Banking Technology Magazine October 2024 issue out now
Cover story: QUANTUM LEAP OF FAITH – Preparing for the advent of Q-Day.
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Welcome to the October edition of the Banking Technology Magazine.
The last month has seen plenty of fintech comings and goings. Several new banking challengers are coming to Saudi Arabia (see p9).
Propelle, a UK-based investment platform specifically designed for women, has launched with £1.2 million in pre-seed funding.
Fneek, a P2P lending app to “manage and formalise friendly loans between friends, family, and trusted relationships”, has launched in France.
Fibabanka, a digital bank in Türkiye, has brought to market what it claims to be the country’s first Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform, with start-up GetirFinans as the first taker.
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Meanwhile, New York-based Five Star Bank is winding down its BaaS offering, “prioritising core community banking franchise” instead.
In Europe, German embedded finance platform Solaris is shutting down its EMI business (formerly known as Contis). Contis, a UK competitor of Solaris with an e-money licence in Lithuania, was acquired in 2021. At the time, then CEO of Solaris described it as a “fantastic business” that ticked the boxes from “geographical and licence perspectives”. Today, the company deems the EMI operations “unsustainable”.
Also in Lithuania, payments infrastructure start-up Kevin was declared insolvent. Just two years ago, it bagged $65 million in a Series A funding round led by Accel. The following year it opened an office in Dubai, stating a bold ambition to capture a 40-60% market share for in-store and online payments in the Middle East. One of Kevin’s founders, Pavel Sokolovas, has already announced his new venture on LinkedIn – OpenNFC Network – that “will outcompete card schemes and bring such long-awaited alternative to Visa and Mastercard on POS terminals at physical stores”.
In the UK, wearable technology company McLEAR has closed its flagship RingPay programme, which comprised a prepaid account, a mobile app and a payment ring.
Manigo, a UK-based fintech infrastructure platform that enables businesses to launch cards, accounts and payments services under their brand, has gone into administration.
Keep an eye on our news section for a steady stream of more start-up stories and fintech shake-ups – the remainder of 2024 promises to be far from dull.
