by Ekrem Duman | Aug 5, 2026 | Startup, Startups, Scaleups & the Funding Ecosystem
⚡ TL;DRTrade Republic completed a one point two billion euro secondary transaction at a twelve and a half billion euro valuation in December 2025, providing liquidity to early shareholders without raising primary capital, in what was widely read as a pre-listing...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 4, 2026 | British Fintech & Payments, Startup
⚡ TL;DRWise (formerly TransferWise) attacked one of finance’s biggest hidden rip-offs: the fees banks bury in international money transfers. Founded by two Estonians in London in 2011, it built transparent, low-cost cross-border payments into a public company...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 2, 2026 | Singapore Company Stories, Tech Unicorns & Platform Giants
⚡ TL;DRSingapore hosts a dense cluster of financial technology companies that reached billion-dollar valuations, spanning cross-border payments, digital goods payments, buy-now-pay-later lending, insurance technology and business banking. Most serve regional or...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 2, 2026 | Singapore Company Stories, Tech Unicorns & Platform Giants
⚡ TL;DRGrab started in 2012 as a Malaysian taxi-booking app, moved its headquarters to Singapore, absorbed Uber’s Southeast Asian business in 2018, and listed through the largest SPAC merger ever completed. It now operates mobility, deliveries and...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 2, 2026 | Banking & Financial Services, Singapore Company Stories
⚡ TL;DRSingapore issued digital bank licences in 2020 to consortia led by Grab and Singtel, Sea Group, Ant Group and a Greenland-led group. The resulting banks, alongside Standard Chartered’s Trust Bank, have won millions of customers but have not...
