Author: Fintech News America

Mastercard is set to acquire Aiia, a Danish open banking technology provider, for an undisclosed sum and the transaction is anticipated to close by year’s end. Aiia is a licensed Payment Initiation Service Provider (PISP) and Account Information Service Provider (AISP) and operates under the supervision of the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA). Mastercard has made several moves in recent times to blend its proprietary technology and multi-rail payments expertise with strong partners offering complementary services. In 2019, Mastercard launched its first open banking connectivity offering in the UK and Poland through a partnership with Token. With the acquisition of…

Databricks, a US-based enterprise software company, announced that it has raised US$1.6 billion during a Series H funding round at a US$38 billion valuation. This new round brings Databricks’ total funding to almost US$3.6 billion, and will be used to accelerate the company’s rapidly growing data lakehouse market. The round was led by Counterpoint Global (Morgan Stanley) and joined by other new investors including Baillie Gifford, ClearBridge Investments and UC Investments (Office of the Chief Investment Officer of the Regents of the University of California). Existing investors participating in the round include Andreessen Horowitz, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock,…

US-based neobank MoneyLion’s merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Fusion Acquisition Corp. to become a publicly listed company is coming to a close. A special meeting of Fusion Acquisition Corp. shareholders will be held on 21 September 2021 in order to approve the proposed merger. Upon closing of the transaction, the combined company will be named MoneyLion Inc. and will be listed on the NYSE under the new ticker symbol “ML.” Dee Choubey, CEO and Founder of MoneyLion said, “We are excited to reach this important milestone on our path to becoming a publicly-traded company. We look forward…

Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group which owns and operates IKEA stores, has invested US$22.5 million in US-based Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) firm Jifiti, for a minority stake in the company. Ingka Group and Jifiti have a long-standing commercial partnership with the latter acting as a facilitator of IKEA Retail’s and consumer financing services. IKEA, with their local banking partners in Spain, France, Portugal and Belgium have already been offering financing in their stores via the Jifiti platform since 2019 and are now rolling out into other countries. The aim is to have the Jifiti platform facilitate…

Affirm, a US-based Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) firm, announced that its flexible payment solution will soon be available to Amazon.com customers at checkout. In a joint statement, Amazon and Affirm said that they are testing with select customers now, and in the coming months, Amazon plans to make Affirm more broadly available to its customers. As a result of Amazon and Affirm’s partnership, select Amazon customers now have the option to split the total cost of purchases of US$50 or more into simple monthly payments by using Affirm. Approved customers are shown the total cost of their purchase upfront…

Monaco-based wealthtech firm Privatam has appointed Jose Carlos Reis as its Sales Director for the Latin American market to consolidate its presence in the South American region. Prior to joining Privatam, Jose Carlos Reis worked at BB Securities Asia (Banco do Brasil group) in Singapore as Executive Director, Head of Institutional Sales and held various positions at Banco BPI, Portugal, leading institutional sales teams, structuring investment solutions, trading derivatives, Latam fixed income and equities. Jose Carlos has an extensive track record in the finance industry, with over eighteen years of experience advising institutional investors in Asia, Europe and Latin America.…

Airwallex, a cross border payment company, announced its official launch in the US as it continues its international growth momentum. The company first established a presence in San Francisco in 2019, and has grown to a team of more than 30 today across product and engineering, legal, risk & compliance, partnerships and sales. Airwallex plans to continue to expand its US team over the coming months, as it looks to further strengthen its foothold in the market. Its market entry into the U.S. is supported by a partnership with domestic bank Evolve Bank & Trust, a technology-focused financial services organisation…

Corporate credit card startup Ramp announced that it has raised US$300 million in a Series C funding round which now values the firm at US$3.9 billion. Ramp has raised over US$620 million to date in a mix of equity and debt financing. Founders Fund led the round, with participation from Redpoint Ventures, Thrive Capital, D1 Capital Partners, Spark Capital, Coatue Management, Iconiq, Altimeter, Stripe, Vista Public Strategies, Lux Capital, A* Partners, Definition Capital, Honeycomb, Kinetic, and other existing investors. Ramp said that it intends to use the new financing to accelerate development of its finance automation platform, designed to help…

DriveWealth, US-based specialist of embedded finance, fractional investing in US equities, and API-driven brokerage infrastructure, announced a US$450 million Series D with a valuation of US$2.85 billion. The round was co-led by New York-based global private equity and venture capital investor Insight Partners and Accel, with significant participation by Greyhound Capital, Softbank Vision Fund 2, and Series C lead Point72 Ventures. The round also included a follow-on investment from Fidelity International, plus several new investors including Base 10, FTX, and FlightDeck. DriveWealth said that it will use the Series D investment to “execute its strategic vision of becoming the category…

Canadian travel tech company Hopper announced that it has completed a US$175 million Series G financing round led by New York’s GPI Capital. The fundraise also saw participation from Glade Brook Capital, WestCap, Goldman Sachs Growth and Accomplice. Hopper said in a statement that the funds will be used to accelerate the company’s growth across several fronts including customer support. The firm will also be hiring an additional 500 employees, 300 of which will be focused on customer service. Additionally, Hopper added that it is actively looking to “acqui-hire” other teams in travel, data science, or engineering-heavy startups to introduce…

Colombia’s fintech sector is growing at a fast pace with now more than 320 companies operating in various segments ranging from online lending and digital payments, to business finance and wealthtech. This makes Colombia the third largest fintech hub in Latin America (LatAm) after Brazil and Mexico, according to a recent report by industry trade group Colombia Fintech. The figure represents a 37% increase in the number of fintech companies since 2017. Though growth slowed down between 2019 and 2020, recording just a shy 2% rise, Erikc Rincon Cardenas, the president of Colombia Fintech, believes that the 2020-2021 period should…

London-based payments platform Paysafe signed a deal to acquire Latin American digital payments firm SafetyPay for US$ 441 million in an all-cash transaction that is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021. Paysafe said in a statement that the two acquisitions sets it up to be the leading open banking and digital payments solutions provider in Latin America, one of the world’s fastest-growing online markets”. It currently offers over 70 payment types in over 40 currencies around the world. Furthermore, with SafetyPay having established relationships with more banks in Latin America, Paysafe will be uniquely positioned to capture…

San Francisco-based challenger bank Chime Financial announced that it has secured a funding of US$750 million, pushing its valuation to US$25 billion ahead of a planned initial public offering (IPO) early next year. The funding round was led by new investor Sequoia Capital Global Equities with participation from SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund 2, General Atlantic, Tiger Global Management LLC and Dragoneer Investment Group LLC. The funds will be used to push ahead with its IPO plans for early 2022. Founded in 2012, Chime provides checking and savings accounts and introductory credit cards to consumers through its app. Prior to…

Upgrade, a US-based fintech company that offers affordable and responsible credit to mainstream consumers, announced that it closed a US$105 million Series E round at a US$3.325 billion pre-money valuation. The round was led by Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT) with participation from new and existing investors including BRV and Ventura Capital advised by Julius Baer. Upgrade offers products that are designed to give consumers more value and a better experience than those offered by traditional banks. Upgrade Card, the company’s flagship product, promotes responsible credit by turning every balance into a fixed-rate installment plan, and by paying rewards to cardholders…

EPAM Systems, a US-based provider of digital platform engineering and development services, has acquired S4N, a Columbian software development services firm specialising in the design and development of modern software products and enterprise platforms. The move is a part of EPAM’s global footprint expansion within the Latin American region. With offices in Colombia, S4N has built software for some of the world’s largest retailers, insurance companies, and airlines specialising in architecting and delivering software distributed systems, data-intensive solutions, as well as CloudOps. With an existing presence in Mexico, EPAM’s move into Colombia will strengthen its position by combining both engineering…

BBVA has signed an agreement to integrate its cross-border payment and financing services on Trusple, a blockchain-based trading platform powered by Alibaba’s affiliate Ant Group, for greater transparency and security. Trusple aims to accelerate the digital transformation and facilitate the financing of international trade operations, with a special focus on small and mid-sized businesses. These services will be offered by BBVA Mexico and BBVA Spain so that Mexican and Spanish importers that currently import from China can pay for the operations within Trusple, without having to use external services. The system uses smart contracts which automatically execute the transactions when…

Brazilian challenger bank Nubank announced that it led a US$44 million investment round in Jupiter, an Indian digital bank which launched its beta app about a month ago. This marks the first investment that Nubank has made into another company. The funding round was joined by venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Matrix Partners. With this investment, Nubank intends be a part of Jupiter and also “take advantage of the similarities with the Indian market to promote more and more changes in Latin America”. Nubank had recently announced that it had raised a total of US$ 750 million during two…

Paysafe a leading specialized payments platform, today announces that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire PagoEfectivo, a market-leading, Peruvian alternative payments (APM) platform. For Paysafe, this latest investment is a strategic foothold in Latin America, one of the world’s fastest-growing online markets where merchants and consumers alike are demonstrating an increased appetite for alternative payment methods and online banking solutions. Paysafe’s core purpose is to enable businesses and consumers to connect and transact seamlessly through industry-leading capabilities in payment processing, digital wallet, and online cash solutions; it offers over 70 payment types in over 40 currencies around the…

Mercury, a San Francisco-based fintech startup which offers banking services for startups, announced that it has raised US$120 million during its Series B funding round and is now valued at US$1.62 billion. The round was led by Coatue, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, CRV, and Sapphire Ventures. Investors including Dylan Field, CEO at Figma, Mathilde Collins, CEO at Front, Akshay Kothari, COO at Notion, Jack Altman, CEO at Lattice, Hunter Walk and Satya Patel, Partners at Homebrew, and Elizabeth Yin, Partner at Hustle Fund had contributed too. Additionally, Mercury said that it will set aside a US$5 million allotment in…

Across the US and around the world, live events are back in full force and gathering steam. In key fintech hubs like New York and California, major trade shows and events are scheduled to take place in the coming months, promising to gather some of the industry’s most influential experts and thought leaders. We’ve compiled a list of the top upcoming fintech events and gatherings for professionals to keep up with the latest developments and build meaning connections with industry leaders. LendIt Fintech Nexus September 01 – 02, 2021 Loews Miami Beach Hotel, FL LendIt Fintech, one of the leading…