Hi fintech friends,
Please enjoy all the news and updates from the past week in today’s edition. If you feel TWIF brings you value, please share it with your friends (and maybe suggest they subscribe too).
AML compliance may sound complicated, but a lot of it boils down to knowing users are who they say they are so you can sort the good users from those looking to commit financial crimes. Persona’s got you covered on that front. We’re offering This Week in Fintech readers 500 free government ID + selfie verifications and Persona watchlist reports each month to help you meet KYC/AML requirements and fight fraud without having to worry about your bottom line.
Editor’s Note: If you’re an early-stage startup founder raising equity, I may be able to help - reach out to [email protected].
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🦉🏆 Tweets of the Week
🇮🇳 India
📰 Market Updates
SarvaGram, a rural finance company, claimed to cross $23mm in AuM as on April, 2022 with ARR of 6-7mm for FY22.
RBIreleased a report stating that India might overcome Covid losses by FY34-35.
India's unemployment rate rose to 7.83% in April, 2022, compared to 7.6% in March, 2022. Urban unemployment was 9.22% in April, 2022 compared to 8.28% in March, 2022.
🚀 Product Launches
IndiaMartpartnered withTazapay to help its exporters with cross-border payments.
Fable Fintech, a financial inclusion startup, partnered withXeOPAR, a cross border payments company, for inward remittances.
💰 Financing Announcements
Digit General Insurance, a general insurance company, raised $55mm at $4bn valuation
Open, a small business banking startup, raised $50mm at a unicorn valuation.
KaleidoFin, a financial inclusion startup, raised $15mm.
Freed, a consumer debt relief startup, raised $2.8mm.
Bliv.club, an NFT financialisation startup, raised an undisclosed amount.
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🌏 Asia
📰 Market Updates
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) released a consultation paper to discuss key policy and design issues for introducing retail central bank digital currency.
Shopee, a Singaporean ecommerce platform, received approval from the Brazilian central bank to operate as a payment service provider.
NetBank in Philippines partnered withV5Pay, a Philippine payments startup, for small business payment acceptance.
Shinhan Financial Group, a South Korean financial major, acquired a 10% shareholding in Tiki, a Vietnamese ecommerce company.
Peppermint, an Australian mobile banking startup, received Electronic Money Issuer license in Philippines.
South Korean fintech startups are "disappointed" by the country's incoming President's view on cryptocurrencies.
💰 Financing Announcements
KoinBasket, a Singaporean crypto investment startup, raised $2mm.
(there were no other funding announcements this week. Did I miss any? Email me.)
Identity verification is trickier than ever — SSNs are leaked all the time, government IDs and other documents are easily Photoshopped, and deepfakes even make it easy to “take” someone’s face. It may be tempting to ask users for a ton of info during onboarding to better identify fraudsters, but the more friction you add, the less likely users are to convert. We’ve learned a lot helping companies like Square, BlockFi, and Brex find the perfect balance between risk management and conversion optimization, and now we’re sharing our learnings with you.
🌏 International
Please find our global coverage and consider subscribing.
US and Global, written by Nik Milanovic published on Friday’s and Saturday’s.
Europe and UK, written by Michael Jenkins published on Monday’s.
Latin America, written by Christine Chang.
Africa, written by Benjamin Dada.
If you’ve made it this far - thanks! As always, you can always reach me at [email protected]. I’d genuinely appreciate any and all feedback. If you liked what you read, please consider sharing or subscribing.
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