How Elections Are Secularizing Iranian Politics

Runoff elections late last month in Iran confirmed that a fragile, if working, plurality of moderate and reform politicians aligned with President Hassan Rouhani would control Iran’s 10th parliament — ending more than 13 years of conservative dominance in the assembly. Having swept all of the legislative seats in Tehran in the first round of voting, the reformist campaign to hold the line against radicalism at the ballot box proved to be no less potent in the provinces than it had been in the capital. Against the odds and a formidable array of institutional barriers to participation, the unexpected triumph of the Rouhani coalition served as evidence that democratic breakthroughs continue to be a feature of the authoritarian landscape in Iran.Read More

Mobile Wallet App MobiKwik Raises 50M Dollar Funds From Japanese And Taiwanese Investors

Mobile Wallet App MobiKwik, has raised about $50 million in its latest round of funding led by Japan’s GMO Payment Gateway and Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company MediaTek. Existing investors, Sequoia Capital and Asia-focused hedge fund Tree Line Asia also participated in the Series-C round, which closed last month.


“MobiKwik is excited to have raised an undisclosed amount in the Series-C round of funding led by GMO and MediaTek. GMO is Japan’s leading payment gateway and MediaTek is the world’s leading semiconductor company.The round is however, lesser than what was expected earlier. According to media reports, MobiKwik was looking to raise between $80 million and $100 million. Singh had reportedly said that MobiKwik would look to dilute a 25% stake at a valuation of $400 million.


In April, 2015 Tree Line Asia, a Singapore-based hedge fund had led a $25 million Series B round in Indian mobile wallet startup, One MobiKwik Systems Pvt. Ltd, which operates MobiKwik. Other investors were Cisco Investments, American Express and Sequoia Capital.Founded by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku, MobiKwik allows users to transfer money for making payments. This covers payments for mobile recharge, bill payments and services and product payments on platforms like eBay, Domino’s, RedBus, Purplle, Explara and Snapdeal, alongside others.

According to a statement released by GMO Payment Gateway, the company has made the investment through GMO Global Payment Fund, a $15-million fund, backed by major financial institutions, including, credit card issuers and acquiring banks, and which targets investment opportunities among payments companies throughout Asia, with a strong focus on South East Asia.MobiKwik was likely to hit profitability by 2017. The company claims to have 30 million users and network of 50,000 merchants.