Gulf Capital, a leading thematic Private Equity buyout firm operating across the GCC and Southeast Asia, predicts that the East-West Asia investment corridor will drive global economic growth for the next three decades. The GDP of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the ASEAN countries, and India will grow by 220%, 270% and 410% respectively by 2050, in contrast to slower growth of 50% for the European economies and 80% for the US economy over the next three decades.

Ratio Emerges From Stealth; Secures $411M to Transform B2B SaaS Payments, Financing, and Pricing

Kafene, a cutting-edge digital platform used by merchants at the point-of-sale to help offer underserved consumers more flexible purchase options through transparent lease-to-own (LTO) agreements, announced today that it has raised $18 million in a Series B funding round led by Third Prime and existing investors.

This round follows a Series A investment of $30 million in 2021 that was co-led by Third Prime and Valar Ventures. Kafene will use the new capital to increase headcount to meet the demand from merchants and consumers for omni-channel, technology-enabled purchase options.

Berlin-based compliance startup heyData today announced the closing of a €3.3 million seed financing. The round was led by Ten VC, with additional participation from existing investors Patrice Deckert, Stefan Tietze, as well as experienced investors Martin Ostermayer and Dirk Freise and Picea Capital, among others.

The fresh capital will be used for product expansion and venturing into new markets. In addition, the team around the founders Miloš Djurdjević, Martin Bastius and Daniel Deutsch, which currently counts 34 employees, is to be expanded.

Partnerships 

Nutanix Offers A Stepping Stone To the Cloud at Crown Hosting Data Centres

Power, a fintech startup with plans to reshape global commerce, has finally teased early progress as it emerges from stealth with $16.1m in seed funding, a $300m credit facility, and a fast-growing list of customers. The company was founded to build modern financial infrastructure and started by launching a full-stack credit card issuance platform.  

Robinsons Bank (RBank), owned by JG Summit Holdings, Inc., one of the Philippines' largest and most diversified conglomerates, today announced that it has chosen BPC as its solution partner to co-innovate, to drive financial inclusion and digital adoption across the nation. Using BPC’s SmartVista Platform, RBank will be able to bring new products to customers in a highly efficient and cost-effective manner.

OneSpan, the digital agreements security company, today announced the general availability of its secure Virtual Room cloud service which enables organisations to deliver live, high-touch assistance to their customers in a high-assurance virtual environment.

Clausematch, a global RegTech company automating policy management and regulatory compliance at financial institutions and other regulated organizations, has been recognised as RegTech of the Year by the annual US FinTech Awards.

The award celebrates regulatory technology that provides tools capable of being used across industries.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has selected CaixaBank and four other organisations to collaborate in the development a prototype of a digital euro. The institution launched a call with the aim of selecting entities to develop technology projects associated with the creation of the European digital currency. CaixaBank, the only European bank selected for the project and will be responsible for producing a prototype for peer-to-peer (P2P) online payments using the digital euro.