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IN FOCUS

• M-Daq realigns as revenue declines, losses rise
• Nium's card business powers growth in 2025
• GXS Bank, Grab, and Singtel team up for credit card

Hello reader,

Competition in Southeast Asia's fintech space, particularly in cross-border payments, is crowded. Regional players like Airwallex, M-Daq, and Nium are all competing for market share.

That said, each appears to be taking a different focus lately. Airwallex is starting to target agentic AI financial infrastructure, M-Daq is going after enterprise customers, while Nium is seeing significant growth from its card issuance business.

M-Daq started its shift to enterprises in 2025. In what it called a year of "realignment and building," its revenue fell 32%, while its loss before income tax widened 67%.

On the other hand, its gross margin improved by 13 percentage points, driven by the firm's focus on "higher quality revenue" from enterprise customers.

In today's first featured story, I take a closer look at M-Daq's financials for last year and its expansion plans.

On the other side of the coin, Nium cut its losses in 2025 and saw revenue increase. My colleague Samreen takes a deep dive into Nium's earnings for the year in the second featured story.

Card issuance remained Nium's largest revenue contributor in 2025, while the firm has also been using debt and its cash position to pursue acquisitions in Mexico, the US, and India.

Jofie Yordan, journalist

TOP STORIES

1️⃣ M-Daq chases bigger clients as revenue falls, losses grow

M-Daq is trying to revive growth after its revenue fell in 2025 by moving upmarket to enterprise clients with larger FX and payment needs. The strategy is already showing early signs of success, with enterprise transaction volumes surging and Vietnam emerging as a key growth market.

But those investments are weighing on cash flow as the fintech firm continues to post losses. Its next challenge will be turning that growth into enough revenue and margins to support its ambitions for a 2027 liquidity event.

2️⃣ Nium's card cash cow drives 20% revenue surge

Nium's narrowing losses in 2025 put the fintech firm closer to profitability, but the improvement was not entirely driven by stronger operations.

Lower employee costs and the absence of a one-off impairment helped, while its card business continued to drive most of its revenue. Yet heavy customer rebates and rising processing costs show the challenge of turning that growth into stronger margins.

A VISUAL STORY YOU SHOULDN'T MISS

India's fintech funding on pace to top 2025

Fintech funding in India this year, as our data shows, looks set to top 2025's figure. With US$1.8 billion raised so far, exceeding US$2.3 billion by the end of the year looks achievable.

One of the biggest rounds in 2026 to date was the US$900 million invested by Meta into Bengaluru-based fintech firm Cred. Check out the whole story for plenty of data on fintech funding in India.

TRENDING NEWS

1️⃣ GXS Bank launches credit card with Grab, Singtel

The bank's retail lineup already included savings accounts, debit cards, and its FlexiLoan product.

2️⃣ Stripe agrees to buy US AI startup OpenRouter: sources

The deal to acquire New York-based OpenRouter, which helps companies switch between AI models, is reportedly worth more than US$7 billion.

3️⃣ US warns partners against joining China AI framework

The 35 signatories of the US' June AI Opportunity Statement will be warned against joining a similar Chinese AI initiative or risk losing access to resources via the US-led Pax Silica initiative.

4️⃣ Alibaba to sell Lingxi Games in $1.5b deal

The sale to Trustar Capital, a Hong Kong-based private equity firm affiliated with CITIC Capital, reflects Alibaba's push to shift resources to AI and cloud computing.

5️⃣ VinFast, Gowa target 30 Indonesia showrooms in JV

The Vietnamese EV manufacturer is aiming to develop its dealership network in Indonesia via a memorandum of understanding with Gowa Motor Group.

SCALING AI FOR MILLIONS

A deep dive with Grab's chief product officer

Grab is more than just a super app. It uses AI to manage its vast network of users, drivers, and businesses. As chief product officer, Philipp Kandal leads the product and technical strategy behind the millions of daily transactions on the platform across Southeast Asia.

Moving AI out of the lab and into a real-time consumer environment requires an infrastructure that cannot fail. This in-depth fireside chat pulls back the curtain on Grab's AI machinery, revealing hard-won lessons on making intelligence reliable at a regional scale. From supporting consumer-facing features to ensuring operational consistency, Philipp shares the road map for building AI that survives the pressure of a massive, high-velocity ecosystem.

Catch this session only at Tech in Asia Conference, ticket prices start from US$31.

PRESS PEEKS

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EVENTS HAPPENING

This is your last chance to be in the room Enterprise AI's next chapter gets decided at ignitePRO at BATIC on August 25 in BICC The Westin Resort, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia. Leaders from Meta, Microsoft, AWS, Nokia, Rakuten, Lazada, Telkom Indonesia, Telin, and more will set the direction of Asia's digital future. Seats are limited and registration closes soon. Sign up here.

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