The Southeast Asian fintech startup has been a dynamic landscape, with countries like China, India, Singapore, and Indonesia emerging as fintech hubs, each with unique strengths and focus areas. Besides, governments across Asia actively work on fintech regulations to balance innovation and consumer protection. In 2023, the industry attracted substantial investments, with strong financial inclusion […]

Former executives of Fave, Joel Neoh and Audra Pakalnyte, have joined forces to launch First Move, an early-stage fund specifically focused on supporting startups that cater to consumers in Southeast Asia.  First Move has a backing of venture capital firm 500 Global and in collaboration with the Consumer Tech Angel Syndicate, a close-knit group of […]

VentureTECH SBI and VentureTECH have jointly invested 10 million Malaysian ringgit ($2.4 million) in Bayo Pay, a licensed Mastercard Non-Bank E-Money Issuer. The funding round, led by VentureTECH SBI, aims to accelerate the growth of Bayo Pay’s core business and bolster its B2B2X white label Digital Payment-as-a-Service solutions, supporting the rise of fintech startups in […]

Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad (Kenanga) has entered into an agreement with AntChain Technology Pte. Ltd. (AntChain), part of the Ant Group, to build Malaysia’s first wealth SuperApp using AntChain’s proprietary mobile platform solution. This agreement follows from its recent MoU with AntChain. Kenanga’s SuperApp aims to help Malaysians save and grow their wealth through its […]

TNG Digital, the owner and operator of Malaysia’s largest e-wallet company Touch ‘n Go eWallet, has raised about $168 million in a its latest equity funding round led by Lazada Group, according to an announcement. This funding round also saw follow-on investment by TNG Digital’s current shareholder and parent company Touch ‘n Go Sdn. Bhd. […]

Boost, the fintech arm of Axiata Group Berhad (Axiata) and RHB Banking Group (RHB) achieved a significant milestone having secured the highly anticipated digital bank licence (DBL) issued by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). In June last year, the partnership between Boost and RHB to form a Digital Bank consortium was announced, with Boost owning a […]

Grab Holdings Limited and Singtel announced that GXS Bank Pte. Ltd., their digital bank joint venture, and a consortium of Malaysian investors including Kuok Brothers Sdn. Bhd (the Malaysia digital bank consortium) has been selected to receive a full digital banking licence in Malaysia, subject to meeting all of Bank Negara Malaysia’s regulatory conditions. Subject […]

Malaysian financial wellbeing platform Payd announced that it has raised $1.7 million in a seed funding round to expand its Southeast Asian operations, fuelling the growth of the region’s financial tech market. The round was led by IFS Capital, with participation from 1982 Ventures and The Hive Southeast Asia. A recipient of the Dana Penjana […]

Indonesia-based P2P lender Modalku has collaborated with BukuWarung, a bookkeeping and digital payments platform to support its 6.5 million MSME users. According to Iwan Kurniawan, Modalku’s Co-Founder& COO, this collaboration is to offer access to financing services to MSMEs for the procurement of goods and services and to help positive business flow. He also added […]

Airwallex, an Australia-founded global financial technology unicorn, announced that it will start offering its payment solutions to Malaysian businesses in early 2022. This, after the company has secured a money services business license from the country’s central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia. The license marks Airwallex’s entry into the Southeast Asia region. The new license will […]