Agora Services lands $2m in seed funding
The founder previously built French digital bank Fortuneo.
Mobile
UK challenger ikigai to launch flat-fee investment account
“I think the pain points are quite similar across different income levels,” says co-founder.
Tandem launches AI personal finance adviser Ada
The AI assistant can predict cashflow, spending patterns and forecast balances.
BandPay lands $2m to help musicians get paid
“This is a crucial investment,” says co-CEO.
Inclusion, innovation, and mobile money in Sub-Saharan Africa
“If our systems fail, a big part of the economy would fail,” says exec.
Budget 2020: What’s the fintech impact?
FinTech Futures picks out the fintech tidbits in this week’s announcement.
Rizq launches in UK as Sharia-compliant challenger bank
Rizq plans to benchmark itself as close as possible to existing challengers.
San Fran money manager Empower Finance lands $20m Series A
“There’s growing demand in the market for financial knowledge to be more practical,” says CEO.
Family finance app Jassby raises $5m, anticipates $20m round later this year
CEO says rounds will drive fintech closer towards 1 million users within a year.
Leap Finance raises $5.5m to help finance Indian students abroad
Start-up wants to change the way students are given credit.
Banking Technology March 2020 issue out now
Keep calm and carry on: Where does COVID-19 leave the Chinese fintech market?
Is the future of banking not open but closed?
Europe and USA have to create their own ecosystems to compete with the East.
Dzing challenger bank launches beta in UK
It has been in the works since October 2018.
The global unbanked shoppers
The gap between the population of the banked and unbanked is continuing to broaden.
Starling Bank looks to Irish banking licence for European expansion
The challenger bank has been aiming for an Irish licence since last year.
How AWSM Bank plans to turn teenage financial literacy into a reality
The neobank is “very close” to its Q2 launch this year.
Santander’s PagoFX to launch in Spring and rival TransferWise
The venture now has a 50-person London-based team.
Public.com raises $15m with help of Will Smith and JJ Watt
The trading app is focused around making investing ‘social’.
Canadian challenger Neo Financial plans 2020 launch
Neo plans a credit card and rewards-based savings.
UK paytech Checkout.com buys French start-up ProcessOut
Checkout.com buys another module in the payments process.
UniCredit finds two new partners in Tel Aviv’s PayKey and equensWorldline
PayKey is a social app payments integrator, and equensWorldline a pan-European payments processor.
bunq CEO: “It’s a marathon not a sprint, we run our own race”
“I like to think of myself as a simple entrepreneur,” says Niknam.
Open Banking home finance start-up Youtility raises £4.5 million
Venture funding round to be used on new products and new hires.
UK fintech B-Social raises £7.8m ahead of ‘Kroo’ rebrand
The fintech has “significantly progressed” with its pre-application for a UK bank licence
TripActions lands $500m credit facility from SVB, Goldman and Comerica
TripActions Liquid will float an employees’ travel spend.
Malaysia’s biggest telco Axiata reveals plans to bag digital banking license
The country’s central bank announced its plans in December to issue up to five licences.
Central bank of Brazil plans launch of QR-based instant payments system PIX
All banks with more than 500,000 customers will have to use the new system.
WeChat Pay boosts UAE footprint with Network International
Network International partners now able to connect to WeChat Pay.
Credit card start-up Tribal Credit secures $5.5m in seed funding
New firm aims to help start-ups in emerging markets.
WorldRemit partners with Varo Money
The partnership will enable direct access in the Varo app to the WorldRemit service.
Fiserv completes PIN on Mobile pilot in Poland
The tech vendor worked with Visa, Samsung and PayCore to test new product.
FCA: Innovative fintech entrants putting some customers at risk
UK watchdog warns of customer risk exposure from flashy fintech firms.
Pakistani challenger Sadapay preps 2020 launch
New mobile wallet will target Pakistan’s underbanked and freelancer market.
Flywire secures unicorn status with $120 million Series E funding round
Goldman Sachs led the latest round.
Video: Top fintech stories this week – 14 February 2020
FinTech Future’s weekly news round-up.
Moven and STC Pay plan challenger bank in Saudi Arabia
Moven founder announces new bank on social media.
Varo Money enters final stage of becoming nationwide bank
Mobile banking firm Varo Money has gained approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
Digital bank Stori raises $10m in Series A2 funding
Mexican challenger bank has also launched its credit card.
Tinkoff Bank to pump €25m in new European fintech venture
Russian neobank plans to launch its new fintech later this year.
Korean banks have growing concerns over Starbucks prepaid card
Starbucks said its prepaid cards had $1.56 billion in stored value at the end of 2019.
