Revolut is looking to raise $1.5bn (£1.2bn) from investors, as it targets the mantle of becoming the world’s most valuable fintech in Europe.
Revolut has hired investment bank JP Morgan to oversee both a $500m (£395m) equity raise and the issue of a $1bn (£790m) convertible loan, according to a report in Sky News.
Chief Executive and founder Nik Storonsky is targeting a valuation of between £3.9bn and £7.9bn to propel Revolut to become the most valuable fintech in Europe. (more…)
Challenger bank Starling has partnered with digital insurance platform Nimbla to offer its 65,000 small business customers the ability to protect themselves from financial losses caused by bankrupt clients
Starling business customers can shelter themselves from risk quickly and easily by purchasing insurance cover, for either single of multiple invoices, after signing up for a free Nimbla account directly in the Starling Marketplace.
Against the rising tide of digital-only banks, Minneapolis-based personal finance platform Branch has taken the plunge.
The four-year-old company offers a suite of personal finance tools, including payday advance services for hourly workers through integrations with employer payroll platforms, including Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Its fee-free checking account is offered in partnership with Evolve Bank & Trust, and the company is considering rolling out other incentives to encourage the use of Branch checking accounts, including increased advance amounts. (more…)
Germany’s hot online banking startup N26 said on Thursday that it has hit the 1-million customer mark in France last month.
The online bank, launched in France in 2017, now has gone past HSBC, which has approximately 900,000 customers according to its 2018 report. (more…)
Tide, a UK-based SME challenger banking, announced on Monday it secured £44.1 million through its Series B funding round, which was led by specialist fintech investment companies, The SBI Group and Augmentum Fintech plc.
As previously reported, Tide describes itself as a current account that saves businesses time and money with its tools that automate bookkeeping and make paying/sending invoices quicker. (more…)
Dave, the personal finance manager turned challenger bank, landed a $50 million investment from Norwest, valuing the company at $1 billion. Dave has over 4 million users with roughly 800,000 people on the waiting list to use its banking services. The company monitors everyday monthly payments and reports them to credit agencies to improve customers’ credit ratings. The fintech also provides up to $100, interest-free, overdraft protection. (more…)
Spain-based neobank Bnext has raised a $25 million funding round. The fintech already has 300,000 active users and processes €100m ($109m) in monthly transactions. When you open a Bnext account, you get a card and can connect your existing bank accounts to manage finances from a single app. Bnext offers financial products from third-party companies as well. The company has an e-money license and operates in Spain, but plans to expand to Latin America, starting with Mexico later this year. (more…)
Swedish neobank Personal Finance Co (PFC) has gone live on Mambu’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) banking engine 10 months after launch.
PFC offers a personal finance app with an accompanying debit card. Customer are encouraged to reach their financial goals through “automation and data-driven insights.”
The bank plans to launch personalised savings and credit products in the near future and aims to accrue 100,000 users by the end of the year. It operates under a payments institution licence, rather than a full banking licence. (more…)
London-based digital bank Starling Bank has introduced a new online banking app that allows its business clients to manage their funds more efficiently, according to a release. (more…)
Fintech startup FairMoney is building a challenger bank in Nigeria. The company first started offering microcredit and now plans to expand to current accounts and savings. FairMoney just raised an $11 million Series A round (€10 million) led by Flourish, DST Global partners and existing partners Newfund, Speedinvest and Le Studio VC.
FairMoney lets you get a loan from its mobile app. After answering a few questions and sharing financial information, the startup analyzes this data set as well as your geolocation, other apps installed on your phone and other factors to give you an answer in a few minutes.
On average, people borrow the equivalent of $33. Eventually, if you always repay on time, you are able to borrow as much as $415. Interests vary depending on repayment periods and other factors, but the maximum annual percentage rate is 13%. (more…)
Which challenger bank is best for you depends on your own needs, and some people may be better off staying with a legacy provider. Wired.co.uk have reviewed a quartet of the top challenger apps – Monzo, N26, Starling and Revolut – and identified the best challenger bank for each of the following use cases: for travelling, for expats or people with families abroad, for developers and creatives, for business, for rich people, and for the rest.
UK challenger bank Monzo has broken through the three million customer mark, with sign-ups continuing to accelerate for the app-only bank.
Revolut has decided to withdraw its application for an e-Money license in Luxembourg, according to a report in the Telegraph. The application was originally filed in September of 2018. Revolut was said to make the decision following the approval of two financial services licenses from Lithuania that will allow the digital bank to “passport” its services across the European Union. Additionally, Revolut has filed for a similar license in EU member state Ireland. (more…)
High smartphone penetration in Latin America is the key factor driving digital banking and financial inclusion in the region. One of the most prominent fintechs is Brazil’s Nubank, which is the largest digital bank outside of Asia and the highest-valued digital bank in the world. Mexico and Argentina are two other fintech ecosystems with albo and Ualá attracting much attention.
The major trends that are influencing Latin America are: increased focus on small business banking, regulatory initiatives, bank-fintech collaborations and China’s banking services as a source of inspiration for Latin American fintechs. (more…)
Personalized neobanking service Yelo said on Wednesday it has raised seed round funding from Matrix Partners India, Omidyar Network India, Flourish and current investor, Better Capital.
Yelo describes itself as a digital-only mobile-first neobank with a custom-made suite of financial products for remittance, healthcare, education, e-commerce, and day-to-day cash flow management. (more…)
Challenger bank Chime has reached 5 million customers in the U.S. The San Francisco-based startup is creating an FDIC-insured mobile bank without any physical branch. The company also promises fewer fees.
Back in March, Chime said it had 3 million customers when it announced its $200 million Series D round. So that’s 2 million additional customers in roughly 5 months. (more…)
Monese, a banking app which focuses on thin file customers is partnering with deposits marketplace Raisin to launch Monese Savings. The new feature sees Monese customers gain access to Raisin’s cross-border deposits marketplace so that they can shop around for a competitive interest rate via the various European banks signed up to Raisin. It will initially be available to Monese personal account customers in the U.K., Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands and Spain. (more…)
N26, the mobile bank, is launching its service in Switzerland today, bringing their free euro bank accounts to the market for the first time.
Swiss customers using iOS will also be able to use N26 with Apple Pay. The N26 account will offer all Swiss customers five free withdrawals in euros per month within the Eurozone, with no foreign exchange fees on card payments worldwide, irrespective of currency. This offer is designed for people who travel frequently within the European Union, those who live near the Swiss border, and those who are tired of paying high fees for a euro account. With a bank account denominated in euros, N26 will offer Swiss customers truly borderless banking within the Eurozone. (more…)
Singapore-based neobank, Arival, has surpassed its £700,000 crowdfunding target on Crowdcube following its announcement in June to become the first licensed digital bank in the US this year.
The three-year-old bank has raised £1,214,136 so far, before it closes the round at midnight on 6 September. Currently Arival has a pre-money valuation of £12,012,061.
Targeted users for the neobank are those rejected by other banks, including E-Residency businesses, expats and refugees, cryptocurrency and blockchain-related businesses, politically exposed persons, and digital influencers. (more…)
Digital-only challenger bank Varo Money announced on Tuesday it is now offering No Fee Overdraft. According to Varo, the No Fee Overdraft feature allows customers to overdraft their bank account balance up to $50 with no fee and no interest when they meet certain eligibility requirements. (more…)
Challenger bank N26 is announcing two things this week. First, the company lets you share sub-accounts with other N26 users in just a few taps. Second, after a limited beta test, the company is officially launching in the U.S. with open registration. (more…)
The Danish banking app Lunar Way has overnight both received a banking licence and €26m in funding, from investors such as Danish Seed Capital, Brittish Greyhound Capital och San Francisco-based Socii Capital.
The company, which started with a banking app for millennials, is planning to use the money to strengthen its position in Denmark and Sweden and also open a division in Norway and Finland. (more…)
The first half of 2019 is proving to be a lucrative one for neobanks, which raised $2.5 billion this year through the end of July across 55 deals, reports Business Insider citing CB Insights data. (more…)
The funding round was led by PTB Ventures, with help from Accion Venture Lab, Financial Venture Studio and Techstars.
Founded by Lamine Zarrad and George Kurtyka in 2017, Joust aims to help independent professionals find more financial stability and avoid late payments amid the irregular payment system for freelance work. The bank guarantees invoice payments and has a “PayArmour” feature for same-day funding, which is available as an app in Google Play and the Apple App Store. (more…)
Monzo, the fast-growing U.K. challenger bank that recently soft-launched in the U.S., is disclosing a potential, albeit relatively limited, security oversight that saw customer PINs stored incorrectly within the company’s internal systems. (more…)
FinTech Futures has put together a list of the current challenger banks and banking services in South Africa and the tech they are using. (more…)
Digital-only challenger bank Starling Bank has partnered with SumUp, a mobile point of sale Fintech, to provide small merchants with access to faster settlements.
Starling Bank has created not only a digital bank offering but a digital marketplace where both businesses and individuals may access a growing array of 3rd party services. Other examples of approved 3rd party providers include the Department for Work and Pensions, Raisin UK and Fintechs Currency Cloud, Pockit, PelicanPay, and Vitesse. SumUp is the latest offering.
SumUp is said to be currently in use at over 1.5 million businesses. The terminals can be used with an accompanying app or via a standalone 3G card reader. (more…)
