ED raids at Eazebuzz, Razorpay, Cashfree, Paytm

Hello Reader,

Global factors continue to impact Indian stock markets. On Friday, the BSE Sensex fell by ~1,100 points while the Nifty50 ended the day with a drop of 346 points, extending their losses for the third consecutive day.

Meanwhile, Patanjali Ayurved plans to float four initial public offerings (IPO)—Patanjali Ayurved, Patanjali Wellness, Patanjali Medicine, and Patanjali Lifestyle—over the next five years. At a press conference, Baba Ramdev said that Patanjali's turnover is set to reach ₹1 lakh crore in the next five to seven years.

In other news, researchers have discovered the world’s oldest heart, which is 380-million-year-old, preserved inside a fossilised prehistoric fish Gogo. Incidentally, these were the first fish to have jaws and teeth. 

Sneak peek: Here’s a look at the world’s first ‘flying’ bike. It costs a whopping $777,000.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• ED raids at Eazebuzz, Razorpay, Cashfree Payments, Paytm
• CRED to invest ~$10M in Liquiloans
• An app to help you find your next perfect book

Here’s your trivia for today: Which company invented the floppy disk?

Fintech

ED raids at Eazebuzz, Razorpay, Cashfree, Paytm

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said it has frozen Rs 46.67 crore worth of funds kept in payment gateways (PGs) Easebuzz, Razorpay, Cashfree, and Paytm after it carried out raids this week against Chinese-controlled loan apps and investment tokens. 

The funds have been frozen under the anti-money laundering law. The ED has conducted search operations at multiple premises in connection with an investigation related to the app-based token named HPZ and its related entities. 

The HPZ Token was an app-based service, promising users a large gain against their investments once they mine the token in machines, including Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. 

What’s happening?

• In a statement, Easebuzz said, “none of the parties mentioned in the ED’s statement belonged to our merchant base.”
• According to Cashfree, it has provided the required and necessary information within a few hours on the day of enquiry.
• On the other hand, Paytm has denied freezing of funds, calling it "absolutely false news”.

Investment

CRED to invest ~$10M in LiquiLoans

CRED is looking to invest around $10 million in its peer-to-peer lending partner LiquiLoans to "deepen the engagement" between the two companies. 

The Kunal Shah-led fintech had partnered with Liquiloans when it launched Mint—its P2P lending product—enabling users to pool their unused capital together and on-lend to those seeking personal loans.

Key takeaways:

• The platform promised users lending on CRED a return of 9%, while loans were stipulated to be disbursed at 12%-13% interest, per annum.
• LiquiLoans was founded by Gautam Adukia and Achal Mittal to provide retail investors with a platform to access retail borrowers. The company has raised capital from Matrix Partners in the past.
• CRED Mint was launched last year after the startup realised its members, on average, had around Rs 2 lakh sitting idle in their banks.

Apps

An app to help you find your next perfect book

This week, we reviewed The StoryGraph, a books-focussed app. Rated 4.2 on the Google Play Store and 4.3 on iOS, the app offers book recommendations based on your reading preferences.

It also tracks the moods your usual reads tend to be and provides a wealth of data on the genres you tend to favour, the pace of the story you prefer, and the average length of the book you mostly read.

Stories for all moods:

• The best way to use the app is to input as much information as possible, including the kind of books you’ve been reading off-late, or your favourite books among the ones you’ve read so far.
• It also captures your reading pace, fiction versus nonfiction mix, genres you tend to read more, format, languages, and authors, among others.
• StoryGraph lets you simply add books to the ‘to read’ pile so all your wishlist books are on one handy little page.

News & updates

• Under the scanner: The Biden White House has just released its first-ever framework on what crypto regulation in the US should look like — including ways in which the financial services industry should evolve to make borderless transactions easier, and how to crack down on fraud in the digital asset space.
• A lucrative deal: ByteDance is offering to buy back as much as $3 billion of its own shares from investors at a valuation of about $300 billion, giving existing backers a way to cash out after plans for an initial public offering stalled.
• In the red: FedEx shares tracked their worst day on Friday after the delivery heavyweight pulled its forecast, feeding into fears of a global demand slowdown while piling more pressure on its new chief executive for a quick turnaround.

What you should watch out for

• National Logistics Policy will be unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Which company invented the floppy disk?

Answer: IBM.

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