Global fintech patents reached 9,546 in 2016 with a growth rate of 49% over the past five years; the US leads in fintech patents with 4,523 and it has twice as many fintech patents as the second ranking country, China; both startups and traditional financial services firms have been active in the patent process for new fintech technology. Source
Dow Jones Venturesource has released its first quarter Europe Venture Capital Report; venture capital funding for the quarter was EUR2.23 billion ($2.42 billion); Atomico's Atomico Ventures IV Fund led fundraising with EUR723.30 million ($786.02 million) representing 32% of total fundraising for the quarter; business and financial services was the top funding sector with EUR877.92 million ($954.05 million) across 163 transactions; Funding Circle reported one of the top five deals in the first quarter with its funding round of EUR94.43 million ($102.62 million); by geography, the UK led fundraising with EUR970.28 million ($1.05 billion) from 150 deals and France was second with EUR398.02 million ($432.53 million) from 78 deals; the full report is available here. Source
Patch Homes has officially launched after operating in private beta; the platform seeks to allow homeowners to greater utilize the equity in their homes; by offering investment versus a home equity loan, homeowners contract with Patch Homes for capital proceeds that can be used for any type of financing needs; Patch Homes then shares in the gains and losses on the home's value over the contracted timeframe; Patch Homes has identified a $4.5 trillion home equity market in the US; along with its launch it also announced $1 million in fundraising to support its growth and to expand its offering beyond California. Source
Automated mortgage transaction technology firm Roostify has announced Frank Gelbart as its new chief revenue officer; Frank Gelbart has over 20 years of experience with technology companies and was previously president, CEO and co-founder of Appfluent Technology; Roostify is a fast growing startup and is currently partnering with JPMorgan for mortgage lending technology innovation. Source
Payments.com provides an overview of small business lending activity worldwide; SME lending in China increased 17% from a year ago to $3.2 trillion; in London, over half of small businesses report being turned down for a loan; other highlights include SME statistics for Canada, a new SME financing platform from NatWest and rising rates in the US affecting SME borrowers. Source
Chinese P2P lender Dianrong is looking to implement blockchain across their entire company to enhance transparency and security for their customers; this is in addition to a recently announced partnership with Taiwan-based Foxconn to launch a blockchain startup called Chained Finance; according to CoinDesk Dianrong's blockchain plans are detailed on their website and they explain using an ethereum-based solution designed to facilitate tamper-proof loan contracts, donations to charity and credit management; Dianrong is also rumored to go public sometime in the near future, though IPO talk has been discussed for a few years. Source
Forbes discusses the potential for continued fintech growth worldwide; cites a report from G.P. Bullhound highlighting the fintech industry's resilience following a challenging 2016; success from Ant Financial's $4.5 billion funding round and the firm's industry valuation are increasing confidence; investors also have a positive outlook on fintech in the UK with significant capital funding for Funding Circle, iZettle, Atom Bank and Monzo already announced this year and three top fintech unicorns (Funding Circle, Paysafe and Transferwise) all located in the region; the G.P. Bullhound report provides numerous other statistics supporting global fintech growth in 2017 and beyond. Source
China's fintech sector is growing with new technologies and companies developing solutions for payments, loans and online investing; Forbes provides details on the market and discusses challenges; while the market has been conducive to new innovation, tighter regulations could be a factor and a lack of skilled workers could also affect the market's development. Source
Continuing with its fintech acquisition strategy, BBVA has acquired Openpay; Openpay is a Mexican B2B payments platform with more than one million transactions per month; with the new support, Openpay will seek to triple its transaction volume. Source
The SEC has agreed to reconsider its review of the Winklevoss bitcoin ETF rejection following a petition from the Bats exchange; a comment period is now open for support or opposition of the Disapproval Order until May 15; the SEC has not approved any bitcoin ETFs for trading also rejecting the listing of SolidX on the NYSE Arca. Source