The one big thing missing from modern digital banking
Rethinking the data layer is a key to genuine personalisation in fintech.
Digital
New funding for European fintechs Compeon and SESAMm
Germany-based Compeon lands €15 million and France-based SESAMm – €7.5 million.
86 400 becomes second challenger to exit Australia with $169m NAB merger
Upon its acquisition, NAB says 86 400 has some 85,000 customers.
Payroll fintech founded by Google alums raises $35m
Check says it already works with 100,000 small businesses in the US
Dozens signs banking deal with ClearBank
ClearBank to provide account numbers, sort codes, and Faster Payments access.
Nubank rakes in $400m to fuel expansion in Colombia and Mexico
Brazilian challenger reaches $1.8 billion in total funding raised.
N26 mulls acquisition despite net losses tripling in 2019
N26’s failed UK expansion cost it a total of €26.9 million.
What’s in store for financial services in 2021?
A look at what the rest of this year might have in store for the world of financial services and fintech.
Video: Top fintech stories this week – 29 January 2021
FinTech Futures’ weekly news round-up.
Has JP Morgan Chase learnt the lessons of Finn and Bó?
This isn’t its first challenger start-up foray.
Online brokers halt GameStop trades as SEC investigates
The SEC is “actively monitoring” the “ongoing market volatility”.
VTB deputy chairman discloses exasperation over Yandex, Sber and Tinkoff competition
In 2020, VTB launched a total of 1,280 software development teams.
2021 fintech predictions
Staring into the crystal ball for signs of what we could see over the course of the year from the industry.
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.
