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Brazilian FinTech Rebel Lands $10M For Affordable Loan Products
"Traditional banks claim that credit in Brazil is expensive because of delinquency rates; but in reality, delinquency is high because the country has the highest interest rates in the world. It is a perverse and vicious cycle, and a difficult one to overturn. That’s why we are rebels: Our goal is to break up with this loop and start a new and virtuous cycle.”
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Latin America
- Tags
- fintech
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Lessons From M-Pesa for Africa’s New VC-Rich Fintech Startups
Over the last decade, Africa has been in the midst of a startup boom accompanied by big growth in VC and improvements in internet and mobile penetration.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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From Heritage to Habit: Why Digital Remittances Languish in Some Cultures But Surge in Others
Thirty years after their introduction, digital remittances have failed to take off. Some 90% of remittances still begin as cash and end as cash - even when banks are the intermediary. Lack of trust, access and interoperability - to name just a few challenges - are keeping lower-income people tied to costlier cash transfers. However, remittance providers and related fintech entities are exploring many new avenues to encourage recipients to keep remittances in the digital ecosystem and possibly use them for other financial products, writes Steven Davidson with Mondato.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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This Digital Platform Fights Corruption by Bypassing the Officials Demanding Bribes
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the tax payment system could require many kickbacks to corrupt officials. A new digital platform lets people pay their taxes directly.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech, governance
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Kredivo’s Parent Firm FinAccel Raises $90m to Expand Its Credit Lending Platform in Southeast Asia
The app enables customers to secure credit between $100 and $2,200. If a customer pays it back in full in a month, FinAccel does not charge them any fee.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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What’s Really Driving Africa’s ‘Investment Frenzy’?: An Entrepreneur Responds to Investor Concerns
In her much-discussed NextBillion article about avoiding “the Africa investment frenzy,” impact investor Lauren Cochran urged entrepreneurs to forego the “growth-at-all-costs” approach to scaling and “the ego-boost of big rounds and press releases.” But Zoona co-founder Mike Quinn argues that her advice ignores a reality that many investors don’t recognize. Quinn pushes back on Cochran's argument from an entrepreneur's perspective in this compelling counterpoint.
- Categories
- Finance, Investing, Social Enterprise
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Goldman Makes Biggest Mexico Fintech Bet With MercadoLibre Loan
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. agreed to lend $125 million to Mercado Credito, the bank’s third loan to a Latin American fintech this year and the biggest ever in Mexico.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Latin America
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Why More Smartphones and Bank Accounts Haven’t Brought Financial Digital Inclusion in India
India's financial sector has been a gung-ho adopter of technology. But design of technology and finance have hardly reflected users’ lived realities.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia