Hello FinTech Community!
Before we dive into this weeks news, I like to remind you that I’m coming over to the US soon and hope to meet you there in person as well!
If you are in Las Vegas from March 19-21 (maybe attending FinTech Meetup at the Aria Hotel in Las Vegas ), I like to invite you to join me for some pre-event networking the way I like it; during a sports event with a drink
I have tickets for the Las Vegas Golden Knights NHL hockey game on Sunday, March 19 at 1 PM at the T-Mobile Arena (close to the Aria Hotel), and I would like YOU to join me. Tickets and beers are on me.
And for the people attending FinTech Meetup, I would also like to invite you to join me in our exclusive “Connecting the dots in FinTech” VIP Lounge at Fintech Meetup’s big industry night party at Jewel nightclub (at the Aria).
Can’t wait to meet you there! And now on to this week’s FinTech industry news:
REPORT
After a wave of FinTech exits and sky-high valuations in 2021, 2022 brought us all back to reality. The F-Prime Fintech Index was down 72% for the year (see first slide below).
While 2022 was a tough year and 2023 still has much uncertainty, we have three reasons to remain very bullish on the category:
👉 FinTech will continue to eat the world ala embedded fintech,
👉 public FinTechs disruptors are still growing revenue at high rates,
👉 FinTechs low industry penetration with significant room for revenue growth.
REPORT
A new study from Juniper Research, conducted in collaboration with Galileo Financial Technologies, finds that 63% of U.S. B2B businesses offer some form of embedded finance solution.
REPORT
Instant payments represent the first fundamentally new payment capability in the U.S. in over 40 years. Check this report which explores the landscape of instant payments in the U.S., how it will evolve for what use cases and ways FIs can monetize this new payment capability.
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
The U.S. is now Swedish payment giant Klarna’s biggest market by revenue, surpassing Germany, and that has CEO and co-founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski feeling proud.
Klarna saw a 71% year-over-year increase in gross merchandise value in the U.S. last year compared to 2021.
😎 SPONSORED CONTENT
Fintech Meetup is Q1’s BIG new event! Find new leads and partners. Meet everyone you need to meet in 30,000+ double opt-in meetings. Hear from 250+ speakers. See 200+ sponsors & Exhibitors and network with 3,000+ other senior level fintechers. At the Aria, Las Vegas March 19-22. Get ticket!
📊 INFOGRAPHIC
Stripe told potential investors it will turn a profit this year and is on track to process $1 trillion in payments in 2023. That figure would be up from the $800 billion the payment platform processed in 2022.
📰 ARTICLE
With Apple pushing into the lending business with a BNPL service, the company is laying out rules for how it will approve transactions. The Apple Pay Later service — announced last year but still in the testing phase — will evaluate borrowers based on their spending history and even which of the company’s devices they own.
The Pay Later service is running behind schedule: It was originally expected last year. The company also is working on a homegrown infrastructure for financial products that will help decrease its reliance on banking partners.
📰 ARTICLE
Businesses that use Stripe Terminal to take in-person payments now will be able to carry out Tap to Pay transactions on NFC-equipped Android devices, too.
It will support payment methods using Google Pay, Mastercard, Visa and American Express debit and credit cards.
💡INSIGHTS
Sequoia Capital is one of the world’s oldest and most accomplished venture capital firms, with its long list of early tech investments-turned-home runs including Airbnb, Apple, Instagram, Square, and WhatsApp. While 2022 was a down year for venture capital at large, Sequoia remained active with over 100 investments.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🇺🇸 NATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Binance moved $400 million from U.S. partner to firm managed by CEO Zhao, Merit Peak.
⭐️ Plaid will enable its identity verification and KYC solutions in Canada.
⭐️ Stripe launches Enhanced Issuer Network to help businesses reduce fraud and boost authorization rates.
⭐️ Nestment raises $3.5M to help friends and family buy homes together.
DIGITAL BANKING
MoneyLion is offering eligible MoneyLion users free tax filing services through its new partnership with Column Tax.
Arvest Bank launches new lending product powered by Thought Machine.
PAYMENTS
Early Warning Services, the network operator of Zelle, announced that more than 1,800 financial institutions are part of the Zelle Network.
Wedge is partnering with Visa to launch a debit card connected to Wedge´s app, accelerating its mission to revolutionize consumer spending.
Phos partnered with Thrive Payments to deploy its Tap-to-Phone solution in the US.
Nuvei completed the acquisition of payments processing firm Paya Holdings.
CRYPTO
Binance is considering ending relationships with US business partners as regulators turn up the heat.
Coinbase reported $629 million in revenue, vs. $590 million as expected by Refinitiv analysts.
BLOCKCHAIN / DEFI
Robinhood unveiled its January operating data, showing a rebound in trading volumes.
INVESTMENT
eToro secured money transmitter and virtual currency licenses from the New York State Department of Financial Services.
SOFTWARE SOLUTION
Puzzle raised $15m in Series A funding to build a single solution combining smart accounting software and a real-time financial data platform.
Finch raised $40 million in a Series B round co-led by General Catalyst and Menlo Ventures with participation from QED Investors, Altman Capital and PruVen Capital.
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.