Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Contis, the European leader in Banking-as-a-Service. Contis is proud to deliver process-pay, a brand-new standalone processing solution ready to cater for any organisations card processing needs. To find out more visiting www.contis.comtoday!

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

PostFinance, the banking arm of the Swiss post office, is stepping up its drive to grant customers access to cryptocurrencies within the next couple of years. PostFinance already offers clients cryptocurrency exposure in collaboration with Swissquote, through its digital app. Swissquote became the first Swiss bank to offer crypto trading for retail clients in 2017. Yet, PostFinance's new project will be an “independent” trading and custody service that is expected to launch by the start of 2024 “at the latest”.

JUST IN:

Melio, a U.S.-Israeli startup that offers payment tools for small businesses, said on Tuesday it entered into a strategic partnership to integrate its accounts payable platform with Capital One Business.

FURTHERMORE,

Global money transfer platform Western Union has announced a new agreement with South American e-commerce giant MercadoLibre to allow digital remittances to Mexico.

WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?

You can now buy and sell cryptocurrencies in the Nubank app. Nubank Crypto has arrived to democratize access to this market. In addition, they want to offer the necessary information about how cryptocurrencies work and what risks are involved so that their customers can make the best decisions.

AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS

Attijariwafa Bank, one of the largest banks in Morocco and Africa, has entered a strategic partnership with global cross-border payments company Thunes.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

Zazuu, a U.K.-based and Africa-focused fintech that is an aggregator of cross-border and remittance platforms, is announcing that it has raised $2 million in a new venture round.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Mercuryo. With the help of their cryptopowered toolbox, Mercuryo enables companies to take advantage of both fiat and crypto worlds and provide innovative payment solutions for end-customers.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Online platforms for mobile payments and financial technology will play a big role in boosting the economy, President of China, Xi Jinping has declared. This is the most positive signal for the revival of Big Tech after almost two years of crackdowns and regulatory scrutiny of the fintech industry.

JUST IN:

Qatar National Bank (QNB Group) has become the first bank in Qatar to launch mobile payment services WeChat Pay and Alipay+.

ALSO:

Start-ups in Africa have raised more than $3 billion in the first half of 2022 and recorded their strongest June, Q2 and H1 ever.

FURTHERMORE,

San Antonio-based fintech company Usio, Inc. sent a letter to shareholders Tuesday announcing that New Jersey partner Voyager Digital is hitting the brakes on trading, deposits, and withdrawals — which could cause Usio's revenue to take a hit.

WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?

Binance has embarked on an aggressive expansion plan in Southeast Asia where the cryptocurrency exchange is looking to capitalize on booming trading activity to establish leadership in the region and build influence in local markets.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?

A record 125 new European Unicorns🦄have been minted in the past year. More than the last three years combined. Although Europe’s Unicorn party is slowing, the situation is not as doom and gloom as headlines would suggest. Activity persists and founders that react quickly and decisively will be able to seize unique opportunities

• Goldman is looking for a way out of its partnership with Apple

This podcast episode is sponsored by Privacy Lock. Privacy Lock sets the standard for financial service providers in data privacy compliance.

Protect your business and your customers today. Visit www.pentaprivacylock.com

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Solarisbank AG and Contis Group Ltd have brought their previously formed partnership to completion. The firms have decided to enter into a definitive business combination agreement. Contis and Solarisbank will now operate as a joint entity, bringing an unrivaled Banking-as-a-Service offer to the European market.

JUST IN:

Monzo Bank failed to publish the MMC in its Fee Information document between 25 October 2018 - 19 November 2021. Monzo has taken steps to end the breach and prevent a recurrence.

ALSO:

Funding accelerated during 2021. Banking and lending tech raised a total of $40 billion across 1,061 deals, representing here around 30% of total FinTech funding, almost as much as the previous three years, combined.

WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (or SEC) approved the country's 17th stock exchange, a subsidiary of Boston-based BOX Exchange LLC, which will incorporate blockchain technology.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

MyCointainer raised $6 million in a Seed Round. The event was led by Mapleblock Capital and co-led by Shima Capital & Bybit - one of the dominant cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide

Onramper raised $6 million in seed funding to accelerate the product roadmap and quadruple headcount over the next six months

OZÉ, a Ghanaian fintech startup that provides digital recordkeeping tools with embedded finance products, has raised a $3 million pre-Series A round

Kilde Financial Technologies closed a pre-Seed funding round of US$350,000 bringing its total funding to date to US$830,000.

NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.

Fintech start-up destream is launching a bank card for streamers and internet content creators.

AS FOR OPPORTUNITIES

Monzo Bank is to launch an investment and wealth business and is recruiting for an executive to head up the unit.

Worldline is to hire more than 5000 staff over the next few months to cement its position as a global paytech.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Jack Ma plans to cede control of Ant Group, the fintech powerhouse closely affiliated with Alibaba, the e-commerce giant he founded. If realized, the move will mark another important turn in Ant's restructuring and power shuffling since China called off its $35 billion initial public offering nearly two years ago. Link here.

FINTECH NEWS

#mergersandaquisitions

• Lemonade buys Metromile at 70% below original valuation. Nine months after it was announced, the share-based merger between Israeli insurtech company Lemonade and US insurance company Metromile has closed at 70% below its original value, after a slide in the share prices of both companies. Link here.
• Equifax is set to acquire Midigator. The terms of the deal, which are undisclosed, will expand Equifax’s global footprint in digital identity and fraud prevention. Link here.

#payments

• Viber launches Payments, a new digital wallet for paying bills, money transfers, and buying goods. Payments wallets can be used to make bill payments, buy goods, and transfer money to other individuals. Link here.
• Kushki received approval from national authorities to become Ecuador’s first payment aggregator. This means that Kushki has achieved a new status in facilitating electronic payments. Link here.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

This podcast episode is sponsored by Belvo.

Instantly access and enrich all financial data from multiple accounts through a single platform to better understand and serve your customers.

From lending to smart saving, Belvo will help you create what your users need

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Swift aims to lower payment friction by introducing a new capability that flags when payments may stall upfront. The new service analyses previous flows on the Swift network to identify accounts that have been credited successfully and uses this information to detect potential errors in payee information - the most common cause of cross-border delays. Link here.

FINTECH NEWS

#nfts

• OpenSea’s trading vol is down 99% in USD from its May peak. On May 1, OpenSea processed a record $2.7 billion in NFT transactions, but on Sunday, the marketplace recorded just $9.34 million. BTC has declined nearly 57% since the start of the year to $20,276, and ETH has fallen about 59%, to $1,528, over the same period. Link here.

FROST's new broadband switching tool makes sustainable living easy and affordable.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

This podcast episode is sponsored by Mercuryo. With the help of their cryptopowered toolbox, Mercuryo enables companies to take advantage of both fiat and crypto worlds and provide innovative payment solutions for end-customers.

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

In case you missed it, please see below today's most relevant news, or tune in to our Daily Fintech Podcast here.

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Times’ interview with Revolut’s CEO: “We can still be banking’s super app”. Storonsky is facing worrying questions and needs to find answers. Key staff is leaving. Auditors are asking questions about its accounts. And the company still does not have its UK banking licence. Link here.

Revolut is almost there with its UK banking licence. Revolut’s application for a UK banking licence is “going very well” and it is “almost there”, according to CEO Nik Storonksy. Link here

FINTECH NEWS

• Paytech iBanFirst names a new CTO and a COO. Alain Lagabrielle has been appointed as CTO and Diane Reille COO as part of a broader leadership team shake-up. iBanFirst founder and CEO Pierre-Antoine Dusoulier says: “This series of appointments come at a time of strong growth for iBanFirst, which has seen its turnover increase by more than 100% each year for several years.” Link here.

#Crypto

• Fireblocks hits $100M in annual revenue despite crypto downturn just four years after the company’s inception and three years since its first product went to market. Link here

#M&As

• US paytech Aurora snaps up One Payment. With more than $1B worth of payments volume processed annually, Florida-based One Payment adds “immediate scale” to Aurora’s platform. Link here

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

This podcast episode is sponsored by Burgopak. Burgopak delivers award-winning innovative packaging solutions for some of the world's leading companies in Fintech. Discover how tangible physical touchpoints are crucial in digital banking with the Burgopak 'Welcome to the club' book; Request your free copy, contact info@burgopak.com

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

In case you missed it, please see below today's most relevant news, or tune in to our Daily Fintech Podcast here.

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Goldman Sachs is embarking on its biggest round of job cuts since the start of the pandemic. The Wall Street titan plans to eliminate several hundred roles starting this month. While the total number is less than some previous rounds, the reductions are a resumption of Goldman’s annual culling cycle that it had largely paused during the pandemic. Link here.

FINTECH NEWS

#Crypto

• MetaMask allows crypto purchases with Brazilian Reals. MetaMask is the latest global crypto player to integrate with Brazil's Pix payment system, which has 126 million users. In July, MetaMask revealed that Brazil was its second-largest user market after the US. Link here.

#FundingRounds

• StashAway raised an undisclosed amount that includes a strategic investment from Hamilton Lane. VentureCap Insights pegged the amount raised at US$12.6 million. Link here.
• Bitmama raised $2 million in a pre-seed round. Africa-focused venture capital firms Unicorn Growth Capital and Launch Africa led the investment in Bitmama. Link here

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

This podcast episode is sponsored by Belvo.

Instantly access and enrich all financial data from multiple accounts through a single platform to better understand and serve your customers.

From lending to smart saving, Belvo will help you create what your users need

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

• Wise struck an open finance agreement with Plaid that will enable Wise's 13 million customers to connect their accounts to thousands of apps. The integration is already live and being used for things such as P2P payments and investment platforms, says Wise. Business customers in the US are using it to send funds to payroll companies, and firms globally are connecting to neobanks, paying credit card bills, and paying taxes. Link here

FINTECH NEWS

#fintechinnovation

• Berlin and London were named among Europe’s Top 5 Fintech hubs. The ranking is based on a survey that polled more than 24,000 pre-selected founders across Europe. Link here
• Tookitaki announced its launch in the Philippines through a partnership with Paymongo. Tookitaki is headquartered in Singapore and provides end-to-end financial crime solutions to several leading financial institutions. Link here

#latam

• Unlimint adds Mexico's CoDi to the alternative payment portfolio. This integration is meant to allow Unlimint's clients to offer their users a quick and secure way to complete payment and collection transactions through electronic transfers. Link here
• Vinteum will train and fund open-source developers for the Bitcoin ecosystem in Brazil. Bruno Garcia will be the first Bitcoin Core developer funded through Vinteum. Link here
• Amber Group brings a retail trading platform to Brazil. This platform, which has been operational in the South American country since June, will also enable the delivery of loans. Link here

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Global cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin Exchange has raised $150 million in a pre-Series B funding round, taking its valuation up to $10 billion.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?

The use of cryptocurrency in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly among its young people, cannot be overstated. Data from blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis Inc. says the region’s crypto usage grew 1,200% last year, making it the third-fastest growing cryptocurrency economy.

AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS

SurePay, the leading Confirmation of Payee provider, announced that it has partnered with Buckaroo, an established payment service provider for businesses, to offer its Confirmation of Payee solution to their customers in the Netherlands.

Skaleet (ex: TagPay), a French fintech providing a next-generation Core Banking Platform announced a new partnership with Marqeta, the global modern card issuing platform, to enrich its existing ecosystem.

Monoova, a leading B2B payments solutions provider, and TrueLayer, a global leader in open banking, are partnering to harness financial and identity insights using Australia’s Consumer Data Right (CDR) for smarter, faster, data-enabled payments in the Australian market.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

CoverGo | Insurtech, a global enterprise no-code SAAS insurance platform, secured $15 million in Series A funding.

Ness, a New York-based fintech company building credit cards limiting the cost of wellcare, raised $15.5M in Seed funding.

Bengaluru-based fintech startup BharatX has bagged $4.5 Mn in its seed round.

Spurring a growing trend of traditional banks making investments in fintech, Dubai-based Mashreq Bank announced a $10 million investment in Cashew Payments, one of the leading “buy now, pay later” service providers to consumers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Habi, a real-estate company that is trying to create a digital marketplace for home buyers and sellers in Latin America, has raised $200 million in a Series C funding round.

Ex-Palantir execs raise €2.5m to protect startups from cyberattacks & more

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Digital Bank Volt Bank shuts down. The chief executive of failed neobank Volt still believes there is merit in trying to disrupt Australia’s banking oligopoly, saying his firm’s technology and products were competitive, but it just couldn’t raise the capital to keep growing.

JUST IN:

Atlantic Money has secured a license with the National Bank of Belgium to operate in Europe and access all 30 EU and EEA member states.

ALSO:

Amount, a fintech that reached unicorn status last year, has laid off 18% of its workforce..

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

Paris-based cybersecurity insurtech Stoïk has raised €11m in a Series A round led by US investment giant Andreessen Horowitz.

Greenfield Partners, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based investment firm, closed new investment funds totaling $350m.

Blockchain fintech firm PolySign, Inc. has raised $53 million in a Series C funding round.

WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?

Wirex announced that it is operational in the UK again, following “discussions” with the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:

Delhi-based merchant commerce platform Pine Labs announced that it is acquiring Bengaluru-based API start-up Setu.

NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.

StellarFi 🚀 has announced the launch of its credit-building web app in the US.

Starling Bank launched the first-ever Fantasy Football game for the UEFA Women’s EURO ahead of the official tournament kick-off on Wednesday 6th July.

Nubank announced this Tuesday (28) its new credit and debit card aimed exclusively at CNPJ accounts.

AS FOR AWARDS

ZEN.COM, an innovative European fintech, has been awarded the Digital First certificate by Mastercard.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Contis, the European leader in Banking-as-a-Service. Contishelp organisations launch cards, accounts and payment apps for their customers. To find out how you can embed finance into your offering, visit www.contis.com today!

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Robinhood has agreed to a $640,000 settlement with Vermont's financial regulator over a series of outages at the trading app in 2020

JUST IN:

London-based Zilch, the fastest fintech to reach double unicorn status, announces it has surpassed 2 million customers – with record registrations of more than 425,000 new customers in December.

ALSO:

Global retail Banco Santander has been forced to pay customers hundreds of pounds in compensation after making it almost impossible to access online banking without a smartphone.

FURTHERMORE,

Brazilian fintech Nubank said on Monday that new central bank rules for digital banks will bring lower capital requirements than originally expected next year and in 2024, with the announcement lifting its shares.

WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?

Stripe, a technology company building financial infrastructure for the internet, announced that Blockchain.com has chosen Stripe to facilitate payments, mitigate fraud risk, and improve revenue management.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Apple is facing an antitrust class-action lawsuit in the US accusing it of illegally profiting from card issuers through policies that prevent competition to its Apple Pay wallet. A complaint filed in San Francisco federal court accuses Apple of denying rivals access to the NFC chip technology in iPhones needed to develop a competing mobile wallet. Link here.

FINTECH NEWS

#payments

• Meta is launching a new “payments in chat” feature on Instagram. With this new feature, users can purchase products from small businesses and track orders via direct messages on Instagram in the United States. Link here.

#expansion

• Plum launched in Belgium. Belgians can now link their accounts to Plum from nine major banks including BNP Paribas Fortis, ING, and Hello Bank. Link here.

#layoffs

• Gemini has made another round of layoffs, affecting seven per cent of its staff, according to TechCrunch. Link here.

#breakingnews

• Ping Express executives convicted for $160 M money laundering. Two US-based Nigerian fintech executives pleaded guilty to failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering policy. Link here.

#crypto

• Buenbit launched a local currency loan product that uses crypto as collateral. Link here.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

This podcast episode is sponsored by Provenir. Provenir does more than help with your current tech challenges. They eliminate them. Designed and built to power agility, their cloud-native technology puts your team in control. Loved by Startups. Trusted by Decacorns.

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Robinhood's chief product officer quits. Robinhood has lost chief product officer Aparna Chennapragada. Chennapragada joined the company from Google a little over a year ago as its first chief product officer to oversee all product, design, and research. Link here.

FINTECH NEWS

#partnerships

• Shopify and Attentive have teamed up to build on text-to-buy services, enabling consumers to make purchases directly from an SMS conversation with a brand. Built with Shopify’s Shop Pay checkout flow, Attentive’s text-to-buy solution is designed to turn browsers into buyers with a frictionless checkout flow built for mobile devices. Link here.

#fintechinnovation

• Trezy opened its European headquarters in Amsterdam. Currently, Trezy is live in 32 European countries with a significant focus on the Netherlands, France, and Belgium. The Dutch-French tech company also secured €1M from angel investors and is planning another round of funding this year. Link here.

#breakingnews

• Rakuten is facing a further setback in its plan to launch payments on its Viber messaging app under the “Viber Pay” brand after the European Union’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) accepted an application to have its trademark invalidated. Link here.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

This podcast episode is sponsored by Uncover, the new podcast by ComplyAdvantage. Join CEO Charles Delingpole and his team as they interview compliance leaders, FinTech innovators, and financial crime experts to uncover the latest best practices and industry trends. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify today.

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

MercadoLibre posted record revenues of $2.6 billion for the second quarter, an increase of 56% year-on-year, surpassing analysts' expectations of $2.5 billion. The regional e-commerce giant beat forecasts for all key metrics. Analysts expected a gross margin of 45.9%, but the company posted a 49% gross margin for the second quarter. Link here.

FINTECH NEWS

#donedeal

• Twid raised $12 million in a funding round led by Rakuten Capital, to expand its reward points-based service. Twid is a network effect platform that combines loyalty/reward points across issuers such as banks, fintech firms, and retail/e-commerce brands. Link here.
• Galoy raised $4 million in funding in an investment round led by Hivemind Ventures. On the same day, the startup launched a new product called Stablesats. This stablecoin concept leverages derivatives contracts to create a bitcoin-backed synthetic dollar pegged to the U.S. dollar. Link here.
• Bounty raised $4.7M to help everyday TikTokers make money from reviews. The new service, currently in beta, is designed for everyday TikTok users — not just professional creators — who want to earn money by reviewing brands’ products. Link here.

⚠️ UK fintech Railsr to be sold as issues mount
🪙 Nubank rolls out "Nucoin" 70 million users
🚗 Mercedes-Benz turns car into payment device
📉 Revolut investor slashes $5bn off fintech's valuation
🙄 Silvergate "SEN" used to move funds to Exchanges
🇲🇽 Crypto exchange Bitso launch debit card in Mexico
💡 Smart lending fintech Abound raises £500 million
🇧🇷 Brazilian B2B payments platform Barte raises $3m
🇫🇷 N2F raises €24m
🇬🇧 British fintech SteadyPay raises $3m seed

Connecting the dots in FinTech

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Curve bids for BlockFi’s more than 87,000 credit card customers — whose credit cards have been suspended since Nov. 11. Negotiations are still in the process with Deserve, which services the BlockFi card program. Link here

BREAKING NEWS

Klarna has launched the search and compare tool to enable shoppers to compare prices. This marks an acceleration of Klarna's attempts to reach superapp status as it broadens its reach beyond payments. Link here

JP Morgan is opening a payments innovation lab in Athens as part of a wider Greek expansion. The centre will concentrate on supporting the development of solutions around distributed ledger technology, AI and cryptography related to payments systems. Link here

#FINTECH REPORT

Mobiquity Inc.’s Interactive Digital Banking Features Radar report, is a study that describes the similarities and differences between digital banking functionalities and outlines three key pillars to achieving digital success. Link here

Today we talk a lot about Apple, a possible Britcoin, Binance and BNPL Zilch

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by PayRetailers. PayRetailers is a Spanish company and a leader in online payment services dedicated to creating a fast and simple payment process for merchants and shoppers. The company offers a full range of payment solutions to help e-commerce companies accept online payments through a single API. By accepting local payment methods, PayRetailers allows anyone to make online purchases, even if they don't have credit or debit cards. Visit www.payretailers.com

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Zip Co and Sezzle have mutually agreed to cancel their merger. This is due to the current industry climate which has seen the financial prospects of both companies severely damaged.

JUST IN:

Paris-based BlackFin Capital Partners, private equity and venture capital firm focusing on financial services, announced on Monday the second closing of its Tech 2 fund at €350M.

ALSO:

For the first time in history, remittances to Mexico surpassed $5B USD in May 2022, according to data from Banxico. The average remittance value is $401 USD, and 5%+ of all households in the Mexico receive one.

FURTHERMORE,

Chilean insurance-tech startup Betterfly plans to expand overseas after its latest funding round swelled its valuation to $1 billion. The company is preparing to begin operations in seven new markets in 2022 -- Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Panama and Costa Rica –- using the proceeds of its Series C round, according to founder and Chief Executive Officer Eduardo della Maggiora.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?

Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) make up an essential value pool for the banking and financial services industry, accounting for more than 90% of all companies and more than 50% of jobs worldwide. Despite being such an important value pool, SMBs have remained an underserved market for their business banking needs. The finance gap for formal SMBs in emerging markets is estimated to be USD 5 trillion.

LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:

M2P Fintech, an Asian financial Infrastructure company recently announced it has acquired Finflux, a cloud lending platform.

AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS

The Philippine Postal Corporation (Post Office) has partnered with UBX, a fintech unit created by the Union Bank of the Philippines, to launch a capacity development project which will allow the postal agency to offer financial services.

Agrotoken, a global tokenization platform focused on agrocommodities, has teamed up with Pomelo and Algorand as strategic allies for the implementation and development of a card designed for the agricultural sector.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Key News:

Bank North is to initiate a solvent wind-down of its operation as regulatory capital requirements were unlikely to be met. In a letter to shareholders chairman Ron Emerson said the bank had not been able to close critical capital in time to meet the Bank of England requirements. Bank North is currently in talks with a third party to sell its £17m loan book as well as transfer its lending team, who make up a third of its 60-strong staff. Link here. 

The SEC charged Kim Kardashian 1.26 million for crypto touting. Kim Kardashian has been charged with a $1.26 million fine by the Securities and Exchange Commission for touting a crypto asset security without disclosing the $250,000 fee she was paid for the promotion. The post on her Instagram account was about Emax tokens, the crypto asset security being offered by EthereumMax. Kardashian’s post contained a link to the EthereumMax website, which provided instructions for potential investors to purchase the tokens. Link here. 

Visa and Mastercard face a class action lawsuit that claims that Visa and Mastercard have forced banks to agree to a level of Multilateral Interchange Fees (MIFs), which are “anti-competitive and unlawful.” Link here

Celsius founder took out $10 million before pausing withdrawals and filing for bankruptcy. The crypto lender has been called a Ponzi scheme. Celsius advertised high yields to clients that invested their crypto funds with the company. Link here

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Contis, the European leader in Banking-as-a-Service. Contis help organisations launch cards, accounts and payment apps for their customers. To find out how you can embed finance into your offering, visit www.contis.com today!

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Uber is driving ahead with its plan to become a travel "superapp". The San Francisco-headquartered firm announced Wednesday that it is adding trains, buses, planes, and car rentals to its U.K. app this year. The move is part of a pilot that could be expanded to other countries at a later date if it goes well.

JUST IN:

PayRetailers, the leading LATAM FinTech payment specialist, announced the acquisition of two online payments platforms, Chile’s Paygol and Colombia’s Pago Digital.

ALSO:

Philippines’ neobank Tonik marks its first year of operations in the country after securing a digital bank license from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in June last year.

FURTHERMORE,

UNObank has rebranded UNO Digital Bank. The new name highlights the digital nature of the bank’s business.

LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:

Mastercard has completed the acquisition of Dynamic Yield, a Tel Aviv, Israel- and New York City-based provider of a personalization platform and decision engine company.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

In case you missed it, please see below today's most relevant news, or tune in to our Daily Fintech Podcast here.

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Nuri terminates its business after failing to find an acquirer. They had not been able to find investors to continue their mission. Customers have been asked to withdraw their funds by December 18. Link here

BREAKING NEWS

bunq wins appeal case against DNB. Earlier this year, the neobank sued DNB over a disagreement over the use of technology to combat money laundering. Link here

INSIGHTS

€269m was raised across 9 European FinTech deals. Crypto custodian Copper raised €186m in a Series C, followed by GoHenry raised a €57m Growth round, and Net Purpose raised €11m in Series A funding. Link here

FINTECH NEWS

Paycell begins its European journey. They are making significant international investments to achieve their goal of becoming an inclusive financial service provider. Link here

Creditclan rebrands as Clan. Also, they’ve introduced swap now pay later to accommodate the growing segment of item upgrade finance across Africa. Link here

DIGITAL BANKING NEWS

New PayPal rewards program. When checking out with PayPal, consumers in the US can now earn points towards cash back with the ability to redeem. Link here

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

This podcast episode is sponsored by Klarna Kosma. Klarna Kosma can supercharge your business by providing essential connectivity to a growing network of more than 15,000 banks in 26 countries through a single Open Banking API. With Klarna Kosma, you have everything you need to create payment services and new user experiences your customers will love. Check out how we can make your game-changing ideas powerfully real with Open Banking.

Visit kosma.com today!

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

a16z backs a new startup by WeWork’s co-founder. The investment in Adam Neumann’s new startup Flow, a residential real estate company, is roughly $350 million. Link here.

FINTECH NEWS

#crypto

• Football’s love affair with crypto is on the up. Recent research by The Athletic found that nearly all of last year’s Premier League’s 20 clubs have at least one crypto sponsor at some level. Link here
• Crypto App Nebeus taps Modulr for embedded payment features. Fiat accounts, real-time payments and Visa cards will also be added to Nebeus’ crypto app. Link here
• Zero Hash has launched in Australia and registered as a Digital Currency Exchange provider. The company appointed Claire Wivell Plater as a Non-Executive Director. Link here

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Bitcoin has crashed to its lowest level since December 2020 after one of the crypto-economy's largest lenders, Celsius Network, suspended withdrawals on Sunday.

JUST IN:

MoneyGram International, a global leader in the evolution of digital P2P payments, and the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), a non-profit organization that supports the development and growth of Stellar, an open-source public blockchain that allows money to be tokenized and transferred globally, announced the initial roll-out of a first-of-its-kind global on/off-ramp service for digital wallets to increase the utility of digital assets by creating a bridge between cash and cryptocurrencies.

ALSO:

Metro Bank (UK) is being sued by US software company Arkeyo over allegations that it leaked the company's coin counting technology to a rival firm.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

JUST has raised €3M in its first funding round. E-commerce in France is exploding: valued at more than 112 billion euros in 2020, it is expected to nearly treble in volume by 2026.

Berlin-based Airbank has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Molten Ventures.

Cardiff Capital Region (CCR) has announced a £1.6 million, five-year investment in FinTech Wales, the independent not for profit membership association and champion of the FinTech and Financial Services industry in Wales.

WHAT’S THE LATEST ON VENTURE FUNDS?

The IFC - International Finance Corporation., a member of the World Bank Group, is open to investing and supporting the fintech sector in Saudi Arabia, as it eyes to expand its existing portfolio worth $8 billion invested in the Kingdom, said a top official.

AS FOR OPPORTUNITIES

Bucking the trend for lay-offs in the fintech sector, Banking-as-a-Service provider Contis has revealed plans to increase its headcount by more than 33% over the next six months, with the Yorkshire headquartered firm intending to recruit 123 additional roles across the UK, Lithuania and India.

✋️  N26 says on to major acquisition

💰️  Binance Moves $400 Million to Firm Managed by CEO

🇱🇹️  Railsr subsidiary "grossly, systematically" violating AML

💳️  Goldman Sachs steps back from new credit card programs

🇦🇺️  Paypal tells Australia it supports BNPL regulation

🇨🇦️  Plaid allows users to instantly verify identity in Canada

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Stripe will allow businesses to pay their users via cryptocurrencies. The company will start offering merchants the ability to make payouts in crypto through the stablecoin USDC.

JUST IN:

WeMoney has signed a landmark deal with Envestnet | Yodlee for the first CDR and non-CDR data flows under Australia’s evolving open banking regime.

ALSO:

Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions announced that it is entering into an agreement with EBANX to provide an end-to-end digital collection solution for Citi’s institutional clients in Latin America.

FURTHERMORE,

MOGOPLUS is in the process of becoming an Accredited Data Recipient authorized by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?

Moneybox has become the latest fintech to increase the interest rate on its savings accounts, upping the rate on its long-term savings account by nearly 70 percent.

WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?

Binance has hired another former regulator in the US. Seth Levy , who spent over a decade at (FINRA) and is joining Binance as head of market surveillance.

🧮 Revolut's statement about reportedly "misstated" revenue numbers
😢 Stripe Cuts Valuation to $50 Billion After Facing Fundraising Hurdles
💳 Visa considers takeover of (FIS)
🚨 Crypto bank Silvergate warns on ability to survive
⏸ Visa, Mastercard pause crypto push in wake of industry meltdown
🇦🇺 Australian Central Bank Set to Launch CBDC Live Pilot in a Few Months
🇩🇪 Crypto Custodian Finoa Gets License Approvals From German Regulator BaFin
🇿🇦 SA to implement stricter regulations for payments industry
🇳🇱 Adyen integrates Click to Pay within online payment interface
🫂 Budgeting App ‘Buddy’ taps Klarna Kosma for bank transaction monitoring

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by PayRetailers. PayRetailers’ payment platform leverages API technology to connect Latin American consumers with international merchants, offering a seamless payment experience. From the merchant’s perspective, the solution has the distinct advantage of eliminating the hurdles associated with integrating multiple acquirers and payment methods. Visit: www.payretailers.com

JUST IN:

The state of New York wants to ban new bitcoin mining operations, a move that some industry insiders fear could have a domino effect across the U.S. The bill, which is swiftly making its way through the state capitol in Albany, calls for a two-year moratorium on certain cryptocurrency mining operations that use proof-of-work authentication methods to validate blockchain transactions.

ALSO:

Revolut has no plans to go public for at least another two years as it bids to build up revenues against a backdrop of plummeting tech valuations and interest rate hikes

FURTHERMORE,

Robinhood is launching a feature that will allow its users to lend out their stocks in hopes of earning passive, recurring income from borrowers.

WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?

Gucci is tapping into the crypto crowd. The brand will accept cryptocurrency payments in some US stores at the end of this month, and plans to extend the pilot to all of its directly-operated North America stores this summer.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?

In 2021, Mexico was the third-largest recipient of remittances worldwide after China and India.

⬇️ Stripe raises $6.5bn, working on GPT-4 product
🤝 BNP Paribas and Hokodo work on BNPL innovation
⚛ Atom Bank chair to step down as digital lender prepares for listing
💳 Parker emerges from stealth with $157m funding
🚀 Ibanera lands $18.5m in capital investment

FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried seeks dismissal of criminal charges

This podcast episode is sponsored by Payhawk. Payhawk is the most efficient credit card backed by powerful financial software to help companies stay in control of their spend. Try efficient, paperless, compliant spending today.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

💫 News Highlight: African Fintech Flutterwave raised $250 million in a Series D round that tripled the company’s valuation to over $3 billion in just twelve months.

⚡ Just in Danish challenger bank Lunar has added a bit of Hollywood glamour to its investor roster with Will Ferrell backing the fintech.

⭐ Also, The organization, Black Angel Group, now features 35 Black leaders and operators inside of Alphabet, including from Google, GV, CapitalG, YouTube and Gradient Ventures. Their primary focus is “figuring out the best deals in order to create generational wealth” for its members.

👉🏻 Furthermore, After surveying 2,000 pay later shoppers, Barclays found 30 per cent were overwhelmed by the amount of buy now, pay later bills they had racked up. Meanwhile, 25 per cent were concerned about their ability to repay the buy now, pay later bills coming in.

🧐 Insights: In an article in Financial IT, Kathy Mitchell-Stares, Executive Vice President, North America, for Provenir, provides insight on the critical role alternative data plays in both BNPL and financial inclusion, and why data, AI and real-time decisioning will be key areas of investment in 2022.

🤝 M&As: MoneyGram International has inked a definitive agreement to be acquired by private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC (MDP) in an all-cash deal worth around $1.8 billion.

🚢 Partnerships - São Paulo-based Banco Itaú Private Bank International has partnered with US paytech Rêv Worldwide to release a multi-currency digital wallet for its international private banking customers.

💰 Funding rounds & investments:

- Funding Societies | Modalku Group, a Southeast Asian SME digital financing platform which goes by Modalku in Indonesia, announced that it has raised US$144 million in an oversubscribed Series C+ equity round.

- Stitch has sealed a $21 million Series A funding round led by The Spruce House Partnership, with investments from TrueLayer and PayPal Ventures among others.

- delt.ai (YC W20) announces it is expected to raise the equivalent of $25M in debt financing through Truefit, a DeFi lending platform designed by TrustToken, to fund its corporate credit lines in 2022.

- Happy Money announced it has closed a Series D-1 capital raise to accelerate its growth and empower more people to use money as a tool for happiness.

- Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is a key investor in a new digital bank called D360, being established in the kingdom with a capital of 1.65 billion riyals ($440 million).

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

The CEO and co-founder of the neobank HMBradley, is looking for someone to retroactively name the company after, and he wants to give away $25,000 while doing it.

JUST IN:

ComplyAdvantage has launched a live sanctions tracker, an interactive dashboard displaying the latest sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

ALSO:

Grupo Financiero Banorte has joined a United Nations' program to offer digital bank accounts to refugees in Mexico.

FURTHERMORE,

When viewing hypergrowth startups as universities and founders as professors, Rappi has already "graduated" more than 100 founders that have created >14k jobs and raised over $2b in VC funding.

WHAT ABOUT DIGITAL CURRENCIES?

The Banco Central de Chile has delayed its plans for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) saying the issuance of a digital Chilean peso requires a deeper analysis of the benefits and risks, promising a new report toward the end of the year.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?

The fintech landscape in Vietnam is now experiencing the second-fastest growth in the region, after Singapore. According to analysts from Robocash Group, the fintech market in Vietnam is expected to grow to US$ 18 billion by 2024, despite the high competitiveness and a high entry bar.

Ryan Reynolds invests in Canadian fintech Nuvei & more

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

PayPal announced that it will soon support Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhones. Merchants will be able to accept contactless card payments as well as payments via Apple Pay and other digital wallets (Google Pay). Link here

BREAKING NEWS

CloudWalk becomes the first licensed crypto payment institution in Brazil. The license will allow the company to offer credit cards to users and provide payment accounts to businesses. Link here

Finastra announced the availability of Finastra Digital Banking Insights, an app for Fusion Digital Banking that provides financial institutions with actionable insights into account holder behavior. Link here

airasia Super App completes ASEAN expansion spree for 2022 with Indonesia launch focusing on Bali as a key international tourist market. Link here

Cap table startup Carta’s valuation jumped to $8.5 billion earlier this year after employees sold shares to investors, which highlights the business' rapid growth during the pandemic. Link here

INSIGHTS

Latam's MercadoLibre reported a third-quarter net income up 36% from a year earlier, as it nearly doubled its fintech revenues, helping offset a relative slowdown in online shopping. Link here

It is really striking how the German ecosystem has grown strongly in all areas in recent years. Check out this German Web3 Ecosystem Map by w3.fund. Link here

Public.com, is planning to expand outside the US in 2023. The company was reportedly recently looking to buy Amsterdam-based Bux, another stock trading app. Link here

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Provenir. Provenir does more than help with your current tech challenges. They eliminate them. Designed and built to power agility, their cloud-native technology puts your team in control. Loved by Startups. Trusted by Decacorns.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Female-focused digital investment and robo-advisor platform Ellevest has secured $53 million in a Series B funding round co-led by BMO Financial Group and Contour Venture Partners.

WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?

In February 2022, N26 surveyed 16,030 women and men from its 5 largest markets in Europe – Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. One of the most interesting findings is that cryptocurrencies are the third most popular investment product, with nearly 1 in 3 women saying they invest in crypto (28%). Cryptocurrencies are the most popular investment product overall among women investors in Spain and among all European women aged 18–24.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?

With a powerful collection of some of Wall Street’s most esteemed backers behind the challenger bank, Nubank’sDecember 2021 IPO was a watershed moment across the whole of the fintech landscape.  After its first full quarter as a public company, it’s clear that the performance of NU is going to play a major role in whether other firms follow suit. Already we’ve seen other key players in the world of fintech scaling back their IPO plans as Nubankinitially experienced mixed fortunes in its floatation.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Klarna is reportedly close to inking a new round of funding that would slash its valuation to $6.5 billion — about 1/7 of what the company was valued in June of 2021. When it raised $639 million in a round led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 last year it was valued at a $45.6 billion.

JUST IN:

Deel has partnered with the United Arab Emirates government to speed up the visa process for foreign workers as the country aims to attract international talent.

ALSO:

The U.S. federal government is working on stablecoin legislation with Congress that could become law by the end of the year, an administration official told CoinDesk.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

Antler closed three pre-seed investments of €100,000 each as part of its Dutch portfolio expansion.

WEVESTR raised €2.2M in a fresh round of funding.

Mottu raised $30 million in equity in a Series B round of funding.

OppZo announced over $260M in debt and equity funding

Mapan - PT Ruma closed a successful Series A round of US$15 million.

Vibrant.io raised €4 million in a seed round.

Stake closed a $12m Series A financing round.

WHAT’S THE LATEST ON VENTURE FUNDS?

MassMutual Ventures announced that its U.S.- based team has launched a new fund to continue investing in early and growth-stage companies

OP Crypto is raising $100 million for its new investment, dubbed “Fund of Funds”, to deploy capital into emerging fund managers focused on early-stage crypto investments.

WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?

Prominent crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital Pte Ltd has defaulted on a loan worth more than $670 million.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Privacy Lock. Privacy Lock sets the standard for financial service providers in data privacy compliance.

Protect your business and your customers today. Visit www.pentaprivacylock.com

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

PayRetailers, the main LATAM Fintech's payments specialist, announced the opening of new offices in Peru, a move that will help the company be closer to its customer base and consolidate its presence in one of the fastest-growing markets.

JUST IN:

Russian banking tycoon Oleg Tinkov has claimed that he was forced to go into hiding and sell his stake in Tinkoff Bank which he founded after openly criticizing the war in Ukraine.

ALSO:

US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Robert Menendez have blasted bank-backed P2P payments app Zelle® over reports of widespread fraud and scams on the platform.

FURTHERMORE,

TrueLayer has created the industry’s first variable recurring payments (VRP) API for both sweeping and non-sweeping payments.

WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?

Grupo Santander and Oxentia Foundation are inviting startups and scaleups from 11 countries to compete in a blockchain challenge and the chance to win cash prizes.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has nearly doubled the size of its crypto market and cyber enforcement unit, growing the team to 50 positions with the addition of 20 new staff.

More problems for Revolut as it waits for UK banking licence

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

In case you missed it, please see below today's most relevant news, or tune in to our Daily Fintech Podcast here.

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

ComplyAdvantage names Vatsa Narasimha as Chief Executive Officer. Founder, and former CEO, Charles Delingpole is to become Executive Chairman on the back of impressive organic growth. Vatsa Narasimha was promoted from his previous position as Chief Technology Officer. Both will assume their new positions effective immediately. Link here

BREAKING NEWS

Brazilian Hedge Funds now offer credit products. Vinland Capital Management Gestora de Recursos Ltda. and Occam Brasil Gestao de Recursos Ltda. are among the hedge funds planning to offer credit products after the nation’s benchmark interest rate jumped to 14% from 2% last year, luring investors back to bonds. Link here

Apple is taking a big step in banking services to its customers. The company announced yesterday it is partnering with Goldman Sachs to soon launch a new Savings account feature for its Apple Card credit cardholders. Link here

• PayRetailers integrates PIX into its all-in-one payment platform.

Connecting the dots in FinTech

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

FTX says it could have over 1 million creditors in the new bankruptcy filing, hinting at the huge impact of its collapse on crypto traders. Link here

BREAKING NEWS

BlockFi prepares for potential bankruptcy as crypto contagion spreads. The company, financially entangled with the now-bankrupt FTX, is planning to lay off workers and exploring a bankruptcy filing itself, people familiar say. Link here

FTX’s Bankman-Fried quietly invested more than $500 million in Sequoia and other VCs. The unusual moves show how entangled Silicon Valley VC firms are in his collapsing crypto empire. Link here

#FINTECH REPORT

Check out the MENA FinTech Association’s (MFTA) report which focuses on embedded finance in the MENA region as well as how open banking and open finance are fuelling its growth. Link here

The fifth edition of the Optima Consultancy Mobile Banking App Review (Germany) 2022 has been released. The underlying motivation of the research is to track and measure digital transformation in banking. Link here

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Burgopak. Burgopak delivers award-winning innovative packaging solutions for some of the world's leading companies in Fintech. Discover how tangible physical touchpoints are crucial in digital banking with the Burgopak 'Welcome to the club' book; Request your free copy, contact info@burgopak.com

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

A select group of Russian banks are to be excluded from the Swift financial messaging system as part of a package of new financial sanctions agreed by Western allies.

JUST IN:

Google is reportedly launching a new blockchain division as part of its Labs group.

ALSO:

Europe’s biggest loan marketplace Mintos has taken the “next steps to protect investors”, and is excluding all loans from Russia and Ukraine from its main market.

FURTHERMORE,

Bank of America will roll all of its product lines into one app that is slated to roll out in December, according to American Banker.

WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?

Hack VC, a San Francisco, CA-based crypto-native investment firm, launched a $200M Crypto Seed Fund.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?

Paceline launched the first credit card powered by movement – rewarding cardmembers not only for spending, but for staying active by hitting their weekly "streak" of 150-minutes of exercise.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

J.P. Morgan shared a first look at the early success of its multi-million dollar bet on launching a challenger bank in the UK. Chase, which only launched in September 2021, has already reached half a million UK customers according to figures published as part of the US banking giant’s 2022 investor day.

JUST IN:

Klarna is set to fire 10% of its employees amid a valuation crunch at the buy now, pay later giant. Klarna chief Sebastian Siemiatkowski broke the news to employees in a pre-recorded video message seen by Swedish tech site Breakit.

ALSO:

CaixaBank has launched a Visa card with Braille reading and writing code embedded for visually impaired customers. The new card, developed in partnership with Once and Visa, will initially be applied to CaixaBank's 'MyCard' Visa cards, and will soon be available for all types of cards issued by the bank: credit, debit, and prepaid cards.

FURTHERMORE,

UK challenger Atom bank is considering a Spac merger on the New York Stock Exchange at a valuation of $700 million. The mobile-only bank has been looking at prospects for an IPO after achieving its first monthly operating profit in June last year.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?

Elon Musk hints at super app and payment ambitions for Twitter. Musk called Tencent-owned WeChat a "good model" for a super app, noting that nothing like it exists outside of China. He said it's important for content creators to have revenue streams and that integrating payments into such an app, whether they're cryptocurrency or fiat, would be beneficial. Musk's pitch to investors to fund the acquisition involves bringing in as much as $15 million from a Twitter payments business in 2023.

AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS

Oslo-based Two is embedding open banking data in its checkout with the help of Yapily. Two’s payment flow can now instantly verify a buyer’s ID, check account information, and can use transaction data to conduct fraud analysis.

Sokin has teamed up with Mastercard to connect consumers in 39 new markets to payments services that are more open and transparent, removing the barriers that have historically hindered access and financial inclusion.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Three months after announcing it would make a big push into software and enterprise, FinTech giant Brex is apparently abandoning the very segment it started out to serve – SMBs. Startup customers report that they got notice they would be booted off the platform on August 15.

JUST IN:

Robinhood shares slumped to a fresh low, giving the beleaguered brokerage a market value that’s less than the cash on its balance sheet.

ALSO:

Fintech company Addi recently carried out “a mass layoff”, but when approached by Bloomberg Línea the company declined to confirm the exact number of redundancies.

FURTHERMORE,

Provenir, a global leader in AI-powered risk management software for fintech, announced its first customer in Brazil: Provu, a fintech specializing in payment and personal credit, based in São Paulo.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

Klarna is considering raising fresh funds at a significantly lower valuation than it achieved a year ago. The Swedish firm is in talks with investors about a deal that could value the company at around $15 billion.

Cleo raised $80m in new capital from investors including Sofina, a listed tech investor which has backed companies such as Typeform and Graphcore.

Qatar-based CWALLET has successfully closed its Pre-Series A investment Round at $875,000

CapIntel raised $11.0m in a Series A financing round led by New York-based FinTech Collective.

Destaxa raised a $3.1 million seed round.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Privacy Lock. Privacy Lock sets the standard for financial service providers in data privacy compliance.

Protect your business and your customers today. Visit www.pentaprivacylock.com

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Jake Anderson conducted a recent consumer research study on neobanking surveying over 5000+ consumers worldwide. Some key findings are: Banking goes digital as mobile apps become the dominant method of accessing bank accounts. Also, LATAM leads the way in neobank adoption, with the majority of adults IN BRASIL having both a digital and traditional bank account.

JUST IN:

Paytm Payments Bank was barred by its central bank from adding new customers due to likely gaps in its technology systems, potentially denting its small finance bank aspirations and further roiling investors skeptical of the fintech's ability to boost earnings after an expensive initial share sale.

ALSO:

Sachin Bansal’s Navi Technologies, a fintech startup that offers customers insurance and loan products, has filed for a $440 million IPO.

FURTHERMORE,

Pivo Financial Services, a startup created by Nkiru Amadi-Emina and Ijeoma Akwiwu to be the neobank for trade in Africa, entered the market with Pivo Capital, a credit-focused financial services platform for supply chain small and medium businesses (SMEs).

WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?

Mastercard is seeing accelerating interest in digital currencies as a payment method for everyday purchases. Mastercard has been working closely with related parties everywhere, including Thailand, to prepare for the future of payments in which digital currencies will be a critical choice for consumers, said Aileen Chew, country manager of Mastercard for Thailand and Myanmar.

AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS

DoorDash announced a partnership with Melbourne, Australia-based financial technology company Afterpay to offer BNPL on all orders in the fintech company’s home country.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

Moove Africa raised $105 million in new Series A2 financing.

Leiden raised $50M in its Series B round of funding.

WHAT ABOUT THOSE MOVERS AND SHAKERS?

Curve chief operating officer Nathalie Oestmann is leaving the fintech after two and a half years.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by YieldX. YieldX is transforming income investing to bring its benefits to all investors. With YieldX, the outcome is income.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

The Saudi Central Bank – SAMA, directed banks to halt the option of opening online accounts for individuals or institutions ‘until further notice’, local media reported. Under the new measures that will take effect starting April 10, accounts are to be opened through branches only.

JUST IN:

New savings app Lilly Funds is set to launch in the US, designed to help the more than 150 million underserved Americans who don’t have access to retirement services.

WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?

The Bitcoin rumor-mill is in full flow in the run-up to the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami during April 6–9. Following a number of not so cryptic tweets from Jack Mallers, CEO of the Bitcoin and payments app Strike, the charismatic founder is expected to announce a partnership between Apple and Strike to enable Bitcoin Lightning payments on the tech giant’s devices.

Bakkt Holdings, Inc., a trusted digital asset platform that enables consumers to buy, sell, send and spend a range of digital assets, announced that American Bank has selected the Bakkt® crypto connect solution to enable their bank customers to buy, sell and hold the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, bitcoin, and Ethereum.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?

Last week, €300m was raised across 17 FinTech deals. Grover is the biggest performer this week with a $110m in equity from a series C round, reaching unicorn territory. It was followed by Fidel API with a $65m series B round and Moneybox that raised a $42m series D.

🇳🇱 Dutch neobank bunq becomes profitable
📱 Revolut most-downloaded banking app in Europe
✍️ Payoneer scores UK e-money license
🎉 TWINT hits 5 million active users
💿 Siam Commercial Bank will become digital-only
🇵🇭 HitPay and BillEase enable BNPL for SMEs
🇪🇺 European Commission opens blockchain sandbox
🇬🇧 7 million UK consumers and SMEs use open banking
🇧🇷 Unlimint adopts Mercado Pago's solutions
🤝 Cross Switch acquires 50% of Moroccan VPS
🇪🇺 €169.5m in European FinTechs raised last week
🇮🇳 Indian PhonePe raises $100M, valued at $12B
🚀 HedgeFlows launches with £2 million funding
💰 Mintoak raises $20 million led by PayPal Ventures

Join our community.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Mercuryo. With the help of their cryptopowered toolbox, Mercuryo enables companies to take advantage of both fiat and crypto worlds and provide innovative payment solutions for end-customers.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Robinhood re-negotiates its deal with Ziglu leaving some crowdfunding investors at a loss. Robinhood wants to pay a lower price for the business owing to a shift in market conditions for crypto. Citing notable failures "including Celsius, BlockFi, and Voyager." As well as the general malaise in the macroeconomy and ongoing geopolitical tensions. Link here

FINTECH NEWS

#partnerships

• FinScore partnered with Provenir. The partnership helps financial services organizations in the Philippines to incorporate telco data and tap into the credit potential. Link here
• Vyzer partnered with Salt Edge. Investors can instantly connect and sync their European bank accounts and fully digital cash flow tracking in a single dashboard. Link here

#acquisitions

• Razorpay acquires Ezetap for $200 million. Ezetap is India’s leading offline POS company. Razorpay will be one of the few with a significant online and offline presence. Link here
• Ecuadorian Kushki acquired Billpocket to accelerate LatAm’s payment ecosystem. With it, Kushki aims to provide infrastructure to all players in the payment ecosystem. Link here

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

This podcast episode is sponsored by Contis, the European leader in Banking-as-a-Service. Contis is proud to deliver process-pay, a brand-new standalone processing solution ready to cater for any organisations card processing needs. To find out more visiting www.contis.com today!

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Ryan Breslow, the founder of Bolt, is back as CEO of Love. Love is still in its early stages, but in August it raised $7.5 million at a $180 million valuation from MaC Venture Capital and Human Capital. Breslow is running a new funding round, raising another $10 million, this time at a $300 million plus valuation. Link here.

#Payments

• PayQuicker launched Payouts OS. PayQuicker’s API connects to more than ten payout partners, enabling payouts in more than 200 countries and territories in more than 40 currencies. Link here

#FinTechInnovation

• Front launched an API platform. The firm allows emerging FinTech companies access to a unique network of 250+ global integrations with brokerages and exchanges. Link here

DIGITAL BANKING NEWS

#BankingIndustry

• Kuda incurred a loss of over ₦6 billion in 2021. Kuda MFB, a neobank operating under the Nigerian microfinance bank licence, has recorded losses for the past two years. Link here.

#Partnerships

• Goldman partnered with Modern Treasury. The partners say they will help joint customers seamlessly embed and scale domestic and international payments into their products. Link here

#BankingInnovation

• Zengin-Net, will make its system available to operators of mobile payment services. The expansion of eligibility to participate in the Zengin-Net system comes amid the spreading use of payment apps such as PayPay. Link here
• Paysend launched an instant payment service. Paysend’s Open Payment Network orchestrates the end-to-end pymnt flow including payment initiation, processing, FX and settlement. Link here

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

After Apple shook up the Buy Now, Pay Later market with news that it would now be a competitor to established firms, PayPal this morning is introducing another buy now, pay later product to follow the 2020 launch of its “Pay in 4″ installment program. The new offering, PayPal Pay Monthly,” is designed to give customers a more flexible way to pay, the U.S. payments giant said. Instead of having to pay off purchases over a 6-week period as before, “Pay Monthly” users can break down the total cost into monthly payments over a 6 to 24-month period. Consumers can also use the product to make larger purchases. TechCrunch article by Sarah Perez article.

JUST IN:

Last month, Shopify, a cloud-based, multi-channel commerce platform designed for SMEs, asked customers of Mollie, a Dutch unicorn that provides a payments platform, to use its payment gateway instead of Mollie’s payments solution.

ALSO:

Brandon Krieg, the CEO, and co-founder of the investment app Stash, called out related platforms that rely on payment for order flow (PFOF) and backed a government initiative to regulate the practice.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

Bits of Stock™, a rewards platform that lets shoppers automatically earn fractional shares, has raised $4.4 million in seed funding from Keen Venture Partners and Yellow Accelerator by Snap.

Berlin-based crypto API provider Pile has raised €2.8m in a pre-seed funding round

Cryptio has raised $10 million in Series A funding for its enterprise crypto back-office platform.

WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?

The first US crypto rewards credit card on the American Express network through a new partnership with crypto wealth management platform and wallet provider Abra is here.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?

If you're an entrepreneur and want to start a business in Latin America, Chile is the country for you. With over 158K new companies started in just 2020, the "country of poets" has one of the highest entrepreneurship rates in the world. Over the last 30 years, Chile has evolved from a military dictatorship into one of LatAm's most prosperous nations.

📉️  Affirm’s stock plunges as it misses earnings

🚨️  Robinhood will try to buy back SBF’s shares

🇬🇧️  Fraud fighting US unicorn Alloy launches in UK

💰️  Danish neobank Lunar raised €35m

💸️  Lending infra provider kennek raises $4.5m

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Uncover, the new podcast by ComplyAdvantage. Join CEO Charles Delingpole and his team as they interview compliance leaders, FinTech innovators, and financial crime experts to uncover the latest best practices and industry trends. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify today

WHAT ARE THE LATEST FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

DeFi platform Alloy has won the backing of Checkout.com founder Guillaume Pousaz in a $3 million pre-seed round led by VC firm Headline.

Amsterdam-based crypto payments infrastructure startup Fung Payments has raised $2.7m in a pre-seed funding round co-led by Global Founders Capital, Kingsway Capital, Kindred Capital VC and Karatage.

GivePenny Technologies secured £1.25m in funding. The company intends to use the funds to further enhance the platform and allow more charities – big and small – to continue their work.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Apple has introduced Apple Pay Later, a new feature backed into the company's payment platform that will allow users to split purchases into separate payments.

JUST IN:

Businesses in Canada may be eligible to claim credit card processing fee rebates following a multimillion-dollar class-action settlement with Visa and Mastercard. Merchants can now apply for rebates on so-called swipe fees charged on credit card transactions dating back two decades, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) said Monday.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?

In a recent study of US consumers, Cornerstone Advisors found that Americans now consider the quality of digital banking tools to be a more important factor in their decision of whom to bank with than branch locations, the quality of the branch experience, or even what interest rate a bank pays on deposits and savings.

NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.

Stripe announced the launch of a delegated authentication feature to improve payment conversion rates in Europe.

BREAKING NEWS

Plum ranked as the fastest growing fintech in the 2022 Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50. Plum’s CEO and co-founder, Victor Trokoudes, credits the company’s excellent performance for its exponential revenue growth over the past four years. Link here

#FINTECHREPORT

Check out the Latvian Fintech landscape review Autumn'22 by Venture Faculty. Link here

INSIGHTS

Check out the Financial Technology Partners / FT Partners weekly FinTech deal activity overview. Link here

This article written by Siobhán Hanley, is an analysis on how Ireland is emerging as a global hub for payments. Link here

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

This podcast episode is sponsored by PayRetailers, leading European paytech firm in Latin America, dedicated to creating a fast and simple payment process for merchants and shoppers. With a flexible and highly scalable proprietary technology architecture, we innovate rapidly in response to market demand for online businesses of all sizes. Visit www.payretailers.com

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

In case you missed it, please see below today's most relevant news, or tune in to our Daily Fintech Podcast here.

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Habito and Atom Bank withdrew UK mortgages in the wake of Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget on Friday that triggered turmoil in the financial markets. They are not alone, with 40% of available UK mortgages withdrawn by lenders. Thousands of borrowers are searching for options to avoid property sales. Link here

FINTECH NEWS

#BreakingNews

Eight US states file individual cease-and-desist orders against Nexo. Nexo Group is a crypto-lending platform. The filings state that the company offered investors interest-earning accounts without first registering them as securities. The orders prevent Nexo from offering this product to residents until it meets the necessary registration requirements. Link here

#Insights

The concept of BNPL in business-to-business. Traditional solutions like invoice factoring and discounting have been used to manage the issue by lending against receivables. Link here

FinTech 2022 Trend Report. Vauban from Carta breaks down the most active investors for potential co-investors and strategy ideas, and segments with the most attention. Link here

Crowdcube joins team of rivals launching new retail investment platform Retailbook.

⚡️ MiFinity launches Open Banking product with Volt
🏦 Hundreds of Wells Fargo's mortgage bankers laid off
💵 Mastercard allows payment in Web3 via USDC
🗺 Remitly expands into the Middle East
🚀 TransferMate announces embedded payments solution for banks
🌱 Guava raises $650K pre-seed
🥳 Brale raises $11.1m to bring CeFi and DeFi together

Connecting the dots in FinTech

This podcast episode is sponsored by Hala. Hala is a leading fintech platform allowing SME's to manage their inbound and outbound payments in a simple yet safe way. It's a one-stop shop to manage the financials of your SME's.

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Klarna Kosma opens up a FinTech platform to accelerate Open Banking use cases. The new initiative is aiming to help startups develop Proofs of Concepts (POC) in the e-commerce, data analytics and fintech space. Link here

BREAKING NEWS

Juni cuts a third of its team in a second round of layoffs. The company said in a LinkedIn post that the decision was made due to new market conditions. Link here

#FINTECH REPORT

Check out the latest report by BPC: Digital banking in The Middle East, which provides a complete overview of the Middle Eastern digital banking market as well as an excellent understanding of the current competitive landscape. Link here

INSIGHTS

The US Department of the Treasury calls for closer supervision of fintech-bank relationships in order to prevent abuses and protect consumers. Link here

Check out this report by Aaron Stanley, which describes how Brazil and Latam FTX employees resigned and were left completely in the dark about what was going on, and how the collapse of FTX has impacted the Brazil crypto ecosystem. Link here

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Contis, the European leader in Banking-as-a-Service. Contis is proud to deliver process-pay, a brand-new standalone processing solution ready to cater for any organisations card processing needs. To find out more visiting www.contis.com today!

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Apple is turning into a fintech company. The company announced several new features for the iPhone's Wallet app at its developers conference Monday that directly compete with products from other fintech companies such as Affirm and PayPal.

JUST IN:

After raising over $100m from investors since 2016, embedded finance provider Railsbank unveiled a dramatic rebrand at Money20/20 yesterday. “In our fast-moving world of amazing customer experiences, the finance industry has failed to evolve,” said Railsr CEO and co-founder Nigel Verdon. “We’ve changed our name to Railsr, and we’re making finance a phenomenal experience.”

ALSO:

Citi Group has completed the sale of its Australian consumer banking business to National Australia Bank (NAB). The business, including unsecured lending, residential mortgages, deposits, and wealth, is being transferred to NAB with approximately 800 Citigroup employees.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

Ecuadorian payments infrastructure company Kushki has raised $100 million in an extension to its Series B round, more than doubling its valuation to $1.5 billion.

Morocco-based WafR has raised $455,000 in its latest funding round.

Yabie, a Swedish fintech company, secured €15M at a valuation of €91M in an oversubscribed funding round.

VirgoCX has raised $7.95 million in a Series A funding round that will help the firm expand globally and add products and services.

Stage is announcing the availability of its first product–flexible plans and packaging–as well as a $5.1 million seed round.

Hourly.io has closed in on $27 million in funding.

Zippi announced a $16 million (about BRL 82 million) funding round.

NymCard raised $22.5M in its latest Funding round.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Burgopak. Burgopak delivers award-winning innovative packaging solutions for some of the world's leading companies in Fintech. Discover how tangible physical touchpoints are crucial in digital banking with the Burgopak 'Welcome to the club' book; Request your free copy, contact info@burgopak.com

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Varo Bank could run out of funds by year-end, filing shows. The bank, which raised $510 million at a valuation of $2.5 billion last year, reported $263 million in equity and a burn rate of $84 million in 2022’s first quarter.

JUST IN:

The Klarna Card is now available to US consumers, and comes amid Klarna's rapid growth in the US, which continues to be Klarna's fastest-growing key market by volume.

WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?

Revolut has long been known for its early bet on crypto. Its most recently rumoured iteration of this appetite for all things blockchain-based is the launch of its own native token focused on loyalty dubbed ‘Revcoin’.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?

A recent report from Andreessen Horowitz illustrates a sad state of affairs for the FinTech industry, which has gotten clobbered in the tech-stocks downdraft. A chart included in the report shows fintech valuations in sharper decline than any other sector, by a significant margin.

LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:

South African financial services group Sanlam has bought a controlling interest in payment solutions provider Q LINK Holdings 

European fintech lender October has acquired Credit.france

Also

Yolt announced a collaboration with October, Europe’s leading SME lending platform.

WHAT’S THE LATEST ON VENTURE FUNDS?

Binance raised a $500 million fund to invest in 'Web3' as crypto slides into a bear market.

Alven has raised €350m for its latest fund to back pre-seed to Series A startups all across Europe. It’s the largest early-stage fund raised in France to date.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by YieldX. YieldX is transforming income investing to bring its benefits to all investors. With YieldX, the outcome is income.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Argentina’s central bank on Thursday approved digital banking startup Ualá’s acquisition of rival Wilobank, the final hurdle to a deal that grants the Argentine “unicorn” greater scope in its quest to expand its financial services in Latin America.

JUST IN:

PayPal has been granted a full BitLicense from the New York Department of Financial Services, the company announced in a press release. New York introduced its BitLicense in 2015 as a way to regulate businesses that provide customers with the ability to buy and sell cryptocurrency in the state.

ALSO:

The PayRetailers- Pago Digital- Paygol announced the launch of its first Social Responsibility campaign to support charitable causes in Latin America. An initial alliance with the Manos Unidas Organisation, in Colombia, for the Defence of the Wayúu people’s rights in La Guajira communities accelerate the company’s goal of contributing to improving the quality of life of disadvantaged people.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

Factris raised €10M through its partnership with NN Investment Partners.

Datia secured $3.4M in a Seed round of funding led by VC firm Nauta Capital.

LoopingOne raised €800,000 in funding in its first Seed round from Ebury.

Request Finance closed a US$5.5 million in a seed funding round.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Privacy Lock. Privacy Lock sets the standard for financial service providers in data privacy compliance.

Protect your business and your customers today. Visit www.pentaprivacylock.com

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Yonder, is emerging from stealth. It’s targeting professional millennials and it’s even won backing from Rio Ferdinand — making it the third European FinTech the retired footballer has backed after Sorareand Sokin.

JUST IN:

Non-fungible tokens (NFT) were all the rage in 2021. Now, however, the craze is showing signs of slowing down. Some are even talking about the bubble getting ready to pop. That hasn’t stopped Berlin-based startup FUEL from raising €1.5m in a new funding round. It now aims to become the “Shopify for NFTs.”

ALSO:

Payments giant Adyen is moving into providing banking services, the company said Thursday. The white-labeled banking services—which will include multi-currency bank accounts, corporate credit cards, short-term cash advances based on pending payment transactions, and instant business loans—represent the first major strategic expansion for the Dutch payments company since it went public in 2018.

Join the club

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

FTX processed billions monthly in Africa before going bust. One of the startups affected by the collapse was Nestcoin, which has laid off some employees as FTX’s demise impacted its business according to the information shared in a tweet by CEO, Yele Bademosi. Link here

BREAKING NEWS

Afterpay and Zip react to proposed buy now pay later regulations, and share differing opinions on new regulation options put forward by the Treasury will impact the buy now, pay later sector. Link here

Starling Bank decided to block all card payments to crypto merchants and restrict other outgoing and incoming crypto-related bank transfers, the bank said in a message to customers on Tuesday. Link here

Lawmakers question SoFi CEO and banking regulators over crypto activity. Four Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee voiced their concern over SoFi’s use of crypto assets given the recent FTX meltdown, and are asking SoFi to respond by Dec. 8. Link here

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

In case you missed it, please see below today's most relevant news, or tune in to our Daily Fintech Podcast here.

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Klarna CEO calls out Martin Lewis for slamming Deliveroo BNPL options. He took to Twitter to shut down the Money Saving Expert’s criticism of BNPL. Link here

BREAKING NEWS

Nydig lays off a third of its workforce. Staffers were told of the cuts at the end of September, just days before CEO Robert Gutmann and president Yan Zhao quit the firm. Link here

Revolut is launching Shops in Ireland. Shops essentially let Revolut users browse and buy products from over 1,000 Irish online retailers, all from within the Revolut app. Link here

Nubank reaches 70m customers in LatAm, with 66.4 million users in the Brazilian operation, 3.2 million in Mexico, and more than 400 thousand in Colombia. Link here

🙏 Revolut launched donations page to earthquake victims
🇺🇸 UK neobank Monzo doubles down on US expansion
👩‍⚖️ Kraken Faces SEC Probe over Unregistered Securities Listings
📉 Jupiter offloads its stake in digital lender Starling Bank
🌳 Green FinTech "ekko" opens up services to businesses and banks

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

This podcast episode is sponsored by Belvo. Instantly access and enrich all financial data from multiple accounts through a single platform to better understand and serve your customers. From lending to smart saving, Belvo will help you create what your users need

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Starling Bank withdraws its application for an Irish banking licence signalling a shift in its international expansion strategy. Starling Bank told its 2,000 employees on Monday that it had ended a four-year process aimed at launching a retail bank in Ireland. Link here.

FINTECH NEWS

#crypto

• Plaid adds read-only support for leading crypto exchanges to its data network. While Plaid previously integrated with large exchanges on an ad hoc basis, the move is an indication that the company sees crypto as important to its growth. Link here.

#donedeal

• Last week, €1,344m was raised across 22 FinTech deals. BNPL Unicorn Klarna raised a €761m Venture round cutting their valuation to $6.7bn from $45.6bn, followed by wefox which raised a €380m Series D with a combination of debt & equity, and finally congratulations to Smart Pension who raised a €46m Growth round. Link here.
• Pico receives a $200m investment. The New York-based FinTech, a provider of technology services, software, data and analytics for financial markets, has secured the strategic investment from Golden Gate Capital. The new funds will be used to pursue M&A opportunities and improve the firm’s infrastructure and data offerings, as well as expand its market coverage. Link here.
• WealthTech XP mobilized US$ 7.9B savings collected in the last quarter. The Brazilian company raised R$ 43 billion in 'net new money' in the second quarter, a 44% growth compared to the previous quarter and a sign that the brokerage is going through the stock market implosion better than market sectors expected. Link here.

#expansion

Zimpler enters Norway as part of their international expansion. Following Sweden, Finland, Germany, Estonia, The Netherlands, Latvia and Lithuania, Norway becomes the eighth market to offer Zimpler’s account-to-account payments solutions. Link here.

BREAKING NEWS

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has suspended the license of the Australian unit of FTX allowing the platform to provide limited financial services related to the termination of existing derivatives with clients. Link here

#FINTECHREPORT

Check out Frollo’s report on the State of Open Banking in Australia. The report is a  deep-dive into the actual usage of CDR Access Models, and a look ahead into the future of the Consumer Data Right. Link here

INSIGHTS

Visa brings face payments and instantly-issued prepaid cards with animated art to the World Cup and has installed 5300 contactless-enabled payment terminals at official venues. Link here

Mastercard extends inclusive card options across Europe, by expanding its “True Name” feature, which is particularly important for transgender and non-binary people as it allows them to personalize the name they want on their card. Link here

Mexican customers switch from traditional banks to fintechs searching for better and flexible services, although many maintain a traditional bank account, and while fintechs' role in the country is growing, penetration remains slow, according to a number of reports. Link here

• Google Workspace partners with Stripe

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Online brokerage eToro and the special purpose acquisition company that agreed to take it public are planning to let the deadline for their merger pass without closing the deal, according to a person familiar with the matter.

JUST IN:

KongaPay has signed a deal with Bibimoney, a UK-based firm, to expand access to financial inclusion in Nigeria.

ALSO:

Nutmeg CEO Neil Alexander has stepped down from his role a year after the firm was acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co. AltFi article by Theo Andrew.

FURTHERMORE,

The boss of Revolut said his fintech startup has enough funding for at least two more years and would not be looking to raise money, as venture capital dries up across the technology industry.

LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:

Funding Societies | Modalku Group, a Southeast Asian digital financing platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), announced that it is acquiring regional payments solution, CardUp, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals.

AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS

Minna Technologies announces partnership with financial health app Steven AB.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

British International Investment announces $20m investment in mobility fintech Moove.

Boston fintech firm Knox Financial plans to expand its lending business and loan products with $50 million in funding it received from a real estate advisory firm.

Givebutter, a remote provider of a free operating system for nonprofit fundraising, raised $7M in Seed funding.

Spot Insurance, an Austin, TX-based tech startup offering on-demand injury insurance, raised $33m in funding.

The UAE’s fintech YAP, a leading digital banking platform, has raised $41 million in a funding round led by Saudi Arabia’s AlJazira Capital, Abu Dawood Group, Astra Group and Audacia Capital

🇨🇳 China’s Central Bank Warns Against ChatGPT ‘Data Leaks’
❌ Amsterdam-based cryptocurrency platform Change raises €2M
👩‍⚖️ Walmart Sues Credit-Card Partner Capital One
🇦🇪 UAE’s fintech Qlub raises $25 million
🤝 Finastra, Alygne partner to improve ESG investments decisions

Connecting the Dots FinTech Update - June 27th

Today’s episode is sponsored by Klarna Kosma. Klarna Kosma is giving you essential open banking connectivity, not to 1 or 2, but 15.000 banks across 27 countries. Providing the base for you to build new payment services and better user experiences your customers will love. Visit kosma.com today, and give your ambitions superpowers!

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Despite boasting of big profits, FTX and Alameda lost billions before 2022. In a motion filed on November 19, the bankruptcy pros now managing Bankman-Fried’s companies said that the entities’ 2021 tax returns collectively showed a net operating loss carryover of $3.7 billion. Link here 

Flagship Advisory Partners met with Wilko Klaassen, VP Business Development at Klarna Kosma, Klarna’s newly created open banking business unit, to learn more about Kosma’s perspective on developments in open banking and how Kosma is addressing the challenges in open banking payments and data services. Link here

BREAKING NEWS

Crackdown on Afterpay and other buy now, pay later services in Australia. The Federal Government is considering an overhaul of the system in order to protect customers from getting into “debt spirals” as a result of the interest-free credit system. Link here

Stock trading app Freetrade is reportedly ‘talking to advisors' about a potential funding round or sale. The unconfirmed report could see the low-cost trading app merge with another fintech or seek a further VC round. Link here

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Block is facing a Class Action lawsuit over a Cash App Investing data breach last year that impacted 8.2 million customers. Block in April informed the SEC that a former employee had downloaded reports, without permission, containing customer information on US Cash App users. Link here

FINTECH NEWS

#insight

• Southeast Asia’s digital economy is booming. This explosive growth is also attracting criminals and putting merchants, banks, and consumers at risk of financial losses and missed revenue. Link here
• The landscape of U.S. merchant payments assets. After intense M&A activity in the last two decades, is there still M&A liquidity in U.S. merchant payments? See Flagship Advisory Partners' infographic here.
• Philippines kicks off ASEAN FinTech month. These initiatives are set amidst the rapid development of the Philippine FinTech industry, which attracted $342 million in the first half of last year alone. Link here
• The winners of the FinTech awards 2022. Top awards on the night included Erika Villanueva and Dom Pym, picking up FinTech Leader of the Year awards. Link here
• Colombian neobanks reach 30.6 M users. Colombia's Daviplata and Nequi are the country’s most popular digital wallets, with 15.6 million and 13.5 million users, respectively. Link here

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Sokin. Sokin is the trusted global FX payment provider for some of the world’s leading brands. With Sokin Premium you can send and receive unlimited international payments for one fixed monthly fee. Market beating rates, no commission, hassle-free.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

JPMorgan Chase & Co confirms its support to Ukraine by making an initial $1 million philanthropic contribution, and offering to match employee donations.

JUST IN:

Banco Santander have removed fees on all permitted transfers to Ukraine, and is making an initial donation of €1 million to the Red Cross and UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.

ALSO:

German digital banking powerhouse N26 will be structurally ready for an IPO by the end of the year and could list as early as 2024

FURTHERMORE,

Australian Fintech ZeeFi is the new kid on the BNPL block – the first to specialise only in payments for education providers.

Fairbit, a California-based SoftPOS Solution provider, is happy to announce that it received Mastercard Tap on Phone EMV Level 2 certification for the “Fairbit Kernel-on-the-Cloud” product.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?

Will Rice, CEO of Generation Home, is speaking about Tom Blomfield, the Monzo Bank and GoCardless founder, who remerged last year on the board of Generation Home. Blomfield was said to be blown away by Generation Home’s proposition of allowing mum and dad to be on the mortgage of first-time house buyers, enabling them to borrow more money.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

Detected has raised an additional £1.5 million in just three weeks, adding to £2 million seeded in previous funding rounds.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

ClearBank CEO Charles McManus announced that the company had secured £175m in funding.

JUST IN:

Temenos, the banking software company, announced that Rakuten Europe Bank has signed with Temenos to deliver banking services including Rakuten Pay on the Temenos Banking Cloud.

ALSO:

Robinhood has announced a new debit card, branded as the Robinhood Cash Card. The new card will replace Robinhood’s current Cash Management debit card, originally announced in 2019.

FURTHERMORE,

Intergiro  is now emerging as part of this embedded banking movement, calling itself “a financial cloud” on which almost any kind of company can offer banking services.

Visa announced a new offering with DoorDash, a leading last-mile logistics platform, to help enable faster payouts to eligible Dashers across Canada.

LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:

Digital bank Chetwood Financial Limited has acquired its core banking provider Yobota to extend its banking-as-a-service capabilities.

AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS

ComplyAdvantage and Resistant AI have partnered to expand their offering for the financial industry.

Amsterdam–based fintech Mollie is continuing its global expansion in a partnership with carmaker Mazda Motor Europe.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Fintech Meetup. Fintech Meetup Is Almost Here! Only 30 Days Left To Get Your Ticket! The event will be Virtual, March 22nd to the 24th. Discounted startup rates are available for qualifying companies.

💫 News Highlight: Ryan Breslow, founder of Bolt, said he’s stepping down as chief executive officer, two weeks after securing an $11 billion valuation for the business. Breslow will become executive chairman, and Maju Kuruvilla, a 44-year-old Bolt executive and a former vice president at Amazon.com Inc., will be promoted to CEO. Breslow said in an interview that this was planned weeks ago before the latest financing was completed.

⚡ Just in Groupon shares are getting a huge lift from an apparently substantial appreciation of the company’s stake in the U.K.-based payments company SumUp.

⭐ Also, Subaio chose European open banking leader, Aiia, a Mastercard company, to enable a smarter way for assessing creditworthiness through Subaio’s new white-label offering.

👉🏻 Furthermore: MEDICI Global has identified PayPal, Square, Razorpay, Adyen, and Stripe as the largest payment gateways based on their Total Payment Volume.

🤝 M&As:

Block has completed its $29bn acquisition of ‘buy now, pay later firm Afterpay. Under the deal, first announced back in August 2021, Block - which is headed by the Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and owns the Square and Cash apps - has acquired all of the issued shares in Afterpay.

UniCredit will continue to study potential mergers and acquisitions after deciding against a Russian deal due to geopolitical risks but won’t stray from plans to return billions in capital to shareholders.

💰 Funding rounds & investments:

Pennylane raised $57 million (€50 million) in Series B funding. The round was led by existing investors Sequoia Capital, Global Founders Capital, and Partech.

Bamboo raised $15 million in a new financing round.

Dozens of tech executives, including the founders of Klarna, Skype, Delivery Hero, and Flutterwave, have launched a $ 200 million venture capital fund aimed at finding the next $ 1 billion or more in Africa

💼 Opportunities: Matt Cheung, a serial entrepreneur in the financial services sector, recommends recent graduates to broaden their job search. His advice is to not just look for graduate jobs in the big banks when a faster-growing and more exciting alternative is on offer.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Report advising banking institutions in Australia of their duty to keep offering banking services to Fintechs, virtual currency trading platforms as well as remittance service providers. The report has been commissioned after concerns that banks may be “debanking” or simply not agreeing to offer such services to Fintechs, crypto startups, and other industry participants. Link here.

FINTECH NEWS

#BreakingNews

Zopa is in talks to raise $100m ahead of IPO. This round would add to the huge $300m the bank raised last October in a “pre-IPO” funding round led by Japanese telecoms giant Softbank. Link here

Xendit lays off 5% of its staff in Indonesia “due to the uncertain macroeconomic situation.” Founded in 2015, Xendit offers a payment gateway service that allows startups and SMEs to process digital payments. Link here.

#Insights

Global payments revenues still rising. The industry has displayed remarkable resilience throughout the pandemic and current macroeconomic challenges," said Dr. Markus Ampenberger. Link here

The most promising FinTechs of 2022. This year’s winners are shaping the future of B2B and B2C financial services, from payments and banking to investing and insurance. Link here

Europe’s banks temper ambitions to challenge big US payments groups & more

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

This podcast episode is sponsored by Provenir. Provenir does more than help with your current tech challenges. They eliminate them. Designed and built to power agility, their cloud-native technology puts your team in control. Loved by Startups. Trusted by Decacorns.

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

In case you missed it, please see below today's most relevant news, or tune in to our Daily Fintech Podcast here.

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Stripe founders’ fortunes plunge by more than $6bn amid global tech stock meltdown. Stripe slashed its internal share price by 28% to $29 per share from $40 in early July in a move that brought down the company's valuation to $74 billion. Compared to $95 billion, when the company raised $600 million in a funding round last March. Link here.

FINTECH NEWS

#Insights

• 409 investors drove LatAm’s FinTech sector in H1 2022, Y Combinator, an American-based technology startup accelerator, accounted for the most deals, with seven in total. Link here
• Indian Fintechs struggle to turn a profit. A survey of over 125 founders at Indian fintech found that more than 70% of executives believe most companies may not be able to turn a profit. Link here
• Brazil will be a global leader in Open Banking. Brazil’s Open Banking and Finance ecosystem will soon be the largest in the world, according to speakers at an industry event. Link here
• Center of the start-up world. Listen to TechCrunch's latest podcast episode of their Equity series to learn more about the Figma-Adobe deal, the best deals of the week, the wave of new venture funds in Europe, etc. Link here

#FinTechInnovation

• ECB picked companies to develop prototypes for user interfaces to assess the potential for a digital Euro. Each company will focus on one specific use case of a digital euro. Link here

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Klarna is shifting its business away from growth and towards short-term profitability as the Swedish FinTech tries to raise capital and cuts 10 per cent of jobs due to fears of a looming recession. Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Klarna’s chief executive and co-founder, told the Financial Times he was not “convinced” by reports that his bank would have to raise capital at a valuation below its most recent one of $46bn, which made it the most valuable private tech company in Europe.

JUST IN:

Latin American crypto exchange Bitso laid off 80 employees on Thursday, the company told CoinDesk. “Our decisions about the people who work in our company are made on the basis of our long-term business strategy and to support our customers and our strategy as a company,” Bitso said in a statement. Bitso, which had more than 700 employees before the layoffs, still lists more than 60 open positions on its jobs page.

ALSO:

Starling Bank's Anne Boden is to chair a Government-backed ‘Taskforce on Women-Led High-Growth Enterprises’, which aims to support women entrepreneurs, tackle investing barriers, and increase the number of women-led fast-growing businesses.

AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS

Market-leading SaaS banking platform Mambu, and Brim Financial (Brim), one of the fastest-growing fintech companies in North America, announced a strategic partnership to deliver a modern, more powerful digital banking, deposit, lending and cards platform across Canada and the U.S.

Coingrig has integrated Nordigen’s open banking platform to increase the ease of bank connectivity to their digital wallet.

WHAT’S THE LATEST ON VENTURE FUNDS?

Ânima Educação, a Brazilian educational group ahead of 18 universities and more than 570 educational centers, has launched a Corporate Venture Capital Association (CVC) fund to invest in startups. Called Ánima Ventures, the new fund comes to the market with BRL 150 million and plans to invest in strategic tech companies over the next 10 years.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

ZenLedger, a Seattle, WA-based global leader in cryptocurrency data analysis, accounting, and tax, closed a $15M Series B funding.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Provenir. Provenir does more than help with your current tech challenges. They eliminate them. Designed and built to power agility, their cloud-native technology puts your team in control. Loved by Startups. Trusted by Decacorns.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

FROST has launched, becoming the latest e-money account to take the FinTech world by storm.

JUST IN:

Spare, a Kuwait based financial technology application, has received the license from the Central Bank of Bahrain to operate as an open banking ancillary service provider in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The license will pave the way for Spare to kickstart their operations in Q2 of 2022.

ALSO:

Last week, the eighth annual British Bank Awards were announced, with a few significant changes to the status quo. After winning the coveted Best British Bank award for four years running, Starling Bank was pipped to the top spot as Monzo Bank took the crown for the very first time.

FURTHERMORE:

Galileo Financial Technologies, a subsidiary of SoFi Technologies, Inc., and Mastercard on Wednesday unveiled a multiyear strategic alliance focused on “accelerating digital transformation and improving access to financial opportunities for unbanked and underserved segments in Latin Americas and the Caribbean.”

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

Paymob has raised $50 million in Series B funding.

BizPay is currently in the process of trying to raise $25 million in funding and has partially completed it

Ume closed a $10 million funding round.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Stripe is making its bank transfer offering available to businesses in the UK, EU and Mexico. The Stripe infrastructure promises to take the friction out of bank transfers, saving businesses hundreds of hours on confirming transfers, reconciliation and accounting, and refunds.

JUST IN:

Douugh is on track to launch its banking super-app to Australians later this year, following its Beta launch.

ALSO:

Electronic music producer deadmau5 has partnered with US fintech Zytara Inc. to create a branded, digital banking solution. Fans of the musician will have the opportunity to interact with his brand through the Zytara banking app, as well as have access to custom physical and virtual Mastercard debit cards.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

Metropolis Technologies announced that it raised $167 million in a Series B round.

Paris-based YC alumni Formance (YC S21) has just raised a $3.1m pre-seed to scale up its product offering and onboard new global marketplace and fintech clients

Cube raised $30 million in a Series B funding round led by Battery Ventures.

WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?

Monzo Bank has confirmed it still plans to pursue crypto investment opportunities, amid the current crash in the digital asset market.

AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS

RBC Royal Bank Of Canada has partnered with Envestnet | Yodlee and Plaid to offer RBC clients a private form of open banking.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Getir has confirmed reports on its $768 million Series E round at an $11.8 billion valuation, becoming Europe’s first grocery delivery decacorn.

JUST IN:

Revolut is making it easier for refugees escaping Ukraine to open Revolut accounts and waiving some FX transfer fees- a move that has been given the thumbs up by the Ukrainian deputy prime minister.

ALSO:

Moneyhub has struck a deal with Samsung Electronics claiming to facilitate the “world’s first open banking payments on a retail self-service point-of-sale (POS) Kiosk”.

FURTHERMORE,

Tencent shares dived in Hong Kong after The Wall Street Journal reported the Chinese tech giant could face a record fine for violating anti-money laundering rules.

LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM.N) said it would buy Global Shares, an Irish fintech firm whose software helps businesses manage employee stock plans.

AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS

HSBC and The Sandbox, announced a new partnership that will open up a host of opportunities for virtual communities across the world to engage with global financial services providers and sports communities in The Sandbox metaverse.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said that the company will reduce its workforce by 18% — nearly 1,100 people — to “stay healthy during this economic downturn.”

JUST IN:

Zopa is reportedly delaying plans for a public offering due to the current market conditions.

FURTHERMORE:

Revolut is now the fastest growing fintech in Spain.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

Cleo raised $80m in new capital

KEO World closed a $20 million growth equity round

AMNIS closed a CHF 8.6 million funding round

Upvest raised a $42 million Series B funding round

Azimut Group led a 16 million-euro investment round for Young Platform, an Italian fintech group focused on cryptocurrencies.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Provenir. Provenir does more than help with your current tech challenges. They eliminate them. Designed and built to power agility, their cloud-native technology puts your team in control. Loved by Startups. Trusted by Decacorns.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Lightyear, a European challenger to trading platform Robinhood, has raised $25 million of funding in an investment round backed by British billionaire Richard Branson. Silicon Valley’s Lightspeed Venture Partners led the deal, the company told CNBC exclusively — a rare vote of confidence for an upstart brokerage at a time when global stock markets are deep in the red.

JUST IN:

Starting in August, BUX clients will be able to invest fractionally in more of Europe’s most established companies. In collaboration with ABN AMRO Clearing, BUX released fractional investing in the DAX40 and MDAX.

ALSO:

French startup Qori has officially launched services, allowing Europeans to make payments in-store, remotely, or online with their bank or virtual currency wallets without being required to download a proprietary app.

FURTHERMORE,

Spain’s largest bank, Santander is going to hold an awards ceremony in the Decentraland metaverse on July 14 for its ‘Santander X Global Challenge | Blockchain,’ the bank said in the announcement on its website on July 7.

LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:

DOKU, an Indonesian electronic payment solutions provider, announced that it has acquired Malaysian online payment gateway senangPay for US$7.5 million by raising the funds needed from Apis Growth Fund II.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Privacy Lock. Privacy Lock sets the standard for financial service providers in data privacy compliance.

Protect your business and your customers today. Visit www.pentaprivacylock.com

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said disconnecting Russian banks from the SWIFT messaging system may bring “unintended consequences” that include third parties finding ways around the penalty.

JUST IN:

Mastercard and Visa have blocked multiple financial institutions from their payment networks in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

ALSO:

Revolut has engaged a global security partner to provide emergency logistical support for its Ukraine-based employees.

FURTHERMORE,

Paysend announced the expansion of its cross-border money transfer services to Colombia with MOVii, a leading mobile wallet service in Colombia.

German banking start-up N26 will be prepared for an initial public offering by the end of 2022, co-CEO Maximilian Tayenthal told CNBC.

More than one million customers are now using digital receipt startup Flux in the UK.

AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS

Douugh Ltd, the banking super app, is pleased to announce a partnership with TrueLayer to access open banking data in Australia.

IDEX Biometrics has partnered with IDEMIA to support Rocker, the Swedish challenger bank, as it launches biometric payment cards to the market.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

Early Spotify backer CREANDUM has raised its sixth fund — a $500m vehicle to back seed and early-stage startups in Europe.

FPL Technologies, the Indian startup that operates OneCard, is set to double its valuation to about $1.5 billion in a new financing round, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.

Investment platform Betterment has launched a student loan management solution and acquired the partner and customer relations of Gradvisor, a college savings plan service.

WHAT ABOUT THOSE MOVERS AND SHAKERS?

Shawbrook Bank has hired Arthur Leung as its first chief product officer, as the bank doubles down on its digital strategy.

Connecting the dots in FinTech

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried blamed himself for FTX's collapse in a series of tweets. FTX CEO apologized to users and acknowledged he had made mistakes. The post comes as the onetime hero of the crypto sector begs for billions of dollars to stave off bankruptcy. Link here

BREAKING NEWS

Plaid suspends FTX.US access to user data. The company said the suspension was due to “concerning public reports,” though noted that there is “currently no indication that Plaid has been used as a vector for fraudulent activity.” Link here

BlockFi pauses withdrawals in wake of FTX collapse. The company said in a tweet that the "lack of clarity" around FTX's current situation meant it would pause client withdrawals, and also told clients not to deposit to their wallets or interest accounts. Link here

#FINTECH REPORT

Check out BDA Partners' latest report, which is a closer look at the key trends that make SEA an attractive FinTech market. Link here

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Stripe asked managers to start giving lower ratings on performance reviews. This could lead to more people being fired or feeling pressured to quit. Potential cuts, which Stripe wouldn't have to disclose as layoffs because they would be performance-based, could affect hundreds of workers. Link here

BREAKING NEWS

Sproutfi (YC S21) acquired Passfolio's client portfolio in Brazil. In the coming weeks, Passfolio will transfer all users in Brazil that have investments in the U.S. market to Sproutfi, which will provide all the necessary support for these users to continue their investment journeys within the application. Link here

INSIGHTS

Is Goldman’s fintech gamble over? Goldman Sachs’ foray into consumer fintech looks set to be spiked. CEO of Goldman David Solomon is clearly on a mission to re-focus the 150-year-old bank’s strategy as the global economy continues to sour. Link here

The South African BNPL gross merchandise value is expected to reach $5 billion by 2028. BNPL payment adoption is expected to grow steadily over the forecast period, recording a CAGR of 35.5% during 2022-2028. Link here

APAC BNPL gross merchandise value is expected to exceed US$782 billion by 2028. Medium to long term growth story of BNPL industry in Asia Pacific remains strong. BNPL payment adoption is expected to grow steadily. Link here

Singapore’s BNPL working group launched a new Code to guide service providers in Singapore and to protect consumers and ensure that BNPL offerings “will continue to benefit the ecosystem,” according to a press release. Link here

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Y Combinator, a Silicon Valley kingmaker, is advising its portfolio founders to “plan for the worst” as startups across the globe scramble to navigate a sharp reversal after a 13-year bull run. For those who don’t have the runway to “reach default alive,” YC is strongly suggesting that they consider raising money.

JUST IN:

Leading ‘buy now, pay later’ (BNPL) provider Klarna has just reached 150 million users. The fintech giant, which launched in 2005, has also recently hit 400,000 merchant partners.

ALSO:

Belvo launches an official Open Finance solution for regulated institutions in Brazil. Through Belvo’s new Open Finance product, which is compliant with the guidelines from Banco Central do Brasil (BACEN), financial innovators now have an easy and secure way to access end-user data according to present and future guidelines and regulations.

FURTHERMORE,

Brazilian neobank Nubank has just launched a new feature within the fintech’s corporate account, NuTap, a POS terminal without the hardware: the solution allows Nubank‘s corporate customers to collect payments using their cell phones as POS terminals, within the account app.

WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?

Revolut's planned native crypto token will aim to reward customers for their loyalty, CEO Nik Storonsky said in an interview, in which he also shared details on the neobank's forthcoming non-custodial wallet.

LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:

Square has acquired GoParrot, an all-in-one digital ordering and marketing platform for restaurants.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

UAE-based fintech Pemo has raised a $12 million Seed round, co-led by Cherry Ventures and Shorooq Partners

Zipmex, Southeast Asia’s crypto platform, has invested in Forward, a Thai-based fintech firm specializing in DeFi Derivatives Trading in a bid to increase operational potential for Zipmex.

Payments and software startup SpotOn has closed on $300 million in a Series F financing that values the company at $3.6 billion.

Keep Financial, a San Jose, California—based technology company focused on compensation to enhance recruiting and retention, raised $9m in seed funding.

NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia has begun pilot tests of Kit, a new money app and digital information tool for kids.

MoneyLion to add ChatGPT-powered search to its marketplace

📱 Apple BNPL to evaluate borrowers based on their devices
🇩🇪 German BaaS provider Solaris confirms regulatory restrictions
✍️ Zopa acquires DivideBuy
🇧🇷 Ebanx authorised by Central Bank payment initiator service
🤝 Visa and Froda partner; provide push-payments for SME loans
🌱 ModernFi raises $4.5 million seed by a16z

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Coinbase users are reporting difficulty withdrawing funds, heightening fears amid a widespread crash in cryptocurrency prices. The company confirmed the issues in a tweet on Thursday.

JUST IN:

Mark Cuban is reliving the internet boom when he looks at crypto. The ‘consolidation phase’ is coming, he says.

AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS

The leading Swedish expense sharing fintech Steven AB has chosen Enfuce, one of Europe’s leading fintechs, as its payment card issuing provider.

WHAT’S THE LATEST ON VENTURE FUNDS?

A trio of PayPal Ventures alumni has raised $158 million for Infinity Ventures, a new early-stage venture firm dedicated to investing in fintech startups globally.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

Wayflyer secured $300M (approximately €288.28M) in a debt financing round from J.P. Morgan, with Neuberger Bermann acting as a mezzanine provider.

TIFIN raised a $109 million Series D round.

belo, the digital wallet that allows the exchange between Argentine pesos and crypto, received an investment of US$3 million.

NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.

Clear Junction announced the introduction of a new e-wallet solution that will enable open banking providers to overcome some of the challenges they face when going to market.

Atom Finance, the investment intelligence app that was founded to bridge the information gap between Wall Street professionals and everyday investors, announced the official release of its embedded stock and crypto intelligence platform.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

One-click checkout startup Bolt has laid off at least 100 employees and counting across go-to-market, sales and recruiting roles, sources say. CEO Maju Kuruvilla⚡️ confirmed the workforce reduction in a blog post but did not say how many people were impacted or what roles were targeted.

JUST IN:

After rolling out payroll features in February, Revolut is upgrading its business accounts with new spend management capabilities. The feature will let Revolut Business customers issue an unlimited number of physical and virtual cards to their teams and then monitor and manage their usage.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?

Startups may be able to get away with sparse staffing and email-only responses early on when customer needs are simpler. But shortchanging this part of the team can cause a backlash when things go awry with customer accounts. The full American Banker article by Miriam Cross states that neobank users are more likely to feel disgruntled by poor customer service than those who have accounts with full-service traditional online banks

LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:

Payments provider Paddle has acquired US subscription and retention automation software ProfitWell in a deal valued at over $200m (£160m) in cash and equity. Paddle will incorporate ProfitWell’s financial analysis, pricing and retention tools into its own platform.

AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS

UK-based micro-investment platform Wombat has partnered with Currencycloud, the experts in simplifying business in a multi-currency world, to launch its new, free, Instant Investing account to give investors the ability to invest instantly in the UK, and in US stocks during opening hours.

M1, The Finance Super App™ helping people manage and grow their money, announced it has selected Thought Machine, the cloud-native banking technology company, to power and grow its platform.

NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.

Zumo, the Edinburgh-based crypto wallet and payments platform, has announced the launch of Zumo Enterprise, its new B2B ‘Crypto-as-a-Service’ solution that enables companies to offer crypto products and services to their customers.

Synapse, a global banking-as-a-service platform that increases access to best-in-class financial products, announced the launch of Global Cash, a secure cash management account product, that enables residents in more than 35 countries to invest and hold U.S. dollars.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Privacy Lock. Privacy Lock sets the standard for financial service providers in data privacy compliance.

Protect your business and your customers today. Visit www.pentaprivacylock.com

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Are you a FinTech Journalist/Editor or do you just like to write (in English) about the FinTech scene? Sr. and Jr. positions, full-time, part-time, and fully remote possible. Email Marcel at and he’ll be in touch soon!

JUST IN:

Indian executive Rajeev Misra, who oversees SoftBank’s massive Vision Fund, is stepping down from his executive role at the Japanese conglomerate, according to a statement from SoftBank. Misra helped transform SoftBank into one of the top tech investors since joining in 2014.

ALSO:

Despite the threat of a downturn in tech stocks and later-stage private valuations, Europe’s seed-stage companies had a strong June. 251 companies secured seed-stage funding, up from 227 in May and 184 in April. In June, the companies brought in a collective €595m — a huge leap on the €442m seen in May.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?

Despite a dip in valuations and lay-offs, Canadian FinTechs are attracting investments. In June 2022, $181.2M was raised by 13 FinTechs headquartered in Canada.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

Headline (formerly known as e.ventures) — which is headquartered in San Francisco and Berlin — has raised its seventh European fund of €320m to back European B2B and B2C startups from seed to Series A.

NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.

PayPoint plc announces the launch of a next business day settlement service for PayPoint One customers signing up to integrated card payments with a PayPoint-preferred acquirer. Initially available to new card payment customers for no additional fee, the service will enable retailers to receive funds from any card transactions directly into their nominated bank account the following business day.

THAT’S ALL THE NEWS FOR TODAY. THANKS FOR LISTENING.

TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR ANOTHER DAILY FINTECH PODCAST

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

This podcast episode is sponsored by Contis, the European leader in Banking-as-a-Service. Contis help organisations launch cards, accounts and payment apps for their customers. To find out how you can embed finance into your offering, visit www.contis.comtoday!

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

Can Klarna be Open Banking's game-changer? Ahead of the launch of Klarna Kosma, a new Open Banking brand, Wilko Klaassen, the company’s VP of Business Development, revealed how Klarna’s disruptive DNA can help partners shake up the Open Banking market with new data applications.

JUST IN:

Within a couple of weeks of the launch of “preciosos”, community fintech 11Onze has made the first collective purchase of gold for its community. Given the increasing inflation and unpredictable markets, the Catalan community has decided to invest in the precious metal for a stable future. The first order of 11 kilos of gold will be arriving soon at La Plaça. 11Onzedecided to offer its 13,000 members the first right of refusal.

WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO?

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has teamed up with crypto custodian Fireblocks to mint a stablecoin pegged to the Australian dollar.

Join our community. 

This podcast episode is sponsored by PrivacyLock. Privacy Lock helps you protect your business and consumers with patent-pending privacy technology. Penta Privacy Lock helps you track what information you have collected on your customers, so you can comply with data management requirements. Visit pentaprivacylock.com

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Crypto exchange Deribit loses $28 million in a hack. According to Deribit's official Twitter account, one of the company's hot wallets was hacked by $28 million on Tuesday, November 1. Still, neither client assets nor its cold wallets were affected. Link here

BREAKING NEWS

Revolut launched “Revolut Chat.” Customers in the UK and EEA can now chat and share gifs and stickers while sending and requesting funds to and from other customers. Link here

Volt announced that its anticipated expansion into Australia has been tabled for the first quarter of 2023. Link here

FINTECH NEWS

Prove announces the launch of Prove Auth™ a next-generation solution that protects consumers from fraud, including account takeovers. Prove Auth enables enterprises to reduce reliance on passwords and one-time passcodes (OTPs) and empowers consumers to frictionlessly authenticate in all channels. Link here

Rapyd releases a multi-currency treasury platform that will enable international businesses to manage funds globally without the complexity, frustration, and added expenses of managing multiple banking relationships, payment providers, and funds flows across countries and currencies. Link here

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

This podcast episode is sponsored by Provenir. Provenir does more than help with your current tech challenges. They eliminate them. Designed and built to power agility, their cloud-native technology puts your team in control. Loved by Startups. Trusted by Decacorns.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

The U.S. Justice Department has tapped a seasoned computer crimes prosecutor, Eun Young Choi to lead its new national cryptocurrency enforcement team and announced that the FBI is launching a unit for blockchain analysis and virtual asset seizure.

JUST IN:

Klarna, a leading global retail bank, payments, and shopping service, announced that its waitlist for the Klarna Card is now open to all US consumers.

ALSO:

U.S. Bank announced a new solution with Payactiv to bring Earned Wage Access (EWA) to U.S. Bank clients.

FURTHERMORE,

Bnext will now use the blockchain technology of their investor Algorand, one of the few decentralized platforms exclusively focused on the exchange of capital worldwide, to develop financial products as well as reduce execution times and costs.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?

Nubank, the Brazilian fintech was able to attain an extraordinary market footing due to its business strategy, one which prioritizes growth and client base expansion over profits. The main points of contact between Nubank and its customers are through the company’s online chat and customer representatives. Studies have identified that NuBank’s virtual representatives do not utilize traditional scripts, but rely instead on the display of authentic, humorous, outgoing, but effective interactions.

LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS:

SoFi Technologies Inc. is buying banking-software maker Technisys SA for about $1.1 billion, the latest in a string of deals designed to transform the lender into a one-stop financial shop.

AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS

HooYu is partnering with Virgin Money, the full-service digital bank, to implement a new account opening journey for Virgin Money customers.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

Tilled, the leading PayFac-as-a-Service provider, announced the close of a funding round, led by G Squared, with participation from existing investors Peterson Ventures and Abstract Ventures.

NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES.

GoDaddy continues to make e-commerce and in-person payments faster, easier, and more accessible to small businesses with its latest release of QR codes for on-the-go transactions.

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below:

Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.

THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS

NatWest Business has taken to video app TikTok for a campaign aimed at reaching budding entrepreneurs. The UK bank has called in VaynerMedia London for the campaign promoting its free Business Builder online toolkit, which offers digital and event-based learning modules covering things such as sustainability, business strategy, and mindset.

WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?

GetVantage raised $36 million in equity and debt led by Varanium Nexgen Fintech Fund.

April (getapril.com) raised $30 million in a Series A round of funding with backing from Treasury, a fintech infrastructure-focused fund established by the founders of Betterment and Acorns.

Neomoon closed its $850k seed funding. The company intends to use the funds to scale its solutions in the coming months.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS?

Top 10 VC firms have ownership in 38% of all unicorns🦄 Venture capital firms that have ownership in a large number of unicorns are pouring money into two sectors — internet services and FinTech.