MVO BLOG
INSIGHTS
I think 2022 will be a big year for business banking, with a lot more funding heading into that space. The recent fundraise of €400 million by Qonto is a good indicator of this trend in action. I'm very confident this won't be the last massive valuation we see in this sector. I actually predicted this as an area of growth last year and don't expect to see any slowdown over the next 12 months.
👉Read more here.
Are you a FinTech that needs some help with development? Shoot me a message!
REPORT
According to Mastercard, the gig economy — characterized by temporary, flexible jobs brokered by online platforms and fulfilled by independent contractors or freelancers — reached nearly $300 billion in gross transaction volumes in 2020, and is projected to grow to $455 billion by 2023.
The creator economy — where self-employed individuals, such as social media influencers or bloggers, directly monetize their creative content via online platforms — is worth $100 billion in 2021 and is growing rapidly.
👉 Read the full “PAYMENTS are eating the world” report by J.P. Morgan here.
ARTICLE
A new study from Morning Consult revealed the fastest growing brands of 2021, and the findings demonstrate the growing importance of fintech in consumers’ lives.
Looking at the results by age reveals insights into each generation’s financial lives and activities—as well as other aspects of their lives.
👉 Read the full article by Ron Shevlin here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S FINTECH SPACE
NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Incode, the next-generation identity verification and authentication platform for global enterprises announced it has raised $220 million in equity for its Series B funding round, giving the company a $1.25 billion valuation and propelling it to unicorn status less than seven months following its Series A round.
Incode’s spectacular rate of growth – it grew 6x in revenues over the last 12 months – is driving the latest cycle of investments, which comes on top of the company raising $25 million Series A funding in March.
👉 Read more here.
COUNTRY HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Morgan Stanley announced a partnership with Greenlight® Financial Technology, Inc. to bring families an easy, convenient way to teach kids about personal finance. Link here.
⭐️ American Express has teamed up with Nova Credit to enable more newcomers to the US to use their home-country credit history to apply for its cards. Link here.
⭐️ The San Francisco-based startup Butter has raised $7 million, largely from Atomic. Link here.
PAYMENTS
Facebook Messenger announced that it’s starting to test out a new “Split Payments” feature that introduces a way for users to share the cost of bills and expenses through the app. The company says the new feature is a “free and fast” way to handle finances through Messenger. The new feature is rolling out next week for U.S. users. Link here.
LianLian Global, a leading cross-border payment service provider (PSP), has successfully obtained money transmitter licenses in all 50 US states. This complete coverage increases LianLian Global's value to US customers as a PSP. It also boosts the value to platforms, banks, and marketplaces that depend on a partner that can execute flawlessly and protect their business from compliance headaches and risky/expensive middlemen. Link here.
TikTok is a social media platform that allows its users to upload short videos. It now has more than 1 billion active monthly users. And Stripe is a financial technology company enabling businesses to accept payments and run their finances. At the time of publication, it was valued at $95bn USD. The two companies have just partnered up in order to allow TikTok users to pay for tips with their debit or credit cards. This option will be available in the United States first but is expected to expand to other countries in the future. Link here.
Cash App is a mobile payment service, which was created by Square Inc. back in 2013. Now it has more than 70 million active users, and boldly claims to be the easiest way to send money. Link here.
BNPL
As more Americans are expected to purchase gifts through buy now, pay later services this holiday season, the nation’s consumer finance watchdog can turn to tools in existing law to soften the edges of the largely unsupervised industry.
Despite calls for specific new regulations, buy now, pay later businesses—which boomed in popularity since the start of the pandemic—already must abide by federal and state fair lending, credit reporting, and anti-money laundering laws.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s pending payday lending rule could also be invoked.
👉 Read more here.
CRYPTO
A new cohort will join the Mastercard Start Path Crypto startup engagement program dedicated to exploring and solving real-world problems for people and businesses around the world using blockchain technology. Mastercard announced today the five new startups joining the program are Ava Labs, Envel, Kash, LVL, and NiftyKey. Link here.
BANKS
Nearside, the online bank for SMBs formerly called Hatch, announced that it has raised a $58 million Series B, just seven months after announcing its Series A. The latest round was led by Valar Ventures, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Foundation Capital, Breyer Capital founder Jim Breyer, Creative Artists Agency founder Michael Ovitz, Flexport founder Ryan Petersen, and Eventbrite founder Kevin Hartz. Link here.
DriveWealth, LLC, a pioneer in fractional investing and embedded finance, announced a partnership with Bank of Georgia through its investment banking subsidiary Galt & Taggart. Bank of Georgia is the leading universal bank in Georgia catering to nearly 2.6 million users. DriveWealth’s real-time fractional trading technology and API-based brokerage infrastructure will provide affordable access to investing in U.S. equities for the first time in Georgia. Link here.
INVESTMENT
YieldX, a fintech company reimagining fixed income, announced it will work with Pipe to manage its yield-targeted portfolio. Pipe-the fastest fintech to reach a $2 billion dollar valuation less than a year after its public launch in June 2020-has built the world's first trading platform for recurring revenue, enabling companies with recurring revenue streams to access up-front capital, instantly. Link here.
Goalsetter, a financial education platform for kiddos, has announced the close of a $15 million Series A financing round. The funding was led by Seae Ventures, with participation from Fiserv, Mass Mutual, Citizens Financial Group, Astia Fund, NBA stars Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony, and actors Anthony Anderson and Lance Gross. Link here.
VC FUNDS
BankTech Ventures, LP, a venture capital fund with general partners from The Venture Center, the Independent Community Bankers of America, Hovde Group, and two leading community banks, Coastal Community Bank and Sunwest Bank, announces its initial closing upon raising over $55M from limited partners, nearly all of which are community banks. Link here.
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.