Hi y’all, Cokie here.
This week we’re going to do something a little different. As you can see below, I have provided Fintech Today’s first ever “Fintech Bingo.”
Here are the rules: cross off a box anytime you naturally encounter any of the following phenomena in the wild. You mustn't seek the bullshit, let the bullshit come to you.
The winner will be the person who completes the board first and shares the most flagrant offense with me (you have to know by now -- I live for drama). Grand prize is a free year to FTT+, which means tons of amazing Julie content and more to come!
Keep in touch with me this week on Twitter and let me know how you’re doing. (h/t to Nik Milanovic for the inspo).
Bon chance, mon amis!
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No playlist this week, but Ariana Grande released a music video where she’s the president, so here.
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This week’s issue is presented by Privacy.com, a consumer and B2B fintech startup. Privacy.com recently unveiled its card issuing API for all developers recently—making it easier and simpler for non-fintech developers to start issuing their own virtual or physical debit cards.
Privacy.com just announced a huge partnership with 1Password, and can help brands and companies add fintech products quickly and easily.
Check out Privacy.com’s new API at the link below, and if you’re interested in an intro to learn more, email ian@fintechtoday.co for an intro!
FTT+ This Week
In Sunday’s newsletter, Julie is going to be diving into the FDIC survey that came out a few days ago. There were a slew of gems in there such as updated numbers around the percentage of unbanked consumers, how mobile banking is taking away from online banking, and the survey finally including non-bank payment services like Venmo.
The News by Parker Jay-Pachirat
Mastercard will pilot a biometric card that uses a fingerprint to authorize transactions at in-store payment terminals in Asia. Mastercard is working with Idemia, an augmented identity firm, and Singapore BaaS MatchMove to create the product. The card is battery-free, harvesting energy from payment terminals to power fingerprint sensors. Rather than storing biometric data in a central database, the data is stored on the card’s chip.
Paypal joined the crypto market on Wednesday, allowing users to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies in their PayPal wallets within the next few weeks. President and Chief Exec Dan Schulman says, “We are working with central banks and thinking of all forms of digital currencies and how PayPal can play a role”. In enabling this service, PayPal is encouraging global use of virtual coins while preparing its networking for new digital currencies that may be developed by corporations and central banks.
Visa takes a stake in global fintech GPS (Global Processing Services). Global Processing Services, or GPS, is an issue-processor, enabling fintechs to provide payments. GPS has partnered with Visa since 2013. In 2019, Visa named GPS it’s preferred issue processor for its Asia-Pacific region’s “fintech fast track” program. Of the investment, VP of Visa Ventures Kevin Jacques says, “GPS is an example of how we continue to invest in, and partner with, companies that provide valuable capabilities to the ecosystem and have potential to advance the payments industry”. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
First Railsbank, then Nium, now GPS? Visa… what are you up to? I think I can render a guess — Visa wants to move your money. Domestically and internationally.
Google releases machine learning mortgage processing tool Lending DocAI that aims to speed up mortgage applications. Lending DocAI is a vertically specialized tool, processing borrower’s income and asset documents using sets of specialized models. Google PM Sudheera Vanguri writes of the product, "With Lending DocAI, you will reduce mortgage processing time and costs, streamline data capture, and support regulatory and compliance requirements”. Roostify, a mortgage fintech, is already using Lending DocAI for its point-of-sale lending platform.
The FDIC released their 2019 report on household use of banking and financial services in America. You can read the full report here.
Fundraising News by Parker Jay-Pachirat
Mexican challenger mobile bank Klar raised a $15m Series A from Prosus Ventures. Quona Capital, the leader of Klar’s seed round, International Finance Corporation, and aCrew also participated in the round. Klar will use this round to grow its engineering capabilities in its Berlin and Mexico hubs, expanding the company’s product suite. Klar’s business has experienced rapid growth having issued over 25,000 credit lines amongst its 200,000 customers in less than a year's inception. According to Klar, their growth has tripled during the pandemic.
Turkish-German mobile bank Insha raised a $2.97m seed round from Turkish payments provider Param. Founder Yakup Sezer says they’ll use the round to expand services to six more European countries in 2021.
Digital asset exchange startup Archax raised an $8m seed round. Initially targeting $5m, the round was extended to meet increased demand. Alameda Research, Amnis Ventures, Bridgetower Capital, and CoinFund led the round, among others. In August, Archax became the first-ever FCA regulated digital securities exchange in the UK. With this round secured, Archax is “ready for a successful launch... in building a worldwide ecosystem of next-generation digital assets under their FCA regulation”, according to CEO of Hudson Capital Warren Wang.
M1Finance raised a $45m series C for its “super app” offering automated investing, borrowing, and banking products. The round comes just months after a $33m series B, led by Left Lane Capital and Jump Capital. The app, M1 invest, is a free investing product that enables users to create customizable stock and ETF portfolios using fractional shares. The firm stresses that they are not a robo-advisor, and will be using this round to invest in product innovation over the next year.
Financial advisor Wealthsimple raised a $114m round this week, led by TCV, Greylock Meritech, and Two Sigma Ventures. Founded in 2014, the Canadian company serves over 1.5m Canadians, enabling them with automated investing, commission-free stock and crypto trading, savings account, and tax filing software. Wealthsimple will use this round to expand it’s market position, and build out its product suite.
Freelance banking startup Lili raises a $15m seed A, just a few months after they announced their $10m seed. Founded by by CEO Lilac Bar David and CTO Liran Zelkha, Lili provides a bank account and related financial services for freelancers. The platform has seen rapid growth this year, with transactions up 700% since the beginning of the pandemic and nearly 100,000 accounts opened since the the startup’s 2019 founding. David suggests that this may be due to COVID-19, which has prompted more workers to turn to freelancing, and more part-time freelancers to transition to full-time.
