Every two weeks, we compile some of the most important news updates and events in the fintech, banking, and payments sectors in the finance industry.
Stripe worth $35 billion after raising $250 million in new funding round
Online payments processor Stripe has raised another $250 million in a new funding round, pushing its pre-money valuation at $35 billion. The additional funding was sourced from investors including venture capital firms General Catalyst, Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz. Stripe has raised nearly $1.2bn in funding to date.
To read more about how payment processors like Stripe, Braintree Payments (PayPal) etc. impact online marketplaces & business, click here.
TransferWise for Banks lands in the US
TransferWise has signed up the first US financial institutions to integrate its international money transfer service directly into their mobile apps. Novo, a neobank for small businesses, freelancers and startup founders, and Stanford FCU, a federal credit union that serves the Stanford University community and tech companies in the Bay area have signed on to TransferWise for Banks.
PayPal to enter China through GoPay acquisition
The People’s Bank of China has approved PayPal’s acquisition of a 70% equity stake in GoPay (Guofubao Information Technology Co. [GoPay], Ltd.), which will make PayPal the first foreign payment platform to provide online payment services in China.
Deutsche Bank stake lifts German fintech company to €1bn valuation
“Deutsche Bank is paying €50m for a 4.9 per cent stake in open-banking start-up Deposit Solutions in a transaction that values the Hamburg-based start-up at more than €1bn ($1.1bn). The deal turns Deposit Solutions into Germany’s second most highly valued fintech after Berlin-based lender N26, which in July was valued at $3.5bn when it raised $170m from its investors.”
Global Identity Verification Startup Trulioo Raises Series C
Vancouver-based online identity verification startup Trulioo raised $70 million CAD–just over $50 million USD–in a new round of funding. The Series C round, which was led by Goldman Sachs, brings Trulioo’s total funding to $80.7 million, according to Crunchbase. Trulioo, which was founded in 2011, allows companies and organizations to run global identity checks.
We’ve compared some of the leading customer verification and onboarding companies in the UK in this infographic.
United Bank of India launches Voice Banking
In partnership with Amazon, Financial Software and Systems (FSS) has launched real-time voice banking platform FSS Voice Commerce for United Bank of India. The Alexa-style solution enables customers to access account balances and last transaction data, retrieve and reset voice pins and make service requests such as issuing a cheque book.
Digital banking startup FairMoney raises EUR10 million
FairMoney is a Paris-based fintech startup with 200,000 customers that uses alternative smartphone data to underwrite microcredit in Nigeria. It has raised EUR10 million with the aim of creating a fully-fledged mobile banking service. The Series A round was led by Flourish, a venture of The Omidyar Group, the partners of DST Global, and existing seed investors Newfund, Speedinvest, and Le Studio VC.
Fundbox raises $326 million to expand the industry’s first B2B payments and credit network
Fundbox, a B2B payments and credit network designed to facilitate and accelerate B2B commerce at scale, announced that it has raised $176 million in growth equity funding for its Series C round. In addition, the company also announced that it has secured a $150 million credit facility.
Mambu’s banking engine to provide business agility to neobank P.F.C.
Stockholm-based neobank Personal Finance Co. (P.F.C.) has gone live with Mambu’s SaaS banking engine, ten months after its initial launch. P.F.C. provides a personal finance application that comes along with a debit card and offers automation and data-driven insights for customers. The partnership is expected to enhance the deployment speed of its products and features.
To read more about leading digital banking enablement platforms like Mambu, Temenos, etc. check out our blog post here.
Kreditech targets India after EUR20m funding boost
Kreditech, a German-based online lender and POS financing provider focused on “near-prime” borrowers, is looking to the Indian market after raising EUR20 million in funding. The round was co-led by Runa Capital and unnamed German private investors, with participation from existing shareholders HPE Growth and Amadeus Capital Partners.
UAE’s first digital business bank launches
After 18 months in development, E20 has been unveiled by founder Evans Munyuki, the group chief digital officer at Emirates NBD. The business-only bank will allow startups, freelancers, gig economy workers, fintechs and SMEs to open a bank account through a mobile app as well as access a variety of business and accounting services. E20 has launched in an invitation-only beta testing phase.
Tide rolls out credit product
UK business banking platform Tide has launched a subsidiary company, dubbed Tide Capital, that will offer instant transactional credit lines to pre-approved applicants. Members selected as being pre-approved by Tide will be upgraded to fee-paying Tide Premium, through which a credit line of £1000 will be added to their account.