Indian fintech company Paytm raises $1.4 billion from Japan’s SoftBank
India’s Paytm said on Thursday it has raised $1.4 billion (£1.07 billion) from Japan’s SoftBank Group in a deal that will help the digital payments startup expand its user base and maintain its lead in Asia’s third-largest economy. SoftBank will also get a board seat in Paytm after the investment, which was made into Paytm parent One97 Communications, according to a statement from the Indian digital payments provider. Paytm announced in February that it has now has over 200 million users of its mobile wallet, which is a popular payment method in India. China’s Alibaba, which counts SoftBank as its biggest investor, already holds a stake in Paytm. To […]
Singapore fintech firm launches ‘first digital platform’ for trade finance assets
An MAS-backed fintech firm, CCRManager Pte Ltd, on Tuesday launched what it says is the first digital platform for the distribution of international trade financing, transactions now handled mainly by phone and email. CCRManager Pte Ltd, which received a grant from the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Financial Sector Development Fund, is supported by 16 financial institutions, including Bank of China, DBS Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Spain’s BBVA and the commercial insurance arm of Swiss Re. “We believe that in year one, we will have approximately 30 institutions signing up. Our end goal is about 400 institutions by year five,” Tan Kah Chye, CCRManager’s chairman, a former […]
Fintech startup Telr raises $3 mn
Mumbai-based fintech startup Telr has bagged Series-B funding of $3 million from Innovations East, a fund managed by people with experience in marketplaces and online payments. Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment gateway aggregator of multiple payment methods like cards and online banking, offering a set of unified APIs and tools that enable businesses to accept and manage online payments via web, mobile and social media. With growth of over $500 million worth transactions annually, Telr anticipates reaching transactions worth $1 billion transactions per year by the end of 2017. Telr has raised funds from investors in Singapore and the Middle East, including Hatcher and iMena Holdings earlier. Sirish […]
Fintech unicorn Transferwise achieves first profit
U.K. financial technology (fintech) firm Transferwise claimed it has achieved its first operational profit six years after it was founded in London by Chief Executive Taavet Hinrikus and his fellow Estonian Kristo Kaarmann. The global fintech unicorn, which means it is a start-up valued at more than a billion dollars, is a currency exchange that offers a simple user interface and peer-to-peer network that it says matches customers wanting to swap money with each other. This means foreign exchange (FX) rates can be drastically reduced in comparison with bank charges where money is actually moved overseas. Transferwise says it is currently amassing £8 million a month in revenue and is […]
Mobile wallets to disrupt UAE payments sector
Get ready for it. The use of mobile wallets as a means of payment will perhaps be the biggest disruption the financial sector in the UAE has ever seen. But old habits die hard. According to UAE Central Bank figures, about 75 per cent of transactions in the country are made in cash. In fact, the UAE has about Dh65.4 billion in cash circulating outside the banking system. “That represents about 7 per cent of the economy,” says Maki Vekinis, CEO of Emirates Digital Wallet, a unique platform established by 16 of the UAE’s leading banks, formally launched at the Seamless Middle East conference in Dubai earlier this month. Developed […]
Remitano announces a new worldwide remittance service based on Bitcoin
Remitano, a Vietnamese platform that helps people trade bitcoin quickly and securely, has expanded its services to include a new offering to help users make international remittance. Using its current Escrow platform, Remitano users will be able to transfer funds quickly and securely across Vietnam, Malaysia, China, Australia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya and India. Remitano helps to protect bitcoin trades by providing a marketplace where people can buy and sell Bitcoin securely and quickly, with the best prices. Where bitcoin trades normally function in a step by step fashion, Remitano’s new offering makes the transaction of money across international boundaries quick and easy. “Let’s say you want to send […]
This guy is quickly but quietly building Sweden’s next fintech giant
Johan Tjärnberg is quietly building a fintech business that may prove as successful as Klarna. During 2016, his payments company, Bambora, grew 20% to revenues of SEK 2 billion. “Sales will increase even more this year, by as much as 30%, and we’ve been profitable from the start,” Johan Tjärnberg told Breakit. Bambora is a platform that aggregates hundreds of payments services, and it’s currently available in 65 markets. Bambora’s clients can even choose to use Klarna as their payment service. During 2017 the business will expand to North America, where the number of merchants using the service will increase by 10,000 over the year. That will boost the sales […]
ChimpChange growth supercharged by U.S. tax season
ChimpChange Limited, Australia’s only listed digital banking platform, is pleased to present its March 2017 quarterly report on business progress. Strong organic growth supercharged by the U.S. tax refund season The Company delivered strong growth across all areas of its business and continued to confirm the opportunity in the US market for an innovative tech-driven fee-free consumer banking product. Key metrics including customer deposits, new customers, and customer spend utilising the ChimpChange MasterCard all grew ahead of forecast and delivered company-wide records during the quarter. The period also saw a seasonal boost in deposits in the form of tax refund inflows, which we now expect to experience annually, and which […]
