August 2024: Top five new fintech launches of the month
From banking start-ups to debt repayment solutions, several new fintechs and innovative offerings have been introduced in the fintech space this month.
Here, we run through five of the top new launch stories in August, featuring HD Bank, Fortuna Bank, Sync Savings, Haboo Money, and more.
HD Bank launches Vikki Digital Bank in Vietnam powered by Thought Machine’s Vault Core
HD Bank launches Vikki Digital Bank in Vietnam
Vietnamese commercial bank HD Bank has leveraged its existing relationship with core banking vendor Thought Machine to launch Vikki Digital Bank.
The new digital-only bank, which has been developed through a joint venture between HD Bank and Galaxy FinX Joint Stock Company, was first launched privately on 15 December last year.
This was followed by an official launch in Vietnam on 31 July, with the venture already claiming to process over $15 million in monthly transactions for more than 15,000 active users.
Its services at launch include current accounts and virtual debit cards supported by e-KYC verification, money transfer services and spend management features, as per a translation of the app spec.
These capabilities are currently powered by Thought Machine’s Vault Core, for which HD Bank previously signed through a deal struck in February 2022.
Ohio’s first female-led bank Fortuna nears launch after raising $20.7m
Fortuna Bank, an Ohio-based start-up, is preparing to open its doors after securing $20.7 million in funding and receiving conditional approval from the FDIC.
The new financial institution, founded by board chair Lisa Berger and CEO Ilaria Rawlins, a former First Financial Bank executive, will be majority female-owned and says on its website it will offer “boutique banking for small businesses”.
The bank is currently offering investment opportunities through the tax-deferred Self-Directed IRAs (SDIRAs) promoted on its website.
While the official launch date is not yet set, the firm states its “facilities are rapidly taking shape and we’re on track to meet our September occupancy date, perfectly aligned with a fall 2024 opening”.
Debt repayment platform Haboo Money prepares for 2025 launch
UK start-up Haboo Money prepares for launch
UK-based start-up Haboo Money is preparing to introduce a new service that will assist borrowers in making punctual debt and loan repayments, with a go-live scheduled for Q1 2025.
The proposition has been designed to integrate with lending platforms’ financial well-being and vulnerability offerings and enable their customers to “make repayments in a much more personalised and dynamic way”, co-founder Hannah Baynham tells FinTech Futures.
Baynham explains that the B2B2C service will leverage open banking to derive deeper insights into customers’ income patterns, before applying variable recurring payments (VRPs) to mimic those patterns within repayments.
“So if a customer gets paid a bonus or gets a pay rise, or for gig workers whose salary changes every week or every month, we can then reflect that in what they repay, ultimately helping them stay on top of their loan repayments,” Baynham says.
Vantage West Credit Union introduces HUSTL, a new digital banking start-up for freelancers
Vantage West Credit Union has introduced a new digital banking start-up designed for freelancers, HUSTL Financial.
The Arizona-based credit union says HUSTL seeks to “cater to the unique needs of freelancers” and address their common pain points when seeking a “financial partner”, such as irregular income streams, high fees, and a “lack of financial statements like W2s”.
With this, HUSTL supports a wide array of banking services, including high-yield savings and interest-earning checking accounts and certificates of deposit (CDs).
It claims these features help “automatically save for taxes, create personalised savings goals for future projects, supply needs, or equipment upgrades, and track gig income, expenses, and cash flow”.
UK start-up Sync Savings to make market debut next month
New UK start-up Sync Savings prepares for launch
Two former Monzo execs have come together to launch Sync Savings, a cash savings infrastructure start-up set to make its market debut next month.
The UK-founded start-up aims to provide banks, building societies, and credit unions with a solution to embed their savings accounts into untapped third-party channels.
Its launch, following a six-figure friends and family funding round completed last year and supported by the Lloyds Launch programme, will first see the plug-and-play service extended to a cloud-based payroll provider, the identity of which has not been disclosed.
Sync Savings is the brainchild of CEO Joss Tasker and COO Alex Fox, who previously headed compliance and business banking operations for Monzo respectively.
