Weekly Fintech Newsletter | 2021 #13
Before 2020, I used to travel around 50% of the time to all kinds of events and meet people in person all over the globe. I attended several FinTech events and had a great time networking. I'll still refer to 2020 as a "Virtual Year" when I reflect on it.
Sometimes I find myself really missing the hustle and bustle of physical events and the kind of networking that only a face-to-face meeting can provide.
👉 Read more here.
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Central banks are at varying stages of developing digital currencies.
What Bloomberg economists say:
“A few key points explain the accelerating interest (in central bank digital currencies). The Covid-19 crisis has propelled a drop in cash demand as more people shop online. Also, private digital money such as Facebook’s Diem is spurring policymakers to explore options of their own and finally - as large economies such as the U.S. and the euro area look into the issue, others are more likely to follow.” Johanna Jeansson.
👉 Link here.
FINTECH MAPS
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S FINTECH SPACE
FINTECH SPOTLIGHT
Klarna is the latest FinTech to implement eco-conscious features to help its customers reduce their impact on the environment. Klarna will now add carbon footprint insights for 90m customers across 16 markets.
“With fat, sugar, and salt levels labeled on the food we buy, why shouldn’t our CO2 emissions be just as visible? This type of information shouldn’t be a premium or luxury that consumers pay for, but rather an essential part of every shopping journey,” Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Klarna.
👉 Read more here.
FINTECH HIGHLIGHTS
American couples will soon be able to share an 🇺🇸 Apple Card, merging their credit lines and building credit together. Link here.
🇺🇸 Robinhood is again having to explain why users faced issues trading a popular asset on its platform this week. Link here.
🇬🇧 ekko has set up a waitlist for a new debit card that beds sustainability into every transaction. Link here.
Fintech in Latin America had a good first quarter in 2021 considering the pandemic with over US$ 1.4 billion in raised capital. Link here.
🇲🇾 MyMy announced that it has received conditional approval for a large scheme Electronic Money License from Bank Negara Malaysia. Link here.
Switzerland’s first fintech offering borderless multi-currency accounts to digital businesses will be delivered later this year. Link here.
Mercator estimates the 2020 U.S. subscriptions market to be worth $28.4 billion. Link here.
The 🇺🇸Unifi Premier credit card has been launched by Unifimoney, the digital money management platform. Link here.
CRYPTO
🇬🇧 Strive, announced the launch of the world’s first child-friendly physical piggy bank to integrate with the leading crypto wallets such as for e.g. Coinbase, to empower kids to learn and manage their own digital currencies in a fun, safe, and responsible way. Link here.
🇺🇸 Venmo is set to start letting its 70 million users buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrency directly within its app. Link here.
🇳🇱 BUX — a startup from Amsterdam that lets people invest in shares and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) without paying commissions — announced an $80 million funding round. Link here.
🇬🇧 Pomelo Pay is empowering business customers of the Bank of Maldives to take international multi-currency payments, launch online shops, and process contactless payments. Link here.
🇲🇾 CoinGecko, the world’s leading independent data aggregator hailing from Malaysia, is now on a mission to promote art appreciation and help artists connect with more audiences through the launch of NFT Spotlight. Link here.
🇺🇸 eToro, the world’s leading social investment network, today announces it has added Chainlink and Uniswap to its crypto offering, bringing the total number of tokens that people can invest in on eToro to 18*. The move comes as eToro looks to bolster its crypto offering for both retail and professional clients in the coming months. Link here.
🇺🇸 WeWork, the leading flexible space provider, has announced that it will begin servicing a new economy by now accepting payment in select cryptocurrencies. Link here.
🇺🇸 Facebook wanted to revolutionize finance with a global digital currency — then came the regulators. Link here.
🇬🇧 Wirex, a leading digital payments provider, unveiled a range of location-enriched services to show their users where payments take place. Link here.
OPEN BANKING
🇺🇸 Credit Kudos, the challenger credit reference agency, and Open Banking provider announced they have been selected as the Open Banking provider for Curve, the fintech that brings your cards into one smart card and app, for its forthcoming Curve Credit product. Link here.
INVESTMENTS
🇦🇹 Bitpanda, the European investment platform that just recently reached unicorn status at a valuation of $1.2B, has launched a new product called Bitpanda Stocks, which offers to invest in fractional shares, with the unique possibility of 24/7 access to investing. Link here.
PAYMENTS
🇺🇸 Brex, the company reimagining financial systems so every growing company can realize their full potential, announced its Instant Payouts feature is available for companies using PayPal, Square, and Stripe. Link here.
With international investment in South Africa has drastically reduced, homegrown fintech startup 🇿🇦 Payflex has scored a significant vote of confidence from an Australian-listed multinational. Link here.
Late-stage fintech startup 🇩🇰 Pleo, which offers expense management tools and “smart” company Mastercard, says it plans to raise a Series C round of funding this summer. It’s also launching a B2B bill payments service this week. Link here.
Startups that were formed before the pandemic stand to benefit from the shift. One such startup, 🇺🇸 Tribal, launched its beta in late 2019 to provide payment products for startups and small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in emerging markets. Link here.
🇿🇦 Nedbank, working with Mastercard and South African fintech player UKheshe Technologies, has launched the ability for banking clients to make payments to businesses in Facebook-owned messaging platform WhatsApp. Link here.
BNPL
Russian consumers are to get their first taste of the buy now, pay later phenomenon sweeping neighboring European markets, courtesy of a new product from digital bank 🇷🇺 Tinkoff Bank. Link here.
🇺🇸 Affirm has agreed to buy online returns and post-purchase payments player Returnly for about $300 million in cash and equity. Link here.
🇦🇺 Afterpay is contemplating a US listing following strong growth in North American markets. Link here.
INSURETECH
The launch of 🇺🇸 Lemonade Car will allow both existing and new customers to bundle their home, pet, and life policies with their car insurance. Link here.
FUNDING
🇮🇳 Razorpay topped a $1 billion valuation late last year, becoming the first Y Combinator-backed Indian startup to reach the much sought-after unicorn status. Link here.
In line with the Champions League mood, the whole of Europe took part in last week’s deals. And the winner of the week is Estonia with 🇪🇪 Veriff’s fundraising. Link here.
🇺🇸 Checkout.com has led a $110 million investment round in Saudi Arabian buy now, pay later startup Tamara. Link here.
Having registered revenues reflecting $300 million annually for the first three months of 2021, Israel-based startup 🇺🇸 Pagaya is allegedly planning to enter Wall Street at $8 billion, as well as execute a traditional IPO. Link here.
🇧🇷 PicPay, which operates a mobile payments app in Brazil, filed on Wednesday with the SEC to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering. Link here.
FOUNDERS & INVESTORS
Outward VC and Augmentum Fintech are partnering up to showcase Fintech's early-stage Female Founders. Link here.
Black women are building and growing businesses faster than any other segment and yet receive less than one percent of venture capital funding. Link here.
🇺🇸 Deel, a global payroll solution that helps businesses hire anyone, anywhere shared the following press release: We've officially entered unicorn territory, captain 🦄. Link here.
In recent times various banks such as JP Morgan Chase, Citi, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, etc. have unveiled their trillion-dollar commitments towards the planet with a sustainable finance budget to be spent across multiple decades. Link here.
Currently, 12.7m tonnes of plastic is dumped into the world’s oceans every year and last week, on the 51st annual Earth Day, a fintech launched an initiative to help alleviate its customers’ contribution to the problem. Link here.
Congrats to Giorgio Fiorentino, Gianluigi Davassi, and the whole faire.ai team with this big milestone to celebrate: 🇮🇹 Cream is now live! Link here.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS:
🇳🇱 Mollie, one of the fastest-growing payment service providers in Europe, has appointed Eli Leenaars, Vice-Chairman of Global Wealth Management at UBS as its new chairman, and Muz Ashraf, Principal at TCV as a new member of its supervisory board. Leenaars will step down from his UBS role on 31 May 2021. Link here.
🇺🇸 Revolut will hire 300 staff for its subsidiary in India and make a multi-million-pound investment there as part of its global expansion, the British-based digital bank app said on Thursday. Link here.
This ends my weekly digital fintech newsletter. Thank you for reading to the end! If you liked it, I invite you to like, share and/or leave a comment below. You may find more information regarding my newsletter here.
If there is anything else you think I’m missing, please don’t hesitate to reach out by email at bonjour@marcelvanoost.nl.
If you are looking for my weekly digital banking newsletter (the one divided by regions), you may find it here.
Let me know if there are any questions or news/insights worth mentioning in next week's newsletter. Until the next!
Regards,
Marcel van Oost