In The Top Up this week, we look at the FY 2023 results of equity management platform Qapita and Razer Fintech’s rebranding to Fiuu.
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Teachers’ Venture Growth, the late-stage venture and growth investment arm of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, is investing $80 million in Perfios, an Indian fintech that provides real-time credit underwriting solutions to banks and other financial institutions. The new investment values Perfios at a valuation of over $1 billion.
15-year-old Perfios, which raised a $229 million funding round in September, said it will use the fresh capital for international expansion and to explore inorganic growth opportunities (read acquisitions.) The startup, which has raised $464 million in primary and secondary transactions to date, plans to go public by next year, it said earlier.
Bengaluru-based Perfios users AI to help businesses automate loan decisions and assess customer creditworthiness. Its system is designed to adapt and learn autonomously, enabling it to forecast trends even in new markets. The digital scoring feature provides overall scores, detailed breakdowns, and various metrics to evaluate credit risk for a range of financial products.
The platform adapts and learns on its own, and can forecast trends in new markets or areas. With its digital scoring, Perfios AI gives overall scores, detailed breakdowns and features to evaluate credit risk efficiently, Bernstein analysts said in a note.
Perfios’ credit decisioning tools. Image Credits: AllianceBernstein
Perfios said delivers 8.2 billion data points to banks and other financial institutions every year to facilitate faster decisioning, and processes 1.7 billion transactions a year with an AUM of $36 billion. Perfios is the second unicorn from India this year.
“We are excited about the growing opportunities within the B2B enterprise tech space in India, and we believe Perfios is a best-in-class fintech-focused SaaS player,” said Kelvin Yu, Senior Managing Director and Head of Teachers’ Venture Growth in Asia, in a statement.
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, one of Canada’s largest pension funds, has ramped up its interest in India in recent years. The fund, which also backed logistics unicorn Xpressbees last year, has invested more than $3 billion in India and plans to deploy a significant amount in the country by 2030 as part of its broader goal to deploy $300 billion in certain key markets.
The construction of this fab will begin this year with a total investment of up to INR 91,000 Cr (~$11 Bn)
The fab will have a manufacturing capacity of up to 50,000 wafers per month and incorporate next-generation factory automation
This development positions Tata Electronics in the global semiconductor industry
The first semiconductor chip from the new plant being built by the Tata Group and Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC) in Gujarat’s Dholera is expected to be out by the end of 2026.
Frank Huang, chairman of PSMC, told ET that Dholera will debut with 28 nm chips, which can be later moved down to 22 nm.
Reportedly, the plant will produce chips for various applications, including power management IC, display drivers, microcontrollers (MCU) and high-performance computing logic, catering to the increasing demand in automotive, computing, data storage, wireless communication and artificial intelligence markets.
The construction of this mega semiconductor fabrication facility (fab) in Dholera will begin this year with a total investment of up to INR 91,000 Cr (~$11 Bn).
The project is set to generate over 20,000 skilled jobs in the region, Tata said in a statement.
The fab will have a manufacturing capacity of up to 50,000 wafers per month and incorporate next-generation factory automation.
“Semiconductor industry presents a large and growing opportunity, and India is uniquely placed to capture this opportunity. On one end India has a large and growing domestic demand and on the other end global customers are looking at India for supply chain resilience. There could not have been better time for India to make its entry into semiconductor manufacturing industry. This partnership has the potential to redefine the contours of global semiconductor manufacturing and we are looking forward to collaboration with Tata Electronics,” Hong said in a statement.
PSMC is known for its proficiency in logic and memory foundry segments. It has six semiconductor foundries in Taiwan.
Last month, the Union Cabinet approved the country’s first semiconductor fab to be set up by the Tata Group in partnership with PSMC. Besides, it also okayed two other semiconductor proposals.
It is pertinent to note that the Indian government has taken a number of steps to develop the semiconductor ecosystem to make the country self-reliant. As part of this, it approved the Semicon India programme with an outlay of INR 76,000 Cr to develop the semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem.
While Tata is currently at the forefront of semiconductor manufacturing in India, oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has also reportedly been exploring plans to venture into semiconductor manufacturing.
The company is expected to unveil it later this month
IPO-bound Ola Electric worked for a couple of years to developing this product, aligning with its broader strategy to venture into the commercial vehicle sector
Ola Electric is gearing up to make several significant announcements in the coming months
IPO-bound Ola Electric has reportedly finalised its plans to launch its electric autorickshaw, likely to be named Raahi, directly targeted at consumers. The company is expected to unveil it later this month.
Ola Electric worked for a couple of years to develop this product, aligning with its broader strategy to venture into the commercial vehicle sector, ET reported.
The upcoming vehicle will enter the segment of electric three-wheelers, competing against established models such as Mahindra Treo, Piaggio Ape e-city and Bajaj RE.
Mahindra, Piaggio, and Bajaj offer their electric autorickshaws at prices ranging from INR 2 Lakh to over INR 3.5 Lakh, varying based on the specific model and additional features.
In 2023, more than 580,000 electric three-wheelers were sold, marking a 66% increase compared to the sales figures of 2022, as per Vahan data. Additionally, electric three-wheelers accounted for over 50% of the total three-wheeler sales in 2023.
A brainchild of Ola Cabs cofounder Bhavish Aggarwal, Ola Electric is an EV manufacturer that currently retails a portfolio of five scooter models. As per its DRHP, the company operates a full-fledged omnichannel distribution network that comprises 935 experience centres, including 414 service centres, at the end of October 2023.
Ola Electric is gearing up to make several significant announcements in the coming months, particularly regarding the gigafactory, before its listing. The launch of the e-autorickshaw aligns with this strategy, and internally, the aim is to launch it within the next two weeks or so.
Back in December, the company filed its draft red herring prospectus with the markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for an INR 7,250 Cr initial public offering (IPO). As per the DRHP, the IPO comprises a fresh issue of INR 5,500 Cr.
The IPO will comprise an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of INR 1,750 Cr. In total, the public issue will comprise an OFS component of up to 9.5.1 Cr shares. Cofounder CEO Bhavish Aggarwal and major investors such as Softbank, Temasek, Tiger Global, Alpha Wave, Tekne Capital, and Matrix Partners are slated to participate in the OFS.
In October, Ola Electric also raised a INR 3,200 Cr funding round, in a mix of equity and debt, that saw participation from Temasek, SBI and others.
Between 2022 and 2023, gross merchandise volume of third-party brands using its fulfillment and last-mile delivery solutions grew over 300%.
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The move enables OKX to launch digital payment tokens and cross-border remittance services.
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The dip in market share sequentially is due to the seasonality of the October to December quarter, which is traditionally a weak quarter due to the holiday season. One bps is equal to one hundredth of a percentage point.
ETtech“Quarterly market share may be skewed towards that quarter performance, but YoY growth Indian IT firms have seen more offshoring and investments around AI and Gen AI. The overall market pie is not growing as much but Indian IT firms are gaining market share from global competitors,” said Pareekh Jain, CEO consulting firm EIIRTrend. In terms of service providers, the country’s largest and third largest software services firms Tata Consultancy Services and HCLTech reigned the charts gaining 30 and 24 bps market share respectively, while Infosys gained a meagre 2 bps over a year ago, the report said. From a year ago period – October to December quarter in 2022, the report by BNP’s associate director Kumar Rakesh, pointed out that among the top tier firms, Cognizant, Tech Mahindra and Wipro, continued to lose share by 9, 12 and 19 bps, respectively.
The founder of Bitcoin Fog, a massive $400 million crypto-mixing service, was convicted of money laundering in a United States District Court on Tuesday, March 12 — the latest win in the government’s crackdown on crypto mixers and their founders.
Roman Sterlingov, 35, was found guilty of money laundering, money laundering conspiracy, operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, and violations of the D.C. Money Transmitters Act.
Sterlingov, however, had argued throughout the trial that he was only a user of the service, and not its operator. His attorney, Tok Ekeland said in a March 12 X post that his team will appeal the verdict.
According to evidence presented at the trial, Sterlingov operated Bitcoin Fog from October 2011 to April 2021, which acted as a money laundering service for “criminals seeking to hide their illicit proceeds from law enforcement.”
The service moved over 1.2 million Bitcoin (BTC) over the decade-long operation — worth $400 million at the time of the transactions — with the bulk of cryptocurrency coming from darknet marketplaces tied to narcotics, computer fraud abuse and identity theft, the government said. Bitcoin Fog also served distributors of child sexual abuse material.
Evidence used to convict Sterlingov found that the “vast majority” of crypto deposited to his crypto exchange accounts came from “Bitcoin clusters” associated with Bitcoin Fog.
“Evidence presented at trial clearly showed that the defendant laundered hundreds of millions of illicit funds from the dark web through Bitcoin Fog in an attempt to conceal the origin of those funds,” said Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation Chief Jim Lee.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division also stated that the division is “committed to unmasking and prosecuting those who use technology to hide their crimes, no matter how sophisticated the scheme may be.”
J.W. Verret, a professional witness in the case, has also pledged to help Sterlingov’s appeal. Verret has long argued that the on-chain forensics used to accuse Sterlingov is flawed.
“The trial lasted four weeks. I testified for a full day and I worked on the case for a year,” said Verret, adding:
“The verdict, issued March 12, was ‘guilty.’ They say it four times as the four counts of the indictment are read. It felt like I was punched in the stomach. The only way my brain can process it is to focus on strategies for appeal.”
The jury has granted forfeiture of assets seized from the crypto mixer, which includes 1,354 BTC held in a Bitcoin Fog wallet and nearly $350,000 in various cryptocurrencies held in a seized Kraken account.
The most serious charges — money laundering conspiracy and money laundering sting — each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while the other two charges carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Sentencing is set for July 15.
Related: Over $300M in stolen crypto assets reached Bitcoin mixers in 2023
Another crypto mixer founder is set to face trial later this year.
Roman Storm, the co-founder of controversial cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash which was sanctioned in August 2022, is set to face a criminal trial in September.
The Tornado Cash co-founder faces three charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Magazine: Zhu Su pumps Milady to $19K, Alchemy Pay crypto bank, HK tokens: Asia Express
While China is still responsible for manufacturing most of Apple’s devices, the company does have some assembly facilities around the world. One of these facilities is Foxconn Brazil, located in São Paulo. There, Apple is now assembling the 6.1-inch iPhone 15.
As noted by the Brazilian blog MacMagazine, Apple seems to be shipping iPhone 15 units assembled in Brazil. The company has not confirmed the news and there’s no explicit evidence of this on Apple’s website. However, Apple’s online store in Brazil gives customers a clue as to which model they’re getting.
When checking the URL of the checkout webpage for the iPhone 15, customers will now notice the part number ending with “BR/A,” which is used to identify Apple products assembled in Brazil. Most products are identified with “BE/A” or “BZ/A” to indicate that they’ve been imported to be sold in the country.
Interestingly, Apple has once again chosen to only assemble the 6.1-inch iPhone model in Brazil. The iPhone 15 Plus and both Pro models sold in the country are still imported from China. This may be due to the entry-level model likely being the most popular in Brazil, given the high prices of the iPhone in the South American country.
Brazil imposes high taxes on imported products. For that reason, some companies invest in assembling their products in Brazil, as this grants a reduction in taxes to sell those products. The 128GB iPhone 15 was launched for R$7,299 (around $1,460) in Brazil, but can now be found for as low as R$5,399 (about $1,080) in certain retail stores.
While assembling iPhones in Brazil benefits Brazilian customers, it also benefits Apple – and not just because of the opportunity to sell more iPhones. Having assembly facilities in other regions allows Apple to depend less on China and can help the company avoid supply shortages in the local market.
In addition to Brazil, Apple has also been investing in its assembly facilities in India and Vietnam. Last year, Indian customers were able to buy iPhone 15 models assembled in India on the very first day of sales.
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Apple on Tuesday confirmed that it will soon open a new retail store at Square One Shopping Centre, considered the largest mall in Ontario and the second largest in Canada. Although there’s already an Apple Store at Square One, the company is moving to a larger location in the same mall.
The news was first noticed by Michael Steeber, who’s behind the weekly “Tabletops” newsletter about Apple Retail operations. The webpage of the current Apple Square One now shows a discreet banner saying that a “brand-new Apple Store is coming soon.” There are still no details about when the new store will open, but the current one will be permanently closed once that happens.
Square One Shopping Centre is located in Mississauga, Ontario, and welcomes more than 24 million customers every year. Apple Square One (shown in the featured image) opened almost 15 years ago in August 2009, shortly after the launch of the iPhone 3GS.
Apple has been opening multiple new stores and also renovating some of its old ones around the world. Last week, the company teased the opening of the new Apple Jing’an retail store in China, which will be the 48th Apple Store in the country. Earlier this year, Apple opened a new retail store in South Korea.
At Apple Stores, customers can try out and buy all the company’s products from the iPhone to the Mac and accessories such as the Apple Watch and AirPods. Apple Retail Stores also provide support for customers when they need it.
You can check the Apple website to find your nearest Apple Store.
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