FinTech
Digital payments alone could become a $100 trillion industry, according to PwC. And that’s just one component of the global Fintech industry. This channel tackles the lenders and buyers, the obstacles and achievements, and the trends and trend makers leading the ongoing technological evolution in global finance.
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Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD) has launched its Crypto app in the European Union (EU), allowing eligible customers to engage in crypto trading with the added incentive of earning Bitcoin rewards. Customers stand to receive up to 1 BTC as a reward when signing up and can earn an additional 1 BTC for each successful referral. The platform claims to be the sole custodial crypto platform in the EU offering customers a percentage of their trading volume back every month, paid in Bitcoin.
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More Stories on FinTech
FinTech: Agrotoken Backs Its Visa Alliance With Blockchain For Agro-Focused Card
Agrotoken, which is developing a tokenized infrastructure for trading agrocommodities, announced Monday its partnership with Pomelo (a provider of technological infrastructure for financial services) and Algorand (a layer-1 blockchain) to develop a card for the agrocommodity sector. Agrotoken previously entered an alliance with Visa (NYSE: V) to create a payment method allowing agricultural producers to use their grains as a form of payment through a card.
FinTech: Klarna Raises $800M At Slashed Valuation To Pursue US Expansion
It’s a monster down round (one in which the startup is forced to accept a lower valuation than that in a previous round) for Klarna, showing how risk averse venture firms have become in an environment that punishes tech companies first and asks questions later. It is also a pointer to the slowing allure of buy-now-pay-later (BNPL), a fintech product that is Klarna’s bread and butter line. The fintech’s latest round received investment from existing investors including Sequoia, the founders, Bestseller, Silver Lake and Commonwealth Bank of Australia. New investors included the Mubadala Investment Company and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
Fintech: With The Plum Card, Users Can Set Their Budgets And Spending Limits
London-based fintech Plum, known for its personal finance app, has built these features into its debit card – the Plum Card. Said to be the company’s latest addition to its money management toolkit, it aims to give you better visibility and control over your finances.
FinTech: Payments Platform Wirex Offers Credit Against Collateral Of Your Crypto
Wirex, the London-headquartered digital payments platform which aims to blur the gap between traditional currencies and crypto, has announced Wirex Credit, a product that offers highly competitive interest rates and no origination fee for crypto-backed loans. Users can easily borrow, within the Wirex app, up to $100,000 in stablecoins, with a loan to value (LTV) of up to 80%.
FinTech: Fintechs In Kenya And India Under Regulatory Glare For Alleged Money Laundering
Alleged money laundering by fintechs has drawn regulatory wrath in unconnected matters in Kenya and India. A court in Kenya has frozen more than $40m in accounts belonging to Africa-focused fintech payments giant Flutterwave under the country’s anti-money laundering laws. In India, the country’s Enforcement Directorate attached 86.6 crore rupees (about $11 million) from various fintechs and finance companies under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
FinTech: Klarna’s Valuation Plunges To $6.5B In Talks To Raise $650M (WSJ)
Klarna, the Swedish fintech known for its buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) financial product, is negotiating to raise $650 million at a valuation of $6.5 billion, which is a very sharp comedown from the $45.6 billion tag in a June 2021 funding round led by SoftBank Group.
FinTech: Sam Bankman-Fried Of FTX Rejects Rumors He Is Acquiring Robinhood
FTX, the crypto platform owned by billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, has scotched media reports that it was pursuing a deal to acquire commission-free trading app Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD). Bloomberg said Monday that FTX was exploring whether it might be able to acquire Robinhood, quoting people with knowledge of the matter.
FinTech: PayPal Launches A Cashback Credit Card For Small Businesses
PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) has added yet another credit product geared towards making small businesses’ financial lives easier. The company has launched the PayPal Business Cashback Mastercard, its very first business credit card, said to be a simple way for businesses to pay for both everyday business expenses and those that may unexpectedly arise, while also earning cashback rewards on all purchases.
FinTech: Wheeling-Dealing In A Tough Market
Amidst fears of a recession, job cuts, and down rounds, news of M&A in fintech.
FinTech: Revolut Launches Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) In Ireland
Digital challenger bank Revolut has commenced the rollout of a BNPL offering in Ireland this week. It will compete with established BNPL players in the country such as Swedish fintech Klarna and Humm, owned by Australia’s Flexi-Fi. However, Revolut’s product comes with fees and a credit limit must be approved prior.
FinTech: Firing SMB Clients – Brex Apologizes
Last week, fintech Brex caused a stir by announcing it was discontinuing services to thousands of small and medium-sized businesses in favor of focusing on venture-backed or “professionally funded” and larger client accounts. The company likely received a lot of flak for the both the decision and the manner it was communicated; hence a conciliatory and apologetic blog post by Pedro Franceschi, founder and co-CEO, issued Thursday.
FinTech: Brex Dumps Thousands Of Small Business Customers In Rejig
Brex will now focus on venture-backed technology startups and larger companies. Brex, the Silicon Valley-based lender to small and medium sized businesses and startups, has announced a shift in its business priorities. It will now focus only on venture-backed technology startups and larger companies. Announced last week, the change puts tens of thousands of small…
FinTech: Klarna Facing A Down Round, May Raise $500M To $1B
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Klarna, the fintech company famous for its ‘buy-now-pay-later’ product, is in talks to raise funding at a valuation of $15 billion, nearly a third of its 2021 valuation of $46 billion.
FinTech: Mambu’s Technology To Drive Commonwealth Bank’s New Digital Mortgage
SaaS cloud banking platform Mambu will power the new, next-gen digital mortgage brand, Unloan, by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), the country’s largest bank. Unloan is a highly innovative product for the Australian mortgage industry launched in May 2022. It provides loan refinancing applications in as little as 10 minutes and a discount that increases every year for up to 30 years.
FinTech: PayPal Extends Its BNPL Scheme To Monthly Payments
PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) has launched “PayPal Pay Monthly,” its latest BNPL product, aimed at offering customers more choices and flexibility for making payments. The product is addressing the issue of credit card debt, now a serious problem amidst 40-year record inflation, rising interest rates and fears of an impending recession.
FinTech: Mambu To Facilitate Western Union’s Digital Banking In Europe
Mambu , the rapidly growing cloud banking platform, announced the integration of its solution into Western Union’s (NYSE: WU) next generation real time multi-currency digital wallet and digital banking platform in Europe.
FinTech: Citi Invests In Trade Finance And Working Capital Platform LiquidX
Citi (NYSE: C), one of the largest trade finance banks in the world has made a strategic investment in LiquidX, a global provider of working capital, trade finance and trade credit insurance solutions. The unspecified investment by Citi participated in a funding round led by Broadridge (NYSE: BR), an existing investor in LiquidX.
FinTech: Mastercard Enables NFT Commerce; Ties Up With NFT Marketplaces And Web3 Provider
Mastercard (NYSE: MA) announced June 9 its work-in-progress to expand NFT commerce through collaborations with NFT marketplaces including Immutable X, Candy Digital, The Sandbox, Mintable, Spring, Nifty Gateway, and Web3 infrastructure provider MoonPay.
FinTech: UK Digital Bank Zopa Hops On To The BNPL Bandwagon
Zopa, the digital challenger bank in the UK, has entered the country’s £6 billion buy now pay later market with a differentiated product that is geared towards regulatory compliance and responsible credit. Zopa’s BNPL will ensure that customers do not get into a debt trap by first running credit checks and affordability tests. To be offered in phases, Zopa’s BNPL suite will commence with a BNPL retail finance offering for merchants and be offered via B2BC partnerships.
Venture Capital: Insurtech Branch Lands $147M, Joins Unicorn Club
Home and auto insurance provider Branch uses data and technology to make its products better and more affordable for all. The insurtech announced today its $147 million Series C funding led by Watherford Capital with participation by new and existing investors including Acrew, AmFam Ventures, Anthemis, Gaingels, Greycroft, HSCM Ventures, Narya, SignalFire, and Tower IV.
FinTech: Apple Announces New Fintech-Like Features For Its Wallet App Including BNPL
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) announced new features that will soon be offered in its new iOS16 software, including one that takes the battle right into fintechs’ turf : Apple Pay Later, a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) product. A new payments system will also launch later this month that transfers money by tapping two iPhones.
Venture Capital: Ecuadorian Payments Platform Kushki Raises $100M In Extended Round, Turns Unicorn
Kushki, the Ecuadorian platform facilitating digital payments for LatAm businesses, announced it had raised $100 million in an extended Series B round at a valuation of $1.5 billion. New and existing investors including Kaszek Ventures, Clocktower Ventures, SoftBank Latin America Fund and DILA Capital among others participated in the round.
FinTech: Western Union’s European Digital Banking Platform To Use Marqeta For Offering Remittances Online
Marqeta’s (NASDAQ: MQ) card issuing platform will form the bedrock for Western Union’s (NYSE: WU) transformation of its European remittance services into a fully online mode. Western Union will integrate Marqeta into its “next-generation real-time multi-currency digital wallet and digital banking platform in Europe.”
FinTech: Visa and African Mobile Payment Processor M-Pesa Launch Virtual Payment Card
African mobile-phone based payment service M-Pesa and Visa (NYSE: V) announced on Thursday their launch of a virtual card that can be used to pay for shopping at 100 million foreign merchants including Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Alibaba (NYSE: BABA). The virtual card can also be used to pay for subscriptions such as Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and Spotify (NYSE: SPOT).