👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Less than seven months after closing on a $57 million Series B, fast-growing fintech Jeeves has raised $180 million in a Series C round that values the company at $2.1 billion.
Financial technology companies raising multiple rounds in a short period of time has become more the norm than an exception as of late. Still, the velocity of Jeeves’ growth and increase in valuation is impressive.
It’s also notable that Jeeves only publicly launched in March of 2021, and officially emerged from stealth last June with $31 million in equity financing and $100 million in debt.
👉 Read the full TechCrunch article by Mary Ann Azevedo here.
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📊 INFOGRAPHIC
In Singapore, alternative payment methods including buy now, pay later (BNPL) arrangements and digital wallets, are surging in popularity.
By 2025, fintech software provider FIS projects that these payment methods will make up half of online payments, with BNPL forecasted to be the fastest-growing option.
👉 Read the full article here
📰 ARTICLE
Intergiro de-cloaks as a new fintech startup in ’embedded banking’.
Intergiro has been a stealth-mode, privately funded, bootstrapped a startup for the last five years, but 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.
So far Intergiro has around 2,000 clients and says it is growing by around 200 per month. This translates into around €2.5 billion transacted since launch. The Stockholm-HQ’d startup now has a remote staff of 140 people.
👉 Read the full article here.
💡 INSIGHTS
In recent years, the number of fintech unicorns – start-ups valued at $1bn or more – has grown dramatically. In fact, 15 of the 24 active unicorns on this list reached their $1bn valuation in 2021, suggesting a real surge in fintech startups following covid lockdowns.
This proves promising for the future of UK-based startups in the fintech world, and hopefully means there are many more to come in the future.
👉 Check out the full article written by Amelia Isaacs here
🎤 PODCAST
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🌎 FINTECH HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM.N) said it would buy Global Shares, an Irish fintech firm whose software helps businesses manage employee stock plans. Link here
⭐️ PayPal is expanding its services to allow its users to send money to Ukrainians, the company announced. Link here
⭐️ Tencent shares dived in Hong Kong after The Wall Street Journal reported the tech giant could face a record fine for violating anti-money laundering rules. Link here
⭐️ Customers at six 7-Eleven stores in Japan can now make contactless payments using a holographic screen projected from the self-checkout terminal. Link here
PAYMENTS
The European Payments Initiative has given up on its effort to build a rival to Mastercard and Visa in Europe after more than half its members left. Link here.
The Nordic-based payment service provider Avarda chose European open banking leader Aiia, a Mastercard company, to enable open banking payments through its white-label payment solutions for a wide range of retailers and merchants. Link here.
Trust Payments, the disruptive leader in fintech specializing in frictionless payments and value-added services, is launching Stor, an innovative e-commerce platform for small and medium businesses. Link here.
OpenPayd, a payments and banking-as-a-service platform, has struck a deal with Caxton, to speed up the UK fintech’s payment processing. Link here
Payment provider Zimpler and Payap, a startup within payroll management, have launched a new collaboration to disrupt the payment and payroll scene. Link here
Grab Financial Group (GFG) Malaysia and SEDANIA As Salam Capital Sdn Bhd (SASC) are partnering to offer Grab Cash Financing-i, a shariah-compliant financing product, to eligible Grab drivers and delivery partners. Link here
Stripe announced the launch of Stripe Tax for Singapore to help domestic businesses automatically calculate and collect consumption tax, better known as goods and services tax (GST), in Singapore, as well as sales tax, value-added tax (VAT), and GST in over 35 countries* for cross border operations. Link here
Nearly all Visa cardholders can now use Flux’s Offers platform to take advantage of retailer offers including instant cashback. Link here
Mollie announced the launch of its newest product, Connect for Platforms. Designed for online SaaS and Marketplace platforms, to help companies of all sizes integrate payments, onboard customers and accept and route payments. Link here
ReforestPay, a new sustainability focused paytech that intends to plant a tree for every transaction the firm processes, is set to launch for merchants in the UK and EU this year. Link here
BNPL
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. Link here
Online marketplace eBay and Swedish buy now, pay later (BNPL) company Klarna have joined forces to offer German shoppers more flexible payment options. Link here
Mastercard announced a growing list of leading partners, including BNPL specialists and globally recognized brands, further expanding Mastercard Installments, the unique BNPL program that delivers greater choice at checkout, both in-store and online. Link here
OPEN BANKING
Volume, the one-click checkout startup, has partnered with open banking infrastructure provider Yapily to reduce the $100 billion being paid by customers annually in hidden and unnecessary fees at online checkouts. Link here
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”. Link here
CRYPTO
PayPal and Venmo are introducing a flat-fee structure on cryptocurrency trades of up to $200 in an effort to remove the "complexity of percentage-based calculations for the consumer." Link here.
Gemini, which was recently valued at over $7bn following a $400m funding round, joins the likes of Meta, Google, and Stripe which have also been approved to use electronic money in Ireland. Link here.
BitOasis adds new crypto trading features, the company has also partnered with Checkout.com to enable a seamless way for users to deposit AED and SAR to their BitOasis accounts, using their credit or debit card. Link here
Leading fintech platform Wirex has launched an upgraded rewards programme, X-tras, giving millions of users access to unprecedented interest rates and elevated crypto rewards. Link here
BLOCKCHAIN / DEFI
Blockchain.com has chosen Stripe to facilitate payments, mitigate fraud risk, and improve revenue management. Stripe will help Blockchain.com address challenges common to crypto purchases: fluctuating payment acceptance rates, volatile reliability, and frustrating user experiences. Link here
INVESTMENT
Equity management platform Capdesk and investment management service Fidelity Investments are partnering to enable a continuous transition of share plans from private to public. Link here
REGTECH
To better address the tougher compliance rules resulting from recently extended sanctions and resulting increase in money laundering activity, ComplyAdvantage and Resistant AI have partnered to expand their offering for the financial industry. Link here.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Bitstamp, the world’s longest-running cryptocurrency exchange, has appointed James Greenwood as the company’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Link here
EY has appointed Alla Gancz as a UK Partner and Payments Leader in its expanding financial services technology consulting practice, as it responds to rising market demand and invests in growth. Link here
Curve chief operating officer Nathalie Oestmann is leaving the fintech after two and a half years. Link here
FINTECH MAPS
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.