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Monzo abandons plan to acquire US banking licence
Monzo has been forced to abandon its bid to acquire a US banking licence following a fruitless two-year discourse with regulatory authorities.
In a statement, the bank says: “Following recent engagement with the OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency), we’ve decided to withdraw our banking license application for our US start-up.
Pipe dream: US fintech Pipe launches in the UK
International expansion is often high up on a fintech’s to-do list and fledgeling US fintech Pipe just made the big jump across the pond—a journey its own founder did the reverse of seven years ago.
Founded in 2019, Pipe allows users to sell their recurring revenues to investors through the world’s first trading platform of its kind. At its core, Pipe is essentially a trading platform for recurring revenue streams.
Nigerian fintech startup Bitmama closes $350k pre-seed funding round
Launched in 2019, Bitmama provides a secured blockchain infrastructure that allows users across Africa to transact Bitcoin, Ethereum, Celo and six other cryptocurrencies. With users across Nigeria and Ghana, Bitmama has recorded more than US$6 million in transaction volume this year alone.
London-based fintech startup Crezco secures €3.5 million to grow B2B payment processing platform
London-based Fintech Crezco, the UK’s first open banking payment solution designed to make B2B invoice payments as convenient as B2C card payments without the costs collected by companies like Visa and MasterCard, today announced the completion of its €3.5 million seed funding round.
Highnote emerges from stealth with $54M and a plan to take on Marqeta in the world of card issuing as a service
Highnote is launching with ambitions to make waves in the world of card issuing, by making it easy for any company of any size to provide virtual payment cards to their customers. Founded by PayPal alums, the company is exiting stealth mode today and also announcing $54 million in funding to take its first steps.
The Global Open Finance Challenge to lure cream of the fintech crop
The recent announcement of the Global Open Finance Challenge has caused a stir across the fintech landscape – and with good reason. Speaking to Finextra about the upcoming global competition, representatives of NatWest Group revealed not only the motivations behind the bank’s decision to launch this initiative, but also the impressive bounty on offer for the teams that take the top prizes.
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How Fintech is solving problems for farmers in East Africa - 6 October, 12:00-13:00 (GMT+2)
Join Manon Loison, head of marketing @ LHoFT and InFiNe.lu for a conversation with Bram van den Bosch, CEO and co-founder, and Lillian Nassanga Musoke, Product Manager of EMATA a Ugandan fintech conpany facilitating farmer financing in East Africa thanks to a digital and affordable financial solution which simplifies the cooperative day-to-day operations.
Top Articles
Banks beware, Amazon and Walmart are cracking the code for finance
Global brands from Mercedes and Amazon (AMZN.O) to IKEA and Walmart (WMT.N) are cutting out the traditional financial middleman and plugging in software from tech startups to offer customers everything from banking and credit to insurance.
For established financial institutions, the warning signs are flashing.
The Most Fundamental Problem in Financial Services
Should we be removing friction and making it easier for consumers to access and use financial services? Or should we be introducing thoughtful points of friction into those financial services in order to encourage responsible usage and drive better long-term outcomes?
What’s best for the consumer?
African Fundraising: Q3 2021 = Q1 + Q2 +Q3 + Q4 2020
Unsurprisingly, fintech is the sector attracting the largest amount of funding (57%, $1.6bn+, half of which was raised in Nigeria), followed - much much behind - by energy (~$300m) and education/jobs (~$250m, driven by Andela’s recent $200m Series E).