Singapore’s Aspire raised $100 million, even as VC market slows
Wonderful Wednesday, FinTech Fanatic!
While enjoying some days of sun here in the Alps, I still keep track of the FinTech news; and aim to give you a quality selection of the most important headlines.
Today I start by setting my sights on an oversubscribed funding-round, something that almost seems a bit odd in the light of the mass layoffs and economic downturn we’ve seen recently.
But it is Aspire , a Singapore-based B2B FinTech startup, that successfully raised US$100 million for its series C round .
Aspire, which aims to become the financial operating system for SMEs, will use the decent sum of money on product development, regional expansion and growing its team.
Lightspeed and Sequoia Southeast Asia led the Series C round, which will more than double the company's valuation according to CEO Andrea Baronchelli.
While I have no crystal ball, it seems to be a pretty safe bet to say open banking payments will rise even further in the upcoming years.
That ‘prediction’ is confirmed by a new study from Juniper Research , which found that global Open Banking payments transaction values will exceed $330 billion globally by 2027, up from $57 billion in 2023.
The research anticipates that efforts to educate consumers about the security and benefits of Open Banking will catalyse market growth.
Something of a completely different order; the trial against the former executives of the German payments giant Wirecard is in full swing at the moment.
Last Monday former Wirecard boss Marcus Braun gave testimony and rejected all charges . Braun told the court of his "deepest regret" over the company's failure but insisted: "I had no knowledge of counterfeiting or embezzlement."
Braun’s statement was eagerly awaited, but it won't be the last we hear about this.
Please find the other FinTech news listed below, and I wish you a nice day!
NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Circle sounded alarm on Paxos . Bloomberg reported that Circle tipped off the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) in the fall of 2022, complaining that blockchain data revealed Binance did not have enough reserves to back up the BUSD tokens it had issued through Paxos. Link here
INSIGHTS
UK Government opens BNPL consultation . The heavily-trailed consultation will propose placing BNPL firms under the watchful eye of the Financial Conduct Authority and give consumers the right to report complaints to the Financial Ombudsman.
Amex and Microsoft turn to AI to make expense reports less horrible. The companies agreed to expand their decades-long partnership to build solutions that leverage Microsoft Cloud and AI technologies, starting with expense report management.
What can we learn from the mass layoffs among FinTech companies? Find out in this interesting C-Innovation article by Isabel Richardson . Link here
Check out Fintech Business Weekly ’s first research report by Jason Mikula : “2023 Market Analysis of Banking-as-a-Service, Partner Banks”. Get the full report here
FINTECH NEWS
Mexican fintech Yave will offer digital mortgages to foreigners. Yave will be the first property technology company to offer a 100% digital mortgage loan in Mexico that will benefit foreigners with official permanent or temporary residence who are registered with the tax authority (SAT).
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DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
Finnish fintech Saldo Bank launches banking operations in Lithuania. Saldo Bank will introduce term deposits and continue providing loans for Lithuanian consumers and SME customers; and has plans to introduce new banking services like payment cards .
NoCFO selects Nordigen to help entrepreneurs and small businesses make better business decisions, reduce the time spent on accounting admin and increase the efficiency of their financial reporting and analysis through Open Banking Data.?
领英推荐
BLOCKCHAIN
Bakkt kills off the consumer app. The Bakkt app will be closed next month , after which users will have to access their crypto and cash on the web. Users will still be able to view crypto balances and access crypto transaction reports for tax purposes.
Solvo goes live with the Solvo app, which is now available to download on the App Store for users in the EU and United Kingdom . The startup is seeking to bring the best of the best of crypto to everyone.
M&As
RBC buys real estate tech platform OJO Canada. The transactions will allow OJO to continue to strengthen the fundamentals of its business, while exploring new opportunities for growth. Link here
NatWest to expand workplace pension and ISA offering with ￡144m Cushon acquisition. NatWest says the acquisition will help it expand the bank’s business customer offering to include Cushon’s Master Trust workplace pension and workplace savings accounts.
FinTech Meetup?in Vegas is just around the corner and I will start and close it with a bang. Join me and let's do this together! ??Sign up here !
PARTNERSHIPS
DCI partners with Atomic . The partnership will help community banks transform the way their customers use digital banking by offering their account holders a quick, convenient way to set-up and switch direct deposits among other benefits.
Buckaroo will team up with ibanXS to develop payment initiation solutions. The companies sealed their partnership on Friday, February 10th , and announced that the fruits of their combined work will soon be seen.?
Akoni Hub partners with Gatehouse Bank to make its savings products available on Akoni’s cash management platform. The partnership will further enhance their offering to clients who will now have access to a wide range of cash savings products.
Qredo partners up with DitoBanx , a neobank for the unbanked in Latin America. This partnership will see DitoBanx begin providing its customers with secure and compliant storage of digital assets using Qredo’s decentralized multi-party computation protocol.
Landytech secures $12 million Series B. The funding will accelerate Landytech’s growth , as the company expands internationally, and support its product development in partnership with its client base of single and multi-family offices, trustees, and asset managers.?
Power secures $3 million in seed funding. The startup intends to expand into at least ten African markets over the next three years. Power provides short and long-term loans, investment opportunities, and insurance products to partner employees.
Fintech trading platform Plus500 to put $100m back in shareholders’ pockets after a bumper year. In its preliminary full year results, the London-listed Israeli firm announced it would kick off a new $70m share buyback programme alongside a $30m full year dividend, after profits before deductibles surged 17 per cent to $455.8m.
QUASH.ai lands $3.7M seed round to expand Latin American credit platform. The company looks forward to expanding its reach and helping even more financial institutions increase their credit originations, CEO Yoel Gavlovski said in a statement.?
MOVERS & SHAKERS
FinWise Bank appoints Robert Keil as SVP, Chief Fintech Officer. Keil brings over 20 years of experience in Payments and the Banking as a Service industry; and will be responsible for supporting existing customers, business line strategy, and growth initiatives.
Keith Grose joins Sequence as COO. With more than a decade of professional experience in finance, technology and management, Grose also worked for more than five years at Google , heading up its hardware strategy division, as well as business and operations.
Joel Neoh steps down as Fave CEO two years after Pine Labs’ acquisition. Fave announced that Neoh will leave his role by early March 2023. He continues to remain plugged into Southeast Asia’s digital and technology ecosystem as an investor in over 25 startups.?
Looking to work with me in any of the following areas?
Cheers,
Marcel van Oost
Great overview, thank you for sharing!
Tech Director @ Amazon Payment Services | #1 LinkedIn Arab World Creator in Management & Leadership | Follow me for Daily Insights on Leadership, Management and Career | Mentor
1 年Great overview of the market, thank you Marcel van Oost
Head of Industry, Banking/Fintech @ Taktile | Publisher @ Fintech Business Weekly
1 年Thanks for the shout out. And enjoy the alps!