Edition #15 – April 2022 | Future of FinTech

We’re back with the weekly serving of the buzz surrounding the bustling world of FinTech in the latest edition of the Future of FinTech newsletter! If you're new and curious, read on to find out what happened in the world of FinTech across six dynamic themes, and join 710 other FinTech nerds in receiving some fresh Weekly FinTech Brew delivered right to your inbox every Tuesday ??

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With Edition #15, the Digital Finance segment takes the crown for being the most active segment of the week.

Here's the TL;DR

• Some company-specific moves that caused a stir:
• TrueLayer introduces its “closed-loop” payment product in Europe,
• FIS opens Banking-as-a-Service hub,?
• MetaMask Institutional adds four different platforms for asset management,
• Paytm integrates government services to access blood banks pan-India, and
• Polygon commits $20M to go carbon neutral in 2022.
• Some big-hit funding rounds of the week — Nubank ($650M), Voyager ($210M), Stark Bank ($45M, Series B), Elrond ($40M)

For the longer read, let's get going –

An assorted mix of partnerships and product launches accounted for the majority of the headlines for the Open Finance segment.

On the partnerships front:

• Leading crypto payments company Mercuryo launched Open Banking payments within their cryptocurrency wallet in partnership with open payments gateway Volt, who will be providing Mercuryo users with single-click payment solutions via fiat.
• MogoPlus partnered with Open Banking leader TrueLayer to access financial data using Australia’s Consumer Data Right (CDR).
• Europe's BaaS provider Contis and Open Banking technology provider Ecospend teamed up with online gaming website MrQ.com to deliver a full Open Banking, closed-loop instant account-to-account payment and withdrawal solution.
• SOFORT partnered with instant payments provider Brite Payments to enable merchants to activate Brite Payments’ innovative instant payout solution without additional technical effort, allowing them to disburse funds to consumers within seconds.
• Vodafone partnered with Moneyhub to improve its ‘VOXI For Now’ plan by giving unlimited 5G mobile data, minutes, and texts for just GBP 10 a month for up to six months to anyone facing financial hardship.

As for various product launches, Open Banking platform TrueLayer launched its “closed-loop” payment product featuring Instant Deposits, Refunds, Withdrawals in Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Lithuania, and the Netherlands. Similarly, global payments platform Trustly launched Trustly Express, which reduces the number of steps at checkout for returning users in Finland, Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK.

The Digital Finance sector was bustling with attention-grabbing scoop across numerous activities.

When it comes to the various partnerships:?

• Financial super app Revolut partnered with technology infrastructure provider Cross River Bank to build and scale its business in the US, leveraging Cross River’s technology and regulatory infrastructure.?
• FinTech platform Kayamo teamed up with Netbank to improve loan payouts, loan repayments, and to provide a better user experience for their end customers.
• Banking super app Douugh partnered with Pinwheel to facilitate automatic direct deposit switching for its US customers.
• Singaporean technology venture ZA Tech became the latest strategic partner to collaborate with Aladin Bank as an investor and a business partner to strengthen the new challenger’s ecosystem.
• Mastercard was also in the news for partnering with operational resilience firm Interos, which will expand its security strategy and add Interos’ multi-tier risk monitoring capabilities for financial institutions.
• Cloud-native technology provider Form3 partnered with Goldman Sachs Transaction Banking (TxB) to leverage the latter’s cross-border payments and foreign exchange execution capabilities to introduce a value-added service for Form3’s regulated financial institution customers.

On the other hand, Brazilian B2B FinTech Stark Bank raised a $45M Series B led by Ribbit Capital and followed by Bezos Expeditions, to expand their product offerings, such as investments, credit lines, and card payments, and to enhance the FinTech’s positioning as the leading bank for large companies. While Brazilian digital banking behemoth Nubank secured a $650M credit line to turbocharge its growth in Mexico and Colombia from Morgan Stanley, Citi, Goldman Sachs, and HSBC, Voyager Innovations became the second Philippine unicorn by raising $210M from new investors led by SIG Venture Capital. Lagos-based digital banking platform Umba also raised $15M Series A to continue rapid growth in Nigeria and expand into Egypt, Ghana, and Kenya, where mobile money and digital banking are popular.

As for the product launches, financial technology leader FIS announced its Banking-as-a-Service Hub, enabling banks, credit unions, and FinTechs to build the digital banking and payments ecosystems they need to deliver innovation to merchants and consumers. Similarly, digital bank Mashreq Neo tied up with Federal Bank, an Indian commercial bank, to enable Mashreq Neo’s Indian customers to open a non-resident (NR) account with the Indian bank instantly via the Neo app.

The Embedded Finance sphere witnessed a plethora of partnerships that drew attention with their collaborative moves.

• Finastra announced a BaaS collaboration with Microsoft to bring new lending options to SMEs by enabling them to use Microsoft Dynamics 365 and access vital financing offers without leaving their business management platform.??
• Imprint partnered with lifestyle and experiential hospitality brand Selina to launch the Selina Rewards Visa Card and provide exclusive rewards and cashback with every purchase.
• Embedded finance leader DriveWealth and social-first investment platform Sproutfi teamed up to enable Latin American users to access the US markets and invest on a dollar equivalent basis, making investing affordable and accessible.
• FinTech platform Adyen partnered with e-commerce platform provider Kooomo to help develop its new product Kooomo Payments.
• Payment network Affirm teamed up with social marketplace Poshmark on a two-year extension to deliver increased payment flexibility to shoppers.
• BNPL solution LazyPay partnered with quick-commerce platform Zepto to offer customers the convenience of paying later for high-frequency purchases.
• Australian FinTech BizPay partnered with SaaS provider Arcadie, letting its enterprise clients offer BizPay for all their B2B payments so that clients can spread their invoice costs over installments.?

The DeFi industry was abuzz with notable happenings as the industry continues to expand across diverse sectors.

Sygnum launched a DeFi-based structured investment solution, Sygnum Yield Core AMC, designed to generate attractive ongoing returns from yield generating strategies in the growing DeFi market. While Allbridge added support for public blockchain XRP Ledger (XRPL) that will allow trading of stablecoins and decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens directly on XRP Ledger, MetaMask Institutional also added Gnosis Safe, Hex Trust, Parfin, and GK8 for asset management to its institutional wallet product.

On the fundings front, Skynet EGLD Capital committed $40M to back projects in the Elrond ecosystem. Similarly, decentralized marketing solution Embed raised $4.5M in a seed investment co-led by North Island Ventures and Aleph to enable web3 brands to build communities.

On the other hand, FIS partnered with crypto custody firm Fireblocks to enable its capital market clients to access cryptocurrency trading, lending, and DeFi applications. What’s more – Terra’s DeFi protocol Anchor also made the news for continuing its expansion onto new base layers, this time being on the Polkadot DeFi hub Acala.

Crypto curious and want to know more about the buzz surrounding the Cryptosphere? ?? Well, then you definitely need to get yourself a weekly cuppa of the Future of Crypto newsletter !

The Platform Finance landscape was witness to an assorted mix of various events.

Paytm app integrated centralized Indian blood bank management platform eRaktKosh, where users will be able to track and share real-time information from a wide range of blood banks. Similarly, business finance platform Capitalise announced a new integration with global small business platform Xero. Additionally, India-based merchant commerce platform Pine Labs acquired a majority stake in payment solutions provider Mosambee for an undisclosed sum, valuing the latter at upwards of $100M. Financial benefits platform Lean partnered with Bay Area taxi platform Flywheel to let its drivers access Lean’s financial benefits, including no-fee instant payouts and access to capital for qualifying employees. Additionally, Kiwi digital wallet Dosh raised a $5M seed round, that’s believed to be a local record, for further product innovation and development.

With businesses trying to reduce their carbon footprint and positively impact climate change, the Green Finance vertical was bustling with a diverse set of activities last week.

When it comes to the various partnerships, US payments giant Stripe joined Google parent companies Alphabet, Meta, Shopify, and McKinsey to invest about $1B to develop the carbon capture market. Similarly, real-time carbon footprint tracker Cogo joined ING’s innovation accelerator, ING Labs Brussels, to validate the former’s unique capability to integrate its carbon tracking technology into digital banking propositions and develop a proof of concept. Ambee partnered with NayaOne to bring ESG solutions and help FinTech companies access accurate and reliable data to help fight climate change. Goldman Sachs was also in the news for completing a $1.9B acquisition of ESG-focused asset manager NN Investment Partners to deepen its own ESG integration and address its clients’ sustainable investing priorities.?

Furthermore, SE Asia-based ESG and sustainable finance startup Golmpact announced the closing of its Series-A round fundraising at a valuation of $22M. Additionally, the Polygon network made a $20M pledge to offset its carbon footprint and allow people to purchase extra credit to become carbon negative.?

Some other happenings in the FinTech universe ??

Other significant affairs from beyond the six dynamic themes that caught our attention with their happening moves –

• Wagestream raised $175M Series C, passing 1 million users, and doubling down on the US,
• JULO raised $80M in funding to further expand in Indonesia,
• Ava Labs made the news for its plans to seek additional investment of up to $350M in new funding round, and
• Razorpay joined hands with Trustly to enable businesses to accept payments from across Europe without worry.

And that's a wrap ??

We hope you enjoyed this edition of the Weekly FinTech Brew, and we'll be back with more next week!?

If you're hungry for more FinTech insights, check out some of our other work at WhiteSight .?

Our latest publications include acknowledging the many Female-focused Crypto Initiatives , and Setting The Record Straight on Digital-first Banking Taxonomy .

If you're someone who likes to read think pieces, you will likely love our monthly blog Fintersections , where our team members analyze the convergence of FinTech with the world.

FinTech research is in the WhiteSight DNA, so if you'd like to get in touch for our strategic intelligence and research content services, reach out to us at [email protected] . ??