BUY NOW PAY LATER

India’s Simpl raises $40 million for its buy now, pay later (“BNPL”) service (Link)
TechCrunch, 1 December 2021
 Bangalore-based fintech startup Simpl has raised $40 million in Series B funding as it
looks to expand its online BNPL service’s offerings in India, the world’s second-
largest market
 Valar Ventures and IA Ventures led the six-year-old startup’s Series B round. LFH
Ventures and some existing investors also participated in the round, said the startup,
which has raised $83 million to date
 Over the years, it has also developed a range of offerings including a one-time
checkout feature; Bill Box, which allows customers to automate their recurring expense
payouts, and splitting a bill into three parts

Insight

BNPL services have existed in India for several years but have started to gain fast traction
only in recent quarters as e-commerce and digital payments increase their reach in the
country.

One of the factors that is making these services popular among consumers is the trust deficit
that exists between them and the services with which they are engaging, pointing to the
continued popularity of cash as the payment method for e-commerce firms. On the contrary,
with a service like Simpl, customers know that they don’t have to pay right away and have
the ability to dispute transactions and quickly request a refund.

According to Simpl, it has built the first payments network that treats small and medium
merchants as true partners since it offers the BNPL, fast checkout and anti-fraud features
that is necessary to compete in today's market, at a transparent, fair price. It would be
exciting to see Simpl bring a new generation of consumers and commerce companies online
in India, on a level playing field with incumbents.

So What

Since Simpl is looking to expand its online BNPL offerings in India, this could potentially
open up opportunities for a market-entry strategic project. Leveraging our expertise working
with BNPL providers like Lexin, we can start initiating conversations with Simpl after the
release of our BNPL report.
DECENTRALISED FINANCE

German Fintech Startup Paycer to Combine Decentralised Finance (“DeFi”), Crypto

with Conventional Banking Services (Link)
Yahoo Finance, 5 December 2021
 Paycer, a Hamburg-based financial services firm specialised in cryptocurrencies and
DeFi, is currently developing a bridge protocol that will aggregate DeFi and cross-
chain crypto services and combine them with traditional banking services
 Expected to come online in early 2022, the protocol will feature a range of novel
financial products designed to help retail clients reap the rewards of the DeFi market
 The protocol and platform will feature the full range of financial services, including
crypto wallets, bank accounts, lending, liquidity pools and – most importantly –
streamlined access to the lucrative DeFi market
Insight

The Paycer Platform will combine the Paycer Protocol with traditional financial services like a
bank account and a debit card. Users only need to make a fiat money deposit on the Paycer
platform to get started, no interaction with cryptocurrencies or DeFi is required. Paycer will
then automatically place the deposit in selected DeFi products, providing a high and constant
interest rate as a passive income.
The Paycer Platform will help users mitigate risk by assessing the viability of new DeFi
products before investing in them. It will also conduct multiple checks in advance,
automatically shifting users' assets away from any investments deemed to be overly risky.
So What

This is a demonstration that crypto and DeFi are not only gaining popularity among tech-savvy
investors. Given that incumbent banks have also been initiating their crypto expansions, it
would be interesting to see how cryptocurrencies will establish their presence in the traditional
banking space in the next few years.