Weekly Fintech Newsletter | 2021 #5
Fintech verticals that will benefit the most from Open Finance in 2021
🇬🇧Sifted asked 🇺🇸AppAnnie to figure out which European fintechs topped the 2020 download chart. The results highlighted one dominated player: 🇺🇸Paypal.
Paypal says the over 50s were its fastest-growing segment in early 2020, the dramatic uptick in users was due to the lockdown. Paypal’s plan to become a Super App and the plethora of services it aims to provide:
“would be a direct threat to the big players.”
👉 Read more here.
Join in my Q&A with 🇬🇧Codat’s VP of Sales, Matt Hicks. Codat is a data integration platform that helps financial institutions and fintechs seamlessly exchange data with their small business customers.
From our strategic perspective, our key focus is on the expansion and conquering of the US market.
They have built in access to commerce and banking data via direct in-house developed integrations with platforms like 🇺🇸Square and through partnerships with companies like 🇺🇸Plaid.
👉Read more here.
FINTECH MAPS
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S FINTECH SPACE
FINTECH SPOTLIGHT
🇲🇽Belvo has released a report that looks into the trends that will impact the adoption of Open Finance in Latin America in 2021.
The need for social distance has pushed millions of users to shop, pay bills, or access bank accounts digitally for the first time. And experts believe that these new digital habits will remain: 96.4 percent think that covid-19 will increase the digitalization of financial services.
👉Read more here.
FINTECH HIGHLIGHTS
Buy-Now-Pay-Later could account for 10% of all UK eCommerce by 2024. Accounting for some £26.4bn in annual transactions in just two years time. Link here.
2020 was the most active year ever for private FinTech company financings with nearly 1,990 transactions. Link here.
Lewis aka Ape Diagnosis is back with a brand new rap! Link here.
Fintech once again has a starring role in the Financial Times’ FT 1000 list of Europe’s fastest-growing companies. Link here.
Fifteen UK CEOs have joined forces to create a ‘Tech Zero taskforce’ with shared commitments for environmental goals like reaching net-zero carbon emissions. Link here.
India is amongst the fastest growing fintech markets in the world. Link here.
PAYMENTS
Embedded financial services provider 🇪🇸HUBUC announces the launch of payment cards underpinned by MOTION CODE™ - a dynamic CVV technology – from 🇫🇷IDEMIA for online shopping across Europe. Link here.
🇺🇸Mastercard and 🇺🇸ACI Worldwide announced that 🇵🇪Cámara de Compensación Electrónica (CCE) will utilize the ACI Enterprise Payments Platform to accelerate financial institutions’ access to Mastercard’s Instant Payment Service, the new real-time payments managed service that will enter Industry Testing in Peru later this year. Link here.
Mastercard brings its customers 🇺🇸Apple Pay, a safer, more secure and private way to pay that helps customers avoid handing their payment card to someone else, touching physical buttons or exchanging cash while using the power of iPhone to protect every transaction. Link here.
🇬🇧Paysend announced a strategic partnership with Mastercard starting in the UK and EEA, which will be mutually beneficial as it will boost Paysend’s global reach and enhance both businesses’ customer base. Link here.
🇱🇹kevin. has released a product for merchants that switches customers from card payments to account-to-account (A2A) payments at the checkout. Link here.
BNPL
🇺🇸Affirm, Inc. said that it is planning to launch its first payment card allowing users to pay for some purchases in installments, as the buy now, pay later (BNPL) sector booms. Link here.
🇸🇪Klarna is close to finalizing a $1 billion funding round that would give the Swedish fintech company a valuation of $31 billion. Link here.
OPEN BANKING
Mastercard’s Open Banking Connect service is now enabled for credit card holders of 🇬🇧Lloyds Banking Group brands: Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Bank itself. Link here.
🇸🇪Klarna has expanded its open banking offering into eight new countries. Link here.
CRYPTO
PayPal CEO Reveals Plans for New Crypto Unit. Link here.
Also, PayPal plans to add cryptocurrency capabilities to its 🇺🇸Venmo wallet in the coming months. Link here.
A new 🇺🇸Visa debit card from European neobroker 🇦🇹Bitpanda launched this week. Link here.
🇺🇸Robinhood will allow customers to deposit and withdraw cryptocurrencies. Link here.
🇩🇪Bitwala, which allows people to invest directly in cryptocurrencies from their bank accounts, saw an uptick in users of nearly 50% across 2020. Link here.
🇬🇧Skrill, part of the integrated payments platform 🇮🇲Paysafe, has announced a new feature for its digital wallet that enables users to withdraw funds directly to a cryptocurrency address of their choice. Link here.
FUNDING
🇬🇧Bottlepay, a payments app bringing real-time global payments in Bitcoin and other currencies, has closed an £11m ($15m) seed funding round. Link here.
🇰🇾Alpha Capital Acquisition Company’s SPAC Closes $230 Million IPO on Nasdaq. Link here.
🇪🇪Katana Smart Manufacturing Software, a fintech that specialises in manufacturing ERP (enterprise resource planning) for SMEs has raised an $11m Series A. Link here.
🇬🇧AccountsIQ, announced it has secured a €5.8M investment from UK- and-Netherlands-based venture capital firm, Finch Capital. Link here.
🇺🇸Mundi secured a Seed round of funding of $7.8M, led by Base10 Partners, with participation from FJ Labs and a number of notable fintech angels. Link here.
Former Mastercard’s Europe president Javier Perez has invested €4 million in Danish subscription terminator startup 🇩🇰Subaio. Link here.
🇦🇺WLTH saw a $1.44 million founder investment at the end of 2020, meaning the successful completion of this subsequent funding round would bring the total capital injection to $6.44m. Link here.
🇺🇸Promise announced over $20 Million in new Series A funding to bring antiquated government payment systems into the 21st century. Link here.
🇨🇦Powered by People (PBP) raised $1.5 million in seed funding to expand its team and grow its fintech platform for local retailers. Link here.
🇨🇲DioolLabs raised $3.5 million to scale its operations. Link here.
🇬🇧Codat has received new strategic investments from 🇺🇸PayPal Ventures and 🇺🇸American Express Ventures, as it formally launches its U.S. operations. Link here.
FOUNDERS & INVESTORS
🇺🇸Sequoia partners share what drives their passion for meeting seed-stage founders, what they look for in ideas and companies, and what to expect from initial conversations with Sequoia. Link here.
🇨🇦Clearbanc has announced the public beta of ClearAngel. For the first time, founders at the earliest stage can get automated guidance and equity-free capital through an extensive data platform to accelerate their first years of business, helping answer the questions and avoid the pitfalls many founders face. Link here.
Founders who are pursuing conversations with an investor should be consistently opening the floor for feedback at every stage of the fundraising process — be it after the first call or investment committee. Link here.
A serious sticking point in any term sheet negotiation is the pre-money valuation. At first glance, it might appear that VCs and founders have entirely opposing goals. Link here.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 was a record year for VC investment across major European cities, with a strong fourth quarter making up for a slow start to the year. Link here.
Entrepreneurs and investors have different expectations at each stage, so it is important to know where angels fit. The better you know yourself, the easier it will be to aim at a specific group of startups fundraising in the rounds that best suit you. Read more here. Sign up for my FinTech Angel Investors Syndicate here.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS:
🇳🇱Mollie has hired a new CEO following the surprise departure of former boss Gaston Aussems mid-way through last year. Link here.
🇺🇸Netflix has appointed former 🇺🇸Uber product head, Ebi Atawodi, as the director of payments in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). Link here.
🇬🇧TrueLayer announced that former SVP of Engineering at 🇬🇧Checkout.com, Ben Foster, has joined the firm as its VP of Engineering. Link here.
🇨🇦Trulioo announced the appointment of Hal Lonas as its chief technology officer. 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