Get your Daily FinTech Crunch. A curated set of news bites about the latest updates on payments, FinTech, DeFi, Crypto, and the world beyond…
- Egypt launched a $50 million venture capital program to finance new and existing investment funds. This means that tech entrepreneurs will get help in establishing their tech projects and apps. rb.gy/cz3s1r
- UAE’s NymCard raised an investment from Mashreq bank. How much, we don’t know. NymCard is a payment issuing and processing platform that helps SMEs create virtual or physical cards for their customers. rb.gy/u51neg
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- Niyo, one of India’s neobanks, has raised $100 million in a financing round, aiding it to expand its offerings. Niyo is adding over 10,000 new users daily and processing over $3 billion in transactions annually. rb.gy/0wjucd
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- Italian BNPL provider Scalapay raised $497 million in a Series B funding led by Tencent and Willoughby Capital. The startup provides interest-free buy now, pay later options. rb.gy/vxihtm
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- Klarna is expanding to Canada with their Pay-in-4 service with zero interest fees. At the same time, the shopping app is making major investments in Canada’s local economy by utilizing local talent and collaborating with local academic institutions. rb.gy/xupund
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- US-based payroll software startup Check has raised $75 million in a Series C funding led by Stripe. rb.gy/pwmf5s
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- NayaPay, a Pakistani fintech platform, has landed a $13 million funding, making it the largest seed funding in South Asia. NayaPay is a multi-service messaging and payment app targeted at businesses in Pakistan. rb.gy/woct9e
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- If you’ve been following the news, you’ve probably noticed that BNPL companies have boomed in recent times. While this helps make payment for more expensive items easier, Zilch CEO Philip Belament wants to build a BNPL 2.0 offering instantaneous deals or surprise cashback offers. rb.gy/u8ioag
- Nu shares slump on Q4 results, a canary to still-private fintechs. Nu, parent to the well-known Latin American neobank Nubank, reported its fourth-quarter and 2021 financial performance yesterday evening to the apparent disappointment of investors. rb.gy/rhhnum
- Bank of America announced it gained more than 2 million active digital clients in 2021. Customers also logged into the bank's digital platforms 10.5 billion times in 2021, an annual increase of 15%. rb.gy/nn7cw3
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- Trōv, an early insurtech that started as a creator of micro-duration policies and evolved into an embedded insurance specialist, announced this morning that The Travelers Companies will acquire its technology assets. rb.gy/8xswbq
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- People are sending Bitcoin to Ukraine's military in aid as Russian attacks continue. A bitcoin wallet listed by a charity organization supporting the Ukrainian military has received more than 19 bitcoins worth around $700,000. rb.gy/j1qwxi
- OpenSea sets a new record as it surpasses $3.5 billion in NFT sales. The NFT marketplace OpenSea has seen its monthly trade volume in Ether (ETH) exceed $3.5 billion, breaking all previous records. rb.gy/ic8gmb
- HSBC: 2021 profits nearly double 2020 profits, despite lower revenue. They reported an annual adjusted before tax profit of $21.9 billion, with an annual EPS of $0.62 on adjusted revenue of $50.1 billion. rb.gy/zoemhq
- Fintech Regulation in the Middle East and North Africa: In this report, Cambridge Judge Business School looks into how fintech and wider Digital Financial Services challenges have been met by the regulatory efforts and regulatory innovation initiatives across MENA region jurisdictions. rb.gy/ljlk7m
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