Tagged: southeast asia

ASEAN GenAI Funding Expected to Surge 50% in 2025, GenAI Fund Reports

Funding for the generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) sector in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is projected to increase by 50 percent year-over-year in 2025, according to the latest report from GenAI Fund. The “ASEAN GenAI Startup Report 2024” attributes this anticipated growth to… Read More

Southeast Asia Tech Startups See 59% Funding Drop in Jan-Sept 2024, Report Finds

Southeast Asia’s technology startup sector experienced a significant downturn in funding during the first nine months of 2024, plunging 59% compared to the same period last year, a report released by Tracxn revealed. The report highlighted that Southeast Asian (SEA) tech startups secured a total… Read More

London’s Fintech TerraPay Teams Up with Vietnam Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank

Vietnam Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (HoSE: MSB) has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with TerraPay, a global money movement company. This collaboration will bring digital payment solutions and data capabilities “to help MSB enhance efficiency and offer the best payment service experience to customers… Read More

Fintech Pine Labs Announces Strategic Organizational Restructuring

Industry veteran and Pine Labs’ Chief Transformation Officer Sumit Chopra transitions to a new role of COO – Pine Labs, Digital Payments. In this new role, Sumit will lead the digital payments business “for the company and will spearhead sales, customer experience, and operational excellence.”… Read More

Fintech Investment Platform Helicap Acquires $4.3 Million via Series B 

Helicap has raised $4.3 million in Series B funding that has been led by Kenanga Investors. Helicap, a fintech investment platform, has acquired $4.3 million via its Series B  round, as disclosed in regulatory filings. Kenanga Investors, which is a subsidiary of Malaysia-based Kenanga Investment… Read More

Singapore’s Younger Generations Are Reportedly Leading the Shift to Digital Payments – Research Report

Digital payment trends are said to be picking up in Singapore with Gen Z leading shift, according to a report. Currently, two-thirds (68%) of Singapore’s Generation Z “prefer to pay with PayNow and close to 3 out of 10 use GrabPay (29%). New research by… Read More

SE Asia Personal Finance Firm MoneySmart Rejects MoneyHero’s Acquisition Bid

MoneySmart Group, a personal finance company in Southeast Asia, has rejected MoneyHero Group’s unsolicited, non-binding offer to acquire 100% of its shares. The offer, which MoneySmart’s board deemed neither serious nor credible, was dismissed unanimously due to its misalignment with the company’s strategic objectives and the… Read More

Global Fintech Thunes Explains How Philippines Is Emerging as Digital Payments Hub in Southeast Asia

Global Fintech Thunes noted that the Philippines is swiftly emerging as a fast-growing digital payments hub in Southeast Asia, fueled by significant advancements in its financial sector. Thunes explained in a blog post that government initiatives, particularly from the BSP, have driven “a surge in… Read More

Southeast Asia’s Super App Provider Grab Releases Business Update Including Progress of Financial Services Unit

Grab Holdings Limited (NASDAQ: GRAB) announced unaudited financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024. Anthony Tan, Group Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Grab said: “We continued to harness the strength of the Grab ecosystem, and improved the usage frequency and reliability… Read More

SEC in Thailand Introduces Digital Asset Regulatory Sandbox to Suppot Development of Innovations

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Thailand is introducing the Digital Asset Regulatory Sandbox to facilitate experiments and the development of innovations supporting the efficient provision of digital asset services in the real-life context. Interested parties are welcome to “participate in the Sandbox to… Read More

Kenny Chan from StraitsX Explains How Stablecoins Could Impact Global Financial Ecosystem

  Kenny Chan, GM at StraitsX, recently shared key insights with Crowdfund Insider. StraitsX is a payments infrastructure for the digital assets space in Southeast Asia. The company is also a Major Payment Institution licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and is part of… Read More

Southeast Asia Fintech Funding Falls 25% in H1 2024

Total funding for Southeast Asian (SEA) Fintech startups dropped 25% to $899 million in the first half of 2024 from $1.2 billion in the same period last year, according to a report released by Tracxn. The global SaaS-based market intelligence platform’s “Geo Semi-Annual Report: SEA… Read More

Fintech WeLab to Expand Hong Kong and Southeast Asia Operations

Hong Kong City

WeLab, a pan-Asian fintech platform, announced strategic actions in Southeast Asia markets and Hong Kong to propel growth, scale and profitability. These initiatives are fortifying a robust foundation to support WeLab’s accelerated growth. WeLab’s overseas expansion strategy is “on the fast track as its Hong… Read More

Tech Funding in SE Asia Slows, With Significant Declines in FinTech, Late-Stage Investments

Southeast Asia’s tech sector has experienced a pronounced slowdown in funding during the first half of 2024, securing only $1.6 billion—a sharp 65% decline from the $4.5 billion raised in the same period last year, according to Tracxn’s latest “Geo Semi-Annual Report: SEA Tech H1… Read More

Monetary Authority of Singapore and National Bank of Cambodia Announce Financial Transparency Corridor Initiative

Singapore at Night Marina Bay

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) announced the start of the Financial Transparency Corridor (FTC) initiative between Singapore and Cambodia. The FTC commemoration event was “held at Istana, Singapore, and was presided over by Lawrence WONG, Prime Minister… Read More

Southeast Asia’s Grab Now Helping 35.5M Consumers with Everyday Services Including Making Digital Payments

In 2023—as economies fully reopened and travel resumed—Grab (NASDAQ: GRAB) says that its mobility business rebounded and their deliveries business showed remarkable resilience amidst rising inflation. Grab claims that they grew their user base. As of December 2023, 35.5 million people leverage their platform “to… Read More

Anchorage Digital Singapore Announces Compliance with MAS Custody Regulation

Anchorage Digital Singapore is pleased to be the “first” crypto custodian to announce compliance with Singapore digital asset custody regulation by receiving an exemption in respect to its digital payment token (DPT) custody service from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The exemption as set… Read More

Southeast Asia’s Super App Grab Reports Steady Business Growth

Grab Holdings Limited (NASDAQ: GRAB) announced unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024. Anthony Tan, Group Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Grab said: “Our focus on product-led growth is bearing fruit, with On-Demand GMV scaling to new highs in spite… Read More

Digital Payments: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand Have Reportedly Implemented Domestic Instant Payment Schemes with Strong Adoption

Many countries have launched or are in the process of launching instant payment rails, which are transforming how payments are made and processed, the researchers at Juniper Research noted. However, one key limitation with national payment rails is “that they can only facilitate payments domestically,… Read More

Salmon Partners with ECPay to Enhance Financial Access in SE Asia

Salmon Group Ltd, a Fintech group in Southeast Asia, has announced a strategic partnership with ECPay, a provider of electronic payment systems in the Philippines. This collaboration aims to broaden financial accessibility for over 500 million underserved individuals in the region, particularly those without traditional… Read More

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