THIS WEEK’S FUNDING NEWS OVERVIEW
For the past week’s funding news overview, we recommend reading our weekly #DoneDeal newsletter 👇
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👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Klarna is introducing a search tool for comparing prices across thousands of retailers to find the best price for a product, and allowing shoppers to filter by color, size, and ratings, among other things.
👉 Read the full Forbes article here.
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📰 ARTICLE
It may seem odd that numerous fintechs, including Betterment and Step just this week, are launching cryptocurrency trading services during the so-called Crypto Winter, as prices of the assets have crashed over recent months.
Andreessen Horowitz–backed neobank Current explains why launching crypto trading during a massive downturn is actually good timing.
👉 Read the full Fortune article here.
💬 INTERVIEW
Stripe CEO praises European regulation over the US.
The European Union, for the moment, is edging ahead of the U.S. in creating an environment where fintech entrepreneurs and their innovations can thrive, Stripe CEO Patrick Collison suggested in comments made during DC Fintech Week.
👉 Read the full Paymentsdive article by Lynne Marek here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🇺🇸 NATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️JPMorgan Chase is giving some customers early access to their direct deposits, a feature popularized by fintech rivals, as it hopes to attract users to a no-overdraft checking account. Link here.
⭐️ComplyAdvantage announced that Vatsa Narasimha has been named as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Charles Delingpole, the company’s founder, and former CEO, will transition to become Executive Chairman. Link here.
⭐️Snapcommerce expands to Fintech, launches SuperCash Building On $145M of consumer savings. Link here.
⭐️Visa and Thunes expand Visa direct‘s reach to 1.5 billion digital wallets. Link here.
⭐️Ualett secured a $50m credit line, through a new partnership with Thiele Capital Management. Link here.
⭐️Astra announced a $10 million Series A funding round. Link here.
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PAYMENTS
PayPal announced the introduction of PayPal Rewards, a new unified rewards program that gives customers an easy way to shop, earn, track, save, and redeem rewards and offers all in one place. Link here.
Revolut is working to replicate its European payments empire in the U.S. Link here.
Mercantile has publicly launched with $22 million in total funding. Link here.
Venmo is launching a new feature called “Charity Profiles” that will allow charities to raise funds and receive donations directly within its app. The new profiles will be available to charities that have received confirmed charity status from PayPal. Link here.
With $67M in new capital, NorthOne is doubling down on SMBs as some FinTech companies pull back. Link here.
BNPL
OatFi emerged from stealth with $8 million in new equity and $50 million in debt for its platform that provides working capital infrastructure for B2B payments platforms. Link here.
CRYPTO
Mastercard is launching a program to let financial institutions offer cryptocurrency trading to their clients. Link here.
BLOCKCHAIN / DEFI
Exponential secured $14m from a funding round led by investor Paradigm. Link here.
INVESTMENT
Chipper announced the launch of Chipper Easy Apply for borrowers eligible for President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. Link here.
Apple announced today it’s partnering with Goldman Sachs to soon launch a new Savings account feature for its Apple Card credit cardholders which will allow them to save and grow their “Daily Cash” — the cashback rewards that are earned from their Apple Card purchases. Link here.
Exponential Exchange raised $1.4M in Pre-Seed funding. Link here.
FINANCIAL LITERACY
Britain’s gen Z finance app ‘Quirk’ strides the Atlantic to rescue young Americans. Link here.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
CEO of Green Dot Corp., Dan Henry will be replaced by George Gresham, the company’s chief financial and operating officer. Henry also resigned from the company’s board. Link here.
Andrei Cherny, the chief executive officer of financial-technology firm Aspiration, is stepping down from his post at the company he co-founded amid a delay in plans to merge with a special purpose acquisition company. Link here.
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.