With 2021 underway, fintech analysts and observers have begun sharing their lists of companies they expect to do big things in the coming year. This week, Finovate Global Lists shares two compilations of fintech startups from India and Africa that are raising millions in capital and bringing a variety of digital financial services to underserved consumers and businesses.
In India, these innovators range from online payments and banking technology company Cashfree to crypto trading platform CoinDCX (which we profiled in Finovate Global last spring). Inc42’s Suprita Anupam notes that the global health crisis of COVID-19 served “as a booster” for India’s fintech sector, citing year-on-year growth in transaction volumes of 70%.
Looking at fintech in sub-Saharan Africa, TechCabal’s Alexander Onukwue leverages Disrupt Africa’s 2020 tech startups funding report to highlight emerging African fintechs. Fara Jituboh-Ashiru’s Okra, which enables bank accountholders to link their accounts with lending and banking apps, and P2P mobile payments company Chipper Cash, were among the companies highlighted in Onukwue’s survey.
This week our Finovate Global Voices feature comes to us courtesy of Nathan Lustig, entrepreneur, investor, and managing partner at Magma Partners. Launched in 2014 and headquartered in Santiago, Chile, Magma Partners is an early stage investment company that specializes in Latin American startups innovating in fintech, insurtech, and infrastructure.
Among the firm’s portfolio companies are Billpocket, the “Square of Latin America”; Albo, a mobile banking service for the unbanked; and an Ecuadorian/Colombian fintech, Kushki, based in U.S. that seeks to be the “Stripe of Latin America.”
Lustig is also a podcaster, and in his most recent Crossing Borders Podcast, he talks with Javier García, Director of Corporate Venturing and Growth Capital at the corporate VC fund of Mexican conglomerate FEMSA.
The two discuss the work of FEMSA’s fund in Latin America, including the firm’s investment strategy, recommendations for fintechs working with incumbents, and lessons García has learned in working with startups.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Central and Southern Asia
- Tide, the U.K.-based business banking platform, announces test launch in India in Q1 of 2021.
- Pakistan’s digital lending platform Finja secures $9 million of its $10 million fundraising goal.
- Inc42 features 7 Indian Fintech Startups to Watch Out for in 2021.
Latin America and the Caribbean
- Betterfly, an insurtech based in Chile, extends its Series A round with an additional investment of $9 million.
- Latin American open banking platform Belvo announces beta testing of new income verification solution.
- Born2Invest looks at how the fintech sector can drive financial inclusion in Mexico.
Asia-Pacific
- Volopay, a Singapore-based fintech that specializes in small business banking solutions, raises $2.1 million in new capital.
- Malaysian e-wallet company TNG Digital announces plans to raise $150 million to fuel expansion.
- Lexology examines the P2P lending market in Vietnam.
Sub-Saharan Africa
- Is the “Silicon Valley investment style” compatible with African startups? Quartz’s Africa editor Yinka Adegoke investigates.
- TransUnion announces partnership with Fincheck, the largest financial marketplace in South Africa.
- Tech Cabal lists its 12 African fintech startups to watch in 2021.
Central and Eastern Europe
- Czech Buy Now Pay Later innovator Twisto locks in €16 million investment in round led by Australian BNPL firm Zip and Elevator Ventures.
- Elinvar, a Berlin-based wealthtech firm, raises €25 million in a round led by ToscaFund Asset Management.
- Wealthpilot, a consumer financial data aggregation software maker for the wealth management industry, has secured €8 million in new funding.
Middle East and Northern Africa
- Emirates NBD reports 20% year-over-year growth in mobile remittance flows via its DirectRemit service.
- Daily Sabah looks at some of the first investments of 2021 from Turkey-based private lender Işbank.
- Dubai-based P2P payment service Ziina earns backing from Y Combinator and raises seed funding from investors in the U.S.
Photo by Harsha Vardhan from Pexels