As the digital asset market has matured, incumbents are starting to take notice. Citi announced a partnership with METACO to establish digital asset capabilities.
RateSetter is reportedly exploring a sale, merger or additional fundraising due to a current funding squeeze; Sky News reports that...
Citigroup led the $20 million round and the company is now worth $200 million; Citigroup plans to use the startup’s technology which uses natural language processing to improve customer interactions; the software converts audio conversations into text and then uses sentient analysis algorithms to detect questions, and whether it was a positive or negative interaction; it also works to determine bearish and bullish markets for traders. Source
Consumer point of sale lender, Finomena, owns India’s most downloaded fintech app and they hope to continue gaining customers in this emerging market; led by Riddhi Mittal, formerly of Microsoft, and Abhishek Garg, a private equity investor, the company has exploded serving millennials who have little or no credit; they focus on extending credit for electronics, laptops, smartphones and furniture, which they view as good and productive categories for loans; the company has also pioneered flexible monthly installments in India and are looking to raise a Series A round soon. Source
Global FinTech Airwallex raised $300 million in an oversubscribed Series E1 funding round, giving the Melbourne, Australia, startup a $5.5 billion valuation.
Some fintech companies have stated that banks are not following through on the data sharing guidance set forth by the CFPB; banks on the other hand have said they are following through and sharing data with fintechs; the biggest complaint thus far is that banks are being selective and not granting access widely; banks have more complicated systems and multiple levels of compliance which could end a relationship before it begins; some ideas for better cooperation are for banks to design a set of standards as banks in the UK have done. Source.
Banks working with fintech partners need to double down on risk and compliance quickly - starting with a comprehensive risk assessment.
Back in December we held Finnosummit Miami by LendIt Fintech to capture all of the interesting things happening in Latin...
In Q1 2020 TikTok set a record for most downloads for any app ever in a quarter, with more than...
Beginning in June ads promoting cryptocurrencies and ICOs will be banned on Google; this follows a recent ban from Facebook; both companies have a large share of internet ads and combined collected 60% of online ad spend in 2017; many cryptocurrencies fell on the news. Source