Asia

Netherlands-based Orient Growth Ventures said Thursday it has completed final closing of second fund at $90 million for Southeast Asia and India.

Crypto industry veterans Nischal Shetty and Avinash Shekhar have on Wednesday announced the launch of their new venture, Pi42, India's first Crypto-INR Perpetual Futures Exchange. Pi42 aims to grow as the largest compliant crypto futures platform in the world.

Khyaal, an Indian app for senior citizens, has raised $4.2 million in a seed funding round. The round was co-led by 62Ventures, SVQuad, and Inventus Capital. Glen Tullman, Kanwal Rekhi, Raju Reddy, and Raj-Ann Gill, were also among the distinguished entrepreneurs and investors who participated in this round.

It was a challenging year for fintech investment in theAsia Pacific (ASPAC) region, as it sees its fintech investment fall more than 75 percent, KPMG said Tuesday. According to its Pulse of Fintech report, the region saw $10.8 billion in investment across 882 deals in 2023, compared to $51.3 billion across 1,537 deals in 2022.

Indian live commerce software as a service (SaaS) Swirl has raised $1.1 million in a seed round led by Shastra VC and other renowned Angel Investors. The round also saw participation from accomplished angel investors spanning India, Middle East, and United States.

To help increase access to finance for smaller businesses in Nepal, including women-owned firms, and foster climate-friendly projects, International Finance Corporation (IFC) is investing $56 million in Global IME Bank Limited (GIBL), the largest commercial bank in the country.

“There are market rumours that the negotiations for the potential sale have collapsed,” Deliver Hero said in a statement, according to the report. “We confirm that the negotiations for the potential sale are ongoing.”

Asia United Bank (AUB), a publicly listed banks in the Philippines, has partnered with Alipay+, a China-based cross-border mobile payments and marketing platform by Ant International, to enable scan-to-pay feature for cross-border payments in South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong.

Google India Digital Services (P) Limited and NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to expand the transformative impact of unified payments interface (UPI) to countries beyond India.

Gogoro Inc., a Taiwan-based battery-swapping ecosystems firm has on Wednesday announced it was partnering with Latin American energy company Copec, to launch its battery swapping and Smartscooters in Chile and Colombia in the second quarter of 2024.