The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web:
A stake in India
Hitachi has purchased a 26 percent stake in the State Bank of India and will form a joint venture to build a payment platform.
The venture will support QR codes, the Unified Payment Interface, mass transit and e-commerce payments, reports
The deal will give Hitachi a major presence in the
Lap of Luxury
Cartier subsidiary Richement is collaborating with Alibaba to develop an online luxury shopping market.
Online shopping for high-end goods is on the rise in China, but the market is difficult for outside companies to crack, reportes
The Zurich-based retailer and Alibaba will launch mobile apps in China for brands affiliated with Richemont, such as Yoox Net-a-Porter.
PayPal invests in emerging markets
PayPal has made an undisclosed investment in Tala, a Santa Monica-based emerging markets lender.
Tala will use the funds to expand its footprint in Kenya, Tanzania, the Philippines, Mexico and India, reports
New crop
VC investor and former PayPal exec David Sacks has led a $5 million seed round in WAY V, a B2B cannabis logistics and compliance platform.
WAVY links cannabis companies to brands and powers next-day delivery, with California being its initial market, reports
From the Web
The Wall Street Journal | Mon October 29, 2018 - Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is hopping on the fintech bandwagon. Berkshire invested around $600 million in recent months in two big financial-technology companies focused on emerging markets: Brazilian payment processor StoneCo. Ltd. and the parent company of India’s largest mobile-payments service, Paytm.
The Sydney Morning Herald | Mon October 29, 2018 - Buy now, pay later fintech Afterpay says it has leveraged distrust of the banks to expand its customer base to include pensioners and people doing Christmas shopping. The company said a diverse range of customers use its system, from families setting up Christmas shopping ahead of time and pensioners using the service to break large payments into smaller amounts.
The Sydney Morning Herald | Tue October 30, 2018 - Vodafone Hutchison Australia has quietly signed a deal with Alibaba-founded payment company Alipay in a bid to tap into the lucrative Chinese tourism market. The deal allows Vodafone to advertise its pre-paid SIM cards to Chinese visitors to Australia within the app itself, with special deals for those using Alipay already launched.
More from PaymentsSource
What keeps execs up at night in the payments, retail and banking industries? Quite a lot, including disruption from tech giants and competition from foreign rivals.
A Sam's Club warehouse in Dallas will test a wide range of mobile technology including — artificial intelligence, augmented reality, voice and cashierless checkout — to stay competitive against Amazon Go's high-tech spin on retail.
DBS Bank is testing the Foodster bot for order-and-pay at restaurants through Facebook Messenger.
The idea of digitizing cashier's checks is likely to meet resistance, but the Swiss startup says at least two U.S. banks are already showing interest.
