Jar Turns Profitable by Enabling Millions to Save in Gold
Weekly APAC news up to Wednesday, 24th of September 2025.
Hey FinTech Community!
In this edition, I would like to talk about a trend that I have identified.
Growth used to be the badge of honor in FinTech. In 2025, profitability has quietly become the threshold. Indian players are proving it: Easebuzz ($2.6M PAT), PhonePe ($24M → $76M in FY25, excl. ESOPs), Pine Labs ($5.4M), BharatPe ($0.7M, first-ever PAT), Groww (~$220M), and Jar (~$1M) are all telling the same story: investors now care about profits, not just scale or GTV.
Revenues matter, but bottom lines are finally getting their due. This shift is critical as PhonePe, Pine Labs, Groww, and BharatPe prepare for IPOs, unlike Paytm's 2021 IPO, which happened while it was still loss-making.
The catch with this focus on profitability is that regulation is tightening across India and APAC, which may end up hitting FinTechs where it hurts - right in the revenues. Two recent RBI actions illustrate the point regarding bans on real money gaming and credit card rent payments.
Stay tuned for the second trend next week.
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
While many consumer FinTechs focus on affluent urban users or credit products, Jar has gained traction by offering a culturally familiar asset, gold, as a low-barrier entry point to saving.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🧋 REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ UPI launches program to extend payment network for international students. With UnionPay products, international students can enjoy a wide range of discounts at retailers, restaurants, transportation services, airlines, hotels, and online food delivery services.
⭐️ PayU exits Kenya six years after launch and appoints Sonal Tejpal as the liquidator. The decision to shut down was filed under Kenya’s Insolvency Act and published in a local newspaper. As liquidator, Tejpal is now responsible for winding up the company’s affairs and settling any outstanding liabilities.
⭐️ Grab injects additional US$60 million into GXS Bank. This marks the third time in under two years that Grab has injected capital into GXS. Fresh funding marks Grab’s third capital infusion in under two years, bringing total investment to about US$311 million.
⭐️ Pay Rupy partners with BRISKPE to expand into cross-border payments. The partnership delivers a one-stop solution for domestic and international money movement, bridging Bharat´s digital economy with global markets through innovation, trust, and compliance.
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SINGAPORE 🇸🇬
Alipay+ partners with Grab to make ride-hailing services available to global digital wallet users. The duo said in a statement that this will make local transportation services in Southeast Asia more accessible for users of Alipay+ Voyager, who can now book rides directly from within their digital wallets.
INDIA 🇮🇳
Introducing Apple Pay on Razorpay: a new era of frictionless global payments. This milestone enables Indian businesses selling globally to offer their international customers one of the world’s most trusted, loved, and seamless payment methods, directly through Razorpay’s checkout.
FinTech Giants PhonePe and Paytm discontinue credit card rent payments after revised RBI Norms. This mode of making rent payments has grown in popularity due to the rewards, cashback, or benefits offered through interest-free credit periods. However, the RBI’s new circular issued on September 15 led to halting this top-growing use case by FinTech players.
PayPal-Backed Pine Labs plans up to $700 million IPO in October. The company has started roadshows for the planned initial share sale, which includes a fresh issue of shares worth 26 billion rupees and a sale of 147.8 million shares by the founder and investors.
FinTech shifts focus to Groww in the lending and wealth management space. Groww's proposed IPO comes at a time when the stock broking industry is facing pressure on profitability in the wake of a regulatory clampdown on futures and options trades. This has impacted most of the large players in the ecosystem, with around 30% of their revenue being shaved off.