THIS WEEK’S FUNDING NEWS OVERVIEW
REPORT
Find out what are the cryptocurrency regulations by country in Thomson Reuters’ latest report. 👇
👉 Read the full article here.
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Despite the stalled IPO market, here are 19 FinTech and crypto startups that may still go public this year — and the investors who will benefit.
FinTech exits, which include acquisitions and public offerings, grew a staggering 780% last year, PitchBook reported in its 2021 Annual Fintech Report, with a $331.8 billion value from $37.7 billion in 2020.
👉 Read the full list here.
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📊 INFOGRAPHIC
Technology breeds efficiency, at least under normal circumstances. U.S. card acceptance falls into the unusual circumstances category.
Despite having the world’s second-largest digital economy (behind China), the U.S. has the highest costs of payments (as shown in Figure 1) among developed global markets driven primarily by the high cost of cards.
👉Read the full article here.
📰 ARTICLE
Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard’s global head of crypto and blockchain, is quick to dismiss warnings about crypto as a threat.
“We don't think about it that way at all,” he told Protocol. Instead, Mastercard sees opportunities to make crypto accessible to the payment network’s massive user base.
Dhamodharan is now Mastercard’s point man for crypto, in charge of the payments giant’s game plan for a fast-moving trend upending financial services. Link here.
👨💻 BLOG
PayPal’s Blockchain chief on the future of crypto in payments.
The remarkable increase in the adoption of cryptocurrencies over the last two years has laid the foundation for one of crypto’s loftiest promises. This opportunity can be expanded to retail payments for the benefit of millions of consumers and merchants worldwide.
👉 Read the full article here.
💬 INTERVIEW
Currency.com expands into the US.
“Our expansion into the United States represents a milestone moment in the growth of Currency.com as we introduce our simplified, intuitive web-based platform to one of the world’s most mature cryptocurrency markets,” said Steve Gregory, Chief Executive Officer, Currency.com, US.
Read the full Finextra article here.
💡INSIGHTS
Financial Technology Partners / FT Partners Research released their Q1 2022 FinTech Insights report, providing the most comprehensive review of global FinTech deal activity with analysis across private company financings, IPOs, M&A, and SPAC transactions.
👉 Check out the results here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🇺🇸 NATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Ohio Sutton Bank and Bankers Helping Bankers announced the creation of the BHB Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) Association. Link here.
⭐️ Robinhood cutting about 9% of full-time employees. Link here.
⭐️ Copper Banking, a digital banking service aimed at teens, has raised $29 million in Series A funding in a “preemptive” round led by Fiat Ventures. Link here.
⭐️ Binance will now limit services for Russian nationals or entities with crypto assets worth more than €10,000. Link here.
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DIGITAL BANKING
William Hockey and Annie Hockey, are the cofounders and co-CEOs of Column. It’s a technology-focused, federally chartered bank that aims to make it easier and faster for other companies to offer financial services. Link here.
Ellis raises $5.6M to pave the way for international students. Before they arrive, they can open a debit account with Ellis’ neobank and sign up for a 5G cellphone plan, too. Link here.
PAYMENTS
Stripe will allow businesses to pay their users via cryptocurrencies, starting with Twitter, in the latest sign of how large financial firms are warming to digital assets. It's Stripe's first significant push into crypto since dropping support for bitcoin four years ago. Link here.
Apple Cash, formerly known as Apple Pay Cash, may be transitioning from the Discover payments network to Visa, a new report from MacRumors suggests. Visa has a much larger global network than Discover, which might account for the move. Link here.
PayPal and Venmo are increasing their instant transfer fees for both consumers and merchants in the United States. Instant transfers allow customers to transfer their money instantly to a bank account or debit card for a fee. Link here.
Brex has acquired Y Combinator-backed Pry Financials for $90 million. Its acquisition of Pry is not only reflective of Brex’s new emphasis on offering strong software products but also its continued commitment to early-stage startups. Link here.
OPEN BANKING
Synovus Bank announced that it has signed an agreement to strategically invest in Qualpay resulting in a 60% ownership interest. Synovus has also chosen to leverage Qualpay’s payments technology as an integral part of Maast, the bank’s new money-as-a-service offering that will launch later this year. Link here.
Evolve Bank & Trust and Bond Financial Technologies, Inc. are pushing the boundaries of embedded finance to bring innovation to companies that want to offer financial products to their customers. Together, Evolve and Bond enable entrepreneurs to build and launch innovative financial solutions at scale. Link here.
CRYPTO
Fidelity said that it would enable its participants to put a slice of their retirement money into Bitcoin. The announcement could put millions of people closer to direct investment in Bitcoin without having to set up an account on a cryptocurrency exchange. Link here.
Coinbase stock fell to an all-time low, just two days after the cryptocurrency exchange launched its long-anticipated NFT marketplace. Shares on Nasdaq slid to $131.14 in after-hours trading, down more than 15% since the marketplace’s beta launch. Link here.
Also, Coinbase is launching its long-awaited NFT marketplace with a focus on trying to create a social community for buyers and sellers. Coinbase wants to deepen social engagement in the NFT marketplace and create a community for NFTs in addition to a marketplace to buy and sell NFTs. Link here.
INVESTMENT
AngelList closed an additional $44M from their GP and LP community at a $4B pre-money valuation. This represents one of the largest customer raises ever. Link here.
Robinhood has acquired Ziglu, a UK-based electronic money institution, and crypto-asset firm, for an undisclosed sum. Ziglu’s team of financial services and crypto experts will help accelerate global expansion efforts. Link here.
FundGuard has raised $40 million in a Series B funding round. It takes the company’s total capital raised to date to more than $55 million. Link here.
OPPORTUNITIES
Paysend, the UK-based fintech announced that it has opened its Americas headquarters in Miami.
Jairo Riveros, Chief Strategy Officer and Managing Director for the USA and LATAM at Paysend, said: “Opening our Americas headquarters in Miami will help us to get closer to our partners and customers, and continue to make digital money transfers more widely available and accessible.”
👉 Read the full Finextra article here.
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.