Marcel van Oost Connecting the dots in FinTech...: Recent Episodes
Marcel van Oost
The nr1 FinTech news podcast.
Stay up to speed on all the news from the global FinTech space by listening to this daily podcast!
- Global B2B payment infrastructure platform Thunes has announced that it has successfully completed a series C funding round
🍏 Apple Card’s new high-yield Savings account is now available
💪 Yonder secures £62.5m in equity and debt Series A round.
🇨🇴 Kala has raised US$6M
💚 Tide Encourages UK Businesses to ‘Kickstart’ Global Carbon Removal Movement to Deliver Net Zero
🔔 Rakuten Bank prices IPO
🚀 dLocal debuts All-in-One payment solution
🇧🇷 Nubank is now testing ‘NuConsignado’.
🇫🇷 Thunes bags new French license for global cross-border payments.
🇨🇦 Affirm and Stripe expand relationship to Canada.
🇺🇸 Bluevine and Wise Launch International Bill-Pay for U.S. SMBs
🌍 Fintech Plots EU Mobile-Payments Revolution From Poland
📈 Twitter to let users access stocks, crypto via eToro in finance push
🚀 Plaid Adds Instant Payouts to Its Transfer Tool
💪 Monzo joins forces with Plaid to open access for US customers.
🇨🇳 China’s Central Bank Warns Against ChatGPT ‘Data Leaks’
❌ Amsterdam-based cryptocurrency platform Change raises €2M
👩⚖️ Walmart Sues Credit-Card Partner Capital One
🇦🇪 UAE’s fintech Qlub raises $25 million
🤝 Finastra, Alygne partner to improve ESG investments decisions
🚀 Revolut launches ‘Crypto Collections’ for multi token investing
🙏 Cash App Founder, Bob Lee Fatally Stabbed In San Francisco
📉 Stripe Says Volume Growth Slowed
🇦🇺 Australian regulator cancels Binance's license at exchange's request
⏰ Molo launches 24-hour ‘Rapid Remortgage’
🇬🇧 Regulator cautioned over Revolut
📉 Affirm Shares Sink on Apple Pay Later News, Affirm Responds
🤝 Payments-as-a-Service Finexio partners with Proactis
👦🏻 Acorns acquires UK's GoHenry, a fintech focused on 6- to 18-year-olds
🧑⚖️ Revolut Reportedly Hired Lawyers to Challenge Audit Report
🌎 Worldpay chief Gabriel de Montessus takes the chair at Toqio
🇮🇳 PhonePe Cancels Deal To Acquire BNPL Startup ZestMoney
✍️ Zero Hash taps Stripe, Coinbase exec as COO
🏆 Enfuce Wins Celent ‘Model Risk Manager’ Award
🚀 CSI and Hawk AI partner to for AML
😅 Binance Sees $2 Billion in outflows as troubles compound
💳 Wio Bank selects Paymentology for card issuing
🇺🇸 StellarFi raises $15 Million
🅰️ Paytrix raises $18.3 million series A
🇬🇧 UK open banking sector valued at £4.1bn by Coadec
🍎 Apple Pay Later launches for select group
☃️ Frost goes carbon neutral ahead of fundraise
🚀 Thunes raises $30m as part of Series C
✍️ Griffin strengthens leadership team with new CFO and CRO
📱 Ingenico acquires smartphone payment acceptance fintech Phos
💳 Mastercard, Visa in talks to buy Pismo
👩⚖️ Binance and founder allegedly violated rules to attract U.S. users
🏦 First Citizens Acquires Much of Failed Silicon Valley Bank
📉 Block short-seller claims ‘Wild West’ compliance
🤖 Big banks invest in generative AI startup Hazy
🇸🇬 Over 500k users have signed up for Singapore’s Trust Bank
🇮🇩 Indonesian Qoala raises US$7.5m Series B+
🙏 Sibstar launches to help people with dementia manage finance
🤖 Klarna plugs ChatGPT into its platform for faster product recommendations
🚀 BNPL FinTech Sezzle files for direct listing on Nasdaq
🦁 MoneyLion rebrands "Even Financial" to "Engine by MoneyLion"
🇳🇱 Dutch stock exchange platform NPEX raises €2M
🌱 Climate fintech HeavyFinance raises €3m seed
🇸🇪 Mastercard acquires Swedish cyber-security firm Baffin Bay
🤖 GoCardless integrates with Zapier to automate payment processes
🥳 Monite doubles seed round to $10m
🎉 Wingspan raises $14M for payroll platform
🌱 TTV Capital raises $250 million for early-stage fintech fund
💸 Recognise Bank secures £25 million funding
⬇️ Stripe raises $6.5bn, working on GPT-4 product
🤝 BNP Paribas and Hokodo work on BNPL innovation
⚛ Atom Bank chair to step down as digital lender prepares for listing
💳 Parker emerges from stealth with $157m funding
🚀 Ibanera lands $18.5m in capital investment
🇺🇸 Bank of America gets over $15b in deposits after SVB fails
💸 Bunq hits €2bn in user deposits
🇲🇽 Mexican FinTech Clara obtains $90m credit line
🇦🇺 Wirex lands in Australia
🇷🇼 Flutterwave obtains licenses in Rwanda.
⏰ NatWest sets daily crypto purchase limits
🎉 Apexx Global raises $25 million Series B
🇦🇪 Sav raises $750k pre-seed to revolutionize personal savings
🧹 tidely receives EUR 3.5 million seed financing
🌱 Web3 firm Cubist lands $7m in seed raise
😌 SVB's new CEO: ‘... business as usual’
🪙 Swift completes CBDC sandbox test
💳 Nets partners with Visa and Mastercard
£ Binance suspends GBP withdrawals
🇨🇭 Credit Suisse reports weaknesses in financial controls
🇸🇦 HyperPay to go public in Saudi Arabia
📈 USDC nearly at $1 peg again
👩⚖️ Flutterwave faces another trial in Kenya
🥭 MANGOPAY collaborates with PayPal
🇳🇬 Nigerian fintech FairMoney acquires PayForce
Today's episode skips regular news stories. We'll discuss the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the events leading up to the downfall, and the possible impact on the market in the future. In tomorrow's episode, on March 14th, we'll go back to regular FinTech news stories and give updates on the SVB story as we go.
🏷 Railsr announces sale
❤️🩹 Better.com’s SPAC gets lifeline but still problematic
🇬🇧 British Business Bank opens £70m Northern Ireland fund
🆔 Digital identity company Yoti raises £10m
🎉 Monnai raises $6.5 Million series A
🇩🇪 La Famiglia raises €255m to invest in seed & growth startups
🇨🇦 Synctera raises $15M for embedded banking in Canada
👋 Silvergate Bank to voluntarily liquidate
👩🏫 Adyen launches 2023 EMEA Accelerator
⛏ Block announces development kit for bitcoin mining
🤝 Zilch & Yapily to use open banking for BNPL lending
🎉 Brex Brings Groundbreaking Tools to Finance Teams With OpenAI
🇫🇷 FinTech Aria receives €50M in debt funding
🚨 N26’s execs warned about ‘dysfunctional’ leadership
🚔 Senators urge regulators to take action on Zelle fraud
🤭 Blockchain trade finance firm Marco Polo reportedly enters insolvency
🇬🇧 BaaS platform Griffin secures UK banking licence
🤝 Weavr acquires Comma to combine embedded and open banking
👩⚖️ VibePay wins dispute as Rakuten withdraws Viber Pay trademark in Europe
🚀 Pismo introduces digital lending functionality
🇨🇳 Airwallex secures Chinese licence through acquisition
🇲🇽 Bank of Mexico unveils P2P transfers.
🍾 Pakistani FinTech Trukkr raises $6.4m and gets a loan license
💪 Droit raises $23m series B
⚠️ UK fintech Railsr to be sold as issues mount
🪙 Nubank rolls out "Nucoin" 70 million users
🚗 Mercedes-Benz turns car into payment device
📉 Revolut investor slashes $5bn off fintech's valuation
🙄 Silvergate "SEN" used to move funds to Exchanges
🇲🇽 Crypto exchange Bitso launch debit card in Mexico
💡 Smart lending fintech Abound raises £500 million
🇧🇷 Brazilian B2B payments platform Barte raises $3m
🇫🇷 N2F raises €24m
🇬🇧 British fintech SteadyPay raises $3m seed
🇳🇬 Flutterwave denies claims that N2.9bn was stolen by hackers
🤫 Binance execs' texts, documents show plan to avoid US scrutiny
🛒 Shopify and thirdweb Launch Web3 Commerce Development Kit
🇦🇺 Nuvei extends global expansion by launching in Australia
🇨🇭 Credit Suisse Loses Key Shareholder
🧮 Revolut's statement about reportedly "misstated" revenue numbers
😢 Stripe Cuts Valuation to $50 Billion After Facing Fundraising Hurdles
💳 Visa considers takeover of (FIS)
🚨 Crypto bank Silvergate warns on ability to survive
⏸ Visa, Mastercard pause crypto push in wake of industry meltdown
🇦🇺 Australian Central Bank Set to Launch CBDC Live Pilot in a Few Months
🇩🇪 Crypto Custodian Finoa Gets License Approvals From German Regulator BaFin
🇿🇦 SA to implement stricter regulations for payments industry
🇳🇱 Adyen integrates Click to Pay within online payment interface
🫂 Budgeting App ‘Buddy’ taps Klarna Kosma for bank transaction monitoring
🥳 Revolut's first full year profit ...
🤭 ... but Revolut’s 2021 numbers may be misstated, says auditor
🚨 Watchdog on alert for failure of Railsr
🛑 Coinbase suspends Binance stablecoin
👩⚖️ Former FTX director pleads guilty to charges
👋 Goldman considers losing Its consumer arm
🇬🇧 UK challenger banks overtake incumbents
💪 Thunes hires LatAm Head to toost regional growth
✅ Tide removes 100% of emissions
😳 Binance moved $1.8B in stablecoin collateral
📉 Klarna posts $1bn annual loss, its largest ever
🧮 Sezzle reports profitable fourth quarter
🛑 Remitly to wind down digital banking app Passbook
🐂 eToro and Sentifi launch Social Sentiment Portfolio
🚀 Frollo launches Net Worth Tracker
🇺🇸 US FinTech Finch raises $40m
🧹 Spade collects $5m to clean transaction data
🇸🇬 Digital asset exchange DigiFT raises $10.5M
📉️Varo raises $50m in downround
🎉️Revolut expects UK banking licence within weeks
🤭️Zip loses $240m despite record revenue
🤝️Western Union and Beforepay introduce 'send now, pay later'
🇬🇧️Klarna rolls out UK late fees
📱️CRED adds buy now, pay later and tap to pay offerings
🔎️ Filipino fintech Maya looks to raise $150m
⚡️ MiFinity launches Open Banking product with Volt
🏦 Hundreds of Wells Fargo's mortgage bankers laid off
💵 Mastercard allows payment in Web3 via USDC
🗺 Remitly expands into the Middle East
🚀 TransferMate announces embedded payments solution for banks
🌱 Guava raises $650K pre-seed
🥳 Brale raises $11.1m to bring CeFi and DeFi together
🛎️ Potential IPO for Monzo
🇭🇰️Huobi and OKX apply for licences in Hong Kong
⚠️️ U.S. regulators warn of liquidity risks for Crypto deposits
🇰🇪️ FinTechs in Kenya raised $158m in 2022
✍️️Clarency taps Form3 for access to Swift network
📱️Revolut launches in-app cashback feature
🇮🇳️ Telecom giant Airtel eyes a stake in Paytm
🇵🇹️ Revolut Bank to become ‘branch’ in Portugal, offer more confidence.
👨⚖️️ Sam Bankman-Fried faces new criminal charges
🇫🇷️ Ingenico and Binance pilot crypto payments in French Stores
✍️️ Nuvei successfully closes Paya Holdings acquisition
📱️ Stripe expands Tap to Pay to Android
📈️ SPAC Bridgetown considers merger with fintech firm Hyphen
🇫🇮️ Enfuce awarded contract by the State Treasury of Finland and Kela
🇺🇸 The U.S. is now Klarna’s biggest market
🗽 eToro recieves New York BitLicense
📈 Coinbase beats earning despite declining usage
🇯🇵 FTX Japan to allow withdrawals via local exchange
🚀 Swarm launches ETF trading platform using DeFi
🦓 Stripe launches Enhanced Issuer Network
👨⚖️ Mastercard and Visa face class action suit
💪 Finastra patners with Integro for risk management
🖥 Lyra chooses Napier for transaction monitoring
🤝 Naver enables mobile payments in South Korea
¥ Bank of Japan to pilot "Digital Yen" in April
🦄 Liquidity Group now unicorn with $40m raise
🇦🇺 DataMesh receives 30m AUD investments
🏡 Nestment raises $3.5M to enable co-buying homes
🇳🇱 Dutch neobank bunq becomes profitable
📱 Revolut most-downloaded banking app in Europe
✍️ Payoneer scores UK e-money license
🎉 TWINT hits 5 million active users
💿 Siam Commercial Bank will become digital-only
🇵🇭 HitPay and BillEase enable BNPL for SMEs
🇪🇺 European Commission opens blockchain sandbox
🇬🇧 7 million UK consumers and SMEs use open banking
🇧🇷 Unlimint adopts Mercado Pago's solutions
🤝 Cross Switch acquires 50% of Moroccan VPS
🇪🇺 €169.5m in European FinTechs raised last week
🇮🇳 Indian PhonePe raises $100M, valued at $12B
🚀 HedgeFlows launches with £2 million funding
💰 Mintoak raises $20 million led by PayPal Ventures
💳 Revolut launches cards program for Irish customers
✍️ Klink Finance gains EU licence
🇧🇷 Lanistar brings Google Pay to Brazil
💪 Fintellect and Nordigen team up to serve SME
😢 Chipper Cash downsizes again
🇮🇸 Icelandic Neobank Indó chooses AML provider Lucinity
🤝 MoneyLion partners with Column Tax for free tax services
🚀 Puzzle raises $15m series A
🍾 Pliant raises $28m Series A
✋️ N26 says on to major acquisition
💰️ Binance Moves $400 Million to Firm Managed by CEO
🇱🇹️ Railsr subsidiary "grossly, systematically" violating AML
💳️ Goldman Sachs steps back from new credit card programs
🇦🇺️ Paypal tells Australia it supports BNPL regulation
🇨🇦️ Plaid allows users to instantly verify identity in Canada
📱 Apple BNPL to evaluate borrowers based on their devices
🇩🇪 German BaaS provider Solaris confirms regulatory restrictions
✍️ Zopa acquires DivideBuy
🇧🇷 Ebanx authorised by Central Bank payment initiator service
🤝 Visa and Froda partner; provide push-payments for SME loans
🌱 ModernFi raises $4.5 million seed by a16z
🏦 Finastra explores sale of banking business
📈 Atom Bank makes London IPO intention clear
🔥 Nubank shows impressive Q4 earnings
🔒 Starling Bank now offers fixed savings rates for SMEs
🇦🇪 Hala acquires UAE-Based startup Paymennt.com
🪄 E-commerce disruptor Starcart partners with Enfuce
💰 Last week €185.5m was raised in 10 Europe FinTech deals
🤝 FinTech Alliance partners with Seedrs
💵 Latino-focused neobank Comun raises $4.5 million seed
Today in the Connecting the dots in FinTech podcast:
⚖️ Wirecard chief Markus Braun denies charges in trial
🚨 Circle sounded alarm on Paxos
☠️ Bakkt kills off consumer app
✍️ FinWise Bank appoints Robert Keil as SVP
💸 Open Banking transactions exceed $330 billion by 2027
👼 Plus500 gives $100m back to shareholders
🇸🇻 Qredo partners up with LatAm neobank, DitoBanx
🚀 Cryptocurrrency startup Solvo goes live in the UK and EU
🇲🇽 Mexican FinTech Yave offers mortgages to foreigners
🤝 Aspire raised $100 Million, doubles valuation
🇰🇪 Kenyan fintech startup "Power" secures $3 million seed
💰 Landytech secures $12 million Series B
Today in the Connecting the dots in FinTech podcast:
🧮 Atom Bank forecasts frofit for 2022 as deposits hit £6bn
✋ Paxos Will Halt Minting New BUSD Tokens
🤝 Adyen broadens partnership with FREE NOW
÷ FIS Announces Plans to Spin Off Merchant Business
👩⚖️ FTC orders MoneyGram to return $115m to scam victims
🚕 Jeeny partners with STC Pay
💸 Omnio completes €9 million equity funding round
🚀 Savii goes live in UAE
👋 Mark Hipperson resigns from Ziglu
Today in the Connecting the dots in FinTech podcast:
👋 PayPal CEO Dan Schulman to step down
🇳🇬 Bamboo secures digital broker licence from Nigerian SEC
📱 Leaf Wallet rebrands to BOSS Money
🇸🇦 KPMG Opens centre for Metaverse and Digital Twins
💸 Digital asset protection provider Coincover raises $30m
🙏 Revolut launched donations page to earthquake victims
🇺🇸 UK neobank Monzo doubles down on US expansion
👩⚖️ Kraken Faces SEC Probe over Unregistered Securities Listings
📉 Jupiter offloads its stake in digital lender Starling Bank
🌳 Green FinTech "ekko" opens up services to businesses and banks
📉️ Affirm’s stock plunges as it misses earnings
🚨️ Robinhood will try to buy back SBF’s shares
🇬🇧️ Fraud fighting US unicorn Alloy launches in UK
💰️ Danish neobank Lunar raised €35m
💸️ Lending infra provider kennek raises $4.5m
The 5 FinTech news stories for today:
1️⃣ Klarna adds Paris Hilton to its army of celebs
2️⃣ Gemini and Genesis Reach $100 Million Agreement Over Earn Program
3️⃣ India halts PayU's LazyPay in new crackdown
4️⃣ Nigerian digital bank Umba launches operations in Kenya
5️⃣ Danish startup Growblocks, nets $6M seed to prevent growth companies from growing out of business.
Today we talk about Revolut, SEON acquiring Complytron, Openpay’s receivership, Kenya’s impropriety case against Flutterwave and Stash’s new CEO.
- Denario selects Klarna Kosma’s open banking platform to expand its connectivity beyond Europe.
- Silvergate investigated by US DoJ over FTX and Alameda.
- JPMorgan Chase is planning to build on the success of its UK digital bank by introducing a similar outpost in Germany.
- Judge dismisses class-action suit against Coinbase.
- FIS, a fortune 500 FinTech Giant, makes 2600 job cuts,
Join us!NEWS HIGHLIGHTBlockFi files for bankruptcy as FTX contagion spreads. The crypto lender filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday (Nov. 28), and said it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, indicating it hoped to restructure, continuing operations in the meantime. Link here
BREAKING NEWSPolish regulator UOKiK has initiated proceedings against PayPal over the use of possibly prohibited contractual provisions and says the possible fine could amount to 10% of the company’s revenue. Link here
Kenya’s Asset Recovery Agency drops money laundering and fraud allegations against Nigeria’s fintech, Kora. The agency stated in its court filing that it had withdrawn its suit in its entirety. Link here
PayMongo co-founder and CEO Francis Plaza steps down to “pursue other ventures,” the company announced. Isabel Ridad, who was appointed as acting CEO after Plaza’s voluntary leave months ago, will retain her position. Link here
#FINTECHREPORTOpen banking standards and PSD3: what you need to know, is a great report by Klarna Kosma, which provides an overview of current developments in open banking. Check it out here
Today’s episode is sponsored by Klarna Kosma. Klarna Kosma is giving you essential open banking connectivity, not to 1 or 2, but 15.000 banks across 27 countries. Providing the base for you to build new payment services and better user experiences your customers will love. Visit kosma.com today, and give your ambitions superpowers!
NEWS HIGHLIGHTArgentina’s Lemon Cash received investment from FTX, revealed CEO Marcelo Cavazzoli, who also confirmed that the company still has its own funds held in the exchange, and although he explained it’s not a significant amount, there is no longer any expectation of recovering the funds. Link here
BREAKING NEWSBinance deploys $1 billion in an attempt to keep the crypto industry afloat after FTX collapse. In a blogpost, Binance said it will devote $1 billion in initial commitments to a recovery fund which may increase to $2 billion “if the need arises,” they added. Link here
Assure, a fintech for startup investing, is shutting down. The company did not provide users with a reason for the shutdown, which takes effect at the end of the year. Link here
#FINTECHREPORTEmbedded Insurance: The Art & Science of Unselling Insurance, is a research report byCoverager® and PwC that examines the significant opportunities offered by embedded insurance. Link here
Take a look at this article by Flagship Advisory Partners, which analyzes U.S. BNPL metrics published in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's “Buy Now, Pay Later: Market Trends and Consumer Impacts Report”. Link here
Check out Digital banking in The Middle East, a report by BPC Banking Technologies and Fincog that investigates the digital banking market of the Middle East with a particular focus on the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Link here
Join the club NEWS HIGHLIGHT Moss integrates with Klarna Kosma. Powered by Kosma, Moss customers will have real-time visibility of their liquidity anytime, allowing finance teams to produce more accurate reports. Link here
BREAKING NEWS
Revolut CEO at Slush: Tech scene facing ‘hangover’. “We’re back into this swinging mood,” says Nik Storonsky, who expects it will take two or three years for the industry to recover. The CEO believes the venture capital (VC) industry needs to reinvent itself and move away from “crowd - mentality.” Link here
FTX’s ownership of a U.S. bank raises questions. Farmington State Bank became tied to FTX in March when Alameda Research invested $11.5 million in the parent company of the bank, which has a single branch and, until this year, just three employees. Link here
#FINTECHREPORT Banking and Fintech in 2022. Cornerstone Advisors’ research team put together a compendium of their top research reports from 2022 that reflect the content they believe addresses the key issues, challenges, and opportunities that bank and credit union executives are facing as they head into 2023. Link here
Join the club NEWS HIGHLIGHT FTX processed billions monthly in Africa before going bust. One of the startups affected by the collapse was Nestcoin, which has laid off some employees as FTX’s demise impacted its business according to the information shared in a tweet by CEO, Yele Bademosi. Link here
BREAKING NEWS Afterpay and Zip react to proposed buy now pay later regulations,and share differing opinions on new regulation options put forward by the Treasury will impact the buy now, pay later sector. Link here
Starling Bank decided to block all card payments to crypto merchants and restrict other outgoing and incoming crypto-related bank transfers, the bank said in a message to customers on Tuesday. Link here
Lawmakers question SoFi CEO and banking regulators over crypto activity. Four Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee voiced their concern over SoFi’s use of crypto assets given the recent FTX meltdown, and are asking SoFi to respond by Dec. 8. Link here
Today Jumio is proud to announce the continued evolution of their Jumio KYX Platform with additional features that further enhance their intuitive, one-stop orchestration hub. The KYX Platform provides end-to-end identity proofing, risk assessment, and KYC/AML compliance management to help you fight fraud and financial crime. Learn more at Jumio.com
NEWS HIGHLIGHT Pipe said it is on the hunt for a “veteran” CEO, as the three co-founders are stepping down from their roles as executives of the company in one of the most dramatic management shake-ups seen in the fintech startup world in some time. Link here
BREAKING NEWS ``We're alive and kicking,” said CEO of banking app Dave, expecting to dispel doubts after this year's 97% stock plunge. The CEO also added that the company has enough cash to survive the current downturn for fintech firms and reach profitability a year from now. Link here
Anti-Woke banking startup GloriFi cancels itself less than three months after its public debut. The company, which missed multiple launch deadlines and had its CEO step down due to misconduct, is citing “reputational attacks'' and “the failing economy”. Link here
#FINTECHREPORT
In its latest ‘State of European FinTech’ report, Finch Capital forecasts a period of cooling and consolidation across the FinTech sector, as macroeconomic conditions grow more challenging. Link here
Qonto: The profitability challenge, is C-Innovation's latest addition to its series of Deep-Dive reports, which reveals Qonto’s success factors, current challenges and what the future prospects look like for the company. Link here
Today’s episode is sponsored by Klarna Kosma. Klarna Kosma is giving you essential open banking connectivity, not to 1 or 2, but 15.000 banks across 27 countries. Providing the base for you to build new payment services and better user experiences your customers will love. Visit kosma.com today, and give your ambitions superpowers!
NEWS HIGHLIGHT Despite boasting of big profits, FTX and Alameda lost billions before 2022. In a motion filed on November 19, the bankruptcy pros now managing Bankman-Fried’s companies said that the entities’ 2021 tax returns collectively showed a net operating loss carryover of $3.7 billion. Link here
Flagship Advisory Partners met with Wilko Klaassen, VP Business Development at Klarna Kosma, Klarna’s newly created open banking business unit, to learn more about Kosma’s perspective on developments in open banking and how Kosma is addressing the challenges in open banking payments and data services. Link here
BREAKING NEWS Crackdown on Afterpay and other buy now, pay later services in Australia. The Federal Government is considering an overhaul of the system in order to protect customers from getting into “debt spirals” as a result of the interest-free credit system. Link here
Stock trading app Freetrade is reportedly ‘talking to advisors' about a potential funding round or sale. The unconfirmed report could see the low-cost trading app merge with another fintech or seek a further VC round. Link here
BREAKING NEWS Plum ranked as the fastest growing fintech in the 2022 Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50. Plum’s CEO and co-founder, Victor Trokoudes, credits the company’s excellent performance for its exponential revenue growth over the past four years. Link here
#FINTECHREPORT Check out the Latvian Fintech landscape review Autumn'22 by Venture Faculty. Link here
INSIGHTS Check out the Financial Technology Partners / FT Partnersweekly FinTech deal activity overview. Link here
This article written by Siobhán Hanley, is an analysis on how Ireland is emerging as a global hub for payments. Link here
BREAKING NEWS The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)has suspended the license of the Australian unit of FTX allowing the platform to provide limited financial services related to the termination of existing derivatives with clients. Link here
#FINTECHREPORT Check out Frollo’s report on the State of Open Banking in Australia. The report is a deep-dive into the actual usage of CDR Access Models, and a look ahead into the future of the Consumer Data Right. Link here
INSIGHTS Visa brings face payments and instantly-issued prepaid cards with animated art to the World Cup and has installed 5300 contactless-enabled payment terminals at official venues. Link here
Mastercard extends inclusive card options across Europe, by expanding its “True Name” feature, which is particularly important for transgender and non-binary people as it allows them to personalize the name they want on their card. Link here
Mexican customers switch from traditional banks to fintechs searching for better and flexible services, although many maintain a traditional bank account, and while fintechs' role in the country is growing, penetration remains slow, according to a number of reports. Link here
Connecting the dots in FinTech
This podcast episode is sponsored by Hala. Hala is a leading fintech platform allowing SME's to manage their inbound and outbound payments in a simple yet safe way. It's a one-stop shop to manage the financials of your SME's.
NEWS HIGHLIGHT Klarna Kosma opens up a FinTech platform to accelerate Open Banking use cases. The new initiative is aiming to help startups develop Proofs of Concepts (POC) in the e-commerce, data analytics and fintech space. Link here
BREAKING NEWS Juni cuts a third of its team in a second round of layoffs. The company said in a LinkedIn post that the decision was made due to new market conditions. Link here
#FINTECH REPORT Check out the latest report by BPC: Digital banking in The Middle East, which provides a complete overview of the Middle Eastern digital banking market as well as an excellent understanding of the current competitive landscape. Link here
INSIGHTS
The US Department of the Treasury calls for closer supervision of fintech-bank relationships in order to prevent abuses and protect consumers. Link here
Check out this report by Aaron Stanley, which describes how Brazil and Latam FTX employees resigned and were left completely in the dark about what was going on, and how the collapse of FTX has impacted the Brazil crypto ecosystem. Link here
Connecting the dots in FinTech NEWS HIGHLIGHT FTX says it could have over 1 million creditors in the new bankruptcy filing, hinting at the huge impact of its collapse on crypto traders. Link here
BREAKING NEWS BlockFi prepares for potential bankruptcy as crypto contagion spreads. The company, financially entangled with the now-bankrupt FTX, is planning to lay off workers and exploring a bankruptcy filing itself, people familiar say. Link here
FTX’s Bankman-Fried quietly invested more than $500 million in Sequoia and other VCs. The unusual moves show how entangled Silicon Valley VC firms are in his collapsing crypto empire. Link here
#FINTECH REPORT Check out the MENA FinTech Association’s (MFTA) report which focuses on embedded finance in the MENA region as well as how open banking and open finance are fuelling its growth. Link here
The fifth edition of the Optima Consultancy Mobile Banking App Review (Germany) 2022 has been released. The underlying motivation of the research is to track and measure digital transformation in banking. Link here
Connecting the dots in FinTech NEWS HIGHLIGHT Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Klarna, accuses media outlets of "hypocrisy" over treatment of BNPL in a tweet. The CEO believes Klarna is getting unfair media coverage by media outlets compared to credit card firms. Link here
BREAKING NEWS Manchester fintech startup Boodil secures £525k funding to scale consumer focused Open Banking payment solutions. Link here
Nubank exceeds expectations with $7.8M Q3 net profit as loan portfolio swells. The bank's CFO said that personal loan originations are closely tied to the outlook for the Brazilian economy. Link here
Connecting the dots in FinTech NEWS HIGHLIGHT Curve bids for BlockFi’s more than 87,000 credit card customers — whose credit cards have been suspended since Nov. 11. Negotiations are still in the process with Deserve, which services the BlockFi card program. Link here
BREAKING NEWS Klarna has launched the search and compare tool to enable shoppers to compare prices. This marks an acceleration of Klarna's attempts to reach superapp status as it broadens its reach beyond payments. Link here
JP Morgan is opening a payments innovation lab in Athens as part of a wider Greek expansion. The centre will concentrate on supporting the development of solutions around distributed ledger technology, AI and cryptography related to payments systems. Link here
#FINTECH REPORT Mobiquity Inc.’s Interactive Digital Banking Features Radar report, is a study that describes the similarities and differences between digital banking functionalities and outlines three key pillars to achieving digital success. Link here
Connecting the dots in FinTech NEWS HIGHLIGHT Crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried blamed himself for FTX's collapse in a series of tweets. FTX CEO apologized to users and acknowledged he had made mistakes. The post comes as the onetime hero of the crypto sector begs for billions of dollars to stave off bankruptcy. Link here
BREAKING NEWS Plaid suspends FTX.US access to user data. The company said the suspension was due to “concerning public reports,” though noted that there is “currently no indication that Plaid has been used as a vector for fraudulent activity.” Link here
BlockFi pauses withdrawals in wake of FTX collapse. The company said in a tweet that the "lack of clarity" around FTX's current situation meant it would pause client withdrawals, and also told clients not to deposit to their wallets or interest accounts. Link here
#FINTECH REPORT Check out BDA Partners' latest report, which is a closer look at the key trends that make SEA an attractive FinTech market. Link here
Join us: Connecting the dots in FinTech NEWS HIGHLIGHT Binance is backing out of its plans to acquire FTX, the company said Wednesday, leaving Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire on the verge of collapse. Link here
BREAKING NEWS J.P. Morgan and Mastercard modernize account-based payments with innovative 'pay-by-bank' solution, an ACH payment that uses open banking, which enables customers to pay bills directly from their bank account with greater security. Link here
Elon Musk detailed his vision for Twitter’s plan to enter the payments market and suggested that, in the future, users would be able to send money and extract their funds to authenticated bank accounts on the platform. Link here
#FINTECH REPORT
Fintech Saudi released its fourth Annual Report 2021/2022, providing an overview of the FinTech industry in Saudi Arabia over the last year. Link here
Join our community NEWS HIGHLIGHT British fintech Railsr eyes sale weeks after heavily discounted fundraising. Sky News has learnt that the company is working with bankers at FT Partners on a range of strategic options, including an outright sale amid growing impetus for consolidations. Link here
BREAKING NEWS African neobank Kuda arrives in the UK as its second market in order to add remittances to its growing list of features in order to give Africans easy access to financial services. Link here
Adatree, in partnership with Accurassiis making possible for thousands of Australian households to securely and easily transition homes to zero carbon. Link here
Techurate introduces Tigiverse, an intelligent automation solution for banks to digitalize customer interactions and helps replace paper-based systems and promotes Green Banking. Link here
PayPal users in Kenya can now access withdrawal services through Equity Bank’s Mobile App and Internet banking platform. This is a withdrawal service that is mostly used by freelance writers and business people, and also households that are involved in international money transactions. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT BNPL boosts as PayPal and Block add installment plans to weather inflation. Recent PYMNTS research confirms the strength of BNPL, especially among younger demographics with less disposable income. Link here
BREAKING NEWS Crypto.com to issue credit cards with crypto capabilities in Singapore. The credit card comes with a cryptocurrency capability and is accepted by more than 80 million Visa merchants. Link here
#FINTECHREPORT According to a report from Juniper Research, the total number of unique contactless mobile payment users will reach one billion for the first time in 2024. Link here
This podcast episode is sponsored by Contis, the European leader in Banking-as-a-Service. Contis is proud to deliver process-pay, a brand-new standalone processing solution ready to cater for any organisations card processing needs. To find out more visiting www.contis.com today!
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This podcast episode is sponsored by Uncover, the new podcast by ComplyAdvantage. Join the CEO and his team as they interview compliance leaders, FinTech innovators, and financial crime experts to uncover the latest best practices and industry trends. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify today
NEWS HIGHLIGHT Ant rolls out a BNPL product in Hong Kong. Users will be able to pay in installments when shopping on AlipayHK's network of merchants as well as on the e-commerce platform Taobao. Link here
BREAKING NEWS Revolut chat function will integrate NFT profile pics. The new messaging tool marks the next step in Revolut's mission to establish itself as a super-app. Link here
Buy now, pay later lender Openpay has been given a formal warning for failing to establish, implement, and maintain an anti-money laundering programme. Link here
FINTECH REPORT How platforms can revolutionize small-business banking with embedded finance. Check out a comprehensive evaluation conducted by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the financial technology platform Adyen. Link here INSIGHTS Novatti launches International Bank of Australia, which will have the advantage of being able to leverage Novatti’s existing payments ecosystem and global footprint to help win customers quickly. Link here
UnionDigital banks 1.73M customers in four months, and onboards PDAXas first corporate account customer, marking the commencement of accumulating corporate account openings at UnionDigital Bank. Link here
The Fintech Funding Gap: An article that details how early-stage startups can navigate this major hurdle. Link here
Check out “Nordic Fintech Snippets”, the combined effort of all the Nordic Fintech Hubs, sharing the most important and latest news in fintech and digital finance from each country. Link here
NEWS HIGHLIGHT PayPal announced that it will soon support Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhones. Merchants will be able to accept contactless card payments as well as payments via Apple Pay and other digital wallets (Google Pay). Link here
BREAKING NEWS CloudWalk becomes the first licensed crypto payment institution in Brazil. The license will allow the company to offer credit cards to users and provide payment accounts to businesses. Link here Finastra announced the availability of Finastra Digital Banking Insights, an app for Fusion Digital Banking that provides financial institutions with actionable insights into account holder behavior. Link here
airasia Super App completes ASEAN expansion spree for 2022 with Indonesia launch focusing on Bali as a key international tourist market. Link here
Cap table startup Carta’s valuation jumped to $8.5 billion earlier this year after employees sold shares to investors, which highlights the business' rapid growth during the pandemic. Link here
INSIGHTS Latam's MercadoLibre reported a third-quarter net income up 36% from a year earlier, as it nearly doubled its fintech revenues, helping offset a relative slowdown in online shopping. Link here
It is really striking how the German ecosystem has grown strongly in all areas in recent years. Check out this German Web3 Ecosystem Map by w3.fund. Link here
Public.com, is planning to expand outside the US in 2023. The company was reportedly recently looking to buy Amsterdam-based Bux, another stock trading app. Link here
This podcast episode is sponsored by PayRetailers, leading European paytech firm in Latin America, dedicated to creating a fast and simple payment process for merchants and shoppers. With a flexible and highly scalable proprietary technology architecture, we innovate rapidly in response to market demand for online businesses of all sizes. Visit www.payretailers.com
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Crypto exchange Deribit loses $28 million in a hack. According to Deribit's official Twitter account, one of the company's hot wallets was hacked by $28 million on Tuesday, November 1. Still, neither client assets nor its cold wallets were affected. Link here
BREAKING NEWS Revolut launched “Revolut Chat.” Customers in the UK and EEA can now chat and share gifs and stickers while sending and requesting funds to and from other customers. Link here
Volt announced that its anticipated expansion into Australia has been tabled for the first quarter of 2023. Link here
FINTECH NEWS Prove announces the launch of Prove Auth™ a next-generation solution that protects consumers from fraud, including account takeovers. Prove Auth enables enterprises to reduce reliance on passwords and one-time passcodes (OTPs) and empowers consumers to frictionlessly authenticate in all channels. Link here
Rapyd releases a multi-currency treasury platform that will enable international businesses to manage funds globally without the complexity, frustration, and added expenses of managing multiple banking relationships, payment providers, and funds flows across countries and currencies. Link here
Connecting the dots in FinTech
This podcast episode is sponsored by Burgopak. Burgopak delivers award-winning innovative packaging solutions for some of the world's leading companies in Fintech. Discover how tangible physical touchpoints are crucial in digital banking with the Burgopak 'Welcome to the club' book; Request your free copy, contact info@burgopak.com
NEWS HIGHLIGHT Staff at Monzo have told management they plan to form a union and ask the company to formally recognise it. The move comes against a backdrop of increased economic uncertainty and rising costs for workers in the world’s fifth-largest economy. In the UK, an employer has to formally recognise a union before management is obliged to consult it during things like pay and redundancy negotiations. Link here
BREAKING NEWS Ecuador’s congress approves a FinTech law. Ecuador’s National Assembly approved on Sunday the draft law for the development, regulation, and control of technological financial services, known as the FinTech Law, which aims to provide legal certainty to financial technology companies operating in the country, as well as to foreign companies seeking to set up shop and invest in Ecuador. Link here
The Reserve Bank of India has announced that the first of its pilot launches of a digital rupee will begin Nov 1st, with a “Digital Rupee — Wholesale segment”. Nine banks will participate in this pilot project, and the use case will be the settlement of secondary market transactions in government securities. Link here
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Today’s episode is sponsored by Klarna Kosma. Klarna Kosma is giving you essential open banking connectivity, not to 1 or 2, but 15.000 banks across 27 countries. Providing the base for you to build new payment services and better user experiences your customers will love. Visit kosma.com today, and give your ambitions superpowers!
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT PayPal and BPAY are Australia’s most frequently used digital payment services. The two services are used by almost three times as many people as the third-placed Afterpay, now used by over 3.2 million people (15.2%). Link here
BREAKING NEWS UOB Malaysia launches digital banking platform for SMEs. An all-in-one digital banking platform to meet the financial needs and other business requirements of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Link here
Stripe enters the crowded Thai payments market with a global strategy. Stripe says it will use its global payments network to attract businesses of all sizes in Thailand after it launched operations in the already crowded market on Wednesday. Link here
INSIGHTS Merchants face a two-year wait for the conclusion of UK market reviews into Visa and Mastercard fees. The PSR says it expects to publish a report setting out its interim conclusions on card scheme and processing fees in quarter four of 2023 and a final report which would include any proposed remedies in quarter two of 2024. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Jumio unveiled at Money20/20 USA its extended Jumio KYX Platform with an integrated orchestration hub benefiting from the company’s acquisition of 4Stop. The platform streamlines fraud and eKYC/AML compliance management with the intuitive one-stop orchestration hub, which brings together global data, risk signals, real-time analytics, actionable insights, and a configurable rules engine to help businesses defend against fraud without compromising user experience. Link here
BREAKING NEWS Starling grows headcount by 20% with plans to recruit a further 200 staff. More than 1000 employees are based at its Cardiff office, while 650 are in London office. Link here
FINTECH NEWS Collctive FinTech launches into the US. The solution also provides a lifeline to businesses and groups who need to collect money remotely for special occasions and celebrations. Link here
NextPay helps medical professionals collect payments. Healthcare professionals can accept payments from QR codes, e-wallet, debit, credit, and bank transfers, and through single-use. Link here
This podcast episode is sponsored by Burgopak. Burgopak delivers award-winning innovative packaging solutions for some of the world's leading companies in Fintech. Discover how tangible physical touchpoints are crucial in digital banking with the Burgopak 'Welcome to the club' book; Request your free copy, contact info@burgopak.com
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT The Frasers Group, the listed owner of high street brands such as Sports Direct, Jack Wills and House of Fraser founded by Mike Ashley, has invested £23m in challenger credit FinTech Tymit. Following this Series A funding round, which was conducted with an undisclosed valuation, Frasers Group has become a ‘major minority’ investor in Tymit, which has now seen a total of £33m of investment to date. Link here
BREAKING NEWS Wise is set to expand investment services across Europe with an Estonian license. The global technology company received the licence from the Estonian Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority, and said it will be bringing its Assets product to Estonia “in the coming quarters.” Link here
Apple will start to offer health insurance in 2024 as it looks to build on the health data it has acquired from the Apple Watch, an analyst has predicted. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Amazon will now allow customers to make payments through Venmo on its platform. The company said this option will be available to select customers starting today and will roll out to all U.S.-based users on the Amazon site and mobile app by Black Friday next month. Link here
INSIGHTS Rishi Sunak becoming PM is good for crypto & FinTech. During his time as finance minister under former Johnson, Sunak announced he wanted to turn the UK into a ‘global hub for crypto’. He helped usher in the Financial Services and Markets Bill, currently making its way through Parliament. Link here
Nearly 60% of digital consumers in Vietnam use fintech solutions. Vietnam is a top market in adopting new technologies, in which 58% of digital consumers have used online banking solutions, e-wallets, money transfer applications, and digital banking. Link here
Nigerians shun the eNaira. A year after launching Africa’s first digital currency, Nigeria’s central bank is turning to the nation’s three-wheeler taxi operators to speed the adoption of the eNaira, as regulators across the world scrutinise its every move. Link here
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This podcast episode is sponsored by Mercuryo. With the help of their cryptopowered toolbox, Mercuryo enables companies to take advantage of both fiat and crypto worlds and provide innovative payment solutions for end-customers.
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This podcast episode is sponsored by Burgopak. Burgopak delivers award-winning innovative packaging solutions for some of the world's leading companies in Fintech. Discover how tangible physical touchpoints are crucial in digital banking with the Burgopak 'Welcome to the club' book; Request your free copy, contact info@burgopak.com
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Apple Pay captures just 2.4% of in-store transactions. Apple Pay retains its commanding lead over other mobile wallets used for in-store payments in the U.S. — but its share of all in-store transactions remains negligible. Link here
BREAKING NEWS Sezzle signs new $100M credit facility. The new facility replaces its prior facility with Goldman Sachs Bank and Bastion, and will support Sezzle’s operations in the U.S. and Canada. Link here
FINTECH NEWS BigPay adds three new services to its major payment license issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore for account issuance service, domestic money transfer, and e-money issuance service in Singapore. Link here
Cardless targets brick-and-mortar shoppers. They are planning a digital-first rewards credit card with American Express that targets shoppers at stores and restaurants leasing space. Link here
Current migrates to Visa DPS Forward Platform. Leading U.S. financial technology platform announced it has successfully seamlessly migrated to the Visa DPS Forward platform. Link here
NEWS HIGHLIGHT Stripe asked managers to start giving lower ratings on performance reviews. This could lead to more people being fired or feeling pressured to quit. Potential cuts, which Stripe wouldn't have to disclose as layoffs because they would be performance-based, could affect hundreds of workers. Link here
BREAKING NEWS Sproutfi (YC S21) acquired Passfolio's client portfolio in Brazil. In the coming weeks, Passfolio will transfer all users in Brazil that have investments in the U.S. market to Sproutfi, which will provide all the necessary support for these users to continue their investment journeys within the application. Link here
INSIGHTS Is Goldman’s fintech gamble over? Goldman Sachs’ foray into consumer fintech looks set to be spiked. CEO of Goldman David Solomon is clearly on a mission to re-focus the 150-year-old bank’s strategy as the global economy continues to sour. Link here
The South African BNPL gross merchandise value is expected to reach $5 billion by 2028. BNPL payment adoption is expected to grow steadily over the forecast period, recording a CAGR of 35.5% during 2022-2028. Link here
APAC BNPL gross merchandise value is expected to exceed US$782 billion by 2028. Medium to long term growth story of BNPL industry in Asia Pacific remains strong. BNPL payment adoption is expected to grow steadily. Link here
Singapore’s BNPL working group launched a new Code to guide service providers in Singapore and to protect consumers and ensure that BNPL offerings “will continue to benefit the ecosystem,” according to a press release. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Google partners with Coinbase to accept crypto payments. This deal will allow a subset of customers to pay for cloud services with cryptocurrencies. It will take effect in early 2023. The co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, said they could not ask for a better partner to help execute their vision of building a trusted bridge into the Web3 ecosystem. Link here
BREAKING NEWS Primer and Coinbase forge global integration. This integration allows merchants in markets across the globe to add crypto as a standard method of payment at checkout. Link here
JPMorgan launches fundraising platform for Startups. This platform aims to connect startup founders with venture capital investors to simplify the fundraising process, the bank told Reuters. Link here
JP Morgan to tokenize euro deposits soon. They see a payment opportunity for non-fungible tokens. Now they plan to enable blockchain-based Euro deposits ‘soon’. Link here
Payvision is under investigation over a money laundering case. The probe is related to actions before ING bought Payvision, and they are not the subject of this investigation. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Nuri terminates its business after failing to find an acquirer. They had not been able to find investors to continue their mission. Customers have been asked to withdraw their funds by December 18. Link here
BREAKING NEWS bunq wins appeal case against DNB. Earlier this year, the neobank sued DNB over a disagreement over the use of technology to combat money laundering. Link here
INSIGHTS €269m was raised across 9 European FinTech deals. Crypto custodian Copper raised €186m in a Series C, followed by GoHenry raised a €57m Growth round, and Net Purpose raised €11m in Series A funding. Link here
FINTECH NEWS Paycell begins its European journey. They are making significant international investments to achieve their goal of becoming an inclusive financial service provider. Link here
Creditclan rebrands as Clan. Also, they’ve introduced swap now pay later to accommodate the growing segment of item upgrade finance across Africa. Link here
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS New PayPal rewards program. When checking out with PayPal, consumers in the US can now earn points towards cash back with the ability to redeem. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Cameron Winklevoss steps down as director. Winklevoss ceased to be a director of the UK-incorporated Gemini Europe, the wider company’s European arm, on 12 October. Link here
INSIGHTS Goldman Sachs CEO is undoing some moves. He is embarking third major reorganization in just four years as CEO, undoing some of the signature moves he made as recently as 2020. Link here
Singaporeans still visit ATMs and Branches. An inaugural national survey on digital inclusion and resilience found that three in four Singaporeans use ATMs several times a month. Link here
From the smallest seeds - OakNorth talks sustainability in Fintech. Kimberley Waldron host of The Future of Banking sits downwith Hugh Shannon, the Head of Sales & Customer Success at OakNorth and is based in NYC. Hugh spent 7y at Lazard. Link here
FINTECH NEWS Solarisbank executive joins Coinbase. Daniel Seifert has joined Coinbase as vice president and regional managing director EMEA, as Coinbase plans an assault on Europe amid fears of further turbulence in the global crypto market. Link here
Ex-Meta VP becomes Stripe’s head of revenue. Sharma stepped down from his role as VP of Meta’s virtual reality social platform Horizon Worlds a few months ago. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Klarna CEO calls out Martin Lewisfor slamming Deliveroo BNPL options. He took to Twitter to shut down the Money Saving Expert’s criticism of BNPL. Link here
BREAKING NEWS Nydig lays off a third of its workforce. Staffers were told of the cuts at the end of September, just days before CEO Robert Gutmann and president Yan Zhao quit the firm. Link here
Revolut is launching Shops in Ireland. Shops essentially let Revolut users browse and buy products from over 1,000 Irish online retailers, all from within the Revolut app. Link here
Nubank reaches 70m customers in LatAm, with 66.4 million users in the Brazilian operation, 3.2 million in Mexico, and more than 400 thousand in Colombia. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT ComplyAdvantage names Vatsa Narasimha as Chief Executive Officer. Founder, and former CEO, Charles Delingpole is to become Executive Chairman on the back of impressive organic growth. Vatsa Narasimha was promoted from his previous position as Chief Technology Officer. Both will assume their new positions effective immediately. Link here
BREAKING NEWS Brazilian Hedge Funds now offer credit products. Vinland Capital Management Gestora de Recursos Ltda. and Occam Brasil Gestao de Recursos Ltda. are among the hedge funds planning to offer credit products after the nation’s benchmark interest rate jumped to 14% from 2% last year, luring investors back to bonds. Link here
Apple is taking a big step in banking services to its customers. The company announced yesterday it is partnering with Goldman Sachs to soon launch a new Savings account feature for its Apple Card credit cardholders. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Brex lays off 11% of staff as part of its restructuring. The startup said it initially tried to “repurpose” as many roles as it could before ultimately deciding it had to let some people go. Also, the startup's CFO is departing to join Rippling, which recently entered the spend management space. Link here
BREAKING NEWS Flux to close down its network. They are unable to share details on what's next for Flux right now but will put out a fuller statement in the coming weeks. Link here
Wise suspends money transfers to Nigeria. They decided to suspend transfers into Nigeria to enable it to address issues disturbing the process of sending money to the country. “We’re doing this because sending money to Nigeria hasn’t been as fast or reliable as we’d like. We want to fix this before your next USD transfer to Nigeria,” their statement disclosed. Link here
Modulr joins DPF Steering Committee. In addition, Modulr will be joining the Digital Pound Foundation’s Payments and Use Cases Working Groups, taking a leading role in both groups in driving the foundation’s agenda and thought leadership in these two key areas of their work. Link here
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This podcast episode is sponsored by Provenir. Provenir does more than help with your current tech challenges. They eliminate them. Designed and built to power agility, their cloud-native technology puts your team in control. Loved by Startups. Trusted by Decacorns.Welcome to your daily FinTech news!
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Interview with the CEO of Frost, Pawel Oltuszyk." We’re merely scratching the surface of what can be achieved with fintech, and with so much innovation happening in the UK, it’s an ideal place to develop our own fintech and create trends for the rest of Europe and the world to follow. " Frost is an intuitive e-money account powered by cutting-edge automation, streamlining various financial tasks into one place. Read more here
BREAKING NEWS PayPal launches an all-in-one POS solution. The PayPal Zettle Terminal further strengthens PayPal's in-store offering, putting an entire store kit in the palm of small business owners' hands. With its sleek design, Terminal is ready to go right out of the box, with no need for a second device to pair it with. Link here
Zand's Olivier Crespin steps down as CEO. Zand’s CTO, Jamie Chittenden, has been named as interim chief. Mr. Crespin, who is also the co-founder of Zand, left the bank with effect from October 5, the lender said on Tuesday. Link here
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This podcast episode is sponsored by Uncover, the new podcast by ComplyAdvantage. Join CEO Charles Delingpole and his team as they interview compliance leaders, FinTech innovators, and financial crime experts to uncover the latest best practices and industry trends. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify today.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT ComplyAdvantage launches a new financial crime tool with Resistant AI. With it, customers can now detect previously unknown patterns of behavior and identify new risks faster. It also delivers alert prioritization so organizations can focus on the highest-risk areas and make the best use of their investigative resources. Link here
BREAKING NEWS JPMorgan and Visa to link blockchain payments. JPMorgan Chase and Visa are to establish connectivity between their global private blockchain networks, Liink and B2B Connect.Under the collaboration, Visa B2B Connect will utilise Confirm, a new tool from Liink to validate new accounts for cross-border payments. Link here
State Bank of Pakistan stops Tag’s operations. The Central Bank has made this decision to “protect the interest of the public at large.” It claims it identified violations of its regulatory requirements. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Exclusive: Q&A with Pav Gill, Wirecard’s whistleblower. Today I have a really special Q&A to share with you. This week I interviewed Pavandeep (Pav) Gill, better known as the Wirecard Whistleblower. Link here.
BREAKING NEWS The seamless use of payment apps across five ASEAN countries is set to be transformational. Indonesia has already connected its payment system with Thailand and will do so with Malaysia and Singapore soon. The fourth country in the network is the Philippines. This would allow customers in these five countries to purchase goods in any other country in the network by merely scanning QR codes. Link here.
Crypto exchange Binance was hacked, and around $100M of Binance Coin was stolen. A Binance spokesperson said that at least $7M of stolen funds have already been frozen. Link here
PayPal will fine up to $2,500 for misinformation. Users are also barred from “the promotion of hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance that are discriminatory.” Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Uber partners with Marqeta, Mastercard, and Branchto power the Uber Pro Card, an enhanced loyalty and payments experience that will help drivers and couriers save on gas, fees, etc. The Uber Pro Card offers customized perks, including up to 10% cashback on gas and 12% on EV charging. Link here.
BREAKING NEWS Chase faces “significant disruption” as the UK app is hit with technical issues. Major outages started on Monday evening and continue to affect the service. Chase UK CEO Sanjiv Somani wrote to customers yesterday to explain the situation and reassure that “we have teams working around the clock to fix this, and we’ll provide updates." Link here.
Zopa CEO hints at a move into SME lending after nearly 18 years of offering consumer loans. The company completed its shift to being a fully licensed bank and has since expanded its personal lending and savings products. Link here
#FinTechSolutions
Afterpay introduced a new payment solution that gives consumers more choice, flexibility, and time to pay, with transparent terms to support responsible spending. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Report advising banking institutions in Australia of their duty to keep offering banking services to Fintechs, virtual currency trading platforms as well as remittance service providers. The report has been commissioned after concerns that banks may be “debanking” or simply not agreeing to offer such services to Fintechs, crypto startups, and other industry participants. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS #BreakingNews
Zopa is in talks to raise $100m ahead of IPO. This round would add to the huge $300m the bank raised last October in a “pre-IPO” funding round led by Japanese telecoms giant Softbank. Link here
Xendit lays off 5% of its staff in Indonesia “due to the uncertain macroeconomic situation.” Founded in 2015, Xendit offers a payment gateway service that allows startups and SMEs to process digital payments. Link here.
#Insights
Global payments revenues still rising. The industry has displayed remarkable resilience throughout the pandemic and current macroeconomic challenges," said Dr. Markus Ampenberger. Link here
The most promising FinTechs of 2022. This year’s winners are shaping the future of B2B and B2C financial services, from payments and banking to investing and insurance. Link here
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This podcast episode is sponsored by Jumio. Jumio will be present at the Money 20/20 event in Las Vegas this October 23rd to the 26th. Visit them at booth #2103 to learn more on how to Accelerate Digital Trust through AI-fueled Identity Proofing and AML Solutions.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Klarna partnered with CellPay. As part of the tie-up, CellPay will offer Klarna’s interest-free ‘Pay in 4’ option to consumers in the US who are buying its prepaid cell phone minutes. The payment option will be available during checkout and will allow CellPay consumers to divide their payments into four instalments. Link here.
BREAKING NEWS Prosus pulls out of a $4.7 billion BillDesk deal. While PayU in September received approval by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to proceed with the deal, the firm now says that certain conditions "were not fulfilled by the 30 September 2022 long stop date, and the agreement has terminated automatically". Link here.
HSBC is considering selling its business in Canada. The business, unlike some others HSBC has tried to dispose of in recent years, is profitable, making C$490 million before tax in the first half of this year. That means the lender would hope to charge any buyer a substantial premium to its current valuation. Link here
UK Banks to shutter joint telephone payment system Paym. Which is a simple method of sending and receiving cash via a mobile phone number. It will close permanently for all users on March 2023. Payment volumes made through Paym have diminished over the past three years. Link here
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Key News:
Bank North is to initiate a solvent wind-down of its operation as regulatory capital requirements were unlikely to be met. In a letter to shareholders chairman Ron Emerson said the bank had not been able to close critical capital in time to meet the Bank of England requirements. Bank North is currently in talks with a third party to sell its £17m loan book as well as transfer its lending team, who make up a third of its 60-strong staff. Link here.
The SEC charged Kim Kardashian 1.26 million for crypto touting. Kim Kardashian has been charged with a $1.26 million fine by the Securities and Exchange Commission for touting a crypto asset security without disclosing the $250,000 fee she was paid for the promotion. The post on her Instagram account was about Emax tokens, the crypto asset security being offered by EthereumMax. Kardashian’s post contained a link to the EthereumMax website, which provided instructions for potential investors to purchase the tokens. Link here.
Visa and Mastercard face a class action lawsuit that claims that Visa and Mastercard have forced banks to agree to a level of Multilateral Interchange Fees (MIFs), which are “anti-competitive and unlawful.” Link here
Celsius founder took out $10 million before pausing withdrawals and filing for bankruptcy. The crypto lender has been called a Ponzi scheme. Celsius advertised high yields to clients that invested their crypto funds with the company. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Curve is to launch a crypto rewards program that offers users access to "double dip" cashback in various cryptocurrencies. In the US, every purchase will be eligible for the perk. Customers can keep track of their tokens and their value in the Curve app. Link here
FINTECH NEWS #Crypto
Robinhood crypto wallet goes live on Polygon. It gives customers total control of their crypto, allowing them to trade and swap crypto with no network fees, as well as access the decentralised web. Link here
#DoneDeal
Uniswap to raise $100 million in a new round. Uniswap will see fundings from several entities including a Singaporean social wealth fund and California-based investment giant Polychain. Link here
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This podcast episode is sponsored by PayRetailers, leading European paytech firm in Latin America, dedicated to creating a fast and simple payment process for merchants and shoppers. With a flexible and highly scalable proprietary technology architecture, we innovate rapidly in response to market demand for online businesses of all sizes. Visit www.payretailers.com
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Habito and Atom Bank withdrew UK mortgages in the wake of Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget on Friday that triggered turmoil in the financial markets. They are not alone, with 40% of available UK mortgages withdrawn by lenders. Thousands of borrowers are searching for options to avoid property sales. Link here
FINTECH NEWS #BreakingNews
Eight US states file individual cease-and-desist orders against Nexo. Nexo Group is a crypto-lending platform. The filings state that the company offered investors interest-earning accounts without first registering them as securities. The orders prevent Nexo from offering this product to residents until it meets the necessary registration requirements. Link here
#Insights
The concept of BNPL in business-to-business. Traditional solutions like invoice factoring and discounting have been used to manage the issue by lending against receivables. Link here
FinTech 2022 Trend Report. Vauban from Carta breaks down the most active investors for potential co-investors and strategy ideas, and segments with the most attention. Link here
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FINTECH NEWS Square launched tap to pay on iPhone for US users. Square is providing a solution that makes it easier for both new sellers and established businesses to conduct in-person commerce. Link here
#Insights
C-Innovation’s update on Q3 M&A. C-Innovation found that Traditional Banks were more likely to acquire an older FinTech, possibly as they seek companies which are better-known and well-capitalised, representing less risk for shareholders.. Link here
#FinTechInnovation
Ex-Revolut employees launch Solvo. Earlier this year, Solvo raised a $3.5 million seed round from Index Ventures with CoinFund and FJ Labs also participating. Link here
Nine25 launches a payroll tech platform. Nine25 aims to help solve retention and attraction problems, offering employers a new way to compete in a competitive market with its unique solution. Link here
#Crypto
Robinhood adds USDC to Crypto listings. Robinhood currently supports 18 other crypto assets, but USDC is its first supported stablecoin. Robinhood and Circle executives will discuss the news further during San Francisco's Converge22 event. Link here
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This podcast episode is sponsored by Uncover, the new podcast by ComplyAdvantage. Join CEO Charles Delingpole and his team as they interview compliance leaders, FinTech innovators, and financial crime experts to uncover the latest best practices and industry trends. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify today
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Public.com is in talks to acquire Dutch trading startup Bux. Bux has never stated its valuation but was valued between $320 million and $480 million at its 2021 funding round, according to Dealroom estimates. Should a sale go ahead, the price is expected to be substantially lower. A move for Bux by Public would continue a trend of US fintechs gobbling up their European peers. Link here
FINTECH NEWS #BreakingNews
Barclays is set to take over Tech Nation’s UK government grant. Investors say they’re concerned after reports emerged that the government had put a key contract with accelerator Tech Nation up for grabs. Barclays is set to take over the £12 million contract. Link here
#Insights
The most valuable and impactful FinTechs. Heading this year’s IDC Fintech Top 100 rankings are three US financial services software companies: FIS, Fiserv, and SS&C Technologies. Link here
Revenues at Stripe's Dublin unit are rising. New accounts filed by Stripe show that the online payments biz enjoyed an $896.9m increase in revenues, rising from $1.358B to $2.255B. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Mollie expands into lending with Mollie Capital launch. Businesses in the Netherlands and Belgium will be able to apply for a merchant cash advance of up to €250,000 via Mollie. Shane Happach, CEO of Mollie said the launch of Mollie Capital: “marks our first step towards becoming a financial services provider, whilst aligning with our goal to help small- and medium-sized merchants compete.” Link here
FINTECH NEWS #Insights
Podcast with the talented Mary Ann Azevedo. Miguel Armaza sits down with Mary Ann Azevedo, Senior Reporter at TechCrunch, responsible for covering all-things Fintech. Link here
Tech Nation faces an uncertain future. The loss of the key government contract comes amid concern about Tech Nation breaching state fin help rules as it had failed to become self-sufficient. Link here
Top 8 well-funded fintechs in Africa. Between 2020 and 2021, the number of tech startups in the continent tripled to around 5,200 companies, with just under half of these being FinTechs. Link here
#FinTechInnovation
Telefónica launched a new investment vehicle called Íope Ventures. Íope Ventures aims to wrap up investments in 15 startups by 2025 as Telefónica looks to strengthen its position. Link here
#Partnerships
Buy2Sell partnered with Mastercard. Buy2Sell will enable multiple payment types to a delivery channels via a single connection through Mastercard Cross-Border Services. Link here
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This podcast episode is sponsored by Privacy Lock. Privacy Lock sets the standard for financial service providers in data privacy compliance.
Protect your business and your customers today. Visit www.pentaprivacylock.com
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Brazilian Federal Police raids 6 crypto exchanges in an investigation into tax evasion and money laundering involving the use of cryptocurrencies. The names of the companies involved were not disclosed. The Federal Police is carrying out 101 warrants issued by a criminal court in São Paulo, according to an official police report. They include two arrest warrants and 37 search and seizure warrants. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS #NFTS
hi launches world’s 1st NFT Customizable Card with Mastercard. Cardholders will be able to personalize the face of their card with an NFT avatar they verifiably own, and spend at more than 90m locations. Link here
#Crypto
1 million Aussies will enter crypto over the next 12 months. The survey questioned 2,609 Australians over 18 years of age in early July, with 548 of the survey sample identified as current holders of cryptocurrency. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT FTX raised up to $1 billion, which would keep the company’s valuation at roughly $32 billion, in line with it’s prior round. The privately held company has been on a buying frenzy during the “crypto winter.” Negotiations are ongoing and the terms could change, said the sources, who asked not to be named because the talks are confidential. Link here
FINTECH NEWS #BNPL
- Volume woos shoppers with PNSL promise. This is the first solution to incentivise shoppers to pay with their banking app by offering an discount at checkout on everything they buy. Link here
- BNPL regulation could ruin fintechs. CFPB said BNPL in the US is frequently used in-place of credit cards and that it is looking to regulate the sector under credit card laws. Link here
#FinTechInnovation
- Bitso rolls out QR code payments in Argentina. This new service allows customers in Argentina to make everyday payments from the Bitso app at any store that accepts QR code payments. Link here
- Cake DeFi launched a new product. EARN - allowing users to generate returns via a single-sided liquidity mining service while protecting users against market volatility. Link here
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This podcast episode is sponsored by Mercuryo. With the help of their cryptopowered toolbox, Mercuryo enables companies to take advantage of both fiat and crypto worlds and provide innovative payment solutions for end-customers.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Jupiter plans to sell its £100m Starling Bank stake to fellow investors, including Goldman Sachs, at a sharply reduced valuation of £1.5bn. Shares in Jupiter, one of Britain's best-known asset managers, have fallen in the past year. On Thursday, it told staff it was looking to cut its workforce by almost 15%, and Andrew Formica, its chief executive, is soon to be replaced by Matthew Beesley. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS Block brings BNPL to Square in Canada. Block Inc. is now offering buy now, pay later options for vendors and shoppers in Canada on Square. Inflation at levels not seen in decades has only propelled BNPL adoption. In July and August, growth in the consumer price index in Canada slowed to 7.6 and seven percent, respectively, but still well above the Bank of Canada’s target of two percent. Link here.
#LATAM
- Payretailers partnered with xbo.com. The partnership opens the door for LatAm users to trade and invest cryptocurrencies on the XBO platform and exchange fiat for crypto. Link here
#WomenInFinTech
- Belvo has 30% of women in leadership positions. Three women at Belvo share the stories of how they’ve grown in the company since they joined. Belvo is committed to building a culture of diversity, inclusion, and equity. Link here
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This podcast episode is sponsored by Burgopak. Burgopak delivers award-winning innovative packaging solutions for some of the world's leading companies in Fintech. Discover how tangible physical touchpoints are crucial in digital banking with the Burgopak 'Welcome to the club' book; Request your free copy, contact info@burgopak.com
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Kavak raised $810 million in financing. Kavak signed structured financing agreements worth USD $810M with HSBC, Goldman Sachs, and Banco Santander. Kavak operates as a buying and selling platform for used cars. The startup also reconditions the vehicles for sale in its own centers. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS #BreakingNews
- Klarna to make the second round of job cuts. The Swedish BNPL firm confirmed the new round of job cuts to Sifted and said fewer than 100 employees would be affected globally. Link here
- Shares of Robinhood were little changed giving up early gains, after a report that U.S. regulators would not ban payment for order flow, a key part of the company's business model. Link here
#FinTechIndustry
- M&A activity accelerates in DACH. Over the last ten and a half years, DACH’s fintech industry has seen US$23.1 billion worth of transactions taking place. Link here
- Lidio joins FinTech industry. The new Turkish player seeks to provide a multi-channel and independent payment experience to millions of consumers. Link here
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This podcast episode is sponsored by MoneyLion. MoneyLion provides an all-in-one mobile banking experience. You choose the tools you need when you need them — and they complement the financial accounts you already have. They’ll help you decide what’s right for you, but the choice is always yours.
RappiPay raises $112M to improve financial inclusion in Colombia. The financial credit granted to the fintech was provided by Bancolombia, Banco de Bogotá, Davivienda, and Itau. RappiPay has already delivered over 200,000 cards in Colombia, and 40% of users report that this was their first credit card. Link here.
FinTechInnovation
- eToro received in-principle approval to operate as a securities, and crypto broker in Abu Dhabi. The subsequent approval for a Financial Services Permission from the ADGM. Link here
- MyPOS obtains an e-money licence from the CB of Ireland. The firm provides point-of-sale payment acquiring and payment solutions to more than 150,000 SMEs. Link here
- Bambu offers new predictive solutions. The service will enable RMs, Financial Advisors, Agents, and firms in the financial sector to identify and prioritize their clients' needs. Link here
Crypto
- "USA can not afford to let crypto go offshore." Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong believes that one of the most robust policy arguments for cryptocurrency is that it’s a national security issue. Link here
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This podcast episode is sponsored by YieldX. YieldX is transforming income investing to bring its benefits to all investors. With YieldX, the outcome is income.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT The 1st US framework on crypto regulation. The measures proposed to eliminate illegal crypto activity in the industry appear to be serious. The framework also points to the potential for “significant benefits” from a U.S. central bank digital currency, or CBDC. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS #FinancialLiteracy
- Kendrick Lamar teams up w/ Cash App & Ray Dalio to give a quick financial literacy lesson. The ad comes from pgLang, the multilingual creative collective founded by Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free. Link here.
#Insights
- BNPL market trends and consumer impacts. The industry mix of BNPL usage is diversifying. Apparel and beauty merchants, who had combined to account for 80.1 percent of originations in 2019, only accounted for 58.6 percent in 2021. Link here
- Argentine inflation jumped to 80% YoY. This puts the country second only to Venezuela in Latam in terms of high inflation, with prices rising almost 8% during August. Link here
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This podcast episode is sponsored by Provenir. Provenir does more than help with your current tech challenges. They eliminate them. Designed and built to power agility, their cloud-native technology puts your team in control. Loved by Startups. Trusted by Decacorns.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Stripe founders’ fortunes plunge by more than $6bn amid global tech stock meltdown. Stripe slashed its internal share price by 28% to $29 per share from $40 in early July in a move that brought down the company's valuation to $74 billion. Compared to $95 billion, when the company raised $600 million in a funding round last March. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS #Insights
- 409 investors drove LatAm’s FinTech sector in H1 2022, Y Combinator, an American-based technology startup accelerator, accounted for the most deals, with seven in total. Link here
- Indian Fintechs struggle to turn a profit. A survey of over 125 founders at Indian fintech found that more than 70% of executives believe most companies may not be able to turn a profit. Link here
- Brazil will be a global leader in Open Banking. Brazil’s Open Banking and Finance ecosystem will soon be the largest in the world, according to speakers at an industry event. Link here
- Center of the start-up world. Listen to TechCrunch's latest podcast episode of their Equity series to learn more about the Figma-Adobe deal, the best deals of the week, the wave of new venture funds in Europe, etc. Link here
#FinTechInnovation
- ECB picked companies to develop prototypes for user interfaces to assess the potential for a digital Euro. Each company will focus on one specific use case of a digital euro. Link here
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This podcast episode is sponsored by Contis, the European leader in Banking-as-a-Service. Contis is proud to deliver process-pay, a brand-new standalone processing solution ready to cater for any organisations card processing needs. To find out more visiting www.contis.com today!
NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Ryan Breslow, the founder of Bolt, is back as CEO of Love. Love is still in its early stages, but in August it raised $7.5 million at a $180 million valuation from MaC Venture Capital and Human Capital. Breslow is running a new funding round, raising another $10 million, this time at a $300 million plus valuation. Link here.
Payments
- PayQuicker launched Payouts OS. PayQuicker’s API connects to more than ten payout partners, enabling payouts in more than 200 countries and territories in more than 40 currencies. Link here
FinTechInnovation
- Front launched an API platform. The firm allows emerging FinTech companies access to a unique network of 250+ global integrations with brokerages and exchanges. Link here
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
BankingIndustry
- Kuda incurred a loss of over ₦6 billion in 2021. Kuda MFB, a neobank operating under the Nigerian microfinance bank licence, has recorded losses for the past two years. Link here.
Partnerships
- Goldman partnered with Modern Treasury. The partners say they will help joint customers seamlessly embed and scale domestic and international payments into their products. Link here
BankingInnovation
- Zengin-Net, will make its system available to operators of mobile payment services. The expansion of eligibility to participate in the Zengin-Net system comes amid the spreading use of payment apps such as PayPay. Link here
- Paysend launched an instant payment service. Paysend’s Open Payment Network orchestrates the end-to-end pymnt flow including payment initiation, processing, FX and settlement. Link here
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This podcast episode is sponsored by PayRetailers, leading European paytech firm in Latin America, dedicated to creating a fast and simple payment process for merchants and shoppers. With a flexible and highly scalable proprietary technology architecture, we innovate rapidly in response to market demand for online businesses of all sizes. Visit www.payretailers.com.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Nubank is to delist from Brazil’s B3 Stock Exchange. Shareholders may opt to migrate to receive either Level I BDRs or Class A shares on the New York Stock Exchange. By delisting, the bank plans to minimize the impacts of having a company listed in more than one jurisdiction. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS #BreakingNews
- Adyen to launch Cash App Pay outside the Square ecosystem. Businesses working with Adyen will have access to Cash App Pay as an integrated payment method for their U.S. customers. This will provide their customers with access to a seamless, secure checkout experience that can feature high authorization rates and an improved shopping experience. Link here.
- TrueLayer announced job cuts of up to 10%. Around 40 roles are likely to be impacted after CEO Francesco Simoneschi revealed that “challenging market conditions” had prompted the decision. Link here
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This podcast episode is sponsored by Burgopak. Burgopak delivers award-winning innovative packaging solutions for some of the world's leading companies in Fintech. Discover how tangible physical touchpoints are crucial in digital banking with the Burgopak 'Welcome to the club' book; Request your free copy, contact info@burgopak.com
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Goldman Sachs is embarking on its biggest round of job cuts since the start of the pandemic. The Wall Street titan plans to eliminate several hundred roles starting this month. While the total number is less than some previous rounds, the reductions are a resumption of Goldman’s annual culling cycle that it had largely paused during the pandemic. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS #Crypto
- MetaMask allows crypto purchases with Brazilian Reals. MetaMask is the latest global crypto player to integrate with Brazil's Pix payment system, which has 126 million users. In July, MetaMask revealed that Brazil was its second-largest user market after the US. Link here.
#FundingRounds
- StashAway raised an undisclosed amount that includes a strategic investment from Hamilton Lane. VentureCap Insights pegged the amount raised at US$12.6 million. Link here.
- Bitmama raised $2 million in a pre-seed round. Africa-focused venture capital firms Unicorn Growth Capital and Launch Africa led the investment in Bitmama. Link here
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This podcast episode is sponsored by Mercuryo. With the help of their cryptopowered toolbox, Mercuryo enables companies to take advantage of both fiat and crypto worlds and provide innovative payment solutions for end-customers.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Times’ interview with Revolut’s CEO: “We can still be banking’s super app”. Storonsky is facing worrying questions and needs to find answers. Key staff is leaving. Auditors are asking questions about its accounts. And the company still does not have its UK banking licence. Link here.
Revolut is almost there with its UK banking licence. Revolut’s application for a UK banking licence is “going very well” and it is “almost there”, according to CEO Nik Storonksy. Link here
FINTECH NEWS * Paytech iBanFirst names a new CTO and a COO. Alain Lagabrielle has been appointed as CTO and Diane Reille COO as part of a broader leadership team shake-up. iBanFirst founder and CEO Pierre-Antoine Dusoulier says: “This series of appointments come at a time of strong growth for iBanFirst, which has seen its turnover increase by more than 100% each year for several years.” Link here.
#Crypto
- Fireblocks hits $100M in annual revenue despite crypto downturn just four years after the company’s inception and three years since its first product went to market. Link here
#M&As
- US paytech Aurora snaps up One Payment. With more than $1B worth of payments volume processed annually, Florida-based One Payment adds “immediate scale” to Aurora’s platform. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Apple Pay Later is an iOS 16 feature that lets iPhone users Buy Now, Pay Later. The imminent release of iOS 16 for iPhone will add a new "buy now, pay later" feature to Apple Pay, the iPhone's mobile-payment app. Apple Pay is bundled with Apple Wallet, the iPhone's digital wallet app that also features Apple Card and Apple Cash. The first payment is due when you make your purchase, and the remaining payments are due every two weeks after that. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS #Insights
- Canadian fintech investment plummets. Canadian fintechs saw US$810M in total investment across 85 deals in the first half of 2022, down from US$1.9B in the second half of 2021. Link here
- Embedded lending enchants investors. KarmSolar, provides smart, connected utility platforms, has hired Synergy Consulting as an advisor as it seeks to sell a minority stake. Link here
- KPMG's report Pulse of Fintech H1 2022: Fintech investment dropped in both the Americas and EMEA, while the Asia-Pacific region attracted a new record high. Link here
#DoneDeal
- Stack raises $2.7m to educate about crypto. The app was designed with Gen Z in mind, a generation that will grow up with the blockchain and most likely own some kind of digital assets. Link here
- Marcelo Claure invests in Credix’s Series A. Claure said, he intends to invest in real estate, gaming, blockchain, electric vehicles, artificial intelligence and both public and private companies. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Revolut is launching a one-click payment feature called Revolut Pay, in a bid to rival PayPal and other tech giants at online checkouts. Revolut Pay has signed up retailers, including Shopify Inc., Prestashop, WH Smith Plc, and Funky Pigeon, and will be available within the airline industry in the coming months. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS #BreakingNews
- PayRetailers Group acquired Asamblo. As part of the agreement, Asamblo’s talent will join PayRetailers’ team. With the new staff, PayRetailers expands its IT project management capabilities and expertise. Argentina-based Asamblo leads the sector of digital solution development for financial institutions. Link here.
#FinTechInnovation
- Padu-backed tekkis launched t-Pay. The solution protects against stolen IDs, glare obstruction, and watermarks, while also detecting and preventing user registrations with expired IDs. Link here
#Partnerships
- Easy EP partnered with Carta Worldwide. Under the new partnership, Carta Worldwide will provide the issuer processing services that connect Easy EP to Visa’s payment network. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Vermont regulator says Crypto lender Celsius misled investors by making "false and misleading claims" about its "financial health and compliance with securities laws," according to a court filing. The filing cites blogs and tweets from Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky, including one insisting that "all funds are safe" when in fact, says the filing, "the company was insolvent, and depositor funds were not safe." Link here.
FINTECH NEWS #Insights
- €75.3 million were raised across nine deals. This week Germany was the clear winner in a fundraising activity, contributing 5 of the eight deals, followed by the United Kingdom. Link here
#APAC
- Report: SE Asia’s FinTech Landscape. Southeast Asia’s digital economy is projected to hit $363 billion by 2025. M&C Saatchi Performance report explores the four key trends in this sector. Link here
- Asia-Pacific reached a record $41.8 billion with 607 deals in the first half of the year. The region saw a diversity of jurisdictions attract very good-sized deals. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Starling defends its bounce-back loan record. Starling had up to 2.5 times higher fraud rates in its Bounce Back Loan provision than the sector average. Lenders have recorded at least £1.1bn worth of fraudulent loans from the UK government’s Bounce Back Loan scheme. Link here
FINTECH NEWS #breakingnews
- Bolt rolls out a new omnichannel platform with Revolve. Bolt’s new technology, “Checkout Links,” allows shoppers a one-click checkout experience online or offline. The platform is being initially rolled out at Revolve. Link here.
#Insights
- India’s Fintech sector to reach US$1T. By 2030, revenues from digital lending, insurtech and wealthtech will grow more than tenfold, respectively, the report says. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Frustration over major banks in Australia delaying the activation of the new direct debit system known as PayTo is intensifying. A group of fintechs who have raised tens of millions of dollars in venture capital funding to help merchants reduce payment costs plea for banks to switch on the system. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS #BreakingNews
- Lending Works rebrands as Fluro to focus on embedded lending. Under the new Fluro brand, Founder Nick Harding said the business would double down on its role as an institutionally-funded embedded lender. Forging close partnerships and offering up its lending tech for companies to quickly develop and roll out their own consumer loans. Link here.
#Crypto
- The UK elects a crypto-friendly prime minister. Liz Truss, representing the UK’s Conservative Party, is expected to take over following current PM Boris Johnson’s planned resignation. Link here
#FinTechInnovation
- Coinmetro launched a swap feature. The new tool will enable investors to buy into their whole portfolio in a straightforward trade, without buying each coin or token individually. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Regulators find flaws in an audit of Revolut. UK regulators highlighted significant flaws in the auditing of its accounts, including an “unacceptably high” risk of “material misstatement.” The watchdog also highlighted deficiencies in how Revolut’s payment processes were tested by BDO. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS #CreditScoring
- Credit Karma has been fined £3 million by the US consumer watchdog for misleading claims that people have been or are likely to be approved for credit or loans. According to the Federal Trade Commission, the credit services company had deployed ‘dark patterns’ to misrepresent consumers ‘pre-approved’ for credit card offers. Link here
#Insights
- Digital banking and Insurtech growing fast in LatAm. Looking at the industry's growth over the past years, IDB notes that the number of FinTechs in the region more than doubled. Link here
- German FinTech funding to reach $4.2B in 2022, a 34% drop from 2021. Deal activity in the country is also on track to fall, although by a less significant 7% to 272 deals for 2022. Link here
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In case you missed it, please see below today's most relevant news, or tune in to our Daily Fintech Podcast here.
NEWS HIGHLIGHT U.S. sought records on Binance's CEO. The Justice Department’s money laundering section asked Binance to voluntarily hand over messages from Zhao and 12 other executives and partners on matters including the exchange’s detection of illegal transactions and recruitment of U.S. customers. It also sought company records with instructions that “documents be destroyed, altered, or removed from Binance’s files” or “transferred from the United States.” Link here
FINTECH NEWS #FinTechInnovation
- Cash App now lets users make payments on sites outside the Square network, something previously restricted. Users can use Cash App credit or debit cards to pay for purchased items. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT The Metaverse gets its first Swiss bank branch. Sygnum Bank, with roots in Switzerland and Singapore, will open a branch on New York's virtual Times Square, welcoming visitors with a «crypto punk. According to experts, this metaverse hub is likely to be precedent-setting. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS #crypto
- Cryptocurrency Lender Celsius Network is facing legal issues as clients are taking action to recover their funds after the platform froze withdrawals in June. 64 custodial account holders filed a complaint. Link here
#payments
- Why do fintechs globally use Visa & Mastercard? The seemingly limitless funds, industry connections, and desire to innovate Visa and Mastercard possess make their replacement highly unlikely, at least for the time being. Link here
- Viva Wallet joined the CB ecosystem. Payments with CB cards will be accepted across local physical points of sale featuring the innovative Tap-on-Phone Viva Wallet POS app. Link here
- Moneycorp expands to France and will provide integrated payment solutions to corporate clients, including financial institutions and banks. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Jupiter Fund Management looks to sell its stake in Starling Bank. The UK-based asset manager owns a stake of approximately 10% in the challenger. According to the report, that share is worth over £200M. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS #proptech
- Landa can make you a landlord with just $5. The way it works is similar to other fractional real estate ownership startups. Landa makes money by taking a 6% acquisition fee at the time of purchase. It also keeps 8% of the gross rent monthly. Landa has also secured $60 million in debt financing for its market expansions. Link here
#bnpl
- BNPL firm financing gun purchases. Democrat lawmakers have written to BNPL firm Credova Financial expressing "strong concerns" about its facilitation of online gun purchases. Link here
- BNPL giant Klarna losses quadruple. The firm says the losses were caused by rising defaults on borrowing and the cost of integrating recently acquired price comparison site PriceRunner. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Swift aims to lower payment friction by introducing a new capability that flags when payments may stall upfront. The new service analyses previous flows on the Swift network to identify accounts that have been credited successfully and uses this information to detect potential errors in payee information - the most common cause of cross-border delays. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS #nfts
- OpenSea’s trading vol is down 99% in USD from its May peak. On May 1, OpenSea processed a record $2.7 billion in NFT transactions, but on Sunday, the marketplace recorded just $9.34 million. BTC has declined nearly 57% since the start of the year to $20,276, and ETH has fallen about 59%, to $1,528, over the same period. Link here.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Belvo joins Endeavor’s network of global entrepreneurs. Endeavor’s global community of entrepreneurs is essential to support Belvo’s growth and success. Endeavor Entrepreneurs have created more than 3.9 M jobs and generated combined revenue of over $42B. Link here
FINTECH NEWS #fintechinnovation
- Haru Invest obtained an MSB license to enable the digital asset management platform to carry out operations as a money transmitter service and expand its scope of service in the US. Link here
- Brankas to launch PHinance Challenge, with Kaya. 8-week programme will help to generate innovative, high-value open finance products for early-stage startups in the Philippines. Link here
- Safepay HQ to go live with Cybersource, in order to bring Pakistani merchants new ways to allow their clients to pay them online. Link here
- Shift launched Equipment Line. With Shift’s Equipment Line either the broker or the customer can initiate transactions ranging in value from $2,000 to $500,000. Link here
#crypto
- GoTo is getting into the crypto business. Indonesian tech firm ishoping is to diversify its services, with its purchase of local crypto exchange PT Kripto Maksima Koin. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Coinbase could list ETH forks after the Merge. The announcement follows a 93 percent drop in the trading volume of Warped Ethereum. The company emphasized that it aims to list any asset so long they are legal and safe. Thus, it can create a level playing field for all crypto assets. Link here
FINTECH NEWS #apac
- Binance to help the South Korean city of Busan grow crypto adoption within the city and beyond. The global crypto exchange will also support the development of the city’s blockchain ecosystem. Link here
- Mastercard Research finds that APAC consumers are ahead in Digital Payments Uptake, with 88% using digital wallets, QR codes, BNPL, and others. Link here
- Singapore seeks detailed information ahead of a possible broadening of the applicable rules. The authority is trying to get a clearer idea of their financial state, knowledgeable sources say. Link here
#fintechinnovation
- ADDX launched a cash management tool that allows investors with excess funds in their wallets to earn interest. They decide on which private market product to take part in. Link here
- Ecobank launched the 5th Ecobank Challenge. Fintechs aligned with the Bank’s strategic objectives stand a chance to win an overall cash prize of US$50,000 for the top winner. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Better.com is planning its fourth layoff. It is unclear how many people will be laid off in this latest round, but one impacted worker said it would be at least 250 or more. Link here
FINTECH NEWS #crypto
- Bitcoin Depot strikes $885M SPAC deal. The merger comes during market downturns for cryptocurrencies and SPACs. It is expected to test investor appetite for bitcoin ATMs. Link here
- Cryptos offer new payment methods and opportunities that businesses can leverage to deliver a better customer experience, generate new revenue streams, and lower costs. Link here
- Bitso launched a crypto Debit Card. Despite the recent fall in the value of cryptocurrencies, the Mexican crypto exchange unicorn says there is demand among its users for cards. Link here
#mergersandacquisitions
- Affirm scans the landscape for acquisitions. With plenty of cash, Affirm CEO Max Levchin considers acquisitions as one of many routes for the buy now pay later company to continue its growth. He noted that no purchase was imminent. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Block is facing a Class Action lawsuit over a Cash App Investing data breach last year that impacted 8.2 million customers. Block in April informed the SEC that a former employee had downloaded reports, without permission, containing customer information on US Cash App users. Link here
FINTECH NEWS #insight
- Southeast Asia’s digital economy is booming. This explosive growth is also attracting criminals and putting merchants, banks, and consumers at risk of financial losses and missed revenue. Link here
- The landscape of U.S. merchant payments assets. After intense M&A activity in the last two decades, is there still M&A liquidity in U.S. merchant payments? See Flagship Advisory Partners' infographic here.
- Philippines kicks off ASEAN FinTech month. These initiatives are set amidst the rapid development of the Philippine FinTech industry, which attracted $342 million in the first half of last year alone. Link here
- The winners of the FinTech awards 2022. Top awards on the night included Erika Villanueva and Dom Pym, picking up FinTech Leader of the Year awards. Link here
- Colombian neobanks reach 30.6 M users. Colombia's Daviplata and Nequi are the country’s most popular digital wallets, with 15.6 million and 13.5 million users, respectively. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Coinbase's CEO warns investors of a long crypto winter lasting longer than 12 or 18 months. Armstrong hinted that while he hopes the bear market wraps up in that time, the largest U.S. crypto exchange is preparing for an even more extensive downturn. Link here
FINTECH NEWS #breakingnews
- Zip’s loss widens as inflation chokes. BNPL operators have seen their valuations collapse as reduced customer spending and rising interest rates have squeezed margins. Link here
#greenfinance
- Solarvest unveils the first renewable energy fintech platform in Malaysia. Powervest aims to create a digitalised experience for its clients, enabling a seamless onboarding process. Link here
#fintechinnovation
- Belfrics launched its operation in Mexico, serving the country’s growing blockchain, crypto, and digital asset market. Introducing a blockchain-based wallet and remittance solution. Link here
- Ripio’s prepaid crypto card launched in Brazil. Payments can be made in any of 28 different cryptocurrencies, and the debit card also offers 5% cashback rewards in bitcoin. Link here
- Webx and Paymob will be launching Webx Pay in Pakistan. WebxPay guarantees to cut the merchant’s payment setup time by offering access to comprehensive payment services. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
PayPal added crypto features to its app. Users can buy, sell, and transfer several cryptocurrencies. The funds remain protected without any digital key. The mobile version will only support internal transfers and does not require a MetaMask account. Link here
FINTECH NEWS
- Walmart eyes payments opportunities. The retailer is investing in payment plays in other countries, too. One of them in India, called PhonePe, is making progress. Link here
- Paysend's Store for merchants in the UK. The free, no-code solution enables entrepreneurs in the UK to set up an online store and immediately start selling their products. Link here
crypto
- BlackRock launched FinTech ETF to invest in companies disrupting global financial services. Hedge funds have turned bullish about the company and are bulking up on its stock. Link here
- Australia leads real-time crypto payments. Crypto.com and DataMesh have unveiled a world-first solution that enables payment terminals to support in-person crypto payments. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Robinhood re-negotiates its deal with Zigluleaving some crowdfunding investors at a loss. Robinhood wants to pay a lower price for the business owing to a shift in market conditions for crypto. Citing notable failures "including Celsius, BlockFi, and Voyager." As well as the general malaise in the macroeconomy and ongoing geopolitical tensions. Link here
FINTECH NEWS #partnerships
- FinScore partnered with Provenir. The partnership helps financial services organizations in the Philippines to incorporate telco data and tap into the credit potential. Link here
- Vyzer partnered with Salt Edge. Investors can instantly connect and sync their European bank accounts and fully digital cash flow tracking in a single dashboard. Link here
#acquisitions
- Razorpay acquires Ezetap for $200 million. Ezetap is India’s leading offline POS company. Razorpay will be one of the few with a significant online and offline presence. Link here
- Ecuadorian Kushki acquired Billpocketto accelerate LatAm’s payment ecosystem. With it, Kushki aims to provide infrastructure to all players in the payment ecosystem. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Nubank appoints Youssef Lahrech, current COO, as its new President, reporting to Co-Founder and CEO David Vélez. Co-founder Cristina Junqueira was appointed Chief Growth Officer, spearheading Nubank's expansion across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS
apac
- Stripe is growing its APAC footprint. CEO Patrick Collison noted the economic dynamism of Asia and expects the region to become a driver of innovation in the next two decades. Stripe currently has a presence in several Asia-Pacific markets. Link here
- Grapple announced a faster path to funding for Aussie SMEs customers through a partnership with Envestnet | Yodlee, a leading data aggregation and analytics platform for financial services. Link here
- Openpay closed its Share Purchase Plan. After it received over AUD 5.863 million from eligible applications submitted from shareholders. The first plan was to raise AUD 2 million. Link here
- Meta Platforms Inc. invested in Take App, a Singaporean startup founded by Youmin Kim. A new product that aims to bridge the digital gap for small-business owners in Southeast Asia. Link here
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This podcast episode is sponsored by Klarna Kosma. Klarna Kosma can supercharge your business by providing essential connectivity to a growing network of more than 15,000 banks in 26 countries through a single Open Banking API. With Klarna Kosma, you have everything you need to create payment services and new user experiences your customers will love. Check out how we can make your game-changing ideas powerfully real with Open Banking.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT a16z backs a new startup by WeWork’s co-founder. The investment in Adam Neumann’s new startup Flow, a residential real estate company, is roughly $350 million. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS #crypto
- Football’s love affair with crypto is on the up. Recent research by The Athletic found that nearly all of last year’s Premier League’s 20 clubs have at least one crypto sponsor at some level. Link here
- Crypto App Nebeus taps Modulr for embedded payment features. Fiat accounts, real-time payments and Visa cards will also be added to Nebeus’ crypto app. Link here
- Zero Hash has launched in Australia and registered as a Digital Currency Exchange provider. The company appointed Claire Wivell Plater as a Non-Executive Director. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Klarna updated its super-app so that consumers can keep track of all their online shopping. Users can connect their email accounts for Klarna to scan details from order confirmation emails and then import the data to the app. This feature is currently compatible with Gmail and Outlook. Link here
FINTECH NEWS
cryptocurrencies
- Boomers are buying cryptocurrencies. The share of crypto users aged 55+ has increased by more than two-thirds since the start of the year. In a survey of over 1,500 participants, Mercuryo also found that 27% of customers above 65 yrs old hold crypto.
- UK’s ASA banned two ads by Arsenal FC for its crypto-based fan token program. The regulator complained that the FC had not clarified that the value of investments could rise or fall. Link here
- Bluebenx suspended withdrawals due to an alleged hack that made the company lose more than $31 M. Withdrawals would be stopped for at least six months. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Mastercard is facing pushback from retailers over its new BNPL product. Mastercard will charge retailers 3% of a purchase price each time a consumer agrees to use the new program. Mastercard will automatically enroll retailers in its new buy-now-pay-later service. However, retailers will have a chance to opt-out. Link here
FINTECH NEWS
bnpl
- CEO Max Levchin says Affirm has cracked the code to underwriting more consumers than banks would. Nevertheless, investors are worried that Affirm’s borrowers will fall behind on payments. Link here
payments
- LianLian expands operations to the UK helping ecommerce merchants and entrepreneurs sell products and services internationally with its cross-border digital payments platform. Link here
collaborations
- Figure collaborates with Visa to provide issuing processor services through Figure’s Banking in a Box, a platform built on the Provenance Blockchain. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Green Dot and Uber are in a contract dispute. Green Dot is in dispute with Uber, who is one of its contract customers, it disclosed last week in a regulatory filing. Green Dot didn’t provide many details regarding the dispute other than alleging that Uber isn’t living up to agreements. Learn more
FINTECH NEWS
breakingnews
- Colombia's Central Bank to “copy” Pix. Brazil’s Central Bank President will meet Colombia’s Central Bank President so the Andean nation can emulate Pix or Brazil’s instant payment model. Pix has more than 478 M keys registered. Learn more
- Marqeta CEO seeks his own replacement. Marqeta's Jason Gardner is preparing to step down as CEO and has launched a search for his successor. Link here
donedeal
- Truework raises $50 M in a Series C round led by G Squared, with returning investors Sequoia, Activant, and Khosla Ventures, to redesign the credit system with consumers at the core. Link here
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Instantly access and enrich all financial data from multiple accounts through a single platform to better understand and serve your customers.
From lending to smart saving, Belvo will help you create what your users need
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
- Wise struck an open finance agreement with Plaid that will enable Wise's 13 million customers to connect their accounts to thousands of apps. The integration is already live and being used for things such as P2P payments and investment platforms, says Wise. Business customers in the US are using it to send funds to payroll companies, and firms globally are connecting to neobanks, paying credit card bills, and paying taxes. Link here
FINTECH NEWS
fintechinnovation
- Berlin and London were named among Europe’s Top 5 Fintech hubs. The ranking is based on a survey that polled more than 24,000 pre-selected founders across Europe. Link here
- Tookitaki announced its launch in the Philippines through a partnership with Paymongo. Tookitaki is headquartered in Singapore and provides end-to-end financial crime solutions to several leading financial institutions. Link here
latam
- Unlimint adds Mexico's CoDi to the alternative payment portfolio. This integration is meant to allow Unlimint's clients to offer their users a quick and secure way to complete payment and collection transactions through electronic transfers. Link here
- Vinteum will train and fund open-source developers for the Bitcoin ecosystem in Brazil. Bruno Garcia will be the first Bitcoin Core developer funded through Vinteum. Link here
- Amber Group brings a retail trading platform to Brazil. This platform, which has been operational in the South American country since June, will also enable the delivery of loans. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
ANNA Money has severed its ties with two Russian billionaires, who had indirectly become major shareholders in the fintech. Both billionaires (Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven) are reportedly close to Russian leader Vladimir Putin and have been named among the Russian oligarchs covered by US and EU sanctions. Link here
FINTECH NEWS
donedeal
- Jack Henry & Associates is to acquire Payrailz, adding the company's next-generation digital payment capabilities, including real-time P2P payments, to Jack Henry's payments ecosystem. Link here
- Founderpath recently secured $145 million in debt and equity financing to help B2B SaaS founders grow their businesses without diluting ownership. Link here.
- The BNPL fintech Kontempo has raised over $30M in a seed round led by Portage. The funding comprised $6.5M in equity and $25M in debt. Other participants in this round were Scor P&C Ventures, Upper90, Asymmetric Capital Partners, Tectonic Ventures, and Ignia. Link here
- Jodo raised $15 million in a Series A round led by Tiger Global and joined by existing investors Elevation Capital and Matrix Partners India. Link here
- Unstoppable Finance secured a €12.5 million round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners to launch a non-custodial crypto wallet. Link here
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Nuri filed for insolvency today, two months after the Berlin-based digital bank announced layoffs as it struggled with the rout in cryptocurrency prices, economic uncertainty, and difficult funding environment
FINTECH NEWS
apple
- Apple Pay is now available in Malaysia with three supporting banks namely Maybank, AmBank Group and Standard Chartered Bank. #moversandshakers
- ComplyAdvantage named Andrew Davies as Global Head of Regulatory Affairs.
- Luno has announced the hiring of Thomas Tudehope who come in as Luno's Global Head of Policy
donedeal
- A new £1 billion fintech fund to accelerate the growth of promising UK scale-ups is to be backed by a group of senior industry figures
- Capify launched a £40m fund for UK SMEs, to help manage operations through difficult trading conditions. Link here.
- CreatorDAO raises $20 million, in an ambitious bet on the creator economy. Backers include Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Paris Hilton among others. Link here.
- Appital secured an additional £1.7 million investment from Frontline Ventures and various angel investors to bring technological innovation and automation to equity markets. Link here.
- Dezerv has bagged $21 million in a Series A funding round led by Accel Partners. Also participating in the round were existing investors Matrix Partners India and Elevation Capital. Link here.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Robinhood's chief product officer quits. Robinhood has lost chief product officer Aparna Chennapragada. Chennapragada joined the company from Google a little over a year ago as its first chief product officer to oversee all product, design, and research. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS
partnerships
- Shopify and Attentive have teamed up to build on text-to-buy services, enabling consumers to make purchases directly from an SMS conversation with a brand. Built with Shopify’s Shop Pay checkout flow, Attentive’s text-to-buy solution is designed to turn browsers into buyers with a frictionless checkout flow built for mobile devices. Link here.
fintechinnovation
- Trezy opened its European headquarters in Amsterdam. Currently, Trezy is live in 32 European countries with a significant focus on the Netherlands, France, and Belgium. The Dutch-French tech company also secured €1M from angel investors and is planning another round of funding this year. Link here.
breakingnews
- Rakuten is facing a further setback in its plan to launch payments on its Viber messaging app under the “Viber Pay” brand after the European Union’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) accepted an application to have its trademark invalidated. Link here.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
- Green Dot expects to benefit from the fintech crunch. Green Dot Corporation is seeking opportunities from the economic pressures on the fintechs it competes against while providing services for consumers needing ways to manage their cash flow. For the quarter ending June 30, Green Dot reported revenue of $362.8 million, down 2% from a year earlier. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS
donedeal
- SPAC Global Star Acquisition files for an $80 million IPO, targeting fintech and proptech. The company plans to raise $80 million by offering 8 million units at $10. At the proposed deal size, Global Star Acquisition would command a market cap of $106 million. Link here.
partnerships
- NETS and ITMX partner. Singapore’s payment services group, Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS), and Thailand’s key inter-bank payment infrastructure, National ITMX, partner to facilitate inbound and outbound cross-border payments between Singapore and Thailand. Link here.
- Ranqx expands Visa partnership to North America. Under the expanded arrangement, Visa will introduce Financial Institutions to Ranqx’s digital capabilities, helping direct lenders provide easier access to much-needed capital for SMBs and solve complex processing issues currently in SMB credit underwriting. Link here.
This podcast episode is sponsored by PayRetailers. PayRetailers’ Spanish company with Latin DNA, the leader in online payment services dedicated to creating a fast and simple payment process for merchants and shoppers. With a flexible and highly scalable advanced proprietary technology architecture, we innovate rapidly in response to market demand for online businesses of all sizes. Visit www.payretailers.com
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
• Revolut plans to increase its crypto staff by 20 percent in Europe, the UK, and the US over the next six months. The London-based firm is looking for crypto specialists with 13 crypto roles, including crypto compliance and professionals with legal backgrounds in crypto. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS
donedeal
• Geopagos raised $35 million in a round led by Riverwood Capital. Geopagos has a presence in 15 Latin American countries and says it facilitates more than 150 million transactions with a processed volume of $5 billion per year. Link here
crypto
• Binance and Mastercardlaunched the Binance Card in Argentina to bridge the gap between cryptocurrencies and everyday purchases. Link here.
• BlackRock selects Coinbaseto provide Aladdin clients access to crypto trading and custody via Coinbase Prime. Built for institutions, Coinbase Prime integrates advanced agency trading, custody, prime financing, staking, and staking infrastructure, data, and reporting that supports the entire transaction lifecycle. Link here.
mergersandacquisition
• HRS has acquired German expense management firm Paypense, a move the company said will enhance its suite of corporate payment products. The release adds that the Paypense solution ensures budget compliance while capturing data for auditing, steering, and sustainability metrics. Link here.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
MercadoLibre posted record revenues of $2.6 billion for the second quarter, an increase of 56% year-on-year, surpassing analysts' expectations of $2.5 billion. The regional e-commerce giant beat forecasts for all key metrics. Analysts expected a gross margin of 45.9%, but the company posted a 49% gross margin for the second quarter. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS
donedeal
- Twid raised $12 million in a funding round led by Rakuten Capital, to expand its reward points-based service. Twid is a network effect platform that combines loyalty/reward points across issuers such as banks, fintech firms, and retail/e-commerce brands. Link here.
- Galoy raised $4 million in funding in an investment round led by Hivemind Ventures. On the same day, the startup launched a new product called Stablesats. This stablecoin concept leverages derivatives contracts to create a bitcoin-backed synthetic dollar pegged to the U.S. dollar. Link here.
- Bounty raised $4.7M to help everyday TikTokers make money from reviews. The new service, currently in beta, is designed for everyday TikTok users — not just professional creators — who want to earn money by reviewing brands’ products. Link here.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
New marketing rules are set to be introduced by the UK’s financial regulator to reduce the number of consumers making “high-risk investments” that are not in line with their risk tolerance. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) yesterday set out rules that will impact the peer-to-peer lending and equity crowdfunding sectors, including clearer risk warnings and banning some incentives to invest, like refer a friend bonuses. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS
#donedeal
- Tabby secured debt financing worth $150 million from two US-based investors, in what the company said is the largest credit facility for a fintech firm in the Gulf region. While concerns over inflation and a looming recession have hurt such companies in developed markets, Dubai-based buy now, pay later startup Tabby expects demand to continue rising in the Gulf where access to credit is scarce. Link here.
- Raincoat raises US$4.5 Million in a seed round led by Anthemis. With the new round, the company will have around US$4,650 in funding.Raincoat is a Puerto Rico-based startup that provides insurance solutions for weather-related disasters. Link here.
- Cred finalises acquisition of smallcase for $400m. Cred is an Indian FinTech unicorn based in Bengaluru that provides a member only credit card management and bill payments platform. Link here.
- Savana has closed a $45 million Series A round led by Canadian growth-stage investor Georgian. US banking tech heavyweight Fiserv also participated in the round and intends to expand its existing reseller agreement with Savana. Link here.
- Kenyan insurtech Lami raises $3.7M seed extension led by Harlem Capital. Speaking to Techcrunch, Lami’s founder and CEO Jihan Abass further announced plans to offer additional insurance product lines, while also revealing that the startup has made an entry into Egypt and Nigeria. Link here.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Robinhood’s crypto division was fined $30 million for “significant failures” in areas of anti-money laundering and cybersecurity regulations. NYDFS alleged that Robinhood Crypto’s anti-money laundering and cybersecurity program was inadequately staffed and did not have sufficient resources to address risks. This is the first crypto-sector enforcement by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS
latam
- Great news for Colombia! Colombia became the third country in LATAM to implement regulations for the widespread adoption of Open Finance. Mexico and Brazil were the first countries to implement Open Finance in Latin America. Since then, there have been more than 20 Open Finance companies in the region, distributed across Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Chile. Leading the charts in terms of funds raised is Mexican FinTech belvo with 56 million dollars raised. Link here.
- Argentina’s economic restrictions have reached the sports industry, with the first signing of a local football player with cryptocurrencies hitting national headlines. The transfer of midfielder Giuliano Galoppo from Banfield’s Athletic Club to Sao Paulo Futebol Clube was made in USD Coin (USDC), exceeding $6 million and up to $8 million depending on the volatile exchange rate of the Argentine peso, according to local sources. The transfer was made possible through a collaboration with the Mexican crypto exchange Bitso. Link here.
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This podcast episode is sponsored by Mercuryo. With the help of their cryptopowered toolbox, Mercuryo enables companies to take advantage of both fiat and crypto worlds and provide innovative payment solutions for end-customers.
NEWS HIGHLIGHT
- Clearco lays off 25% of staff. Toronto-based ecommerce lender Clearco has laid off 125 employees – 25 percent of its current staff. The company’s co-founders, Michele Romanow (CEO) and Andrew D’Souza (executive chairman), shared the news in a company-wide memo, citing the macroeconomic environment for the need to cut its workforce. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS
#fraudprevention
- Provenir selects Fourthline, a global leader in AI-powered risk decisioning software selects Fourthline’s fraud detection to enable its customers to make smarter data-driven decisions. Link here.
#cryptowallet
- Mercuryo selected by iToken for crypto wallet purchases. iToken, a leading DeFi non-custodial wallet, has announced its integration with Mercuryo, a global payments solution platform, as its sole fiat on-ramp to its mobile wallet. Link here.
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This podcast episode is sponsored by Sokin. Sokin is the trusted global FX payment provider for some of the world’s leading brands. With Sokin Premium you can send and receive unlimited international payments for one fixed monthly fee. Market beating rates, no commission, hassle-free.
NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Virgin Money unveils a BNPL credit card that lets customers spread repayments over installments while building their credit scores. A waitlist has been opened for the product, Virgin Money Slyce, ahead of a launch later this year. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS
#donedeal
- Revolv3 raises $4.5m for recurring billing platform. Revolv3 announces that Rosecliff Ventures and an angel investor have invested $4.5 Million USD in seed money in the recurring billing solutions company. Link here.
- Choice QR has raised €1.5m in a seed round led by Czech VC Presto Ventures with participation from Seedcamp, the prominent early-stage UK VC firm. Link here.
- B9 Inc raised a $2.6M funding round led by Sky Light Invest with participation from prominent FinTech investors Mbanq and the founders of Wrike, a project management application. Link here.
#investment
- Freetrade ‘postpones’ securities lending plan. The neobroker previously said it wanted users to ‘opt in’ to lend out their securities to help it continue to offer lower costs on stocks and ETFs. Link here.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Jack Ma plans to cede control of Ant Group, the fintech powerhouse closely affiliated with Alibaba, the e-commerce giant he founded. If realized, the move will mark another important turn in Ant's restructuring and power shuffling since China called off its $35 billion initial public offering nearly two years ago. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS
#mergersandaquisitions
- Lemonade buys Metromile at 70% below original valuation. Nine months after it was announced, the share-based merger between Israeli insurtech company Lemonade and US insurance company Metromile has closed at 70% below its original value, after a slide in the share prices of both companies. Link here.
- Equifax is set to acquire Midigator. The terms of the deal, which are undisclosed, will expand Equifax’s global footprint in digital identity and fraud prevention. Link here.
#payments
- Viber launches Payments, a new digital wallet for paying bills, money transfers, and buying goods. Payments wallets can be used to make bill payments, buy goods, and transfer money to other individuals. Link here.
- Kushki received approval from national authorities to become Ecuador’s first payment aggregator. This means that Kushki has achieved a new status in facilitating electronic payments. Link here.
Welcome to your daily FinTech news!
NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Open Finance plans are set in motion in Colombia. Colombia 🇨🇴 is the newest country to join the list of Latin American financial systems seeking greater competition and financial inclusion through Open Finance regulated. Read the full W Fintechs article by Walter Pereira here
FINTECH NEWS
#openfinance
- Belvo is the first Open Finance player in the Brazilian market to give access to historical receivables data from point-of-sale (POS). This solution will help B2B lenders and ERPs develop new financial solutions for retail businesses. Link here.
#donedeal
- Alpaca closed the acquisition of AlpacaJapan. This acquisition is the first step of many in Alpaca’s global strategy, expanding Alpaca’s global reach and opening access to investing for people around the world. Link here.
- Fintop Capital announced they had raised a $200 million round. Now we know the full scope: In details shared first with the Nashville Business Journal, Fintop Capital disclosed Wednesday a final tally of $220 million, which is 10% above the firm's target. Link here.
#crypto
Binance announced a pilot of its new NFT ticketing solution with S.S. Lazio for the 2022/23 season.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
US consumer watchdog takes a 'careful look' at Apple's BNPL plans. Apple's decision to offer a BNPL product has earned the attention of CFPB director Rohit Chopra, who tells the Financial Times that the consumer agency will look into whether Big Tech's entry into the sector "may actually reduce competition and innovation in the market". Link here.
FINTECH NEWS
crypto
- U.S. consumer watchdog to scrutinize the use of cryptocurrencies for real-time payments and ramp up oversight of Big Tech companies as they expand into the traditional financial sector. A long-time consumer advocate, Chopra was tapped by U.S. President Joe Biden to lead the CFPB last year. Link here.
- Luno’s Singapore users are now able to purchase cryptocurrencies instantly using their credit or debit cards without depositing funds, providing an alternative to the current bank deposit and StraitsX payment offerings. Link here.
openbanking
- Klarna Kosma has won its latest client. Klarna’s open banking platform Kosma is helping Airbank as it looks to international expansion as well as providing revenue diversification for the BNPL giant. Link here.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
- SEC investigates Coinbase over securities. The SEC has stepped up scrutiny of the issue since Coinbase began ramping up the number of tokens on its platform, says Bloomberg, citing several sources. The investigation predates an insider trading tipping case involving a former Coinbase product manager which saw charges brought last week. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS
unicorn
- The first female founder of a "unicorn" in Mexico, Marlene Garayzar, Co-Founder of Stori, tells about how she got into the fintech world, the importance she gives to profitability, and what sets them apart from the competition. Link here.
fintechinnovation
- GoCardless launches Variable Recurring Payments as start-up Pillar chooses its offering to make credit scoring borderless and inclusive. This means GoCardless’ ‘Instant Bank Pay’ feature will now support one-off and recurring transactions through open banking. Link here.
partnerships
- Embedded finance startup Monite partnered with Codat, to make it faster and easier to integrate accounts payable and accounts receivable capabilities into existing apps. Link here.
- Cardless is partnering with American Express to launch credit cards on the New York-based card company’s network, the two companies said Monday. Link here.
- PayMongo expands BNPL services with Atome partnership. Online payment processing platform Paymongo taps Atome Philippines to expand its reach of Buy Now Pay Later services. Link here.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Marqeta and Plaid are teaming up! This is a sign that fintech is maturing. Marqeta and Plaid are making it easier for consumers to authenticate bank accounts and move funds between them, the first official product partnership between two fintech trailblazers that already share some business customers. Link here.
#layoffs
- Varo Bank’s Layoffs extended their runway by just nine days. Varo, the first US neobank to win a de novo charter, has laid off about 10% of its staff in a bid to extend its runway. As first reported by Jason Mikula in his Fintech Business Weekly newsletter, the fledgling bank was on track to run out of cash by the end of this year, based on its net loss and equity capital reported in its first quarter call report. Link here.
#partnerships
- Barcelona-based community fintech 11Onze teamed up with Tuio, to offer a unique market proposal – 11Onze Segurs. It’s a tech-driven, agile, transparent, affordable home insurance service for its members. The home insurance policy is between 15 and 20% cheaper than the average policy on the market. It offers a monthly subscription of as little as 5 euros per month. Link here.
#inclusion
- UK HSBC is set to stop collecting data on the gender of customers of some of its products in order to be more inclusive towards non-binary and trans people. References to gender have been removed from, among other offerings, the HSBC Kinetic app-based business banking account. Link here.
This ends Your Daily Fintech News.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Revolut’s UK risk and compliance chiefs are said to have quit in a slew of senior resignations in recent weeks amid heightened tensions with regulators and delays to the firm’s banking license. Five Revolut executives have handed in their resignations including UK chief risk officer, Victoria Stubbs; UK Head of Regulatory Compliance, Justine Wootton and UK Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) Mathew Seneviratne. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS
#donedeal
- Visa is said to be in talks with Airwallex, to join the second extension of its Series E funding round. Link here.
#fintechinnovation
- SumUp launched SumUp Magic Pay, a QR code payment solution for the hospitality sector. At the end of a meal, everyone at the table can receive a copy of the bill, by scanning a QR code on the table. From there, a bill can be split, a tip added, and payment conducted (Apple or Google Pay are both an option. Link here.
- Vantage launched its new social trading product, V Social. V Social is a professional 'social network' that allows traders to auto-copy signals, execute trades, chat and analyze performance. Link here.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Not every company is struggling in this downturn. Despite a cooling market, corporate spend management startup Ramp reports that it has more than doubled its revenue run rate since the start of the year.
FINTECH NEWS
#donedeal
- Atlantic Money secured an additional injection of $3M seed capital to accelerate its growth having recently received its EU license. Link here.
- TomoCredit raised $22 million in a Series B funding round joined by Morgan Stanley's Next Level Fund and Mastercard. Link here.
- Fairbanc raised $4.8 million in pre-Series A funding led by Vertex Ventures. Link here.
- Portage Ventures closed on $655 million for its third flagship fund, its largest to date. Link here
- Covey closed a $2.5M seed round led by Social Leverage and Portage Ventures with participation from Cue Ball and BoxOne. Link here.
#fintechinnovation
- Airwallex launched its Online Payments App on Shopify. Link here.
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Welcome to a new episode of your daily FinTech podcast!
NEWS HIGHLIGHT
BNPL Zip to exit Singapore and deprioritize its crypto offering citing challenging market conditions. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS
#fintechinnovation
- Google Wallet starts rolling out worldwide. The Wallet, which is replacing the Google Pay app, will let users manage their payment cards, gift cards, rewards cards, as well as things such as event tickets, ID and more. Link here.
#latam
- US crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and CEO of FTX, has expressed an interest in opening markets in Latin America while advocating for more regulation for cryptocurrencies, considering that such a move could provide “more institutional confidence in the sector” despite the recent price slump. Link here.
- BEE4 to launch Brazil’s first local marketplace of tokenized stocks in the next few weeks. Link here.
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- This podcast episode is sponsored by Yolt.
- Yolt enables businesses to unlock the value of open banking, through expert consultancy and a range of specialist services, which deliver real growth and returns.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Atom Bank is positioned to achieve its first yearly profit this year following a number of encouraging financial indicators. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS
#rebranding
- Truebill will officially change its name to Rocket Money in late August. More than simply a rebrand, the name will bring Truebill closer to the other businesses on the Rocket Companies platform and provide the opportunity for Rocket Money to better help consumers at various touchpoints throughout their financial lives. Link here.
#donedeal
- LAVCA found that LATAM startups have raised $2.8 B across 190 transactions during Q1 of 2022 as the region’s funding boom continues. This marked the fourth largest quarter on record for investment in the region. Link here.
- X1 Card has raised $25 million in a Series B funding round as it gears up for launch in the US. The Series B round was led by Google Analytics co-founder Wesley Chan’s new fund FPV Ventures, the fund’s first investment. Link here.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Apple is facing an antitrust class-action lawsuit in the US accusing it of illegally profiting from card issuers through policies that prevent competition to its Apple Pay wallet. A complaint filed in San Francisco federal court accuses Apple of denying rivals access to the NFC chip technology in iPhones needed to develop a competing mobile wallet. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS
#payments
- Meta is launching a new “payments in chat” feature on Instagram. With this new feature, users can purchase products from small businesses and track orders via direct messages on Instagram in the United States. Link here.
#expansion
- Plum launched in Belgium. Belgians can now link their accounts to Plum from nine major banks including BNP Paribas Fortis, ING, and Hello Bank. Link here.
#layoffs
- Gemini has made another round of layoffs, affecting seven per cent of its staff, according to TechCrunch. Link here.
#breakingnews
- Ping Express executives convicted for $160 M money laundering. Two US-based Nigerian fintech executives pleaded guilty to failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering policy. Link here.
#crypto
- Buenbit launched a local currency loan product that uses crypto as collateral. Link here.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT Starling Bank withdraws its application for an Irish banking licence signalling a shift in its international expansion strategy. Starling Bank told its 2,000 employees on Monday that it had ended a four-year process aimed at launching a retail bank in Ireland. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS #crypto
- Plaid adds read-only support for leading crypto exchanges to its data network. While Plaid previously integrated with large exchanges on an ad hoc basis, the move is an indication that the company sees crypto as important to its growth. Link here.
#donedeal
- Last week, €1,344m was raised across 22 FinTech deals. BNPL Unicorn Klarna raised a €761m Venture round cutting their valuation to $6.7bn from $45.6bn, followed by wefox which raised a €380m Series D with a combination of debt & equity, and finally congratulations to Smart Pension who raised a €46m Growth round. Link here.
- Pico receives a $200m investment. The New York-based FinTech, a provider of technology services, software, data and analytics for financial markets, has secured the strategic investment from Golden Gate Capital. The new funds will be used to pursue M&A opportunities and improve the firm’s infrastructure and data offerings, as well as expand its market coverage. Link here.
- WealthTech XP mobilized US$ 7.9B savings collected in the last quarter. The Brazilian company raised R$ 43 billion in 'net new money' in the second quarter, a 44% growth compared to the previous quarter and a sign that the brokerage is going through the stock market implosion better than market sectors expected. Link here.
#expansion
Zimpler enters Norway as part of their international expansion. Following Sweden, Finland, Germany, Estonia, The Netherlands, Latvia and Lithuania, Norway becomes the eighth market to offer Zimpler’s account-to-account payments solutions. Link here.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Champagne corks are popping at financial super app Revolut as it celebrates its seventh anniversary by surpassing 20 million retail customers worldwide and processing over 250 million transactions a month. To keep pace with climbing customer numbers, Revolut is continuing to expand its global workforce, topping 5,000 employees globally. Over the past year, Revolut has opened several offices in locations such as New York, Tokyo, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Mexico City, Berlin, Budapest, and Bucharest. Additionally, new offices in Mumbai and Bangalore are set to open later this year. Finextra article. Link here.
FINTECH NEWS
#insights
- Access to credit is one of the main challenges in Mexico when it comes to substantive and real financial inclusion. According to data provided by the CNBV last year, Mexicans continue to resort to informal instruments to acquire financing, all because the requirements are lower and there is greater flexibility with the granting of credit, compared to banks or government-regulated lenders. Mexico Business News article by Pablo Viguera. Link here.
#bnpl
- BNPL providers are moving further in-store through new tie-ups. Klarna will offer its BNPL services to customers across Blackhawk's brick-and-mortar retail network. The tie-up will span groceries, electronics, beauty, and other shopping categories. Sephora tapped Block-owned Afterpay to offer its in-store and online customers in the US interest-free BNPL. As the online BNPL space saturates, providers are seeking out new growth avenues in-store. Insider Intelligence article by Adriana Nunez. Link here.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by YieldX. YieldX is transforming income investing to bring its benefits to all investors. With YieldX, the outcome is income.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Stripe is the latest high-profile fintech company to experience a significant valuation cut as the market downturn begins to hit the sector especially hard. Last valued at $95 billion, the payments processor has seen the internal value of its shares slashed by 28%, sources told the Wall Street Journal. Link here.
JUST IN:
The cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network has announced it has filed for bankruptcy. Crypto lending has tumbled in the recent months following a crash in cryptocurrency prices and the collapse of major token TerraUSD in May. Link here.
ALSO:
According to a media report by Finance Forward Berlin-based Neobank for Business Penta could be about to be sold to its French competitor Qonto. The source refers to industry insiders who are said to have stated that the deal is already being negotiated and could be announced soon. However, the companies' spokespersons would not comment on the information according to the source. Link here.
FURTHERMORE,
Stori, which offers credit cards to underserved populations in Mexico, told TechCrunch it has raised an additional $50 million in equity at a $1.2 billion valuation. It also has secured $100 million in debt financing. Link here.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
TIFIN, a fintech platform using artificial intelligence (AI) and investment-driven personalization to shape the future of investor experiences, announced its initial launch into international markets through the acquisition on SharingAlpha, a community of over 15,000 professional fund investors and analysts located throughout the world, but with a high concentration in the UK and Western Europe. Link here.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Provenir. Provenir does more than help with your current tech challenges. They eliminate them. Designed and built to power agility, their cloud-native technology puts your team in control. Loved by Startups. Trusted by Decacorns.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Lightyear, a European challenger to trading platform Robinhood, has raised $25 million of funding in an investment round backed by British billionaire Richard Branson. Silicon Valley’s Lightspeed Venture Partners led the deal, the company told CNBC exclusively — a rare vote of confidence for an upstart brokerage at a time when global stock markets are deep in the red.
JUST IN:
Starting in August, BUX clients will be able to invest fractionally in more of Europe’s most established companies. In collaboration with ABN AMRO Clearing, BUX released fractional investing in the DAX40 and MDAX.
ALSO:
French startup Qori has officially launched services, allowing Europeans to make payments in-store, remotely, or online with their bank or virtual currency wallets without being required to download a proprietary app.
FURTHERMORE,
Spain’s largest bank, Santander is going to hold an awards ceremony in the Decentraland metaverse on July 14 for its ‘Santander X Global Challenge | Blockchain,’ the bank said in the announcement on its website on July 7.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
DOKU, an Indonesian electronic payment solutions provider, announced that it has acquired Malaysian online payment gateway senangPay for US$7.5 million by raising the funds needed from Apis Growth Fund II.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Contis, the European leader in Banking-as-a-Service. Contis is proud to deliver process-pay, a brand-new standalone processing solution ready to cater for any organisations card processing needs. To find out more visiting www.contis.comtoday!
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
PostFinance, the banking arm of the Swiss post office, is stepping up its drive to grant customers access to cryptocurrencies within the next couple of years. PostFinance already offers clients cryptocurrency exposure in collaboration with Swissquote, through its digital app. Swissquote became the first Swiss bank to offer crypto trading for retail clients in 2017. Yet, PostFinance's new project will be an “independent” trading and custody service that is expected to launch by the start of 2024 “at the latest”.
JUST IN:
Melio, a U.S.-Israeli startup that offers payment tools for small businesses, said on Tuesday it entered into a strategic partnership to integrate its accounts payable platform with Capital One Business.
FURTHERMORE,
Global money transfer platform Western Union has announced a new agreement with South American e-commerce giant MercadoLibre to allow digital remittances to Mexico.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
You can now buy and sell cryptocurrencies in the Nubank app. Nubank Crypto has arrived to democratize access to this market. In addition, they want to offer the necessary information about how cryptocurrencies work and what risks are involved so that their customers can make the best decisions.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Attijariwafa Bank, one of the largest banks in Morocco and Africa, has entered a strategic partnership with global cross-border payments company Thunes.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Zazuu, a U.K.-based and Africa-focused fintech that is an aggregator of cross-border and remittance platforms, is announcing that it has raised $2 million in a new venture round.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by PayRetailers. PayRetailers is a Spanish company and a leader in online payment services dedicated to creating a fast and simple payment process for merchants and shoppers. The company offers a full range of payment solutions to help e-commerce companies accept online payments through a single API. By accepting local payment methods, PayRetailers allows anyone to make online purchases, even if they don't have credit or debit cards. Visit www.payretailers.com
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Zip Co and Sezzle have mutually agreed to cancel their merger. This is due to the current industry climate which has seen the financial prospects of both companies severely damaged.
JUST IN:
Paris-based BlackFin Capital Partners, private equity and venture capital firm focusing on financial services, announced on Monday the second closing of its Tech 2 fund at €350M.
ALSO:
For the first time in history, remittances to Mexico surpassed $5B USD in May 2022, according to data from Banxico. The average remittance value is $401 USD, and 5%+ of all households in the Mexico receive one.
FURTHERMORE,
Chilean insurance-tech startup Betterfly plans to expand overseas after its latest funding round swelled its valuation to $1 billion. The company is preparing to begin operations in seven new markets in 2022 -- Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Panama and Costa Rica –- using the proceeds of its Series C round, according to founder and Chief Executive Officer Eduardo della Maggiora.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) make up an essential value pool for the banking and financial services industry, accounting for more than 90% of all companies and more than 50% of jobs worldwide. Despite being such an important value pool, SMBs have remained an underserved market for their business banking needs. The finance gap for formal SMBs in emerging markets is estimated to be USD 5 trillion.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
M2P Fintech, an Asian financial Infrastructure company recently announced it has acquired Finflux, a cloud lending platform.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
The Philippine Postal Corporation (Post Office) has partnered with UBX, a fintech unit created by the Union Bank of the Philippines, to launch a capacity development project which will allow the postal agency to offer financial services.
Agrotoken, a global tokenization platform focused on agrocommodities, has teamed up with Pomelo and Algorand as strategic allies for the implementation and development of a card designed for the agricultural sector.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Uncover, the new podcast by ComplyAdvantage. Join CEO Charles Delingpole and his team as they interview compliance leaders, FinTech innovators, and financial crime experts to uncover the latest best practices and industry trends. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify today
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
GoHenry, the U.K.-based financial education app and pre-paid debit card provider for kids, has expanded into Europe for the first time with the acquisition of French startup Pixpay. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
JUST IN:
Klarna announced the closing of a new $800m financing at a $6.7bn post valuation.
ALSO:
The founder and former CEO of Lanistar has launched a new business providing crypto and fintech companies’ content to media brands
Interac Corp., a Canadian e-transfer service, is currently down due to issues with the Rogers network provider.
FURTHERMORE,
Australian buy now, pay later firm Openpay has ended its US operations and laid off most of its staff in the country.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Crypto lender Voyager has filed for bankruptcy protection, citing volatility and contagion in the market, as well as the collapse of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital Pte Ltd.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
A new report issued by Mastercard found that more than half of the consumers in Latam have at least made a transaction involving cryptocurrency. Also, a third of the surveyed declared having used a stablecoin to make a payment.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
Buckaroo acquired a majority stake in point-of-sale payment service provider SEPAY BV with the support of Keensight Capital.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
TWBS Limited announced a partnership with Razer, the world's leading lifestyle brand for Gamers, to make Razer Gold widely available for purchase online and in-store throughout Europe soon.
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THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Are you a FinTech Journalist/Editor or do you just like to write (in English) about the FinTech scene? Sr. and Jr. positions, full-time, part-time, and fully remote possible. Email Marcel at and he’ll be in touch soon!
JUST IN:
Indian executive Rajeev Misra, who oversees SoftBank’s massive Vision Fund, is stepping down from his executive role at the Japanese conglomerate, according to a statement from SoftBank. Misra helped transform SoftBank into one of the top tech investors since joining in 2014.
ALSO:
Despite the threat of a downturn in tech stocks and later-stage private valuations, Europe’s seed-stage companies had a strong June. 251 companies secured seed-stage funding, up from 227 in May and 184 in April. In June, the companies brought in a collective €595m — a huge leap on the €442m seen in May.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Despite a dip in valuations and lay-offs, Canadian FinTechs are attracting investments. In June 2022, $181.2M was raised by 13 FinTechs headquartered in Canada.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Headline (formerly known as e.ventures) — which is headquartered in San Francisco and Berlin — has raised its seventh European fund of €320m to back European B2B and B2C startups from seed to Series A.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
PayPoint plc announces the launch of a next business day settlement service for PayPoint One customers signing up to integrated card payments with a PayPoint-preferred acquirer. Initially available to new card payment customers for no additional fee, the service will enable retailers to receive funds from any card transactions directly into their nominated bank account the following business day.
THAT’S ALL THE NEWS FOR TODAY. THANKS FOR LISTENING.
TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR ANOTHER DAILY FINTECH PODCAST
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Burgopak. Burgopak delivers award-winning innovative packaging solutions for some of the world's leading companies in Fintech. Discover how tangible physical touchpoints are crucial in digital banking with the Burgopak 'Welcome to the club' book; Request your free copy, contact info@burgopak.com
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Flutterwave Inc. denied reports of financial impropriety after Kenya’s High Court froze the startup’s bank accounts holding more than $40 million. The money, held in 52 multi-currency accounts in three banks, can’t be moved following the order based on an application by the Assets Recovery Agency under anti-money laundering rules.
JUST IN:
Banking FinTech Fiinu is readying to introduce a world-first plugin overdraft after joining the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with a £53m valuation.
ALSO:
One of Monzo Bank’s directors Phillip Riese has stepped down from the company’s board.
FURTHERMORE,
Restaurant payments app sunday is pulling out of 60% of its markets and making extensive cuts to its global team.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee has called for widespread crypto regulation
Binance.US has named a new CFO, sending a strong signal that the crypto company is gearing up to go public.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
One of the world’s most successful venture capital firms Coatue Management argued in a private presentation that they believed Robinhood has "zero valuation support" and a "broken business model"
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Pelvo AB, a Sweden-based, B2B startup, has announced their new partnership with Yapily and Klarna Kosma.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Mercuryo. With the help of their cryptopowered toolbox, Mercuryo enables companies to take advantage of both fiat and crypto worlds and provide innovative payment solutions for end-customers.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Online platforms for mobile payments and financial technology will play a big role in boosting the economy, President of China, Xi Jinping has declared. This is the most positive signal for the revival of Big Tech after almost two years of crackdowns and regulatory scrutiny of the fintech industry.
JUST IN:
Qatar National Bank (QNB Group) has become the first bank in Qatar to launch mobile payment services WeChat Pay and Alipay+.
ALSO:
Start-ups in Africa have raised more than $3 billion in the first half of 2022 and recorded their strongest June, Q2 and H1 ever.
FURTHERMORE,
San Antonio-based fintech company Usio, Inc. sent a letter to shareholders Tuesday announcing that New Jersey partner Voyager Digital is hitting the brakes on trading, deposits, and withdrawals — which could cause Usio's revenue to take a hit.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Binance has embarked on an aggressive expansion plan in Southeast Asia where the cryptocurrency exchange is looking to capitalize on booming trading activity to establish leadership in the region and build influence in local markets.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
A record 125 new European Unicorns🦄have been minted in the past year. More than the last three years combined. Although Europe’s Unicorn party is slowing, the situation is not as doom and gloom as headlines would suggest. Activity persists and founders that react quickly and decisively will be able to seize unique opportunities
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by MoneyLion. MoneyLion provides an all-in-one mobile banking experience. You choose the tools you need when you need them — and they complement the financial accounts you already have. They’ll help you decide what’s right for you, but the choice is always yours.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Meta is officially closing all accounts on its digital wallet, Novi. Both the Novi app and Novi on WhatsApp will no longer be available, and all accounts will be closed on the 1st of September 2022, with the firm advising all users to withdraw their funds “as soon as possible”. From the 21st of July 2022, customers will not be able to add money to their accounts.
JUST IN:
Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform for businesses, today announced that Revolut will use Stripe to support payments in the UK and Europe and accelerate its expansion into new markets.
ALSO:
A lawsuit that was filed against one-click checkout startup Bolt by one of its biggest customers will be dismissed as the two parties have agreed on a settlement, the companies announced jointly. And interestingly, that same customer — Authentic Brands Group (ABG) — is now a shareholder of the company.
FURTHERMORE,
The Commonwealth Bank is facing a $2 billion hit on its investment in buy now pay later operator Klarna, with the Swedish group’s valuation set to be slashed by up to 85 per cent in its latest capital raising.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
Payment processor Worldline has completed a €256 million deal to acquire an 80% stake in Eurobank’s Merchant Acquiring business in Greece
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Nu announced a partnership with Shopee that offers cashback of up to BRL 50 per purchase
Mambu, a leading cloud banking platform, announced a global partnership with Visa in order to utilise Visa DPS – one of the largest processors of Visa debit transactions globally.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Sokin. Sokin is the trusted global FX payment provider for some of the world’s leading brands. With Sokin Premium you can send and receive unlimited international payments for one fixed monthly fee. Market beating rates, no commission, hassle-free.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Revolut is making its first venture into physical devices with the launch of a card reader for shops and restaurants. Revolut, which now caters to a global customer base of 18m and garnered a $33bn valuation in its latest funding round, told City AM it was launching the device in UK and Ireland. Customers will be able to make card payments via the reader and use services such as Chip & Pin, Contactless, Google Pay and Apple Pay.
JUST IN:
‘Buy now, pay later’ finance firm Payl8r is calling for open banking to be adopted as a legal requirement for credit assessment.
ALSO:
Quirk launches to the wider public this week after reaching 10,000 beta users.
FURTHERMORE,
The South Africa Reserve Bank is working on a new Rapid Payments Programme (RPP) which is set to significantly shake up payments in South Africa.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
Careem acquired start-up Denarii (Acquired by Careem) as it aims to expand its reach in the FinTech sector.
Talenom announced its acquisition of Nomo from Innocells, the corporate venture arm and digital innovation hub of Banco Sabadell.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Veriff announced its partnership with Twisto, A Zip Company to provide identity verification services for online merchants.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Reciprocal Ventures announced on Wednesday that it has closed a $70 million fund.
Knox Financial plans to expand its lending business and loan products with $50 million in funding it received from a real estate advisory firm.
The South African fintech Sava Africa has raised $2 million in pre-seed funding.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Online brokerage eToro and the special purpose acquisition company that agreed to take it public are planning to let the deadline for their merger pass without closing the deal, according to a person familiar with the matter.
JUST IN:
KongaPay has signed a deal with Bibimoney, a UK-based firm, to expand access to financial inclusion in Nigeria.
ALSO:
Nutmeg CEO Neil Alexander has stepped down from his role a year after the firm was acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co. AltFi article by Theo Andrew.
FURTHERMORE,
The boss of Revolut said his fintech startup has enough funding for at least two more years and would not be looking to raise money, as venture capital dries up across the technology industry.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
Funding Societies | Modalku Group, a Southeast Asian digital financing platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), announced that it is acquiring regional payments solution, CardUp, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Minna Technologies announces partnership with financial health app Steven AB.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
British International Investment announces $20m investment in mobility fintech Moove.
Boston fintech firm Knox Financial plans to expand its lending business and loan products with $50 million in funding it received from a real estate advisory firm.
Givebutter, a remote provider of a free operating system for nonprofit fundraising, raised $7M in Seed funding.
Spot Insurance, an Austin, TX-based tech startup offering on-demand injury insurance, raised $33m in funding.
The UAE’s fintech YAP, a leading digital banking platform, has raised $41 million in a funding round led by Saudi Arabia’s AlJazira Capital, Abu Dawood Group, Astra Group and Audacia Capital
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
NatWest Business has taken to video app TikTok for a campaign aimed at reaching budding entrepreneurs. The UK bank has called in VaynerMedia London for the campaign promoting its free Business Builder online toolkit, which offers digital and event-based learning modules covering things such as sustainability, business strategy, and mindset.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
GetVantage raised $36 million in equity and debt led by Varanium Nexgen Fintech Fund.
April (getapril.com) raised $30 million in a Series A round of funding with backing from Treasury, a fintech infrastructure-focused fund established by the founders of Betterment and Acorns.
Neomoon closed its $850k seed funding. The company intends to use the funds to scale its solutions in the coming months.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Top 10 VC firms have ownership in 38% of all unicorns🦄 Venture capital firms that have ownership in a large number of unicorns are pouring money into two sectors — internet services and FinTech.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Klarna is reportedly close to inking a new round of funding that would slash its valuation to $6.5 billion — about 1/7 of what the company was valued in June of 2021. When it raised $639 million in a round led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 last year it was valued at a $45.6 billion.
JUST IN:
Deel has partnered with the United Arab Emirates government to speed up the visa process for foreign workers as the country aims to attract international talent.
ALSO:
The U.S. federal government is working on stablecoin legislation with Congress that could become law by the end of the year, an administration official told CoinDesk.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Antler closed three pre-seed investments of €100,000 each as part of its Dutch portfolio expansion.
WEVESTR raised €2.2M in a fresh round of funding.
Mottu raised $30 million in equity in a Series B round of funding.
OppZo announced over $260M in debt and equity funding
Mapan - PT Ruma closed a successful Series A round of US$15 million.
Vibrant.io raised €4 million in a seed round.
Stake closed a $12m Series A financing round.
WHAT’S THE LATEST ON VENTURE FUNDS?
MassMutual Ventures announced that its U.S.- based team has launched a new fund to continue investing in early and growth-stage companies
OP Crypto is raising $100 million for its new investment, dubbed “Fund of Funds”, to deploy capital into emerging fund managers focused on early-stage crypto investments.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Prominent crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital Pte Ltd has defaulted on a loan worth more than $670 million.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Belvo receives authorization to develop payment initiation solutions in Mexico. The IFPE license, under the Fintech Law in Mexico, will allow Belvo to develop its payment initiation solutions in the country – the company is also applying for a similar license to develop payment initiation solutions in Brazil.
JUST IN:
Stere has expanded its operations to the Latin America insurance market.
ALSO:
Ashman Finance has received an authorised with restrictions (AwR) UK banking licence.
FURTHERMORE,
Releasing its first annual results as a publicly listed company, Wise has shared that its revenue grew by one-third to £555.9m in the 12 months up until the end of March 2022.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
European B2B payments major iBanFirst has announced that it is acquiring UK cross-border payments player Cornhill.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
The Lithuanian identity verification and compliance company iDenfy, joined forces with Juni, the financial management platform made for ecommerce.
Mastercard and Paysafe Group announce the integration of Mastercard Send into Paysafe’s payments platform.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Zilch announced it has secured an additional $50m in funding, taking the total raise for its Series C to $160m.
Currensea surpassed its crowdfunding target in under two hours, raising £1.35m from over 350 investors on Seedrs.
Ophelos has raised £5 million in a seed funding round led by AlbionVC.
4Trans Factoring raised a €3m seed round from Atmos, Tera Ventures and Lighthouse Ventures.
Google has invested in Progcap, an Indian startup that provides working capital to small and medium-sized businesses.
PolySign, Inc. has raised $53 million in a Series C funding round.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
Gatehouse Bank plc has launched a mobile app, available on iOS and Android, to support customers in managing their personal savings accounts.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Digital Bank Volt Bank shuts down. The chief executive of failed neobank Volt still believes there is merit in trying to disrupt Australia’s banking oligopoly, saying his firm’s technology and products were competitive, but it just couldn’t raise the capital to keep growing.
JUST IN:
Atlantic Money has secured a license with the National Bank of Belgium to operate in Europe and access all 30 EU and EEA member states.
ALSO:
Amount, a fintech that reached unicorn status last year, has laid off 18% of its workforce..
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Paris-based cybersecurity insurtech Stoïk has raised €11m in a Series A round led by US investment giant Andreessen Horowitz.
Greenfield Partners, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based investment firm, closed new investment funds totaling $350m.
Blockchain fintech firm PolySign, Inc. has raised $53 million in a Series C funding round.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Wirex announced that it is operational in the UK again, following “discussions” with the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
Delhi-based merchant commerce platform Pine Labs announced that it is acquiring Bengaluru-based API start-up Setu.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
StellarFi 🚀 has announced the launch of its credit-building web app in the US.
Starling Bank launched the first-ever Fantasy Football game for the UEFA Women’s EURO ahead of the official tournament kick-off on Wednesday 6th July.
Nubank announced this Tuesday (28) its new credit and debit card aimed exclusively at CNPJ accounts.
AS FOR AWARDS
ZEN.COM, an innovative European fintech, has been awarded the Digital First certificate by Mastercard.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Brazilian Super App Inter sees a Nasdaq listing as a springboard to US consumers. The super app offers a digital front door for a range of activities — from banking and investing to insurance, peer-to-peer (P2P) and beyond.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Thepeer, an African tech infrastructure startup connecting businesses’ wallets, has raised a $2.1 million seed round led by the Raba Partnership.
WHAT’S THE LATEST ON VENTURE FUNDS?
San Mateo, CA-based The Employee Stock Option Fund (ESO Fund) closed ESO Venture Fund V, LP, at $200m.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Celsius Network on Monday denied reports of the CEO leaving the US, claiming that all related allegations are false. The crypto lender platform's CEO Alex Mashinsky was reportedly stopped by authorities from leaving the U.S., amid insolvency rumors about his company.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Only 7% of founders at Europe’s future unicorns are women, according to the ranking of 100 VC-backed, B2B European future unicorns published by Sifted. Out of the 100 companies, only six have a female CEO (or co-CEO). Sixteen companies on the ranking were founded by mixed-gender teams, and in total 19 of the cofounders in the cohort are women — representing 7% of the total number of cofounders among the 100 companies.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Klarna’s UK executive Alex Marsh has hit out at Barclays for publishing a report that he called “mind-boggling” and “irresponsible”. This research explores mounting buy-now-pay-later debt levels in the UK. Barclays joined forces with debt charity StepChange to warn that 876,000 Brits could fall into financial difficulty as a result of using BNPL.
JUST IN:
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is facing a new class-action suit that alleges his actions involving the meme-themed cryptocurrency Dogecoin constitute a Ponzi scheme.
ALSO:
Digital bank Kroo has just won its full UK banking licence ahead of plans to launch personal current accounts "in the coming months".
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
SleekFlow, an Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund-backed SaaS omnichannel social commerce platform, announced that it has raised an US$8 million Series A funding round.
Tapcheck Inc., an employee financial wellness and earned wage access platform announced a $20 million Series A led by PeakSpan Capital.
Blockchain-based paytech Roxe is to go public via a $3.6 billion special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Thirty-nine new billion-dollar FinTech companies have emerged in the past year, making up 25% of all Unicorns 🦄in Europe.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
New York-based fintech Glia has acquired Finn AI, the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot platform for banks and credit unions.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
Open banking provider Volt.io is launching a new bank account authentication service for online merchants and businesses.
Revolut Business has reportedly launched a new cashback offer for US customers.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced this week that Facebook Pay has officially been renamed Meta Pay. The current product features and overall user experience that people are used to with Facebook Pay will remain the same across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. The change is rolling out in the United States and will then launch globally over time. Zuckerberg says although the service will remain the same, the rename represents Meta’s first step toward creating a digital wallet for the metaverse.
JUST IN:
Amsterdam has the second most valued tech ecosystem in Europe. Research by Dealroom shows that Amsterdam-based startups raised €698M in 2022 YTD. This funding comes after a record year in 2021 but is a 75 percent decline year on year. Link here.
ALSO:
SleekFlow, an Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund-backed SaaS omnichannel social commerce platform, announced that it has raised a US$8 million Series A funding round. Link here.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Ethis Group, an ethical investment and social finance platform operator, is collaborating with venture capital firm Gobi Partners to structure and set up a US$20 million Shariah-compliant seed fund. Link here.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Revolut has picked Ireland as the first market to launch its buy now, pay later product that will see it go head-to-head with the likes of Klarna and other FinTechs in the rapidly growing area of lending.
JUST IN:
Ant Group, the financial services arm of Alibaba Group, will apply to become a financial holding company, possibly this month.
ALSO:
Swiss luxury watchmaker Hublot announced on June 21 that it would release 200 new limited-edition watches that will also be available for online purchase using chosen cryptocurrencies through BitPay.
FURTHERMORE:
US-based Flagstar Bank has suffered a data breach that has hit over 1.5 million customers.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Hokodo has just raised over €37.8 million in Series B funding.
Finhay has secured a US$25 million Series B round co-led by Openspace Ventures and VIG.
Lista has raised over US$ 5.1 million in a recent funding round led by Singaporean VC firm Openspace Ventures.
StrideUp has raised £280m in funding to bring a new shared ownership mortgage product to the UK’s first-time buyers.
Octopus Ventures launches its first-ever pre-seed fund of £10m.
Dastgyr Technologies raised $37 million in the country’s largest-ever Series A funding.
Wibond (YC W22) raises US$6 million in a financing round.
Colombia-based Pandas, which focuses on offering Asian-origin inventory to micro-businesses in Latin America has nabbed $6.3 million in the largest pre-seed funding in the region.
Bank of America has built on its partnership with iCapital Network by making a strategic investment in the alternative investment platform.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Crypto lender BlockFi announced Tuesday it had received a $250 million revolving line of credit from crypto exchange FTX to help bolster its balance sheet.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
ComplyAdvantage announced that it has released ComplyTry, a new tool that enables anyone to better understand the risk profiles of prospective customers using live sanctions, Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), and adverse media data for free.
JUST IN:
A month after recording its “strongest quarter” in history, Brazilian neobank Nubank has shared plans for consolidation in Latin America. The company plans to continue expanding by picking up acquisitions at low prices.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
SumUp has closed in on a major round of funding of $624 million
Anfin (YC W22) announced it has raised a $4.8 million pre-Series A.
Playter, a London-based growth platform that helps SME’s scale quicker with buy now, pay later (BNPL), closed a $55m equity and debt funding round.
wefox, is aiming to raise several hundred million dollars, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.
Helicap announced that it has raised US$5 million in a funding round from global asset managers Tikehau Capital and PhillipCapital.
Castler has raised $1 million from Zerodha’s venture capital arm Rainmatter, with participation from Venture Catalysts, 9Unicorns, Faad Network Pvt. Ltd and LetsVenture.
Prime Trust has raised $107 million in Series B Funding.
WHAT’S THE LATEST ON VENTURE FUNDS?
Vine Ventures, L.P., a New York City-based early-stage venture capital firm, announced the final closing of its Fund II.
Impact venture capital firm Beyond Capital Ventures announced its fifth investment: XENO Corporation (XENO), the first fintech company to join the Fund’s growing portfolio.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Global fraud fighters, SEON Fraud Fighters announced a new partnership with Provenir, a global leader in AI-powered risk decisioning software for the fintech industry.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Klarna announced the launch of its new Loyalty Card feature in the Klarna App. This allows app users to store and access their physical loyalty cards as digital versions. They can then collect all points and benefits at any merchant without the need to carry plastic equivalents while out shopping in-store.
JUST IN:
Continuing on its mission to democratize access to finance ZELF expands to the United States as a bank of the Metaverse, bringing game loot, NFTs and fiat under one banking roof.
ALSO:
Parpera, the all-in-one business money app for sole traders, freelancers, and entrepreneurs, has seen a surge in the growth of its member base, 80% MoM to 500 businesses, within 3 months of its business debit card launch.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Fintech startup Aveni, a firm that is helping advisers plug the gaps exposed by the incoming consumer duty, has landed £2.75mn.
Singapore-based Stashfin has raised $270 million in new funding round as the neobanking platform, which currently only serves customers in India, looks to expand to Southeast Asia and other South Asian markets, it said Tuesday.
alU, the Egypt-based buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) fintech platform, has struck a $12.4 million funding deal with the Saudi-based Alhokair Family, which runs the popular Alhokair Fashion Retail Armenia.
Bengaluru-based B2B fintech SaaS startup FinBox has raised $15 Mn (INR 115 Cr) in a funding round led by A91 Partners.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
YieldX, a FinTech company reimagining fixed income investing, announced a partnership with Jefferies.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
QNB Finansbank, the largest financial institution in the Middle East and Africa, has announced its launch of Open Banking platform for a wider audience including the Bank’s customers, partners and emerging fintechs in Qatar.
WHAT ABOUT THOSE MOVERS AND SHAKERS?
Sardine announced Simon Taylor as its new Head of Content & Strategy. The news comes after Sardine achieved its latest milestone of acquiring over 100 customers.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
FROST has launched to the general public after initially opening its app to its first wave of users. More than 16,000 people signed up to receive early access to the new e-money offering, which aims to give users greater control over several typically time-consuming financial tasks. Now, everyone in the UK can download the app and sign up for Frost.
JUST IN:
Revolut is axing its free trading for its most premium monthly subscription plan. Users of its Metal subscription package pay £12.99 per month for a number of benefits including unlimited trading at zero commission but, according to the company, this will end next month.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
PayGlocal Technologies has raised $12 million in a Series B funding round led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from Sequoia Capital India and BEENEXT.
mewt has raised $4.6 million in a seed funding round led by global fintech investor Quona Capital.
WHAT’S THE LATEST ON VENTURE FUNDS?
True Global Ventures 4 Plus announced the closure of a $146 million funding round earmarked for a wide range of Web3 projects — highlighting investors’ continued interest in crypto despite an ongoing bear market.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
The SPAC merger between Israeli fintech unicorn Pagaya and EJF Acquisition Corp. is set to be completed this week despite the many question marks surrounding the combination. EJF announced on Friday afternoon that its shareholders have voted to approve its combination with Pagaya at a valuation of $8.5 billion.
Australia-based Latitude Financial Services has terminated its deal to acquire humm group’s buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) unit.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
MoneyGram International has partnered the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) with to initiate the rollout of its crypto-to-cash service that is now available in key remittance markets, including Kenya, the U.S., Canada, and the Philippines for the first wave of users.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Stripe is making its bank transfer offering available to businesses in the UK, EU and Mexico. The Stripe infrastructure promises to take the friction out of bank transfers, saving businesses hundreds of hours on confirming transfers, reconciliation and accounting, and refunds.
JUST IN:
Douugh is on track to launch its banking super-app to Australians later this year, following its Beta launch.
ALSO:
Electronic music producer deadmau5 has partnered with US fintech Zytara Inc. to create a branded, digital banking solution. Fans of the musician will have the opportunity to interact with his brand through the Zytara banking app, as well as have access to custom physical and virtual Mastercard debit cards.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Metropolis Technologies announced that it raised $167 million in a Series B round.
Paris-based YC alumni Formance (YC S21) has just raised a $3.1m pre-seed to scale up its product offering and onboard new global marketplace and fintech clients
Cube raised $30 million in a Series B funding round led by Battery Ventures.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Monzo Bank has confirmed it still plans to pursue crypto investment opportunities, amid the current crash in the digital asset market.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
RBC Royal Bank Of Canada has partnered with Envestnet | Yodlee and Plaid to offer RBC clients a private form of open banking.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
This month, the South American country of Brazil unveiled a legislative bill that would allow cryptocurrency to be used as a payment method and prevent users' private keys from being used by the country's judiciary. The proposed bill was introduced by Brazil's Federal Deputy Paulo Martins and awaits discussion in the Chamber of Deputies in Brazil's legislature.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
A Turkish fintech firm, Param, reached a valuation of $200 million in its first investment round.
Narmi closed a $35 million Series B funding round co-led by Greycroft, NEA and Picus Capital, bringing Narmi’s cash raised to date to ~$60 million.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Venture funding to Black-founded startups in the U.S. was $324 million in the second quarter of this year—a steep drop from prior quarters when investment to those companies had just started to show hopeful signs of progress.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
Israeli-founded fintech startup Rewire, the first digital wallet designed specifically for economic migrants, has “hit a key growth milestone” after acquiring Imagen Cards, a provider of pre-paid card solutions for migrants in Israel.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
Wayflyer, the Irish tech unicorn, has added a new credit line to its portfolio as part of plans to issue up to $2.5 billion in credit to clients this year.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Three months after announcing it would make a big push into software and enterprise, FinTech giant Brex is apparently abandoning the very segment it started out to serve – SMBs. Startup customers report that they got notice they would be booted off the platform on August 15.
JUST IN:
Robinhood shares slumped to a fresh low, giving the beleaguered brokerage a market value that’s less than the cash on its balance sheet.
ALSO:
Fintech company Addi recently carried out “a mass layoff”, but when approached by Bloomberg Línea the company declined to confirm the exact number of redundancies.
FURTHERMORE,
Provenir, a global leader in AI-powered risk management software for fintech, announced its first customer in Brazil: Provu, a fintech specializing in payment and personal credit, based in São Paulo.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Klarna is considering raising fresh funds at a significantly lower valuation than it achieved a year ago. The Swedish firm is in talks with investors about a deal that could value the company at around $15 billion.
Cleo raised $80m in new capital from investors including Sofina, a listed tech investor which has backed companies such as Typeform and Graphcore.
Qatar-based CWALLET has successfully closed its Pre-Series A investment Round at $875,000
CapIntel raised $11.0m in a Series A financing round led by New York-based FinTech Collective.
Destaxa raised a $3.1 million seed round.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said that the company will reduce its workforce by 18% — nearly 1,100 people — to “stay healthy during this economic downturn.”
JUST IN:
Zopa is reportedly delaying plans for a public offering due to the current market conditions.
FURTHERMORE:
Revolut is now the fastest growing fintech in Spain.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Cleo raised $80m in new capital
KEO World closed a $20 million growth equity round
AMNIS closed a CHF 8.6 million funding round
Upvest raised a $42 million Series B funding round
Azimut Group led a 16 million-euro investment round for Young Platform, an Italian fintech group focused on cryptocurrencies.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
After Apple shook up the Buy Now, Pay Later market with news that it would now be a competitor to established firms, PayPal this morning is introducing another buy now, pay later product to follow the 2020 launch of its “Pay in 4″ installment program. The new offering, PayPal Pay Monthly,” is designed to give customers a more flexible way to pay, the U.S. payments giant said. Instead of having to pay off purchases over a 6-week period as before, “Pay Monthly” users can break down the total cost into monthly payments over a 6 to 24-month period. Consumers can also use the product to make larger purchases. TechCrunch article by Sarah Perez article.
JUST IN:
Last month, Shopify, a cloud-based, multi-channel commerce platform designed for SMEs, asked customers of Mollie, a Dutch unicorn that provides a payments platform, to use its payment gateway instead of Mollie’s payments solution.
ALSO:
Brandon Krieg, the CEO, and co-founder of the investment app Stash, called out related platforms that rely on payment for order flow (PFOF) and backed a government initiative to regulate the practice.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Bits of Stock™, a rewards platform that lets shoppers automatically earn fractional shares, has raised $4.4 million in seed funding from Keen Venture Partners and Yellow Accelerator by Snap.
Berlin-based crypto API provider Pile has raised €2.8m in a pre-seed funding round
Cryptio has raised $10 million in Series A funding for its enterprise crypto back-office platform.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
The first US crypto rewards credit card on the American Express network through a new partnership with crypto wealth management platform and wallet provider Abra is here.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
If you're an entrepreneur and want to start a business in Latin America, Chile is the country for you. With over 158K new companies started in just 2020, the "country of poets" has one of the highest entrepreneurship rates in the world. Over the last 30 years, Chile has evolved from a military dictatorship into one of LatAm's most prosperous nations.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Bitcoin has crashed to its lowest level since December 2020 after one of the crypto-economy's largest lenders, Celsius Network, suspended withdrawals on Sunday.
JUST IN:
MoneyGram International, a global leader in the evolution of digital P2P payments, and the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), a non-profit organization that supports the development and growth of Stellar, an open-source public blockchain that allows money to be tokenized and transferred globally, announced the initial roll-out of a first-of-its-kind global on/off-ramp service for digital wallets to increase the utility of digital assets by creating a bridge between cash and cryptocurrencies.
ALSO:
Metro Bank (UK) is being sued by US software company Arkeyo over allegations that it leaked the company's coin counting technology to a rival firm.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
JUST has raised €3M in its first funding round. E-commerce in France is exploding: valued at more than 112 billion euros in 2020, it is expected to nearly treble in volume by 2026.
Berlin-based Airbank has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Molten Ventures.
Cardiff Capital Region (CCR) has announced a £1.6 million, five-year investment in FinTech Wales, the independent not for profit membership association and champion of the FinTech and Financial Services industry in Wales.
WHAT’S THE LATEST ON VENTURE FUNDS?
The IFC - International Finance Corporation., a member of the World Bank Group, is open to investing and supporting the fintech sector in Saudi Arabia, as it eyes to expand its existing portfolio worth $8 billion invested in the Kingdom, said a top official.
AS FOR OPPORTUNITIES
Bucking the trend for lay-offs in the fintech sector, Banking-as-a-Service provider Contis has revealed plans to increase its headcount by more than 33% over the next six months, with the Yorkshire headquartered firm intending to recruit 123 additional roles across the UK, Lithuania and India.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been “asking questions” about the BNB exchange token but the exchange hasn’t yet been subpoenaed. Earlier this month, Bloomberg LP reported the SEC is investigating if the BNB token constitutes an unregistered security. Zhao told the audience at CoinDesk's Consensus 2022 that the SEC regularly asks questions about Binance and its products, and the exchange is in regular contact with authorities.
JUST IN:
Cryptocurrencies are a “threat to the safety of our payment schemes,” Anne Boden, CEO of U.K. digital Starling Bank, warned. Speaking at the Money 20/20 fintech conference in Amsterdam on Tuesday, Boden said crypto “is very dangerous” as it poses a very huge risk to the existing payment infrastructure.
ALSO:
Jay-Z and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey are teaming up to launch a financial literacy program, titled The Bitcoin Academy, for residents of the Marcy Houses project in Brooklyn, New York, where the rapper grew up.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Swoop, the one-stop money shop for businesses has raised £5.4m in a Series A funding round to accelerate international expansion and help more companies to access an array of financing options.
CRED is raising $140 million in a new financing round.
Request Finance, a Web3 enterprise crypto payments startup, announced that it has closed a US$5.5 million seed funding round.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Payhawk. Payhawk is the most efficient credit card backed by powerful financial software to help companies stay in control of their spend. Try efficient, paperless, compliant spending today.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Alphabet’s Google (GOOG) has committed to invest $1.2 billion in Latin America over the next five years to support economic development and digital transformation in the region, where the company has had an active presence since 2005. The investment was announced by Google and Alphabet Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai during the IX Summit of the Americas, held this week in Los Angeles, California.
JUST IN:
The PayRetailers- Pago Digital- Paygol announces the launch of its first Social Responsibility campaign to support charitable causes in Latin America.
ALSO:
Railsr launched a new Rewards-as-a-Service (RaaS) product that enables brands to build their own branded rewards programmes.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by YieldX. YieldX is transforming income investing to bring its benefits to all investors. With YieldX, the outcome is income.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Argentina’s central bank on Thursday approved digital banking startup Ualá’s acquisition of rival Wilobank, the final hurdle to a deal that grants the Argentine “unicorn” greater scope in its quest to expand its financial services in Latin America.
JUST IN:
PayPal has been granted a full BitLicense from the New York Department of Financial Services, the company announced in a press release. New York introduced its BitLicense in 2015 as a way to regulate businesses that provide customers with the ability to buy and sell cryptocurrency in the state.
ALSO:
The PayRetailers- Pago Digital- Paygol announced the launch of its first Social Responsibility campaign to support charitable causes in Latin America. An initial alliance with the Manos Unidas Organisation, in Colombia, for the Defence of the Wayúu people’s rights in La Guajira communities accelerate the company’s goal of contributing to improving the quality of life of disadvantaged people.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Factris raised €10M through its partnership with NN Investment Partners.
Datia secured $3.4M in a Seed round of funding led by VC firm Nauta Capital.
LoopingOne raised €800,000 in funding in its first Seed round from Ebury.
Request Finance closed a US$5.5 million in a seed funding round.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Provenir. Provenir does more than help with your current tech challenges. They eliminate them. Designed and built to power agility, their cloud-native technology puts your team in control. Loved by Startups. Trusted by Decacorns.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Mexico City-based digital bank Klar has raised $70 million in equity funding at a valuation of $500 million.
JUST IN:
Online payments company Checkout.com says it will settle payments for its merchants round-the-clock using stablecoins, making it the last major financial services firm taking the plunge into crypto.
ALSO:
Marqeta announced that Western Union will support their next generation real-time, multi-currency digital wallet and digital banking platform in Europe.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Juni is announcing $206 million in funding
London-based Codat announced it has raised $100M in a series C round of funding.
Nigerian fintech startup Indicina announced a US$3 million funding round to accelerate its expansion into other African markets.
FlexiLoans.com has raised around $90 million in series B funding
Indonesian cryptocurrency exchange Pintu has raised $113 million in a Series B funding round
Fruitful is emerging from stealth, announcing a total of $33 million in equity funding raised across a seed and Series A round over the past 18 months.
Knock announced the closing of its previously announced $220 million funding round.
Backbase raised €120 million in growth equity funding from Motive Partners.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Contis, the European leader in Banking-as-a-Service. Contis is proud to deliver process-pay, a brand-new standalone processing solution ready to cater for any organisations card processing needs. To find out more visiting www.contis.com today!
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Apple is turning into a fintech company. The company announced several new features for the iPhone's Wallet app at its developers conference Monday that directly compete with products from other fintech companies such as Affirm and PayPal.
JUST IN:
After raising over $100m from investors since 2016, embedded finance provider Railsbank unveiled a dramatic rebrand at Money20/20 yesterday. “In our fast-moving world of amazing customer experiences, the finance industry has failed to evolve,” said Railsr CEO and co-founder Nigel Verdon. “We’ve changed our name to Railsr, and we’re making finance a phenomenal experience.”
ALSO:
Citi Group has completed the sale of its Australian consumer banking business to National Australia Bank (NAB). The business, including unsecured lending, residential mortgages, deposits, and wealth, is being transferred to NAB with approximately 800 Citigroup employees.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Ecuadorian payments infrastructure company Kushki has raised $100 million in an extension to its Series B round, more than doubling its valuation to $1.5 billion.
Morocco-based WafR has raised $455,000 in its latest funding round.
Yabie, a Swedish fintech company, secured €15M at a valuation of €91M in an oversubscribed funding round.
VirgoCX has raised $7.95 million in a Series A funding round that will help the firm expand globally and add products and services.
Stage is announcing the availability of its first product–flexible plans and packaging–as well as a $5.1 million seed round.
Hourly.io has closed in on $27 million in funding.
Zippi announced a $16 million (about BRL 82 million) funding round.
NymCard raised $22.5M in its latest Funding round.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by PayRetailers. PayRetailers’ payment platform leverages API technology to connect Latin American consumers with international merchants, offering a seamless payment experience. From the merchant’s perspective, the solution has the distinct advantage of eliminating the hurdles associated with integrating multiple acquirers and payment methods. Visit: www.payretailers.com
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
British neobank Revolut is preparing to crank up its new Brazilian operation in November, just before the FIFA World Cup gets underway, and has as part of its offering an international account for fans traveling to watch the national team in Qatar. It’s a move that encapsulates its initial strategy for Latin America: a focus on products for travelers, currency exchange, and competitive fees.
JUST IN:
Revolut partners with Tink. Revolut will leverage open banking technology to streamline its European customers’ money transfers by simplifying the way funds are moved from account to account.
ALSO:
Curve, the 'all-your-cards-in-one' fintech banking app, has made 60-70 people redundant, amid mounting fears of a recession. The company has a headcount of 425 people, according to LinkedIn, meaning the true figure of the layoffs represents a similarly high percentage of cuts made by Klarna recently.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Uncover, the new podcast by ComplyAdvantage. Join CEO Charles Delingpole and his team as they interview compliance leaders, FinTech innovators, and financial crime experts to uncover the latest best practices and industry trends. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify today
WHAT ARE THE LATEST FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
DeFi platform Alloy has won the backing of Checkout.com founder Guillaume Pousaz in a $3 million pre-seed round led by VC firm Headline.
Amsterdam-based crypto payments infrastructure startup Fung Payments has raised $2.7m in a pre-seed funding round co-led by Global Founders Capital, Kingsway Capital, Kindred Capital VC and Karatage.
GivePenny Technologies secured £1.25m in funding. The company intends to use the funds to further enhance the platform and allow more charities – big and small – to continue their work.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Apple has introduced Apple Pay Later, a new feature backed into the company's payment platform that will allow users to split purchases into separate payments.
JUST IN:
Businesses in Canada may be eligible to claim credit card processing fee rebates following a multimillion-dollar class-action settlement with Visa and Mastercard. Merchants can now apply for rebates on so-called swipe fees charged on credit card transactions dating back two decades, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) said Monday.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
In a recent study of US consumers, Cornerstone Advisors found that Americans now consider the quality of digital banking tools to be a more important factor in their decision of whom to bank with than branch locations, the quality of the branch experience, or even what interest rate a bank pays on deposits and savings.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
Stripe announced the launch of a delegated authentication feature to improve payment conversion rates in Europe.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Privacy Lock. Privacy Lock sets the standard for financial service providers in data privacy compliance.
Protect your business and your customers today. Visit www.pentaprivacylock.com
WHAT ARE THE LATEST FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Sanlo fintech startup has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Konvoy Ventures.
Incognia has just announced a $15.5 million Series A round led by Point72 Ventures to boost the company’s global expansion at a time when identity fraud losses are running into the billions
Trade Republic has topped up its Series C funding round with an extra €250 million at a €5 billion valuation.
Swiss fintech startup numarics has successfully closed a CHF 2.1 million pre-seed financing round led by Wingman Ventures.
Liminal, a wallet operations infrastructure that secures digital assets in a simple and efficient way, has raised $4.7 million in its seed funding round led by Elevation Capital.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Square announced that it is working with Apple to enable Tap to Pay on iPhone, Apple’s contactless payment acceptance capability, within the Square Point of Sale app. The new offering enables sellers of all sizes to seamlessly and securely accept in-person contactless payments with only an iPhone and Square’s industry leading POS app.
JUST IN:
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has sued Gemini Trust accusing the crypto exchange of false statements relating to the self-certification of a bitcoin futures product.
ALSO:
Gemini Trust Co., the crypto business run by billionaire twins Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss, on Thursday told staff of plans to slash the company’s workforce by 10% as trading across the industry slumps.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Burgopak. Burgopak delivers award-winning innovative packaging solutions for some of the world's leading companies in Fintech. Discover how tangible physical touchpoints are crucial in digital banking with the Burgopak 'Welcome to the club' book; Request your free copy, contact info@burgopak.com
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Varo Bank could run out of funds by year-end, filing shows. The bank, which raised $510 million at a valuation of $2.5 billion last year, reported $263 million in equity and a burn rate of $84 million in 2022’s first quarter.
JUST IN:
The Klarna Card is now available to US consumers, and comes amid Klarna's rapid growth in the US, which continues to be Klarna's fastest-growing key market by volume.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Revolut has long been known for its early bet on crypto. Its most recently rumoured iteration of this appetite for all things blockchain-based is the launch of its own native token focused on loyalty dubbed ‘Revcoin’.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
A recent report from Andreessen Horowitz illustrates a sad state of affairs for the FinTech industry, which has gotten clobbered in the tech-stocks downdraft. A chart included in the report shows fintech valuations in sharper decline than any other sector, by a significant margin.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
South African financial services group Sanlam has bought a controlling interest in payment solutions provider Q LINK Holdings
European fintech lender October has acquired Credit.france
Also
Yolt announced a collaboration with October, Europe’s leading SME lending platform.
WHAT’S THE LATEST ON VENTURE FUNDS?
Binance raised a $500 million fund to invest in 'Web3' as crypto slides into a bear market.
Alven has raised €350m for its latest fund to back pre-seed to Series A startups all across Europe. It’s the largest early-stage fund raised in France to date.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Mercuryo. With the help of their cryptopowered toolbox, Mercuryo enables companies to take advantage of both fiat and crypto worlds and provide innovative payment solutions for end customers.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
The Chinese crypto exchange Huobi Global announced that it had purchased a Latin American cryptocurrency exchange, Bitex. Huobi explains that the firm is expanding its influence in Latin America as it sees the region as one of the most proactive cryptocurrency acceptance regions worldwide.
JUST IN:
German crypto-focused digital bank Nuri is the latest to feel the chill winds of change in fintech markets, announcing plans to lay off 20% of its workforce in a drive to reach profitability.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Open finance has massive potential in bringing financial inclusion and wellness to both retail consumers and small-medium businesses worldwide. 2022 is proving to be the year Open Banking grows in its scope – geographical and functional. It is also acting as one of the tailwinds to propel embedded finance experiences that allow non-banks to embed financial products with their core offerings.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Haven Life Insurance Agency, the customer-centric life insurance agency backed and wholly owned by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), and Kinly is announcing a new partnership to make term life insurance more accessible to Black Americans.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Kroo has just closed their most recent funding round, successfully raising £26 million.
Sustainable finance provider ecolytiq has secured a €13.5 million financing round led by Visa and other blue chip investors.
Managed App has raised $5.3 million and appointed co-founder Nicholas Bouris as CEO.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by MoneyLion. MoneyLion provides an all-in-one mobile banking experience. You choose the tools you need when you need them — and they complement the financial accounts you already have. They’ll help you decide what’s right for you, but the choice is always yours.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
The number of transactions using Chivo Wallet, the digital Bitcoin wallet of the government of El Salvador, has fallen by 75% since its peak when authorities granted a $30 subsidy to users to incentivize the download of the technology.
JUST IN:
Affirm is making its buy now, pay later technology available to businesses that use Stripe’s payments tech. This means that a whole slew of companies that were not previously able to offer their customers the option to pay in installments, now can.
ALSO:
Inter (BIDI11) has just reached the 20 million client mark, a few weeks before migrating its shares to the US technology exchange Nasdaq.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Gallup finds 58% of Americans reporting that they own stock, based on its April Economy and Personal Finance survey.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
Trustly has acquired UK open banking vendor Ecospend. The acquisition gives Trustly a foothold in the UK market and a marquee client in Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, for whom Ecospend has enabled open banking payments.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Mollie is partnering with open banking and payments specialist Plaid to improve customer experiences across their financial services, including onboarding and payments.
Banktivity by IGG Software, a US-based PFM app, teamed up with Salt Edge, a leader in offering open banking solutions, to enable its customers in the UK and EU to connect their bank accounts and have all their financial data pulled into the app instantly and fully digitally.
Tranch, the B2B buy now, pay later provider that emerged from stealth just last week, has signed its first major technology partnership. The London-based fintech has chosen Yobota to provide its core banking infrastructure as Tranch develops its flexible payments service.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Sokin. Sokin is the trusted global FX payment provider for some of the world’s leading brands. With Sokin Premium you can send and receive unlimited international payments for one fixed monthly fee. Market beating rates, no commission, hassle-free.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Mastercard CEO, Michael Miebach, said that he does not expect SWIFT , one of the most widely used cross-border payments services, to exist after five years. His comment was part of a panel discussion held on Tuesday at the Global Blockchain Business Council’s (GBBC) Blockchain Central Davos Conference in Switzerland.
JUST IN:
Barclays Bank is adding to a wave of branch closures across the UK, announcing plans to shut an additional 27 sites this year.
ALSO:
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has started legal proceedings in the Federal Court against Mastercard Asia Pacific and Mastercard Australia for alleged anti-competitive conduct that substantially lessened competition in the supply of debit card acceptance services.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Indian fintech Jar is engaging with several investors to raise about $50 million at a $350 million valuation.
Indonesia-based digital investment app Bibit.id announced that it has raised more than US$80 million in a round led by Singapore state investor GIC.
Hong Kong-based crypto lender and asset manager Babel Finance has secured $80m in a Series B round — double the amount it raised a year ago in its Series A.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Revolut is looking to hire an Investor Relations team, a move that could mark the starting gun on its long-awaited stock market listing. The job advert, published on Revolult's careers page, is for a head of Investor Relations with public company experience, who will be responsible for building a team and hiring up to two Investor Relations analysts.
ALSO:
The Australian Payments Network (AusPayNet) has issued new guidelines around the use of Quick Response (QR) codes as a payment method.
FURTHERMORE,
Renowned billionaire investor Tim Draper insists that a time will come when women begin driving up the price of Bitcoin as more retailers start offering it as a more cost-effective payment option at shops.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Stripe’s faith in Bitcoin appears to have been restored, despite the cryptocurrency’s poor performance over the past month. The payments provider has this week resumed support for the cryptocurrency on its platform, following a four-year lapse.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
The drums of an economic recession are echoing in Latin America as the slowdown is starting to affect the region's startups, which have resorted to a wave of layoffs to refocus their businesses. After accelerating growth in the midst of the pandemic, companies now face a challenging cocktail that mixes a slower economy, higher interest rates, and the highest inflation in decades, and companies such as VTEX, Bitso, Klarna, Olist, and Buenbit have in recent days announced massive cutbacks to cope with this new scenario.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Not all fintech unicorns are cutting jobs. After Klarna announced plans to lay off 10% of its workforce Monday, some rival fintechs are making it clear that they have no intention of cutting jobs or freezing hiring. Revolut, the $33 billion digital banking start-up, said the company is "actively hiring," with over 250 open roles listed on its website.
JUST IN:
Latin American VTEX and Bitso laid off hundreds of employees on Thursday. Brazil's Vtex alone has cut nearly 200 employees, according to a person familiar with the company. That number is equivalent to 13% of the team, the person said. In Mexico, crypto exchange Bitso terminated at least 80 people in technical and commercial areas.
ALSO:
Former Tory minister Theodore Agnew has launched a public attack on Starling Bank, dragging the online lender into the Covid loans scandal by claiming it did not run adequate checks on borrowers before handing out taxpayer-backed loans.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
A group of former executives from Binance has created a $100 million venture fund.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Mastercard announced a strategic partnership Saudi Arabia-based HyperPay to drive the adoption of digital payment solutions across the Middle East and North African region.
Alpher. Partnered with digital investments service provider WealthKernel.
Scalapay has formed a partnership with circular economy fintech Twig to enable customers to resell products they have purchased via the buy now, pay later provider, and get paid upfront by Twig.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Klarna is shifting its business away from growth and towards short-term profitability as the Swedish FinTech tries to raise capital and cuts 10 per cent of jobs due to fears of a looming recession. Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Klarna’s chief executive and co-founder, told the Financial Times he was not “convinced” by reports that his bank would have to raise capital at a valuation below its most recent one of $46bn, which made it the most valuable private tech company in Europe.
JUST IN:
Latin American crypto exchange Bitso laid off 80 employees on Thursday, the company told CoinDesk. “Our decisions about the people who work in our company are made on the basis of our long-term business strategy and to support our customers and our strategy as a company,” Bitso said in a statement. Bitso, which had more than 700 employees before the layoffs, still lists more than 60 open positions on its jobs page.
ALSO:
Starling Bank's Anne Boden is to chair a Government-backed ‘Taskforce on Women-Led High-Growth Enterprises’, which aims to support women entrepreneurs, tackle investing barriers, and increase the number of women-led fast-growing businesses.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Market-leading SaaS banking platform Mambu, and Brim Financial (Brim), one of the fastest-growing fintech companies in North America, announced a strategic partnership to deliver a modern, more powerful digital banking, deposit, lending and cards platform across Canada and the U.S.
Coingrig has integrated Nordigen’s open banking platform to increase the ease of bank connectivity to their digital wallet.
WHAT’S THE LATEST ON VENTURE FUNDS?
Ânima Educação, a Brazilian educational group ahead of 18 universities and more than 570 educational centers, has launched a Corporate Venture Capital Association (CVC) fund to invest in startups. Called Ánima Ventures, the new fund comes to the market with BRL 150 million and plans to invest in strategic tech companies over the next 10 years.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
ZenLedger, a Seattle, WA-based global leader in cryptocurrency data analysis, accounting, and tax, closed a $15M Series B funding.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
One-click checkout startup Bolt has laid off at least 100 employees and counting across go-to-market, sales and recruiting roles, sources say. CEO Maju Kuruvilla⚡️ confirmed the workforce reduction in a blog post but did not say how many people were impacted or what roles were targeted.
JUST IN:
After rolling out payroll features in February, Revolut is upgrading its business accounts with new spend management capabilities. The feature will let Revolut Business customers issue an unlimited number of physical and virtual cards to their teams and then monitor and manage their usage.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Startups may be able to get away with sparse staffing and email-only responses early on when customer needs are simpler. But shortchanging this part of the team can cause a backlash when things go awry with customer accounts. The full American Banker article by Miriam Cross states that neobank users are more likely to feel disgruntled by poor customer service than those who have accounts with full-service traditional online banks
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
Payments provider Paddle has acquired US subscription and retention automation software ProfitWell in a deal valued at over $200m (£160m) in cash and equity. Paddle will incorporate ProfitWell’s financial analysis, pricing and retention tools into its own platform.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
UK-based micro-investment platform Wombat has partnered with Currencycloud, the experts in simplifying business in a multi-currency world, to launch its new, free, Instant Investing account to give investors the ability to invest instantly in the UK, and in US stocks during opening hours.
M1, The Finance Super App™ helping people manage and grow their money, announced it has selected Thought Machine, the cloud-native banking technology company, to power and grow its platform.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
Zumo, the Edinburgh-based crypto wallet and payments platform, has announced the launch of Zumo Enterprise, its new B2B ‘Crypto-as-a-Service’ solution that enables companies to offer crypto products and services to their customers.
Synapse, a global banking-as-a-service platform that increases access to best-in-class financial products, announced the launch of Global Cash, a secure cash management account product, that enables residents in more than 35 countries to invest and hold U.S. dollars.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Fred Ehrsam purchased more than one million shares of Coinbase worth roughly $75 million, stepping in as the crypto exchange's stock price plunged following the company’s weak earnings report. He purchased more than 706,000 shares of Coinbase on May 13 at an average price of about $70 each.
JUST IN:
Mercuryo has announced that its hit 3 million users worldwide. The milestone represents a significant acceleration in growth for the London-headquartered business, having hit 2 million users just four months ago, in January this year.
ALSO:
Stripe has launched a new apps marketplace, designed to bring third-party accounting, analytics, CRM, marketing and esignature features directly into Stripe.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Andreessen Horowitz has closed on its latest crypto fund. The new $4.5 billion fund doubles the size of their last crypto fund and showcases the widening interest among the firm’s limited partners in increasing their exposure to crypto startups.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Chinese e-commerce giant Tencent has led an $18 million funding round into London-based fintech Previse.
Fintech lender, Creditspring announced that it has raised £48 million to supercharge its mission of improving financial stability across the UK.
Australian BNPL firm Openpay announced the completion of an $18.25 million two-tranche Placement to accelerate its pathway to profitability.
PayEngine, a white-label payments-facilitation platform for vertical SaaS companies, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Point72 Ventures.
Brazilian Fintech marvin. Landed a Series-A of $15 million led by American early venture capital fund Canaan.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
WeWork founder Adam Neumann recently launched a startup, Flowcarbon, to sell tokenized carbon credits on the blockchain.
UBS is launching a purely digital product line, key4 by UBS, for clients who want to carry out all of their banking transactions from their smartphones.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
J.P. Morgan shared a first look at the early success of its multi-million dollar bet on launching a challenger bank in the UK. Chase, which only launched in September 2021, has already reached half a million UK customers according to figures published as part of the US banking giant’s 2022 investor day.
JUST IN:
Klarna is set to fire 10% of its employees amid a valuation crunch at the buy now, pay later giant. Klarna chief Sebastian Siemiatkowski broke the news to employees in a pre-recorded video message seen by Swedish tech site Breakit.
ALSO:
CaixaBank has launched a Visa card with Braille reading and writing code embedded for visually impaired customers. The new card, developed in partnership with Once and Visa, will initially be applied to CaixaBank's 'MyCard' Visa cards, and will soon be available for all types of cards issued by the bank: credit, debit, and prepaid cards.
FURTHERMORE,
UK challenger Atom bank is considering a Spac merger on the New York Stock Exchange at a valuation of $700 million. The mobile-only bank has been looking at prospects for an IPO after achieving its first monthly operating profit in June last year.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Elon Musk hints at super app and payment ambitions for Twitter. Musk called Tencent-owned WeChat a "good model" for a super app, noting that nothing like it exists outside of China. He said it's important for content creators to have revenue streams and that integrating payments into such an app, whether they're cryptocurrency or fiat, would be beneficial. Musk's pitch to investors to fund the acquisition involves bringing in as much as $15 million from a Twitter payments business in 2023.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Oslo-based Two is embedding open banking data in its checkout with the help of Yapily. Two’s payment flow can now instantly verify a buyer’s ID, check account information, and can use transaction data to conduct fraud analysis.
Sokin has teamed up with Mastercard to connect consumers in 39 new markets to payments services that are more open and transparent, removing the barriers that have historically hindered access and financial inclusion.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Block founder Jack Dorsey has told investors the acquisition of Afterpay will help it create a financial services and retailing platform that combines the company’s original payments services with its consumer financial management “super app”, backed by tools to lift access to bitcoin.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Zip Co says the buy now, pay later sector needs to focus on reducing bad debt numbers and improving margin growth to win back investor confidence. Diane Smith-Gander AO told a conference in Melbourne on Monday that buy now, pay later (BNPL) groups had to look beyond customer growth numbers and focus on profitability and reducing bad debts as the economic headwinds such as inflation and the change in e-commerce spending habits changed post-COVID.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Affin Bank Group announces that it has formed a collaboration with MYTHEO by GAX MD (A Member of Silverlake Group), a robo-advisor regulated by the Securities Commission Malaysia.
BPC Banking Technologies announced a strategic partnership with Powwi - Pagos GDE S.A. one of Colombia’s most successful payment company and a champion of financial inclusion
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Tranch raised $4.25m in pre-seed equity and debt funding to bring payment flexibility to a wider pool of B2B customers.
Xendit raised $300 million in a Series D funding round led by Coatue Management and Insight Partners.
Digitra.com, a Sao Paulo, Brazil-based crypto exchange raised USD 5m in funding.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
GrabFin brand will be progressively rolled out in other Southeast Asian markets in the coming months.
slice is launching UPI payments for its users as it seeks to become a payments first product company from being a credit-only product company.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
ComplyAdvantage has published a new anti-money laundering (AML) guide designed for growing crypto firms. The new guide provides a practical, much-needed resource for financial compliance professionals working in the crypto industry in a time of increased regulation.
JUST IN:
A little over a month after Robinhood publicly released its first crypto wallet, the company announced it was working on a second. The new wallet will be non-custodial, giving users sole custody over the private keys necessary to control their money on the blockchain.
ALSO:
Marqeta announced the addition of Evolve Bank & Trust as a new bank partner to offer additional solutions for customers that take advantage of Marqeta’s full program management capabilities.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Bitpanda, the cryptocurrency investment platform, says it now offers more than 2,000 fractionalised stocks and ETFs on its Bitpanda Stocks platform, doubling its asset selection a year since launch.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
Experian Plc, the global information services company, has agreed to acquire MOVA SEP S.A. | Credit as a Service
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Planto has partnered with Cogo develop a software for the Hong Kong’s banks that encourages consumers and small businesses to cut their greenhouse gas emissions.
Dreams Technology, the financial wellbeing platform and leader in engagement banking solutions has announced a strategic partnership with Mastercard.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Y Combinator, a Silicon Valley kingmaker, is advising its portfolio founders to “plan for the worst” as startups across the globe scramble to navigate a sharp reversal after a 13-year bull run. For those who don’t have the runway to “reach default alive,” YC is strongly suggesting that they consider raising money.
JUST IN:
Leading ‘buy now, pay later’ (BNPL) provider Klarna has just reached 150 million users. The fintech giant, which launched in 2005, has also recently hit 400,000 merchant partners.
ALSO:
Belvo launches an official Open Finance solution for regulated institutions in Brazil. Through Belvo’s new Open Finance product, which is compliant with the guidelines from Banco Central do Brasil (BACEN), financial innovators now have an easy and secure way to access end-user data according to present and future guidelines and regulations.
FURTHERMORE,
Brazilian neobank Nubank has just launched a new feature within the fintech’s corporate account, NuTap, a POS terminal without the hardware: the solution allows Nubank‘s corporate customers to collect payments using their cell phones as POS terminals, within the account app.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Revolut's planned native crypto token will aim to reward customers for their loyalty, CEO Nik Storonsky said in an interview, in which he also shared details on the neobank's forthcoming non-custodial wallet.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
Square has acquired GoParrot, an all-in-one digital ordering and marketing platform for restaurants.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
UAE-based fintech Pemo has raised a $12 million Seed round, co-led by Cherry Ventures and Shorooq Partners
Zipmex, Southeast Asia’s crypto platform, has invested in Forward, a Thai-based fintech firm specializing in DeFi Derivatives Trading in a bid to increase operational potential for Zipmex.
Payments and software startup SpotOn has closed on $300 million in a Series F financing that values the company at $3.6 billion.
Keep Financial, a San Jose, California—based technology company focused on compensation to enhance recruiting and retention, raised $9m in seed funding.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia has begun pilot tests of Kit, a new money app and digital information tool for kids.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Klarna is looking to tap investors for more cash in a move that would reduce its valuation by about a third. The Swedish fintech company, which was valued at $46 billion last June, would be worth about $30 billion under its latest plans.
JUST IN:
Plaid is expanding beyond its core product of account linking — its first major expansion since its 2013 inception. The move comes two weeks after payments giant Stripe announced it was encroaching on Plaid’s territory with a new product of its own.
ALSO:
Chinese billionaire Jack Ma-led Alibaba and Ant Financials have sold their 43.32 percent stake in Paytm E-Commerce back to the company for just around $5.6 million. In its last round of funding in 2020, the company was valued at $3 billion.
FURTHERMORE,
Apple users can now request and send money from their Apple Cash card directly through the Wallet app with the launch of iOS 15.5.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Quontic has opened an outpost in the metaverse, "to connect with customers, offer education, and eventually - as the virtual world evolves - offer banking services".
Crypto investors in Germany won’t pay tax on sales of digital assets such as bitcoin and ether — as long as they’re held for more than one year.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
London-based FinTech Thought Machine has doubled its valuation to $2.7bn as the cloud banking company pulls in institutional investors like Morgan Stanley and looks to expand its international presence.
JUST IN:
Modulr, an embedded payments platform for digital businesses, today announced that it has raised $108m (£83m) in series C funding led by General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm.
ALSO:
According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, fintech companies based in APAC surpassed previous deal values and volumes observed in the March quarter over the past three years.
Nubank on Monday posted a surge in revenue that beat expectations, as the Warren Buffett-backed digital bank benefited from a healthy loan book and strong client additions, sending its shares surging nearly 8% in extended trading.
FURTHERMORE,
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) platform Zilch has launched in the US with over 150,000 pre-registered customers and a new Miami headquarters. The US expansion is being led by Zilch’s US CEO Albert Periu.
As Vodacom wades deeper into financial services, the telco reported its VodaPay super app has attracted 2.2 million downloads and 1.6 million registered users in the eight months since its launch.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Emirates, the largest airline in the United Arab Emirates, announced its intention to add bitcoin as a payment option and to make NFT collectibles tradable on the company’s website.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
THE Central Bank of Ireland has widened its consumer protection rules to cover so-called ‘buy-now-pay-later’ (BNPL) firms.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Westpac has commenced work on a new transactional platform for institutional clients and is looking to UK-based technology provider 10x Banking to provide the core technology
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Nik Storonsky plans to launch his own venture fund, powered by artificial intelligence, to compete with “legacy” venture capital investors. He will himself invest, with other investors, around $200 million into the Quantum Light Capital fund.
JUST IN:
Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. reported a record $26.2 billion loss at its Vision Fund investment arm on Thursday, as rising interest rates and political instability whiplashed high-growth tech stocks.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Revolut, the global financial super-app with more than 18 million customers worldwide and over 4 million in the UK, has seen an increase of over 215% in the number of UK users aged between 55-74 over the past two years.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of crypto exchange FTX, has taken a 7.6% stake in Robinhood,
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Juni has chosen the UK payment solutions provider B4B Payments 💳 to deliver their innovative financial services offering for eCommerce companies
Synctera, a leading FinTech banking provider helping innovators build their own FinTechs more efficiently, is expanding its partnership with Mastercard
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Coinbase users are reporting difficulty withdrawing funds, heightening fears amid a widespread crash in cryptocurrency prices. The company confirmed the issues in a tweet on Thursday.
JUST IN:
Mark Cuban is reliving the internet boom when he looks at crypto. The ‘consolidation phase’ is coming, he says.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
The leading Swedish expense sharing fintech Steven AB has chosen Enfuce, one of Europe’s leading fintechs, as its payment card issuing provider.
WHAT’S THE LATEST ON VENTURE FUNDS?
A trio of PayPal Ventures alumni has raised $158 million for Infinity Ventures, a new early-stage venture firm dedicated to investing in fintech startups globally.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Wayflyer secured $300M (approximately €288.28M) in a debt financing round from J.P. Morgan, with Neuberger Bermann acting as a mezzanine provider.
TIFIN raised a $109 million Series D round.
belo, the digital wallet that allows the exchange between Argentine pesos and crypto, received an investment of US$3 million.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
Clear Junction announced the introduction of a new e-wallet solution that will enable open banking providers to overcome some of the challenges they face when going to market.
Atom Finance, the investment intelligence app that was founded to bridge the information gap between Wall Street professionals and everyday investors, announced the official release of its embedded stock and crypto intelligence platform.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Global cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin Exchange has raised $150 million in a pre-Series B funding round, taking its valuation up to $10 billion.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
The use of cryptocurrency in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly among its young people, cannot be overstated. Data from blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis Inc. says the region’s crypto usage grew 1,200% last year, making it the third-fastest growing cryptocurrency economy.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
SurePay, the leading Confirmation of Payee provider, announced that it has partnered with Buckaroo, an established payment service provider for businesses, to offer its Confirmation of Payee solution to their customers in the Netherlands.
Skaleet (ex: TagPay), a French fintech providing a next-generation Core Banking Platform announced a new partnership with Marqeta, the global modern card issuing platform, to enrich its existing ecosystem.
Monoova, a leading B2B payments solutions provider, and TrueLayer, a global leader in open banking, are partnering to harness financial and identity insights using Australia’s Consumer Data Right (CDR) for smarter, faster, data-enabled payments in the Australian market.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
CoverGo | Insurtech, a global enterprise no-code SAAS insurance platform, secured $15 million in Series A funding.
Ness, a New York-based fintech company building credit cards limiting the cost of wellcare, raised $15.5M in Seed funding.
Bengaluru-based fintech startup BharatX has bagged $4.5 Mn in its seed round.
Spurring a growing trend of traditional banks making investments in fintech, Dubai-based Mashreq Bank announced a $10 million investment in Cashew Payments, one of the leading “buy now, pay later” service providers to consumers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Habi, a real-estate company that is trying to create a digital marketplace for home buyers and sellers in Latin America, has raised $200 million in a Series C funding round.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
The CEO and co-founder of the neobank HMBradley, is looking for someone to retroactively name the company after, and he wants to give away $25,000 while doing it.
JUST IN:
ComplyAdvantage has launched a live sanctions tracker, an interactive dashboard displaying the latest sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
ALSO:
Grupo Financiero Banorte has joined a United Nations' program to offer digital bank accounts to refugees in Mexico.
FURTHERMORE,
When viewing hypergrowth startups as universities and founders as professors, Rappi has already "graduated" more than 100 founders that have created >14k jobs and raised over $2b in VC funding.
WHAT ABOUT DIGITAL CURRENCIES?
The Banco Central de Chile has delayed its plans for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) saying the issuance of a digital Chilean peso requires a deeper analysis of the benefits and risks, promising a new report toward the end of the year.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
The fintech landscape in Vietnam is now experiencing the second-fastest growth in the region, after Singapore. According to analysts from Robocash Group, the fintech market in Vietnam is expected to grow to US$ 18 billion by 2024, despite the high competitiveness and a high entry bar.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Google launched Google Wallet, a new Android and Wear OS app that will allow users to store things like credit cards, loyalty cards, digital IDs, transit passes, concert tickets, vaccination cards, and more.
JUST IN:
Brazil is moving closer to regulating cryptocurrencies with its own version of a Bitcoin law.
FURTHERMORE,
Nubank is adding the option for customers to buy and sell bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) on its platform, the company announced Wednesday. Nu Holdings, Nubank's parent company, also said it is allocating roughly 1% of the cash on its balance sheet to bitcoin to show its belief in the cryptocurrency.
On that note
Coinbase delivered disappointing results on Tuesday, causing its stock to plunge, but top executives suggested on an earnings call that the company has no major moves planned—such as acquiring or merging with Robinhood.
ALSO:
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is moving ahead with plans to upgrade the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) to be used on a wider range of goods and services. It is also maintaining harsh crypto restrictions that cripple the country’s fintech sector.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
Checkout.com announced its intent to acquire digital identity verification (IDV) startup, ubble. ‘
Greenwood announced the acquisition of The Gathering Spot, a private membership network focused on the Black community.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by MoneyLion. MoneyLion provides an all-in-one mobile banking experience. You choose the tools you need when you need them — and they complement the financial accounts you already have. They’ll help you decide what’s right for you, but the choice is always yours.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
A group of non-fungible token (or NFT) creators and collectors will soon be able to display their tokens on Instagram. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed in a post yesterday that the company is testing NFTs on the platform, with “similar functionality” coming soon to Facebook.
JUST IN:
Bitcoin is off nearly 55% from its November peak, and 40% of holders are now underwater on their investments, according to new data from Glassnode. That percentage is even higher when you isolate for the short-term holders who got skin in the game in the last six months when the price of bitcoin peaked at around $69,000. In the last month alone, 15.5% of all bitcoin wallets fell into an unrealized loss, as the world's most popular cryptocurrency plunged to the $31,000 level, tracking tech stocks lower. Bitcoin's close correlation to the Nasdaq challenges the argument that the cryptocurrency functions as an inflation hedge.
ALSO:
El Salvador just bought the wild Bitcoin dip yesterday with a 500 BTC purchase, at an average price of $30,744, according to a tweet from President Nayib Bukele.
FURTHERMORE,
Banks in the US will now have just 36 hours to report a cybersecurity incident to a federal regulator amongst the heightened potential for Russian-led cyber attacks. Although receiving final approval back in November 2021, the bill, imposed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), came into full effect officially on 1 May.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Australian B2B buy now, pay later (BNPL) firm BizPay has cut 30% of its workforce due to volatility in the tech sector and a “challenging market” for fintechs. The firm aims to solve cash flow issues associated with paying business invoices, enabling businesses to split bills into four monthly installments.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by YieldX. YieldX is transforming income investing to bring its benefits to all investors. With YieldX, the outcome is income.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
The COVID e-commerce bubble has officially burst, based on Q1 performance data coming into the market this month. Shopify, Etsy, and many other e-commerce specialists reported a significant slow-down in YOY growth in Q1.
JUST IN:
Wingocard, a mobile banking app designed to connect teens to the mobile, cashless economy and strengthen financial literacy skills, is set to close its doors on 18 May.
ALSO:
Ahead of its imminent launch in the US, London-based fintech Zilch has joined the Financial Technology Association (FTA) in order to prioritise innovation through responsible products and services.
FURTHERMORE,
Block missed earnings and revenue expectations driven in part by a drop in bitcoin revenue amid a general downdraft in the cryptocurrency market. Shares were up 5% after hours, with the regular session down 10.5% during a broader market meltdown on Wall Street.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Consumer research from Coinbase and Qualtrics has found that a third of UK consumers have previously purchased or still own cryptocurrency.
Argentina’s central bank dealt cryptocurrencies a blow Thursday, prohibiting financial institutions in the South American country from offering clients any operations involving unregulated digital assets.
Coinbase and Brazilian company 2TM, the parent company of Mercado Bitcoin, have reportedly scrapped talks around the crypto exchange purchasing the firm.
Gavin Newsom, California state governor, has signed an executive order which aims to create a transparent regulatory and business environment for Web 3.0 companies that harmonizes federal and California state approaches.
Has the market for rudimentary pixelated cartoon heads already peaked? CRYPTOPUNK #273 might not tell us definitively, but the recent massive loss from its sale is a useful data point in the broader picture.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Provenir. Provenir does more than help with your current tech challenges. They eliminate them. Designed and built to power agility, their cloud-native technology puts your team in control. Loved by Startups. Trusted by Decacorns.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
FROST has launched, becoming the latest e-money account to take the FinTech world by storm.
JUST IN:
Spare, a Kuwait based financial technology application, has received the license from the Central Bank of Bahrain to operate as an open banking ancillary service provider in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The license will pave the way for Spare to kickstart their operations in Q2 of 2022.
ALSO:
Last week, the eighth annual British Bank Awards were announced, with a few significant changes to the status quo. After winning the coveted Best British Bank award for four years running, Starling Bank was pipped to the top spot as Monzo Bank took the crown for the very first time.
FURTHERMORE:
Galileo Financial Technologies, a subsidiary of SoFi Technologies, Inc., and Mastercard on Wednesday unveiled a multiyear strategic alliance focused on “accelerating digital transformation and improving access to financial opportunities for unbanked and underserved segments in Latin Americas and the Caribbean.”
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Paymob has raised $50 million in Series B funding.
BizPay is currently in the process of trying to raise $25 million in funding and has partially completed it
Ume closed a $10 million funding round.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Contis, the European leader in Banking-as-a-Service. Contis is proud to deliver process-pay, a brand-new standalone processing solution ready to cater for any organisations card processing needs. To find out more visiting www.contis.com today!
As both Visa and Mastercard announce higher charges for e-commerce transactions and almost two-thirds of Europeans now bank online, it seems the popularity of alternative payment methods, or “alt-pays”, continues to grow as consumers seek faster, safer payments and merchants look to reduce the cost of payments. This rise in demand for alternative payment solutions – whether as instant account-to-account payments or platform-specific closed-loop solutions – comes when card payments are under increasing scrutiny from regulators. Link here.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by PayRetailers. PayRetailers’ payment platform leverages API technology to connect Latin American consumers with international merchants, offering a seamless payment experience. From the merchant’s perspective, the solution has the distinct advantage of eliminating the hurdles associated with integrating multiple acquirers and payment methods. Visit: www.payretailers.com
JUST IN:
The state of New York wants to ban new bitcoin mining operations, a move that some industry insiders fear could have a domino effect across the U.S. The bill, which is swiftly making its way through the state capitol in Albany, calls for a two-year moratorium on certain cryptocurrency mining operations that use proof-of-work authentication methods to validate blockchain transactions.
ALSO:
Revolut has no plans to go public for at least another two years as it bids to build up revenues against a backdrop of plummeting tech valuations and interest rate hikes
FURTHERMORE,
Robinhood is launching a feature that will allow its users to lend out their stocks in hopes of earning passive, recurring income from borrowers.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Gucci is tapping into the crypto crowd. The brand will accept cryptocurrency payments in some US stores at the end of this month, and plans to extend the pilot to all of its directly-operated North America stores this summer.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
In 2021, Mexico was the third-largest recipient of remittances worldwide after China and India.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Uncover, the new podcast by ComplyAdvantage. Join CEO Charles Delingpole and his team as they interview compliance leaders, FinTech innovators, and financial crime experts to uncover the latest best practices and industry trends. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify today
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Valar Ventures LLC Management is leading a US$185 million funding round for Canada’s Neo Financial Technologies Inc., propelling it to a valuation of more than US$1 billion 🦄 as it plans expansion into mortgages.
JUST IN:
Nu Holdings Ltd is coming under renewed pressure as the end of a massive stock lockup nears. Nubank has shed more than a third of its market value less than five months after going public amid a global rout in tech stocks and concern about whether the fintech firm can deliver on promised growth as credit quality deteriorates in Brazil.
ALSO:
Stripe announced a new product that fills in some significant gaps in its play to be the financial services layer for merchants and other businesses. That new product is called Financial Connections and the company says it will give Stripe’s customers a way to connect directly to their customer’s bank accounts, to access financial data to speed up or run certain kinds of transactions.
FURTHERMORE,
Klarna will start telling credit agencies who pays on time and who falls behind. The firm said the move could help or hinder its customers' ability to get credit for loans such as mortgages.
WHAT ABOUT DEFI?
Jane Street borrowed $25 million in USDC from BlockTower Capital via DeFi marketplace Clearpool , with plans to eventually increase that amount to $50 million.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Crypto fintech business Mode has sought to reset its business with the launch of a new bitcoin cashback scheme, months after an embarrassing climbdown that led to the exit of its CEO.
Galicia Bank, the largest Argentinian private bank by market value, has added the option to buy and sell cryptocurrencies on its platform, the company confirmed Monday.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Privacy Lock. Privacy Lock sets the standard for financial service providers in data privacy compliance.
Protect your business and your customers today. Visit www.pentaprivacylock.com
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
PayRetailers, the main LATAM Fintech's payments specialist, announced the opening of new offices in Peru, a move that will help the company be closer to its customer base and consolidate its presence in one of the fastest-growing markets.
JUST IN:
Russian banking tycoon Oleg Tinkov has claimed that he was forced to go into hiding and sell his stake in Tinkoff Bank which he founded after openly criticizing the war in Ukraine.
ALSO:
US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Robert Menendez have blasted bank-backed P2P payments app Zelle® over reports of widespread fraud and scams on the platform.
FURTHERMORE,
TrueLayer has created the industry’s first variable recurring payments (VRP) API for both sweeping and non-sweeping payments.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Grupo Santander and Oxentia Foundation are inviting startups and scaleups from 11 countries to compete in a blockchain challenge and the chance to win cash prizes.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has nearly doubled the size of its crypto market and cyber enforcement unit, growing the team to 50 positions with the addition of 20 new staff.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Burgopak. Burgopak delivers award-winning innovative packaging solutions for some of the world's leading companies in Fintech. Discover how tangible physical touchpoints are crucial in digital banking with the Burgopak 'Welcome to the club' book; Request your free copy, contact info@burgopak.com
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
U.S. Bank is the first financial institution in the United States to offer an experience Spanish-speaking customers have never had before: the ability to bank via a mobile app in their preferred language – just by speaking it.
JUST IN:
NICE Ltd announced that Regional Australia Bank has successfully implemented the NICE CXone platform to help streamline its contact center operations and better support its branches across New South Wales (NSW).
Sofort has integrated the open banking-powered gambling block, developed by Monzo and Truelayer last year.
ALSO:
The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra will tell congress on Tuesday that the agency will propose in a "timely fashion" a measure on open banking and small business lending data, according to testimony published on a Congressional website.
FURTHERMORE,
Apple faces a possible hefty fine and may have to open its mobile payment system to competitors after EU antitrust regulators charged Apple with restricting rivals' access to its technology used for mobile wallets.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Mercuryo. With the help of their cryptopowered toolbox, Mercuryoenables companies to take advantage of both fiat and crypto worlds and provide innovative payment solutions for end-customers.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
The duo behind Robinhood's Snacks podcast is spinning the program out of the stock trading company and relaunching it on Monday as "The Best One Yet." Why it matters: Robinhood's podcast and its broader media business, which includes a newsletter, has built a massive following among the retail trading crowd.
JUST IN:
German authorities searched Deutsche Bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt on 29 April, a move the bank said was related to suspicious activity reports it filed to an anti-money-laundering agency.
ALSO:
Visa shares surged after the payments giant said spending on its network jumped, even with the suspension of operations in Russia and as the lingering impacts of the omicron variant hindered travel in the first few weeks of the year.
Brazilian fintech Nubank is expected to pay up to BRL 816 million in compensation to top executives and board members in 2022, according to a document published by the neobank.
FURTHERMORE,
India has 100 unicorns now. The Bengaluru-headquartered neobank Open Financial Technologies entered the coveted club on Monday with a new funding round, it said. The five-year-old startup did not disclose the size of its Series D funding, but a source familiar with the matter said it’s $50 million.
Nordic financial services group SEB has signed its first Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) customer in retail fintech start-up Humla. The new fintech will be powered by a BaaS platform developed by SEB’s innovation studio SEBx.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Startups have been quick to adopt cryptocurrencies, but governments and regulators have — so far — been less enthusiastic. But new rules from the EU last month promising to “boost benefits and curb threats” in the form of fraud and environmental impact could mean a change in attitude.
Brazil's Senate has passed the country's fisrt bill governing cryptocurrencies in a plenary session, which will set the stage for the creation of a regulatory framework for the country's crypto industry.
Change, an Amsterdam-based cryptocurrency platform for retail investors, announced that it has acquired a new Dutch licence that will enable it to provide services with traditional and new-age financial assets throughout the EU.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Sokin. Sokin is the trusted global FX payment provider for some of the world’s leading brands. With Sokin Premium you can send and receive unlimited international payments for one fixed monthly fee. Market beating rates, no commission, hassle-free.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Block Inc., the digital-payments firm run by Jack Dorsey, is expanding its small-business loan service to Canada, bringing it into more direct competition with the country’s big banks. The move sets up Block’s Square as a competitor to Canada’s major banks by moving it further beyond payments technology and into the business of providing capital.
JUST IN:
After a month of delay, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) finally announced the list of successful applicants. The framework which was first issued on 30th December 2020, was hotly contested and attracted 29 parties to bid for the licenses.
ALSO:
MyBank, a leading online private commercial bank and an associate of Ant Group, reported that it served over 45 million small-and-micro enterprise (SME) clients at the end of 2021, representing a nearly 30 percent increase year-on-year, according to its 2021 annual report.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Tribal Credit’s Chief Product officer Arvind Nimbalker said the firm is enjoying a lot of demand from firms worldwide for crypto tech and aims to build more crypto native partnerships.
Digital banking startup Cogni is joining the ranks of companies hopping on the crypto bandwagon.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Payhawk. Payhawk is the most efficient credit card backed by powerful financial software to help companies stay in control of their spend. Try efficient, paperless, compliant spending today.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Join our Slack Community! We are happy to announce the “connecting the dots in fintech” Slack group! This is a unique place where everybody from the FinTech space is welcome to connect and share news, insights, job opportunities, and everything in between. To sign up go to www.marcelvanoost.com/slack
JUST IN:
ComplyAdvantage, a global data technology company transforming financial crime detection, announced the release of the company's new dynamic Sanctions On Russia landing page covering the most up-to-date changes to global sanctions being levied against Russian for its unlawful invasion of Ukraine.
ALSO:
WeLab Bank, the virtual bank dedicated to curating intelligent banking experience, has become the first virtual bank in Hong Kong licensed to offer digital wealth advisory services. GoWealth is WeLab Bank's wealth management advisory solution which capitalizes on the investment expertise by Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI), one of the world's leading asset management firms.
FURTHERMORE,
Retail brokerage firm Robinhood is cutting back staffing levels, citing “duplicate roles and job functions” after rapid expansion last year.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Bogota-based payments infrastructure startup minka has secured $24 million in a funding round co-led by Tiger Global Management and KASZEK.
JUST IN:
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) granted an“in-principle approval” to fintech firms Revolut and Luno Singapore to offer digital payment token services under the Payment Services Act.
ALSO:
Thoma Bravo, the tech-focused private equity firm, has approached banking software specialist Temenos about a potential takeover, people with knowledge of the matter said.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Bank of Mexico governor Victoria Rodríguez told the Senate that the country can expect a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) by 2025.
Crypto exchange Kraken Digital Asset Exchange has received a Financial Services Permission (FSP) license from the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) to operate a regulated exchange platform in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
WAY2VAT (ASX: W2V) Ltd has partnered with Railsbank to launch the Smart Spend Debit Mastercard for the SMB and enterprise market, which fully automates VAT/GST returns from end to end.
Zvilo, the digital platform unlocking working capital in the Balkans, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mastercard, signifying a strong collaboration and ongoing partnership.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Starling Bank bags £130.5m from existing investors to build a "war chest" for acquisitions. The £130.5m fundraise gives Starling a pre-money valuation of more than £2.5bn
JUST IN:
Robinhood is cutting back staffing levels, citing “duplicate roles and job functions” after rapid expansion last year. CEO Vlad Tenev made the announcement in a blog post on Tuesday afternoon. Shares fell more than 5% in extended trading.
ALSO:
Apple Cash, formerly known as Apple Pay Cash, may be transitioning from the Discover payments network to Visa, a new report from MacRumors.com suggests.
FURTHERMORE,
Alif Bank is looking to tap Pakistan’s fintech space to cater to Pakistan’s large ‘unbanked’ population, said Mahmood Shamsher Ali, Country Representative Alif Capital Holdings
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Fidelity Investments, the USA's largest provider of 401(k) plans, said on Tuesday that it would enable its participants to put a slice of their retirement money into Bitcoin — if their employers are willing to allow it.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
California-based stock trading app Robinhood has acquired Ziglu, a UK-based electronic money institution and cryptoasset firm, for an undisclosed sum. Link here.
JUST IN:
Sanctioned former billionaire Oleg Tinkov has denounced Putin’s war in Ukraine, calling for an end to “this crazy war”. The founder and former chairman of Russia’s leading neobank, Tinkoff Bank, has been living outside of his home country in recent years.
ALSO:
Santanderis cutting an hour off the opening time of hundreds of its branches, admitting customers only for pre-booked appointments in the late afternoon.
FURTHERMORE,
Societe Generale has launched an accelerator programme for startups working in trade finance cash management, factoring and correspondent banking.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Having refused to introduce blanket bans on Russian accounts just last month, mammoth crypto exchange Binance has now been obliged to adjust its stance following new restrictive measures by the EU.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
The Mexican FinTech sector has expanded stratospherically over the past five years. By some measures, there are over 500 neo/challenger banks, wallets, lenders, payment facilitators, InvestTechs, and InsurTechs among many m
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
A new processing solution from leading banking-as-a-service provider (BaaS) Contis is set to supercharge the company's growth in the UK and EEA listed countries, enabling client expansion into new geographies. The solution will be available across both small and large banks, fintechs, businesses, and non-finance players in the gaming and gifting sector.
JUST IN:
Yonder is breaking fresh ground, with the removal of its credit score requirement. The change means that millions of people who have poor or no credit score will still be able to apply for Yonder’s card, by using their open banking data.
ALSO:
PayPal and Venmo are increasing their instant transfer fees for both consumers and merchants in the United States in the coming weeks.
FURTHERMORE,
PensionBee voluntarily released its gender pay gap figures again this year to reveal a just 1.6 per cent median gap.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS:
Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham once quipped that when it comes to first-time startup founders, “the cutoff [age] in investors’ heads is 32”. He was only partly joking: a perception endures that the best founders will be 19-year-old wunderkinds like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, or in their early 30s at the latest. Research suggests this attitude may be misguided.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Stripe will allow businesses to pay their users via cryptocurrencies. The company will start offering merchants the ability to make payouts in crypto through the stablecoin USDC.
JUST IN:
WeMoney has signed a landmark deal with Envestnet | Yodlee for the first CDR and non-CDR data flows under Australia’s evolving open banking regime.
ALSO:
Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions announced that it is entering into an agreement with EBANX to provide an end-to-end digital collection solution for Citi’s institutional clients in Latin America.
FURTHERMORE,
MOGOPLUS is in the process of becoming an Accredited Data Recipient authorized by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Moneybox has become the latest fintech to increase the interest rate on its savings accounts, upping the rate on its long-term savings account by nearly 70 percent.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Binance has hired another former regulator in the US. Seth Levy , who spent over a decade at (FINRA) and is joining Binance as head of market surveillance.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
A new UK-based fintech, FROST, is set to launch on 4 May, according to a statement from the start-up. The firm’s app will allow users to open a digital e-money account and will offer features such as spend management tools to track spending and service switching options to compare and switch utilities, insurance, and mortgage providers. Frost will also enable foreign exchange and cross-border payments with transparent fees. In February, the fintech became the latest in a string of companies to join the Visa network, allowing it to issue debit cards to users.
JUST IN:
Evolve Bank & Trust and Bond Financial Technologies, Inc. are pushing the boundaries of embedded finance to bring innovation to companies that want to offer financial products to their customers. Together, Evolve and Bond enable entrepreneurs to build and launch innovative financial solutions at scale.
ALSO:
GoHenry, a neobanking fintech that offers prepaid cards for children aged 6-18, has said it is dumping plastic cards in favour of a biodegradable alternative.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Finastra announced that it has teamed up with EcoTree International, a specialized forestry company focused on carbon removal and biodiversity preservation through tree planting and sustainable forestry management.
JUST IN:
Challenger bank Shawbrook Bank has come up with a unique proposition to encourage its customers to share their open banking data: better rates.
FURTHERMORE,
NovoPayment is a global BaaS startup based in Miami that has largely been focused on offering its API platform to customers in the Latin American market. It has developed a full-stack, multicurrency solution with three main categories — data banking, payment infrastructure and card solutions, its founder and CEO Anabel Perez told TechCrunch.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Monneo | A complete payment ecosystem, has simplified the process of making and receiving online cryptocurrency payments.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Will U.S. Cost of Payments Ever Be Disrupted? Technology breeds efficiency, at least under normal circumstances. U.S. card acceptance falls into the unusual circumstances category. Despite having the world’s second-largest digital economy (behind China), the U.S. has the highest costs of payments among developed global markets driven primarily by the high cost of cards.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
PayU, the payments, and fintech business of Prosus, announced its investment in Treinta, the super-app that aims to digitalize Latin American SMEs by providing a broad range of services, including accounting, inventory management and trading solutions.
JUST IN:
Wells Fargo’s Jeff Cantwell, CFA says the time to buy FinTech stocks is now—14 of them. Cantwell sees a $1.5 trillion growth market for FinTech, a broad marriage of finance and digital tech, driven by five themes. Topping the list: increased adoption of digital payments.
ALSO:
Mark Zuckerberg — or rather, his avatar — excitedly extolled the potential of a virtual marketplace last week on Meta video, giving the world a first glimpse of the company's plans for payments after it sold off the assets of its Diem stablecoin.
FURTHERMORE,
Fintech Meetup, the breakout U.S. fintech event which was founded by event industry disruptors and fintech industry insiders, Anil D. Aggarwal and Simran Rekhi Aggarwal, announced that the next Fintech Meetup will take place in person at the Aria, Las Vegas, on March 19-22, 2023.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
SEON Fraud Fighters nabs $94 million to power online fraud prevention. The London-based platform plans to expand its presence in North America, LATAM, and APAC to help businesses keep their customers safe.
JUST IN:
More Britons have borrowed through buy now, pay later services since the start of 2021 than have taken out traditional debts such as bank loans or mortgages, according to new research.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
FinTech continues to be the gift that keeps on giving for Europe’s founders. They had VCs filling their coffers to the tune of $8.6bn in Q1, making it the most lucrative sector — a trend we also saw in every quarter of 2021.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
EBANX, a payments fintech with a global presence, and VTEX, a digital commerce platform for large companies and retailers, announced an unprecedented partnership aimed at broadening cross-border payments for Brazilian e-commerce companies in Latin America
Douugh Ltd, the banking ‘super app’ on a mission to help customers budget, save and invest their money to live financially healthier lives, announced a partnership with Pinwheel to facilitate automatic direct deposit switching for its US customers.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Forbes published its fourth annual World’s Best Banks, in conjunction with market research firm Statista. Instead of looking at balance sheets and profit and loss statements, as Forbes does for its annual list America’s Best Banks, Statista surveyed more than 45,000 customers in 14 languages around the globe for their opinions on their current and former banking relationships. Banks were rated on general satisfaction as well as key metrics such as trust, fees, digital services, and financial advice
JUST IN:
Revolut has teamed up with pop star Liam Payne to launch a limited edition card.
ALSO:
SoftBank Group Corp. Latin America Fund is replacing two top executives as Paulo Passoni and Shu Nyatta are leaving the Japanese conglomerate, in yet another change that comes in the wake of organizations of the fund for Latin America since the idealist of investments, Marcelo Claure, left the Japanese conglomerate unhappy with his remuneration.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Getting into crypto just got a whole lot cheaper (and healthier), as London-based tech company Sweatcoin prepares to launch a new token, SWEAT, that allows users to mint currency using just their shoe leather.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Over the past decade, Southeast Asia has undergone a significant technological transformation, a shift that’s been enabled by the region’s highly adaptable digital consumers. Consumers have leapfrogged to mobile devices, skipping personal computers altogether.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Volt Bank is now a member of Blockchain Australia, furthering the goal of the adoption of blockchain technology.
JUST IN:
Esquire magazine has released its selection of the top fintech influencers in the Philippines, recognizing the men and women shaking up the industry, the investors and thought leaders directing the conversation, and the startup founders to watch for closely. This year’s list includes a handful of FinTech startup founders and investors, reflective of how fast the sector has grown and matured over the past years.
ALSO:
Bread Financial, a tech-forward financial services company that provides simple, personalized payment, lending, and saving solutions, announced the launch of a new consumer credit card – the Bread Cashback™ American Express® Credit Card.
FURTHERMORE,
Step, the all-in-one financial solution for the next generation, announced a waitlist and unveiled plans for its new crypto and stock investment product, becoming the first financial app that will allow both teens under 18 and young adults to buy, sell, hold and receive crypto.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Philippines-based major fintech company PayMaya Philippines has reportedly launched a new cryptocurrency feature on its app, following in the footsteps of PayPal, Venmo, and others.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
After an unprecedented run-up, venture funding to Latin American startups fell in the first quarter of this year. Overall, investors put $3.4 billion into funding rounds in Q1 of 2022—down 30 percent from Q4 2021.
JUST IN:
On April 13th, decacorn Brex revealed that it is making a big push into financial software with the release of a new spend management product called Brex Empower. And it’s making the leap with one high-profile customer already signed up — DoorDash.
ALSO:
Dozens of famous faces, including Bruce Willis, Drake and Paris Hilton, have invested in MoonPay, buying into the crypto payments platform's promise of helping celebs reap the benefits of Web3.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Finastra announced a Banking as a Service (BaaS) collaboration with Microsoft to bring new lending options to thousands of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) – a sector severely underserved when it comes to accessing finance. SMEs using Microsoft Dynamics 365 will be able to access and unlock vital financing offers without leaving their business management platform.
JUST IN:
Dozens of famous faces, including Bruce Willis, Drake and Paris Hilton, have invested in MoonPay, buying into the crypto payments platform's promise of helping celebs reap the benefits of Web3.
ALSO:
Royal Park Partners acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisors to PayRetailers, supporting them in their acquisition of Colombia's Pago Digital.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Mastercard has filed 15 NFT and metaverse trademark applications as part of a wide-ranging plan to extend its payment processing system, slogans, and branding into the new virtual economy.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Payhawk. Payhawk is the most efficient credit card backed by powerful financial software to help companies stay in control of their spend. Try efficient, paperless, compliant spending today.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Contis, Europe’s leading Banking-as-a-Service provider and Ecospend, the leading UK provider of Open Banking technology has teamed up with online gaming website MrQ to deliver a full open banking, closed-loop instant account to account payment and withdrawal solution.
JUST IN:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)on Friday mandated interoperable card-less withdrawal using the UPI platform across bank’s ATM network, to increase customer convenience and plug instances of fraud.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by MoneyLion. MoneyLion provides an all-in-one mobile banking experience. You choose the tools you need when you need them — and they complement the financial accounts you already have. They’ll help you decide what’s right for you, but the choice is always yours.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Amsterdam-based BUX, a neobroker that specialises in the fields of fintech, mobile apps, investments, stocks, and zero-commission, announced on Monday that its clients will be the first in Europe to invest in fractional European ETFs outside of an investment plan
JUST IN:
ComplyAdvantage, a global data technology company transforming financial crime detection, announced that Upgrade, Inc., a FinTech company that offers affordable and responsible credit, mobile banking and payment products to mainstream consumers, has selected its award-winning Customer Screening and Monitoring and Transaction Risk Management solutions.
ALSO:
Trio Allan Maman, 22, Sonny Mo, 22, and Samuel Yang, 20, are college dropouts on a mission to empower teens to invest. The three just raised $3.3 million in funding to start Bloom (YC S21), an app to teach teenagers how to invest and give them a platform to do so.
FURTHERMORE,
Brazil‘s Nubank, Latin America’s most valuable fintech, is fueling its expansion in Mexico and Colombia with the investment of a $650 million line of credit.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Last month alone, investment deals worth $13.8 billion were signed at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress held in Riyadh, which also saw global firms announce expansion plans into Saudi Arabia.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
Jaja Finance announces that it has closed the strategic transaction announced in November 2021, resulting in a consortium led by KKR & Co. Inc. and TDR Capital LLP becoming the majority shareholders of Jaja.
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This podcast episode is sponsored by YieldX. YieldX is transforming income investing to bring its benefits to all investors. With YieldX, the outcome is income.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
The Saudi Central Bank – SAMA, directed banks to halt the option of opening online accounts for individuals or institutions ‘until further notice’, local media reported. Under the new measures that will take effect starting April 10, accounts are to be opened through branches only.
JUST IN:
New savings app Lilly Funds is set to launch in the US, designed to help the more than 150 million underserved Americans who don’t have access to retirement services.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
The Bitcoin rumor-mill is in full flow in the run-up to the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami during April 6–9. Following a number of not so cryptic tweets from Jack Mallers, CEO of the Bitcoin and payments app Strike, the charismatic founder is expected to announce a partnership between Apple and Strike to enable Bitcoin Lightning payments on the tech giant’s devices.
Bakkt Holdings, Inc., a trusted digital asset platform that enables consumers to buy, sell, send and spend a range of digital assets, announced that American Bank has selected the Bakkt® crypto connect solution to enable their bank customers to buy, sell and hold the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, bitcoin, and Ethereum.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Last week, €300m was raised across 17 FinTech deals. Grover is the biggest performer this week with a $110m in equity from a series C round, reaching unicorn territory. It was followed by Fidel API with a $65m series B round and Moneybox that raised a $42m series D.
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This podcast episode is sponsored by Provenir. Provenir does more than help with your current tech challenges. They eliminate them. Designed and built to power agility, their cloud-native technology puts your team in control. Loved by Startups. Trusted by Decacorns.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Female-focused digital investment and robo-advisor platform Ellevest has secured $53 million in a Series B funding round co-led by BMO Financial Group and Contour Venture Partners.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
In February 2022, N26 surveyed 16,030 women and men from its 5 largest markets in Europe – Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. One of the most interesting findings is that cryptocurrencies are the third most popular investment product, with nearly 1 in 3 women saying they invest in crypto (28%). Cryptocurrencies are the most popular investment product overall among women investors in Spain and among all European women aged 18–24.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
With a powerful collection of some of Wall Street’s most esteemed backers behind the challenger bank, Nubank’sDecember 2021 IPO was a watershed moment across the whole of the fintech landscape. After its first full quarter as a public company, it’s clear that the performance of NU is going to play a major role in whether other firms follow suit. Already we’ve seen other key players in the world of fintech scaling back their IPO plans as Nubankinitially experienced mixed fortunes in its floatation.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Payhawk. Payhawk is the most efficient credit card backed by powerful financial software to help companies stay in control of their spend. Try efficient, paperless, compliant spending today.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
RITMO has successfully closed a $200 million debt funding round led byi80 Group and Avellinia Capital,
JUST IN:
Men cashed bonuses that were worth almost what women cashed at Revolut last year, disclosures show. Britain’s most valuable private tech business reported a 96% gender bonus gap in 2021, a reduction of one percentage point from the previous year.
Berlin-based banking-as-a-service platform Solarisbank AG is launching a "women's network" dedicated to closing the gender gap in the fintech industry.
Mastercardintroduced Touch Card. A few months back Mastercard unveiled their new Debit, Credit and PrePaid card centred around providing better usability for blind and partially sighted consumers
ALSO:
Binance.USraised over $200 million in its first external funding round, putting its pre-money valuation at $4.5 billion
FURTHERMORE,
Grover has just reached unicorn status after its latest funding round.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
The Treasury said on Monday that the UK is to launch a non-fungible token (NFT) in the summer, ‘stablecoins’ will be formally regulated, and the UK tax landscape will be made more crypto-friendly; all part of a drive to transform the UK into a leading “global hub for crypto assets”.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Contis, the European leader in Banking-as-a-Service. Contis help organisations launch cards, accounts and payment apps for their customers. To find out how you can embed finance into your offering, visit www.contis.com today!
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Uber is driving ahead with its plan to become a travel "superapp". The San Francisco-headquartered firm announced Wednesday that it is adding trains, buses, planes, and car rentals to its U.K. app this year. The move is part of a pilot that could be expanded to other countries at a later date if it goes well.
JUST IN:
PayRetailers, the leading LATAM FinTech payment specialist, announced the acquisition of two online payments platforms, Chile’s Paygol and Colombia’s Pago Digital.
ALSO:
Philippines’ neobank Tonik marks its first year of operations in the country after securing a digital bank license from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in June last year.
FURTHERMORE,
UNObank has rebranded UNO Digital Bank. The new name highlights the digital nature of the bank’s business.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
Mastercard has completed the acquisition of Dynamic Yield, a Tel Aviv, Israel- and New York City-based provider of a personalization platform and decision engine company.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by PayRetailers. PayRetailers’ payment platform leverages API technology to connect Latin American consumers with international merchants, offering a seamless payment experience. From the merchant’s perspective, the solution has the distinct advantage of eliminating the hurdles associated with integrating multiple acquirers and payment methods. Learn more! www.payretailers.com
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Fast is shutting down. It’s a stunning collapse for a FinTech company that had raised $120 million in funding from backers including payments giant Stripe, Index Ventures, and Lee Fixel’s Addition. Business Insider previously reported that FinTech, which offered one-click checkout software for online merchants, planned to cut half of its staff as it explored options for a possible sale. That was just over a year after raising a $102 million Series B round.
JUST IN:
Growsari, a Manila-based platform for digitizing small businesses in the Philippines, announced that it has raised a total of $77.5 million for its Series C round.
ALSO:
Vivid Money, a Berlin-based challenger bank whose backers include Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp., has withdrawn its application to secure an e-money license from the Central Bank of Ireland.
FURTHERMORE,
United Arab Emirates’ Mashreq Bank has launched NEOPAY, a unified merchant acquiring and consumer paytech business.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Dank Bank, a Dover, DE-based provider of an NFT trading platform dedicated entirely to memes, viral videos, and other iconic moments in internet history, raised $4.2069M in Pre-Seed funding.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Uncover, the new podcast by ComplyAdvantage. Join CEO Charles Delingpole and his team as they interview compliance leaders, FinTech innovators, and financial crime experts to uncover the latest best practices and industry trends. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify today
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Nium last year bought 2 companies - UK travel payments specialist Ixaris - a Niumcompany, for £15 million (S$26.69 million) in cash, and an Indian unit of fraud-hit Wirecard for an undisclosed sum. And it may not be done shopping. The company, which recently doubled its valuation to US$2 billion, is looking at 3 to 4 potential deals at any one time, co-founder and chief operating officer Pratik Gandhi told The Business Times (BT). Latin America is especially of interest for Nium, amid its plans for a US initial public offering (IPO).
JUST IN:
Nik Storonsky, the founder of cash-transfer app Revolut, approached a senior Bank of Englandofficial in a rare move last week amid his company's drive to become a bank. Storonsky, 37, is understood to have attended an event led by Sam Woods, deputy governor of the Bank, and City Minister John Glen, who dialled in virtually. Revolut has yet to receive a UK banking licence – partly owing to a backlog of applications at the Bank – despite applying for one early last year.
ALSO:
Ratepay, part of leading European PayTech Nexi Group, becomes the exclusive payment by invoice partner for "PayPal Checkout" in Germany.
FURTHERMORE,
Seedrs, Europe's leading private investment platform with over £1.8BN investments recorded to date, has integratedBanked’s Pay by Bank checkout solution into their platform, making investing easier.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Burgopak. Burgopak delivers award-winning innovative packaging solutions for some of the world's leading companies in Fintech. Discover how tangible physical touchpoints are crucial in digital banking with the Burgopak 'Welcome to the club' book; Request your free copy, contact info@burgopak.com
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
2021 was a blockbuster year for Israeli-founded fintech startups, which continued to grow, mature, and attract investors’ interest. In 2021, Israeli-founded fintech companies raised a new record of US$4.5 billion in 2021, surpassing the three previous years combined, a new report by Viola Ventures, a leading tech-focused investment firm headquartered in Israel, shows.
JUST IN:
Starling Bank, a digital challenger bank headquartered in London, has said the brand is to launch in “Ireland and beyond”. The mention of the launch came in an Irish job advert posted last week, suggesting the bank is getting closer to offering its services there.
ALSO:
Russia's biggest bank, Sberbank, launched a cryptocurrency. In early March, just days after the invasion began, trading in Sberbank shares was halted in London after they plummeted 95%. The lender was ordered to close its European business as Western sanctions threw Russia's economy into disarray.
FURTHERMORE,
Amazon has chosen to renew a deal allowing JPMorgan Chase & Co. to issue the tech giant’s flagship rewards credit card, ending months of heated negotiations, CNBC has learned.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Sokin. Sokin is the trusted global FX payment provider for some of the world’s leading brands. With Sokin Premium you can send and receive unlimited international payments for one fixed monthly fee. Market beating rates, no commission, hassle-free.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Latin American neobank Nubank has announced the launch of its proprietary online payments solution. With NuPay, the digital banking giant allows customers to complete their e-commerce purchases with a few clicks within the firm’s app.
JUST IN:
Allica Bank says it’s set to hit £1bn in committed lending offers this year, double what it previously expected, helped by investment in its tech offering.
ALSO:
DLocal’s founders had first launched AstroPay, another digital payments platform that now has over five million users.
FURTHERMORE,
Luno, a regulated digital asset exchange in Malaysia, shared that its female users have grown from 16,000 in 2020 to more than 120,000 in 2021, an increase of more than sevenfold.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Mountside Ventures released their inaugural Term Sheet guide, Demystifying Venture Capital Term Sheets, aimed at founders raising an institutional round. The report provides insights from 200+ global venture capital investors, with over £11 billion in assets under management investing in over 1,000 deals per year, on the typical terms they offer founders. It’s the first time many of these investors have contributed to such a comprehensive analysis of their typical terms!
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Mercuryo. With the help of their cryptopowered toolbox, Mercuryoenables companies to take advantage of both fiat and crypto worlds and provide innovative payment solutions for end-customers.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
The Dutch sent €4.2 billion in Tikkie transactions this year. Tikkie’sparent bank, ABN AMRO Bank N.V., has revealed that more than 100 million Tikkies were sent in 2021 — which makes up for an €800 million increase to 2020’s record number.
JUST IN:
The Bank of Italy has imposed a ban on the recruitment of new customers by digital bank N26 following an on-site inspection that uncovered lax money-laundering controls.
Startup Blockchain.com said it raised new funding that values the company at about $14 billion, more than doubling its worth in a sign that cryptocurrency firms still enjoy the favor of investors in turbulent venture capital markets.
ALSO:
In the last few years, there have been a boom in account-to-account (A2A) payments. Cashing in on the new segment, Swedish fintech startup Zimpler has raised equity funding from Nordstjernan Growth.
FURTHERMORE,
Dapio, a UK outfit that helps businesses accept contactless payments on their Android devices, has raised $3.4 million in a round co-led by African payments behemoth Flutterwave and Techstars.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Credit card giant Visa has launched an NFT creator program in an effort to bring small businesses into the digital economy.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Privacy Lock. Privacy Lock sets the standard for financial service providers in data privacy compliance.
Protect your business and your customers today. Visit www.pentaprivacylock.com
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Yonder, is emerging from stealth. It’s targeting professional millennials and it’s even won backing from Rio Ferdinand — making it the third European FinTech the retired footballer has backed after Sorareand Sokin.
JUST IN:
Non-fungible tokens (NFT) were all the rage in 2021. Now, however, the craze is showing signs of slowing down. Some are even talking about the bubble getting ready to pop. That hasn’t stopped Berlin-based startup FUEL from raising €1.5m in a new funding round. It now aims to become the “Shopify for NFTs.”
ALSO:
Payments giant Adyen is moving into providing banking services, the company said Thursday. The white-labeled banking services—which will include multi-currency bank accounts, corporate credit cards, short-term cash advances based on pending payment transactions, and instant business loans—represent the first major strategic expansion for the Dutch payments company since it went public in 2018.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Contis, the European leader in Banking-as-a-Service. Contis help organisations launch cards, accounts and payment apps for their customers. To find out how you can embed finance into your offering, visit www.contis.comtoday!
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Can Klarna be Open Banking's game-changer? Ahead of the launch of Klarna Kosma, a new Open Banking brand, Wilko Klaassen, the company’s VP of Business Development, revealed how Klarna’s disruptive DNA can help partners shake up the Open Banking market with new data applications.
JUST IN:
Within a couple of weeks of the launch of “preciosos”, community fintech 11Onze has made the first collective purchase of gold for its community. Given the increasing inflation and unpredictable markets, the Catalan community has decided to invest in the precious metal for a stable future. The first order of 11 kilos of gold will be arriving soon at La Plaça. 11Onzedecided to offer its 13,000 members the first right of refusal.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has teamed up with crypto custodian Fireblocks to mint a stablecoin pegged to the Australian dollar.
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Welcome to another Daily Fintech Podcast
This podcast episode is sponsored by Payhawk. Payhawk is the most efficient credit card backed by powerful financial software to help companies stay in control of their spend. Try efficient, paperless, compliant spending today.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Swedish fintech giant Klarna is keen to ditch its association with its main product, buy now, pay later (BNPL). It instead wishes to move towards being known more for being a global retail bank and one-stop eCommerce shop, according to the company’s chief marketing officer. This could be attributed largely to the amount of criticism the BNPL sector receives, Klarna often bearing the brunt due to it being the largest company in the sector.
JUST IN:
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global (COIN)will soon require its customers in Canada, Japan, and Singapore who send cryptocurrency to another financial institution or exchange to provide the name, address, and, in the case of Japan, the destination wallet of the recipient.
ALSO:
Galileo Financial Technologies, a subsidiary of SoFi Technologies, Inc., announced its recent expansion into Colombia. Galileo is currently providing services in Colombia where it can partner with issuers, banks, eCommerce and fintechs to enable their digital financial services offerings.
FURTHERMORE,
Douugh announced it has entered into a $20 million equity placement facility agreement with Long State Investments Limited. Based in New York City, Long State has significant experience in investing in disruptive early-stage public companies in high growth-oriented sectors, including fintechs. The Agreement will provide Douugh with a fully flexible, on-demand funding facility.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
The Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro will allow the payment of a municipal real estate tax with cryptocurrencies starting in 2023, the city announced on Friday.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Mercuryo. With the help of their cryptopowered toolbox, Mercuryo enables companies to take advantage of both fiat and crypto worlds and provide innovative payment solutions for end-customers.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Tomo, a startup founded by former Zillow execs that aims to speed up the mortgage approval process, raised a $40 million Series A round at a $640 million valuation, doubling the company’s value after it raised a $70 million seed round last year.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Savings and investing app Acorns is now offering users the option to invest a portion of their portfolio in bitcoin futures.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Kale, a New York-based startup, is taking a different approach to influencer marketing. It works with loyal customers of a brand who generally have between 1,000 and 10,000 followers, rather than going for creators with hundreds of thousands—or millions—of followers.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by MoneyLion. MoneyLion provides an all-in-one mobile banking experience. You choose the tools you need when you need them — and they complement the financial accounts you already have. They’ll help you decide what’s right for you, but the choice is always yours.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
embedded/capital , A Berlin-based VC fund focused on the "next generation" of fintech founders has raised over €100m to invest in startups "embedding" financial services in their business models.
JUST IN:
Bank Leumi has become the first in Israel to offer cryptocurrency operations after an agreement with the American crypto company Paxos.
ALSO:
The interview recommendation of the week belongs to the fifth episode of “Fund your way” as it delves into the story of Ivan Maryasin (Co-Founder and CEO of Monite.
FURTHERMORE,
Plurall, a new Colombian FinTech focused on improving the financial inclusion of Solopreneurs in LatAm, closed an iconic pre-seed round raising $1.5m equity and $10m debt, marking a milestone for entrepreneurship in the region.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
ClearBank CEO Charles McManus announced that the company had secured £175m in funding.
JUST IN:
Temenos, the banking software company, announced that Rakuten Europe Bank has signed with Temenos to deliver banking services including Rakuten Pay on the Temenos Banking Cloud.
ALSO:
Robinhood has announced a new debit card, branded as the Robinhood Cash Card. The new card will replace Robinhood’s current Cash Management debit card, originally announced in 2019.
FURTHERMORE,
Intergiro is now emerging as part of this embedded banking movement, calling itself “a financial cloud” on which almost any kind of company can offer banking services.
Visa announced a new offering with DoorDash, a leading last-mile logistics platform, to help enable faster payouts to eligible Dashers across Canada.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
Digital bank Chetwood Financial Limited has acquired its core banking provider Yobota to extend its banking-as-a-service capabilities.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
ComplyAdvantage and Resistant AI have partnered to expand their offering for the financial industry.
Amsterdam–based fintech Mollie is continuing its global expansion in a partnership with carmaker Mazda Motor Europe.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
The European Payments Initiative has given up on its effort to build a rival to Mastercard and Visa in Europe after more than half its members left.
JUST IN:
The neobank Northmill continues to focus on customer experience by introducing WeMeet.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
The growth of the crypto industry in Latin America has been extraordinary in the last three years. This has led governments to adopt different regulatory standards to try to keep this industry under the supervision and prevent its control from getting out of hand.
Last year the cryptocurrency business reached a market volume of over 3 billion dollars. This market continues to grow as fiduciary currencies devalue with inflation and do not serve all the needs of the users of the financial system.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Kathryn Haun has raised $1.5 billion for a pair of crypto-focused VC funds, just months after leaving Andreessen Horowitz to form her own firm.
Gramercy Funds Management LLC, an emerging-markets asset manager, loaned $100 million to OmniLatam, a Bogota-based fintech that’s entering the Brazil market.
Capitolis announced it has raised a $110 million Series D at a $1.6 billion valuation, driven by the rapid emergence and market acceptance of its marketplace solutions.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
NatWest is working with fintech Cogo to launch its own free Carbon Tracker app as a pilot aimed at the manufacturing and transportation sectors.
Provenir introduced Provenir AI, giving financial institutions the power of artificial intelligence (AI) for better and faster risk decisioning while eliminating barriers to entry via a no-code approach.
THAT’S ALL THE NEWS FOR TODAY. THANKS FOR LISTENING.
TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR ANOTHER DAILY FINTECH PODCAST
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Australian FinTech start-up Cape has raised $3.1m in pre-seed funding from backers including Mercury Capital’s principal partners Clark Perkins and Ben Hawter, Investible, and a bevy of angel investors including Stripe’s regional start-up lead Tom Richardson and a bunch of early Atlassian employees.
JUST IN:
The Argentinian Financial Information Unit (UFI) anti-money laundering regulator is reportedly working to force cryptocurrency firms to report their movements.
ALSO:
The Nordic-based payment service provider Avarda chose European open banking leader Aiia, a Mastercard company, to enable open banking payments through its white-label payment solutions for a wide range of retailers and merchants.
FURTHERMORE,
Canadian tech leaders called upon Canada’s federal government to appoint an open banking lead and start implementing the other recommendations made by the Advisory Committee on Open Banking in last year’s long-awaited report.
And their request was met, PwC Canada digital banking director Abraham A. Tachjian has been chosen to kickstart open banking efforts in the country.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by PayRetailers. PayRetailers’ payment platform leverages API technology to connect Latin American consumers with international merchants, offering a seamless payment experience. From the merchant’s perspective, the solution has the distinct advantage of eliminating the hurdles associated with integrating multiple acquirers and payment methods. Visit www.payretailers.com
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Jeeves has raised $180 million in a Series C round that values the company at $2.1 billion.
JUST IN:
Ramp has hit a $8.1 billion valuation after closing a $200 million funding round led by Founders Fund.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
Binance signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to acquire Brazilian securities brokerage sim;paul investimentos.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Mastercard has partnered HSBC to launch a product in the UK that allows businesses to use their commercial card programme to make payments to any supplier, regardless of whether the supplier accepts card payments.
Finastra announced its collaboration with The Union of Arab Banks to help banks across the Arab League member states offer enhanced digital services to their customers.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Hoxton Ventures raised $215M to back early-stage ventures in Europe. The fund is purposed to help build and scale Europe’s most promising early-stage start-ups.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
Zimpler and Payap have launched a new collaboration to disrupt the payment and payroll scene.
Gemini has been approved to use electronic money in Ireland.
AS FOR OPPORTUNITIES
Sequoia Capital has launched an accelerator programme in Europe for seed-stage companies. Applications for the first European cohort will close on April 8.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Provenir. Provenir does more than help with your current tech challenges. They eliminate them. Designed and built to power agility, their cloud-native technology puts your team in control. Loved by Startups. Trusted by Decacorns.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
PayPal is expanding its services to allow its users to send money to Ukrainians
JUST IN:
American Express has filed trademark applications to register its name, logo, and slogans for a range of banking services in the metaverse.
ALSO:
Egypt's three biggest state-owned banks are setting up an $85 million financial technology fund that aims to accelerate innovation in the sector
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
eBay and Klarna have joined forces to offer German shoppers more flexible payment options
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Lucky App, Egypt’s leading app for credit products, offers and cashback rewards, announces its $25 million fund Series A raise.
Shufti Pro raised a €17.6m Series A led by US-based Updata Partners.
Payrailsraised a seed round of €5.6m and the French payroll API platform Rolleeraised a €4m seed round..
Lune raised $4m, by offering an API and software tools to make it easy for any business to integrate climate impact into their customer experience
Novel Capital has emerged from stealth with $115 million in initial equity and debt funding.
AS FOR OPPORTUNITIES
An Post, the state-owned provider of postal services in Ireland, is looking for a banking platform service provider and has published an e-tender on the Office of Government Procurement website. The response deadline is 22 April 2022, 2pm GMT.
Sequoia Capital is looking for outliers to apply to Arc, a new catalyst for seed-stage companies. The first cohort is in Europe, with a curriculum tailored for the region. Applications for the US will open later this summer.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Contis, the European leader in Banking-as-a-Service. Contishelp organisations launch cards, accounts and payment apps for their customers. To find out how you can embed finance into your offering, visit www.contis.com today!
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Robinhood has agreed to a $640,000 settlement with Vermont's financial regulator over a series of outages at the trading app in 2020
JUST IN:
London-based Zilch, the fastest fintech to reach double unicorn status, announces it has surpassed 2 million customers – with record registrations of more than 425,000 new customers in December.
ALSO:
Global retail Banco Santander has been forced to pay customers hundreds of pounds in compensation after making it almost impossible to access online banking without a smartphone.
FURTHERMORE,
Brazilian fintech Nubank said on Monday that new central bank rules for digital banks will bring lower capital requirements than originally expected next year and in 2024, with the announcement lifting its shares.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Stripe, a technology company building financial infrastructure for the internet, announced that Blockchain.com has chosen Stripe to facilitate payments, mitigate fraud risk, and improve revenue management.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Getir has confirmed reports on its $768 million Series E round at an $11.8 billion valuation, becoming Europe’s first grocery delivery decacorn.
JUST IN:
Revolut is making it easier for refugees escaping Ukraine to open Revolut accounts and waiving some FX transfer fees- a move that has been given the thumbs up by the Ukrainian deputy prime minister.
ALSO:
Moneyhub has struck a deal with Samsung Electronics claiming to facilitate the “world’s first open banking payments on a retail self-service point-of-sale (POS) Kiosk”.
FURTHERMORE,
Tencent shares dived in Hong Kong after The Wall Street Journal reported the Chinese tech giant could face a record fine for violating anti-money laundering rules.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM.N) said it would buy Global Shares, an Irish fintech firm whose software helps businesses manage employee stock plans.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
HSBC and The Sandbox, announced a new partnership that will open up a host of opportunities for virtual communities across the world to engage with global financial services providers and sports communities in The Sandbox metaverse.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by YieldX. Digitalization is revolutionizing the world of fixed income and YieldX is building the tools to bring the benefits to all investors. The time has come to replace your antiquated technology with a modern, 100% digital end-to-end investment and insights platform.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
In a conversation at SXSW, Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company plans to introduce NFTs into Instagram in the “near term.”
JUST IN:
Affirm delayed a proposed asset-backed securities sale after a good portion of it had already been sold to money managers.
ALSO:
Customers at six 7-Eleven stores in Japan can now make contactless payments using a holographic screen projected from the self-checkout terminal.
FURTHERMORE,
Dinesh Khara, chairman of the State Bank of India, said that the mobile application, YONO, has gone beyond payment transactions, and is transforming itself into a bank within a bank
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
According to research conducted by Fast Private Jet, the capital city of Slovenia is by far the most crypto-friendly capital in Europe. It boasts 72 shops and 33 sports venues accepting payments through digital currencies. Travelers looking to leave their fiat at home could call this place paradise. WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
In recent years, the number of fintech unicorns has grown dramatically. In fact, 15 unicorns reached their $1bn valuation in 2021, suggesting that a real surge in fintech startups followed covid lockdowns.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Risk management platform Sentinels has been selected by Spanish neobank Rebellion Pay to enhance its anti-money laundering and risk profiling capabilities.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Payrails has just raised over 5.7 million euros to launch its next-generation financial operations platform.
Kamino raised $6.1 million in pre-seed funding.
PayMongo announced that it has secured US$31 million in a Series B funding round.
Playter raised $1.7 million in a seed funding round co-led by Fin Capital and 1818 Venture Capital.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Privacy Lock. Privacy Lock sets the standard for financial service providers in data privacy compliance.
Protect your business and your customers today. Visit www.pentaprivacylock.com
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Jake Anderson conducted a recent consumer research study on neobanking surveying over 5000+ consumers worldwide. Some key findings are: Banking goes digital as mobile apps become the dominant method of accessing bank accounts. Also, LATAM leads the way in neobank adoption, with the majority of adults IN BRASIL having both a digital and traditional bank account.
JUST IN:
Paytm Payments Bank was barred by its central bank from adding new customers due to likely gaps in its technology systems, potentially denting its small finance bank aspirations and further roiling investors skeptical of the fintech's ability to boost earnings after an expensive initial share sale.
ALSO:
Sachin Bansal’s Navi Technologies, a fintech startup that offers customers insurance and loan products, has filed for a $440 million IPO.
FURTHERMORE,
Pivo Financial Services, a startup created by Nkiru Amadi-Emina and Ijeoma Akwiwu to be the neobank for trade in Africa, entered the market with Pivo Capital, a credit-focused financial services platform for supply chain small and medium businesses (SMEs).
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Mastercard is seeing accelerating interest in digital currencies as a payment method for everyday purchases. Mastercardhas been working closely with related parties everywhere, including Thailand, to prepare for the future of payments in which digital currencies will be a critical choice for consumers, said Aileen Chew, country manager of Mastercard for Thailand and Myanmar.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
DoorDash announced a partnership with Melbourne, Australia-based financial technology company Afterpay to offer BNPL on all orders in the fintech company’s home country.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Moove Africa raised $105 million in new Series A2 financing.
Leiden raised $50M in its Series B round of funding.
WHAT ABOUT THOSE MOVERS AND SHAKERS?
Curve chief operating officer Nathalie Oestmann is leaving the fintech after two and a half years.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by MoneyLion. MoneyLion provides an all-in-one mobile banking experience. You choose the tools you need when you need them — and they complement the financial accounts you already have. They’ll help you decide what’s right for you, but the choice is always yours.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Ethereum application and infrastructure builder ConsenSys has closed a $450 million funding round that values the New York City-based blockchain company at $7 billion. The hefty Series D round, led by ParaFi Capital, more than doubles ConsenSys’ valuation based on its previous $200 million fundraise in November 2021.
JUST IN:
Parpera, a money management platform for sole traders, freelancers, and startup founders, has launched Australia's first embedded finance business experience using a debit card linked directly to deposit accounts, in partnership with Railspay (the Australian arm of Railsbank) and Volt Bank.
ALSO:
Last week, €495m was raised across 11 FinTech deals. Geography-wise, most deals came from the UK followed by Sweden and Denmark. Most deals were in Payments followed by Banktech, Insurtech, and Regtech.
FURTHERMORE,
Brazil's central bank announced tougher rules for fintechs on Friday, saying that payment institutions will be subject to regulations based on their size and complexity and raising standards for required capital.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) platform provider mintBlue has secured €2 million in a round led by Two Hop Ventures Fund, with additional support from a Dutch angel investor and Ayre Group Ventures.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Sokin. Sokin is the trusted global FX payment provider for some of the world’s leading brands. With Sokin Premium you can send and receive unlimited international payments for one fixed monthly fee. Market beating rates, no commission, hassle-free.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
The Financial Conduct Authority said that all Crypto-ATMs machines in the UK must be shut down or it will take action.
JUST IN:
€10 million were raised for Ukraine through donations of Revolut customers, which were then matched by Revolut itself
ALSO:
MTN added more than R11bn to its market capitalisation as Africa’s largest mobile operator. It has now passed rival M-PESA Africa to become the biggest mobile payments business on the continent by users.
FURTHERMORE,
Atlantic Money, a money transfer fintechhas moved out of stealth with a promise to take on the likes of Wise and Revolut with a cheaper offering for larger value transactions
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
In 2021, Latin American startups raised $14.8 billion across nearly 800 deals, according to PitchBook Data, making this the fastest-growing region in the world for venture funding.
Forecasts predict a total market value for embedded finance at $7.2T by 2030. Fintech experts anticipate three areas of value growth: insurance, lending, and payments.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Digital-only bank, TymeBank has partnered with National HealthCare Group to introduce TymeHealth, billed as one of the most affordable medical insurance solutions available to local consumers.
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Hi! Welcome back to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Payhawk. Payhawk is the most efficient credit card backed by powerful financial software to help companies stay in control of their spend. Try efficient, paperless, compliant spending today.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Rapyd reached a $15 billion valuation and becomes Israel’s highest-valued unicorn. The fintech company, which offers payment services across the world, has seen its value surge six-fold since January 2021.
JUST IN:
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it plans to close its operations in Russia, the first major Wall Street bank to leave in response to the nation’s invasion of Ukraine.
ALSO:Sezzle is to cut 20% of its workforce following confirmation of a takeover by Australian rival Zip Co.
FURTHERMORE,
A £14 billion class-action lawsuit against Mastercard interchange fees has moved a step closer to trial with an additional £2.7 billion added to the claim following the latest judgment by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
President Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday directing the federal government to come up with a plan to regulate cryptocurrencies, recognizing their popularity and potential to destabilize traditional finance.
UkraineDAO, the decentralized autonomous organization created by Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova, Trippy Labs and PleasrDAO members, crowdfunded 2,188 Ether (ETH), or $6.1 million, for a Ukrainian flag NFT
Bitpanda Payments has been authorized to conduct payment activities as an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) in Austria.
Stripe already powers a pretty major swath of the web’s financial infrastructure, now its launching crypto payments support to give customers an easier path to onboard web3 users and interact with cryptocurrencies.
On that note Stripe announced a partnership with FTX, one of the world’s leading crypto companies.
Brazil's central bank (Banco Central do Brasil) has picked project proposals from nine firms - including Banco Santander, Visa, and Bitcoin Market - for a challenge investigating the development of a CBDC.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Uncover, the new podcast by ComplyAdvantage. Join CEO Charles Delingpole and his team as they interview compliance leaders, FinTech innovators, and financial crime experts to uncover the latest best practices and industry trends. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify today
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Acorns has raised $300 million in a Series F funding round, valuing the company at nearly $2 billion
ALSO:
Estateguru.co Marketplace Limited announces its first office opening in Manchester. It plans to start facilitating loans once fully Financial Conduct Authority approved.
FURTHERMORE,
Ayoconnect and PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (BRI) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to leverage Ayoconnect’s open finance technology in BRI’s digital banking solutions.
Barthi airtel has struck a deal with India’s Axis Bank to roll out a range of financial services products to its 340 million customers.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
Payments provider PPRO has announced it bought paytech company Alpha Fintech to expand its offering and presence across APAC.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Al Fardan Exchange L.L.C. announced a partnership with Thunes, a cross-border payments, enabling Al Fardan Exchange customers to make seamless payments to 87 countries.
Zeta Suite, a banking tech unicorn and provider of next-gen credit card processing to banks and fintechs, and Mastercard announced a 5-year global partnership.
BankiFi has announced that it has joined Visa Fintech Partner Connect in Europe – a programme that helps Visa`s clients deliver the next generation of digital banking solutions
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Female-founded fintech Super Fierce has raised $1.5 million in a seed capital to help women build better financial security.
tabby, the Dubai-based buy now, pay later (BNPL) platform, has completed a Series B extension of $54 million.
Stax by Hover, a startup that allows Africans to buy airtime, send and request money, and transfer funds between accounts via automated USSD codes, has raised a $2.2 million seed extension round.
in3, a leading Dutch Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) fintech business, has announced a $11.1m funding round from Finch Capital as growth soars.
Konvi has raised over €814k to open this sector up for all retail investors. Investors include APX and value-adding angel investors including (former) executives from tech giants like Snap Inc. and Shopify.
Branch has raised $75 million in a Series C funding round that has closed just six months after it announced its last financing round.
US-based payments software company Stax has grown from a kitchen table startup to a billion dollar business after raising $245 million.
Hotel payment software provider Selfbook has completed a $15 million extension of its Series A financing that values the company at $300 million.
Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Burgopak. Burgopakdelivers award-winning innovative packaging solutions for some of the world's leading companies in Fintech. Discover how tangible physical touchpoints are crucial in digital banking with the Burgopak 'Welcome to the club' book; Request your free copy, contact info@burgopak.com
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
American Express says it is suspending its operations in Russia and Belarus, becoming the latest credit card giant to respond with measures denouncing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.
PayPal is suspending its services in Russia, adding to the number of firms retreating from the country in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
JUST IN:
Several Russian banks announced they would soon start issuing cards using the Chinese UnionPaycard operator's system coupled with Russia's own Mir network, after Visa and MasterCard said they were suspending operations in Russia.
ALSO:
Fintechs For Ukraine aims to encourage tech firms to raise as much money as possible to help support victims of the crisis, with donations going directly to Save the Children’s Ukraine Appeal.
FURTHERMORE,
Paystack announced that it has received a Payment Services Provider (PSP) Enhanced License from the Bank of Ghana.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Binance has announced the launch of Bifinity, a payments technology company and its official fiat-to-crypto payments provider.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Nearly all of Afterpay's customers repaid their installments in 2021, Block CFO Amrita Ahuja told CNBCwhen questioned about the Cash App parent's acquisition of the buy-now, pay-later service.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Paysafe Group announced the appointment of J.P. Morgan as its core banking provider.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
After seven years since its last financing round, AngelList Venture announced in a blog post that it has raised a $100 million Series C at a $4 billion valuation.
Dash, an Accra, Ghana-based payments app provider, raised $32.8M in Seed funding.
London-based fintech startup Kolleno has attracted £4 million ($5.4 million) funding.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
Pillar, a new fintech offering business accounts designed to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), is gearing up for launch in Canada.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Provenir. Provenir does more than help with your current tech challenges. They eliminate them. Designed and built to power agility, their cloud-native technology puts your team in control. Loved by Startups. Trusted by Decacorns.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Serena Williams’s early-stage venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, has raised an inaugural fund of $111 million that will invest in founders with diverse points of view, she told the DealBook newsletter. The investment firm led by the tennis star is already an active angel investor with a portfolio of 60 companies that includes SendWave, MasterClass and Daily Harvest.
“I’ve always been fascinated with technology, and I’ve always loved how it really shapes our lives,” said Ms. Williams, who has been investing for nine years.
JUST IN:
Nubank added 20.6M new customers worldwide in 2021. That's an average of 56K every day.
ALSO:
Airwallex, a global fintech platform, announced its partnership with leading investing app, Plum, to support its cross-border payments and FX needs.
FURTHERMORE,
Sweater, a Boulder, CO-based fintech company building a fully-managed venture capital fund that is open to everyday investors, raised $12M in Seed funding.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Belvo, Rappi, Jeeves, Fintual, and Fondeadora are among the most valuable Y Combinator FinTechs from LATAM
WHAT ABOUT THOSE MOVERS AND SHAKERS?
Fiserv, Inc., announced that its Board of Directors elected Frank Bisignano, President and Chief Executive Officer and a current director of Fiserv, as Chairman of the Board. The board also elected Doyle Simons, a current director, to serve as lead independent director.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Sokin. Sokin is the trusted global FX payment provider for some of the world’s leading brands. With Sokin Premium you can send and receive unlimited international payments for one fixed monthly fee. Market beating rates, no commission, hassle-free.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
JPMorgan Chase & Co confirms its support to Ukraine by making an initial $1 million philanthropic contribution, and offering to match employee donations.
JUST IN:
Banco Santander have removed fees on all permitted transfers to Ukraine, and is making an initial donation of €1 million to the Red Cross and UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.
ALSO:
German digital banking powerhouse N26 will be structurally ready for an IPO by the end of the year and could list as early as 2024
FURTHERMORE,
Australian Fintech ZeeFi is the new kid on the BNPL block – the first to specialise only in payments for education providers.
Fairbit, a California-based SoftPOS Solution provider, is happy to announce that it received Mastercard Tap on Phone EMV Level 2 certification for the “Fairbit Kernel-on-the-Cloud” product.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Will Rice, CEO of Generation Home, is speaking about Tom Blomfield, the Monzo Bank and GoCardless founder, who remerged last year on the board of Generation Home. Blomfield was said to be blown away by Generation Home’s proposition of allowing mum and dad to be on the mortgage of first-time house buyers, enabling them to borrow more money.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Detected has raised an additional £1.5 million in just three weeks, adding to £2 million seeded in previous funding rounds.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Contis, the European leader in Banking-as-a-Service. Contis help organisations launch cards, accounts and payment apps for their customers. To find out how you can embed finance into your offering, visit www.contis.com today!
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Nik Storonsky, Russia-born CEO and fellow Revolut co-founder, clarified his position regarding the war in Ukraine, cautioning that he “had to first consider the wellbeing of our colleagues in Russia” who are simply working hard to build Revolut, just like their colleagues in Ukraine and around the world.
JUST IN:
Business payments FinTech Zeller is claiming unicorn status less than a year after launching following a $100 million Series B capital raise.
ALSO:
Australian buy, now pay later (BNPL) startup Openpay exits the UK market.
FURTHERMORE,
Sokin is set to disrupt India’s $87bn remittances market by giving the 18 million Indian migrants living outside their homeland access to 51% cheaper global money transfers.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Tenderly, a startup that aims to make it easier for web3 developers “of all skill sets” to build blockchain products, has raised $40 million in a Series B round of funding.
Tribal Credit has partnered with Visa to expand credit and financing options for small- and medium-sized enterprises across Latin America.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Burgopak. Burgopak delivers award-winning innovative packaging solutions for some of the world's leading companies in Fintech. Discover how tangible physical touchpoints are crucial in digital banking with the Burgopak 'Welcome to the club' book; Request your free copy, contact info@burgopak.com
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
A select group of Russian banks are to be excluded from the Swift financial messaging system as part of a package of new financial sanctions agreed by Western allies.
JUST IN:
Google is reportedly launching a new blockchain division as part of its Labs group.
ALSO:
Europe’s biggest loan marketplace Mintos has taken the “next steps to protect investors”, and is excluding all loans from Russia and Ukraine from its main market.
FURTHERMORE,
Bank of America will roll all of its product lines into one app that is slated to roll out in December, according to American Banker.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Hack VC, a San Francisco, CA-based crypto-native investment firm, launched a $200M Crypto Seed Fund.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Paceline launched the first credit card powered by movement – rewarding cardmembers not only for spending, but for staying active by hitting their weekly "streak" of 150-minutes of exercise.
Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:
Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Privacy Lock. Privacy Lock sets the standard for financial service providers in data privacy compliance.
Protect your business and your customers today. Visit www.pentaprivacylock.com
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said disconnecting Russian banks from the SWIFT messaging system may bring “unintended consequences” that include third parties finding ways around the penalty.
JUST IN:
Mastercard and Visa have blocked multiple financial institutions from their payment networks in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
ALSO:
Revolut has engaged a global security partner to provide emergency logistical support for its Ukraine-based employees.
FURTHERMORE,
Paysend announced the expansion of its cross-border money transfer services to Colombia with MOVii, a leading mobile wallet service in Colombia.
German banking start-up N26 will be prepared for an initial public offering by the end of 2022, co-CEO Maximilian Tayenthal told CNBC.
More than one million customers are now using digital receipt startup Flux in the UK.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Douugh Ltd, the banking super app, is pleased to announce a partnership with TrueLayer to access open banking data in Australia.
IDEX Biometrics has partnered with IDEMIA to support Rocker, the Swedish challenger bank, as it launches biometric payment cards to the market.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Early Spotify backer CREANDUM has raised its sixth fund — a $500m vehicle to back seed and early-stage startups in Europe.
FPL Technologies, the Indian startup that operates OneCard, is set to double its valuation to about $1.5 billion in a new financing round, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
Investment platform Betterment has launched a student loan management solution and acquired the partner and customer relations of Gradvisor, a college savings plan service.
WHAT ABOUT THOSE MOVERS AND SHAKERS?
Shawbrook Bank has hired Arthur Leung as its first chief product officer, as the bank doubles down on its digital strategy.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Fintech Meetup. This is the last week to get tickets. Also, we have the winners for the Fintech Meetup ticket giveaway! The lucky winners will be contacted by email tomorrow.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Ali Niknam, founder & CEO at bunq, an Amsterdam-based challenger bank, has offered to help Ukrainian refugees by offering them safety and shelter in Bulgaria and Georgia, and by subsequently helping to bring them to the Netherlands on an HSM visa.
JUST IN:
London-based lender Zopa has pledged new support measures for Ukrainian candidates applying for jobs at Zopa in the UK.
ALSO:
The value of transactions enabled by Klarna Bank AB’s payment options rose 42% to $80 billion in 2021, as the company’s U.S. expansion continues to boost demand.
FURTHERMORE,
Despite reporting strong fourth quarter results, Coinbase saw its shares fall the last week of February trading as it warned of a rockier Q1.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
The United Arab Emirates is poised to issue federal licenses for virtual asset service providers by the end of the first quarter in an effort to attract some of the world’s biggest crypto companies, according to a government official.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
In our latest #DoneDeal Newsletter Q&A, Pedro Carneiro from Edenred Capital Partnerssays "I would pay attention to B2B commerce, which is such a large space and still fundamentally manual and offline in its workflows."
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Payhawk has raised an additional $100m to extend its Series B round to $215m. The Series B extension was raised at a valuation of $1 billion, making Payhawk the first ever Bulgarian company to achieve unicorn status.
Upswing Financial Technologies founded by ex-bankers Anupam Bagchi and Nihar Gupta, has raised $4 million from marquee global fund QED Investors and a clutch of renowned fintech founders.
UK-based fintech helping parents invest and plan for their children's financial futures, Nosso has raised $2.8 million (£2.1 million) funding.
Plinqit announced that it has raised $5 million in its latest Series A funding round, bringing the total to just under $10 million since its founding.
Skipify announced that it obtained a strategic investment round from investors that include PayPal Ventures, Synchrony, Amex Ventures and Okta Ventures.
Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:
Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Uncover, the new podcast by ComplyAdvantage. Join CEO Charles Delingpole and his team as they interview compliance leaders, FinTech innovators, and financial crime experts to uncover the latest best practices and industry trends. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify today
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Zip Co has entered into a merger agreement with US-based rival Sezzle, valuing the target at approximately $491 million.
FURTHERMORE,
Discovery Limited released interim financial results for the six months to December 2021, with group chief executive and founder Adrian Gore saying that the shared-value insurance model ensured Discovery’s resilience during a tough period.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
LEASY has secured $2 million in equity and $15 million in debt.
Savvy Wealth announced that it closed on $7.3M in seed funding co-led by Index Ventures and Thrive Capital.
Canza Finance announced the completion of its $3.27M seed round.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
Retailers will be able to showcase their latest and best deals directly to Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) shoppers thanks to a new deals feature introduced to the Zip Co app.
Coinbase is adding support for Ledger hardware wallets to Coinbase Wallet extension, providing an additional layer of security and greater peace of mind for their users.
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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast. Before we get started, Marcel wants to the thank the FinTech community, by giving away a few free tickets to FinTech Meetup in March!
The link to the sign-up registration form is here. The winners will be announced this week.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Privacy Lock. Privacy Lock sets the standard for financial service providers in data privacy compliance.
Protect your business and your customers today. Visit www.pentaprivacylock.com
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Amsterdam has ranked fourth in Savills European Fintech Occupier Index 2021, jumping from 10th position in 2020.
JUST IN:
Klarna started a new loyalty program. For each £1 paid via pay now, pay later, Klarna's shoppers earn one point, provided they pay it on.
ALSO:
Block Inc. surged as much as 30% in late trading after it reported fourth-quarter revenue that topped projections and gave an unexpectedly positive outlook for 2022.
Bank of America added more than 2 million active digital clients last year, a single-year record.
Fi platform announced that it has just crossed one million accounts.
FURTHERMORE,
Ramp, is announcing that it is expanding into the travel space.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Circle has launched a new account service aimed at helping businesses transact in cryptocurrencies.
Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:
Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by YieldX. Digitalization is revolutionizing the world of fixed income and YieldX is building the tools to bring the benefits to all investors. The time has come to replace your antiquated technology with a modern, 100% digital end-to-end investment and insights platform.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Nu, the holding company that includes Nubank in Brazil, as well as Nu México and Nu Colombia, added 5.8 million customers in the last quarter, reaching a total of 53.9 million customers in these three countries.
JUST IN:
Weavr.io, a London-headquartered technology provider, announced the close of a $40 million Series A funding round led by Tiger Global Management.
ALSO:
Nine days after its official launch, the Toucan Giving app locked-in investment through a slightly unconventional approach for fintech - BBC One’s Dragon’s Den.
FURTHERMORE,
Australian Zip Co forecast shows a bigger half-year loss than analyst expected, citing lower consumer spending in the United States as fiscal stimulus money dries up.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
Storied venture capital firm Sequoia Capital announced it has launched a crypto-focused fund with between $500 million and $600 million in capital
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Cornerstone estimates that the BaaS market could grow to more than $25 billion in annual revenue in 2026. This would go a long way to replacing the inevitable loss of overdraft fees the banking industry will face over the next five years.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
India’s Niyo Solutions Inc. has raised $100 million in a new financing round as the neobank platform looks to add lending and insurance to its offerings.
MarketForce, the retail B2B and end-to-end distribution platform founded in Kenya, has raised $40 million in Series A funding for its merchant inventory financing and expansion across Africa.
Jambo Technology, a Congo-based startup building Africa’s web3 user acquisition portal, has raised $7.5 million in seed funding.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
Shopify merchants can now accept BillEase payments and enable a calculator widget that shows shoppers the actual price of purchase if paid in installments on the merchant’s storefront which is now part of the payment app.
WHAT ABOUT THOSE MOVERS AND SHAKERS?
Belvo appoints David Ballesteros as New Country Manager in Colombia. He will lead all commercial and growth efforts in the country.
Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:
This podcast episode is sponsored by Provenir. Provenir does more than help with your current tech challenges. They eliminate them. Designed and built to power agility, their cloud-native technology puts your team in control. Loved by Startups. Trusted by Decacorns.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
The U.S. Justice Department has tapped a seasoned computer crimes prosecutor, Eun Young Choi to lead its new national cryptocurrency enforcement team and announced that the FBI is launching a unit for blockchain analysis and virtual asset seizure.
JUST IN:
Klarna, a leading global retail bank, payments, and shopping service, announced that its waitlist for the Klarna Card is now open to all US consumers.
ALSO:
U.S. Bank announced a new solution with Payactiv to bring Earned Wage Access (EWA) to U.S. Bank clients.
FURTHERMORE,
Bnext will now use the blockchain technology of their investor Algorand, one of the few decentralized platforms exclusively focused on the exchange of capital worldwide, to develop financial products as well as reduce execution times and costs.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
Nubank, the Brazilian fintech was able to attain an extraordinary market footing due to its business strategy, one which prioritizes growth and client base expansion over profits. The main points of contact between Nubank and its customers are through the company’s online chat and customer representatives. Studies have identified that NuBank’s virtual representatives do not utilize traditional scripts, but rely instead on the display of authentic, humorous, outgoing, but effective interactions.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
SoFi Technologies Inc. is buying banking-software maker Technisys SA for about $1.1 billion, the latest in a string of deals designed to transform the lender into a one-stop financial shop.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
HooYu is partnering with Virgin Money, the full-service digital bank, to implement a new account opening journey for Virgin Money customers.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Tilled, the leading PayFac-as-a-Service provider, announced the close of a funding round, led by G Squared, with participation from existing investors Peterson Ventures and Abstract Ventures.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
GoDaddy continues to make e-commerce and in-person payments faster, easier, and more accessible to small businesses with its latest release of QR codes for on-the-go transactions.
Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:
This podcast episode is sponsored by Uncover, the new podcast by ComplyAdvantage. Join CEO Charles Delingpole and his team as they interview compliance leaders, FinTech innovators, and financial crime experts to uncover the latest best practices and industry trends. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify today
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
On February 19, attackers stole hundreds of NFTs from OpenSea users, causing a late-night panic among the site’s broad user base.
JUST IN:
Mercado Pago Point is the first company with a payment transaction initiator (ITP) license to have the service operational.
ALSO:
The CEOs of the UK’s leading fintech firms including the likes of Monzo Bank, Starling Bank and Checkout.com have called on regulators and the UK government to speed up new reforms aimed at better financial regulation.
FURTHERMORE,
A new mobile banking platform called Spruce, built by tax preparation company H&R Block and powered by SoFi-owned fintech Galileo Financial Technologies, has launched in the US.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?
The FinTech Egypt report revealed that FinTech in Egypt has grown at a rapid pace over the last few years. As per the report, there has been a tremendous growth in venture capital investments over the last 5 years. Investments have soared by more than 300% during only the last 12 months.
LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:
Weaver Fintech made its first acquisition of an 85% stake in PayJustNow, one of the fastest growing Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) business in Africa.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
Recently, the UK fintech company, PrimaryBid, has secured a $190M Series C investment round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
Abu Dhabi investment firm ADQ is set to launch a new digital banking platform called Wio UAE following an in-principle approval from the Central Bank of The UAE.
A new digital “bank for youth” called LINC Jordan has launched in Jordan, which claims to take a holistic approach to supporting the country’s university students and young adults.
WHAT ABOUT THOSE MOVERS AND SHAKERS?
Nuvei, announced senior leadership team enhancements that further position the global payment technology partner of thriving brands to deliver on its next phase of growth.
AS FOR OPPORTUNITIES
Money transfer giant Wise is seeking growth in Asia-Pacific (APAC), with the announcement of 150 new hires at its Singapore office this year.
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💫 News Highlight: Trustly is proud to introduce FlexPay by Trustly, a new product that gives consumers the flexibility to defer the settlement date of a debited amount to a date in the future.
🧐 Insights: According to a report by RFS, gig workers, freelancers, and independent contractors now make up a growing part of the European working population, and this is only set to increase in the short term. As their banking and borrowing needs are not being addressed by traditional banking, neobanks have focused their platforms and products on this market of independent workers, giving freelancers and small business owners the tools they need to manage and grow their businesses.
🚢 Partnerships - @Airbase, a startup in the corporate spend space, announced that it is working with @American Express on a pilot that will see its service offered to certain customers of the credit giant.
💰 Funding rounds & investments:
-
Check, a three-year-old startup that provides software tools for digitizing payrolls, announced that it has raised $75 million in a fresh funding round.
-
Tilled, announced the close of a funding round, led by G Squared, with participation from existing investors Peterson Ventures and Abstract Ventures.
☕️ Events? Let’s talk what’s next for fintechs… Join Provenir as they discuss insights from Aurélie L'Hostis, Senior Analyst, guest from Forrester Research and a recent Pulse survey of global fintech/banking decision makers on the biggest challenges and opportunities for 2022.
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This podcast episode is sponsored by Fintech Meetup. This week is the last absolute Last Chance To Save On Tickets! Ticket prices go up on Friday!
💫 News Highlight: Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway dumped a portion of its Visa and Mastercard holdings and increased exposure in Nubank.
⚡ Just in The NYSE has filed an application with the USPTO to provide an online marketplace for various digital goods including NFTs, cryptocurrencies, digital media, and artwork.
⭐ Also, Bank of America announced its latest online payment solution called Pay by Bank. Launched in conjunction with Banked: Ltd.
👉🏻 Furthermore, Sokin is set to enable full e-commerce payments for the first time in the metaverse.
🪙 Crypto – DBS Bank is working on expanding its cryptocurrency exchange beyond its current investor base of institutional clients.
🧐 Insights: One of the key areas for entrepreneurial kids is making money by trading crypto. More than 1.33 million of the UK’s children have invested in cryptocurrency, according to a new report from teen neobank GoHenry.
💼 Opportunities:
- Wellstreet has pulled together a host of leading Nordic bankers and fintech players for a new $40 million fintech fund.
- Stronghold has launched Stronghold Capitalto invest $100 Million in pioneering companies and funds across three core areas: overlooked and underrepresented founders and fund managers, the payments and fintech ecosystem, and the Web3 and blockchain ecosystem.
- Also, there’s a key event for CEOs and CFOs looking to expand the business. Hear Hristo Borisov, CEO and co-founder at Payhawk - The financial system of tomorrow, and Andrew Wolfin, Partner at Mishcon de Reya LLP share their first-hand experience of setting up a UK entity, and their top practices to follow for scaling up your business finances. The webinar, Scaling into the UK, will be held on Wednesday, February 23rd, 2022.
☕️ Events? What key role does AI play in everything from fraud detection and financial inclusion to ensuring a superior customer experience? Join Provenir for an exciting panel discussion where they'll talk with the key industry experts Pablo Dávalos, Samer Atassi, Alejandro Correa Bahnsen, PhD, Jose Luis Vargas Favero, and Fabiola Seminario.
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💫 News Highlight: J.P. Morgan said it has become the first lender to arrive in the metaverse, having opened a lounge in Decentraland, a virtual world based on blockchain technology.
⚡ Just in Zand, the UAE's first digital bank that will cater to retail and corporate clients, has unveiled new international and local shareholders as it prepares for an “imminent launch” in the country.
⭐ Also, Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, is making a $200 million strategic investment in Forbes, the 104-year-old magazine and digital publisher, CNBC has learned.
👉🏻 Furthermore, According to C-Innov, in 2021, despite the pandemic’s initial blow to the stock market, Digital Banks continued to attract investors, acquire funding, increase their customer base, diversify revenue streams, and reach a profit to boot.
🪙 Crypto – EverUp is currently raising capital to launch the UK’s first crypto gamified rewards debit card – a particularly timely proposition as consumer awareness of and interest in crypto trading peaked at 78% in 2021, up from 42% in 2019 and 73% in 2020.
🧐 Insights: According to an article by Flagship Advisory Partners, despite its recent dip, 2021 was a breakthrough year for crypto, with its market capitalization rising by 188% to reach ~$3 trillion in November 2021. Crypto’s profile and growth to date has derived from its utility as a store of value, but we are finally starting to see its potential as a ‘medium of exchange’.
🤝 M&As:
- M2P Fintech, a Chennai-based application programming interface (API) infrastructure company, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire BSG ITSOFT, a leading provider of core banking solutions.
- Financial technology leader FIS announces it has enhanced its embedded payments strategy with the acquisition of Atlanta-based, Payrix.
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💫 News Highlight: African Fintech Flutterwave raised $250 million in a Series D round that tripled the company’s valuation to over $3 billion in just twelve months.
⚡ Just in Danish challenger bank Lunar has added a bit of Hollywood glamour to its investor roster with Will Ferrell backing the fintech.
⭐ Also, The organization, Black Angel Group, now features 35 Black leaders and operators inside of Alphabet, including from Google, GV, CapitalG, YouTube and Gradient Ventures. Their primary focus is “figuring out the best deals in order to create generational wealth” for its members.
👉🏻 Furthermore, After surveying 2,000 pay later shoppers, Barclays found 30 per cent were overwhelmed by the amount of buy now, pay later bills they had racked up. Meanwhile, 25 per cent were concerned about their ability to repay the buy now, pay later bills coming in.
🧐 Insights: In an article in Financial IT, Kathy Mitchell-Stares, Executive Vice President, North America, for Provenir, provides insight on the critical role alternative data plays in both BNPL and financial inclusion, and why data, AI and real-time decisioning will be key areas of investment in 2022.
🤝 M&As: MoneyGram International has inked a definitive agreement to be acquired by private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC (MDP) in an all-cash deal worth around $1.8 billion.
🚢 Partnerships - São Paulo-based Banco Itaú Private Bank International has partnered with US paytech Rêv Worldwide to release a multi-currency digital wallet for its international private banking customers.
💰 Funding rounds & investments:
- Funding Societies | Modalku Group, a Southeast Asian SME digital financing platform which goes by Modalku in Indonesia, announced that it has raised US$144 million in an oversubscribed Series C+ equity round.
- Stitch has sealed a $21 million Series A funding round led by The Spruce House Partnership, with investments from TrueLayer and PayPal Ventures among others.
- delt.ai (YC W20) announces it is expected to raise the equivalent of $25M in debt financing through Truefit, a DeFi lending platform designed by TrustToken, to fund its corporate credit lines in 2022.
- Happy Money announced it has closed a Series D-1 capital raise to accelerate its growth and empower more people to use money as a tool for happiness.
- Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is a key investor in a new digital bank called D360, being established in the kingdom with a capital of 1.65 billion riyals ($440 million).
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💫 News Highlight: Chime was the most downloaded US mobile banking app in 2021, with 12.8 million downloads, up 16% from 2020.
⚡ Just in 11Onze became the first community fintech in Europe, to introduce a new tool to combat inflation and the accompanying loss of purchasing power: investing in gold bullion.
⭐ Also, ComplyAdvantage announced that Novo has selected the company’s award-winning Transaction Monitoring solution.
👉🏻 Furthermore, MoneyHash gets $3M to build a super-API for payment operations in Africa. MoneyHash sits on top of payment providers and offers its infrastructure as an extension of companies’ product backend.
🪙 Crypto – Dara, Uber CEO said that Uber users will be allowed to pay fares in digital assets without disclosing an exact date. He added that there are “conversations all the time” about cryptocurrencies within the firm.
🧐 Insights: Robinhood’s path to go global is likely through crypto, says chief brokerage officer Steve Quirk.
💰 Funding rounds & investments:
- Neo.Tax announced that it has raised $10 million in a Series A funding round led by Infinity Ventures.
- Micruity Inc., a San Francisco, CA-based platform that powers annuities inside 401(k) plans, closed $5.1M in seed financing.
-
Novus has closed its crowdfunding round after reaching a total of over $3 million, successfully beating its initial target of $1.2 million by over 250%.
-
According to the BlackFin Tech overview by Romain Grimal, last week, an impressive €716m was raised across 17 deals.
🪂 New Launches & Features: Split Payments is now available in the US on iOS and Android phones through the chat app Messenger.
😎 Movers & Shakers: Money management app Plum has appointed a former Monzo Bank and Deliveroo executive (Phu Ly) to oversee its product offering as it launches a US stocks investment product.
💼 Opportunities: H20 Capital Innovation (H20) aims to be the go-to fund for pre-seed investments in Latin America.
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💫 News Highlight: BBVA has reached an agreement to invest $300 million (about €263 million¹) in Neon, a Brazilian digital bank founded in 2016 that aims to improve access to financial services for individuals, self-employed and small businesses in its country.
⚡ Just in Apple announced the new Tap to Pay feature for the iPhone. This feature enables millions of Apple Pay merchants to easily facilitate transactions using a simple tap regardless of the payment method.
⭐ Also, Singtel has entered an exclusive partnership with Zip, a financial services company, to add a Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) service on their Dash app, a non-banking mobile wallet.
👉🏻 Furthermore, Mexican investment platform Flink México will begin operating in Colombia in June or July as part of its Latin America expansion plan, Chief Executive Sergio Jimenez Amozurrutia said on Thursday.
🚢 Partnerships - Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s largest bank by total assets and one of Europe’s most profitable and sustainable financial institutions, has selected Thought Machine, the UK-headquartered core banking technology company, to power its new digital banking platform.
💰 Funding rounds & investments:
- Banked raised a $20 million Series A funding round led by Bank of America and Edenred Capital Partners.
- Stitch has raised $21 million in Series A funding. This news follows the $4 million Stitch raised out of stealth in February 2021, a prequel to the $2 million extension round it secured four months ago, bringing its seed round to $6 million.
🪂 New Launches & Features: Juni, the financial companion for e-commerce entrepreneurs, launched its new Visa credit card in the UK.
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💫 News Highlight: Revoluthas been granted an Australian Credit Licenceby ASIC to offer credit and personal lending products to the Australian market.
⚡ Just in
Wahed Invest was charged on Thursday by The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US for making misleading statements, breaching its fiduciary duty, and for compliance failures related to its Shariah advisory business.
⭐ Also,
-The Financial Conduct Authority has ordered Freetrade to take down all of its social media influencer posts over concerns that they could tempt vulnerable people into making unwise investments.
-Adyen saw a 70% growth in transactions last year.
👉🏻 Furthermore,
Affirm stock dropped 21% to a share price of $58.68.
🧐 Insights:
The year 2022 seems to be an explosive one for decentralized digital assets to make their mark and transform the way currency is accessed and owned.
🪙 Crypto –
-US authorities have arrested two people and seized $3.6 billion worth of bitcoin in relation to the 2016 hack of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.
-KPMG in Canada has completed an allocation of cryptoassets to its corporate treasury.
-CoinDCX has amassed a total of ten million active users on its platform.
🪙 💰 Crypto funding rounds -
-Newton.cocompleted a (CAD$25 million) Series B funding round.
-OpenNoderaised $20 million in Series A financing.
🚢 Partnerships –
-Tink has partnered with subscription technology platform Youtility.
-Tillfulteamed up with Highnote and Mastercard to launch a credit card.
💰 Funding rounds & investments:
-Australia’s big four banks have joined a further $25 million funding round in Slyp.
-Mos has raised a $40M Series B at a $400M valuation.
-Sardineraised $19.5 million in a Series A funding round.
-Pyypl closed a US$ 11 million series A financing round .
-Brick - Financial APIraised $8.5 million of funding in a Seed investment round.
-Vitesse PSP Limited raised $26 million in Series B.
-Almaclosed a $130 million Series C round (€115 million). It has also raised $109 million (€95 million) in debt financing.
🪂 New Launches & Features:
-WealthKernellaunched Instant Matching Deposits powered by ClearBank.
-Bitsolaunched in Colombia.
-Emerchantpaynow provides local payments acceptance for cross-border merchants and partners in eight Latin America countries.
-American Express launched American ExpressRewards Checking, the company’s first all-digital consumer checking account.
-A new digital banking platform in The UAE will be called Wio.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Mercuryo. With the help of their cryptopowered toolbox, Mercuryo enables companies to take advantage of both fiat and crypto worlds and provide innovative payment solutions for end-customers.
💫 News Highlight: Swedish payments firm Klarna Bank AB is weighing plans to raise new money in a funding round that would cement its status as Europe’s most valuable startup.
The Stockholm-based company is likely to attract sovereign wealth and pension funds as new investors. Klarna could potentially fetch a valuation of roughly $50 billion to $60 billion based on preliminary estimates.
⚡ Just in El Salvador's state-backed bitcoin wallet that went live in September, Chivo wallet, keeps breaking and users are seeking answers.
⭐ Also, Sequoia Capital made a big bet on Web3.0, leading a $450 million dollar investment in Polygon blockchain.
👉🏻 Furthermore, Tonik the parent company of Tonik Digital Bankin the Philippines, announced that it closed a $131 million dollar Series B round of equity funding.
🪙 Crypto
-Wirex, a leading digital payments platform, has launched its services in the US, giving millions of people more affordable, easy and secure access to crypto and fiat currencies in everyday life.
-Financial technology leader Worldpay from FIS® has partnered with Crypto.com, the world’s fastest growing cryptocurrency platform, to be a global validator and operator for the Crypto.org Chain.
🤝 M&As:
-Commonwealth Bank of Australia announced that it has acquired a 20% stake in Brisbane-based fintech Paypa Plane.
-Indian payment gateway provider Razorpay announced its first international expansion into Southeast Asia with the acquisition of a majority stake in Curlec, a Malaysian payments firm.
🚢 Partnerships -
- Mastercard and Egyptian fintech Kashat have signed a five-year agreement that will digitize the onboarding, disbursement, and collection processes for MENA’s first nano financial service provider.
- DNA Payments Group and Verifone are proud to announce an essential partnership championing innovation and reliability within the payments sector.
- Fiserv, Inc. announced the expansion of its relationship with UnionPay International, a wholly owned subsidiary of China UnionPay, one of the world’s largest payment networks.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Payhawk. Payhawk is the most efficient credit card backed by powerful financial software to help companies stay in control of their spend. Try efficient, paperless, compliant spending today.
💫 News Highlight: Sokin has partnered with Visa as the London-based fintech prepares to roll-out its inclusive Global Currency Account and debit cards across Asia Pacific.
⚡ Just in Discovery Limited has launched its comprehensive, real-time forex capability on the Discovery Bank app that gives access to immediate foreign currency transactions.
👉🏻 Furthermore, LuLu International Exchange has entered a strategic collaboration with Network International, and Visa, to enable users to remit digitally on the LuLu Money payments app using Visa debit cards.
🪙 Crypto - Chip is now expanding its offer crypto exposure to its customers. It comes in the form of a Crypto Companies fund, managed by @Invesco US, which has been added to Chip’s platform today and is available for ChipX customers who pay £3/month.
🤝 M&As: Equitable bank entered into a share purchase agreement to acquire @SaskCentral's 84% common share equity interest in @Concentra, as well as support agreements with additional Concentra shareholders representing a majority of the remaining 16%.
💰 Funding rounds & investments:
-
British payments company GoCardless has just raised a $312m Series G funding round. That makes it the UK’s 22nd fintech unicorn — and the first to join the UK fintech unicorn club this year.
-
Rewire, an Israeli financial services platform for migrant workers, has secured a $25 million strategic investment to bring insurance products to its users.
🪂 New Launches & Features:
A new neobank designed specifically for couples is set to launch in India. Named Coupl, the digital bank allows users to set up joint accounts and manage their money together, including savings, expenses, and investments.
This podcast episode is sponsored by PayRetailers. By having PayRetailers as a partner, you can now start your own local payment strategy in Latin America with more than 250 payment methods with complete security. Get a wider reach, eliminate cross-border payment complexities, and minimize operational costs. Start today!
💫 News Highlight: @DriveWealth is getting into cryptocurrency trading. The start-up is acquiring a crypto firm and launching two subsidiaries to handle and execute trades
⚡ Just in @Tide’s Open Access service initiative exceeds expectations as 1,000 business customers signed up within just a few weeks.
⭐ Also, E-money institution @FROST has become a principal member of @Visa to further its mission of helping working professionals conquer their finances.
🪙 Crypto - @Bitso, a cryptocurrency platform in Latin America with more than 4 million users, has announced the first transfer of a female player through the use of cryptocurrency.
🤝 M&As: @Fiserv has struck a deal to acquire cloud-based core banking player @Finxact for around $650 million.
🚢 Partnerships - @Newt Corporation announced that it has entered into a service agreement with @Belvo, Open Banking API Platform to service its lending-as-a-service offering across North America.
💰 Funding rounds & investments:
-@ICHI raised $3.5 million in new funding to empower any crypto project with community controlled DeFi capabilities that keep value locked in their community.
-@Bold, a technology company working to enable financial access to electronic payments in Colombia, has raised $55 million in a Series B funding round led by @Tiger Global Management.
-@Streetbeat announced that it has closed $10M in seed funding led by @TTV Capital with additional backing from investors.
-@Vivid Money, a challenger bank out of Berlin has raised €100 million, in a round of funding led by @Greenoaks Capital.
Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by MoneyLion. MoneyLion provides an all-in-one mobile banking experience. You choose the tools you need when you need them — and they complement the financial accounts you already have. They’ll help you decide what’s right for you, but the choice is always yours.
💫 News Highlight: Mode Global Holdings PLC announces it has entered into a partnership with Heroes, which will enable employees of the firm to take some of their monthly salary in Bitcoin.
⚡ Just in Mos is expanding into a challenger bank. It’s an evolution from Mos as an edtech business built to help students navigate their way through applying and attending college into a fintech that can support the same user base through all of life’s similarly complicated demands.
🪙 Crypto - AstroPay has launched its cryptocurrency offering, giving those who want to explore the world of digital assets the option to buy and sell cryptocurrencies on its app and web app
💰 Funding rounds & investments:
-
British FinTech Railsbank is eyeing up ‘unicorn’ status as it looks to raise $100m funding that would value the firm at over $1bn, according to news reports.
-
Wayflyer announces its Series B funding round of $150m. The raise brings Wayflyer’s post-money valuation to $1.6bn, making it only Ireland’s 6th unicorn.
-
Flexio, a B2B payments platform serving companies in Latin America, has raised $3 million in seed funding.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Fintech Meetup. Fintech Meetup Is Almost Here! More than 1,000+ companies have signed up to Fintech Meetup! Prices go up on Friday–so Get Your Ticket Now!
💫 News Highlight: Jar raised $32 million in its Series A financing round, just months after securing its seed funding.
⚡ Just in Thought Machine has signed its second community bank in the US, Mascoma Bank.
⭐ Also, Robinhood’s losses widened substantially in Q4 as tumbling average user spend hurt trading.
👉🏻 Furthermore, Monument is increasing its headline rate to a huge 2.2 percent. That’s on its 5-year Fixed Term account, up from the 2.05 percent it previously offered, with no changes to its other accounts.
🪙 Crypto - Bakkt Holdings announced that Hanover Community Bank will join its early adopter program to connect to Bakkt’s cryptocurrency platform.
🚢 Partnerships - Cross River Bank is joining forces with fintech PayTile to deliver a peer-to-peer payments app that uses geo-location technology.
💰 Funding rounds & investments:
-Tribal Credit has raised $60 million in a Series B funding round led by SoftBank Group Corp. Latin America Fund, with participation from Coinbase Ventures.
-R2 announced on Thursday that it has raised a $5.9 million Seed round led by General Catalyst.
-Billhop AB announced it has raised €10.5 million, led by EQT Ventures with participation from Element Ventures.
-Founders Fund has led new investment in Ramp, at an $8 billion valuation, including the investment.
🪂 New Launches & Features:
Consumers will now be able to easily find sustainable options to shop in the Klarna app.
Paysend is expanding its peer-to-peer money transfer services globally.
Upgrade, Inc., has added a new feature: Shopping.
Sberbank has rolled out a service that lets customers send money to Alipay wallets in China using phone numbers.
Novo launched the Novo Virtual Card to provide small businesses with a fast, safe payment method that’s available from the moment they fund their Novo account.
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💫 News Highlight: PayPal CFO John Rainey disclosed that 4.5 million accounts had been shut down after “bad actors” took advantage of incentives and rewards programs, resulting in shares falling by 25%.
⚡ Just in Sokin is the latest UK fintech to embark on a mission to corner the US market.
⭐ Also, Masthaven Bank is withdrawing from the UK banking market.
👉🏻 Furthermore, Americans can now download the Monzo app and set up an account within 10 minutes, getting access to money management features and a contactless debit card.
🪙 Crypto - Bahrain-headquartered CoinMENAobtained a second cryptocurrency license from the European Union
🤝 M&As: Walmart has upped the ante on its SuperApp ambitions, with the recent acquisitions of two FinTechs –Ever Responsible Finance and One Finance
🚢 Partnerships -
- dLocal announced its expanded partnership with Rappi, a Colombian multi-vertical company headquartered in Bogotá, and with main offices in São Paulo and Mexico City.
- SumUp and PrestaShop announced a partnership that will give hundreds of thousands of merchants on the PrestaShop platform access to SumUp’s extensive product suite of tailor-made business tools.
- Rewire has partnered with Qover – a leading InsurTech in seamless embedded insurance solutions.
💰 Funding rounds & investments:
- Last week, €344m was raised across 17 FinTech deals. Geography-wise, a lot of ground was covered, however, most of the deals came from France.
- Seven Seven Six announced that it has closed on $500 million across two vehicles for its second fund.
🪂 New Launches & Features:
- Qatar Islamic Bank has launched a limited-edition FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Visa Signature credit card, Visa debit card, and Visa prepaid card.
- RiverBank launched a fully digital loan application for advisors and intermediaries in the professional real estate sector.
😎 Movers & Shakers: Kueski announced the appointment of Krishna Venkatraman as the company's chief data officer.
💼 Opportunities: Monzo Bank will allow its employees to take three months’ paid leave as it joins a growing number of businesses that are overhauling their working practices to become more flexible after the Covid-19 crisis.
💫 News Highlight: Mozper launched in Brazil, together with Visa. Mozper helps parents in Latin America educate their children to make smart and responsible financial decisions.
⚡ Just in Biller, an AI-driven BNPL company focused on business invoices, is set to join the Banking Circleecosystem of financial services and applications. Biller will operate as an independent sister company in the Banking Circle ecosystem
⭐ Also, Revolut will offer personal loans in Ireland. The company has grown its user base to 1.7 million and employs over 100 people there. Revolut says other lending products, such as credit cards, will follow later this year.
👉🏻 Furthermore, Revolut has moved into pet insurance in the UK. Revolut's Pet insurance will initially offer protection for cats and dogs. It will offer protection from vet costs and users will be offered round-the-clock free access to an online vet.
🪙 Crypto – DOGECOIN millionaire Glauber Contessoto said in a tweet that a Visa-based Dogecard will soon be unveiled.
🤝 M&As:
- DNA Payments Group is continuing its UK growth strategy by acquiring Kwalitas Ltd, a payment solutions provider based in Peterborough.
- Paysafe Group announced the completion of its SafetyPay acquisition.
🚢 Partnerships –
- Modulr announced a partnership with Ripple, the leader in enterprise blockchain and crypto solutions, to enable seamless payments into the UK and Europe.
- Atom bank is partnering with Sesame Bankhall Group to provide increased accessibility for those applying for mortgages through Sesame’s brokers.
💰 Funding rounds & investments:
- Rob Moffat, a partner at Balderton Capital, says fintech valuations are “going to be lower” and “late-stage fundraising is going to be harder” over the next few months amid market turmoil
- According to Dealroom.co data, last year Swiss fintech companies raised a total of US$530 million, up 129% from 2020.
- Instant has just taken claim to Australia’s largest ever pre-seed funding round, with a score of $2.2 million.
- Toronto-based KOHO has secured $210 million in a Series D financing round.
Berlin-based Circula picked up a 12 million euros in Series A funding.
- Tilo has raised 1.200 million euros in pre-seed funding led by European VC Peak Capital.
- Crypto venture firm Paradigm led a $109 million Series B investment in Phantom, CEO Brandon Millman said.
🪂 New Launches & Features:
- Simpler wants to bring "one-click checkout" payments to Europe, hoping to beat giant overseas rivals like Fast and Bolt to the mark.
- T-Mobile announced the True Name® by Mastercard® for T-Mobile MONEY debit card. Enabling all customers, including transgender and non-binary customers, to be their authentic self with their chosen name on their T-Mobile MONEY debit card.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Fintech Meetup. Fintech Meetup Is Almost Here! Only 30 Days Left To Get Your Ticket! The event will be Virtual, March 22nd to the 24th. Discounted startup rates are available for qualifying companies.
💫 News Highlight: Ryan Breslow, founder of Bolt, said he’s stepping down as chief executive officer, two weeks after securing an $11 billion valuation for the business. Breslow will become executive chairman, and Maju Kuruvilla, a 44-year-old Bolt executive and a former vice president at Amazon.com Inc., will be promoted to CEO. Breslow said in an interview that this was planned weeks ago before the latest financing was completed.
⚡ Just in Groupon shares are getting a huge lift from an apparently substantial appreciation of the company’s stake in the U.K.-based payments company SumUp.
⭐ Also, Subaio chose European open banking leader, Aiia, a Mastercard company, to enable a smarter way for assessing creditworthiness through Subaio’s new white-label offering.
👉🏻 Furthermore: MEDICI Global has identified PayPal, Square, Razorpay, Adyen, and Stripe as the largest payment gateways based on their Total Payment Volume.
🤝 M&As:
Block has completed its $29bn acquisition of ‘buy now, pay later firm Afterpay. Under the deal, first announced back in August 2021, Block - which is headed by the Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and owns the Square and Cash apps - has acquired all of the issued shares in Afterpay.
UniCredit will continue to study potential mergers and acquisitions after deciding against a Russian deal due to geopolitical risks but won’t stray from plans to return billions in capital to shareholders.
💰 Funding rounds & investments:
Pennylane raised $57 million (€50 million) in Series B funding. The round was led by existing investors Sequoia Capital, Global Founders Capital, and Partech.
Bamboo raised $15 million in a new financing round.
Dozens of tech executives, including the founders of Klarna, Skype, Delivery Hero, and Flutterwave, have launched a $ 200 million venture capital fund aimed at finding the next $ 1 billion or more in Africa
💼 Opportunities: Matt Cheung, a serial entrepreneur in the financial services sector, recommends recent graduates to broaden their job search. His advice is to not just look for graduate jobs in the big banks when a faster-growing and more exciting alternative is on offer.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Privacy Lock. Privacy Lock sets the standard for financial service providers in data privacy compliance.
Protect your business and your customers today. Visit www.pentaprivacylock.com
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Solarisbank AG and Contis Group Ltd have brought their previously formed partnership to completion. The firms have decided to enter into a definitive business combination agreement. Contis and Solarisbank will now operate as a joint entity, bringing an unrivaled Banking-as-a-Service offer to the European market.
JUST IN:
Monzo Bank failed to publish the MMC in its Fee Information document between 25 October 2018 - 19 November 2021. Monzo has taken steps to end the breach and prevent a recurrence.
ALSO:
Funding accelerated during 2021. Banking and lending tech raised a total of $40 billion across 1,061 deals, representing here around 30% of total FinTech funding, almost as much as the previous three years, combined.
WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (or SEC) approved the country's 17th stock exchange, a subsidiary of Boston-based BOX Exchange LLC, which will incorporate blockchain technology.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
MyCointainer raised $6 million in a Seed Round. The event was led by Mapleblock Capital and co-led by Shima Capital & Bybit - one of the dominant cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide
Onramper raised $6 million in seed funding to accelerate the product roadmap and quadruple headcount over the next six months
OZÉ, a Ghanaian fintech startup that provides digital recordkeeping tools with embedded finance products, has raised a $3 million pre-Series A round
Kilde Financial Technologies closed a pre-Seed funding round of US$350,000 bringing its total funding to date to US$830,000.
NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.
Fintech start-up destream is launching a bank card for streamers and internet content creators.
AS FOR OPPORTUNITIES
Monzo Bank is to launch an investment and wealth business and is recruiting for an executive to head up the unit.
Worldline is to hire more than 5000 staff over the next few months to cement its position as a global paytech.
Welcome to the inaugural episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
This podcast episode is sponsored by Fintech Meetup. Fintech Meetup Is Almost Here! Only 30 Days Left To Get Your Ticket! The event will be Virtual, March 22nd to the 24th. Discounted startup rates are available for qualifying companies.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Twitter was abuzz over a long thread written on Monday by Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow, who claimed that Stripe and Y Combinator are “mob bosses,” using “every power move imaginable” to block competitors from becoming successful.
JUST IN:
Solarisbank AG and Contis have completed their previously disclosed partnership, bringing their combined revenue to €100 million.
ALSO:
Revolut announced that U.S. customers can transfer money to Mexican bank accounts. The service will be offered free of a fee and would be done in up to 30 minutes.
FURTHERMORE,
Mastercard beat quarterly profit expectations on Thursday as domestic spending through its cards rose and cross-border volumes grew following an uptick in international travel.
Also on Thursday, Visa stated in an earnings call that its customers made $2.5 billion in payments using its crypto-linked cards during the first fiscal quarter of 2022.
Finally, during American Express’ Q4 2021 earnings call on Tuesday, CFO Jeffrey Campbell made clear that a crypto-linked card isn’t in the near future.
In order to provide you with easily digestible news updates, I will soon launch a daily FinTech News podcast! The first of its kind.
I’m always looking for new ways to inform my network. I think this podcast does the job of getting you up to speed on what’s going on in the FinTech space, at the start of your workday.
So, I would really appreciate it if you sign up here, so I can send you a notification once the first episode is live.