P2P lender KoinWorks bags $1.4m from Japan’s Saison Capital
Indonesian peer-to-peer lending platform KoinWorks has received around US$1.4 million in additional funding from Saison Capital, the venture arm of Japanese financial services firm Credit Saison, as part of its series B round. The new funds bring KoinWorks’ total series B and B2 raise to about US$13.6 million. It raised US$12.2 million in June in a round led by fintech-focused venture capital firm Quona Capital and Singapore’s EV Growth. Founded in 2016, the company connects investors with borrowers through its platform, providing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with an alternative to traditional financial institutions. KoinWorks plans to use the fresh funds to develop new financial products to support digital SMEs, […]
GrabPay rated most popular e-wallet in Singapore
Grabpay has emerged as the most popular e-wallet in Singapore over the past two years, as e-payment systems catch on in the city-state. It was followed by e-wallets DBS PayLah!, FavePay, EZ-Link app and Alipay. A report by meta-search website iPrice Group, in collaboration with mobile data and analytics platform App Annie Intelligence, said the contactless payment rendered by Grab has been the most actively used e-wallet app by Singaporeans since the end of 2017. The report released last week analysed over 30 e-wallet apps and tracked the developments of e-wallets using vital app metrics, such as the number of monthly active users and total downloads from late 2017 to […]
How this young entrepreneur turned her hobby into a fintech startup powered by blockchain
Making money is hard but managing it is not as tough, says 23-year-old Smriti Tomar, who started InvestoAsia, a fintech startup based on blockchain technology this year. Gurugram- and Hong Kong-based InvestoAsia aims to help retail investors to easily invest in international markets, especially in China and South Korea, which Smriti feels is currently a major difficulty. The Founder and CEO dubs the platform as a ‘financial lifestyle product’ that aims to redefine personal finance with the power of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and distributed ledger technology (blockchain), to eradicate the inequality amongst the unbanked, unaware, and financially illiterate. The startup, the Founder notes, provides opportunities that were […]
Japanese fintech firm Paidy raises $143m from PayPal, others
Japanese fintech firm Paidy has raised a total of US$143 million in series C funding and debt financing from new and existing investors. PayPal Ventures, Soros Capital Management, JS Capital Management, Tybourne Capital Management, and an undisclosed company invested in Paidy as part of the firm’s US$83 million series C round, according to the statement. The debt financing, on the other hand, included US$52 million from Goldman Sachs Japan and US$8 million from Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank. Paidy plans to increase its customer base to reach 11 million accounts by the end of 2020 by acquiring large-scale merchants and offering additional financial services. […]
Santander takes big stake in UK FinTech
Spanish bank Banco Santander is acquiring just over 50 percent of the U.K. payments platform Ebury for £350 million ($453 million), Ebury announced in a press release on Monday (Nov. 4). The Ebury payments platform gives small and medium-size companies the ability to trade internationally. The acquisition is scheduled to close in the first quarter of next year and is intended to help boost Santander’s global payments business. “Small and medium-sized businesses are a major engine of growth around the world, creating new jobs and contributing up to 60 percent of total employment and up to 40 percent of national GDP in emerging economies,” said Santander’s Executive Chairman Ana Botín. […]
Amica Financial Technologies raises $24 million in funding
Amica Financial Technologies, an upcoming digital retail bank founded by Citrus Pay cofounder Jitendra Gupta, has received $24 million in its maiden funding round. The funding is backed by a long list of institutional investors including Greyhound Capital, 3One4 Capital, Germany’s Rocket Internet, venture capital funds Matrix Partners and Sequoia Capital. Gupta, a former PayU India managing director, is among a growing tribe of second-time entrepreneurs who have attracted big bucks from marquee investors even before officially launching their companies. The Mumbai-based startup, which Gupta cofounded along with Vishnu Jerome of law firm Jerome Merchant and Partners, has also brought on board a host of angel investors. To read more, […]
Dutch fintech to bring mobile payments to South America’s smallest country
Dutch fintech Move4Mobile has developed a mobile payments app for Hakrinbank, bringing online payments to Suriname, the smallest country in South America. The app, named Mopé, will enable anyone with a smartphone to make purchases and transfer money electronically in a country where the majority of transactions are performed using cash. Mopé provides a mobile wallet from which payment requests can be made using a QR code to receive funds in a number of currencies from elsewhere in the world. A former Dutch colony, one third of all Surinamese people live in the Netherlands, which would make Mopé a useful tool for sending funds to family back home. Large numbers […]
Jibrel wins Fintech Abu Dhabi Innovation Challenge
Jibrel, a multinational blockchain-based fintech company, won the 2019 Fintech Abu Dhabi Innovation Challenge. The award was given for the team’s work on Jibrel.com, a fully-regulated blockchain-powered private financing platform. Jibrel provides a vertically-integrated solution that connects startups and small-to-medium enterprises with investors of all genres to create capital formation. As an awardee, Jibrel will represent Abu Dhabi and the Mena region at the Global FinTech Hackcelerator in Singapore this month. Additionally, a panel of experts will help deploy Jibrel·com’s proof of concept in the UAE and beyond. Various other benefits of the award include a S$200,000 grant. Jibrel was one of two chosen from a pool of 14 startups. […]
