Betterment, the largest independent digital investment advisor in the United States, announced that it has reached an agreement with Goldman Sachs to acquire Marcus Invest’s digital investing accounts. Marcus Invest, which offers digitally customized investment portfolios to consumers, will transfer these accounts to Betterment in the coming months. Betterment pioneered digital investing more than a decade ago, and today serves more than 850,000 customers and manages more than $45 billion in assets. Betterment’s diversified, expert-built portfolios, commitment to service excellence, and easy-to-use technology make it a natural fit for Marcus Invest customers as they continue to build towards their financial…
Author: Fintech News America
Andreessen Horowitz announced that they have just raised $7.2B for the following venture strategies: American Dynamism ($600M), Apps ($1B), Games ($600M), Infrastructure ($1.25B), and Growth ($3.75B). When Ben Horrowitz and Marc Andreessen started the firm in 2009, the conventional wisdom in Venture Capital was that in any given year, only 15 companies would ever generate $100M in revenue and those 15 companies would drive almost all of VC returns. At that time, the conventional wisdom was right. Venture Capital firms configured themselves to address a market of 15 important companies. This meant relatively small fund sizes and a small number…
BlackRock unveils its first tokenized fund issued on a public blockchain, the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (“BUIDL”) BUIDL will provide qualified investors with the opportunity to earn U.S. dollar yields by subscribing to the Fund through Securitize Markets, LLC. “This is the latest progression of our digital assets strategy,” said Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock’s Head of Digital Assets. “We are focused on developing solutions in the digital assets space that help solve real problems for our clients, and we are excited to work with Securitize.” Tokenization remains a key focus of BlackRock’s digital asset strategy. Through the tokenization of…
North America is a dynamic fintech hub, with major centers located in New York, San Francisco and Toronto. The region excels in areas like digital payments, digital assets, and robo-advisory services. These sectors have propelled the region’s prominence in the fintech sector. Projections by German statistic portal Statista indicate substantial growth in North America’s digital assets market, forecasted to surpass US$41 billion in assets under management (AUM) by year-end. Anticipated revenue expansion of 17.99% is expected in 2025. Likewise, the digital payments sector is on an upward trajectory, with a total transaction value forecasted to hit US$3.36 trillion by the…
SAP announced a new composable payment solution to help retailers stay ahead of changing customer expectations. The new solution, SAP Commerce Cloud, open payment framework, helps retailers become more agile as new payment options – such as buy now, pay later – gain popularity. The framework integrates SAP Commerce Cloud with numerous third-party payment service providers (PSPs), including Stripe, Adyen, Worldpay and Airwallex, based on their specific use case. Additionally, SAP’s composable architecture allows retailers to pick payment partners tailored to their unique needs and international markets, enabling them to build at their own pace, scale their business faster and…
CoinShares, a European investment company specialising in digital assets, announced the completion of its acquisition of Valkyrie Funds LLC, as well as the Sponsor rights to the Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund, the physically-backed Bitcoin ETF. With the addition of approximately Valkyrie’s $530 million of assets under management , CoinShares’ AUM has increased to approximately $7.3 billion globally as of 11th March 2024. This move accelerates CoinShares’ expansion into the U.S. market and is a further milestone towards building a global asset management franchise. As previously announced, CoinShares has held an option to acquire Valkyrie since November 2023, which was exercised following…
Visa and Western Union have entered into a seven-year agreement to significantly enhance the way money is sent across borders. This collaboration aims to simplify the process for Western Union customers to transfer funds directly to Visa cardholders and bank accounts in 40 countries across five continents. The partnership involves the issuance of cards, integration with Visa Direct for faster money transfers, and the provision of risk management services. Additionally, it will introduce Visa prepaid cards in certain markets, offering a seamless blend of physical and digital payment solutions. Using Visa Direct capability, Western Union customers will be able to…
Simetrik, a B2B financial solutions platform founded in 2019 in Colombia, announces a $55-million Series B funding round led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Other investors joining this round include FinTech Collective, which led the Series A, and Cometa, who led the seed round, Falabella Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, Actyus, Moore Strategic Ventures, Mercado Libre Fund, and the co-founders of Vtex. “This funding marks a pivotal step for Simetrik in reinforcing its role in the rapidly transforming financial sector and expanding its global reach,” says Alejandro Casas, Co-founder and CEO of Simetrik. Simetrik has developed intuitive solutions to…
Nuvei Corporation, the Canadian fintech company, announces that it has launched direct local acquiring capabilities in Colombia, further expanding its presence in Latin America and strengthening its overall footprint in the region. Nuvei is the first global payments company to offer direct local acquiring in Colombia, enabling local and international partners to accept card payments from their customers in the country without relying on intermediaries or third-party payment processors. Simplifying payments relationships in Colombia enables eCommerce businesses to maintain greater control over transaction flow management, as well as develop a more localized payments experience for customers. This announcement is the…
Citi has announced that it has successfully completed a proof of concept on tokenization of private funds along with Wellington Management and WisdomTree. The proof of concept, which was conducted on the Avalanche Spruce institutional test Subnet, found that smart-contract capabilities could deliver new functionality and operational efficiencies, which are currently unavailable with traditional assets. These new functionalities could enable buy- and sell-side institutions to engage with distributed ledger infrastructure in a low-risk, low barrier-to-entry manner that is consistent with regulations. Private markets, although a $10 trillion asset class, are characterized by an infrastructure that is complex and manual, with…
Apple has been steadily expanding its foothold in the financial services industry, with new data released by the company revealing more than 12 million users of its Apple Card credit card product, and US$10 billion in total balances in Apple Savings accounts. In a new blog post published on January 30, 2024, Apple shares growth metrics for its Apple Card product, highlighting the popularity of the credit card among customers. Among the key data, Apple claims that: Apple Card has garnered 12 million users; In 2023, users earned over US$1 billion in Daily Cash from spending on Apple Card; Apple…
PayPal Ventures announces a new AI Fund, where a portion of the total funds will be deployed over the next three years for early stage AI investments across all industries and verticals. The AI Fund is launched together with their co-lead investment in Rasa’s $30 million series C funding round. The explosion of artificial intelligence has fundamentally changed the venture capital landscape, particularly with the advent of generative AI. We are starting to see the real application of AI to hard problems as companies build practical solutions that are faster, cheaper and better using AI. We see incredible opportunities in…
Pagaya Technologies, a global technology company delivering AI-driven product solutions for the financial ecosystem, announced the closing of a credit facility with participation from Funds and Accounts managed by BlackRock, UBS O’Connor, JPMorgan Chase, Valley Bank, and Israel Discount Bank. The facility, which consists of a $255 million term loan and a $25 million revolver, provides the capital and liquidity needed to support the Company’s future growth, extends its corporate debt maturity to 2029 and validates investors’ confidence in Pagaya’s business model and financial strength. “This credit facility, led by BlackRock, showcases the confidence and support from some of the…
Canadian fintech firm Nuvei has announced its latest integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solution tailored for small and medium-sized businesses. This integration enables organisations worldwide to incorporate various payment methods, such as card payments and instant bank transfers, including ACH transactions in the U.S., into their existing Dynamics 365 Business Central module. The integration focuses on simplifying accounting workflows, enhancing back-office reconciliation, and improving the efficiency of finance departments in sectors like manufacturing, distribution, wholesale, and construction. Nuvei’s integration brings features like invoice matching and proprietary cash acceleration tools, designed to shorten the…
The Formula One grid is charging into the 2024 season with a new look and new support. Red Bull F1 Teams and Visa announced an unprecedented multi-year agreement where Visa will become the first global partner of both Red Bull F1 teams, bringing a new look team to the F1 grid in the form of Visa Cash App RB, formerly Scuderia AlphaTauri. Visa’s first new major global sports sponsorship in more than 15 years, the agreement encompasses the Visa Cash App RB team, corresponding title partnership on the F1 Academy team entry and the Oracle Red Bull Racing team. The Visa…
Quantinuum, a leading integrated quantum computing company, announced the closing of a $300 million equity fundraise, at a pre-money valuation of $5 billion. The round is anchored by Quantinuum’s strategic partner JPMorgan Chase, with additional participation from Mitsui & Co., Amgen and Honeywell, which remains the company’s majority shareholder. This investment brings the total capital raised by Quantinuum since inception to approximately $625 million. This capital raise represents Quantinuum’s first equity funding round since Cambridge Quantum Computing and Honeywell Quantum Solutions merged in November 2021. The funds will be used to accelerate the path towards achieving the world’s first universal…
DailyPay, an US based on-demand pay company announced it has secured over $175 million to fuel growth. The funding is divided between $100 million of expanded secured credit facility capacity provided by Citi and over $75 million in equity financing, which valued the company at $1.75 billion on a pre-money basis. The equity financing from both existing and new investors, led by Carrick Capital Partners, will be deployed to further accelerate DailyPay’s continued product innovation and to drive its expansion into adjacent categories and new markets. The additional $100 million expansion of the existing credit facility, provided by Citi, brings…
Digital Onboarding, an SaaS company based in Boston, helping more than 100 financial institutions deepen their customer relationships, announced it closed a $58 million growth investment from Boston-based growth equity firm Volition Capital. The investment follows rapid secular growth for Digital Onboarding as banks and credit unions increasingly seek out digital solutions to drive customer engagement and additional product adoption. According to the 2023 Future of Finance Report, 64% of customers do not have positive digital experiences in banking, and 39% say poorly integrated customer service tools are the primary cause of frustration. As a result, 25-40% of new checking…
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Digital Assets and Blockchain Technology Subcommittee of the Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) released a report entitled Decentralized Finance. CFTC Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero, sponsor of the TAC, stated “From the time that I arrived at the CFTC, I have played a steady drumbeat that we need to study emerging issues related to digital assets or we could risk harmful unintended consequences. This report is the result of the hard work of the TAC Digital Assets and Blockchain subcommittee to study DeFi. It is intended to help inform ongoing policy debates in the U.S. Congress, state…
Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks, a leader in AI-native networks, today announced that the companies have entered a definitive agreement under which HPE will acquire Juniper in an all cash transaction for $40.00 per share, representing an equity value of approximately $14 billion. The combination of HPE and Juniper advances HPE’s portfolio mix shift toward higher-growth solutions and strengthens its high-margin networking business, accelerating HPE’s sustainable profitable growth strategy. The transaction is expected to be accretive to non-GAAP EPS and free cash flow in the first year post close. The acquisition is expected to double HPE’s networking business, creating…