How Slice entered India’s regulated banking sector

Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week we’re looking at a company making a rare entrance into India’s significant — but locked-down — banking market and a new lawsuit facing SoLo Funds.

If you’d like to receive the Fintech newsletter in your inbox every Tuesday, sign up here!

The big story

Indian fintech Slice seals bank merger

Slice has completed its merger with North East Small Finance Bank, marking a rare instance of a startup successfully entering India’s tightly regulated banking sector. The merger transforms Slice into a banking entity following months of regulatory scrutiny — and gives the startup access to capital at lower cost and direct control over its lending operations.

According to an email sent to customers, Slice will maintain its existing digital payment and lending services as well as expand into traditional banking with offerings like savings accounts and investment products.

Analysis of the week

This time, we’re putting the ball in your court. This newsletter drops the day after our Fintech Stage at our annual Disrupt conference, and right in the middle of the three-day, jam-packed affair. If you’re eager to catch the Disrupt Stage programming, or catch up on the event overall, watch our livestream or read our live blog.

If you want the full download on the highlights and biggest takeaways from our Fintech Stage, you’ll have to wait until next week. Until then, check out the recordings of whichever panels interest you and explore the industry insights on your own terms.

Dollars and cents

Finix raised $75 million for its biggest push yet against competitor Stripe. CEO and founder Richie Serna told TechCrunch that becoming a payment processor was “hugely transformational” for the business, and a main driver of the fundraise. Serna says Finix has quadrupled its revenue in the last year, but there’s still a long way to go to compete with Stripe’s customer base.

Upflow is a startup that originally focused on managing outstanding invoices. But the company is now announcing a shift in its strategy to become a B2B payment platform with its own payment gateway to complement its accounts receivable automation solution.

Remote, an HR platform for managing geographically distributed teams, is doubling down on its focus on managing equity compensation with a new product: Remote Equity. Thanks to a new partnership, companies using Carta to manage their cap table can now draft and issue option grants in Carta and include international employees.

SoLo Funds is facing a new class action lawsuit. The suit, first reported by Bloomberg, accuses SoLo Funds of misleading consumers by advertising zero-interest fees on loans yet encouraging “tip fees” and “donation fees” to obtain said loans. The complaint alleges these are hidden fees that are hard to opt out of, making the company’s loans more expensive than borrowers expected. 

Subscribe for the industry’s biggest tech news