Weekly Fintech Newsletter | 2021 #26
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!
INTERVIEW
My interview recommendation: 🇺🇸 ChangeFi CEO, B.C. Silver sat down with VIBE to detail how his team is working to close the wage gap in communities of color across the country.
Many people would also say, “It doesn’t make sense if you had a banking account that you’re no longer banked.” But those people, I’d say, probably never counted on only having a hundred dollars in their bank account before getting hit by three overdraft fees, and all of a sudden, they’re in the negative. We don’t play that game. That’s why we don’t have any hidden fees, no monthly fees, and no minimums. That’s a part of giving people the playbook on how to succeed and grow financially.
👉 Read more here.
FINTECH MAPS
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S FINTECH SPACE
FINTECH HIGHLIGHTS
🇺🇸 Apple is looking to launch a buy-now-pay-later program for its products in Canada through a tie-up with the app Paybright of the company 🇺🇸 Affirm. Link here.
🇺🇸 Plaid has settled a $58 million class-action lawsuit over claims that the fintech firm passed on personal banking data to third-party firms without user consent. Link here.
The IFN Islamic Fintech Landscape is an ongoing global initiative by IFN Fintech to identify and map out FinTech firms offering Shariah-compliant solutions. Link here.
In a blockbuster deal that rocks the fintech world, 🇺🇸 Square announced that it is acquiring Australian buy now, pay later giant 🇦🇺 Afterpay in a $29 billion all-stock deal. Link here.
At least 23 private Latin American companies have now crossed the $1 billion valuation threshold, per an analysis of 🇺🇸 Crunchbase data. Link here.
INVESTMENTS
🇦🇪 baraka (YC S21), the fintech startup on a mission to educate, enable and empower retail investors in the Middle East, announced the official launch of its commission-free mobile investment app after receiving regulatory authorization from the 🇦🇪 Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) in June 2021. Link here.
OPEN BANKING
🇧🇪 Odoo, one of the biggest CRM and ERP systems, teamed up with 🇨🇦 SaltEdge, a leader in developing open banking solutions, to get instant access to banking data and enable businesses to reconcile invoices and payments as quickly as possible. Link here.
🇫🇷 Open Banking Exchange announced that key stakeholders of the open finance movement in Colombia will come together at a Summit on 12 August 2021 to collaborate on the development of open finance. Link here.
CRYPTO
Steve Cohen’s 🇺🇸 Point72 Ventures has made its first cryptocurrency investment, backing analytics firm 🇺🇸 Messari Inc. The venture capital arm of 🇺🇸 Point72 Asset Management led the crypto data and market intelligence company’s Series A funding round, which closed at $21 million, according to a statement. Link here.
🇺🇸 CoreChain Technologies, a digital B2B payments network built on blockchain, has raised $1.25 million in pre-seed funding. Link here.
Digital asset marketplace 🇺🇸 Bakkt has teamed up with 🇺🇸 Quiznos Restaurants to pilot in-store bitcoin payments. Link here.
🇦🇺 EMLPayments and 🇦🇺 CoinJar, Australia’s longest-running cryptocurrency exchange, are taking crypto into the mainstream with CoinJar Card. Link here.
🇭🇰 Crypto.com has released its latest research report on the global market size of crypto users showing that the market more than doubled in the first half of 2021, to 221 million users. Link here.
🇺🇸 Eco is raising another $60 million to propel its early hit stable coin crossover as regulators turn up the pressure on the sector. Link here.
PAYMENTS
🇺🇸 Roxe Inc., a next-generation global payment network, announced that RANA EXPRESS, an international money transfer company, will become a Roxe node to send remittances from the United States to beneficiaries in Brazil using the Rana Wallet (Android and iOS versions). Link here.
🇬🇧 Paysafe Group, a leading specialized payments platform, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 🇵🇪 PagoEfectivo a market-leading, Peruvian alternative payments (APM) platform. Link here.
🇲🇾 Fave, Southeast Asia's smart payments app, is now a non-bank participant of 🇲🇾 Real-time Retail Payments Platform (RPP) with PayNet (Payments Network Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, to offer DuitNowQR, Malaysia's national QR standard to merchants in the country. Link here.
🇸🇬 Wapi Pay PTE LTD, a Singapore-based Kenyan FinTech startup powering the Africa-Asia cross-border payment, has raised $2.2m in a pre-seed round to scale its product. Link here.
🇺🇸 BayaniPay, a fintech company with the mission of enabling borderless banking, has launched a web app to empower global professionals working abroad to take care of their families and communities back in their home countries. Link here.
BNPL
While many other fintechs in the region are creating credit cards with lower limits in order to reach a wider audience, 🇲🇽 Aplazo is going about it differently. Link here.
🇺🇸 Square's acquisition of Australian buy now, pay later (BNPL) company 🇦🇺 Afterpay for $29 billion is an indication of a rapidly growing industry, according to one rival firm's chief executive. Link here.
Payment processing giant 🇺🇸 Square is buying credit company Afterpay, but smaller startup and competitor 🇬🇧 Zilch isn’t worried at all about the multi-billion dollar deal. “This doesn’t affect Zilch’s growth plans or strategy in the immediate future,” Philip Belamant, founder and CEO of Zilch, tells Verdict. Link here.
🇺🇸 Citibank will become the latest entrant into the buy now, pay later sector when it begins to trial its pay in four feature ‘Spot’ in Australia from October. Link here.
These past few years have seen the emergence of buy now, pay later services worldwide, with leading players raising buttloads of cash to serve an insatiable young adult population who don’t fancy credit cards or paying interest. Link here.
🇮🇩 FinAccel agreed to go public through a merger with a blank-check firm, valuing the parent of Indonesian buy now, pay later platform Kredivo at about $2.5 billion, a further sign of consolidation in the fast-growing sector. Link here.
FUNDING
🇳🇬 Moove Africa, an African mobility company with a fintech play is raising $23 million in Series A to scale rapidly across the continent. Link here.
Mexico City-based B2B software and payments company 🇲🇽 Yaydoo closed a $20.4 million Series A funding round. Link here.
🇭🇰 Aspen Digital, a platform for managing digital assets founded earlier this year, has closed an $8.8m pre-Series A funding round to help it tap into the booming market. Link here.
Dubai-based fintech 🇦🇪 tabby has raised $50 million in a Series B funding round, taking the company’s valuation up to $300 million. The round was led by Global Founders Capital and STV with participation from Delivery Hero, CCVA and existing investors. Link here.
Industry veteran Jitendra Gupta’s neobank for consumers in India — 🇮🇳 Jupiter — has raised $45 million in a new financing round as the Bangalore and Mumbai-based startup gears up for its platform’s public launch in about a month. Link here.
Tallinn-based 🇮🇳 Montonio Finance has raised €2.5 million in a seed funding round and wants to become the one-stop-shop checkout solution for e-commerce merchants and consumers. Link here.
Manchester-based buy now, pay later (BNPL) firm 🇬🇧 PAYL8R has raised £40 million in debt financing from Conister Bank. Link here.
UK fintech 🇬🇧 Capital On Tap has elevated its commitment to US expansion through the securing of a $100 million credit facility from Atalaya Capital Management. Link here.
SME fintech 🇨🇭Tradeplus24 has announced a $25m equity round and a $200m debt facility that should see them move to the next level as a business. Link here.
Valora, a mobile-first digital wallet native to the Celo network, raised $20 million in a Series A led by 🇺🇸 Andreessen Horowitz, a major Celo backer. Link here.
🇨🇴 La Haus, which has developed an online real estate marketplace operating in Mexico and Colombia, has secured $100 million in additional funding, including $50 million in equity and $50 million in debt financing. Link here.
FOUNDERS & INVESTORS
Italian payments processor 🇮🇹 Nexi has signed an MoU to acquire a 51% stake in 🇬🇷 Alpha Bank's merchant acquiring business. Link here.
Dutch FinTech 🇳🇱 Facevalue B.V. introduces a unique Accounts Receivable Finance solution for European SMEs that challenges traditional factoring. Link here.
More than 40 African startups from a handful of countries have gone through YC over the past decade. Zambia joins that list today, and its entrant, 🇿🇲 Union54 (YC S21), is a worthy first entry. Link here.
Fresh from a $200 million funding round earlier this year, 🇺🇸 Feedzai has acquired behavioral biometric platform 🇺🇸 Revelock · A Feedzai Company to provide an additional layer of transaction protection as more shoppers - and crooks - move online. Link here.
There aren’t enough female angels in Europe, but there are still more than you think. For the first time, Sifted — with the help of many readers on Twitter — has compiled a comprehensive list of 100+ active female angels in Europe. Link here.
Singapore headquartered fintech Hashstacs Pte Ltd (‘🇸🇬 STACS’), focused on capital markets and Environmental, Social, and Governance (‘ESG’) fintech, announced it is joining 🇺🇸 Mastercard’s new global startup engagement program Start Path. Link here.
US-based financial infrastructure company 🇺🇸 Pico is set to go public through a $1.75 billion merger with fintech entrepreneur Betsy Cohen's special-purpose acquisition company (Spac). Link here.
The 🇺🇸 IFC - International Finance Corporation, the asset management, and investment advisory arm of 🇺🇸 The World Bank has just invested $10m into fintech-as-a-service provider 🇬🇧 FintechOS. Link here.
The global payment technology partner 🇨🇦 Nuvei has formed a partnership with the digital payment platform Alipay+. Link here.
🇦🇪 SimpliFi a Cards as a Service platform for Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan has announced its launch. The Dubai-headquartered startup had been operating in stealth mode until now. Link here.
The demand for freelancer banking may be heating up. Freelancer-focused challenger bank 🇺🇸 Lili is stepping up its game with its launch of 🇺🇸 LiliPro. Link here.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS:
Vienna-based digital investment platform 🇦🇹 Bitpanda is to open a blockchain research & development hub, employing 30 full-time developers. Link here.
Brian Brooks has quit as the US CEO of troubled crypto exchange Binance just four months into the job, citing "differences over strategic direction". Link here.
🇺🇸 Wahed is moving full-steam ahead in the UK following the hiring of ex-HSBC exec Umer Suleman in June as its country general manager. Link here.
Lithuania is the destination of choice for many fintechs thanks to its attractive banking landscape and all-your-cards-in-one fintech 🇬🇧 Curve has started to put down some solid foundations there. 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.
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
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