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: German Lending Platform auxmoney Gets €250 Million From Citigroup And Chenavari Investment Managers
Auxmoney, a Germany-based loans marketplace, received €250 million for loans from Citigroup and Chenavari Investment Managers, a credit-focused asset manager. The two companies are partnering with auxmoney, a primarily consumer-oriented lender, for lending on its marketplace. For the first time, auxmoney will also co-invest alongside these partners.
FinTech: Indian Fintech Startup Cred Raises $215M, Turns Unicorn
Cred, a fintech founded by Kunal Shah, has just achieved the distinction of becoming the second-fastest Indian startup to emerge as a unicorn, that too within a mere 29 months of launch. It raised $215 million in a Series D round at a valuation of $ 2.2 billion, as investors continued to favor its business model of rewarding credit card payments made on time.
FinTech: Plaid Collects $425M At A Solid $13.4B Valuation
Fintech Plaid announced today its Series D round funding of $425 million at a valuation of $13.4 billion. The round was led by Altimeter Capital with participation from new investors, Silver Lake and Ribbit Capital. Earlier investors Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, and New Enterprise Associates also participated.
FinTech: Stripe Enters The Middle East
Payments processing giant Stripe announced Monday its official launch in the United Arab Emirates, marking the company’s first expansion into the Middle East. With the UAE launch, businesses in the UAE can make payments across the world, while existing global users of Stripe can now access the UAE for growing their business in the region.
FinTech: Next Insurance Raises $250M, Doubles Valuation To $4B
Digital insurtech Next Insurance, which focuses on insurance for small businesses and the self-employed, raised $250 million in a round led by FinTLV Ventures and Battery Ventures with participation from CapitalG, Group 11, Zeev Ventures, Founders Circle, and G Squared. This funding was the startup’s second within the space of just seven months, bringing up its total amount raised to over $881 million.
FinTech: Airtel Africa Sells Another Chunk Of Its Mobile Money Biz – This Time To Mastercard For $100M
A wholly-owned unit of MasterCard (NYSE: MA) has agreed to pay $100 million for a 3.75% stake in Airtel Africa’s mobile money operations that span 14 countries in that continent.
FinTech: Brazil Clears Facebook’s WhatsApp For P2P Payments
Banco Central Do Brasil (BCB), Brazil’s central bank, has given the green signal to WhatsApp, the messaging app owned by Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) to operate its payments service in Brazil. However, Brazil’s Pix, a homegrown instant payments system, has a headstart.
Digital Assets: U.S. Shoppers Can Now Pay With PayPal’s New “Checkout With Crypto”
PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) has made it possible for its U.S. account-holders to pay for their online shopping using cryptos. The new feature, dubbed “Checkout with Crypto,” allows PayPal customers to instantly convert their crypto holdings of Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, or Bitcoin Cash into a fiat currency such as the U.S. dollar and pay for their order.
FinTech: MFS Africa Covers 60% Of Mobile Money Wallets In Sub-Saharan Africa
African fintech MFS Africa announced on Monday that its payment gateway now covered the transactions from over 320 million mobile money wallets, enabling various banks, telecom providers, money transfer operators, and other financial institutions interoperability at scale in Africa through a single hub, the largest in Africa.
FinTech: Bitcoin Soars 4% As Visa Announces Payments In USD Coin
In a move that sent a powerful signal in favor of the adoption of cryptocurrencies, Visa (NYSE: V), the card giant and multinational financial services corporation, said it will accept the cryptocurrency USD Coin (USDC) for payment settlement on its global network later this year.
FinTech: Revolut Business Fans Out Across All 50 States In The U.S.
Revolut announced on March 25 that its Revolut Business service was now available all over the U.S. and that businesses could enjoy several advantages.
FinTech: Feedzai Lands $200M Funding Led By KKR
Powered by machine learning and AI, Feedzai is a cloud-based watchdog against financial crime. The financial risk management platform is used by the world’s leading financial institutions, payment providers, and merchants. The startup announced Wednesday its raise of $200 million in a Series D round led by KKR.
FinTech: Payments Platform Airwallex Scores US$100M Extension Of Series D
Airwallex, the Australian payments platform that welcomes borderless businesses across the world, announced today a raise of US$100 million via an extension of its Series D round that had flagged off in April 2020. The additional funding lifts Series D to US$300 million, and the total funds raised by Airwallex to nearly US$ 500 million.
FinTech: SaaS Banking Platform Mambu Is First Off The Block With A Shariah Version
SaaS banking software provider Mambu announced Monday the launch of the cloud-native, Shariah-compliant version of its banking platform. The solution enables Islamic banks and lenders across the world to offer banking that is fully compliant with all the tenets of Islamic banking and was made available from the end of 2020.
FinTech: Revolut Applies For U.S. Banking Charter
Revolut, the digital challenger bank led by co-founder and CEO, Nik Storonsky (pictured above), has filed a draft application for a banking charter with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. Currently, without a banking license, Revolut offers financial services in the US through FDIC-insured Metropolitan Commercial Bank (NYSE: MCB).
Venture Capital: TPG’s Impact Investing Arm Pays $200M For Stake In Airtel Africa’s Mobile Money Biz
Airtel Africa plc (LON: AAF) announced Thursday that The Rise Fund would invest $200 million for a minority stake in Airtel Mobile Commerce BV, a wholly-owned subsidiary that was the holding company for several of Airtel Africa’s mobile money operations. It also announced that other Airtel Africa mobile money businesses would soon be merged into this company. Ultimately, Airtel Mobile Commerce BV would be the umbrella owner of the mobile money units in all 14 African countries where they operate.
FinTech: Goldman Sachs Eyes JetBlue’s Credit Card Business
As Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) continues its determined advances in consumer finance, it is eyeing yet another card business. This time it is making a play for JetBlue’s (NASDAQ: JBLU) credit card program, currently operated by Barclays (LON: BARC).
FinTech: UK Fintech True Potential Clocks Its Best Year Ever In 2020
True Potential is a technology-focused provider of financial solutions that works with about 20% of the U.K.’s financial advisers. In 2020, the company clocked record turnover and solid profits after rapidly adapting its digital technology to pandemic conditions.
FinTech: Point-of-Sale Device Company SumUp Raises $892M Debt Facility
SumUp is a London-based global fintech company that has developed point-of-sale hardware and mobile and web apps that simplify the acceptance of payments by small merchants. It has also developed a suite of APIs and SDKs for integrating SumUp payment into other apps and services. The startup announced Tuesday its raise of a debt funding of €750 million (US$892 million at today’s rates).
FinTech: India’s Fintech Industry Represents A $100B Value Creation Opportunity (BCG Report)
Boston Consulting Group (BCG) conducted a study of the Indian fintech industry in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). The report titled “India Fintech: A USD 100 Billion Opportunity,” said India’s fintech was a vibrant ecosystem on a high-growth trajectory, having raised USD 10 billion over the past five years, and currently poised at an estimated valuation of USD 50-60 billion.
FinTech: Stripe Raises $600M; Triples Valuation To $95B In Less Than A Year
Stripe, the global payments major founded by the Collison brothers, said on Sunday that it closed on a $600 million funding round at a valuation of $95 billion. Allianz X, Axa, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Sequoia Capital, and Ireland’s National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) invested in the round.
FinTech: Grab Could List In The U.S. Through A Merger With A Blank Check Company
Grab Holdings Inc, which is backed by SoftBank (TYO: 9984), is considering the SPAC route to a U.S. listing, according to a Bloomberg report. Previously we reported that the startup, whose businesses span everything from food delivery to ride-sharing, insurance, financial services, and investing, was considering a traditional IPO in the U.S. worth more than $2 billion.
FinTech: SoFi Advances Bank Charter Ambitions; Acquires Golden Pacific Bancorp
Digital personal finance company and fintech Social Finance Inc (SoFi) announced on Tuesday its acquisition of Golden Pacific Bancorp, Inc, a community bank based in Sacramento, California. SoFi will pay $2.55 in cash for each share of Golden Pacific, or about $22.3 million in total. Also included in the transaction is the bank’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Golden Pacific Bank, N.A. The deal will advance SoFi’s aim to secure a banking charter.
FinTech: Starling Bank Raises £272 Million Series D Funding At £1.1 Billion Pre-Money
U.K.-based neobank Starling Bank announced on Monday its £272 million ($376 million) Series D funding round led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, alongside Qatar Investment Authority, RPMI Railpen, the investment manager for the £31 billion Railways Pension Scheme, and the global investment firm Millennium Management.