US FinTech: | 2023 #31
Weekly news up to Thursday, 3rd of August 2023
REPORT
BNPL allows consumers to split up the cost of a retail transaction (usually between $50 and $1,000), traditionally into four interest-free installments repaid over the span of six weeks.
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Flutterwave announced the enhancement of its $end Mobile product, now Send App by Flutterwave, to facilitate faster, easier, and more affordable money transfers from people in the diaspora to their families, friends, and loved ones in Africa. Send App now supports transfers from US and Canada and has added new recipient countries namely Egypt and Sénégal in its network.
📰 ARTICLE
Elon Musk has begun a widespread, and sudden, rebranding of Twitter. Now becoming X, Musk has not been shy in explaining his ambitions to create an “everything app” which could encompass social media, e-commerce, payments and banking.
CNBC partnered with independent research firm Statista to establish a transparent overview of the top fintech companies.
In the 2010s the biggest FinTechs were product innovators.
They closed the gap between the poor UX of traditional financial institutions and the great UX of digital-first products.
With that gap closed, the edge is now in distribution.
👨💻 BLOG
📚 9 Books Recommended By FinTech Industry Leaders You Have To Read⤵
What’s your favorite?
During this summer I will share book recommendations from FinTech industry leaders in a series of articles every Sunday.
I hope you can find inspiration from my second chapter of great books.👌 I know I did!
💡INSIGHTS
🔥Hot: Restaurant POS competition:
Shift4 is taking direct aim at competitors like Toast.
Last week, the publicly traded company announced it would pay restaurants that install its point-of-sale (POS) system $1 per online order for the first 3 months, plus a bonus of up to $5,000 for switching.
Apple announced that Apple Card’s high-yield Savings account offered by Goldman Sachs has reached over $10 billion in deposits from users since launching in April.1 Savings enables Apple Card users to grow their Daily Cash rewards with a Savings account from Goldman Sachs, which offers a high-yield APY of 4.15 percent.
While the dog days of summer won’t be here for a few months, it seems that financial fatigue has bank customers in the U.S. feeling the heat.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🇺🇸 NATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ LendingClub CEO expects slower second half, hints at new credit products.
⭐️ Zelle outage at JPMorgan Chase is red flag for banks.
⭐️ LedgerEdge has gone into administration just a year after its live launch.
⭐️ Benjamin launches engaging app redefining rewards.
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PAYMENTS
Cross River Bank announced the expansion of its partnership with Plaid, a data network powering the digital financial ecosystem, to deliver multi-rail payment solutions to U.S. businesses and their customers.
Microsoft and PayPal are expanding their partnership to allow Xbox owners in the United States to use Venmo as a payment method for games, movies, TV shows and apps from the Xbox store.
Zil Money has announced a transformative addition to its suite of payment solutions: the Payment Link feature.
Bluevine announced the launch of its new accounts payable (AP) offering to help business owners and their teams simplify business payments management from within their Bluevine Business Checking accounts.
LendingClub to launch lending, savings and spending super app.
Brex and Rho each announced AI-powered/enabled accounts payables offerings.
Brex launched Brex payables, an AI-enabled Accounts Payable (AP) solution, combining enhanced bill pay capabilities and purchase cards.
OPEN BANKING
Privacy Lock is pleased to announce it has entered into a strategic partnership with Sutton Bank, an Ohio community bank that is a leading issuer of nationwide payment card programs.
CRYPTO
Sequoia Capital pared back the size of two major venture funds, including its cryptocurrency fund, as part of a dramatic downsizing the storied venture firm is undertaking amid a broad startup downturn.
Eco just unveiled a decentralized payments project called Beam, a P2P crypto transfer service aiming to be a ‘global Venmo’.
Worldcoin the ambitious cryptocurrency and digital ID project spearheaded by OpenAI chief Sam Altman launched after years in development, promising to verify users’ identity by scanning their eyes.
Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao attempted to shut down the crypto exchange’s U.S. offshoot earlier this year.
Coinbase has denied a report saying its CEO Brian Armstrong said it was once told by the United States securities regulator to delist all cryptocurrencies on its platform except for Bitcoin.
U.S. Department of Justice officials are considering fraud charges against crypto exchange Binance, but are concerned about the cost to consumers.
DONE DEAL
Croissant launched today with $24 million in seed funding from a suite of top investors, including Portage and KKR co-founders George Roberts and Henry Kravis.
Settle has secured up to $145m credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). The company plans to use the funds to support business owners further by developing its suite of lending products to help larger companies.
GlossGenius announced that it raised $28 million in a Series C funding round led by L Catterton with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners and Imaginary Ventures.
Novo has secured a $125 million facility for the launch of a working capital product.
Petal closed a committed $200m debt facility from Victory Park Capital.
Knot API raises $10M from Amex, Plaid amid deposit war.
INVESTMENT
JP Morgan is investing in a new AI-focused venture from Tifin, an umbrella group operating a host of wealth management fintech businesses.
Upgrade Inc announced the acquisition of Uplift Inc., the leading provider of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) payment and credit products to travelers.
Dave chose to partner with Drew League because of their shared missions to provide opportunities for young people to succeed and give them the tools they need to create change in their lives.
AngelList expands into private equity with acquisition of fintech startup Nova.
Ramp announced that it is entering the procurement space as it focuses more on “complex” enterprises and that it has landed a new customer in Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify.
Pipe is building an entirely new asset class based on recurring revenue, it lets businesses raise money by selling their future cash flows directly through its platform.
Dave announced a 4.00% annual percentage yield (APY) on both Dave Spending and Goals accounts for members in search of high-yield savings opportunities on all of their accounts.
Stavvy announced its strategic acquisition of Brace, a servicing technology company addressing the long-standing inefficiencies and lack of transparency stemming from outdated technologies in mortgage servicing.
Priority Technology Holdings announced that it has completed the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Nearside Business Corp. and PLV Inc., as well as all of the equity of Plastiq Canada Inc. and Plastiq Inc.
Plinqit data-driven financial wellness content and virtual account management, has launched a pilot program with support from BMO to help customers achieve financial wellness and savings goals.
GoLogiq has agreed to acquire Symplefy, a provider of payroll and human resource management solutions based in Vietnam.
Stripe has launched a tax feature for businesses to connect to, enabling them to streamline their taxes in a connected all-in-one solution.
WiserAdvisor has announced the acquisition of Indyfin, the Dallas-based fintech company to build on its existing product suite and create a comprehensive growth platform for financial advisors.
FRAUD PREVENTION
GoFi has formed a new partnership with Provenir to better assess credit risks in its loan approval process.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Cardless has hired Fitz Tepper, former VP of Operations at Rally to serve as its first chief operating officer.