As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.
Latin America and the Caribbean
- Mexican fintech Prestanómica raises $300,000 in Series A funding.
- TechCrunch profiles Dataplor, a company that indexes microbusinesses in emerging markets, as it announces a $2 million funding ahead of its planned expansion to Chile, Peru, and Colombia.
- Mexican crypto exchange Bitso becomes the first Latin American fintech to earn an international cryptocurrency license.
Asia-Pacific
- UnionBank successfully pilots blockchain-based cross-border remittance solution from the Philippines to Singapore.
- Singapore-based fintech soCash secures $6 million in Series B funding.
- The first cross-border mobile payment alliance in Asia, Singtel’s VIA, goes live in Japan.
Sub-Saharan Africa
- EY reaches agreement with Open Banking Nigeria to develop a standard API for financial services companies in the country.
- Kenya’s KeshoLabs launches its payments and remittances platform, Pesabase.
- African telecom Africell pledges to spend “part” of $100 million line of credit from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation on expanding infrastructure and fintech services.
Central and Eastern Europe
- Vienna, Austria-based Bitpanda announces it has topped one million users on its trading platform.
- Fintech Futures takes a look at Lithuania’s efforts to attract more fintechs to the country.
- Moscow Department of Information Technology launches initiative to ease access to billpay, internet banking, and other services via unified city ID.
Middle East and Northern Africa
- Egyptian fintech XPay raises $250,000 in pre-seed funding.
- M-Gurush, the first mobile money service in South Sudan, goes live.
- Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) signs Memorandum of Understanding with OneConnect Financial Technology.
Central and Southern Asia
- In partnership with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Indian banks, JCB International has launched its first branded card in India.
- India-based, cloud banking and enterprise payments platform Zeta locks in Series C funding that boosts the company’s valuation to $300 million.
- Indian B2B payments firm PayMate closes Series D round.