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Embedded Finance

·Jun. 12, 2020

Varo’s $240M and Marqeta’s $150M Rounds, Should Digital Banks Lend? and Fintech Gets Meta

Today, we talk through a few recent events that are indicative of what’s important in fintech right now.

Varo raised $241 million in preparation to start operating under its own banking license later this year. Is a banking license an asset or a liability if you’re a digital bank?

Marqeta is reportedly now valued at $4.3 billion, as banking-as-a-service continues its mature.

And LA-based fintech Stackin’ raised $13 million to scale its messaging-based offering designed to help Gen Z find the right fintech. What should we make of this?

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Embedded Finance

·Oct. 30, 2023

Banks Adapt to Survive the Digital Shift

As fintechs and tech giants engage in finance through embedded solutions, banks may need to become the center of their own digital ecosystem.

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civilization and politics Embedded Finance paytech small business

·Jun. 3, 2019

$20 Billion TSYS acquisition in the shadow of Alibaba’s $500B SME aggregation

I have been reading Alibaba: The House that Jack Ma Built this week, something everyone interested in understanding the future of Google, Goldman, Uber, or Amazon should do. The narrative starts with China's small business explosion, and Ma's genius is to tap into global demand for the products of those businesses through an online marketplace and associated financial services. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let's pause to acknowledge a massive, systemic transaction that was announced this week: payments processing company Global Payments acquiring TSYS (Total Payments Systems) for $21.5 billion.

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·Feb. 1, 2024

How AI will deliver more customer-centric products

Galileo’s CPO, David Feuer, said AI and improving infrastructure allow financial services innovators to create more responsive products, including in BNPL.

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acquisition digital lending Embedded Finance IPO / SPAC paytech

·Jan. 15, 2021

Who wins and loses in the Plaid/Visa divorce, and the $10 Billion in new Fintech SPACs (Spakkt and Spofi), with Will Beeson

In this conversation, Will Beeson and I break down a few important pieces of recent news — the SPACs for SoFi and Bakkt, and Plaid/Visa falling apart.

SoFi is going public with a SPAC deal worth over $8 billion. A few things we touch on in detail: (1) this is still largely a lender, (2) there is a gem of an embedded finance play called Galileo that SoFi owns, and (3) the multiple is a little over 10x T12 revenues, which is not crazy expensive, but not cheap.

Speaking of Galileo and finance APIs, we transition to Plaid, and how it is is not going to be one of the networks in Visa’s network of networks. Who wins and who loses in the equation? And last, we cover the Bakkt SPAC of over $2 billion and our view on its future.

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Embedded Finance

·Feb. 21, 2024

Small Business Owners Are Optimistic. Will The Private Sector Help Them Succeed?

Consumers have enjoyed the fruits of the embedded finance revolution but not so small businesses. It is time to rectify that.

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Embedded Finance

·Jan. 16, 2024

Acorns’ success no surprise to Sarkar

The new Mighty Oak Visa debit card from Acorns has a solid foundation for success says a representative from long-time partner Helix by Q2. GM Ahon Sarkar said he’s not surprised by Acorns’ prosperity since the two companies first partnered seven years ago, which is an eternity in fintech.

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digital lending digital transformation Embedded Finance mega banks neobank paytech

·Nov. 19, 2021

Digitizing banks with better BNPL, Underwriting, and Anti-Fraud Tech, with Amount CEO Adam Hughes

In this conversation, we chat with Adam Hughes – the Chief Executive Officer at Amount, a technology company focused on accelerating the world’s transition to digital financial services via its digital retail banking platform, world-class digital authentication & fraud prevention tools, and ecommerce point-of-sale financing technology.

More specifically, we touch on digital lending industry Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), as well as the trends of working with large banks and enabling their digital transformation to access some of these themes as part of embedded finance and banking-as-a-service.

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Guest Post

·Jan. 31, 2024

Improving Merchant and Consumer Financial Wellness with Embedded Lending

Advances in embedded lending provide better options for consumers and higher sales with more certainty for merchants. It's a win-win.

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Lending

·Feb. 12, 2024

Banks and merchants can successfully balance accessibility with responsible POS financing in 2024

Bank lending is often the least expensive form of financing but it is not often a consideration at the point of sale. Advances in embedded lending now makes this possible.

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