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…)
A new digital business bank E20. has been launched in the UAE to support small business owners. E20. wants to let customers open an account quickly and easily, and allow them to do not only local but international transactions, as well as pay bills, all through a smartphone. E20. will launch through an invite-only beta, which will last through the first quarter of 2020. (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…)
Digital banking service for SMEs, Tide, is launching a subscription tier for its customers which bundles additional customer support and 20 free transfers a month.
To date, Tide has operated a ‘freemium’ business model where SMEs can sign up for a free current account, and then pay-per-payment for transfers, etc. (more…)
FinovateAsia 2018 Best of Show winner Arival Bank announced this week that it raised $2.3 million (£1.87 million) in a pre-Series A, equity crowdfunding campaign. The Singapore-based fintech bank for businesses and entrepreneurs soared past its fundraising target of $864,500 (£700,000), and now boasts a pre-money valuation of more than $14.8 million (£12 million). (more…)
Stripe has made the long-awaited move into business finance and launched Stripe Capital, a service for advancing cash to customers that in turn gets repaid out of their future sales made through Stripe’s payment platform, with loan amounts and repayments based on the customer’s transaction activity on Stripe itself. (more…)
Indian online lending marketplace Namaste Credit announced it is becoming a “fully-fledged digital-only bank” for micro small and medium businesses (MSMEs).
The neobank will have a “foundational software-as-a-service (SaaS) play” and aims to offer the first one-stop-shop for MSMEs. It will include automated credit, banking and accounting solutions.
Soon-to-be-launched app ‘Namaste Biz’ will centralise MSME’s cash flow and banking and credit management. (more…)
Digital bank Revolut has integrated Xero, an SME accounting platform, to facilitate seamless business expense reporting. The Revolut for Business app has also been updated for team members to upload receipts and add expense information, according to a release from the company
The new “Expense Management tool,” is designed to help growing businesses more easily manage expenses. Business owners may now approve or reject team expenses, an area that has traditionally been difficult to manage. (more…)
A Berlin-based fintech is trying to emulate the success that digital banks like N26 have enjoyed with retail customers by specifically targeting business clients.
The rivalry between U.K. challenger banks Tide and Starling continues to heat up as Tide signs on its 100,000th small business customer.
Reports in The Telegraph on Monday (Aug. 5) said the companies continue to compete for the small business customer base. Tide has on-boarded 100,000 small business customers, described by the firm’s chief executive Oliver Prill as a “very significant milestone.” (more…)
Judo Bank (formerly Judo Capital), an SME challenger bank, announced on Wednesday it was granted a full banking license by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). According to the bank’s Chairman, Peter Hodgson, the full license means Judo will be able to significantly extend the scope and depth of services it provides to those businesses across the country.
Founded in 2016, Judo stated it is challenging the “one size fits all” approach of its much larger competitors because it believes every business is unique and should be treated that way.
UK-based challenger bank Redwood has reportedly surpassed £100 million in lending. As previously reported, Redwood is considered one of the newest additions to the future of banking, joining peers such as Monzo, Starling, Revolut and more. Redwood is on a mission to target the SME market and its products include mortgages for business owners and professional landlords, as well as a range of savings accounts. (more…)
via TechCrunch
Just since months after raising $7 million in Series A funding, German SME banking provider Penta has been acquired by Finleap. Terms of the deal remain undisclosed, although I understand that the acquisition sees Finleap and Penta’s co-founders becoming the challenger bank’s sole owners, with all other shareholders exiting.
Launched in late 2014 by Hitfox Group and Ramin Niroumand, Finleap has developed 16 ventures from scratch, as well as acquiring a number of fintechs. Companies in its portfolio include banking platform solarisBank, of which Penta is a customer, and digital insurer Element, to name just two. (more…)
via Tearsheet
As a challenger bank, OakNorth charts a different course. While Revolut, Monzo, and N26 focus on putting their digital current accounts in the hands of millions, OakNorth doesn’t even offer a current account. While other challengers are racing to acquire banking licenses all over the world, OakNorth is happy with just a UK license.
OakNorth is also posting profits while other challengers aren’t. The bank announced a £33.9m profit for 2018, up 220 percent from 2017. (more…)
via FinTech Magazine
Open, a neo-banking startup which offers business banking solutions for startups and SMEs, has announced that it will expand into the Middle East market. (more…)
via CNBC
Square Capital, the lending arm of Square Inc., has taken advantage of a market of small- and medium-sized businesses that lack access to traditional financing, the subsidiary’s head Jackie Reses told CNBC Tuesday.
In a sit-down interview with Jim Cramer on “Mad Money,” Reses said the financial technology company has leveraged data to serve businesses that aren’t well capitalized. Square reported making out about $472 million in 72,000 business loans in 2018, up 55 percent from the year prior. (more…)
At 24 years old, most people graduate college, consider different careers options and think about what they want to achieve in their professional lives.
But for every rule, there is an exception. Some 24-year-olds run successful businesses. And some even build their own banks.
We know at least two such exceptions: Ollie Purdue (25) and Jeremy Berger (24).
They have at least two things in common: both are young (obviously), and both have co-founded digital banking startups. And most importantly, both entrepreneurs are similar in their innovative and inclusive approach to banking.
This past year, Puerto Rico has taken its place among the world’s most attractive spots for business incorporation and development of cutting-edge products and services.
Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rosselló wants to see the island develop to meet the needs of the rapidly growing innovative tech & gig economy: “I would like to see Puerto Rico become a place where businesses serve customers and coordinate operations throughout the Americas, what I like to think of as a “human cloud,” where workers spread across the island handle tasks remotely for businesses around the world.”
Puerto Rico’s agenda aligns well with Arival Bank’s goals, which aims to provide banking services for innovative tech and crypto-related SMEs. It makes Arival Bank a perfect fit into the Puerto Rico ecosystem, creating its solutions on the basis of opportunities, generously provided by the U.S. territory.
Now, it will also become the home for two international fintech awards from different corners of the world, proving that Arival Bank is on the right track.
Another successful business at 22: this fintech startup led by young Brazilian founders Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi, reached a $1.1 billion valuation.
Focusing on a huge problem entrepreneurs inevitably face – access to credit – Brex provides startups with corporate credit cards without a personal guarantee or deposit. The service offers a 10x higher credit limit than the market average and simple expense tracking for the whole team.
Public only since June 2018, the startup has already reached support of market giants such as PayPal founders Peter Thiel and Max Levchin and the former chief executive officer of Visa Carl Pascarella.
On September 26, Jeremy Berger presented Arival Bank at Fin/Sum2018, held in Tokyo. Arival was selected as one of the top 30 startups to pitch in front of executives from 500 Startups, SBI, MUFG, and other leading investment & financial institutions.
Bank of America wants small business (SMB) customers to focus on growing their account balances and is introducing a new rewards program to encourage them to do so. (more…)
By Fundbox
Today Fundbox, the leading small business growth company, announced the launch of Fundbox Pay, a new payment and credit solution servicing the $4.5 trillion small business-to-business (SMB2B) transactional market in the U.S. (more…)
By Sberbank,
Sberbank has launched a new online service for small businesses which helps them to prepare the documents needed to make changes to charters and constituent documents of individual entrepreneurs and limited liability companies. (more…)
ING has built a ‘digital shoebox’ app that lets small business clients use their phone cameras to scan receipts and bills, then link them directly to transactions.
DBS said on Tuesday it has cut transaction costs for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as more of the SME transactions go online. (more…)
Wealthfront, the software-based wealth management company that is targeting the millennial segment, has raised $75 million in a funding round led by Tiger Global Management. (more…)
The Hurun Research Institute released today the Hurun Greater China Unicorn Index 2017, where Ant Financial, Didi Chuxing, and Xiaomi top the chart. The report listed out 120 best unicorns in the Greater China region that are valued over $1 billion as of the end of November 2017. (more…)
ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector bank by consolidated assets, today announced the launch of a digital service that enables customers to open a Public Provident Fund (PPF) account instantly and in a completely online and paperless manner. (more…)
Nordea has collaborated with Nordic payments processor Nets on a service which enables consumers to post invoices and pay their bills via Facebook Messenger. (more…)
