Finovate Global

BankBazaar Scores $6 Million; PayPal Makes Strategic Investment in Tink

BankBazaar Scores $6 Million; PayPal Makes Strategic Investment in Tink
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global
Photo by Engin Akyurt from Pexels

Courtesy of a round featuring new investor WSV – a joint venture fund of Walden International and Korean firm SKTA – online financing solutions marketplace BankBazaar has raised $6 million in new equity funding. The company will use the capital, which adds to an existing Series D round, to help market its contactless personal finance solutions as it continues its expansion in India.

In a blog post at the company’s website, company CEO Adhil Shetty noted that the current global public health crisis is fueling pre-existing trends in favor of contactless transactions. “In the post COVID-19 world, the demand for contactless finance is going to grow exponentially,” Shetty said. “(T)his round of funding will help us accelerate our plans to implement contactless access to credit.” He added that the investment, which also featured participation from the company’s existing investors Amazon, Sequoia India, Experian, and Eight Roads, represents an endorsement of the company’s “vision of contactless finance as the future of personal finance” as well as BankBazaar’s ability to make that happen.

An alum of FinovateAsia (learn about our upcoming all digital FinovateAsia event next month), BankBazaar offers an unbiased online marketplace for instant, customized rate quotes on a variety of credit products from loans to credit cards. The company, called “the Credit Karma of India” by WSV General Partner Andrew Kau, is headquartered in Chennai, India, and was founded in 2008.

Also adding new capital to its coffers is Tink, the open banking enablement platform based in Stockholm, Sweden. The company, most recently demoing its technology on our stage at FinovateEurope last year, announced this week that it has received a strategic investment from PayPal. This week’s funding, amount not disclosed, represents the second time PayPal has invested in the company; PayPal made its first strategic investment in Tink in June 2019.

As part of the agreement, PayPal will integrate Tink’s open banking and account aggregation technology into some of its customer-facing user experiences. The extended agreement between the two companies now includes all countries within the European Economic Area (EEA).

“PayPal is one of the world’s leading finech companies, serving more than 330 million consumers and merchants in more than 200 markets worldwide,” Tink co-founder and CEO Daniel Kjellén said. He added, “as Europe’s leading open banking platform, we are looking forward to continuing to support PayPal as they extend and enhance their services across the whole of Europe.”

It is an understatement to say that Tink has had a big year on the capital-raising front. The company began the year closing a $100 million round led by a pair of new investors Dawn Capital of London and HMI Capital of San Francisco. In addition to the company’s funding news, Tink partnered with Nordea to integrate its technology into the bank’s mobile app, acquired Spanish account aggregation specialist – and fellow Finovate alum – Eurobits Technologies, and teamed up with BNP Paribas to become the firm’s preferred partner in Europe.

Here is our weekly look at fintech around the world.

Central and Southern Asia

  • DBS Bank India teams up with TCIL to facilitate real-time payments for truck drivers.
  • BankBazaar raises $6 million in new funding.
  • Hindustan Times profiles Hyderabad-based fintech Quickcredit.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Latin American open banking startup Belvo raises $10 million in new funding from Founders Fund and Kaszek Ventures.
  • On-demand insurance technology leader Trov partners with Seguros Sura Brazil to bring on-demand insurance to Brazil.
  • Santander InnoVentures leads $5 million funding round for Latin American alternative lender a55.

Asia-Pacific

  • A few weeks ago we wrote about the rise of QR-code payments in many markets around the world. This week brings news that Japan’s JCB has partnered with FIS to power its cross-border QR code payments, initially between Vietnam and Thailand.
  • Aleta Planet and Zhongguo Remittance partner to launch new online money transfer service, Aleta China Express, to make it easier to send money from Singapore to China.
  • Gojek, an Indonesian ride hailing service turned payments and financial services superapp, earns investment from Facebook and PayPal.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Nigerian digital bank Sparkle launched this week after securing its license from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
  • Forbes profiles Fara Ashiru Jituboh, co-founder, CEO, and CTO of Nigeria-based financial services “super-connector” Okra.
  • 6DOT60 introduces its digital rands platform in South Africa.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Cloud banking platform Mambu partners with low-code platform provider VeriTran.
  • Sovcombank of Russia unveils online mortgage loans.
  • Alior Bank looks for for mobile-banking focused startups to fill the ranks of this year’s ten-week accelerator program.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • MoneyGram announces strategic partnership with Al Rajhi Bank, the largest Islamic bank in the world, to support money transfer services in Saudi Arabia.
  • Dubai-based fintech JinglePay goes live as the latest neobank in the UAE.
  • OneSpan to provide mobile app security for Turkish bank, DenizBank.

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Smart Messaging and the Rise of Fintech in India: A Conversation with Gupshup’s Beerud Sheth

Smart Messaging and the Rise of Fintech in India: A Conversation with Gupshup’s Beerud Sheth
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global
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This week on Finovate Global we feature an interview with Beerud Sheth, co-founder and CEO of smart messaging platform, Gupshup. We talked with Mr. Sheth about the smart messaging business and its relationship to driving payments in India. We also discussed the current state of Indian fintech more broadly, including an update on Prime Minister Modi’s goal to improve financial services through a combination of better payments technology and new digital identity solutions.

Finovate: Tell us about Gupshup and the role of smart messaging in enabling payments in India.

Beerud Sheth: Gupshup is a smart messaging platform. We use messaging as a platform to make it easier to use other services such as e-commerce, payments, and more. Messaging enables one-click payments, which makes it easier for consumers to keep up with their busy financial lives. For example, they can pay bills instantly without missing deadlines, manage recurring payments, make a digital payment to an offline merchant, or pay friends quickly and easily.

Finovate: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background. Why did you decide to launch the company?

Sheth: My name is Beerud Sheth – co-founder and CEO of messaging and AI-building company Gupshup, based in Silicon Valley. We are primarily focused on automating enterprises’ messaging processes across multiple channels using a single API. I am responsible for the overall strategy, execution, and growth of Gupshup.

I also founded Elance, the world’s largest online services marketplace, and also have played various leadership roles at different stages of the company’s growth.

Before founding Elance, I worked in the financial services industry, modeling, structuring, and trading fixed income securities and derivatives at Merrill Lynch and, before that, at Citicorp Securities. My graduate research, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab, involved developing autonomous learning software agents for personalized news filtering.

I earned an M.S. in computer science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.Tech in Computer Science from IIT Bombay, where I was awarded the Institute Silver Medal. I am a frequent speaker at industry events as well as a holder of two technology patents.

Finovate: You recently won a $100,000 Grand Challenge competition sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Can you tell us about this contest? Why did you get involved in this event and how do you think it will help promote your technology and solution?

Sheth: The Gates Foundation in partnership with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) sponsored a competition to discover new ideas to enable payments for the next billion users – who use low-end feature-phone devices. It attracted over 750 participant companies from around the world. They announced a couple of weeks ago that Gupshup won the 1st prize. Our key insight was that for payments to work well, the primary focus has to be on the user experience. If users have to remember and type in numerous digits, it will never work for users that may not be tech-savvy or have low-end devices.

Gupshup used its expertise in messaging to enable a one-click payment experience. The message contains the entire context about the payment, freeing up the user to do nothing else except authorizing the payment. Gupshup is now working with enterprises and device manufacturers to roll this out to consumers.

Finovate: Your winning entry was a solution called the Smart Feature Phone. What does the phone do and who is the primary market for it?

Sheth: The Smart Feature Phone brings smartphone like capabilities to the feature phone. The target users are the next billion feature-phone users in emerging markets that are left out of the digital ecosystem.

The key feature is the use of messaging to enable chatbots and payments on the feature phone. Chatbots and the Bot Store have the same impact on feature phones as Apps and App Stores did on smartphones. It opens up a wide range of use cases including commerce, gaming, entertainment, sports, etc. Payments enable the monetization of these activities.

Finovate: Can you tell us a little about your partnership with Amazon?

Sheth: Gupshup partnered with Amazon Registry Services to enable customers to validate their bots and register a domain name with Amazon’s BOT Registry.

Without getting too technical, this means users who own, operate, or manage bots published using Gupshup’s tool will be able to be found by end-users no matter what platform or framework they use now or in the future, something previously unavailable for bot owners.

Finovate: You’ve also leveraged your technology to help during the global coronavirus public health crisis. Can you tell us a little about the “COVID bot” you’ve created?

Sheth: CareMe Health, a Chennai-based tele-health company, the National Health Mission of Tamil Nadu and American company Gupshup, worked together in implementing a multi-language WhatsApp-based chatbot readily accessible by millions of citizens in Tamil Nadu and the world over.

The bot, named Careme Bot, is designed to:

  • Educate the users on the health hazards of COVID-19
  • Provide emergency helplines and information on testing centers
  • Facilitate self-reporting
  • Provide up-to-the-minute updates on the COVID pandemic

The creators of Careme Bot are Dr. Arun Babu and Dr. Vasanth Kattalai Kailasam- Chief Medical Officer, Interventional Pain Physician at Northern Light Health, Maine, USAGK, CTO of the company. Check out screenshots of the Careme Bot here.

Finovate: What do you find most interesting about the Indian fintech scene right now? What is it about the fintech scene in India that you think would surprise people outside of India?

Sheth: The scale of a billion-user market would surprise people outside India. India is leapfrogging its way to advanced fintech services since the consumer has been capital-starved for a long time. Indians tend to be conservative about debt which makes them generally creditworthy. However, the financial delivery systems have been lacking, which is now changing because of new technology and startups.

Finovate: You mentioned that one goal of your solution is to help realize the JAM initiative proposed by Indian Prime Minister Modi. Could you elaborate a little on this vision and why it is important?

Sheth: Prime Minister Modi’s vision is to transform India by making sure no citizen is left behind. Three initiatives, in particular, are critical enablers: Jan-dhan (a layer of free, basic financial and payment services for every citizen), Aadhar (unique, biometric-linked identity, like SSN + fingerprints, for every individual) and Mobile (delivery of government services through ubiquitous mobile phones).

The missing piece was the enablement of financial services on low-end feature phones. This problem has now been solved by the Gupshup solution.

Finovate: What can we expect from Gupshup over the balance of 2020 and into the next year?

Sheth: Gupshup is singularly focused on its vision of “smart messaging” i.e., leveraging the power of messaging tools to enable richer services. As people’s lives get increasingly busy and complex, messaging apps, with their ubiquity, simplicity, and richness, are uniquely positioned to be the glue that ties it all together. Gupshup will keep rolling out new components of this over-arching vision.

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India Tops China in Fintech Investment in Q1 2020

India Tops China in Fintech Investment in Q1 2020
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global

China is dominating geopolitical headlines – from the country’s unique challenge with COVID-19 to tensions with Hong Kong and the United States as Chinese leaders gather for the country’s annual National People’s Congress.

But fintech observers would do well to consider developments in China’s neighbor to the southwest, India, whose fintech sector continues to challenge China’s in terms of investment.

In the first quarter of 2020, fintech investment in India again outpaced fintech investment in China. GlobalData, a data and analytics company, released an analysis this week that showed Q1 2020 fintech investment in China came in at “approximately $270 million” while, in India, fintech investment in the first quarter of this year topped $330 million. GlobalData analyst Ayushi Tandon noted that the global pandemic had played a role in dampening VC enthusiasm for fintech investment overall this year so far, and that India had benefitted on a relative basis from this easing of investor passions.

Deal volume showed the same preferences in the first quarter, with 26 deals closed in China in Q1 compared to 37 deals in India.

VC investment in the two countries differed in terms of startup maturity and sub-sector, as well. In China, there has been more investment in cross-sector fintech startups that were looking to scale. In India, payments and lending were the top sectors, and seed funding dominated the quarter’s investments. GlobalData’s report noted that fintechs involved in analytics were the biggest recipients of VC funding in both nations.

India’s fintech industry certainly had the wind in its sails coming into this year. According to research from Accenture, investment in Indian fintechs grew from $1.9 billion over 193 deals in 2018 to $3.7 billion over 198 deals in 2019. The country began to successfully compete with China in terms of fintech investment last year.

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in London, U.K., GlobalData was formed by a consortium of established data and analytics providers. Covering a wide range of industries – from banking and payments to insurance, aerospace, and technology – GlobalData serves financial institutions, government agencies, and corporations, providing thought leadership and analysis, as well as proprietary analytic frameworks to help them make data-driven decisions.

Here is our weekly look at fintech around the world.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • NEC Payments and stc Bahrain, a telecommunications company based in Bahrain, partner to launch new virtual prepaid Mastercard offering.
  • JinglePay, neobank based in Dubai, announces plans for launch.
  • Emirates NBD collaborates with proptech startup Urban to offer financing program for property rentals in UAE.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Lendingkart, an online lender based in India, raised more than $42 million in Series D funding.
  • Indian SME accounting app Khatabook raises $60 million in Series C funding.
  • SadaPay, a fintech based in Pakistan, wins approval to launch a mobile wallet.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Brazil unveils new regulations enabling banks, payments institutions, and other licensed companies to share customer data.
  • Koibanx, a fintech based in Argentina, announces plans to expand to Mexico.
  • Colombian lender ADDI raises $15 million in round led by Quona Capital.

Asia-Pacific

  • Philippines-based mobile wallet GCash to support cashless payments system for taxi service in Manila.
  • Samsung Pay and Malaysia-based e-wallet Boost team up to support cashless payments in Malaysia.
  • Ant Financial invests $73.5 million in mobile financial services company Wave Money.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • South African business payments platform Peach Payments locks in growth funding with investment round led by UW Ventures.
  • Nigerian fintech Carbon goes live with new social banking service.
  • CompariSure, a fintech startup from South Africa, raises funding from UW Ventures.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Billon partners with Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) to pilot a DLT-based national currency.
  • EU Startups features CEE fintechs Crypterium, Humaniq, Revolut, and ANNA in its list of promising startups with Russian founders.
  • Financier Worldwide looks at AML and financial crime in Romania.

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China and Ghana Reflect Rise of QR Codes as Cash Alternative

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global

QR code payments may not inherit the earth. But they may be one of the key technologies developing countries can leverage in order to bring both untaxed merchants and underbanked consumers into their formal national economies.

These are some of the top level conclusions reached in the report – QR Code Developments May Disrupt the Disrupters – from Mercator Advisory Group published late last year. The author, Brian Riley, credited three factors: better authentication, centralized clearance, and improvements to the payments network as giving QR codes renewed viability as a payment acceptance option in some markets.

The convenience of QR (Quick Response) codes as a payment option is clear. They are a fast, easy-to-use compliment to mobile commerce that requires little to no equipment. Armed with a QR code scanning app, their ubiquitous mobile devices and their cameras, consumers can make in-person purchases without relying on cash or physical cards. QR codes also have shown promise as an option for ecommerce, as well.

Adoption of QR code based mobile payments has been modest in markets in the West, such as the U.S. and the U.K. However in regions like the Asia-Pacific, QR code usage has soared. Greg Geng, VP of Tencent’s WeChat Business Group told CNBC last fall that in China, “payment methods using QR codes have replaced cash and cards in just five years.” In fact, the country is now making headlines for the way it is leveraging its affection for QR codes to help fight the spread of the coronavirus.

The news from Ghana this week is further evidence that QR codes continue to prove their mettle. A subsidiary of Ghana’s national bank, Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) has partnered with global payments solution provider HPS to launch its Universal QR Code and Proxy Pay platform. The solution will enable consumers to make instant payments from mobile wallets, cards, and bank accounts by scanning QR codes with their mobile devices.

Ghana is a pioneer in this regard, being the first country in Africa to introduce a national, QR code payment system. The initiative is believed to be a part of the country’s attempt to transition toward significantly less reliance on cash. “At this time, our quest toward a modern, cashless society is more important than ever and we are proud to be the first African country to implement this universal QR code solution,” GhIPSS CEO Archie Hesse said. “HPS has delivered an agile, comprehensive solution during a time of global crisis and we can foresee incredible benefits.”

Abdeslam Alaoui Smaili, HPS CEO, echoed Hesse’s sentiments about the power of QR codes to support a move away from paper currency, calling the initiative “an important part to a long-term goal of a cashless society.”

HPS offers a comprehensive suite of solutions, PowerCARD, that covers the entire payment value chain and enables its partners to process payments regardless of channel or initiated means-of-payment. With more than 400 institutions in 90+ countries using HPS’ technology, the company was founded in 1995 and maintains offices in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Here is our weekly look at fintech around the world.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Billon announced blockchain-based proof of concept with Polish electric company Tauron.
  • Euromoney looks at how finechs in the CEE region are benefitting as consumers opt for digital payments rather than cash.
  • Silicon Canals features Ukrainian fintech startups that are “taking the industry to the next level.”

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Dubai-based Spotii goes live in UAE with its Shop Now Pay Later platform.
  • Egyptian digital lender Shahry locks in $650,000 in pre-seed funding.
  • Securrency forges strategic partnership with investment management and banking company, Musharaka Capital, to develop digital asset issuance platform in Saudi Arabia.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Partnership between MoneyGram and India’s Federal Bank to bring a direct-to-bank-account credit solution to Indian consumers.
  • Uzbekistan president pledges reform of banking system, including the privatization of six bank.
  • Indian cryptocurrency exchange Shiftal to leverage digital identity verification technology from Yoti to support compliant customer onboarding.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Mexico’s Flux partners with Bonnuscard, Moneypool, and Cuando Volvamos to enable businesses to offer pre-paid digital gift cards.
  • Financial inclusion-based accelerator makes its Latin American debut with a launch in Mexico.
  • SME payments company Kushki goes live in Mexico, having already expanded to Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, and Peru.

Asia-Pacific

  • Validus, a Singapore-based P2P lending platform, raises another $20 million in Series B+ funding ahead of its expansion into Thailand.
  • Indonesia’s Pintek, which helps students and educational institutions alike access credit, raises an undisclosed amount of funding from Accion Ventures Lab.
  • Fintech News Singapore features the top ten fintech companies in the Philippines.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Voyance, a data science startup based in Nigeria, launches fintech fraud tracking database, Sigma.
  • South African cryptocurrency exchange Altcoin Trader enables instant EFT withdrawals from any bank account.
  • WeeTracker looks at the strength of the wealthtech component of Kenya’s fintech industry.

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Revolut in the CEE; Biometric Onboarding in the Baltics; Microblink Battles COVID-19

Revolut in the CEE; Biometric Onboarding in the Baltics; Microblink Battles COVID-19
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global

The CEE region – Central and Eastern Europe – has been the source of some of the week’s most compelling international fintech headlines. Among them was news that digital alternative bank Revolut has gone live in Lithuania. The company said that it will passport its Lithuanian banking license – which it secured in 2018 – to launch in other markets in the CEE, and rely on Lithuania as its regional hub.

“Four years ago we set out to build a new kind of bank. The kind of bank that solves your problems and treats you fairly,” the company announced on Twitter this week. “Starting today, we’re excited to launch Revolut Bank to our 300,000 customers in Lithuania.”

Lithuania is the latest market Revolut has engaged; the company made its long-awaited U.S. launch in March, partnering with Metropolitan Commercial Bank to bring its banking app to market in the States. The difference is that Revolut will be able to operate as a licensed bank in the European markets it has targeted. The company has yet to officially apply for a banking license in America.

Speaking of Lithuania, Luminor Bank – the third largest bank in the Baltics – announced that it was introducing a digital onboarding solution that would enable new customers to set up accounts with a selfie. The technology, courtesy of a partnership with Ondato, compares the image on the new customer’s identification document with an image created by a 3D biometric map of the customer’s face. Ondato checks the data on the ID document, analyzes the images, and enables customers to confirm their identity with a mobile signature.

Photo by Mihis Alex from Pexels

“When performing client identification, not only document validity is tested, but also with the aid of biometric data, it is established whether the individual in the document truly is a match of the individual seeking to open an account,” Ondato CEO Liudas Kanapienis said. He praised the bank as the first traditional bank in Lithuania to “fully embrace” the digitization of customer verification and account opening.

Leaning in on the COVID-19 crisis, intelligent data extraction specialist Microblink is offering free access to its flagship solution, BlinkID, “for all the heroes who have replace their capes with masks.” The company is reaching out to public healthcare, non-profit, and government organizations that are helping fight the coronavirus pandemic with an offer to integrate its data capture solution into their mobile or web app – free of charge.

BlinkID enables users to quickly and securely capture personal information from 400+ identity documents in the world. The data remains on the app and the identity document remains in the hands of the document bearer, providing for a safe, contactless experience. During the current public health crisis, the solution has been used in Indonesia by police officers conducting public health checks, in Dubai to track those delivering medicines, and in the U.K. to register volunteers who bring food to seniors and others in need of assistance.

Microblink said the offer will remain in place “until the virus subsides” and interested organizations should contact them directly to apply. “Tell us what you’re doing to mitigate the crisis,” the company said in a statement. “We’ll make sure you’re set up with the right license key and ready to fly off and save the world.” Based in London, U.K., and Zagreb, Croatia, Microblink demonstrated its technology last year at FinovateEurope.

This year FinovateAsia will be an all-digital affair. Starting on July 6 and running through July 10th, our new format offers more keynotes, more debates, and more insight into our demoing companies than we ever have offered before.

Photo by Matthew Simmonds from Pexels

Check out our introduction to FinovateAsia from earlier this week – as well as our feature on the event’s keynote speakers – and start saving the dates. The biggest fintech event of the summer will be here sooner than you think.

Here is our weekly look at fintech around the world.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Dash teams up with cryptocurrency payments company AnkerPay to bring the DASH payments network to sub-Sharan Africa.
  • Bank of Ghana opens fintech innovation office.
  • TechBullion looks at the partnership between Clear Junction and Zeepay Ghana.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Germany’s Finleap unveils new white label mobile banking app.
  • Revolut launches a licensed bank in Lithuania.
  • Czech ecommerce company Fair Play partners with Indian mobile payments solution provider FSS Technologies.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Enda Tamweel, a microfinancing institution based in Tunisia, goes live with Temenos‘ Transact core banking solution.
  • Trading Technologies partners with Turkish exchange Borsa Istanbul, enabling trading of its derivatives on the TT platform.
  • Zawya interviews Faisal Omar Alsaggaf, CEO of National Commercial Bank on how banks in Saudi Arabia are coping with COVID-19.

Central and Southern Asia

  • JazzCash and Mastercard partner to bolster payments in Pakistan.
  • Pakistan-based digital wallet SadaPay collaborates with Mastercard to support contactless payments.
  • India’s Tata Capital launches capital commercial and SME mobile app.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • BHD Leon, based in the Dominican Republic, chooses Temenos’ core banking solution, Transact.
  • FIMPE and Mercado Libre Mexico partner to develop real-time identity validation solution.
  • Mexican challenger bank Klar teams up with payments platform – and recent SoFi acquisition – Galileo.

Asia-Pacific

  • Singapore-based cross-border money transfer company Nium – formerly InstaRem – picked up investment from Visa and Bank BRI.
  • Avaloq teams up with Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI).
  • Hong Kong’s first virtual bank, ZA, to offer insurance products.

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Mambu Teams Up with Tide; Europe’s Top Regtechs; Buy Now Pay Later Goes Global

Mambu Teams Up with Tide; Europe’s Top Regtechs; Buy Now Pay Later Goes Global
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Apiax, Daily news, Fenergo, Finovate Global, Mambu, NetGuardians, Onfido

Mambu, the cloud-based banking platform based in Germany, is partnering with U.K. business banking platform Tide to power the company’s revolving credit facilities and overdrafts for small businesses.

“There is a need to be flexible, agile, and customer-centric in the design of financial products,” Managing Director of Mambu EMEA Eelco-Jan Boonstra explained. “Legacy technology constraints can undermine even the best innovation strategy.”

The collaboration will enable Tide to overhaul its product suite in order to better serve customers in a number of locations around the world. This includes offering larger overdrafts, credit cards, and invoice financing, as well as enabling Tide members to lend to each other leveraging solutions managed by Mambu.

“When today’s customers evaluate financial institutions, they no longer compare different banks, they compare experiences,” Boonstra said. “We see this partnership approach as the future of banking technology.”

Regtech is all the rage in fintech these days. From helping businesses negotiate a wave of new regulation – from GDPR to PSD2 – to empowering firms to combat fraud, companies involved in developing technologies to ensure that businesses are getting and staying compliant are enjoying rare attention from the rest of the industry.

A recent review of top regtech startups in Europe in Fintech News was an example of the light increasingly shining on these companies and their vital role in supporting a fintech industry that a growing number of financial services customers – and other businesses – are relying on.

The review cited research from KPMG that anticipates regtech spending in 2022 climbing to $76 billion. Analysis from XAnge, a European VC firm, finds approximately 140 regtech startups in the E.U., divided fairly equally between compliance management, KYC/AML, and risk management solutions.

We were especially please to see that, of the ten regtech startups highlighted in the feature, four of the companies are Finovate alums. Apiax and NetGuardians, which most recently demoed at FinovateEurope and at FinovateAsia respectively, both hail from Switzerland. Apiax, recently profiled here on the Finovate blog, offers a comprehensive compliance solution that leverages APIs to integrate its compliance rules into digital processes. NetGuardians focuses on Big Data and uses it to help banks fight fraud and automate compliance.

Also earning recognition on the top European regtech list was Ireland’s Fenergo. The company, founded in 2009 and having made its Finovate debut back in 2012, specializes in client onboarding and account opening solutions for banks and financial services companies. Just this week, Fenergo announced that it was launching a new remote account opening solution in both the EMEA and APAC regions.

Half of the companies on Fintech News’ regtech roster are from the U.K. The Finovate alum among this group, Onfido, leverages automated machine learning, optical character recognition (OCR), and other technologies to provide identity verification to combat fraud. Demoing its technology at both FinovateEurope and FinovateFall in 2018, the company earlier this month announced a major $100 million fundraising that brought the company’s total capital to more than $182 million.

“We’ve naturally chosen the grow-fast path because we strongly feel that the time to solve the digital access problem is overdue, and urgently needs to be solved, for good,” Onfido CEO and co-founder Husayn Kassai said. “We didn’t fundraise to just get to the next milestone, we need the funding as we’re changing the world.”

The Buy Now Pay Later Revolution is sweeping the world. Check out Finovate Senior Research Analyst Julie Muhn’s coverage of Tencent’s $300 million investment in Australia-based Afterpay this week:

Tencent’s move comes shortly after its rival Ant Financial took a minority stake in Afterpay competitor Klarna. Afterpay has 3x the web traffic of Klarna and 1.5x the traffic of its other major competitor Affirm.

The buy-now-pay-later segment of fintech has been heating up this year, despite– or perhaps because of– the current economic and health crises.

Here is our weekly look at fintech around the world.

Asia-Pacific

  • V Capital, and advisory firm based in Malaysia, and U.S.-based Cross River Bank partner to apply for a digital banking license in the country.
  • Hong Kong-based Oriente, a fintech that provides digital infrastructure for financial services, secures $50 million in its still-open Series B round.
  • South Korean cryptocurrency startup Childly teams up with blockchain analysis company Chainalysis.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Nigerian fintech startup Okra, which facilitates the exchange of real-time financial between banks, customers, and apps, locks in $1 million in pre-seed funding in a round led by TLcom Capital.
  • Flutterwave, based in San Francisco, California and Lagos, Nigeria, introduces new portal for African e-commerce merchants.
  • Visa and Kenya’s Pesapal team up to support connected digital payments.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Resistant AI, a cybersecurity startup based in the Czech Republic, raises $2.75 million in funding.
  • Azer Turk Bank (ATB), based in Azerbaijan, deploys technology from Lithuania’s Ashburn to manage EFTPOS networks.
  • Germany’s Celonis leverages its process mining platform to develop new AI-powered accounts payable solution.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Egypt’s Commercial International Bank acquires 51% stake in Kenya’s Mayfair Bank.
  • BenefitPay, Bahrain’s national electronic wallet, announces 1257% increase in remittance volume in March.
  • Tata Consultancy Services to launch a digital only bank in Israel.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX announces trading availability of two native tokens from Crypto.com, MCO and CRO, on its platform.
  • Amazon launches new credit service, Amazon Pay Later, in India.
  • India-based ecommerce firm Paytm unveils contactless dining solution for restaurants in the coronavirus era.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • paysafecard brings its payments platform, Paysafe, to Paraguay.
  • Latin Post looks at the use of fintech apps in Mexico.
  • Financial markets solutions provider Calypso Technology inks partnership agreement with Colombia-based consultancy Sophos Solutions

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Banks, Credit Bureaus Take Baby Steps Toward Broader Blockchain Embrace

Banks, Credit Bureaus Take Baby Steps Toward Broader Blockchain Embrace
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global

From sharing customer data to smart payments, a number of central banks around the world are turning to blockchain technology to make markets easier for new entrants and to improve processes in everything from payments to regulatory authorizations.

In Argentina, the country’s central bank has embarked upon a pilot project with IOV Labs, which has developed a blockchain-based network that will support a new payments system. The network leverages RSK Bitcoin smart contract technology to improve banks’ ability to process payments, collections, as well as conduct other activities.

Photo by Carolyn from Pexels

A few miles to the north, Brazil’s central bank – the BCB – has launched a blockchain data-sharing platform called PIER that runs on the Quorum blockchain developed by JP Morgan. PIER was created to make it easier for foreign banks to open offices and do business in the country. Specifically, the solution will accelerate communication between the BCB, Brazil’s security commission, and the country’s insurance authority. The platform will also speed up the process of granting banking licenses.

Meanwhile in Central and Eastern Europe, a Polish-British fintech has teamed up with Poland’s Credit Bureau (BIK) to put blockchain to use in customer communications. Billon reported last week that its distributed ledger technology (DLT) is giving retail banks in Poland the ability to transition away from paper-based, client-facing notifications, while remaining compliant with relevant regulations ranging from MiFID II to GDPR.

Poland’s BIK is a major repository of credit history and data, with information on 147 million accounts, 25 million individuals, and 1.4 million companies, including 840,000 microbusinesses. The BIK Blockchain Platform will enable the bureau’s banking clients to notify customers on commission and fee changes on a blockchain rather than e-mail, internal banking communication, or paper delivery. In addition to providing for more secure data exchange that these methods, the DLT-based document management solution gives customers “authentic and immutable documentation” that cannot be altered.

BIK CEO Mariusz Cholewa said that further version of the technology will be applied to “streamlining complex multi-party processes” as well as expanding into other verticals in Poland.

Here is our weekly look at fintech around the world.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Calypso Technology announces partnership agreement with Colombian financial services firm Sophos Solutions.
  • Brazil’s central bank launches data-sharing blockchain platform to make it easier for banks based overseas to do business in the country.
  • Blockchain-based smart payments could be coming to Argentina thanks to a partnership between the country’s central bank and bitcoin company IOV Labs.

Asia-Pacific

  • Digital currency pilots in China continue with initiatives in cities such as Shenzhen, Suzhou, and Chengdu.
  • Japan’s Mizuho Bank trials facial biometric authentication for online banking.
  • Fomo Pay, a digital payments company from Singapore, goes live in Malaysia courtesy of a partnership with OCBC Bank.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Social payments app Bundle goes live in Nigeria.
  • South African finech Yoco launches suite of online payment solutions for SMEs.
  • Tigo Tanzania introduces new service to enable its customers to send and receive cash on their mobile money wallet using the region’s main mobile money services.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • TransferWise brings its money transfer innovations for banks to Berlin-based Mambu.
  • Meniga partners with UniCredit to launch a new smart banking app in the Czech Republic.
  • Retail banks in Poland gain access to blockchain-based customer data platform developed as a collaboration between the Polish Credit Bureau and Polish-British fintech company, Billon.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Libya’s Jumhouria Bank, the nation’s largest bank, goes live with cash payment reconciliation technology from SmartStream.
  • TransferWise launches in the UAE.
  • Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) now accepting applications for its summer sandbox.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Facebook announces investment of $5.7 billion in Indian online marketplace Jio Platforms.
  • Federal Bank launches mobile ATM service in two India cities, Chennai and Mumbai.
  • Pakistan’s Bank Alfalah partners with PayFast to enable online payments.

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Investors Back Mobile Trading in Germany; Digital Banking Takes Off in Israel

Investors Back Mobile Trading in Germany; Digital Banking Takes Off in Israel
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global

Germany’s Trade Republic Raises $67 Million

While mobile trading and investing app Robinhood rallies from a rough March toward a rumored $200+ million funding round, the company many are calling its European equivalent is making headlines of its own on the other side of the pond.

Berlin-based Trade Republic, which offers a mobile app that enables users to buy and sell stocks, ETFs, and other assets without having to pay a commission, announced that it has raised $67.4 million (€62 million) in new funding. The Series B round was led by Accel and Founders Fund, and will help the five-year old company build out its platform ahead of a formal launch later this year.

“About 85% of assets of European households are in bank accounts with mostly zero or negative interest rates,” Trade Republic co-founder Christian Hecker explained. “Our app enables people to invest their money safely, quickly, and transparently. By doing so, we are democratizing access to capital markets.”

With more than 150,000 users since its May launch last year, Trade Republic’s app is currently managing nearly one billion euros in assets.

Israel’s First Digital Bank Chooses Core Platform

The first digital bank in the country has no official name as of yet and, of course, no physical branches. But courtesy of a partnership with Tata Consultancy Services, the Bank With No Name has found its core platform in the form of the Banking Service Bureau, powered by TCS BaNCS.

“We have achieved a key milestone in the Israeli financial services industry by being onboarded on to TCS’ Banking Services Bureau,” bank chairman Shouky Oren said. “This approach will reduce the cost of banking for the average citizen and foster the development of innovative and differentiated services.”

The bank is slated to open in 2021 and will offer a wide range of services including deposits and loans, credit, account management, and securities trading. The firm will be the first company to receive a new banking license in Israel in more than 40 years.

Here is our weekly look at fintech around the world.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Indian SME and micro-enterprise lender Aye Finance raises $23.8 million in debt funding.
  • A partnership between Mastercard and Askari Bank Pakistan will help the commercial and retail bank expand its product portfolio.
  • Traxcn and IBS Intelligence report that India’s fintech industry saw a 40% gain in funding over the first quarter of 2020 compared to 2019.
  • GooglePay’s Nearby Spot feature, which helps users find essential stores and shelters in their area, goes live in India.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Sao Paulo, Brazil readies for the launch of a new digital challenger bank, Elas, dedicated to serving female entrepreneurs.
  • Coronavirus concerns have put the breaks on Mexico’s ability to license new fintechs.
  • Criptolago enables Venezuela’s oil-based stablecoin, PTR, to be transactable via text message.

Asia-Pacific

  • Japanese fintech Paidy raises additional funding from Itochu Corporation for its Series C round.
  • Vietnam-based microlender Finhay secures investment from Acorns co-founder Jeffrey Cruttenden and Thien Viet Securities.
  • Koinworks, one of Indonesia’s biggest P2P lenders, raises $20 million in debt and equity.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Flash, a fintech based in the Democratic Republic of Congo, introduces a new payment offering, Flash Money, in partnership with Visa.
  • PagaSystems and Nigerian fintech SystemSpecs join forces to boost electronic payments in Nigeria.
  • South Africa’s new fintech innovation hub goes live.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Hamburg, Germany’s Deposit Solutions expands its partnership with Deutsche Bank.
  • NAGA, a German fintech that enables social trading and investing in stocks, cryptocurrencies, FX and other assets, announces profitability.
  • Born2Invest features venture investor and founder of iTLEADERS Yegor Klopenko on the challenge COVID-19 presents to Russian fintech.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Commercial Bank, based in Qatar, introduces new payroll service to help companies support employees’ digital international money transfers.
  • Mohamed Okasha, co-founder of Egyptian fintech Fawry, to launch $25 million fintech fund.
  • Qatar Development Bank (QDB) launches fintech incubator and accelerator programs.

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Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Challenger Banks Down Under Raise Capital Amid Crisis

Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Challenger Banks Down Under Raise Capital Amid Crisis
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Salt Edge

What a week it’s been for the challenger bank business in the Land Down Under!

Australian small business challenger bank Judo just announced a major fundraising, securing an investment of $307 million (AUD 500 million) from a pair of Australian government agencies.

The Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM) and the Australian Structured Finance Support Fund (SFSF) contributed equally. The investment makes Judo the first recipient of funding from Australia’s two-billion dollar small business funding program. The program was initially designed in 2018 to help promote competition between the country’s major banks and to provide more financing opportunities for the country’s small business.

“At a time when the availability of credit has never been more important to tens of thousands of Australian SMEs, Judo is delighted to be able to announce such a substantial investment by the AOFM,” Judo co-founder and co-CEO David Hornery said.

The country’s first SME-oriented challenger bank, Judo earned its full banking license just under a year ago. This spring, Judo announced securing a three-year, $350 million credit facility with Citi. The challenger bank has a deposit book of $860 million (AUD 1.4 billion).

An infusion of capital from the private sector has boosted the coffers of fellow Australian challenger bank 86 400. The firm announced this week that it has raised $20.8 million (AUD 34 million) in new funding in a round led by Morgan Stanley.

The Series A round takes 86 400’s total capital to $57 million (AUD 90 million). Also participating were an Australian superannuation fund, high net worth investors and family offices, as well as fund managers.

“At our current rate of growth, we should hit 500,000 accounts on the platform in the next 12 months,” 86 400 CEO Robert Bell said. “Of course, that will be balanced by growing the lending side of our business and we anticipate having a mortgage book of close to $2 billion by the end of 2021.”

86 400, which bills itself as “Australia’s first smartbank,” launched in September of last year and currently has more than 170,000 accounts on its platform. With more than 350,000 transactions and balance updates processed daily, and a mortgage book of $20 million, 86 400 currently offers two accounts – Pay and Save – that make spending convenient and incentivize savings.

Here is our weekly look at fintech around the world.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Mamo Pay, a Dubai-based fintech developing a P2P payments app, raises $1.5 million in seed funding.
  • Saudi Arabia’s Halalah attains e-money institution license after graduating ahead of schedule from its sandbox trial period.
  • UAE-based fintech Rise locks in growth funding believed to be in excess of $1 million.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Fintech News takes a look at the “10 Fastest Growing Fintechs in India.”
  • BusinessWorld India examines the role of fintech in driving the digitalization trend in India.
  • Pakistan Today features American fintech entrepreneur Brandon Timinsky and his efforts to launch SadaPay in Pakistan.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Cryptonews looks at the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Mexican fintech.
  • Contexto sees more fintechs in Chile’s future, courtesy of a new global entrepreneur network, Endeavor.
  • Latin American on-demand delivery startup partners with Arcus to launch new payment app, RappiPay.

Asia-Pacific

  • Hong Kong fintech Neat raises $11 million in Series A featuring participation from Visa among other investors.
  • HSBC goes live with its Smart Mobile Onboading for customers in China.
  • Hong Kong-based online lender Credit Hero partners with Salt Edge.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • South Africa’s Vodacom and Kenya’s Safaricom conclude acquisition of mobile money platform, M-Pesa.
  • Senegalese mobile network operator, Free, deploys Comviva’s mobiquity Money solution.
  • South Africa’s Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG) unveils new innovation hub.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Russian payments platform Qiwi picks up investment from Japan’s SBI.
  • Germany corporate pension and life insurance digitization company Xpension raises $27 million (EUR25 million) in Series C funding.
  • Fintechs innovating in ecommerce, payments, and real estate populate EU Startups’ look at top 10 Romanian startups for 2020.

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Will a Hackathon Help the Fight Against COVID? A Spotlight on Fintech in Asia

Will a Hackathon Help the Fight Against COVID? A Spotlight on Fintech in Asia
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Ripple

The world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic and financial services and fintech companies are no exception. We’ve taken a look at how lenders are working to help small businesses struggling with cash flow challenges, and how firms are offering their services free of charge during the crisis to help businesses continue operating with as little interruption as possible.

Beyond this, a number of institutions around the world have taken more innovative approaches to helping manage the dislocations caused by COVID-19. Stockholm, Sweden-based Swedbank, for example, has supported hackathons in Latvia and Lithuania dedicated toward finding solutions to help businesses and individuals deal with COVID-19 related issues. The firm announced today that it is sponsoring a global hackathon in April, called “The Global Hack” to broaden the effort to get fintechs involved in the effort.

Swedbank is specifically sponsoring the economy track of the hackathon, which Swedbank Head of Digital Banking and IT Lotta Lovén said would help drive innovation in products designed to help keep markets moving.

“We not only dive into topics that will help our customers and industry through these unprecedented times, but the results will also support the local communities and the society as a whole,” Lovén said.

The Global Hack event is also supported by the European Commission, the World Health Organization, The World Economic Forum, and LinkedIn, among others.

The Fintech Times has just published its special edition on Asia – guest edited by The Finanser’s Chris Skinner. And while the timing does not allow for much consideration of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on China’s fintech industry, a handful of articles nevertheless feature worth-reading insights on what that industry might look like on the other side of the current public health crisis.

Foremost among them – and having the most relevance for Western audiences – may be Jim Marous’ article, Tomorrow’s Model for Banking Exists Today. Marous, publisher of The Financial Brand, credits “big data, advanced analytics, modern digital technology and an innovation culture” for what he calls “the spectacular growth of innovative financial services in China.” The fact that this innovation is accompanied by – instead of being ahead of – successful financial inclusion makes the achievements of China’s techfin and fintech enterprises all the more worth learning from.

Here is our weekly look at fintech around the world.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Payments platform Paysafe launches Paysafecash in Latvia.
  • Russia’s second-largest bank, VTB Bank, announces big data joint venture with telecom Rostelecom.
  • Polish payments processor KIR partners with Danish authentication solutions provider Cryptomathic.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • PayBy, a fintech based in Abu Dhabi, begins mobile payment services in the UAE.
  • Dubai-based Rise, which provides banking services to underbanked migrant workers in the UAE, raises $1.4 million in funding.
  • Mobile banking services provider Khazna secures seed funding in round led by Egyptian VC Algebra Ventures.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Recko, an Indian fintech that leverages AI to reconcile digital transaction plans, raises $6 million in Series A funding.
  • Fortune India looks at the impact of COVID-19 on India’s fintech industry.
  • The case for an “urgent adoption” of digital cash in Pakistan.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Uruguayn-Mexican fintech Mozper, which specializes in helping parents financially educate their children, raises pre-seed investment of $770,000.
  • Mexico-based digital payment processor Kushki locks in Series A funding in round led by DILA Capital.
  • Brazil’s Cora adds cash flow boosting feature to its SME platform that enables customers that are observing quarantines to purchasing vouchers today from their favorite merchant for goods and services to be picked up later.

Asia-Pacific

  • Japanese digital banking startup Kyash raises $45 million in Series C funding.
  • Hong Kong virtual bank Airstar Bank pilots its virtual banking service.
  • Ripple to power cross-border payments for Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • South African fintech TaxTim teams up with PwC to support expansion to Nigeria.
  • Zeepay Ghana wins approval for mobile money license.
  • Bank of Zimbabwe inks memorandum of agreement with Apollo Fintech to build a gold-based digital currency.

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Global Fintech and the COVID-19 Crisis

Global Fintech and the COVID-19 Crisis
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news, DriveWealth, Finovate Global, Ripple, TransferWise

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.

Asia-Pacific

  • TransferWise teams up with Alipay to enable fund transfers to China.
  • Bank of China launches its AI-based FX trading signal app via Eikon.
  • Thai remittance company DeeMoney goes live on RippleNet.

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The Look at the Role of Cryptocurrencies in India’s Cashless Revolution

The Look at the Role of Cryptocurrencies in India’s Cashless Revolution
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Kreditech, mBank, microblink, Monedo

We recently shared the news that restrictions on the ability of banks in India to work with cryptocurrency exchanges was overturned by the country’s Supreme Court.

With this in mind, and given the growing interest in India as a fintech power, we spoke with Neeraj Khandelwal, co-founder of CoinDCX, a cryptocurrency trading platform and liquidity aggregator in India. The company, founded in 2018 and based in Singapore, recently won the Excellence in Finance – Companies award by FiNext. Last month, CoinDCX launched its cryptocurrency derivative trading platform, DCXfutures. Bain Capital Ventures is among the firm’s investors.

Finovate: The biggest news in India in terms of the cryptocurrency market has to be the Supreme Court’s overturning of the Central Bank’s ban on cryptocurrencies. What can you tell us about the impact of the ban and the effect of the ruling striking it down?

Neeraj Khandelwal: The banking ban was related to the suspension of banking relationships with individuals or businesses dealing with cryptocurrencies, but crypto businesses were still free to operate on their own. In response, CoinDCX innovated and offered peer-to-peer services for the buying and selling crypto through INR.

After the verdict, banking relations have resumed once again. CoinDCX became the first cryptocurrency platform in India to integrate bank account transfers, just six hours after the Supreme Court’s ruling. Today, we are seeing 10x growth in signups on a day-to-day basis. Our product, Insta, which allows customers to buy crypto with INR, has also seen high hits. Overall, the market is in an upswing.

Finovate: What is the potential of the cryptocurrency market in India? How widespread are cryptocurrencies now and what factors are driving growth in adoption in India?

Khandelwal: Less than five million people currently hold cryptocurrencies in India today. However, listing websites like exchangewar.info have shown that the highest volumes are coming from India, so there is indeed great potential here. With a population of over one billion, India stands to contribute significantly to a large part of the global crypto volume and the industry as a whole.

In India, there is a growing number of cryptocurrency exchanges and startups that are constantly innovating to strengthen and expand the industry. In addition, India holds many favourable advantages for cryptocurrency adoption—for instance, with an average age of 27 years, India has a huge working population with disposable income on the rise. 

Finovate: Many of us outside of India are fascinated by the country’s cashless experiment. At this time, what has been learned from that experience and what is the future of cashlessness in India?

Khandelwal: The writing on the wall is crystal clear that cashlessness is the way to go. This was first witnessed on an extremely large scale during the time of demonetization in late 2016. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which is the umbrella body for retail payments and settlements in India, revealed that the value of UPI transactions for December 2019 was INR 2.02 Lakh Cr. This figure is expected to grow as cashlessness brings greater convenience and faster transactions.

As cryptocurrencies are entirely digital, it promotes greater benefits for cashlessness in comparison to fiat currencies. I believe that in the coming years, the Indian economy will be built on the foundation of a cashless society, with both digital fiat and cryptocurrencies working in parallel.

Finovate: You are part of the founding team of CoinDCX. Can you tell us a little about the company, the market it serves, and the role it plays in helping pave the way for broader adoption of cashless technologies?

Khandelwal: CoinDCX specializes in crypto-enabled fintech services. Sumit Gupta and I founded CoinDCX in 2018, with a mission to connect billions of people to global financial markets. Today, CoinDCX is reputed to be India’s most trustworthy cryptocurrency trading platform and remains one of the strongest products in our service offerings. CoinDCX has empowered its traders with a bouquet of industry-first crypto-based products to trade better using liquidity from the world’s leading exchanges like Binance, Huobi Global and OKEx.

By bringing all crypto-trading products under a single roof, our products are designed to cater to all types of traders, keeping their experience, risk tolerance, and frequency of trading into consideration.

Our users have found the platform to be simple and effortless. Anyone can trade in 500+ markets with DCXtrade, convert their INR to cryptocurrencies and vice versa on DCXInsta, earn by lending their holdings with DCXlend, and leverage their trades up to 6X in 250+ Altcoins using DCXmargin.

Here is our weekly look at fintech around the world.

Asia-Pacific

  • Alipay to encourage 40 million merchants and service providers to use its mini programs as competition with WeChat intensifies.
  • Hong Kong will soon have a new challenger bank as Standard Chartered’s Mox Bank opens for business later this year.
  • Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm turned super app company Grab to use Wirecard for payment processing.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Visa and Nigeria-based mobile money platform Paga forge strategic partnership to bring more security and convenience to mobile payments.
  • South African cloud platform builder Jini Guru teams up with product engineering firm Azilen Technologies to build fintech solutions for emerging markets.
  • Modern Ghana features WorldRemit Country Manager Gbenga Okejimi on the country’s fintech industry.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Total Croatia News features Microblink in its look at Croatian companies making the Financial Times’ 100 Fastest Growing Companies in Europe roster.
  • International Banker profiles Poland’s digital banking leader mBank.
  • Hamburg, Germany-based lender Kreditech rebrands as Monedo

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Saudi Arabia Monetary Authority (SAMA) hires payments technology company HPS to provide a QR-based payments system.
  • Orange Money goes live in Morocco after receiving authorization from the Bank Al Maghrib.
  • Business Chief Middle East looks at the top 10 fintech startups in the Middle East and UAE.

Central and Southern Asia

  • FamPay, a Bengaluru, India-based fintech that is building a payments network for teens, picks up $4.7 million in seed funding.
  • Bloomberg Quint looks at the controversy over the Reserve Bank of India’s moratorium on Yes Bank and its impact on fintech companies in the country.
  • My Republica asks whether or not India’s cashless revolution can be extended to Nepal.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Mexican fintech Clip launches new “point of sale in the palm of your hand” solution, Clip Total.
  • Born2Invest look at how fintech platforms are supporting female entrepreneurs in Mexico.
  • Fintech-as-a-service company Rapyd partners with Brazilian payment providers Dock and Banco Rendimento.

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