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
Today I have an interesting Q&A to share with you. Meet Arjun Vir Singh. One of the leading LinkedIn voices for the Gulf Region, he’s an avid commentator of the FinTech scene and a Partner with Arthur D. Little (ADL) based in Dubai, UAE 👇
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👨💻 BLOG
Prove announces the launch of prove auth™ to deliver next-generation passwordless identity authentication.
👉 Read the full article here.
💡INSIGHTS
Where are all the US unicorns🦄?
The top-3 states unicorns are currently calling home are California (587), New York (137), and Massachusetts (75).
👉 Check the great overview by Ilya Strebulaev in partnership with Stanford University Graduate School of Business’s Venture Capital Initiative team here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🇺🇸 NATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️Fintech pioneer and serial entrepreneur Bill Harris is launching Nirvana Money, an accessible credit card product to radically simplify money for middle-income earners. Link here.
⭐️Marqeta rolled out Marqeta for Banking, a new banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform for customers. Link here.
⭐️Onward — formerly called Ensemble — raised $9.7 million in a Series A funding round led by TTV Capital to advance its mission. Link here.
⭐️US regulator the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is setting up a financial technology unit. Link here.
⭐️Francisco Partners backs growth of restaurant tech platform TouchBistro. Link here.
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DIGITAL BANKING
Chime, online lender Upstart and Intuit-owned Credit Karma are the latest fintechs to reassess staffing in the face of the economic downturn. Link here.
VC FUNDS
InterPrice Technologies announces $7.3 Million Series A Funding round co-led by Nasdaq Ventures and DRW Venture Capital. Link here.
PAYMENTS
JPMorgan is piloting a platform it created for property owners and managers that automates the invoicing and receipt of online rent payments. Link here.
Karta.io announced that it joined Visa’s Fintech Fast Track Program. Karta.io will have access to the tools and resources needed to scale its business using the reach, capabilities, and security that VisaNet, Visa’s global payment network, offers. Link here.
Amazon has joined forces with Parafin to launch a merchant cash advance service that ties repayment to future sales. Link here.
BNPL
Ampla Technologies announced the acquisition of Upside Financing and the formation of a new product offering, Ampla Pay Later, an extended payment terms solution for brands and vendors across the supply chain. Link here.
OPEN BANKING
Dave Inc announced that it officially surpassed $5 billion in total advances and overdraft advances to its members with its ExtraCash service. Link here.
Walmart-backed fintech has been making changes to an online bank it acquired. Long-standing customers are getting fed up. Link here.
CRYPTO
Nium teamed with B2B2C crypto infrastructure platform Zero Hash in a partnership that lets Nium’s U.S. customers leverage crypto to fiat payment solutions. Link here.
Liquid Mercury announced today the launch of their Liquid Mercury Plus trading technology in collaboration with the cryptocurrency platform Gemini. Link here.
MoneyGram users in the US can now buy, sell and hold cryptocurrency via the money transfer firm's mobile app. Link here.
INVESTMENT
Lama AI announces a $9 million seed investment to unlock credit opportunities for small-medium businesses. Link here.
Zest AI announced that the company has raised over $50 million in a new growth round. Link here.
Brex joined Techstars’ global network of partners and will offer aspiring founders and early-stage entrepreneurs exclusive resources to help them scale their businesses. Link here.
INSURTECH
Koffie Financial announced a first-of-its-kind credit card built specifically for trucking fleets. Link here.
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.