Klarna Cashback Drives $100M-Worth of Sales in Just Six Weeks
Weekly news up to Tuesday, 15th of October 2024
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Singapore-based FinTech startup Earlybird AI, which aims to make bookkeeping and financial admin tasks of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) painless and stress-free, has emerged from stealth with a pre-seed funding round led by Antler.
“The capital will help us accelerate our go-to-market and minimum viable product release development and hire top quality design, engineering, and AI talent,” Bhavana Ravindran told e27.
Founded by Ravindran, a serial founder and former digital executive at VISA, Earlybird AI has developed a mobile app to make business finances and accounting painless and intuitive while giving real-time visibility into the business. The company claims the app also doubles as a CFO, transforming boring, low-value admin tasks into high-value insights, reports, and recommendations.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🌎 FINTECH HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Visa Sees Cloud-Native Banking and Flexible Credentials as Modern Issuing Must-Haves.
⭐️ Klarna Cashback Drives $100M-Worth of Sales in Just Six Weeks.
⭐️ Smart Money People launches vulnerability working group.
⭐️ Digital wealth platform Arta Finance launches in Singapore.
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FINTECH
EIB announces plan to boost funding for European FinTechs. The announcement comes amid declining FinTech funding in the region and growing competition from the US and China. The action plan will ensure that "companies born in Europe, stay in Europe,” according to EIB's president, Nadia Calviño.
MyGuava teams up with QPR to unveil the MyGuava QPR Card Programme and offer exciting rewards with every purchase. Users can download the MyGuava app, order a QPR Reward Card, and start earning perks like branded merchandise or exclusive fan experiences, including VIP seats and training session visits.
MoneyGram says hackers stole customer data. MoneyGram confirmed that last month's cyberattack led to the theft of customer data, including bank account numbers, by an unauthorized third party. The breach affected personal information of certain consumers.
Anna Money bids to beat criminals with biometric re-authentication checks for account holders. Anna is one of the first financial institutions in the UK to implement trail-blazing biometric ‘re-authentication’ procedures to stop criminals from using accounts they may have accessed illegally.
How Safe Is Your Money in a FinTech, Really? In the wake of Synapse’s collapse, the FDIC proposed a rule in September that would require banks to closely monitor accounts maintained by their FinTech partners. Read the complete article to learn more.
PAYMENTS
FOURSOURCE selects Mangopay to transform textile marketplace experience. The partnership with Mangopay will help to take FOURSOURCE to the next level, by allowing them to offer the security and trust that buyers and sellers are looking for in what is a highly fragmented textile industry.
Mastercard targets real-time card payments in South Africa. The firm says it is rolling out new "standards and solutions" which will accelerate the processing speed for card transactions. ACI Worldwide is onboard to help acquirers adopt the real-time transaction processing standards.
Bizum is launching its NFC payment system, to compete with Apple Pay and Google Pay. It will be called 𝗕𝗶𝘇𝘂𝗺 𝗣𝗮𝘆. Money can be sent instantly to a contact using Bizum without fees. Bizum can also be used for payments in stores, functioning like a debit card. Even Amazon recently adopted it.
Cashflows brings Mastercard Click to Pay to UK businesses. The addition of Click to Pay to Cashflows’ diverse payment stack further enables its customers to eliminate checkout friction, thereby maximising every sales opportunity. Read on
Moneybox renews with GoCardless to power seamless payments in savings and investments. The renewal will see Moneybox continue using GoCardless for Direct Debit, while adding Same Day Settlement to shorten the time it takes for customers to get funds onto the platform, helping them save, invest, and earn more quickly.
Worldline moves into embedded payments market via a partnership with Online Payment Platform (OPP), a provider of payment technology for platforms and marketplaces. The collaboration will roll out across Europe, combining OPP's payment technology with Worldline's acquiring, acceptance expertise, and POS capabilities.
Klarna Director says he was ousted over objection to CEO’s bonus. Board member Mikael Walther claims he was voted out after challenging governance decisions. He has urged investors to vote against his removal at an upcoming meeting.
SEPAmail.eu and CBI joins their IBAN-Name Check expertise at the service of their respective communities in order to offer an interoperable solution to fight against fraud. This partnership enables the Italian and French communities, via their PSP, to secure their cross-border payments.
Privalgo partners with Experience UK to provide currency exchange solutions. As part of their collaboration, Privalgo is set to offer Experience UK members access to its customised solutions for global payments, currency risk management, and multi-currency accounts.
OPEN BANKING
Plaid introduces Pay-by-Bank solution for recurring payments. 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗣𝗮𝘆 𝗯𝘆 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗣𝗮𝘆 is designed to provide consumers with a more seamless, cost-effective and secure way to pay bills, and to help businesses benefit from lower processing costs and fewer returns for all types of recurring payments.
DIGITAL BANKING
Britain's TSB bank fined for unfair treatment of customers. The bank has been fined 10.9 million pounds ($14.25 million) for failing to ensure customers in arrears were treated fairly, the markets watchdog said on Thursday.
Monzo staff to sell shares as valuation soars again. Hundreds of employees of the digital bank Monzo Bank are being given the opportunity to sell part of their stakes in the company as its valuation soars to £𝟰.𝟱𝗯𝗻. Sky News has learnt that Monzo notified staff on Thursday that it was launching a secondary share sale.
CRYPTO
Samsung Pay adds crypto payment option with Alchemy Pay integration. The new partnership allows Alchemy Pay users to pay using their virtual crypto cards both in-store and online at supported retailers. Read more
M&As
Pockit, a financial services business for the “unbanked”, has acquired Monese, an HSBC-backed rival, creating a combined business serving three million customers. The acquisition follows Monese's failed funding attempt and 2022 pre-tax losses of £30.5m, despite revenues rising to £27.7m. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Trustly appoints Adam Miller as group CFO to drive ambitious growth. Adam’s expertise will further strengthen Trustly’s leadership as the company continues to scale and expand its market presence. Continue reading
Qonto appoints Natalia Williams as CPO to drive innovation and product-led growth. This appointment reflects Qonto's commitment to enhancing its product offerings for SMEs and freelancers across Europe, as the company has just expanded into four new markets and is accelerating its growth in the European SMB sector.