Hi fintech friends, I'm Osborne, investor in early stage startups.
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🧐🏆 Posts of the Week
This is pretty cool. Not having to save card details on every website is a huge plus.
Finally an innovation beyond UPI. https://t.co/MkLBuwMJFK— Saps (@saptarshinath) December 4, 2025
cash on delivery as short-term credit (from @thearc_hq's interview of @viditaatrey) pic.twitter.com/WLBrWhKJes— anmol maini (@anmolm_) December 4, 2025
It's a well known fact that Indian households have gold worth $3trillion but it's often assumed only few rich household have all the gold. In fact Gold is the only asset which is well distributed among all households in India unlike FDs, MFs, equity etc. pic.twitter.com/4kyWgaaRuC— Deepak Abbot (@deepakabbot) December 4, 2025
₹@90. The proximate reason: foreign selling of Indian stocks both FPI & PE under FDI. Indian investors buying. Time will tell who is smarter. For now foreigners seem smarter. 1 year nifty $ return is 0. But this a long game. Time for Indian business to shake out of comfort zone.— Uday Kotak (@udaykotak) December 3, 2025
In 50 BC, the Romans began the first minting of pure gold coins called Aureus. To date, the symbol for gold in the periodic table, Au, comes from the Roman word for gold coinage.#TIL— Saqib (@Quizbuff) May 23, 2024
📈 Chart of the week
Source: IMF Report
🇮🇳 India
📰 Market Updates
Jar, an investments and savings startup, reduced net loss to INR 50.5 Cr ($5.6M) and increased operating revenue to INR 2,448 Cr ($272M) in FY25.
Pine Labsreported net profit of INR 6cr ($0.67M) in Q2 Fy26, growing operating revenue by 18% to INR 650cr ($72M) with transaction value reaching $48bn.
PhonePe's Pincode discontinued its B2C shopping app to focus exclusively on B2B solutions for offline merchants in India.
India's consumer durable lending market experienced muted growth in Oct 2025 despite festive sales, with total outstanding loans growing only 1% YoY and stringent lending practices limiting disbursals.
GIFT Citymanaged $100bn in assets as of Nov, 2025.
UIDAIrecorded 231 cr (2.3bn) Aadhaar authentication transactions in Nov 2025, representing 8.5% YoY growth driven by face authentication and e-KYC services.
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)launched Banking Connect platform to improve net banking transaction data reporting and interoperability for Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
NPCIannounced live programmable Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) with targeted subsidy transfer capabilities.
Sberbank, Russia's largest lender, planned branch expansion in India, investment in government bonds, and increased bilateral trade engagement.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI)reported term deposits above 7% fell from 73% in March to 54% in September 2025 due to policy rate changes.
Indian banks increased lending to higher-risk segments like personal and micro-enterprise loans to maintain Net Interest Margins (NIMs).
Razorpaysecured RBI Payments Cross-Border License, enabling Indian businesses to accept 130+ currencies and global companies to enter India seamlessly.
Growwinvested INR 104cr ($12M) into Fisdom to diversify revenue streams and strengthen wealth management capabilities after its Oct 2025 acquisition.
ICICI Prudential Asset Management Companyobtained regulatory approval from SEBI for its INR 10,000 crore ($1.1bn) Initial Public Offering (IPO).
🚀 Product Launches
Razorpaylaunched a no-code payment automation node with n8n
Raise Financial Serviceslaunched Artham, a Small Language Model (SLM) trained exclusively on Indian financial markets.
Pine Labslaunched Tap to Pay on smartphones, a new online payment system eliminating CVVs and OTPs through patented technology.
📝 Regulatory Updates
Reserve Bank of Indiaprocessed 23,325 license applications.
Reserve Bank of Indiaissued ten amendment directions to improve credit information reporting frequency and accuracy.
Reserve Bank of Indiaissued updated Gold Metal Loans regulations to streamline operations.
SEBIintroduced Single Window Automatic & Generalised Access for Trusted Foreign Investors (SWAGAT-FI), simplifying regulatory processes for low-risk foreign investment entities.
Cayman Islandsoffered to sign memorandum of understanding (MoUs) with SEBI and GIFT City regulators to facilitate transparent global investment exchanges, representing $15Bn in current Indian investments.
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technologyblocked 87 illegal loan lending applications.
Reserve Bank of Indiamandated mobile and internet banking services for basic savings accounts without additional charges.
💰 Financing Announcements
MoneyView, a consumer credit startup, raised $75 million in Series D funding from Winter Capital, Evolvence India, and existing investors in 2023.
Ambit's wealth management division raised INR 285 crore ($32M) for a 15% stake from Daiwa Securities.
Finfactor, the holding company of Finvu an Account Aggregator (AA) operator, raised $15M.
StockGro, an investment learning platform, raised INR 145cr (USD 17M) at a $362M valuation.
Mannjal, a co-lending SaaS startup, raised INR 17.5 cr ($2M).
ACQUISITION:
Credlix, the fintech arm of B2B commerce platform Moglix, acquired a majority stake in Vanik Finance for INR 80 crore ($9.3M) to expand Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSME) lending capabilities across India.
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🌏 Asia
📰 Market Updates
Ripplepartnered with RedotPay to launch stablecoin payment feature enabling fast XRP and crypto-to-NGN remittances.
Stakk, an Australian fintech infrastructure startup, signed a multi-year Master Services Agreement with Panacea Financial to provide embedded finance infrastructure for mobile document processing and transaction orchestration.
UnionPay International and NAPASlaunched cross-border QR payment pilot enabling Chinese tourists to make cashless payments in Vietnam.
CIMB Groupgrew net profit to $502.6M in Q3 2025, with non-interest income rising 20.3% QoQ.
Pakistan's fintech sector raised $391M in venture capital, ranking third globally in crypto adoption and expanding digital banking operations.
YouTrip, a Singaporean multi-currency wallet startup, launched operations in Australia, marking third market entry after Singapore and Thailand.
Fingular, Singapore-based neobanking startup, crossed $150M in consumer financing through Malaysian brand Tambadana, processing 600,000 individual cases with double-digit monthly growth.
FinVolutionsecured multi-million-peso credit facility from HSBC to extend financial services to underserved Filipinos through technology-driven credit assessment.
OCBCpartnered with UnionPay International to launch scan-and-pay merchant QR codes in China.
NH NongHyup Bank in South Korea completed a blockchain-based cross-border payments pilot using Partior's platform with J.P. Morgan as settlement bank.
Circle Asia Technologies, Visa, and Pismo partnered to launch an AI-powered PayLater virtual credit card in Vietnam for early 2026 rollout.
Mastercardintroduced Credit Intelligence, an analytics suite helping lenders assess consumers and small businesses more efficiently across multiple markets.
DANA Indonesialaunched a verified digital wallet for teens aged 13-17, addressing financial inclusion gaps and supporting responsible digital finance participation.
HitPaypartnered with Visa Acceptance Solutions to enable Philippine SMEs to process in-store and online transactions without bank contracts.
FIUU, a Singaporean payments startup, launched tap-to-pay functionality for iPhone users in Singapore.
InvestiFipartnered with Sesimi to deliver scalable, compliant marketing assets for financial institutions.
Thai authorities seized over $300M in assets from Prince Holding Group and related suspects involved in regional cyber scam operations.
Monetary Authority of Singaporecracked down on financial product promotion by social media influencers.
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) expandedRipple's payment activities scope under its major payment institution licence in Singapore.
Pakistanenforced strict Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) regulations, mandating full tracking of crypto transactions exceeding PKR 1M.
Thunesobtained In-Principle Approval from Monetary Authority of Singapore to expand Major Payment Institution licence scope
💰 Financing Announcements
Tonik, a digital banking startup, raised $12M.
ACQUISITION:
Embed Financial, a Singapore fintech infrastructure startup, planned US listing via SPAC with WinVest Acquisition Corp at $425M enterprise value.
Global InsurTech bolttechacquired Kenya-based digital insurance platform mTek to strengthen its presence and embedded insurance capabilities in Africa.
Roadzen, an insurance underwriting and fraud management startup, acquired majority stake in EliteCover Insurance Solutions.
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