Weekly Fintech Newsletter | 2021 #27
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!
Why do startups fail? From lack of product-market fit to disharmony on the team, CB Insights breaks down the top 12 reasons for startup failure by analyzing 110+ startup failure post-mortems.
👉 Read more here.
ARTICLE
A ‘neobank for influencers’: Why the $15bn creator economy is fintechs’ next battleground. Being an influencer is still plagued by cash-flow and payment dramas — but these FinTechs think they've found the solution.
In the past 12 months, US startups like Willa, Archie, and Karat Financial have popped up to streamline freelancers’ payments, backed by big investors like EQT. Now, the trend is arriving in Europe, with the launch of XPO, a new digital banking app for influencers.
👉 Read more here.
REPORT
Over the last fifteen years, the payments landscape has changed significantly. Similar to the emergence of mobile solutions in other parts of the globe, Europe has seen several successful digital payment solutions enter the market since 2005.
However, mobile payment providers are yet to offer services on a pan-European level. The European Payment Initiative (EPI) aims to remedy this by building a new payment scheme from scratch.
👉 Read more here.
FINTECH MAPS
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S FINTECH SPACE
FINTECH SPOTLIGHT
Traditionally, FinTech unicorns made rare sightings across the globe, but it’s becoming a common breed in today’s FinTech ecosystem – with nearly 157 FinTech unicorns in the world.
At CFTE - Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship, they decided to dive into the rankings of the largest FinTech unicorns (public and private companies valued at $1 billion and those that surpass it) and trace back their origins.
👉 Read more here.
FINTECH HIGHLIGHTS
Multinational gaming company 🇺🇸 Razer Inc. is to shut down its e-wallet and card services to focus on B2B payments. Link here.
🇬🇧 Revolut makes remittances a priority as it enters the U.S. Link here.
Britain’s investment in the financial technology industry has hit a new record, with almost £18bn worth of deals in the first half of this year, placing the UK second in the world behind the US. Link here.
INVESTMENTS
🇬🇧 Hapi has launched an app designed to help parents plan and invest for their children's future. Link here.
🇳🇬 eTijar is working on becoming a fully Shariah-compliant ethical finance and wealth management fintech platform, targeting customers looking to invest ethically. Link here.
OPEN BANKING
🇬🇧 KEEBO, a credit card startup that applies Open Banking data and behavioural science to provide a personalized credit line for consumers, has raised £5 million in seed funding. Link here.
CRYPTO
🇺🇸 BitPay, a provider of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payment services, has announced that US cardholders of the BitPay Prepaid Mastercard can add their card to Google Wallet and spend using Google Pay. Link here.
🇦🇺 Blockchain Australia, an association representing the local crypto industry, has warned that the country has fallen behind on the regulatory front due to the undue persistence of a dismissive “wild west” narrative. Link here.
🇺🇸 Gemini is thrilled to announce the acquisition of 🇪🇸 Guesser, a real-time predictions market platform. Link here.
🇺🇸 PayPal-owned 🇺🇸 Venmo is expanding its support for cryptocurrency with today’s launch of a new feature that will allow users to automatically buy cryptocurrency using the cashback they earned from their Venmo credit card purchases. Link here.
🇺🇸 FalconX, a one-stop-shop for institutional cryptocurrency market participants, has closed a $210 million Series C financing round, valuing the company at $3.75 billion. Link here.
The Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange bought account aggregation startup Zabo so users can view their third-party crypto accounts within the Coinbase app. Link here.
PAYMENTS
🇨🇦 BlackBerry Limited, announced a new solution to deliver highly secure vehicle-based payment capability to unlock a connected car payments market that is projected to reach over €530 billion by 2030. Link here.
🇺🇸 Veem, a leading provider of online payment solutions, has released two new Veem Capital products to help small and medium-sized businesses ramp spending for their operations. Link here.
🇭🇰 Currenxie, the Hong Kong-headquartered cross-border payments company, announced that it has successfully closed a USD 10 million Series A funding round led by family office BF Belmont. Link here.
The Nordic region’s leading company within SME financing has secured its Visa Principal Membership. With the PIS license, 🇸🇪 Qred AB is now able to strengthen its offer and can use the license to issue credit cards across the European Union. Link here.
BNPL
Reducing our carbon footprint is something that we all need to turn our attention to and 🇸🇪 Klarna has recently added a new feature to its revamped app to make it just a little bit easier. Link here.
🇬🇧 Zilch has agreed to buy 🇺🇸 Neptune Financial – or NepFin (acquired by Zilch) – a Miami-based commercial lending fintech startup in a deal that expands the buy-now, pay-later startup's presence in a competitive US market. Link here.
FUNDING
🇺🇸 Chime raised $750 million in a Series G funding round that values the FinTech company at $25 billion. That’s $10 billion higher than its last reported valuation of $15 billion from October 2020, according to PitchBook Data. Link here.
🇬🇧 Scallop is on the verge of completing its $2.5 million seed funding round led by 🇺🇸BlackEdge Capital. Link here.
Fintech 🇺🇸 Brex first partnered with 🇺🇸 Weav, a developer of a universal API for commerce platforms, last summer. In March, Brex launched Instant Payouts for Shopify sellers using the startup’s technology. The results were impressive enough that by April, Brex co-founders Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi participated in Weav’s $4.3 million seed round as strategic angel investors. Link here.
Vienna-based digital investment platform 🇦🇹 Bitpanda is now valued at $4.1 billion after a $263 million round led by Valar Ventures LLC Ventures. Link here.
Anam Lahkani and Eve Halimi cofounded 🇺🇸 Alinea to cater to women and Gen-Zers, who are a growing demographic in the investing world. The New York City-based startup, has raised $2.1m from Y Combinator, Goodwater Capital, Harvard, Kima Ventures, Dragon Capital, and strategic investors such as Jonathan Cherki and Philippe Suchet. Link here.
🇱🇺 Blocktrade SA, a digital asset trading facility, which aims to become fully regulated, announced that it has raised the largest crowdfunding in Luxembourg, to date. Link here.
The green FinTech 🇺🇸 Aspiration is in discussions about going public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in a deal that could value the firm at more than $2 billion. Link here.
In nearly 2 years since launching the 🇺🇸 SoftBank Group International #LATAM Fund, it has proven why the Latin American region is truly unstoppable. $3.5B invested in 48 incredible companies, now worth $6.9B FMV. Link here.
🇬🇧 Appital, a London-based marketplace bidding to unlock latent liquidity in equity capital markets, has raised £2.5 million from Frontline Ventures and a host of angels. Link here.
🇺🇸 Upgrade, Inc., a lending platform launched by former LendingClub chief Renaud Laplanche, has completed a $ 105 million Series E round with a $ 3.325 billion pre-valuation. Link here.
FOUNDERS & INVESTORS
Intelligence firm 🇬🇧 DueDil has announced a partnership with software company 🇬🇧 Artesian Solutions, with reports the deal is actually a merger. Link here.
🇺🇸 Robinhood announced that it is buying Say Technologies for $140 million in cash. Say Technologies helps people communicate with the companies that they invest in. Link here.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS:
Digital investing startup 🇺🇸 Acorns Grow Inc. named Rich Sullivan, a former finance executive at 🇺🇸 Twitter Inc., as finance chief ahead of its planned public listing. Link here.
🇬🇧 Uncapped, a London-based start-up changing the way online companies fund their growth, marketing and inventory costs, announced the appointment of Vaidas Adomauskas as Chief Product Officer. Link here.
European cryptocurrency exchange 🇱🇺 Bitstamp has appointed ex-🇺🇸 Google, 🇺🇸 Netflix and 🇺🇸 Microsoft executive Barbara Daliri Freyduni as its first chief growth officer. Link here.
🇬🇧 Yapily, the leading open banking infrastructure provider, today announces that Roland Selmer has joined the executive team as Chief Product Officer (CPO). Link here.
As companies move more towards remote cultures, it’s conceivable that both employees and leaders — and even CEOs — may end up working in different locations too. Mike Tuchen, CEO of the fintech firm 🇬🇧 Onfido, has been working as a "remote CEO" for the past six months. Link here.
🇨🇦 Payment Rails has been growing rapidly over the past 18 months. They are very excited to announce two key hires to our leadership team to support that continued growth. 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.
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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