PalmPay has reached ten million users in Nigeria. The fintech is geared up to make digital payments more accessible. PayPalm has doubled its user base within just six months, three years after it was founded. It offers users instant financial account creation, fee-free bank transfers and cashback rewards on airtime and bill payments. It has … Read more
The Singapore based Lightnet, focussed on improving the lives of the unbanked and underbanked populations throughout Asia Pacific, has secured a $50m capital commitment from LDA Capital. Lightnet has the option to increase the $50m to a total commitment of up to $100m over the next three years. The money will be used to grow … Read more
Portuguese startup Oscar is looking to Spain, France and Germany to expand. Formed in 2020, it offers users of its app a range of house cleaning services for them and their pets. It boasts over 150 services, including cleaning and the installation of equipment. The app is on the Android (Google) and iOS (Apple) operating … Read more
The global number of NFT (Non-fungible Token) transactions will rise from 24 million in 2022 to 40 million by 2027. The good news comes from research house Juniper, but there are a couple of caveats. Firstly the environment impact on the environment as transactions rely on heavy power usage and the fact that NFTs operate … Read more
Jify has just closed a Series A, raising $10m, led by Accel and Nexus Venture Partnera. Anusha Ramakrishnan, co-founder and COO, Jify, said: “This round of funding will provide Jify with the capabilities to scale within the Indian market. We will be able to build our teams nationally, offer the best in technology and create … Read more
Fintech M-KOPA has signed a deal with Kenyan company Roam to supply electric motorcycles across Africa. M-KOPA, which provides credit and digital financial services to underbanked consumers across Africa, will make possible affordable payment plans, lowering the barrier of entry for many customers. Mikael Gånge, co-founder and chief commercial officer of Roam, said: “We believe … Read more
Israeli-based Remitly Global, a global digital financial services provider for immigrants and their families, has acquired Rewire, an Israeli-based financial services platform for migrant workers. The $80m price tag was a mix cash and stock. Founded in 2015 with offices in Amsterdam and Tel Aviv, Rewire’s remittance platform builds customer relationships and is geographically complementary to Remitly. Rewire’s customers create … Read more
The unbanked in Nigeria are being courted by the eNaira digital currency. So said Nigerian Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele. After the app attracted some 850,000 people who have a bank account, it’s now the turn of the unbanked. The original target for the app was eight million users, but it has fell short as … Read more
The Fintech-as-a-Service platform market size is predicted to grow to around US$949bn by 2028 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of roughly 17% between 2022 and 2028. It was worth some $232.17bn in 2021. So says Zion Market Research.
The number of new companies registering in Portugal in Q2 2022 grew at a healthy 7%, which compares with a 1.2% decline across the rest of Europe. Portugal came only second to Romania, which saw a whopping 22% increase. Lithuania dropped by 8.8% and Denmark by 5.9%. EU declarations of bankruptcies increased by 2.2%, with … Read more
Some 32 million women in Nigeria remain unbanked. What’s more, most of these women live in the north of the country and some 15% of all adult women in Nigeria have to rely on social capital to meet their financial needs. The figures ceom from the Latest Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFINA) report which … Read more
China and fintech have become synonymous with one another as the industry has grown in the country and in Asia more widely. Many use Chinese technology that has been around for years as a case study for embedded and integrated banking into everyday life. COVID-19 has only accelerated that. But there are holes in fintech’s … Read more
Singapore’s Changi airport has grabbed the title of Asis’s busiest airport in Q2 from Hong Kong. Changi handled 7.3 million passengers for the three months ending June, 2022. Compare that to HK’s pre-pandemic levels when for the comparative quarter in 2019, it handled 19.1 million passengers Figures courtesy of Sobie Aviation.
Rwanda’s Bank of Kigali has launched the BK Arena Prepaid Card, giving anyone a visa card for digital payments without having a bank account. The BK Arena Prepaid Card is focussed at the unbanked youth. Users can easily load money onto a prepaid wallet and it can be used like any other bank card.
Catalonia Trade & Investment flagged ten super fast-growing Barcelona-based startups to watch in 2022, via media platform EU-Startups. It said: “Barcelona is one of Europe’s hottest innovation hubs for 2022 and is home to the coolest entrepreneurial events. With an increasingly metropolitan community, made up of highly skilled locals, digital nomads and young professionals, alongside … Read more
