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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FinTech: Amount And Marqeta Collaborate To Help Banks Launch A BNPL Product
Amount offers banks saddled with legacy technologies a wide range of digital, white label products such as for omnichannel digital account opening, fraud prevention, identity verification, loans, deposits, and credit cards. The firm announced a partnership with card issuing platform Marqeta (NASDAQ: MQ) to help banks compete in the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) sector, which has been taken over worldwide by fintechs such as Klarna, Afterpay (ASX: APT) and PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL).
FinTech: Marqeta, Branch And Uber Freight Collaborate On Payments To Transporters
Card issuing platform Marqeta and digital wallet Branch, together with Uber Freight, have devised a system to speed up payments to Uber Freight carriers. Compared to the traditional routing of payments through the accounts payable process, which pays after 30 days or more, carriers can now expect payment within two hours of approved proof of delivery.
FinTech: BNPL For Businesses Provider Billie Scores $100M Series C Funding
Billie, a fintech targeting its BNPL offering at the B2B market, announced today its $100 million Series C raise led by Dawn Capital, and joined by Klarna and Tencent, alongside existing investors Creandum, Speedinvest, Picus and GFC. At $640 million, the startup succeeded in quadrupling its valuation over a previous Series B round that raised $35 million in 2019.
FinTech: Brex Wins ‘Decacorn’ Badge, Scores $300M Raise
Anonymous sources have confirmed to TechCrunch that fintech Brex has signed off on a term sheet for a $300 million fundraise led by Greenoaks and joined by existing investors. The sources said San Francisco-based Brex was valued at $12.3 billion after investors were impressed with its business momentum given that the fintech is expected to double its turnover this year.
FinTech: Wells Fargo Invests $10M In Cloud Payments Provider Volante
Volante Capital, a provider of cloud payment services and financial messaging, announced Wednesday an investment of $10 million by Wells Fargo Strategic Capital. Wells Fargo joins Wavecrest Growth Partners, BNY Mellon, Citi Ventures, PostePay and Visa Inc, the investors in Volante’s previous $35 million round held in August 2020.
FinTech: PayPal Looking To Acquire Pinterest At $70 Per Share
PayPal Inc (NASDAQ: PYPL) sounded out Pinterest (NYSE: PINS) recently on a takeover, Bloomberg reported. The two companies are said to have considered a potential price of $70 per listed Class A share.
Venture Capital: News From All Over
UP.Partners, a transportation-focused venture firm backed by investors including Alaska Air Group, ARK Invest Founder and CEO Cathie Wood, and Toyota subsidiary Woven Capital, announced its close of the inaugural $230 million early stage venture capital fund.
FinTech: German Fintech And Banking Challenger N26 Raises $900M At $9B Valuation
N26 GmbH, the German fintech that is challenging banks on their turf, announced Monday a raise of over $900 million in a round led by Third Point Ventures and Coatue Management, with participation by Dragoneer Investment Group as well as existing N26 investors. N26 said the “record-breaking” round valued it at more than $9 billion, placing it within the top 20 global fintechs, and the most valuable one in Germany.
FinTech: Virgin Money Offers Free ESG-Tracking App And Sustainability Loans To UK Businesses
The Virgin Money Sustainability Business Coach is a free app available to all UK businesses, not just Virgin Money customers, designed to help them with sustainability goals by measuring, tracking, and offering guidance on improving their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) credentials.
FinTech: AeroPay And Jane Tie-Up To Offer Online Payments For Cannabis
AeroPay and Jane Technologies announced Thursday a partnership to enable online payments via AeroPay across 36 U.S. state markets where cannabis is legal. More than 2,100 dispensaries and 300 companies sell through Jane’s online platform.
FinTech: Standard Chartered Forays Into Asian BNPL With Atome
Standard Chartered Bank (LON: STAN) has dipped its toes into Asian BNPL waters and signed a 10-year collaboration on financial services with Singapore’s Atome Financial, a unit of the Advance Intelligence Group. The Bank is making an equity investment in Atome, a BNPL platform focused on markets in Southeast Asia, as well as in Indonesian digital lending platform Kredit Pintar. It will also provide $500 million in financing to Atome.
FinTech: Lendable Launches $100M Fintech Fund For MSMEs In Emerging And Frontier Countries
Lendable Inc, a fintech that provides credit to fintechs in emerging markets, announced Tuesday the launch of a $100 million closed-ended fund focused on emerging and frontier market fintech investments. The fund would provide credit to African and Asian fintech companies, who in turn offer fair credit facilities to over 150,000 Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
FinTech: Yieldstreet Offers Venture Capital Opportunities To Retail Investors
Digital alternative investment platform Yieldstreet announced Thursday the launch of its new venture capital focused platform that allows retail investors exposure to private companies and start-ups that are disrupting existing sectors of creating entirely new ones. The move reflects the increasing demand for alternative investments to be made available easily to retail investors. Returns on venture capital in 2020 were more than 50% and have averaged 32% over the past 25 calendar years.
FinTech: BNPL Tie-Ups Are The Flavor Of The Season – Affirm Shares Flare 20% After Target Deal
USA Today broke the story Wednesday that Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) is offering its shoppers instalment payment (BNPL) options from Affirm (NYSE: AFRM) and Sezzle (ASX: SZL) ahead of the holiday season.
FinTech: Walmart Has Saved Customers $2.4B On Money Transfers Since 2014
Walmart (NYSE: WMT) launched a Walmart2Walmart money transfer service back in 2014. The service – 50% cheaper than competitors – was a low-cost, white label money transfer service that later forced rivals to lower their remittance fees. The retailer announced today that it has saved customers more than $2.4 billion in fees till date, and more than $6 billion if one included the savings at its competitors through Walmart’s price actions.
FinTech: Timelio Raises $270M Debt Warchest To Scale Invoice Funding
Melbourne-based fintech Timelio has raised a $270 million warehouse funding facility led by Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) as the senior lender. The facility allows Timelio to scale funding to businesses in need of cash flow, and also lower its overall cost of financing.
FinTech: Validity Finance, A Legal Dispute Funder And Alternative Asset Manager, Raises $70M
Validity Finance is a commercial litigation finance company with nearly $150 million of assets under management. The company has raised a new managed “sidecar” fund of $70 million from a major family office, its existing private equity investors as well as other third-party investors.
FinTech: Construction Fintech Built Technologies Lands $125M In TCV-Led Round
Built Technologies, a fintech focused on construction finance, has raised $125 million in a round led by TCV with Brookfield Technology Partners, 9Yards Capital, HighSage Ventures and XYZ Venture Capital participating. Existing investors including Lee Fixel’s Addition, Fifth Wall and Index Ventures also chipped in.
FinTech: New, Innovative BNPL Solutions
The global craze for buy-now-pay-later has triggered a chain of deal-making from Square-Afterpay, Affirm-Amazon to PayPal-Paidy. On Tuesday, card giant Mastercard (NYSE: MA) announced its “Installments” BNPL solution. So, BNPL is breaking out, and here are some interesting variations on the theme.
FinTech: Mastercard Enters BNPL Fray With ‘Installments’ Product
Credit cards have a new rival in BNPL, and on Tuesday, global card giant Mastercard announced its own instalments product for the U.S., Australian and U.K. markets. BNPL has become a highly competitive fintech sector marked by extensive deal-making between large companies eager to muscle into the space.
Fintech: Oraan, Pakistan’s First Women-Led, Women-First Fintech Startup, Raises $3M
Oraan, which is on a mission to make money simple for everyone, especially women, announced the raise of a $3 million seed round co-led by Zayn Capital and Wavemaker Partners, with participation from Resolution Ventures, i2i Ventures, Hustle Fund, Haitou Global and Plug and Play.
FinTech: UK-Based Prodigy Finance Lands $750M To Make Student Loans
Prodigy Finance has struck a deal with CPP Investments for funding of $500 million to enable loans to students in new countries including China, Bangladesh and Chile. Applications for loans from international students are up 50% year-on-year. The funding will be offered via CPPIB Credit Investments Inc., CPP’s wholly owned subsidiary.
Alternative Investments/FinTech: Roundhill To Launch ETF For The “Digital Payment Universe”
Roundhill Investments will soon launch the Roundhill Digital Payments ETF (PAYY) which will invest in companies that are a part of the so-called “digital-payment universe” as defined by the Roundhill Digital Payments Leaders Index.
FinTech: The Klarna-Vivid Seats Tie-Up To Offer Event Tickets On ‘Pay Later’ Basis
Global fintech Klarna and event tickets platform Vivid Seats today announced a partnership to offer a flexible payment facility at checkout to fans buying tickets. The companies are looking forward to a revival in demand for tickets to live, in-person sporting, concert, and entertainment events. A Klarna survey found that 69% of consumers plan to attend in-person events in the next six months and 70% are willing to spend more now than they would have prior to the pandemic to have a memorable in-person entertainment experience.