Alkami’s white label technology has helped to provide mobile banking apps for credit unions and banks; they just raised a $70mn series D round led by General Atlantic, with participation from MissionOG, S3 Ventures and Argonaut Private Equity; the company has a SaaS model where they charge banks on the number of users per month; they plan to use the new infusion of capital to grow their sales and invest in innovation. Source.
Marqeta has hired its first employee in London as it aims for a 2018 European launch; the firm provides payment card technology and works with other fintech firms such as Square and Kabbage; they have raised a total of $76 million, which includes a recent $25 million investment which was led by Visa; CEO Jason Gardner stated in a Business Insider interview, “The use-cases we see here in the US and Canada are very similar to the use-cases we see in Europe. Since our inception [we] have always seen ourselves as a global issuer-processor and Europe is obviously an enormous market.” Source
Petal uses information beyond credit scores like earnings, spending and savings to identify people who are a good fit for a credit card; users can then use the Petal card to build their credit history; the company raised $13 million led by Valar Ventures. Source
Investors across the US will now be able to invest in real estate loans originated by Groundfloor with as little as $10. Source
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TransferWise is privately launching a borderless account and debit card; the move is beginning to draw comparisons to other fintech companies like Revolut; the account will be rolled out in a small launch then a full launch thereafter; the account will give you access to local bank details for the UK, US, Australia and Europe, as well as allowing you to hold and convert 28 currencies; the move is not seen as replacing the current account but is instead a partner account; the account would allow people working in different countries to convert to their local currency without the hassle of additional fees or having to join a local bank. Source.
Federal Reserve Board data shows that consumer debt reached all-time highs in November; the previous highs were in April 2008 when consumer debt totaled $1.021 trillion; according to the CFPB, “Most origination metrics we observe are near pre-recession levels. This is true across credit score tiers for both general purpose and private label cards. Approval rates have climbed for all credit score tiers since post-recession lows, even as application volumes have stabilized.” Source
UK based fintech firms helped push technology investment in the UK to all time highs in 2017; fintech firms accounted for almost half of the £3bn invested; leading fintech firms TransferWise, Funding Circle and Monzo helped push the investment number as they all raised significant rounds; Eileen Burbidge, Partner at Passion Capital, tells AltFi, “"It's a testament to our exceptional entrepreneurs that the UK tech sector continues to produce companies that are leading in the development of cutting edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and fintech.” Source.
TD Bank surveyed 340 corporate treasurers and found that innovative technology is top of their mind for the coming years; 31 percent see automatics processes, 23 percent see blockchain and 15 percent see AI or robotics as the top disruptive technologies; while most respondents were keeping a close eye on technology there was 29 percent who said they would wait and see; seeing the results points to the fact that traditional finance professionals are starting to focus on technology changes, though not ready to fully jump in. Source.
AliPay launched a free service this week which allowed users to generate a profile based on their shopping history; users who signed up were automatically enrolled in their credit-scoring system called Sesame Credit unless they unchecked a box; this led to an outcry from users and a subsequent apology from the company; Bloomberg shares how this highlights a broader concern over transparency of user data in the country. Source