Digital Banking | 2021 #48
Weekly news up to Monday, December 6th, 2021
MVO BLOG
LAST WEEK’S FUNDING ROUNDS
INSIGHTS
I think 2022 will be a big year for business banking, with a lot more funding heading into that space. The recent fundraise of €400 million by Qonto is a good indicator of this trend in action. I'm very confident this won't be the last massive valuation we see in this sector. I actually predicted this as an area of growth last year and don't expect to see any slowdown over the next 12 months.
👉Read more here.
Are you a FinTech that needs some help with development? Shoot me a message!
PODCAST
Check out this great episode of the Leadership Diet with Steve “Westy” Weston, CEO of Volt Bank, one of my portfolio companies. 👉 Listen here.
ARTICLE
Nu Holdings, the parent company of the fintech superstar Nubank, is seeking a valuation ranging from $37Bn to $41Bn+ in its IPO on December 2021. Even though this valuation may be slipping and sliding until the actual date of this IPO, it should definitely remain huge!
👉 Read the full article by Chloé Novène here.
Also, in case you missed it, Nubank is considering cutting the potential valuation of its initial public offering following a slump in technology stocks globally, Bloomberg News reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Link here.
REPORT
C-Innovation’s latest report finds that despite the challenges of Brexit and Covid-19, Revolut managed to keep raising funds, diversify income and positionate in the business segment and is now one of the highest valued FinTechs around, even more valuable than 400 years old High Street bank NatWest.
👉 Download the full report here.
BLOG
Everything about 11Onze is remarkable. And if you were looking for a model in building a new fintech brand from scratch, this business would surely be near the top of the list.
On one hand, digital innovation is breaking down old boundaries, yet on the other, it’s creating opportunities to reinforce identities and build new communities.
👉Read more here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S DIGITAL BANKING SPACE
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
With the pandemic spurring an unprecedented, tech-driven shift in financial services, top fintech executives and investors at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference on Wednesday discussed the “tension” between the financial industry’s old and new guards.
Immad Akhund, founder and CEO of SMB-focused banking fintech Mercury, predicted that the next five years will see the four largest banks in the U.S. “all be worth less than $100 billion” as a result of tech-enabled competitive pressures.
👉 Read more here.
INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ A 2020 survey by Bank of America found that millennials’ top financial priorities include saving for retirement (75%) and building an emergency fund (51%). Link here.
⭐️ Children as young as 3 years old can grasp the basic idea of money, and by 7 their money habits are already set. Basically, the weight of delivering financial education rests on the individual (and their family). Link here.
UNITED KINGDOM
The UK’s financial regulator the Financial Conduct Authority is looking to scrap a key open banking rule requiring users to reauthenticate access to customer accounts every 90 days. Link here.
PPS, an Edenred company, announced its partnership with UK-based ekko, an iconic climate-friendly debit card, app, and ecosystem that empowers consumers to make a difference in the fight against climate change. Link here.
Frost, the e-money institution, has been granted full authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to provide financial services to customers in the UK. Link here.
Childrens’ debit card GoHenry is upgrading its account for older teens with the ability for employers to deposit directly into the account. Link here.
A new co-development deal has been struck between banking tech provider BankiFi and The Co-operative Bank plc, following the delivery of two successful projects. Link here.
Redwood, the British challenger bank for SMEs, has hit profitability less than four years after launching. Link here.
EUROPE
Enfuce, a Finnish payment services provider, announced that it has raised €45M in funding in its Series C investment round led by international growth investor Vitruvian Partners. Link here.
viafintech GmbH has formed a new partnership with Solarisbank AG with “a joint vision to replace the classic bank branch and physical locations for basic banking services.” Link here.
ZELF, the leading Gen Z neobank embedded in popular social messengers, launches a banking integration with Discord, the leading chat server for gamers. Link here.
Plum, Europe’s ultimate money management app, has successfully raised a total of $24 million from a Series A funding round that will help propel the company’s expansion into Europe and grow its product offerings. Link here.
US
BankTech Ventures, LP, a venture capital fund with general partners from The Venture Center, the Independent Community Bankers of America, Hovde Group, and two leading community banks, Coastal Community Bank and Sunwest Bank, announces its initial closing upon raising over $55M from limited partners, nearly all of which are community banks. Link here.
Morgan Stanley announced a partnership with Greenlight® Financial Technology, Inc. to bring families an easy, convenient way to teach kids about personal finance.ink here.
Goalsetter, a financial education platform for kiddos, has announced the close of a $15 million Series A financing round. Link here.
ASIA
Two Japanese digital banks are following in the footsteps of their regional and global peers by tapping the stock market for the first time. But analysts say they are unlikely to command the eye-popping valuations that investors bestowed on their counterparts elsewhere. Link here.
Shinhan Bank in Korea and Standard Bank in South Africa are to test the use of stablecoins for cross-border remittances using the decentralised public ledger Hedera Hashgraph. Link here.
Singapore-based YouTrip, an online bank that focuses on making multi-currency transactions less costly and more efficient, announced today that it has raised a $30 million Series A. Link here.
LATAM
Grupo Supervielle S.A. announced the relaunch of IUDÚ, a fintech that provides digital banking products and services regulated by the Central Bank as a financial company, offering its clients the best digital financial services proposal. Link here.
CARIBBEAN
A new neobank that combines digital banking necessities with crypto asset capabilities has emerged in the Caribbean. Migom Bank Ltd. bills itself as a crypto-friendly global bank for the unbanked, providing banking services for businesses in emerging markets. Link here.
AUSTRALIA
Douugh announced an $8 million capital raise, with funds to be used to capitalize on momentum built since the US launch of the company’s app in August. Link here.
OPPORTUNITIES
In a recent interview Foong Che Mun, Co-Founder, and CTO of MoneyLion revealed that the group, which currently employs over 250 technologists in the areas of data science and machine learning, product management, product engineering, and cybersecurity, is expecting to double the size of its Malaysian office. Link here.
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.