A scant few weeks after closing its Series H led by SoftBank Vision Fund, Grab already has its eye on raising a grand total of US$6.5 billion by the end of the year. Before the ride-hailing giant embarks on its next fundraising round though, Grab said that it wants to invest aggressively; publicly committing to making at least 6 investments or acquisitions across the region this year. No doubt, Indonesia will comprise of a significant number of those investments, since Grab already expressed its intentions to focus a portion of its SoftBank cheddar into Go-Jek’s home turf. SoftBank is also…
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According to a report by Business Times (paywall), Ripple will be doubling its staff strength from 12 to 24 this year. This is against the backdrop of an increased rate adoption by its customers from Asia including the likes of CIMB Bank, InstaReM and MoneyMatch. Eric van Miltenburg, SVP Global Operations attributed the decision to an increase of demand from customers from this region. He also shared that part of the focus of new talent drive to help seek out new customers, partners and ways to to work with the market. A glance at Ripple’s job openings shows that 3…
In September last year, Binance, one of the best known crypto exchanges, expressed intentions to set up fiat-to-crypto trading platforms on almost every continent. True to its intentions, Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, announced at a conference in Seoul that Binance Singapore will come online in April—a fiat to crypto exchange servicing the SGD. However, no further details are provided regarding the launch, like what cryptocurrencies are supported for trading and what breadth of servicing will the SGD gain in the island nation. The revelation was also made in a tweet by Binance. https://twitter.com/binance/status/1113631273551982592 Singapore’s regulators, like the Monetary Authority…
The central bank governors in both Thailand and Myanmar has just granted their blessing to the KTB Shewbank, a remittance project that uses blockchain to help reduce costs for Myanmarians in Thailand looking to send money back home to their families. Powered by Everex, a Singapore-based blockchain company, the Krungthai Bank and Shwe Bank Remittance project is a joint service that allows customers to transfer money via smartphones, hopefully creating a reliable platform with competitive exchange rates. The goal for this blockchain project is to solve a key problem for cross-border transfers for the targeted underbanked customers: trust. There are over…
Mitsui Sumitomo an insurance giant hailing from Japan, and they just announced the setup of their global digital hub in Singapore—at its Asia regional office. The digital hub has been established in Singapore since February 2019. The announcement also mentions a global digital hub that just launched in Japan. The digital hub in Singapore should, according to Mitsui Sumitomo, contribute to the development of digital initiatives in ASEAN, by supporting the Asia regional office in developing business strategies. The hub was also set up to help the company figure out how to enhance customer experience in ASEAN markets, in a…
American banking solution vendor NCR Corporation showcased its latest range of self service banking solution recently at Money 20/20. One of the machines in particular caught our attention. Dubbed concept “Kelpie,” the technology allows users to complete banking requests without having to physically touch the terminal. How NCR’s Kelpie works When implemented with a bank, all a user needs to do is key in their transaction in their mobile banking app, hold up their palm to the ATM and take their cash. All that is done without ever needing touch the screen and a nice little bonus is that the…
The various merchants in Changi were probably already on their way towards accepting QR wallet payments one way or another, but a recent agreement may help speed up that process. Changi has inked an agreement with a payments platform, Liquid Group, which will be rolling out unified point-of-sale (POS) for QR payments. As a result, merchants would be able to accept multiple QR payment apps via a single device—both local and international. Some accepted e-wallets would include GrabPay, Liquid Pay, Singtel Dash, Ezi Wallet and PayNow QR bank payment apps, as well as international payment app partners such as WeChat Pay,…
The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) technology across consumer products, enterprises and public service fueled by artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data is often said to bring about a fundamental change in the society from a macro level all the way down the everyday lives of the common folk on the street. This is described by some as the 4th Industrial Revolution, and if history is any indication it will completely revolutionise everything as we know it. Yet, despite the big impact that it will potentially have, the understanding of the subjects is still limited at best, given…
Koku is a foreign exchange fintech that is based in Singapore. And it just raised US$2 million (approximately SG$2.7 million) in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Jason Zeng, co-founder of Tencent Holdings. Jason is also the founder of China-based angel investment company, Decent Capital, which now finances Koku. The funding will be used by the Singaporean fintech for further development of its product, and regional expansion into other Southeast Asian markets. Koku works with non-bank financial intermediaries like remittance service and liquidity providers by providing foreign exchange (FX) technology solutions that allows them to then offer cheaper and quicker remittance…
A Singapore industry group representing the city’s asset management firms, IMAS, has launched an accelerator programme which could position 10 Fintechs to present their solutions in front of leading VC firms, hedge funds, asset management firms and family offices. Applications for the accelerator programme are now open. The Investor Management Association of Singapore (IMAS) announced the launch of the Digital Accelerator Programme (DAP), an accelerator and mentorship programme for Fintechs to help deliver solutions to a variety of challenges befalling the investment management industry. Fintechs selected to take part in the DAP will respond to a given problem and work with a…
As part of a pilot by the Ministry of Law, a Singaporean fintech startup Credit Culture has just launched its cloud-based loan platform, the first pilot licensee to launch its platform for customers. Based on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud, the platform claims to offer a simplified online application process, where fields can be auto-populated based on information from government sites like MyInfo. A credit-scoring engine sifts through the information instantly, and personalised rates are offered to potential customers. However, face-to-face verification is still required at a Credit Culture office before funds are transferred. A Mission to Make Personal Loans…
Despite the cold sting of the crypto winter ICOs and STOs remain popular method of fundraising, a report by PWC indicated that in 2018 alone 1134 ICOs and STOs were completed around the world — double the amount 2017. The of the largest instances seen last year were of course from EOS and Telegram which raised a combined US$ 5.9 billion. Since ICOs and STOs are clearly here to stay we feel it will be worthwhile to take a look at what regulators in Asia are doing in response to this. ICO Regulation Singapore – Regulated In November 2018,…
Malware, cryptocurrency mining, ransomware and drive-by download attacks are the top four cyberthreats in Asia Pacific (APAC), according to a new report by Microsoft. Released last month, the 24th edition of the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIR) suggests that while businesses are increasingly capitalizing on the latest security intelligence and protections to stay ahead in the evolving cybersecurity landscape, APAC continues to be an attractive region for cybercriminals with cryptocurrency mining, ransomware, malware and drive-by download attacks being more frequent in the region than in the rest of the world. “Undoubtedly, cybersecurity is one of the most pressing issues for…
A report recent released by Visa looks at Southeast Asia’s journey towards cashlessness. In it, 43% of Southeast Asia’s respondents expect their country to be completely cashless within the next seven years. This is all tied to reducing friction and providing a better consumer experience, which businesses across the globe have identified as an increasingly important metric for future-proofing their business. With Singapore’s reputation and fintech-friendly status, one would expect the republic to be leaps and bounds beyond its Southeast Asian contemporaries in cashlessness, but Visa’s recent report indicates that this may not be the case. The rates of cashlessness…
ClauseMatch a London based regtech firm announced that it will be expanding its operations into Asia Pacific with Singapore as its regional headquarters. ClauseMatch’s software enables financial institutions and fintechs keep up with regulatory changes. Back home ClauseMatch counts several top-tier financial institutions including the likes of Barclays as their client. Prior to their launch in Singapore, the regtech company struck a deal with Revolut to manage its regulatory compliance Speaking on the matter, ClauseMatch’s CEO, Evgeny Likhoded stated: “Establishing a presence in Singapore is an important milestone for ClauseMatch. Many banks have done expansions by way of acquiring local…
Just a few years ago, everyone and their mothers in tech wanted to brand themselves as “the Uber of [insert industry]”. It was an easy shorthand to refer to an agile new business looking to overthrow entrenched establishments in an age where disruption was the name of the game. Despite recent controversies, Revolut’s Nikolay Storonsky does not shy away from his goal of turning the neo-bank into the “Uber of financial services”, even appointing a former Uber Head of Regional Operations, Eddie Lee, to head Revolut’s regional operations in Asia Pacific. According to his LinkedIn, Eddie Lee was most recently…
Visa announced Finaxar as the winner of the Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI) 2019 during the Singapore finals. Finaxar is perhaps best known for partnering with Lazada to offer financing for its merchants. It was chosen from a group of ten finalist who pitched their solutions to a panel of judges at Visa University Visa Everywhere Initiative is a global innovation programme that tasks start-ups to solve payments and commerce challenges of tomorrow, further enhance their own product propositions and provide visionary solutions for Visa’s vast network of partners. The programme has activated regionally in 75 countries and awarded more than…
Co-founded by former Expedia employees, Singapore-based Travelstop is a modern, artificial intelligence (AI) powered SaaS platform that simplifies business travel, automates expense reporting for businesses in Asia, and offers insights to business owners. The platform is quickly gaining traction from the region’s startups and fintech community, helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and high-growth organizations including Funding Societies, Fintech News Network, RedDoorz, S P Jain School of Global Management and Dot Property better to manage their business travels. According to Prashant Kirtane, co-founder and CEO of Travelstop, the solution aims to cater to the diverse needs of business travel across…
During Money 20/20 today, Grab made a few announcements along the fintech vertical, focusing particularly on areas that have historically proven to show high potential in the SEA region. Two of those efforts, like SME micro-loans and insurtech is already known to the public. Two more announcements however, are a first for the ride-hailing platform that seems to have aspirations towards giving traditional fintechs a run for their money. They are: “Pay Later” Facility for Grab’s Services and Online Shopping Grab made a more serious push towards the lending space in Southeast Asia once it inked its joint venture with Credit…
SC Ventures, the investment arm of Standard Chartered Bank, has created a platform to connect community builders such as startups, investors and accelerators. The SC Ventures Fintech Bridge connects and matches partners from the fintech ecosystem to Standard Chartered’s internal community, where they can propose solutions to challenges posted by the bank’s business units or request for investments. Investors can also use the portal to recommend start-ups to the Standard Chartered for future collaborations. The appeal to the bank here is obvious, as Standard Chartered plays into the general trend of entrenched banks outsourcing their fintech advancement needs to fintech…