Press Release

BANGKOK, Dec. 11, 2019 -- Sunday, a leading full-stack insurtech based in Thailand, has raised a USD 11 million extension round to its Series A financing. The round was led by Quona Capital, a leading fintech venture firm whose funds are anchored by Accion, with participation from existing investor Vertex. The new funding will provide growth capital to enable Sunday to expand its business and build enhancements to its proprietary core technology, which utilizes machine learning to price premiums for health, motor, and travel insurance in real time. More information is available at <a href="http://www.easysnday.com">www.easysnday.com</a>.

Launched in 2017, Sunday offers end-to-end insurance products and services powered by its machine-learning risk prediction engines, and aims to serve all of its customers as the "one-stop insurance shop" for healthcare, mobile gadgets, motor vehicle and travel insurance.

"Over the last two years, Sunday has been laser-focused on redesigning the entire insurance journey using data and technology," said Sunday co-founder and CEO Cindy Kua. "Today we're proud to be able to deliver personalised coverage and superior customer experiences from initial insurance purchase all the way through to any claims, whether on the Sunday system or through its partner channels."

The new funding will enable Sunday to further grow its AI and tech development efforts, especially in healthcare, according to Kua. "We've invested considerable effort already to build a company that we believe is uniquely positioned to manage evolving risks within a highly localized Southeast Asian market like Thailand, and we're excited to grow these efforts further with the support of Quona Capital," she added.

"Insurance is such a vital part of how people all over the world achieve financial resilience," says Ganesh Rengaswamy, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Quona Capital. "Quona Capital is proud to back Sunday to not only make insurance more readily available to Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia, but to do so in a way that is consumer-friendly, fairly priced and transparent for users."

"Cindy Kua brings a profusion of industry expertise and leadership skills to Sunday. We are super excited about the company's potential to become a preeminent player in the region, and very much look forward to collaborating with Sunday's team," added Quona Capital's Daniel Bertoli.

Chua Kee Lock, Managing Partner at Vertex Ventures SEA and India said, "We have witnessed insurtech startups disrupt the traditional insurance industry in the West and in China. Indeed, we are excited to see the same phenomenon in Southeast Asia. Sunday has a good head start and has gained significant traction in the Thai ecosystem, but this represents only a drop in the ocean.  Looking ahead, we welcome new investors as we continue to grow the Company's footprint in Southeast Asia."

Currently available Sunday solutions include real-time health, motor and travel insurance premium pricing, employee health benefits platforms for corporate entities and their employees, mobile-first claims platforms for motor and health insurance, and a travel insurance pricing platform for travel agencies, among others. Collectively, the industries addressed by Sunday's insurtech solution -- which include a range of businesses in manufacturing and trade, retail and service industries -- power more than 87% of Thailand's GDP.
###
About Sunday

Sunday is a fully-integrated sales and services insurtech that uses artificial intelligence and digital platforms to offer personalised insurance products and services that suit all types of individual and business risks. Here to reinvent the entire insurance value chain, the company offers its end-to-end solutions via its partners and proprietary distribution channels.

More information: <a href="http://www.easysunday.com">www.easysunday.com</a>

About Quona Capital

Quona Capital is a scale-up stage venture firm focused on fintech for inclusion in emerging markets. Quona partners have deep experience as investors and operators in both emerging and developed markets, and look for entrepreneurs whose companies have the potential to provide outstanding financial returns and promote breakthrough innovation in financial inclusion. To date, Quona has supported more than 25 financial technology companies expanding access for underserved consumers and small businesses in Latin America, India and Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Quona got its start through a strategic relationship with Accion, a global nonprofit with a pioneering legacy in microfinance and fintech impact investing. The firm has offices in Washington D.C., Bangalore, Cape Town, Mexico City and Singapore. More information: <a href="http://www.quona.com">www.quona.com</a>

"Sunday" the Southeast Asian Insurtech Raises USD 11 Million Series A2 Led by Quona Capital

Vikas Raj

News

There's a key new player in the global financial services space. I'll call them the Platform Fintechs – or the “PlatFins.” Super platform technology companies (most famously Facebook, Google, Tencent, Alibaba, and their ilk) are playing an increasingly central role in the financial lives of consumers everywhere, including those that have been kept out of the financial system. The question of the role PlatFins will play in inclusive finance is a critical one for us at Accion Venture Lab — and also for the fintech startups that have already been working to make digital financial services available for all.
PlatFins initiate relationships with consumers for many reasons — they can start with ride-hailing like Go-Jek in Indonesia, food delivery like Rappi in Brazil and Postmates in the US, or even B2B sales like Alibaba in China and IndiaMart in India. But all of them end up as an app (or several) on hundreds of millions of consumers' phones, connecting the supply and demand of core services . Over time, these companies provide other services — Go-Jek offers auto-care, Alibaba provides chat and e-commerce (and just about everything else). Ultimately, many of these platforms become PlatFins, incorporating a slew of financial services that are highly relevant to the consumers they have started to know so well.

Most of these companies start by solving a hard problem that isn’t financial services — like moving things around cities with poor infrastructure. They begin to incorporate financial services in their offerings early on because they need to — fluid and digital payments are critical to the ability of the platform itself to operate optimally. Part of what makes Uber so popular is that you don’t need to pull out cash to pay. The same goes for an e-commerce transaction on Amazon. These companies are solving payments because they need to. They are then coming to the natural conclusion that they can do more.

Read more at <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/vikasraj/2019/11/20/platform-fintechs-are-cominghow-should-startups-respond/#3b45718a2b0f">Forbes</a>.

Platform Fintechs Are Coming - How Should Startups Respond?

Michael Schlein

There are 3,000 million people in the world who lack access to the global financial system. Data analysis of the digital revolution is changing the landscape and support and investment is being found in some of the most creative companies in the world.

When it came to business, transactions used to be too small to be commercially viable, an obstacle to their growth. This is no longer a problem for startups that, with the support of technology, have removed distance barriers.

Michael Schlein, CEO of <a href="https://www.accion.org/">Accion</a> tells us “There is a real pioneer gap where ideas are obtained, entrepreneurs who are initially funded through friends and family; however, after that it is very difficult to reach the next level."

Read more at <a href="https://www.promagazine.mx/inversion-y-crecimiento-fintech/">PRO Magazine</a>.

Investment and growth fintech

Mastercard, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services Offer Candid CEO Insights, 50 Actions That Can Spark Positive Change and Innovation

PURCHASE, N.Y.--(<a href="https://www.businesswire.com/" rel="nofollow">BUSINESS WIRE</a>)--Innovation is a prized concept across the business world. It’s a word many people use to draw eyeballs and support recruitment activities. But, has anyone ever really stopped to think about what innovation is and how it can drive a business?

Mastercard and Harvard Business Review Analytic Services today unveiled Become 2020, the inaugural edition of an innovation-focused research initiative. Become includes the Business Innovators Index and an associated report, Innovators Become Leaders, which explores the key differentiators that separate the leading innovators from their peers.

“It’s more important than ever for companies of any size to be innovative and creative. It’s our lifeblood,” said Ajay Banga, president and CEO of Mastercard. “This study offers insights and experience from several of the world’s leading thinkers to help others spark the creativity and culture to drive their business.”

Understanding Innovation

Over the past six months, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services (HBRAS) asked more than 1,000 executives how their organizations approach innovation across five key areas – process, human capital, funding, customer experience, and data and technology. Additionally, more than 1,000 global consumers were surveyed to see whether businesses are properly prioritizing what matters most to their customers.

After analyzing the responses, HBRAS developed the Business Innovators Index, with 100 representing the peak of innovative strategy, frameworks and behaviors. The study revealed that while most organizations understand the importance of innovation for growth and success, the majority do not effectively execute on their ideas.

Using the organizations’ self-reported responses to 40 behavioral and attitudinal questions, three groups were identified:
<ul class="bwlistdisc">
 	<li>Leaders – possessing the broadest range of innovation capabilities. This group had a mean innovation score of 88</li>
 	<li>Followers – having capabilities in some innovation pillars. They had a mean innovation score of 66 and represented 42 percent of all respondents</li>
 	<li>Laggards – lacking a wide range of innovation capabilities. This group had a mean innovation score of 37</li>
</ul>
Activating Insights

The report identified several key ways companies can embrace, launch or reinvent their innovation journeys:
<ul class="bwlistdisc">
 	<li>Speed Wins: Innovators need to think in quarters and weeks, not years. Nearly all (96 percent) of innovation leaders bring new ideas and solutions to market quickly as opposed to 17 percent of laggards</li>
 	<li>Data as an Accelerant: Real innovators draw insights from multiple data sources, as business intuition alone does not scale. In fact, 73 percent of leaders draw from both internal and external data sources</li>
 	<li>Prioritize Now: Innovation can’t be an afterthought. Nearly 90 percent of innovation leaders prioritize their efforts at the highest levels of the company. This helps ensure the right budget and buy-in to feel more than incremental improvements</li>
 	<li>Culture Counts: Organizations need to empower employees to act like entrepreneurs. Not only does this create a culture willing to accept risk, but it leads to a broader pipeline of ideas, as seen by 84 percent of innovation leaders</li>
 	<li>Focus, Focus, Focus: Nearly half of consumers say that they expect companies to develop new products, services and features to meet their needs. Organizations need to prioritize breakthrough ideas or risk falling behind customer demands</li>
</ul>
“Throughout life, we are all on a journey to figure out what we can do more and what we can become. One of the reasons we are drawn to innovation is because we want the world tomorrow to be better than the world today,” said David S. Ricketts, innovation fellow at the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard University. “Corporations have driven most of the innovations we’ve seen and Become 2020 draws the roadmap for how organizations should continue to do so in the year ahead –with diversity, accountability and a clear creative vision.”

Master Class from the World’s Leading CEOs

As a special companion piece to the report, Mastercard and HBRAS also developed The CEO’s Innovation Playbook, a look at 50 actions that can spark change, according to 12 of world’s most prestigious chief executives. These executives represent some of today’s leading organizations, including Accion, Bass Pro Shops, Citi, The Coca-Cola Company, IBM, Lyft, PayPal, Ronald McDonald House, Salesforce, ServiceNow, University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Verizon.

“Innovation is at the core of everything that Accion does. In order to meet the financial needs of the three billion people who are left out of, or poorly served by, the global financial system, we must disrupt the status quo,” said Michael Schlein, president and CEO of global nonprofit Accion. “We are constantly rethinking how to harness new trends to create better, faster, cheaper and safer financial services for the underserved. These insights will help us continue to embrace innovation in pursuit of our mission.”

University of Maryland, Baltimore County president Freeman Hrabowski added, "As a university focused on impact, we've found that innovation happens when we take an honest look in the mirror, leverage data to help assess our efforts, and stay focused on our values."

To download the full Become 2020 reports – Innovators Become Leaders and The CEO’s Innovation Playbook – please visit <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.becomeindex.com%2F&amp;esheet=52123351&amp;newsitemid=20191105005552&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=BecomeIndex.com&amp;index=1&amp;md5=cbfaf1f4d2011d56a6cc32b2dc1122e2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect">BecomeIndex.com</a> or <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fhbr.org%2Fhbr-analytic-services&amp;esheet=52123351&amp;newsitemid=20191105005552&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=HBR.org&amp;index=2&amp;md5=10243ed5522a3f5998845dfbccc472f7" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect">HBR.org</a>.
###
About Mastercard

Mastercard (NYSE: MA), <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mastercard.com%2F&amp;esheet=52123351&amp;newsitemid=20191105005552&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=www.mastercard.com&amp;index=3&amp;md5=521c5f3e08c8f53ad620041defd8be2e" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect">www.mastercard.com</a>, is a technology company in the global payments industry. Our global payments processing network connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. Mastercard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FMastercardNews&amp;esheet=52123351&amp;newsitemid=20191105005552&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=%40MastercardNews&amp;index=4&amp;md5=4abc19d914118b61b52600dfe6986a63" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect">@MastercardNews</a>, join the discussion on the <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewsroom.mastercard.com%2Fblog%2F&amp;esheet=52123351&amp;newsitemid=20191105005552&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=Beyond+the+Transaction+Blog&amp;index=5&amp;md5=c0b2913397f8dd6d3d2fb9563e3aa14d" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect">Beyond the Transaction Blog</a> and <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewsroom.mastercard.com%2Fsubscribe%2F&amp;esheet=52123351&amp;newsitemid=20191105005552&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=subscribe&amp;index=6&amp;md5=81808de8528d2681a60441612ae95d85" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect">subscribe</a> for the latest news on the <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewsroom.mastercard.com%2F&amp;esheet=52123351&amp;newsitemid=20191105005552&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=Engagement+Bureau&amp;index=7&amp;md5=0ba9b46a562c8e8f38211120bf2c9682" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect">Engagement Bureau</a>.

&nbsp;

Contacts

Mastercard Communications
Jennifer Langione
<a href="mailto:jennifer.langione@mastercard.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect">jennifer.langione@mastercard.com</a>
+1 914-408-2941

New Study Highlights Five Traits of Leading Innovators

This is one of our Fintech From A Peak Interviews, where we talk to people making a big difference in people’s lives with fintech services,
<a href="https://www.accion.org/about">Accion</a>, founded in 1961, is hardly an overnight sensation. This is a story of quietly doing the right thing for a long time and then suddenly the world catches up. Today Accion is still focused on the same mission from 1961, but it is using the latest financial technology. This is Fintech4us (the original name for Daily Fintech in 2014) ie fintech being used to change the lives of billions of people. 
<a href="https://dailyfintech.com/author/bernardlunn/">Bernard Lunn</a> is a Fintech deal-maker, investor, entrepreneur and advisor. He is CEO of Daily Fintech and author of <a href="https://dailyfintech.com/building-the-blockchain-economy-series/">The Blockchain Economy</a>.
The pioneering work of <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2017/10/6/muhammad_yunus_on_microfinance_grameen_bank">Muhammad Yunus on Microfinance, with Grameen Bank in Bangladesh</a> is well known. Less well known is that Accion was doing similar work in Latin America around the same time.  The organization began in Venezuela and began to lend in Brazil during the early 1970s.
So we were excited to talk to Accion’s CEO.Michael Schlein and to share that knowledge with the Daily Fintech community.
Read more at <a href="https://dailyfintech.com/2019/11/04/fintech-based-inclusion-before-it-was-famous-interview-with-accion-ceo-michael-schlein/">Daily Fintech</a>.

Fintech based inclusion before it was famous – interview with Accion CEO Michael Schlein

The Global Microscope, which has been published since 2007 and is considered the global standard for the analysis of the environment for financial inclusion in developing countries, is prepared by The Economist Intelligence Unit.

Colombia , Peru, Uruguay and Mexico lead the 2019 ranking on the environment for financial inclusion among developing countries globally, an index that focuses on regulation, political strategies and infrastructure, the Inter-American Development Bank announced Thursday (IDB) .

Within the framework of the Foromic celebration , the main event on innovation for the inclusion of Latin America and the Caribbean that is being held these days in Punta Cana (Dominican Republic), the IDB's innovation laboratory highlighted that these four countries incorporate "approaches digital "in their environments.

Read more at <a href="http://El Espectador">El Espectador</a>.

Colombia leads environment for regional financial inclusion

Tahira Dosani

Seed-stage investor <a class="color-link" href="https://www.accion.org/how-we-work/invest/accion-venture-lab" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ga-track="ExternalLink:https://www.accion.org/how-we-work/invest/accion-venture-lab">Accion Venture Lab</a> recently announced that it was adding $33 million to its initial capital pool of $10 million. That included $23 million raised from such heavy-hitters as Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations and Prudential Financial, plus $10 million from Accion. For some investors, it’s the first seed fund they’ve participated in.
Accion Venture Lab was launched in 2012 by the nonprofit microfinance pioneer Accion with the goal of investing catalytic capital in early-stage fintech companies focused on providing financial services to underserved populations. For every dollar Accion Venture Lab has invested, its portfolio companies have raised an additional $13 in equity capital from later-stage investors, according to Accion.

While most of Accion’s investments have so far been in emerging markets, about 20% of its portfolio is in U.S.-based companies. One of the new fund’s first investments, in fact, is Austin-based <a class="color-link" href="https://joust.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ga-track="ExternalLink:https://joust.com/">Joust</a>, which has a platform that provides freelancers, sole proprietors and small and midsized businesses with financial services to help them manage and smooth their cash flows.

Accion Venture Lab Managing Director Tahira Dosani recently talked to me about the new fund, the need for seed-stage financing and the emergence of inclusive fintech companies.

What was the impetus for starting Accion Venture?

Accion Venture Lab was created to address a huge capital gap at the early stage for startups, particularly in emerging markets. It was hard to find someone willing to be that first institutional investor for startups serving a new market. There wasn’t a lot of data, a sense of what the uptake would be like. And these were new markets for an underserved segment. Institutional investors weren’t willing to take the risk. So we wanted to address the gap that we saw. We’ve invested in over 40 inclusive fintech startups around the world.

We combine our provision of capital with provisions of strategic and operational support. Our team has expertise around financial inclusion and we bring that expertise to bear to escalate the growth trajectory of the companies we invest in.

And what are your goals for your new fund?

For many years we invested directly off of Accion’s balance sheet. We decided to raise third-party capital along with Accion’s capital to grow and scale our efforts for a few reasons. Accion was willing to continue to support us. But we needed more capital than Accion could provide. We also see it as a recognition of the importance of being an early-stage, innovative funder and of the potential these companies have to provide both impact and returns at scale.

Beyond that, we wanted to create a vehicle that would be able to bring others along with us. We have a real mix of limited partners, something that’s quite exciting. We have development financial institutions, foundations, high net-worth family offices. For many of our LPs, we were the first seed fund they’d invested in.

What’s behind the growth in fintech startups, especially in emerging markets?

It’s driven by a couple of factors. Technology has advanced. And with the rise of technological innovation in areas like cloud computing, machine learning, blockchain—all these technologies are making it possible to reduce the cost of serving lower-income customers. Someone who is lower income is likely to generate less revenue than someone who is higher income. Transaction sizes are lower. Purchasing power is lower. In order to be profitable, the cost to reach customers and serve them also has to be low.

I also think people are starting to recognize that this is a large untapped market. Low-income people, especially in emerging markets, these are people not usually thought about as a viable market. But anyone who can figure out how to serve this market will have a huge advantage.

At the same time, there is a desire to make sure people aren’t left behind by the financial system.

Read more at <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/annefield/2019/10/31/a-conversation-with-accion-venture-labs-tahira-dosani/#33d81ef3694c">Forbes</a>.

Championing Seed-Funding Of Emerging Market Fintech: A Conversation With Accion Venture Lab’s Tahira Dosani

You have bought health and life cover, but have you considered insuring the branded spectacles you bought last Diwali? How about insurance for a new bicycle?

A slew of startup insurance companies, mostly selling online to keep costs low, are trying to sell <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/tag/micro+insurance">micro insurance</a> products, promising low premiums and rapid settlement. Often working with larger insurers, they try to sell to a small demographic segment of affluent, digitally savvy customers in India where insurance penetration is among the lowest in the world.

This monsoon, for instance, some 25,000 people bought cover against the risk of dengue from <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/tag/toffee+insurance">Toffee Insurance</a>, a startup backed by funders such as Omidyar Network, Kalaari Capital and Accion. The numbers are small and growing, but mark the emergence of an interesting new trend in a business thus far dominated by long-term plans with annual premiums, for automobiles, accidents, health, property and so on.

Read more at <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/startups/how-startups-are-changing-the-insurance-game/71675761">The Economic Times</a>.

How micro insurance startups are disrupting the traditional model

Washington, DC, October 17, 2019 – Today, global nonprofit Accion awards the fifth Edward W. Claugus Award to Vijay Mahajan, a leading advocate for financial inclusion and rural development in India, in recognition of his pioneering role in building a financially inclusive world.

“For decades, Vijay Mahajan has been at the forefront of the inclusive finance movement in India, the epicenter of global innovation in this space. As a social entrepreneur and fierce advocate for the needs of the underserved, Vijay has helped millions of low-income families across India receive the high-quality financial services they need to realize their dreams, and he has built institutions that serve as demonstration models throughout the world. We are pleased to recognize his achievements with the Edward W. Claugus Award,” said Michael Schlein, President and CEO of Accion.

“For over three decades, I have believed that finance can be a force for good. This is what propelled me to establish India's first commercial microfinance company Basix-BSFL in 1996 and Basix Sub-K — now a leader in digital financial inclusion in India — in 2010. Widening access to financial services is the best way to help the disadvantaged bootstrap themselves up to higher incomes. I am delighted and grateful that Accion has conferred on me the Claugus Award, and I see it as a recognition for the work of all my colleagues in Basix and indeed all others working to build inclusive financial systems in the developing world,” said Vijay.

Vijay’s numerous roles and achievements have had a profound impact on businesses, families, and communities in India. He is the founder of the BASIX Social Enterprise Group, which provides high-quality financial services to the underserved across India. An expert in fighting rural poverty, employment, microfinance, financial inclusion, and social entrepreneurship, Vijay also serves as the Secretary and CEO of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. His former roles include chairing CGAP, a global partnership of more than 30 leading development organizations housed at the World Bank; founding the NGO Pradan; and serving on the Rangarajan Committee on Financial Inclusion as well as the Raghuram Rajan Committee on Financial Sector Reforms. Vijay is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

The Claugus Award is named in honor of Accion benefactor Edward W. Claugus, a skilled investor who was passionate about social change. Claugus realized significant professional success and empathized with the people that Accion serves around the world: the farmers, women, and families who lack the necessary financial tools and services to build better lives. The Claugus Award recognizes leaders who have made important contributions to advancing financial inclusion and represents one portion of Accion’s programs funded thanks to The Edward W. Claugus Fund.
 ###
About Accion

Accion is a global nonprofit committed to creating a financially inclusive world, with a pioneering legacy in microfinance and fintech impact investing. We catalyze financial service providers to deliver high-quality, affordable solutions at scale for the three billion people who are left out of — or poorly served by — the financial sector. For more than 50 years, Accion has helped tens of millions of people through our work with more than 110 partners in 50 countries

Vijay Mahajan Receives Accion’s Edward W. Claugus Award for Financial Inclusion Leadership

Lidya which was established in 2016 by Tunde Kehinde and Ercin Eksin was targeted at helping small and medium business enterprises open accounts, save money, build credit profiles, and access credit to grow their businesses and address private necessities.

The company aims to digitize and streamline the credit assessment process to make it easy for any SMEs across Africa to access the funding they need to grow their business.

Tunde Kehinde, co-founder of the firm said “During slowdowns, banks restrict themselves from taking risks while businesses still need to function and finance their operational expenses, Together with the long-term investors on our side, we are basically agnostic to business cycles,” said.

A recent report released by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that Poland is among the countries with the highest loan rejection rates for small and medium enterprises.

<a href="https://businessday.ng/technology/article/lydia-eyes-1-1bn-to-revolutionise-msme-funding-in-eastern-europe/">Read more at Business Day Nigeria. </a>

Lydia eyes $1.1bn to revolutionise MSME funding in Eastern Europe

In an increasing trend where African technology companies are finding a global audience, Nigerian digital SME lending platform Lidya has expanded to Poland and the Czech Republic.
Having opened an office in New York, Lidya now has operations in Warsaw and Prague, it says, which is part of its aim to create 100-million jobs globally.

Lidya’s fintech platform lets small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) register online for loans from $500 and get that credit within 24 hours. This process helps SMEs build a credit history for the first time.

The Nigerian lender had dispersed more than 10,000 loans to 2,000 businesses in its home market, as of July 2019. In its first year, Lidya issued $2 million of loans growing to $10 million in year two. It is on track to become the biggest digital lender in Nigeria by the end of the year, it says.

<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2019/10/15/nigerian-sme-digital-lender-lidya-expands-to-europe/#41e6416d49b7">Read more at Forbes. </a>

Nigerian SME Digital Lender Lidya Expands to Europe

Fintech player BASIX Sub-K iTransactions Limited has raised Series C round of funding worth Rs. 75 crore from Denmark-based asset management company Maj Invest.

Hyderabad-based Sub-K plans to utilise the funds for product innovation and strengthening the IT platform to make the company a preferred fintech as well as a distribution partner for banks and financial institutions.

“We will be able to continue to invest in innovations and increase our reach multi-fold, thanks to Maj Invest who shares our vision of creating a world-class vehicle for catalysing inclusive growth, along with our existing investors, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Accion and Nordic Microfinance Initiative (NMI),” said Sasidhar Thumuluri, Managing Director and CEO, BASIX Sub-K.

<a href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-money-banking/article29631311.ece">Read more at The Hindu Business Line. </a>

Sub-K raises Rs. 75 crore from Maj Invest in Series C round

BASIX Sub-K iTransactions Limited, a Hyderabad-based fintech company focussed on financial inclusion, has raised Series C round of Rs 75 crore from Maj Invest, a Denmark-based asset management company.

Sub-K plans to utilise the funds for product innovation and strengthening the IT platform that would position the company as a preferred fintech as well as a distribution partner for banks and financial institutions, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

<a href="https://yourstory.com/2019/10/funding-fintech-sub-k-denmark-maj-invest">Read more at YourStory.</a>

[Funding alert] Fintech company Sub-K raises Rs 75 Cr from Denmark's Maj Invest

BASIX Sub-K iTransactions has raised Rs 75 crore ($10.57 million) in its Series C funding round, while NeuroLeap raised an undisclosed sum from India’s leading business families. On the other hand, singer Sukhbir Singh invested in coworking space provider Nukleus.

Fintech firm BASIX Sub-K raises Series C  

Financial technology company BASIX Sub-K iTransactions Ltd has raised as much as Rs 75 crore ($10.57 million) from Denmark-based asset management firm Maj Invest, according to an announcement.

This marks the Series C funding round for the company.

The funds raised will be used by the company to facilitate its expansion plans across geographies and build its tech stack.

Having started its operations in 2010, BASIX Sub-K offers a slew of services such as loans, savings, and payments to over 3 million under-banked households, besides micro-enterprises across the country.

BASIX Sub-K raised its first external funding from Michael &amp; Susan Dell Foundation in 2012. Last year, it raised Rs 35 crore from global impact investment firm Accion and Nordic Microfinance Initiative (NMI).

<a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/basix-sub-k-neuroleap-nukleus-157311/">Read more at DealStreetAsia.</a>

India Dealbook: BASIX Sub-K, NeuroLeap, Nukleus raise funding to expand ops

FinTechs in India have entered into different segments of financial services. While many have scaled up, some are still struggling to be profitable or make an impact.

ETBFSI spoke to <a class="hplink iframehref" href="https://bfsi.economictimes.indiatimes.com/tag/Paarul+Dudeja">Paarul Dudeja</a>, Director, <a class="hplink iframehref" href="https://bfsi.economictimes.indiatimes.com/tag/Accion">Accion</a> Venture Labs, on how she reads the current <a class="hplink iframehref" href="https://bfsi.economictimes.indiatimes.com/tag/FinTech">FinTech</a> space in India, how do they invest and what’s their exit strategy while investing in FinTechs. Edited Excerpts.

Q. How’s the current <a class="hplink iframehref" href="https://bfsi.economictimes.indiatimes.com/tag/Digital+lending">digital lending</a> environment ?
We are not seeing Lending 3.0 in India. We will reach there when concerns around data privacy, managing security &amp; addressing customers' needs will be addressed.

Lending 2.0 was more about having the digital component to lower the cost which enabled lenders to serve customers and provide access to financial services at a low cost. Lending 3.0 is all about caring for the customers.

Q. Have digital lenders solved the collections part of lending?
Many lenders have not been able to solve the collections peice, but there are FinTechs primarily focused on collections trying to create a structured and logical approach to collections.

I don’t think collections have been sorted; new-age NBFCs are trying to think from a perspective that now they have better tools to underwrite, with these tools they have to make sure customers coming into the funnel are of high quality so that they don't have to worry much about collections.

It’s an interesting way to look at it by new-age NBFCs saying "we understand we won’t get there to the collections part, let’s try to solve it at the beginning of the funnel."

Q. How do you view the Indian FinTech space?
Indian FinTech space is interesting because last quarter (June 2019) the number of FinTech deals that happened in India exceeded China for the first time. It’s good news and fantastic but at the same time what we’re realizing is that it’s all Me Too.

We’re not seeing any new innovation around here, so I would hope new crop of entrepreneurs are trying to tackle problems slightly in a different manner, maybe they’re going to go through specialised routes and try to address the areas that are still open.

Q. What’s your investment strategy in FinTech?
Accion is an impact fund, we look for a middle point of returns and impact. We have a two-phase screening process.

In the first phase, we look at the impact criteria, it’s only when the company meets the impact criteria we start looking at the financials which is the second phase. So if a FinTech is not an impact idea, we don't take it ahead. But FinTechs have to cross the second screen of financial returns as well when we go to the second stage.

We look at all multiple parameters like founder background, addressable market size, etc. As a seed-stage investor, to invest in a company it’s primarily looking at what the founder has done &amp; what the idea is, can we push them around to think through the idea of the founder.

Q. What’s your exit strategy?
As an impact player, the idea is to have an ecosystem build-out, for the entrepreneurs, for the impact, and other investors. We play with pretty much everyone in the ecosystem.

Since we come at seed stage, the exit strategy for us typically ends up being, look we’ve helped you with your governance, strategy and supported you to the growth phase proving your concept, by the time a FinTech is raising Series C or D, our role is sort of eliminated at that point or diminished &amp; we come out of the cap table at that point.

<a href="https://bfsi.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/fintech/indian-fintechs-are-in-metoo-phase-paarul-dudeja-accion-venture-labs/71498022">Read more at The Economic Times.</a>

Indian Fintechs are in MeToo phase: Paarul Dudeja, Accion Venture Labs

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