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: Founderspeak From Checkout.com, One Of Europe’s Most Valuable Fintechs
Guillaume Pousaz, founder, Checkout.com, spoke to CNBC last week on everything fintech. Charting a torrid growth trajectory this year, Checkout.com is one of Europe’s most valuable fintechs. What is not so well known, however, is the fact that the startup bootstrapped it for seven of its initial years under founder Pousaz. Pousaz dwells on a…
Venture Capital: Tennis Superstar Serena Williams Backs Fintech Esusu
Serena Williams has invested an undisclosed amount through her venture capital arm in Esusu, a fintech that automates credit building by reporting a person’s rent payments to credit bureaus, “boosting credit scores one rent payment at a time.”
FinTech: Berkshire Could Romp Home With 60% Gains In Paytm’s IPO
A Reuters report said Paytm, a leading Indian digital payments processor, has filed for a $2.23 billion IPO.
The proposed IPO would value Paytm at about $25 billion, with the pandemic having fuelled a surge in digital payments in the country. It would potentially mark a lucrative payday for Paytm’s investors, which include the Ant Group (HK: 6688), Softbank (TYO: 9984), and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A).
FinTech: Thiel-Backed N26 In Funding Talks, Could Value At $10B
Bloomberg reports that German fintech and digital bank N26 is in talks to raise funds, likely in the hundreds of millions of dollars, at a tentative valuation of about $10 billion. Bloomberg quoted people familiar with the matter; however, N26 declined to comment.
Venture Capital: Revolut Valued At $33B In $800M Funding Round
Revolut, the Uk-based challenger bank and fintech, raised $800 million in a funding round led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 and Tiger Global Management, both new investors. The funding came in at a valuation of $33 billion, about six times Revolut’s valuation in a previous round in 2020.
FinTech: M1 Finance Raises $150M In Its Fourth Funding Round In A Year
M1 Finance, which helps its users to invest, borrow, and spend on one Super App platform, announced today its raise of $150 million in a Series E round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Existing investors also participated in the funding.
FinTech: Mastercard And Verizon To Collaborate On 5G Contactless Payments
Mastercard (NYSE: MA) and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) announced today a partnership to combine their card network and 5G connectivity in innovative solutions such as contactless shopping, autonomous checkouts, Cloud POS and Internet of Things (IoT).
FinTech: UK Fintechs Pull Out All The Stops In Fundraising In H1 2021
A report by trade body Innovate Finance says that the UK fintech sector raised more in just the first six months of 2021 than the whole of 2020. Enthusiastic investors pumped $5.7 billion into the sector in H1, 34% higher than the total amount of $4.3 billion received in all of 2020, and more than pre-pandemic levels.
FinTech: Stripe Makes The First Move En Route To Much Anticipated Stock Market Listing
A Reuters exclusive report said digital payments processor Stripe Inc had hired a law firm to advise on a potential listing. Stripe is reckoned as the most valuable US tech startup after it garnered a valuation of $95 billion in a $600 million fundraising round in March. Investors included Allianz X, Baillie Gifford, Sequoia Capital, and Ireland’s National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA).
Venture Capital: Clearco, Which Offers Equity-Free Capital To Startups, Raises $215M
That model is clearly working because Clearco has so far paid out $2.4 billion to 5,500 founders in the e-commerce, mobile app, and enterprise software segments. Today (July 8, 2021) the company said it raised $215 million in an equity funding round led by SoftBank Group Corp’s Vision Fund 2.
FinTech: U.K.’s Atom Bank Hits Twin Billion-Pound Milestones On Single Day
App-based Atom Bank, which calls itself the UK’s first bank completely for mobile, hit two major milestones this week on the same day: More than £3bn of residential mortgage completions and £1bn in deposits into its Instant Saver accounts. The growth has encouraged the company enough to reconfirm its intention to go public in the next two years.
FinTech: Money Transfer App Wise Gets $11B Valuation In London Direct Listing
Fintech Wise Plc (LON: WISE) on Wednesday pioneered the direct listing route for a tech company going public on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), and in the process, garnered a solid capitalization of £8 billion ($11 billion). Apart from turning founders Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Kaarman into billionaires, Wise’s bumper listing also marked a win for the UK, which has set its heart on turning London into a fintech superhub after Brexit.
FinTech: Revolut In Talks To Raise Upto $1B At A Valuation Over $30B
Revolut, the British challenger bank, and its advisers have sounded a select group of investors on an investment between $750m (£542m) and $1bn (£723m), according to Sky News. The report, which cited “industry sources,” also said SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 is one of those investors, and that the round, if successful could value Revolut at a massive $30 billion or more.
FinTech: ClearScore, UK, Scores $200M Investment From Invus Opportunities
ClearScore, the UK-based fintech that provides free credit scores to everybody (forever) announced it had received an investment of $200 million, at a valuation of $700 million, from Invus Opportunities, the global equity investor. Existing investors QED, Blenheim Chalcot and LeadEdge, together with management, retained the majority of their positions in ClearScore, but allowed Invus Opportunities to take a significant minority position in the company.
FinTech: Visa To Acquire European Open Banking Platform Tink For $2.2B
Visa (NYSE: V) announced Thursday its deal to acquire European open banking platform Tink for €1.8 billion ($2.2 billion) as it moves to take advantage of European Union law – the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) – which facilitates open banking. The law requires banks to allow access to customer data by registered third-party providers to boost competition.
FinTech: Dutch Fintech Mollie Scores $800M Raise In Round Led By Blackstone
Fast-growing Dutch payment service provider Mollie announced Tuesday its closing of a US$800 million in a Series C funding round led by Blackstone Growth. TCV who led the Series B investment in September 2020 also participated in the funding round along with EQT Growth, General Atlantic, HMI Capital and Alkeon Capital.
FinTech: Revolut Reports Better Margins But A Higher Total Loss For 2020
Revolut, the London-based challenger bank led by Nikolay Storonsky, reported its numbers for the year ended December 31, 2020 on Monday. Though the financial superapp reported strong growth on various metrics including customer base, gross margins and revenue, it incurred a total loss of £168 million for the year, up 57% from 2019.
FinTech: Dutch Neobank bunq To Raise $190M, Acquire Lending Platform
Dutch digital banking challenger bunq, which offers a completely mobile-based, branch-free banking experience, is to raise €160 million ($190 million) at a €1.65 billion (nearly $2 billion) valuation. Pending regulatory approval, the transaction is an investment from an unnamed UK-based private equity company for 10% of Bunq’s equity. As part of the deal, bunq will also acquire a small business lender from the same investor.
FinTech: Fintech Credijusto Snaps Up Mexican Bank; Becomes Regulated Neobank
According to Entrepreneur, Credijusto, the Mexican fintech and lending platform acquired Banco Finterra for about $50 million, in the process bagging a banking license. Banco Finterra specializes in financing solutions for the agri-food sector.
FinTech: U.K. Fintech Wise Announces Plans for A Direct Listing on the London Stock Exchange
This is the first time a tech company is going public via a direct listing in London. Wise, previously known as TransferWise, announced Thursday its decision to go public via a direct listing on the London Stock Exchange. The company justified a direct listing in favour of an IPO on grounds that it is “a…
FinTech: 10X, The Fintech Founded By Ex-Barclays Chief Antony Jenkins, Rakes In $187M To Scale Massively
Founded in 2016 by Antony Jenkins, former CEO of Barclays (LON: BARC), fintech 10X Future Technologies has raised $187 million from a clutch of bulge bracket investors. The firm’s oversubscribed Series C was co-led by BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments). Existing investors JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Nationwide (LON: NBS), Ping An (SHA: 601318), and Westpac (ASX: WBC).
FinTech: Stripe Shareholders Sold $1B Shares Last Month (WSJ); Company Launches ID Tool
Major investors last month snapped up $1 billion worth of shares from existing shareholders in Stripe in a tender offer that received as much as $4 billion in bids according to the WSJ.
FinTech: Virgin Money Australia, A Digital Bank, Goes Live On Temenos Cloud
Temenos (SIX: TEMN), a global leader in banking software, announced the successful launch of Virgin Money Australia on the Temenos Banking Cloud. Fully integrated digital banking, bringing together credit cards, transaction and savings accounts, plus a loyalty program and personal financial management tools into a single, native mobile app, is now available to Virgin Money customers.
FinTech: Mexican Payments Platform Clip Raises $250M, Turns Unicorn
Clip, a Mexican digital payments and commerce platform founded in 2012, announced June 10, its raise of $250 million in a round led by the SoftBank Latin America Fund and Viking Global Investors LP. The round valued Clip at approximately $2 billion.