During the week I share the latest marketplace lending and fintech news on Twitter as it happens. Then every Saturday I take the most interesting news items and blog posts from the past week and share them here.
US mobile bank MoneyLion raises $100 million at ‘near unicorn’ valuation from Techcrunch – The big funding rounds keep coming. Today, we have MoneyLion announcing a $100m Series C financing at close to a billion dollar valuation.
Atom Bank raises £50m from investors including Neil Woodford from the Financial Times – Now, it is Atom Bank’s turn. They have raised £50 million in new equity including £10 million from beleaguered fund manager Neil Woodford.
What Funding Circle Tells Us About Fintech Valuations from Finextra – Interesting commentary on the dangers of high valuations in fintech using Funding Circle as an example.
Robinhood, the no-fee stock trading app, just announced a giant-size $323 million round of funding, making it worth over $7 billion from Business Insider – Then we have the huge round from Robinhood. They have put the missteps of late last year behind them with another huge round, $323 million, at a $7.6 billion valuation.
Everyday is Betterment’s new banking offering from Tearsheet – We keep seeing more and better savings account offerings. Betterment has launched Everyday Savings that will pay 2.69% with no minimums and FDIC insurance up to $1 million.
The Use of Cash-Flow Data in Underwriting Credit: Empirical Research Findings from FinRegLab – While using cash flow data in underwriting is becoming common place these days there has never been any independent research done on the benefits and pitfalls. Until now. Kudos to the FinRegLab team for getting their first research paper out the door.
The Employer’s View Of Early Wage Access from PYMNTS.com – The new generation of workers are demanding flexibility in how and when they are paid. Early wage access is moving mainstream and many fintech companies are at the forefront here.
Apple and Goldman Sachs Credit Card Targeting August Launch Date from Bloomberg – Look like the new Apple Card, that is backed by Goldman Sachs, is just weeks away from launch, it is targeted to launch as early as the first half of August.
House revives effort to allow nontraditional data in credit scores from American Banker – The House Financial Services Committee’s fintech task force held a hearing this week to discuss the use of alternative data in credit reports.
Are Europe’s tech unicorns really ‘worth’ all those billions? from FT Alphaville – Are N26 really worth billions of dollars? The FT’s Alphaville looks at data which may provide an answer.
