Weekly Fintech Newsletter | 2021 #25
Hi, there! Welcome back to another Fintech Weekly Newsletter. In this newsletter, I cover all the major weekly news related to the fintech industry. The newsletter begins with recommended articles, reports, and Fintech maps. Thank you for subscribing!
“The CEO role just wasn’t a fit for me. I like starting things. I’m creative, I’m entrepreneurial, and I don’t enjoy managing people or leading a team. I couldn’t be myself as a CEO. And I couldn’t give the team the structure and support they needed to grow and operate efficiently.”
I recognize a lot of myself in this quote from James Routledge, to be honest.
Founders don’t always make the best CEOs or enjoy the job — and it shouldn’t be taboo to admit that and find someone else.
👉 Read more here.
ARTICLE
After raising €600m in fresh funding — and doubling its valuation to €4bn — Estonian startup Bolt is moving into the speedy grocery sector.
The company describes itself as ‘the European super-app’, offering ride-hailing, scooters, and takeaway services, and says its latest funding will go towards Bolt Market, the company’s new 15-minute grocery delivery service.
👉 Read more here.
PODCAST
The podcast recomendation of the week belongs to The Voice of Fintech’s episode 165 of Season One.
In this episode, Olga Shikhantsova, Principal at Speedinvest, focused at FinTech and Forber 30 under 30, spoke to Rudolf Falat, founder of the Voice of FinTech podcast, about believing and investing in European FinTech and redefining VC.
👉 Read more here.
FINTECH MAPS
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S FINTECH SPACE
FINTECH SPOTLIGHT
Breaking news: 🇺🇸 Square to acquire 🇦🇺 Afterpay.
“Square and Afterpay have a shared purpose. We built our business to make the financial system more fair, accessible, and Afterpay has built a trusted brand aligned with those principles.” Jack Dorsey, Co-Founder and CEO of Square.
👉 Read more here.
FINTECH HIGHLIGHTS
UK home-grown investors continue to blossom as the top 10 UK investment apps gain an estimated 1.6 million users since March 2020. Link here.
Latam is experiencing an explosion of fintech activity that’s being fueled by rising demand for online banking tools, encouraging demographics, and a significantly underserved population. Link here.
Israeli Fintech companies raised $2.3 billion in the first half of 2021, representing a staggering 260% increase over the same period last year, and even surpassing the 2020 full-year total of $1.8 billion by 28%. Link here.
INVESTMENTS
The long-awaited Nasdaq debut of stock trending app 🇺🇸 Robinhood finally took place, although not quite as we’d expected. Shares tumbled as much as 10 percent in the first few minutes of trading, eventually recovering slightly to close the first day down 8.37 percent. The drop knocked Robinhood’s expected $32bn valuation to below $29.4bn, with its shares closing at $34.82, well below the $38 they were priced at. Link here.
Also, Kevin Durant tallied a 2,500% return on his 🇺🇸 Robinhood stock. Remarkably, it’s his second 10-bagger this month. The NBA star bought into Robinhood during the online broker’s venture capital rounds through his Thirty Five Ventures. Link here.
OPEN BANKING
🇩🇪 finleap connect, an Open Banking platform in Europe has acquired 🇪🇸 MyValue Solutions, an Open Banking company in the Iberian market. Link here.
The European open banking platform 🇩🇰 Aiia has partnered with one of the largest commercial pension companies in the Nordics, 🇩🇰 Velliv. Link here.
🇬🇧 Bud selects partner 🇸🇪 Minna Technologies, a Swedish tech company, to provide banks with access to Minna’s subscription management tools through Bud’s Open Banking platform. Link here.
CRYPTO
The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) announced enforcement actions against Binance for illegally operating a crypto exchange in Malaysia. Link here.
The rumors that 🇺🇸Amazon might be dabbing into Bitcoin and crypto payments are strengthening. The e-commerce titan is looking for a Digital Currency and Blockchain Product Lead, according to a job posted on their website. Link here.
Leading UK card manufacturer 🇬🇧 allpay.cards and cutting-edge crypto pioneer 🇮🇱Simplex are launching a 🇺🇸Visa debit card that lets users spend crypto earnings as they would with any other everyday bank card - narrowing the gap between the traditional and digital/crypto financial market. Link here.
🇺🇸 DriveWealth, a leading global brokerage infrastructure platform, announced the planned launch of a new lineup of yield-focused fixed income ETFs, providing retail investors alternatives to low-yielding cash accounts. Link here.
🇺🇸 Mastercard is launching a version of its Start Path startup program specifically for firms in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space. Link here.
Also, Mastercard announced an enhanced card program for cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges that aims to make it easier for partners to convert cryptocurrency to fiat currency. Link here.
🇺🇸 Paxos, the first regulated blockchain infrastructure platform, announced it has added strategic investors including Bank of America, Coinbase Ventures, Founders Fund, and FTX to its Series D round of funding. Link here.
PAYMENTS
Teen-focussed payments platform 🇮🇳 FamPay said it had signed a deal with card issuer Visa Inc to launch numberless, prepaid cards for teenagers to enable them to make NFC-powered payments. Link here.
🇺🇸 Intuit is entering Square’s core business with the launch of a handheld card reader for 🇺🇸 QuickBooks small business customers. Link here.
The co-founders of FinTech unicorn 🇦🇺 Airwallex, are launching an early-stage venture capital fund to invest in tech startups supporting the payments platform. Link here.
BNPL
Australian buy now, pay later (BNPL) firm 🇦🇺 Zip Co Ltd is looking to provide users a chance to trade in cryptocurrencies, co-founder Peter Gray said, as established players in the sector test newer areas of business to power growth. Link here.
Swedish payments firm 🇸🇪 Klarna said on Tuesday it had acquired influencer marketing software firm APPRL as it looked to tap into strong growth in shopping across social media channels. "By adding APPRL to Klarna's existing retailer support expertise, we see a huge opportunity to create an enriching and informative shopping experience for consumers everywhere while accelerating retailer growth," Klarna Chief Executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski said in a statement. Link here.
Also, 🇸🇪 Klarna, the global retail bank, payments, and shopping service, has launched a new £3 million Small Business Support Package to help British SMEs recover from the pandemic. Link here.
🇺🇸 Visa is jumping into the BNPL market, rolling out APIs that let its clients offer installment payment products. Link here.
FUNDING
🇷🇸 Tenderly closed a $15.3 million Series A funding round led by Accel with additional participation from existing investors. The Belgrade startup already raised a $3.3 million seed round earlier this year led by Point Nine Capital. Link here.
Payments-technology startup 🇺🇸 Lithic, raised $60 million in a funding round led by growth-equity firm 🇺🇸 Stripes. Link here.
🇬🇧 Rapyd raised $300 million, a Series E that TechCrunch understands from reliable sources values the company at $8.75 billion. Link here.
🇻🇳VNLIFE, which owns digital payments firm VNPAY, announced that it has raised more than US$250 million in a series B funding round co-led by US investors General Atlantic and Dragoneer Investment Group. Link here.
Money management app 🇬🇧 Snoop has reportedly closed a £15m Series A in a round led by leading US hedge fund Paulson&Co. Link here.
🇪🇸 RITMO closed its extension round bringing the total seed round to €13.8M, led by JME Ventures along with Inveready and Sabadell Venture Capital. Link here.
🇺🇸 Behalf, Inc., a provider of In-Purchase Financing solutions for B2B sellers and buyers, announced $19 million in new venture financing. Link here.
🇿🇦 Yoco announced $83 million in Series C funding to scale offline and online offerings and expand to new markets. Despite South Africa’s high card and mobile penetration rates of over 70%, the country’s SMEs still struggle to accept cards. Link here.
🇪🇸 Cobee, one of Europe’s leading employee benefits management digital platforms, has announced it has raised €14 million in Series A funding led by the leading European venture capital firm Balderton Capital. Link here.
🇺🇸 Titan, a startup that is building a retail investment management platform aimed at the new generation of “everyday investors,” has closed on $58 million in a Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Link here.
🇨🇦 Paystone, a payments and integrated software company, secured another strategic investment this year, this time $23.8 million ($30 million CAD) from Crédit Mutuel Equity, the private equity arm of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale. Link here.
🇺🇸 Dwolla, a modern payments platform, announced a $21 million venture round led by Foundry Group to drive innovation for today's B2B payments. Link here.
🇺🇸 Sila, an API platform that provides payment infrastructure as a service while ensuring regulatory compliance, has raised $13 million in Series A funding led by Revolution Venture. Link here.
🇺🇸 Fireblocks, a platform that allows banks and other financial institutions to store, move and issue cryptocurrencies, raised $310 million in fresh capital from investors, boosting its valuation to $2 billion. Link here.
🇺🇸 Landis, a startup that uses technology and data science to help renters reach homeownership, announced today the close of $165 million in debt and Series A equity financing. Link here.
FOUNDERS & INVESTORS
Yusuf Ozdalga, London partner at FinTech-focused 🇺🇸 QED Investors, predicts that the 50 to 70 age range will soon be ripe for FinTech as traditional players squander customer loyalty by overcharging for things such as annuities and pensions, wealth management, and insurance products. Link here.
Card-issuing company 🇺🇸 Marqeta, Inc announced in a press release that its platform will fuel the new virtual 🇺🇸 Google Pay balance card. Link here.
Three months ago, 🇺🇸 Mastercard invested $100 million in 🇮🇳 airtel Mobile Commerce BV (AMC BV) — the mobile money business of telecom Airtel Africa. This was two weeks after it received $200 million from TPG’s Rise Fund. Link here.
Corporate credit card startup 🇺🇸 Ramp is raising its fourth round of venture funding in under eight months, underscoring how back-to-back fundraising rounds—with relatively little business progress in between—is becoming the norm for startups in hot fields such as financial services. Link here.
Much has been said about a surge in interest in European tech from US and Asian investors, but Middle Eastern investors are also getting in on the party. Investment into European startups from the Middle East has more than tripled on year according to Dealroom.co. Link here.
🇺🇸 Onfido, the global identity verification and authentication provider, announced it has broken its revenue record for the fifth consecutive quarter, with over 100% increase year-over-year in global revenue, ending Q2 2021. Link here.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS:
Derek White, 🇺🇸 Galileo Financial Technologies' new CEO, is stepping into his new role at a really busy time for the banking-tech provider — and for fintech. Link here.
🇬🇧 GoCardless, a global fintech in account-to-account payments, has appointed Alexandra Chiaramonti as General Manager of Southern Europe. Link here.
🇬🇧 Wirex, the leading payments platform, has hired Diana Carrasco-Vime as their first Non-Executive Director. Link here.
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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.
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Regards,
Marcel van Oost
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