Maroo launches in US to spread the cost of weddings
New fintech offers wedding payment plans for up to 24 months.
Mobile
FINRA orders Robinhood to pay $70m penalty for “false and misleading information”
The sanction is the largest financial penalty issued by the regulator.
JP Morgan Chase acquires 40% stake in Brazil’s digital challenger C6 Bank
Launched in 2019, digital bank C6 has more than seven million customers.
Digital mortgage platform Accept.inc raises $90m
US-based firm plans to expand its “iLender” concept.
Viva Republica lands $410m as launch of new digital bank looms
Toss has now accrued around $844 million in funding across ten separate rounds.
ICYMI funding round-up: LOQR, MOCA Financial, Bueno Finance, Glint Pay & more
Another batch of funding rounds that could have flown under your radar.
Unicorns, emojis and gamification: how Gen Z is transforming the way we bank
Neobanks have realised it’s less a matter of “kids hate finance”, and more “finance hates kids”.
Saudi Arabia grants first digital banking licences
STC Pay and ARTAR given green light by central bank.
Tinkoff picks Anodot AI solution to improve customer experience
Russian neobank seeks to monitor high volumes of data.
Australian fintech Zeller raises AUD 50m in Spark Capital-led investment
The round was closed in the week prior to Zeller’s launch last month.
US investment app Stash acquires financial literacy platform PayGrade
Stash plans to “quickly expand” its new acquisition.
Lloyds announces 44 fresh branch closures, brings total up to 100
UK bank extends closure programme in response to customers moving online.
Migrant banking start-up Majority raises $19m in seed funding
The firm offers a mobile banking service for migrants across the US.
Credito Emiliano goes live on Temenos Infinity to launch new mobile app
Italian lender develops new digital channel in nine months with Temenos.
Fintech funding deals globally 14 June – 20 June 2021
Featuring Ebanx, ThinCats, Guideline, Bunq, and 10x.
Novus partners Visa and Railsbank to launch sustainable banking app
The app will reward “conscious consumers” for sustainable purchasing choices.
BBVA Switzerland launches Bitcoin trading service for private banking clients
The banking giant plans to add support for more cryptocurrencies going forward.
Low-code development and BaaS APIs: is this embedded finance’s hockey stick moment?
Low-code development and BaaS could combine to offer all (or parts of) the banking stack as-a-service.
How technology enables the next generation of banking inclusivity
Rajashekara V. Maiya, Infosys Finacle: agile means more than just technology.
ICYMI funding round-up: Upflow, TRM Labs, Booste, Crediverso & more
A heaping helpful of funding rounds from this week to get your teeth into.
Indian fintech start-up FamPay lands $38m in Series A round
The Bengaluru-based firm is aiming to build India’s first neobank for teenagers.
Monese partners Veriff to strengthen digital security
The neobank will use Veriff’s tech to onboard and authenticate the identity of customers.
Wise confirms direct listing on London Stock Exchange at estimated £9bn value
The listing is expected to be one of the largest in 2021.
AI-powered shopping app nate raises $38m in Series A round
The company has now raised $51 million in total.
Checkout.com acquires Estonian software development firm Icefire
The acquisition is the firm’s largest to date.
Ebanx raises $430m from Advent International to fuel Latin American growth
Cross-border commerce firm plans to expand its partnership network.
American Express debuts checking account product for small US businesses
The product has been developed by recent AmEx acquisition Kabbage.
Mastercard and Visa pick new partnerships to drive biometric payments
Mastercard partners with FinGo following Visa’s deal with ADIB.
Mexican fintech Clip raises $250m in SoftBank-led investment
The investment is the largest ever for a payments company in Mexico.
BMO picks AWS in push to become “cloud-first organisation”
The Canadian bank plans to move strategic internal workloads to AWS.
Antelop reinvents digital cards and mobile issuance with a unified solution for banks and card issuing processors
Delivering a full range of digital card features through mobile-only integration, with no back-end dev required.
Standard Chartered partners Franklin Templeton to launch financial wellness platform
Autumn will allow users to plan and manage their financial and physical wellbeing.
Bloom Money aims to build migrant-led community finance
Bloom Money describes itself as the app built “by migrants, for migrants”.
Telkom launches Africa’s first virtual card for transacting on WhatsApp
Telkom Pay users can now use WhatsApp to pay any merchant that accepts Mastercard.
Fintech start-up Nude launches new finance app to help first-time buyers
The app features a number of tools to help aspiring homeowners save up for a deposit.
Financial wellness platform Credit Sesame raises $51m to fuel expansion plans
The US-based fintech also announced the acquisition of Zingo, a fintech software services start-up.
What the Fintech? | S.2 Episode 12 | The cognitive barrier of poverty
Kunal Galav, regional director for EMEA at Mambu, joins us on this latest episode of the What the Fintech? podcast.
Singapore fintech Nium acquires B2B travel payments firm Ixaris
The transaction is expected to close early in the third quarter of 2021.
Payfare expands leadership team with new CTO and CPO
Kamran Haidari joins as CTO and Braulio Lam will lead product innovation as CPO.
Klarna sways towards US over UK for stock market listing
Klarna boss Sebastian Siemiatkowski says: “It’s more likely that Klarna will list in the US.”
