The Weekly Wrap: all you need to know by Friday COB | April 21st

By Puja Sharma

The Weekly Wrap is published every Friday and recaps the week’s main stories and deals, as well as upcoming events and announcements. For Prime subscribers only.

The Big Story

OPEN, a fintech unicorn, fired 47 employees from its 600-person workforce due to poor performance.

Founded in 2017, OPEN started as a neobanking platform that helps SMEs, start-ups and freelancers manage everything from banking to automated accounting, bookkeeping, expense management, compliance, and payroll in one single platform.

OPEN’s Co-founder & CEO Anish Achuthan said the company has ensured that deserving high performers get 20-30% average hikes and ESOPs. OPEN is also actively hiring across critical functions such as growth marketing, product, and sales.

Further, the company confirmed that founders have taken a 50% pay cut as the company chases scale and profitability. However, none of its employees’ salaries has been reduced.

“OPEN understands that these kinds of changes can sometimes be difficult for everyone involved. As a part of scale-up and profitability, OPEN will continue the efforts to make a highly performance-oriented effective organisation fit for scale. OPEN assures its customers and partners that its commitment to providing top-quality service remains unchanged. OPEN believes that these changes will ultimately help the company better serve its customers and position itself for continued growth in the years to come,” the company said in a statement.

Deals of the week

• ID Finance secures $30m debt facility from SR Alternative Credit
• Mastercard partners with DIFC to drive digital transformation
• TiiCKER raises $5m in Seed Round
• Lanistar moves to full banking solution in UK, after Brazil launch
• Jordan Ahli Bank launches its new AI system ‘ahliGPT’
• Emirates Development Bank and Emirates Islamic announce collaboration in the UAE
• Credgenics turns operationally profitable, eyes INR 240cr revenue this fiscal
• Coupa and Goldman Sachs launch B2B payments solution
• LegalPay launches super-senior bonds for HNIs worth ₹50c
• FinTech Factris lands €50m for SME lending from Aegon AM
• Affirm and Stripe partner for merchant revenue growth in Canada

Be on the lookout for

The banking scene in Bahrain has undergone significant modernization in recent years as the country has sought to stay competitive in an increasingly globalized and technology-driven environment.

Banking in Bahrain primarily focuses on Islamic finance, with many Islamic banks and financial institutions operating there. With increasing FinTech adoption, Bahrain banks offer Shariah-compliant digital offerings, including Islamic banking apps and Sukuk platforms.

Cedar-IBSi NextGen Banking & Technology Summit held on 24th May 2023, in Sofitel Bahrain, Manama, explores Bahrain’s current and changing banking landscape, propelled by a robust regulatory framework and FinTech innovations.