PayPal Gets Chinese Payments License, Rapyd Raises $100M, Bnext to Launch in Latin America with $25M Series A, Credit Karma Moves Into Savings

This week (30 September - 4 October) was yet another interesting and exciting one in the world of FinTech. Revolut is set to double its global footprint, pushing into 24 new markets thanks to a global deal with Visa, PayPal got Chinese payments license, Rapyd has raised $100M and much more.

Without further ado, let us dive into what has happened in the financial technology sector this week.

PayPal Joins Traditional Banks in KBC Mobile Account Aggregation Package

Belgium's KBC has added PayPal balances and transactional information to its mobile bank account aggregation app.

The inclusion of PayPal, alongside Argenta, Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis and ING, reflects the great strides the company has made in insinuating itself into people's everyday shopping and payments habits.

KBC was the first bank in Belgium to incorporate third party bank accounts to its mobile app, enabling customers to view balances, check transaction history and make payments from the account. Since launching the service in 2018, up to 15,000 customers have used the facility to link to at least one account from another bank.

KBC says the move to add PayPal followed a consultation with customers in which one-third of users said they would like to check their PayPal accounts via KBC Mobile. Within two days, over 5000 customers had synched up their Paypal account within the banking app.

Karin Van Hoecke, Director of the Digital Transformation Division in Belgium at KBC, commented:

Consulting and using all financial data in one app is a clear question from our customer and the integration of PayPal shows that we look beyond the traditional accounts. Customers can now not only follow the purchases they bought with the familiar KBC or Bancontact payment button, they can now also follow up on their PayPal account.

Revolut to Go Global Through New Deal with Visa

Revolut is set to double its global footprint, pushing into 24 new markets thanks to a global deal with Visa.

Revolut says the expanded relationship with Visa will bring its bank-like product offerings to five new regions, reaching 24 new markets for a total of 56 markets globally. Under the terms of the agreement, Revolut will primarily issue Visa-branded cards in the global expansion.

Jack Forestell, CPO at Visa, said:

With Visa being accepted at nearly 54 million merchant locations across more than 200 countries, we have the scale, experience and expertise to help FinTechs like Revolut go global.

The agreement will see Revolut expand beyond its European stronghold and Australian outpost, beginning with launches in North America, Singapore and Japan.

ANZ Leads A$2.3M Round in DiviPay

Australian expense management startup DiviPay has raised $2.3 million in a funding round led by ANZ.

Founded in 2017 by former members of Westpac's innovation team, DiviPay enables companies to provide staff with access to company money whilst controlling exactly how that money can be spent. After signing up to the DiviPay platform, managers are prompted to create budgets for their team and set their desired level of control by either allocating budget members a pool of funds or requiring approval for every expense.

Each budget member is then instantly issued a unique virtual card that can be loaded directly into their mobile wallet and spent both online and in-store. Once a payment is made DiviPay automatically categorises the expense and pushes the data directly into the company’s accounting software ready for reconciliation.

The company, which originally started life as a bill-splitting app before pivoting to focus on the SME sector, claims to have signed up "a couple of hundred" customers since launch last year, ranging from two-person construction companies to tech scaleups with over 200 staff. 

The round was led by ANZi, the corporate venture capital arm of ANZ. Seed Space Ventures also contributed, along with Patrick Tuttle, the former chief of Pepper Money.

PayPal Gets Chinese Payments License

PayPal has become the first foreign firm to get an online payments license in China after buying a 70% stake in Guofubao Information Technology Co (GoPay).

In a brief statement, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman says the People's Bank of China has approved the GoPay acquisition, with the deal set to close in the fourth quarter. Terms were not disclosed.

GoPay holds a payment business license, meaning that PayPal becomes the first foreign company to enter the Chinese market some two years after Beijing promised to open up. 

The likes of Visa and Mastercard have not had their license applications approved, despite the central bank's pledge last year of "equal treatment" for domestic and foreign providers.

PayPal will be able to offer online, mobile and cross-border renminbi payments, taking on market giants WeChat Pay and Alipay.

Bnext to Launch in Latin America with $25M Series A

Spain's first alternative banking app Bnext has scooped the largest Series A financing round in the Spanish FinTech sector to date, banking $25 million as part of a strategy to launch its services in Latin America.

The financing round was led by new investors DN Capital, Redalpine and Speedinvest, together with existing investors such as Paris-based Founders Future and Mexico-based Cometa. Other investors include Enern, USM and Conexo.

Launched in 2018, Bnext now counts more than 300,000 active users, processing more than 100 million euros in monthly transactions. 

Bnext operates in the EU under an E-Money licence, offering users a card and a linked mobile marketplace offering banking products from select partners. The company also provides an account aggregation feature to manage traditional bank accounts from within the app.

The Latin American launch will commence in Mexico followed by a progressive roll out across the region.

Rapyd Raises $100M

Rapyd, a FinTech-as-a-service platform that enables businesses and consumers to pay or be paid however they choose for local and cross-border e-commerce transactions, has closed a $100 million funding round led by Oak HC/FT and joined by Stripe.

Tiger Global, Coatue, General Catalyst, Target Global, Stripe, and Entrée Capital also joined the round, which comes just months after Rapyd raised $40 million in Series B financing.

Rapyd claims to have found a growing market opportunity: more than half of all transactions worldwide are facilitated via bank transfer, but merchants find it increasingly difficult to digitally enable local payment methods and process cross-border sales that are critical for international expansion.

Its platform lets firms access over 500 local payment types including bank transfers, e-wallets and cash in more than 100 countries. Businesses can seamlessly integrate these payment methods into any digital application from a single API and scale them globally across multiple payments networks. In addition, the platform offers disbursements in over 170 countries, multi-currency settlement to a single file across 65 currencies, and KYC, AML and counter financing terrorism services.

The new funding will be used to build out the cloud-based platform and network.

Arik Shtilman, CEO of Rapyd, said:

Global commerce is at a critical inflection point as businesses are pressed to launch new applications, process and accept local payment methods, disburse funds, and manage risk and compliance so they can offer highly localized customer experiences without having to build their own infrastructure. The expectation today is that this must happen around the world in order to drive growth into new markets.

Samsung Pay Gets International Money Transfers and Virtual Debit Card

American users of Samsung Pay can now send money overseas and sign up for a virtual Mastercard debit card.

Samsung has teamed up with London-based Finablr on the money transfer feature, which lets American users send funds to 47 countries through host of payout methods from within the Samsung Pay app.

The service taps Travelex owner Finablr's distribution capabilities to let recipients pick up their money through several options - from bank deposits to cash available for pick up.

“Our consumers are global and have friends and family around the world. Samsung is excited to enable users to send money from the US to the rest of world by making it simple, secure and transparent,” says Sang W Ahn, division head, content and services, Samsung Electronics America.

Meanwhile, Samsung has partnered Mastercard and Netspend on Samsung Pay Cash, a virtual card that lets US customers request, send or add money to it through any other card in Samsung Pay. The card can then be used wherever Mastercard is accepted.

Credit Karma Moves Into Savings

US credit scoring outfit Credit Karma is launching its first financial product, offering its 100 million members the opportunity to open a high-yield savings account with the firm.

Because existing members have already shared their financial picture with Credit Karma, signing up is seamless with minimal clicks to open an account. There are no fees and no minimums to open. Users will be able to watch their savings grow directly within the app, which will offer an initial rate of 2.03%. 

Credit Karma is relying on its network of 800 member banks to search for and switch to those offering the most competitive rates.

“The thought of opening a new account or downloading another app can feel overwhelming and we know inertia is one of the biggest barriers to financial progress. When we built Credit Karma Savings, we wanted to develop a product that made opening a savings account as easy as possible for our members,” says Jagjit Chawla, GM of Savings and Tax for Credit Karma. “We’re also making it possible for members to see the power of high-yield savings with our savings simulator, which shows how your money could grow over time.”

Credit Karma is not becoming a bank. Instead, the Credit Karma platform facilitates the opening and managing of accounts, where savings are housed and insured to the tune of $5 million through FDIC-licenced partner MVB Bank.

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About: I am a business developer, sales professional, FinTech strategist, as well as Cryptocurrency and Blockchain enthusiast. I'm highly passionate about Financial Technology and Digital Innovation, and strongly believe that it will change the world for the better. Apart from my daily job at a global payments startup where I'm leading company's expansion into Europe , I'm an active member of FinTech community and a TechFin evangelist.

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