in my opinion). Weâll see what the future holds.
Please find another week of fintech exits and deep reads below.
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From Indonesia to South Korea to Japane to the UAE, Asia dominated this weekâs (monthâs) exit news, and three different banks announced acqusitions of fintech companies.
âŻïž Exits
đ» IPOs & SPACs
- SPACs are back! Or, at least one is - DigiAsia, an Indonesian embedded financial services builder for Southeast Asia, agreed to combine with StoneBridge Acquisition Corporation at an implied pre-money valuation of $500 million.
- Meanwhile, crypto exchange Bullish called off its planned deal to go public through a merger - proposed in July 2021 - with SPAC Far Peak Acquisition.
đ€ M&A - Fintech
- GoLogiq, a mobile-first fintech app developer for Southeast Asia, signed an agreement to acquire GammaRey, a personal finance management platform with a focus on remittances, $320 million in an all-stock deal.
- TipRanks, an Israeli stock research platform, acquired financial news publisher The Fly for $15 million.
- Binance.US entered an agreement to acquire bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digitalâs assets, but the SEC is saying nish-nish.
- Elsewhere, Binance is in talks to acquire South Korean crypto exchange Gopax.
- UAE open banking platform Fintech Galaxy announced its acquisition of Egyptian financial API rival Underlie to expand its markets.
- German digital insurance broker CLARK announced the acquisition of Swiss financial services company UB Partner.
- The London Stock Exchange Group will acquire margin processing provider Acadia.
- Itâs a vibe: circular economy platform Twig acquired teen banking app Vybe.
- Thomson Reuters completed its acquisition of tax automation software SurePrep.
- EQT Private Equity completed its take-private acquisition of BillTrust.
- TCS Group, the Russian banking holding company that operates neobank Tinkoff, is considering buying Tochka, a banking service for consumers and small businesses, for âœ20 billion ($317 million).
- Payments tech builder ACI Worldwide is considering selling itself.
đŠ M&A - Bank and FinServ
- JP Morgan signed a deal to take a 48.5% stake in Greece financial superapp Viva Wallet for $800 million.
- Tokyoâs MUFG Bank will enter the buy-now-pay-later space through its acquisition of Japanese fintech Kanmu for „20 billion ($151 million).
- Uruguayâs Banco ItaĂș expanded its footprint in fintech through its acquisitions of Prex, an international prepaid card provider, and Paigo, a billing infrastructure tool.
- Indiaâs Yes Bank sold $5.81 billion of its distressed loans to private equity firm J.C. Flowers.
what is an inconvenient truth that not enough people can accept?
— Nik (@NikMilanovic) December 22, 2022
đ Fintech Around the World
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A new contender enters the African payments industry
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đ 2022 and 2023
TechCrunch: The top fintech stories of 2022
2023 Fintech Outlook: "We Thought it would be Easy"
Why Fintech Will Never Be The Same After 2023
Top 10 FinTech predictions for 2023
My 6 Predictions For Fintech In 2023
Web3, Crypto, Cybersecurity, Rural Fintech: Trends To Look Out For In 2023
Marking my 2022 Fintech predictions
Top FinTech stories of 2022, a year like no other đ
Who were the most valuable fintech companies in 2022?
đ Deeper Reads & Features
Why stablecoins maintain their dollar peg despite run risk
Six reasons why FTX Japan survived while the rest of FTX burned
Rising debt and disappearing savings calls for fintech's next wave
Letâs Revamp Tokenomics to Make DeFi More Useful and Valuable
CeFi Rekt Was the Main Event in Cryptoâs Annus Horribilis
Crypto Is Money Without a Purpose
Can Crypto Credit Cards and Self-Custody Mix?
The Road to Interoperability: An Open Metaverse State of the Union By the People Building It
FT Partnersâ CEO Monthly FinTech Market Update & Analysis
Banking reforms could make the UK a sustainable finance hub, but also threaten financial stability
Blockchain Accounting and Tax Solutions
What would happen to financial services if we put the engineers in charge?
How biometric payments are tackling financial exclusion
Walking The Talk For Change: DE&I in Fintech
Two CEOs is better than one with Henrique Dubugras from Brex
Delivery apps are offering loans to workers. Experts allege theyâre debt traps
Beware influencers plugging the financial advice gap
Financial risks grow in shadowy corner of markets, worrying Washington
U.S. consumer loan delinquencies seen surging to 13-year high in 2023
AmEx Hooked Big Spenders and Regained the Throne With a Pricier Platinum Card
Digital incumbents must beware of potential profitability pitfalls
How Elon Musk can turn Twitter into a fintech powerhouse
Finextra's top impact study reports of 2022
Finextra's top Future Series reports of 2022
Hereâs a round up of some of this yearâs biggest entries and exits.
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