The Weekly Wrap: all you need to know by Friday COB | May 31st

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

PhonePe has expanded its loan distribution offerings with the launch of secured lending products on its platform. Partnering with a network of trusted banks, NBFCs and FinTechs, PhonePe, armed with its distribution strength, aims to create a powerful and seamless user experience in the secured loans category. Customers can access lending solutions across six major categories directly within the PhonePe app: Mutual Fund Loan, Gold Loan, Bike Loan, Car Loan, Home Loan/Loan against Property and Education Loan.

PhonePe has partnered with a carefully curated selection of lenders such as Tata Capital, L&T Finance, Hero FinCorp, Muthoot Fincorp, DMI Housing Finance, Home First Finance, rupyy, Volt Money, and Gradright, with more lenders to be added in the coming weeks. The platform currently has 15 active partners and aims to scale to 25 by the next quarter. Users can avail of the loan facility under the existing ‘Loan’ section on their PhonePe app, select their desired loan category, and choose from a list of lenders. The loan application journey is initiated within PhonePe’s familiar app environment, eliminating the need to navigate multiple applications, and simplifying the process for the user.

Deals of the week

• FintechOS secures $60m in Series B+ funding round
• liwwa secures $5m loan from DFC to support SMEs in Jordan
• APOLLO Insurance raises CAD $18.5m to launch BNPL subsidiary
• CirclePe raises close to $1m in Pre-Seed Round from OTP Ventures
• FinTech CBiGroup secures $15m Series A funding to boost R&D
• AbleCredit secures $1.25m in seed funding led by Merak Ventures
• CoverSure raises $4m in Pre-Series A funding led by Enam Holdings
• WeMoney secures $3m and teams with Mastercard for Open Banking
• Danish firm Ageras raises €82m for FinTech acquisitions
• AbleCredit secures $1.25m in seed funding led by Merak Ventures

Be on the lookout for

The Singapore FinTech Festival, scheduled for November 6-8, 2024, serves as a nexus for policy, finance, and technology. The 2023 edition drew over 66,000 participants and featured more than 970 speakers along with over 700 exhibitors and sponsors. Guided by its Content Advisory Panel, composed of industry experts, SFF offers strategic insights into market trends, emerging technologies, and regulatory changes. The event includes insightful sessions, roundtables, and workshops, fostering discussions on the future directions of financial services.