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: ‘Payday’ From Revolut Offers Advances Against Earned Wages In The UK
Revolut’s new Payday product allows employees to access upto half their earned wages on payment of a small fee starting at £1.50, thus avoiding access to expensive credit cards or usurious payday lenders.
FinTech: Sightline, Hopper, And Branch Snag Big Buck Funding Rounds
From casino and workforce payments to a travel fintech, funding rounds are in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Sightline Payments ($244 million), Branch ($540 million) and Hopper ($175 million) all announced fundraises on Tuesday (August 17, 2021).
FinTech: Plaid Extends Its April $425M Funding To Include JPM And Amex
Plaid has announced today an extension of its April $425 million Series D round that was led by Altimeter Capital with participation from new investors, Silver Lake and Ribbit Capital. The expanded round now includes funding from J.P. Morgan Private Capital Growth Equity Partners and existing investor Amex Ventures.
Digital Assets: Crypto Broker Bitpanda Triples Valuation To $4.1B In Five Months
Austrian cryptocurrency broker Bitpanda announced today (August 17, 2021) its raise of $263 million in a Series C round led by Valar Ventures, with the participation of Alan Howard and REDO Ventures, as well as existing investors LeadBlock Partners and Jump Capital. Valar Ventures is the venture capital firm co-founded by U.S. tech billionaire Peter Thiel. The round valued Bitpanda at $4.1 billion, up from $1.2 billion in March, when the startup raised $170 million.
FinTech: Challenger Bank Chime Nabs $750M At $25B Valuation
Digital neo bank Chime joined in the pyrotechnic valuations surrounding fintechs, garnering a massive $25 billion valuation in a $750 million Series G round that saw investment from SoftBank, Sequoia Capital Global Equities, General Atlantic, Tiger Global, and Dragoneer Investment Group. The current valuation is up from $1.5 billion in early 2019, and from $14.5 billion in October 2020, demonstrating the rocketing valuations in the fintech sector.
FinTech: Divvy, Which Democratizes Home Ownership, Lands $200M
Property technology startup Divvy Homes, which helps people who don’t qualify for a mortgage to own homes, raised $200 million in a round co-led by existing investors Tiger Global Management and Caffeinated Capital. Andreessen Horowitz, Singapore’s GIC, GGV Capital, and Moore Specialty Credit also participated in the round.
FinTech: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) Onboards New Clients Using Facial Recognition
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank has become the first bank in the UAE to verify a prospective customer’s identity at the time of account opening using the facial recognition verification system from the government’s Ministry of Interior.
UAE citizens and residents can now open a new account remotely and without having to make a physical visit to an ADIB branch. The “instant and highly secure verification” gives them instant access to banking services.
FinTech: M&A Deals Of Note
Three transactions this week cover bill payments, investment communications, and paperless invoices. Fintech M&A to note: Payveris-Paymentus Payveris, an open-API, cloud-based digital payments and money movement platform for financial institutions and their digital partners has acquired Paymentus, an integrated, omni-channel platform for electronic bill payments. The transaction value is $152.2 million, with approximately 56% payable…
FinTech: Millennials Driving Demand For Shariah (Islamic) Banking – Mambu
A survey by SaaS cloud banking platform Mambu found that over half (53%) of young Muslims said they would choose Islamic banking – if barriers to entry were removed, and it became more accessible.
FinTech: Malaysian Airline AirAsia Raises $100M For Fintech Arm
South Korean conglomerate SK Group (KRX: 034730) has agreed to invest up to $100 million in BigPay, a unit of the fintech arm of budget Malaysian airline AirAsia. BigPay offers a prepaid debit card, local and international money transfers, micro-insurance, bill payments, and a budgeting tool. Founded in 2017, BigPay has ambitions to become a challenger bank and democratize financial services for Southeast Asian consumers and entrepreneurs.
FinTech: Freshly Listed Zomato Floats Subsidiary For Payments Business
Zomato (NSE: ZOMATO), the Indian online food delivery service that was recently listed with a blockbuster IPO on Indian bourses, and is backed by the likes of the Ant Group, Fidelity, and Tiger Global, is getting into payments processing.
FinTech: Indian Payments Startup BharatPe Earns Horn, Values At $2.85B
Bharatpe, the Indian payments startup, enables shop owners to accept payments from any payment app for free. It makes payment acceptance simple by offering merchants a single QR to accept all payment apps such as PayTm, PhonePe, Google Pay, BHIM and 150+ other UPI apps. It announced a raise of $370 million in a Series E round led by Tiger Global Management and including participation by Dragoneer Investment Group and Steadfast Capital.
FinTech: Blockchain-Based Fintech Figure Technologies To Merge With Homebridge
Mike Cagney-led Figure Technologies announced Tuesday (3 August 2021), its merger deal with Homebridge Financial Services, a mortgage lender which funded more than $25 billion in home loans at the close of 2020. Figure Technologies is on a mission to transform financial services using blockchain technology, particularly the origination, finance, servicing and trade of loans. you know
FinTech: Rapyd, A Fintech-As-A-Service Startup, Lands $300M Series E
Fintech-as-a-Service provider Rapyd, which enables ecommerce companies, technology firms, marketplaces, and financial institutions to quickly integrate fintech and payment capabilities into their applications, has raised $300 million.
FinTech: Square Plonks Down $29B For Aussie BNPL Giant Afterpay
Jack Dorsey-led Square (NYSE: SQ) announced today (August 2, 2021) its acquisition of Australian fintech and buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) leader Afterpay (ASX: APT) for $29 billion in an all-stock deal. Square will acquire all the outstanding shares of Afterpay at this valuation based on the closing price of Square common stock on July 30, 2021.
FinTech: Bankers Fight For Wealth Management Turf; Lloyds Acquires Embark For $500M
Lloyds Banking Group (LON: LLOY) announced Thursday (July 29, 2021) the acquisition of Embark Group, an investment and retirement platform business, for £390 million (US$500 million). Embark will become a wholly subsidiary of Lloyds’ Scottish Widows Group, bringing with it about £35 billion of assets under administration on behalf of 410,000 consumer clients. Jackie Leiper, Managing Director Pensions, Stockbroking & Distribution at Scottish Widows, will become CEO of Embark.
FinTech: Google Pay Users Get Virtual Card Powered By Marqeta
Global card issuer Marqeta (NASDAQ: MQ) has tied up with Google Pay to offer a new virtual payment card that expands its users’ ability to use their mobile wallet for purchases at more merchants, both online and in-store.
Digital Assets: Mike Cagney’s Figure Tech Closes Oversubscribed Series D At $200M
New investors joined Figure Technologies’ Series D, taking the round to $200 million. The Series D, originally announced in May, saw new investors joining up, including entities and funds managed and/or advised by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc., Blockchain.com, Rockaway Blockchain, HOF Capital, Endeavour Capital, National Bank Holdings, Goldentree Asset Management and L1 Digital.
FinTech: Revolut Ties With UK Restaurants To Offer Upto 30% Cashback To Diners
Revolut, the UK-based challenger bank, is rolling out new features in its banking app aggressively after its giant fundraise of nearly $800m in a Series E round earlier this month that valued it at $33 billion. The latest new facility for Revolut users is Restaurant Rewards, a cashback feature that rewards them for dining at Revolut-partnered restaurants across the UK.
FinTech: Alternative Investments Platform Yieldstreet Funded Over $2 Billion
Yieldstreet offers retail investors the opportunity to invest in alternative asset classes such as real estate, marine, art, legal finance, and commercial lending. Products are offered across a range of various yields, durations, and minimums after specialized teams evaluate each opportunity within their respective asset class. According to Yieldstreet, investors earn a passive income while diversifying their portfolios. The platform has topped $2 billion in deals funded while returning over $1 billion to investors.
FinTech: UK-Based PensionBee Reports Assets Under Administration Have Doubled In A Year
An influx of new customers has boosted two-fold PensionBee’s assets under administration as at June 30, 2021. Further, in a landmark year, PensionBee (LON: PBEE) raised £55 million from an IPO in April, putting it on course to achieve profitability by 2023.
FinTech: UK-Based BNPL Player Zilch Closes Series B With Additional $110M
The $110 million comprised both debt and equity capital. Zilch, the UK-based BNPL platform has raised an additional $110 million from Goldman Sachs and DMG Ventures. The funding is part of the extended Series B round, first announced by Zilch in April for launching in the USA and Europe. It had then raised $80 million…
FinTech: UK Digital Bank Starling Halves Losses, Boosts Turnover 600%
Starling today reported numbers for the 16 months ended March 31, 2021. Revenue at British neobank Starling for the 16 months ended March 31, 2021, rose by nearly 600% to £97.6 million from £14 million for the previous period ending 30 November 2019, while loss after tax more than halved to £23.3 million from £52.1…
FinTech: Eyeing A ‘Global Super App,’ Revolut Launches Travel Booking Feature
After its recent $800 million funding, Revolut, the UK-based challenger bank has lost no time in announcing Stays, a travel booking facility in its app. The bank’s Premium and Metal category of users get 10% instant cashback on their bookings, the bank said in a blog, marking its entry into a non-finance-related product.