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Will 2016 Be the Year of FinTech in India?
Has Financial Technology or FinTech finally come of age in India? While, FinTech accounted only for 13.3% of the total funding raised by Indian startups in 2015, the gross investment into it was up 8 times over the equivalent 2014 number of $145.1 million. While that looks amazing at first glance, it has to be noted that m-commerce platform One97 (Paytm) accounted for about 74% of the money raised by FinTech companies this year. Nonetheless, even if one were to exclude this number, Indian FinTech investment has doubled over the 2014 number. India’s FinTech sector has been a far cry from its global peers, accounting only for 6% of the total global FinTech space (by funding), but clearly as the numbers above show, that is changing fairly rapidly.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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Mobile Money and Other Kenyan Tech Trends to Watch Out for in 2016
If there is one tech lesson we (hopefully) learned in 2015 is that the average Kenyan knows what they want and will go the extra length to glean the most value at the best possible price. We saw consumers emerge big winners in 2015 at the height of mobile data wars, the digital migration tussle, mobile manufacturers introducing smarter, cheaper smart phones in the market and financial institutions customizing mobile services.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital payments
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Mobile Money Without Borders: How a new model is transforming the remittance landscape in West Africa
International remittances are a major source of income for people in many developing markets, and Africa is no exception. But Africans pay the highest remittance transaction fees in the world. The industry has been experimenting with a new model that uses mobile money to address this issue. The GSMA shares insights into this model, highlighting results from their recent case study.
- Categories
- Education
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Eight Reasons to Invest in African Tech Innovation
In Africa, the middle class is growing, populations are urbanizing, IT infrastructure is improving and cell phones and mobile payments are more widely used than in most of the world. All of this has contributed to a recent tech startup boom that has garnered growing interest from international investors. Here are eight reasons why African technological innovation is a wise investment.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
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Omidyar Network Leads Investment in Technology that Enables Central Banks to Issue Digital Fiat Currency
Omidyar Network announced today a for-profit investment in eCurrency Mint (eCM), a Dublin-based company that has pioneered a new technology that enables central banks to issue digital fiat currency, called eCurrency. eCurrency is different from the various forms of private sector digital value available today because it is issued by a central bank and has the same legal and monetary status as notes and coins.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
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Nucleus Launches Offline Digital Cash Solution in India
Adding another tool to push the Indian economy from cash to digital, Bombay Stock Exchange-listed banking and financial solutions company Nucleus Software Exports Ltd on Wednesday launched an offline digital cash solution technology, PaySe.
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Kenyans to Trade Equities on Safaricom Mobile Phones in 2016
Safaricom Ltd., East Africa’s biggest mobile-phone operator, expects Kenyans to start trading stocks on their mobile phones early next year, using a product it developed to enable customers to buy government bonds, Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore said.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital payments
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BlackBerry Mobile Payments Coming To Africa
Blackberry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), the Canadian global mobile communications leader, has announced its intentions to extend its mobile payment option to Africa, starting with Nigeria, then South Africa.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital payments
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