Friday Finance Acquired by Competitor Pliant in a Strategic Shift
Good morning!
In Today's Fintech Roundup, I’d like to start with the following headlines:
🇩🇪 Berlin’s Fintech Shake-up: Friday Finance, the Berlin-based startup that once went by "Airbank", has been snapped up by Pliant. With an initial aim of streamlining SME financial processes, this acquisition signals a strategic pivot in the ever-evolving fintech landscape.
🇳🇬 Nigeria's Banking Revolution: In a major boost to the African FinTech ecosystem, Nigeria's BaaS platform, Anchor, has successfully raised $2.4 million. With a vision to digitize banking in a largely cash-reliant economy, Anchor is gearing up to expand its reach and refine its offerings.
Poll Results: Elon's "Everything App" Ambition
Last week, I posed a question inspired by Elon Musk's intriguing comment: "Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app." You weighed in on whether Musk will realize his vision of the ultimate superapp. The verdict?
YES: 47%
NO: 53%
It was a very close call!
Personally, I'm betting on Elon to craft an impressive app. Yet, becoming a dominant superapp, akin to Asia's giants, in the West? That's a tall order. The Western market differs significantly, and I'm skeptical about its wide adoption for financial services. But, with Elon's knack for defying expectations, who knows what's in store?
Dive into today's curated news updates below. Happy reading!
NEWS HIGHLIGHT
🇮🇳 India's Paytm launches $12 'soundbox' that takes card payments. Paytm on Monday launched a "soundbox" device that lets merchants accept both mobile and card payments across networks including Visa, Mastercard, American Express and homegrown RuPay, to attract more subscribers from its large network.
#FINTECHREPORT
American Banker’s “Future of Payments 2023” research report highlights current trends in emerging payments and the risk they hold for legacy offerings and the financial institutions that provide them. Download the complete report here
Winning Hong Kong’s Merchant Payment War – Revisiting the Battle Plans of Hong Kong’s E-Wallet Providers report looks in detail at the e-wallet landscape in Hong Kong, providing an in-depth overview of e-wallet payment trends, and more. Click here to get the complete report
Elevation FinTech Report 2023 : A definitive blueprint for $400Bn value creation by 2030. In this backdrop, Elevation Capital presents the inaugural version of “The Bottomline” – their point of view and blueprint on India’s FinTech landscape. To access the full report, please click here
INSIGHTS
Here is a map of the Fintech Ecosystem in Nepal. Take a look and tell me who is missing in the overview? Link here. Check out my Fintech Maps overview by clicking on this link.
Mastercard rolls out card tokenization for guest checkout transactions. ALT ID is Mastercard's custom feature for generating alternate identifiers in place of actual card numbers during guest checkout on e-commerce sites, aimed to enhance online payment security for both merchants and consumers.
FINTECH NEWS
India and New Zealand are discussing the possibility of introducing the UPI interface in the island country with a view to promoting ease of doing business, trade and tourism between the countries, the commerce ministry said. The two countries are also looking at ways to allow the import of wooden logs from New Zealand.
Travelex launches Travel Money Card in Japan. The Travelex Money Card supports eight foreign currencies, including the US Dollar, Euro and Australian Dollar. Read more
Safexpay ships RegTech platform for bank APIs. APIX provides a comprehensive set of API solutions within a unified framework. These solutions cover banking, payments, and document verification, serving a wide range of businesses.
BlinkPay brings open banking payments to New Zealand. BlinkPay is committed to leading this change in New Zealand, offering merchants a more efficient and secure way to handle payments.
Acquired.com launches hosted checkout to support growth of open banking payments. Hosted Checkout is a pre-built, highly customisable and quick to deploy solution that will allow merchants to accept credit and debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay & Open Banking payments through a single integration.
Pine Labs introduces Mini, a QR-first device with card acceptance. Expected to be available at nearly one-third of the cost of a regular Point of Sale (PoS) terminal, Mini is an ideal solution for small merchants. Read more
Take a look at “Nordic Fintech Snippets– August 2023” by Helsinki FinTech Farm and find the industry highlights, including funding rounds, partnerships, acquisitions, and new launches. Link here
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
Nequi, a branch of Bancolombia S.A., has introduced "Segurísimo," a customizable insurance policy available within Nequi's services. Initially accessible on Android smartphones, "Segurísimo" allows users to choose their desired insurance areas based on their individual needs.
YES Bank eRupee app gets UPI interoperability. The bank is one of four lenders to have been picked by the RBI for an eRupee retail pilot, using a unique QR code mechanism for conducting transactions.
Douugh's plans in tatters. After withdrawing from the US market in the December half of the year, FinTech Douugh turned its attention to the rollout of its product in Australia. It hasn’t fared any better in the local market.
BLOCKCHAIN
Luno to offer bitcoin-to-fiat transfers for shoppers at Pick n Pay stores in South Africa. Luno customers will simply open their Luno app and scan a QR code at the till to pay in Bitcoin. Read more
LSE Group goes blockchain for digital asset initiative. This move is expected to make it the first big exchange to widely use blockchain for trading regular financial assets, according to LSEG.
PARTNERSHIPS
Indian Bank taps OneCard for mobile-first premium metal card. This partnership seeks to provide an unparalleled seamless credit consumption experience to the digitally-savvy consumers in the country.
Banking Circle joins Spanish fintech association. Through this partnership, Banking Circle aims to expand its presence, strengthen its position in Spain and contribute to the development of best practices in the Spanish FinTech and InsurTech sectors.
DONE DEAL FUNDING NEWS
ASX-listed Complii Fintech Solutions to acquire MIntegrity. The acquisition is slated to further diversify and add significant revenue to the Complii Group, as well as providing increased scope for cross selling the Group’s service offerings to a wider client base.
Clear Junction acquires cryptoasset firm Altalix. This acquisition represents a significant milestone in Clear Junction’s growth journey as it works towards becoming a one-stop shop for its clients to manage their payment and treasury needs globally.
In the final week of August just two FinTech deals were announced in Europe. Click here to read the complete overview article by BlackFin Tech.
Spanish FinTech defies global trends in 2023, deal activity set to grow by 21%. Check out the key Spanish FinTech investment stats in H1 2023 here
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Job Post: VP Product at Swan. Swan is seeking a highly skilled VP Product to join its team. Apply here.
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