Target Global, based in Berlin has closed a new fund; the fund will focus on Seed and Series A rounds and expects to fund 20 companies primarily in Germany and Israel; Shmuel Chafets, General Partner at Target Global stated, “Target Global’s Early Stage Fund will serve as a bridge connecting Tel Aviv and Berlin. Germany in general and Berlin more specifically have been able to produce great companies, but if Berlin truly hopes to become a global tech hub it must open itself up to real innovations and groundbreaking technologies. On the other hand, If Israel wants to continue to be the “start up nation” , it has to create sustainable, long-term companies and efficient business processes. We already see some early signs of collaboration taking place, but we believe we can help expand it to other industries.” Source
Eugene Danilkis, CEO & Co-Founder of Mambu shares his perspective on how banks can continue to compete with fintech companies. Source
The worst week in SoFi‘s history is coming to an end. The company announced today that Mike Cagney has stepped down as CEO effective immediately. This follows the news on Monday that Cagney would be stepping down as CEO by the end of the year. But the bad news this week kept escalating and the board decided it needed to take action now. Source.
The no-action letter shows that the CFPB is open to alternative data being used to expand access to credit data; Upstart will report lending and compliance information to the CFPB to mitigate risk to consumers and aid in the Bureau’s understanding of the real-world impact of alternative data on lending decision making; the no-action letter relates to enforcement of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Regulation B; Upstart shares in their application how powerful using data points outside of just credit reports is in reducing borrowing rates. Source
deBanked reports that Bond Street has stopped making new loans; seven months ago Bond Street announced a $300 million loan purchase agreement with Jefferies; the WSJ outlines that engineers, product developers, and risk and marketing specialists will join Goldman’s consumer bank; Square is allegedly also in talks with some Bond Street employees. Source
As consumers reel from yet another massive data hack, this time of Equifax, fintech leaders are looking to solve the problem to prevent future hacks from happening; Chris Skinner offers up a couple of solutions that corporates and financial services firms should implement; biometrics & touchID, though these are not hack proof, and blockchain technology; he points out the power and security of the blockchain in helping to keep personal data secure. Source.
Through the partnership, the firm hopes to provide more personalization to their over 270,000 users; both portfolios were vetted by Betterment to ensure quality and affordability standards; Dan Egan, director of behavioral finance investments at Betterment stated, “We wanted to get these strategies out to our clients as quickly as possible, rather than build them out ourselves.” Source
BTCC, one of China’s biggest bitcoin exchanges, on September 14 announces that it will stop new user registration immediately, and will shut down cryptocurrency exchange business from September 30 onwards; its mining pool business will stay intact though; for now, BTCC only trades four “mainstream” cryptocurrencies, being Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and BCC. Source
In the FT’s big read they take an in-depth look at the boom of initial coin offerings (ICOs) and the potential bubble they are causing; ICOs have thus far raised over $1.8bn worldwide and have shown no signs of slowing; the bigger question is will international financial regulators clamp down to kill the market or provide it more structure. Source