2021 fintech predictions
Staring into the crystal ball for signs of what we could see over the course of the year from the industry.
Digital
Craft Bank picks Jack Henry’s SilverLake after 2020 launch
Atlanta-based de novo bank deploys SilverLake in the cloud.
Curve signs PassFort to automate KYB processes
The card consolidation firm picked PassFort in the wake of its Series C round.
Founder-focused start-up Remagine nabs €20m in seed investment
Berlin-based firm aims to help “impactful” businesses with a range of products.
Black-owned US challenger Greenwood Financial hits 500,000 sign-ups in 100 days
“We see that there is definitely an appetite for what we’re doing,” says co-founder, Ryan Glover.
JOFF Fintech Acquisition Spac files for $300m IPO
The Spac is eyeing up fintech, wealth management and gaming sectors.
Kenyan agri-insurtech Pula raises $6m Series A
The funding round was led by Pan-African early-stage venture capital firm, TLcom Capital.
Berlin fintech Raisin patents Savings-as-a-Service tech in US
The fintech calls it “an interactive graphical user interface (GUI)”.
UK’s Crown Agents Bank bags Finablr’s Bhairav Trivedi as next CEO
Crown Agents Bank is a small, profitable, UK-regulated bank.
Why the financial industry needs Redis Enterprise
Use cases in risk modelling, apps for banking and brokerage, and solutions for buy-side institutions.
N26 lands Zalando’s former financial chief as CFO
The former Zalando chief isn’t the only executive addition in recent months.
Wealthpilot raises €8m to fuel data aggregation push
German wealthtech has raised €14.9 million since 2017.
Saudi start-up Hakbah raises $1.2m in seed funding
Hakbah aims to “modernise and ease” savings in Saudi Arabia.
Lithuanian paytech kevin. raises €1.5m in seed funding
Lithuanian firm plans availability across Europe by Q4 2021.
Waqfinity launches in UK to provide “impact focused” Islamic finance
Former Rizq founder sets up new Islamic wallet app.
Why Google Pay’s reboot signals a major land grab on financial services
Five reasons why the banking world, including fintech challengers, needs to sit up and take notice.
Crypto liquidity firm Wintermute raises $20m in Series B round
Firm plans to expand into derivatives and new markets in Asia.
Starling experienced “major outage” on its app last week
The temporary outage, though “short-lived”, was severe.
Plaid raising at $15bn as employees pitched $1,200 per share
US fintechs have enjoyed a wealth of VC interest since the Plaid-Visa deal hit headlines.
Rapyd raises $300m in Series D, plans more acquisitions
It will double the engineering and product teams and expand the “self-service” element of the platform.
Working amid COVID-19: why the cloud is the silver lining
How COVID-19 has accelerated the transition to the cloud.
Fintech funding deals globally 18-24 January 2021
Featuring PPRO, iSTOX, Indy, Mercado Bitcoin, and Brigit.
Wealthtech Elinvar raises €25 million funding
Founded in 2016 in Berlin, Elinvar has “the vision to connect the entire wealth management ecosystem”.
Robinhood hires two execs from US regulator Finra
Former Finra execs Anthony Cavallaro and Josh Drobnyk join the fold.
Minna Technologies raises €15.5m in Series B funding round
Minna says the investment will be used for global expansion, “with requests from all continents”.
Singapore’s iSTOX lands $50m from heavyweight Japanese backers
n the past decade, global private equity returned 13.2% on average.
DNA Payments Group acquires Active Merchant Services
The deal brings DNA’s customer base up to around 30,000 merchants.
Plaid launches incubator FinRise for fintech founders of colour
The incubator is looking to accept just three-to-five start-ups.
Video: Top fintech stories this week – 22 January 2021
FinTech Futures’ weekly news round-up.
Female-led tax reporting fintech KAWC takes tech into own hands
“We approached male investors, but they were so condescending,” says CEO.
Three new security strategies for financial services
Continuous compliance remains a challenge because many organisations lack contextual data.
The five p’s of banking
Banks have relied on the “five p’s” – people, physical cash, premises, processes and paper.
FinTech Futures Jobs: new year, new job – five tech companies that are hiring now
Featuring CGI, Cleo AI, Freetrade, Market Finance, and Monzo.
TikTok’s Chinese version Douyin adds payments app
Douyin Pay (Douyin Zhifu) has been added to the app’s options.
Under the hood of London payments platform Currencycloud
Currencycloud talks tech, structure, product development and bank relationships.
Pyypl’s regulation-first approach to MENA starts to pay off
“The options today are mobile money or banks,” says CEO.
PPRO reaches $1bn valuation on back of $180m venture raise
Payments infrastructure firm plans “global expansion” with new cash.
Retailer Uniqlo cuts out middlemen with own payments integration
Uniqlo Pay has partnered with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
SME credit fintech Dinie lands dLocal deal one year into Brazil play
Dinie was founded in the UK, made in Germany, and designed for Brazil.
The end to end benefits of cloud first transformation
Cloud has become a go-to technology for many in the financial services industry.
