Machine learning and predictive analytics have started to make a real difference in the VC world when it comes to finding investments; VC’s typically traveled a lot and met with thousands of companies to find a few investments; by using machine learning to break down troves of data, like job postings or performance in the App Store, investors can find potential gems without the same laborious effort; VC firms are investing in tools to help them refine searches and comb through thousands of companies quickly; increased computing power and cheaper ways to rent server capacity has really helped VC’s, even the small firms, use these techniques every day. Source.
News Roundup
This page contains an archive of the Global Newsletter summaries and the weekly fintech news roundups.
Every day the Fintech Nexus news team scours the globe for the most important stories of the day to include in our daily newsletter.
Then every Saturday we bring you our weekly news roundup of the top 10 fintech stories of the week with commentary from Peter Renton.
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The lawsuit by the New York Department of Financial Services aimed at blocking the OCC Fintech Charter has been thrown out; Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald stated, "Since the OCC has not reached a final ‘fintech charter decision,’ defendants’ … motion is granted as plaintiff has suffered no injury in fact … and because plaintiff’s claims are not ripe."; it is possible that they could attempt to re-sue once the fintech charter is created. Source
Industry experts such as Matt Harris (Bain Capital Ventures), Dan Ciporin (Canaan Partners Partners), Andy Weissman (Union Square Ventures) and others share what 2018 may look across fintech; perspectives included span payments, lending, Amazon vs. JPMorgan, M&A, asset management and funding. Source
Mastercard announced the new service, Assemble, will allow Mastercard partners to provide checking, budgeting and other money management tools; partners can choose from a white label version or integrate certain functions through an API; the product is geared towards millennials and is part of a wider trend in the market; Tom Cronin, Mastercard's senior vice president of global prepaid product development, said “This technology enables our partners to deliver best-in-class digital experiences today, as we work to address additional segments such as gig economy workers and underserved consumers and micro businesses.” Source.
Simility, a machine learning adaptive fraud prevention product, raised $17.5mn from PayPal, The Valley Fund and Trinity Ventures; the company helps to prevent fraud and abuse in real time using machine learning and big data analytics; Rahul Pangam, Co-Founder and CEO of Simility, tells Crowdfund Insider, “Digital disruption in the financial and commerce sectors has resulted in the need for a fraud and risk management solution that goes beyond legacy.”; the company plans to build out data science teams and continue expanding globally. Source.
As Europe moves to open banking the US begins testing principles of data sharing between banks and fintechs. Source
Creditas recently closed one of the largest rounds in Latin American history and has originated more than $100mn in loans since 2011; they company offers loans backed by collateral, charging 17 to 25 percent for their home equity loan and 23 to 50 percent for auto equity loans; this is unique as banks typically charge 120 percent APR on unsecured loans and 480 percent APR on revolving credit cards; having a lower cost, more secure loan has seen them keep defaults around 1 percent and grow the company workforce threefold in the past year alone. Source.
Through a partnership with MicroVentures, Indiegogo will allow investors to participate in ICOs; accredited investors will be able to buy Simple Agreements for Future Tokens (SAFTs) where tokens are delivered on a certain date; the first ICO being advertised is the Fan-Controlled Football League. Source
- Wunder Capital's 2017 Year in Review
- ID Finance Raises $8.5m via Exchange-traded Bonds to Support Growth
- RateSetter’s Australian business hits $200m milestone
- Avoka celebrates $12M raise
- State Street backs UK fintech start-up PensionBee
- LendingUSA Secures $60m Credit Facility
- iZettle Grabs $47M Additional Funding, Eyes Market Expansion
- First National Bank Plans Online SMB Lending Portal
- South Korea considers cryptocurrency tax as regulators grapple with 'speculative mania'
- Aspiration Taps $47 Million for Conscientious Banking
JPMorgan Chase, American Express and HSBC said they are leading a $40mn round into Menlo Security; banks are usually a lot more secretive about security investments but they see a wider industry potential in using isolation technology; the technology can better defend against phishing attacks which account for most breaches as employees click on a fake link that then causes malware to infect the computer; when a user clicks on a link they open a browser that really is a one time instance in the cloud and prevents malware from downloading onto a computer; while some big banks have started using the technology more there has not been a significant rush yet. Source.