The Weekly Wrap: all you need to know by Friday COB | February 10th

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

As part of its whitelist of lending apps, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) shared a list with the government, which is taking down those on the list that weren’t included. According to RBI governor Shaktikanta Das, the apps removed were not maintained by regulated entities and were not appointed by nonbanking finance companies (NBFCs).

In response to the government’s crackdown on illegal online lenders, fintech apps like Kissht and PayU’s LazyPay have been blocked by the government.

“The ministry requested that non-regulated apps be removed,” RBI deputy governor R Rajeshwar Rao said at a press conference following the policy announcement. We have not banned any digital lending apps. We have asked the regulated non-banking finance companies to share with us a list of the apps that they use. We have shared this list with the finance ministry.

According to lenders, the RBI is ensuring accountability by doing this. There have been allegations that many digital lenders use unethical practices to recover loans. Following a couple of cases in which borrowers committed suicide after being harassed by digital lenders, the RBI reviewed its digital lending norms.

Deals of the week

• UK FinTech kennek raises $4.5m to empower alternative lenders
• Danish FinTech Mazepay raises €4m for expansion in Europe
• Carbonplace secures $45m in funding; appoints new CEO
• Cenoa raises $7m in seed funding round
• Upwardli raises $2m in series seed funding round
• Fierce launches out of stealth with $10m seed funding
• Lulalend secures $35m in Series B
• Egyptian FinTech MNT-Halan becomes unicorn with $400m fresh funding
• Cenoa raises $7m in seed funding round
• Wolters Kluwer Enablon and Makersite collaborate for ESG goals
• The Bank of London raises $40m, bringing total valuation to $1.1b

Be on the lookout for

The Fintech Meetup’s 5^th edition of the annual Fintech Yatra is set to flag off in Mumbai from today. At least 25 VCs have tied up with Fintech Yatra 2023, which will offer $100 million in capital and identify and explore investments in the most promising fintech startups. The team this year shall undertake a 12,000 km journey across 20 cities, interacting with an estimated 400+ fintech startups.

A select few startups shall be incubated via more comprehensive exposure to financial institutions and pilots, and the best ones amongst them shall get funded. The Yatra includes esteemed Venture Investors such as DMI Sparkle Fund, Pentathlon Ventures, IIFL Fintech Fund, BEENEXT, July Ventures, Disruptors Capital, Piper Serica, Eximus Ventures, Inflexor Ventures, Ideaspring Capital, Crowdinvest, Arali Ventures, Anicut Capital, Capital-A, Varanium, Impact Investor – Omidyar Network India and more.