The fight against the coronavirus pandemic has captured the attention of people all over the world. From medical professionals on the front lines of caring for the sick to small businesses making hard decisions about how to keep their workforces intact during lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, everyone has been touched by the current crisis.
Earlier this week, we took a look at how fintechs and financial services firms are rising to the challenge of the COVID-19 outbreak. Looking at three different areas – safety, digitalization, and service – we saw how companies in countries ranging from Russia and India to the U.K. and the U.S. are lending their insights, talents, and generosity to the cause.
Companies like London-based Aire, a Finovate alum that is offering lenders three months of free access to its credit insight service, are an example of what is happening across the fintech space. “We’re seeing an unprecedented level of change in the market for consumers right now,” company founder and CEO Aneesh Varma said. “Lenders are understandably stretched and struggling to build accurate pictures of their customers in real-time.”
CoinDCX Cashes In: Two weeks ago we interviewed Neeraj Khandelwal, co-founder of Indian cryptocurrency trading platform CoinDCX, on cryptocurrencies and cashlessness. This week, we learned that the company has raised $3 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Polychain Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, and HDR Group. The capital will help the company launch new products, boost R&D efforts and marketing, and build the CoinDCX team.
“As the country’s largest exchange, we are in a position to drive national crypto adoption forward responsibly,” CEO and co-founder Sumit Gupta said. “This successful investment round will go a long way in funding our vision of accelerating India’s growth into a $5 trillion economy.”
Here is our weekly look at fintech around the world.
Sub-Saharan Africa
- Kenya-based telecom Safaricom to waive fees for its M-Pesa mobile money service to help customers avoid cash during the COVID-19 outbreak.
- Somalia’s MyBank to deploy Sharia-compliant, core banking technology from Path Solutions.
- Ghana goes live with its Universal Quick Response (QR) Code and Proxy Pay system.
Central and Eastern Europe
- SME Finance, a factoring services provider for businesses in the Baltics and Poland, picks up 10 million euro investment from new partner, Citadele Bank of Latvia.
- Berlin, Germany-based, digital business bank Penta raises 18.5 million euros in new funding.
- The COVID crisis has authorities in Russia decontaminating cash and urging citizens to use digital payments.
- Erste Bank Hungary deploys mobile security technology from OneSpan.
Middle East and Northern Africa
- DriveWealth announces its first MENA region partnership: a collaboration with UAE-based wealth management firm, Wealthface.
- Al Ansari Exchange taps Pelican for financial crime compliance.
- Emirates’ World Investments commits to investment of $255 million in Australian challenger bank Xinja.
Central and Southern Asia
- Mobile payments company HUMBL forges new partnership with Digital India Payments.
- Singapore-based anti-fraud solutions provider Advance.AI opens offices in Bengaluru and Delhi.
- Indian alt lender Vivriti Capital secures $50 million in Series B funding.
Latin America and the Caribbean
- Mexican SME lender Creditjusto raises $100 million in debt financing from Credit Suisse Group.
- Brazilian fintech Creditas announces plans to boost staff by 500 by the end of the year.
- Wirecard teams up with Mexico’s Banca Afirme as the German digital payments solutions provider extends further into the Mexican market.
