Our monthly review in the August
In the Fintech world it never gets boring. New companies are founded, investments are made and new products are brought to the market. Sometimes it is difficult to keep track of things. We take care of that and summarize the most important news of the past month in a compact overview. So here is our news show for the month of August.
Apple on shopping tour
Once again Apple has struck a blow and for 100 million US dollars acquired the Canadian start-up Mobeewave, which has developed a technology for receiving financial transactions on smartphones. It has developed a technology that turns smartphones into NFC payment terminals – without the need for additional hardware.
- https://paymentandbanking.com/das-apple-scheme-weltherrschaft-durch-payments/https://t3n.de/news/apple-kauft-startup-iphones-1306361/
Boon is set
As early as October 3, virtual prepaid mastercard boon is discontinued following the Wirecard bankruptcy. Until then, customers are to spend the money they have paid in or be reimbursed by Wirecard via bank transfer. Otherwise, a monthly penalty of 2.50 euros will be deducted from the credit balance. The discontinuation does not affect the banking app boon.PLANET for the time being.
Curve before new investment round
According to a report from Sifted, Curve has not yet achieved “unicorn status”. Even the £100 to 120 million that Curve will receive from investors in a Series C financing round will not change this, although this would be one of the largest funding rounds since the Corona lockdown. Most recently, Curve, which allows multiple accounts to be linked to a single card, received $55 million from investors in July 2019. the total valuation at that time was $250 million.
Curve has been behind Samsung’s Mastercar debit card, the Samsung Pay Card, since June. Users of the Samsung card have also been given access to all other Curve features, such as a consolidated view across different cards or peer-to-peer transfers.
- https://sifted.eu/articles/exclusive-curve-series-c/
- https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/18/samsung-pay-card-launches-in-uk/ SAMSUNG.
The lights go out at Yunar
Barely 24 months after the launch of Yunar, Deutsche Bank is already planning to pull the plug again. The bank does not want to quantify the costs of the experiment. But the money shouldn’t have been wasted pointlessly, the bank says: “We’ve learned how to pull up a completely new offer technically and organizationally and roll it out successfully to young, digitally affine target groups,” says Philip Laucks, the responsible Deutsche Banker. “These are valuable experiences.”
Account switches to Visa
Like Penta, the business account specialist, which also uses a whitelabel solution from Solarisbank, FinTech Kontist, which focuses on self-employed and freelancers, is now switching from Mastercard to Visa. New Kontist customers will now automatically receive a business debit card from Visa. Existing Mastercards of Kontist customers will be replaced successively. The change will also make a mobile payment option available with Google Pay for the first time.
The Swiss Fintech Numbrs is making a name for itself again
Anal a Financing round failed and employees had been laid off, Numbrs is now on a rapid rollercoaster ride. Recently, the Multibanking app also launched in Great Britain. Conversely, German users are now complaining on Twitter that the recommendation program (10 euros for new users) has been discontinued. The reason for this is said to be the ongoing problems in Germany due to PSD2.
Vivid Money with new offer
Neobank Vivid Money, which was launched in Germany in June, presents one of its first value-added services: The new “Subscription Control” is designed to help users gain a better overview of subscriptions and contracts. This is reminiscent of apps like Aboalarm or Finanzguru. At the same time, the step shows where banks should be heading in the future: towards evaluation functions that generate added value for their customers.
Kapilendo successful with KfW fast loans
Kapilendo exceeded the 100 million euro mark for financing volume in the first half of 2020 The Berlin-based Fintech benefited especially from the arrangement of KfW fast loans for small and medium-sized companies, which Kapilendo has been offering since June and cooperates with Varengold Bank in this respect. As a result, in the first six weeks around 30 million euros of corona aid could be arranged.
Loss at Revolut
According to the 2019 financial statements, Revolut made a loss of 106.5 million pounds last year – more than three times as much as last year. The loss was estimated at “only” 33 million pounds. At the same time, however, turnover also rose by a proud 180 percent, from 58 million to 162.7 million pounds. At the same time, Revolut also provides an initial outlook for the development in 2020: During the Corona crisis, Revolut’s growth has slowed down, among other things because customers have reduced their card sales due to limited travel options.
Cash injection for British company Vitesse
Vitesse, a Fintech from London that offers real-time cross-border payments for companies, is receiving a cash injection of £6.6 million. The Series A financing round is led by Octopus Ventures, with existing investors Hoxton Ventures and various business angels also contributing. Vitesse intends to use the fresh capital to accelerate its growth and gain a stronger foothold in the USA. Vitesse’s payment network currently covers 100 countries with 60 different currencies.
Gambio offers payment by instalments
Gambio, provider of a complete online shop solution for professional merchants, will in future offer its 22,000 connected shops the option of enabling their end customers to pay in installments. With the “Installment purchase by EasyCredit” it is now possible for online providers to offer their customers the possibility of making even higher-priced purchases quickly, easily and in a relaxed manner. EasyCredit has thus gained an important new customer for the online installment payments segment, which is also being driven forward by competitors Klarna and Ratepay.
Holvi withdraws from the British market
Fintech Holvi, a Finnish company specialising in SMEs and freelancers, saw its entry into the British market as a great opportunity at the beginning of the year. But just under six months later, the company is already withdrawing from the island. All accounts there will expire on 31 October. The offer from Holvi, which has been part of the major Spanish bank BBVA since 2016, was apparently not in sufficient demand.
Cooperation will be further expanded: Adyen and Zalando
Adyen and Zalando continue to expand their cooperation on an international level: From now on the Dutch payment provider will process all credit card payments for Zalando in all European markets. Prior to this, Zalando had already used Adyen technology for two-factor authentication within the framework of the PSD2 payment directive. In addition, Adyen had already handled credit card processing in France and Benelux for local card systems such as Cartes Bancaires for Zalando as an acquirer.
Cash injection for Habito
FinTech in the UK will receive £35 million in a Series C financing round, including from venture capitalists Augmentum Fintech, SBI Group and mojo.capital, with existing investors and the state-owned Future Fund also participating. Habito is considered a disruptor for the mortgage market and already has 330,000 customers. The deal brings Habito’s total financing to 63 million pounds.
Off for Moneyou
ABN Amro will cease its activities in Germany and the Netherlands in mid 2021 under the Moneyou label. Why the end? The persistently low interest rates prevent a successful differentiation of the brand, they say. The discontinuation of activities also affects online savings accounts and the app current account. According to ABN Amro, Moneyou has 500,000 customers in both countries.
Amex buys Kabbage and cooperates with Yapili
The credit card company American Express buys the US Fintech Kabbage from Atlanta, whose focus is on loans for smaller companies. The acquisition accelerates American Express’ plans to offer US small businesses a simple and efficient way to manage their payments and cash flow on a digital platform, according to Amex manager Anna Marrs. The company has also recently entered into a partnership with Yapily, a London-based FinTech that offers API-based open banking. The partnership is designed to strengthen the market for open banking transfers throughout Europe. Yapily has previously been in 15 countries and has already gained 180 institutions as partners.
- https://www.fintechmagazine.com/payment-solutions/yapily-enables-european-open-banking-american-express
- https://www.fintechmagazine.com/financial-services/american-express-announces-it-will-acquire-kabbage I’m sorry.
Ant Financial before IPO
The Chinese financial group Ant Financial is currently preparing one of the largest IPOs ever. At the end of July, the group officially announced that the IPO would take place on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges. Most recently, the company, known for its payment service Alipay, was valued at more than 200 billion dollars. According to unconfirmed rumors, Ant Financial is setting up a joint venture with Nanyang Commercial Bank, the software provider China TransInfo Technology and the battery company CATL with a share capital of 1 billion euros. It is expected to start operations in the fourth quarter and become one of China’s largest consumer finance companies.
Robinhood remains an investor favorite and secures a lot of money
The Robinhood trading app secured a further USD 200 million from investors as part of a Series G financing. Just one month earlier, the start-up had secured $320 million, and before that, $280 million. All in all, this leads to a current valuation of an impressive $11.2 billion. In June, Robinhood is said to have closed more deals than the trading platforms of Charles Schwab, E-Trade or Ameritrade.
Finleaps Element gets more money
Element, a specialist for digital insurance solutions from Finleap, is receiving a further 10 million euros from investors. The total financing of the Insurtech thus amounts to 50 million. Element offers digital insurance products that companies can sell under their own brand, such as the household and liability insurance of Signal Iduna. The existing investors are now joined by a joint fund of Sony Financial Ventures and the Japanese VC Global Brain.
Sutor Bank hires her robot
The Hamburg-based Sutor Bank hires its Robo-Advisor. Although the idea came early, the numbers have not developed as desired over the past seven years. The “Anlage-Lotse” is no longer offered for new private customers. The bank itself is talking about making a shift from the B2C to the B2B sector.
Long awaited: Girocard finally enables payments with ApplePay
While many other financial institutions are already enabling their non-credit card customers to use Apple Pay with a virtual debit mastercard, the savings banks prefer to use the Girocard and proudly report that the launch is now complete. “Above all, Sparkasse customers can now also pay with Apple Pay in places where the acceptance of the Girocard is the sole focus,” the press release continues. However, since the Girocard has so far been a pure POS product, it cannot be used for online payments with Apple Pay for the time being, as expected. However, the savings banks have announced a solution for 2021.
Bonify welcomes further capital from existing investors
The existing investors of the Berlin Fintech Bonify put a “high” seven-digit amount into the company. Bonify customers can receive and correct credit information via app. In addition, the bank account can be linked, with Fintec Systems and Finleap Connect as partners. Bonify analyzes the customer’s financial situation and can arrange a corresponding loan or other contracts, it earns a commission. The Finleap start-up Joonko is as reported only recently started with a similar offer.
Afterpay buys Pagantis and attacks Klarna with it
The Australian “buy now, pay later” specialist Afterpay intends to attack the Swedish Fintech Klarna in its European core market and is counting on the acquisition of Pagantis, a Spanish company with a similar focus. Cost factor: at least 50 million euros. vThis will secure Afterpay a larger market share in Spain, Italy and France. Pagantis is to rename the European Afterpay label Clearpay, which is already active in Great Britain, among other countries.
penalty payment against Exporo
he Hamburg-based start-up Exporo is asked to pay: The Crowdinvestin platform has to pay a fine of around 50,000 euros for real estate. The reason: Exporo Investment did not provide small investors with the legally required basic information sheets when the contract was signed, Bafin explained its action.
Personalia:
New head at Facebook Pay
Facebook hires former PayPal manager Stephane Kasriel as the new head of Facebook Pay. Facebook is also forming a new team that will oversee the various payment services that Facebook announced last year, including payments via WhatsApp in Brazil. The team will be responsible for linking the app family even more closely together. A few years ago, Facebook had already strengthened its team with former PayPal manager David Marcus, who now coordinates the introduction of the crypto currency Libra for Facebook.
- https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/10/facebook-pay-will-be-led-by-former-paypal-exec-stephane-kasriel.html
New CFO at Stripe
Dhivya Suryadevara joins Stripe from General Motors as the new CFO. She will be responsible for driving the international expansion of the financial services provider. Suryadevara has been in charge of GM’s finances since 2018 and was also a figurehead for the car company’s transformation process.
Change at the top of Ratepay
After almost ten years as CEO of RatePay together with Miriam Wohlfarth, Jesper Wahrendort is now relinquishing this position. Starting in October, he will devote himself to “new challenges”. Where he will be going and who will succeed him is not yet known. It is also already known who will succeed him: Nina Puetz is starting as a payment manager for Ratepay. Pütz was previously head of the shopping club Brands4friends and worked in various leading positions at the marketplace Ebay. Initially as “Head of RatePay” she is to rise to the position of new CEO in the coming months.
- https://financefwd.com/de/ratepay-ceo/ (Wahrendorf)
- https://financefwd.com/de/ratepay-puetz/ Puetz.
Marco Wenthin leaves Penta
Marco Wenthin, head of the Berlin-based KMU-Mobile-Bank Penta, leaves the company completely unexpectedly. After the takeover in 2019 by the Berlin-based Fintech company Finleap, he joined Penta and made Penta one of the industry’s most promising companies. The succession is to be clarified in the coming weeks.
Bitcoin expert Alexander Bechtel goes to DeuBa
Bitcoin expert Alexander Bechtel joins the already familiar faces at Deutsche Bank. Within Deutsche Bank, he is currently based in the Cash Management Strategy Office and reports both to the Head of Cash Management, Ole Matthiessen, and to the Head of Strategy of the Corporate Clients Division, André Bajorat.