PayPal is connecting with Acorns, an automated savings/investing platform; users will be able to contribute and manage their account from the PayPal app; the first users will get access today which will expand access to all US users by early 2018; PayPal previously has invested in Acorns, leading a $30 million round. Source
PayPal has launched a new service, Money Pools, to allow users to create fundraising pages where their network can contribute; the pages are similar to other crowdfunding sites but with a greater emphasis on social media; the thought is this can become another revenue generating product for PayPal, though they currently are not charging for the use of Money Pools. Source.
PayPal’s shares have climbed close to 75 percent in 2017 and now is considered more valuable than American Express; their market cap has doubled since spinning off from eBay in 2015; while it now finds itself on the heels of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs there is still some who fear they might be valued a bit too high; acquisitions, product diversification and partnership agreements have helped push the company in the last year. Source.
American Banker reports on the lobbying group called Financial Innovation Now and that some technology giants are meeting individually with government agencies; Amazon met with the OCC starting in the second quarter of 2016 and met again this year; PayPal has also met with OCC officials in several quarters last year. Source
In an interview with CNBC last week, former PayPal COO and serial entrepreneur David Sacks talks about how cryptocurrencies are fulfilling the original PayPal vision; he explains: "A payment is just a credit to one account and a debit to another. That's a database entry. We believed that, if we could get enough people to participate, money would never need to leave the system. PayPal could become the database of money."; he talks about blockchain technology helping to build web 3.0 and a new wave of innovation; the interview also touched on how the current environment shows some of the same signs of the dot com era, the two ways digital assets are a threat to traditional venture capital and some of the biggest challenges that lie ahead. Source
The $5.8 billion in receivables sold to Synchrony according to a TechCrunch article, “also includes Synchrony’s acquisition of $1 billion in participation interests in PayPal receivables held by certain investors and a chartered financial institution.”; the two companies have partnered since 2004 to offer PayPal users branded credit cards; Synchrony will now be the exclusive issuer of the PayPal Credit online consumer financing program. Source
PayPal has helped to secure the ability for Venmo payments to be accepted at over 2 million retailers; users will be able to make purchases in store and online using the Venmo app; the move will help PayPal to get merchants interested in other products and allows them to begin monetizing Venmo; the strategy is another piece of good news for PayPal as just this week they surpasses Amex in market cap. Source.
American Express is looking to use the same style data that has made PayPal and Square so successful in small business lending; Gina Taylor Cotter, senior vice president and general manager of global commercial financing at American Express. tells American Banker,“We have done some research on this and we are trusted providers, so this puts us neatly between banks that may have a longer application process and the online lenders who are fast, but maybe a bit more expensive." Source.
PayPal will hold its PayPal Incubator in Chennai; the five startups selected for the PayPal Incubator include Finbox, Neoeyed, Paymatrix, Scalend and Tybo; the incubation program is in its fifth year and PayPal will be taking an undisclosed stake in each company; the program also offers technology counsel and mentorship, infrastructure support, and networking opportunities with investors and customers. Source
PayPal will offer loans to larger businesses that process payments with its platform and have access to new firms as a result of the acquisition; Swift Financial was founded in 2006 and extends credit with loans and advances; term loans of up to $500,000 will now be available to businesses; Darrel Esch, vice president and commercial officer of global credit at PayPal, stated, "This is an area where customers have been asking for more."; terms of the deal were not disclosed. Source