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: With $639M In The Bag, Klarna Notches Massive $45.6B Valuation
Klarna, the Swedish fintech best known for its buy-now-pay-later offering, announced today its raise of $639 million in a round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. It included participation by Adit Ventures, Honeycomb Asset Management and WestCap Group, all existing investors. Klarna achieved a post-money valuation of a staggering $45.6 billion.
FinTech: NeoBank Tonik Awarded Philippines’ Digital Banking License
With the award of the two licenses, which marks a further push in favor of fintech banking in Southeast Asia, the Philippines central bank has greenlighted a total of three banks for digital banking in the country. It awarded a license to state-backed Overseas Filipino Bank in March. Tonik had received its initial rural bank license from the BSP in 2019, allowing the neobank to provide retail banking services focused on retail deposits, card payments, and consumer loans. It claims its digital license is the first for any private and purely digital bank in the country.
FinTech: Buffett’s Berkshire Invests $500M In Brazilian Digital Bank Nubank’s $750M Extension Round
Brazilian digital bank Nubank, the largest fintech in Brazil and one of the biggest in the world, on Friday closed a $750 million funding round that included an investment of $500 million by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A).
FinTech: Challenger Bank Dave To Go Public Via $4 Billion SPAC Merger
Challenger bank Dave, which is backed by billionaire Mark Cuban and other investors such as Norwest, Section 32, Capital One, The Kraft Group, SV Angel, and The Chernin Group, said today it was going public by merging with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings III, Inc. (NYSE: VPCC), a so-called Special Purpose Acquisition Company or SPAC.
FinTech: U.K. Fintech Wise Teams With South Korea’s Shinhan Bank For International Transfers
Shinhan Bank, one of South Korea’s oldest and largest national banks, and a part of the Shinhan Financial Group (KRX: 055550) has integrated Wise Platform from the U.K.-based fintech Wise. Shinhan becomes the first South Korean bank to offer international money transfers without any exchange rate markups.
FinTech: Indonesian Bank Jago To Implement Mambu’s SaaS Banking In The Google Cloud
SaaS cloud banking platform Mambu announced Wednesday that PT Bank Jago Tbk (Bank Jago) (IDX: ARTO) an Indonesia-listed bank, has become its first customer in that country. Bank Jago, which is embarking on a path to become a technology-based bank, will implement Mambu’s SaaS banking platform on the Google Cloud.
FinTech: U.K.’s Wise To Challenge Indian Banks’ Strangle On Foreign Remittances
Wise has rolled out its foreign remittance services for Indians, offering them transactions that are much faster and cost significantly less compared to legacy banks. Indian citizens can now send money to 44 countries globally, including the UK, US, Singapore, Malaysia, UAE, and other countries in the Eurozone. Wise previously did business as TransferWise.
FinTech: German Digital Insurer wefox Hits Purple Patch With Record $650M Funding
The largest Series C funding globally by an insurtech has been achieved by Berlin-based wefox, the startup announced today. The round, which valued the company at US$3 billion post-money, was led by Target Global. In 2020, wefox reported a profit for its insurance business, wefox insurance, making it the first digital insurance company to become profitable. Furthermore, wefox’s revenue increased to $143M in 2020, doubling its 2019 revenue.
FinTech: Klarna Suffers Severe Technical Issue; On Track For New Funding
Klarna, the Swedish fintech famous for its Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) offering, suffered a major technical issue with its app on Thursday morning. Several users complained that when they attempted to log into their accounts, they entered other customers’ accounts.
FinTech: Paytm, India’s Leading Digital Payments Provider, Planning $3B IPO
Paytm, the Indian payments giant backed by investors such as Berkshire Hathaway Inc., SoftBank Group Corp., and Ant Group Co., is weighing an IPO worth $3 billion says a Bloomberg report. The firm is targeting a massive valuation of $25 billion to $30 billion.
Alternative Investments/FinTech: LGIM Launches UCITS ETF Focused On Digital Payments
The L&G Digital Payments UCITS ETF from Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) gives investors the opportunity to profit from the significant growth potential of digital payment technologies. As a thematic play on this market, the new ETF invests in payment acquirer and card issuers, payment gateways and processors, payment technology providers, and card-less payment service providers.
FinTech: SoftBank Invests $250M In Zeta, A Banking Technology Startup
Dubai-headquartered, Indian fintech startup Zeta has raised $250 million from SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 at a valuation of $1.25 billion. The startup, founded by Bhavin Turakhia and Ramki Gaddipati, creates technology for banks to quickly launch user-friendly digital offerings.
FinTech: Zip Acquires BNPL Providers In Europe And UAE
Australian fintech Zip (ASX: Z1P) has bought up the entire remaining capital in a Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) entity each in Europe and the UAE. Zip will pay $140 million for the balance shares in Twisto, which operates in Central Europe, and $21 million for the shares it does not own in Spotii, a BNPL leader in UAE.
FinTech: U.K.’s Hydr Launches Innovative Invoice Financing Platform
Co-founded by Mancunian Nicola Weedall and Hector Macandrew, Manchester-based fintech start-up Hydr (pronounced Hi-der) launched today its proprietary invoice finance platform. It pays out small businesses the value of their invoice within 24 hours, less a fee.
FinTech: Blockchain Fintech Figure Tech Scores $200M Round
Figure Technologies, a blockchain-based fintech startup, closed a $200 million Series D round at a valuation of $3.2 billion. The round was co-led by 10T Holdings and Morgan Creek Digital. New and existing investors including DCM, Digital Currency Group, HCM Capital, Ribbit Capital, RPM Ventures, the partners at DST Global, and others also participated.
FinTech: Now, Transfer Funds Through Western Union At The Nearby Walmart Store
Western Union (NYSE: WU) has brought its remittance services to your neighborhood’s Walmart (NYSE: WMT) store. Customers can send money anywhere in the U.S. and globally to more than 200 countries and territories. The two companies had announced in January that they would work together to make financial services more accessible for Walmart customers.
FinTech: Chicago Welcomes Its Newest Unicorn In Amount, Which Raised $100M
Chicago-based Amount, a fintech that spun out of digital consumer lending company Avant in 2020, announced Tuesday its Series D round raise of $100 million at a valuation of $1 billion. Amount thus earned its horn as Chicago’s latest unicorn.
FinTech: Global Payments Platform Nium Launches Maritime Solution
Global payments platform Nium has launched its new maritime solution that enables automatic payroll disbursements and remittance for shipping companies, their management, and sailors. The solution has been implemented by Integrated maritime services leader, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM).
FinTech: U.K.-Based Recognise Ropes In Mambu For A Bespoke SME Cloud Banking Platform
Fresh from winning its banking license in December 2020, Recognise Bank is rolling out an innovative banking service for SME’s that would be highly cloud-based, customer-centric, and technologically sophisticated. The bank has gone live on Mambu’s SaaS financial services platform.
FinTech: PayPal Shifting More Applications To Google Cloud As Digital Payments Surge Higher
PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) which has built its hybrid cloud strategy over the years with Google Cloud as a partner, is now moving more and more of its infrastructure workloads to the Google Public cloud to enable the processing of its data on a massive and global scale.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Raisin’s ETF Configurator Allows Investors ‘Do-It-Yourself’ ESG
The pan-European savings marketplace Raisin launched its Raisin Invest ETF platform in Germany in 2018. Raisin Invest has since become one of the market’s biggest robo advisers and now boasts of AUM of €950 million. On Wednesday, Raisin announced the launch of a new hybrid-robo “ETF Configurator” for Raisin Invest, and simultaneously, a new ESG pre-set portfolio within the Configurator that offers more than 30 sustainable equity and bond ETFs to choose from.
FinTech: German Regulator BaFin Hauls Up N26 On Money Laundering Lapses
On Wednesday, Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) ordered challenger bank N26 to implement appropriate internal controls and safeguards and comply with general due diligence requirements to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. It also appointed audit firm Mazars as a special supervisor to monitor N26.
FinTech: eBay UK To Offer Finance To Pandemic-Hit Sellers On Its Platform
In a bid to help out sellers and small businesses that have launched on its platform, eBay UK will offer them financing through a tie-up with YouLend. As part of the CEBS, YouLend will offer eBay business sellers funding in the range of £500 to £1m.
FinTech: Brazilian Payments Network CloudWalk Reels In $190M Series B Funding
CloudWalk, the Brazilian payments processor, announced Tuesday its Series B funding of $190 million. The round brought up the firm’s aggregate capital raised to $206 million. Coatue led the round, with participation from DST Global and existing investors such as FIS, The Hive Brazil, and Valor Capital.