Malaysia to announce digital bank license winners next month – report
Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) targets to announce the winners of its digital banking licenses next month, according to the central bank's governor Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus.
“We are in the ‘advanced stage’ of assessing the applications for digital banks and we target to announce the digital banks with the publication of our annual report at the end of March,” she said during the central bank's…
Binance and Netmarble F&C sign MoU for strategic partnership to build a global P2E and NFT ecosystem
Blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider Binance has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a strategic partnership with Netmarble F&C, a subsidiary of Netmarble Corp., to build a global Play to Earn (P2E) ecosystem and non-fungible token (NFT) offering.
Through the strategic partnership, the two teams will develop and contribute to the…
Malaysian fintech startup IIMMPACT raises $2 million funding from Sequoia India’s Surge
Malaysian-based fintech company IIMMPACT announced Wednesday a seed funding of $2 million by Sequoia India’s Surge, a rapid scale-up program for startups in Southeast Asia and India.
IIMMPACT is Surge’s first startup founded and based in Malaysia.
IIMMPACT said in a statement that the funding will be used to accelerate product development and expand hiring.
“Despite the leaps we’ve…
Indian payment platform Razorpay buys majority stake in Malaysian fintech firm Curlec
Razorpay, an India-based payments and banking platform for businesses, announced Tuesday its first international expansion into South-East Asia with the acquisition of a majority stake in Curlec, a Malaysian fintech firm, for an undisclosed amount.
This marks Razorpay’s fourth acquisition overall and its first in international waters, taking one step closer to becoming a fintech leader in…
Vietnamese investing app Infina closes $6M in seed funding from Sequoia India’s Surge, Y Combinator, Saison Capital and more
Vietnam-focused retail investing app Infina announced Tuesday that it has closed $6 million in seed funding from investors such as Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, Y Combinator, Saison Capital, Starling Ventures, Alpha JWC, and AppWorks.
Additional investors who have backed Robinhood, Coinbase, and similar models in other markets also participated in the funding, Infina said in a statement.……
Japanese VC firm Genesia Ventures raises $90M in first close of third fund to invest in Japan, SE Asia
Japanese venture capital firm Genesia Ventures announced Monday the first close of its new fund, Genesia Venture Fund 3 Investment Limited Partnership, with a total amount of approximately $90 million.
Similar to the first and second funds, the third fund is focused on investments in pre-seed and seed stage startups in Japan and Southeast Asia (SEA), Genesia Ventures said in a statement.
It…
Indonesian quick commerce startup Bananas raises $1.5M seed funding led by East Ventures
Bananas, a quick commerce startup based in Indonesia, announced Monday that it has secured $1 million in seed funding led by East Ventures, with the participation from SMDV, ARISE, MDI Ventures and a few angel investors.
Bananas said in a statement that it has also been accepted into the prestigious YCombinator Winter 2022 batch that has a 2 percent acceptance rate among tech startups who…
Resilience, adaptability & speed to scale are essential in navigating today’s business challenges, says Quest Ventures’ James Tan [ORIGIN Innovation Awards Q&A]
In this quick TechNode Global Q&A with James Tan, Managing Partner at Quest Ventures, we gain some insights on trends driving innovation in the region, as well as a few example companies making an impact on sustainability, social commerce, and finance.
A winner of the Movers & Shakers - People's Choice VC award at the ORIGIN Innovation Awards, Quest Ventures is a top venture capital…
Indonesian open finance fintech Ayoconnect raises $15M led by Tiger Global
Indonesian open finance platform Ayoconnect said Monday it has closed a $15 million series B financing round led by Tiger Global.
The round was joined by PayU, the payments and fintech business of Prosus, and Alto Partners, as well as individual strategic investors, including Plaid Co-Founder William Hockey and Jerry Ng, President Commissioner of Bank Jago, Ayoconnect said in a statement.…
AirAsia changes name to Capital A to reflect new core strategy
Malaysia's AirAsia Group Berhad has on Friday announced a name change for the group holding company to become Capital A Berhad, to reflect the group’s new core business strategy as an investment holding company with a portfolio of synergistic travel and lifestyle businesses, which have rapidly transformed the AirAsia brand into much more than just an airline.
Capital A said in a statement that…