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.
Fintechs For Sale: Post-Covid, It’s Partner Or Perish For Many Startups. Here’s A Buy List. by Forbes – This is a sobering article for fintech enthusiasts. There will likely be more losers than winners as many of the former leading companies in the space will be forced to sell.
$1.9 billion fintech Marqeta is on a hiring spree and eyeing M&A as its partners like Square, DoorDash, and Instacart rely on virtual card issuing by Business Insider – Then there are companies like Marqeta for whom this crisis has been a net positive. They are seeing record payment volume, continue to hire and are looking for acquisition targets.
BankThink The Fed should tailor its business loan programs for consumers by American Banker – An important op-ed from Nat Hoopes, head of the Marketplace Lending Association, on the need for the Fed to include personal loans in an expansion of the TALF program. This will allow more credit to flow to consumers.
Starling and Funding Circle to provide £300m in small business loans by CityA.M. – Great to see two leading UK fintech companies partnering to help small business. Starling Bank is teaming up with Funding Circle UK to provide £300m in loans under the CBILS program.
Insights: COVID-19 Performance Report, Volume 4 by dv01 – The latest COVID-19 Performance Report from dv01 Inc is out. It explores the latest origination volumes, the credit characteristics of loans issued since the outbreak, and credit box changes.
Affirm CEO Max Levchin on lending to consumers during pandemic by CNBC – It is always interesting to hear insights from Max Levchin. Here he is on CNBC yesterday talking about the impact of the pandemic on Affirm ‘s consumer lending business.
Monzo faces near 40% valuation drop in latest fundraising by the Financial Times – Leading UK fintech bank Monzo is close to agreeing to a funding deal that will value the company at £1.25b compared to more than £2b in its previous round last June.
Battered by coronavirus crisis, online lenders face reckoning by American Banker – All of the leading online lenders are struggling as the economic crisis continues to get worse, many have cut originations dramatically and laid off workers and their survival is certainly not guaranteeed.
The Reality of the Struggle: What is Really Happening? by LendIt Fintech Digital – I am excited to join the godfather of fintech himself, Ron Suber, on Monday for a virtual roundtable as part of LendIt Fintech Digital. We will be having an honest discussion as to what is really happening in the market today. Please join us.
