The use cases of blockchain technology has increased significantly in 2017; Business Insider looks at how the technology behind bitcoin is being used in international payments, capital markets, trade finance, regulation, money laundering, insurance and peer to peer transaction; they also look at other industries like healthcare, real estate, media, energy and more. Source.
Goldman Sachs first entered the market with the acquisition of GE Bank and the subsequent launch of GS bank; Tearsheet explores their other moves in the market more recently in fintech; Goldman Sachs has invested in 23 fintech startups and is the only top ten bank that has hit every category in its investments: blockchain, data analytics, insurance, personal finance, wealth management, financial services software, lending, payments and settlement, real estate and regulatory technology. Source
Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said he thinks bitcoin is “certainly something more than just a fad,” according to a Bloomberg report; he also stated that the concept of anonymous currency is interesting because of the privacy it provides; while he has yet to invest in the technology he does see more regulatory control coming soon. Source.
AltFi reports that Ranger Direct lending Fund could see the second half dividend payout cut in half as compared to the first half of 2017; they cite legal fees, downward revisions to expected returns of platforms and cash drag due to reallocation of funds from closing platforms. Source.
Shenzhen Suishou Technology announces that KKR will invest in Suishou’s Series C funding round; Suishou is a personal finance management platform that provides individuals with a one-stop mobile destination to track spending, organize budgets, and manage credit card usage; KKR makes the investment from its Asian Fund III; no further details of the transaction were not disclosed. Source
American Banker shares some of the companies that may stand to benefit from the Equifax hack as identity verification becomes top of mind; Mitek is planning to roll out a new product called Mobile Verify for Lending; other companies that have similar solutions include Trulioo, VixVerify and AuthenticID. Source
ZhongAn Insurance jumped 18 percent on debut after the biggest ever IPO by a fintech firm in Asia; ZhongAn CEO Jeffrey Chen says, the rarity of technology listings in Hong Kong gave ZhongAn’s IPO an extra appeal for investors looking to diversify their holdings; both Ant Financial and Lufax are considering IPOs in Hong Kong, according to sources. Source
Zopa plans to reopen to new investors by end of the year after stopping investor on boarding earlier this year; they stopped taking new money because they were finding it harder to get good quality borrowers; they also saw a big jump in demand for their Innovative Finance Isa; while the plan for opening to new investors is targeted at year end it could be delayed by existing investor's Isa demand. Source.
OnFido was founded by three Oxford grads who are all under 30; Microsoft’s venture capital arm participated in the Series C round; other participants included Crane Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures and other existing investors; in total the company has raised over $60 million for their product that uses machine learning to verify identity. Source