FinTech

Online brokerage Ajaib becomes Indonesia’s latest unicorn after raising $153M Series B round

The Jakarta-based startup has reached a valuation of $1 billion after raising $153 million in a financing round led by DST Global.

Grab to increase stakes in Indonesia-based e-wallet OVO to 90% – report

Grab has increased its holding in Ovo's parent company PT Bumi Cakrawala Perkasa from about 39 percent.

Malaysia-based PayHalal partners Atome to offer ‘Shariah-compliant’ BNPL options in Malaysia, Indonesia

The partnership further enhances the shopping and payment experience of shoppers and supports Muslim retailers and businesses with increased sales amid the pandemic.

Improving the financial literacy of Singapore’s migrant workers

Much of our economy and society is built on the backs of migrant workers. They are equally valuable members of our community and deserve to be treated fairly. The first step to addressing economic and social inequality is to help them improve financial literacy, which will enable them to make more informed choices and open up access to essential financial…

Singapore Heritas Capital Fund II

SBI, Sygnym, Azimut launch $75M digital asset-focused VC fund in Singapore

The fund aims to back digital asset companies across Europe and Southeast Asia, focusing on companies developing distributed ledger technology infrastructure, decentralized finance solutions, and regulatory technology tools.

Singapore skyline SGX SPAC

SGX-backed ADDX tokenizes global private equity fund managed by Partners Group

The EUR5.5 billion Global Value SICAV Fund is the first fund by a major PE firm to be tokenized anywhere in the world.

Zipmex’s Marcus Lim on access, regulation, and innovation in Southeast Asia’s FinTech and blockchain ecosystem [Q&A]

The increased confidence from institutional investors has propelled more retail investors to invest in digital assets. In turn, new financial products and services related to digital assets will be developed which may provide opportunities for both existing and new investors to participate in projects that will be the first of their kind and shape the…

How technology is transforming stock exchanges

For public stock exchanges, the biggest barriers to change are legacy systems and processes. Moving from the legacy system to a blockchain-powered one would require a bold decision to dismantle and write off large parts of the existing machinery.

Ant-backed Ascend Money hits $1.5B valuation with $150M new funding, becomes Thailand’s first tech unicorn

The funds will be used to grow the user base of its e-wallet application - TrueMoney Wallet - and to expand digital financial services, including digital lending, digital investment, and cross-border remittances across Southeast Asia.

Malaysia & Singapore to link real-time payment systems in Q4 2022

The first phase of the DuitNow-PayNow linkage will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2022 and will allow customers of participating financial institutions to make real-time fund transfers between Malaysia and Singapore using just a mobile number.