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…)
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German fintech company builder Finleap acquires SME banking provider Penta
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…)
Inside OakNorth’s plan to take its lending technology global
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…)
World’s fastest growing SME neo-bank announces Middle East expansion
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…)
Square Capital head: We are leveraging data to extend credit to small businesses that lack access to traditional loans
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…)
Meet the world’s youngest digital bankers: Jeremy Berger (24) & Ollie Purdue (25)
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.
The world’s hottest digital banking startup takes home 2 international awards in one week, preparing to launch in Puerto...
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.
How the 22-year-old founders of Brex built a billion dollar business in less than 2 years
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.
Arival meets Revolut at Japan’s largest fintech summit
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.
BofA Entices SMBs To Grow Account Balances With Rewards Program
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…)
Fundbox addresses SME access to credit with Fundbox Pay
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…)
Sberbank online toolkit for changing company constitutent documents
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 introduces Receipts & Invoices app for SMEs
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.
Currently available in the Netherlands, where it has already attracted over 42,000 users since launching in November, the Receipts & Invoices app promises to make paperwork simpler for small firms.
DBS cuts transaction fee for SME payments as more SMEs go online
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…)
Software-only Wealthfront raises $75 million
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…)
Ant Financial, Didi, and Xiaomi named top 3 Chinese unicorns, says Hurun Report
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 takes the paperwork out of PPF account opening
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 brings e-invoicing to Facebook Messenger
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…)
Japanese pawn shop app Cash acquired for $62.2M by DMM
DMM, one of Japan’s largest Internet and e-commerce conglomerates, announced today that it will pay 7 billion yen (about $62.2 million) for pawn shop app Cash. Launched this summer, Cash’s software automatically appraises an item’s value based on user photos and offers a cash advance with it as collateral. (more…)
BNP Paribas buys stake in SME credit specialist Caple
BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) has bought a 10% stake in a new alternative SME credit specialist called Caple as part of a wider strategic alliance. (more…)
Kabbage Announces New $200 Million Asset-Backed Revolving Credit Facility With Global Financial Institution Credit Suisse
By Samantha Hurst for Crowdfundinsider
Kabbage Inc., a global financial services, technology and data platform serving small businesses, announced on Thursday its new $200 million asset-backed revolving credit facility with Credit Suisse, a global financial institution. This news comes less than a month after Kabbage announced it and ING were extending its strategic partnership with Italy and France. (more…)
MarketInvoice Celebrates New Varengold Partnership & £1.5B Funding Milestone
By Erin Hobey for Crowdfundinsider
Big news for business finance company MarketInvoice who not only is celebrating a £1.5b funding milestone but has also signed an agreement with Varengold Bank AGto provide £45m funding annually on its invoice finance platform, funding working capital solutions for businesses across the UK. (more…)
Xero and Santander team on SME banking service
By Xero
Today, Xero, the UK’s leading online accounting software, and Santander, announce an integrated service for SMEs. (more…)
At $3 Billion in Loans, Amazon is Quickly Becoming a Huge SME Lender
By Crowdfund Insider
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced today that it had originated over $3 billion in loans to more than 20,000 small businesses since 2011. One billion of those loans came in the past 12 months. Peyush Nahar, VP for Amazon Marketplace, released a statement on the milestone; (more…)
Here’s how likely your startup is to get acquired at any stage
By Jason Rowley for Techcrunch.com
Let’s say you randomly selected 1,000 seed-stage startups based in the United States. How many of those would go on to raise a Series A? Of companies that go on to raise a Series A, how many would go on to raise a Series B? You could keep this process going until only a few companies remain. (more…)
CreditHero wants to help fix credit scores for those afraid to even look
By Matthew Lynley for Techcrunch
With apps like Robinhood and services like Wealthfront for investing, and Credit Karma to check your credit score regularly, it might seem like financial services are finally getting more palatable and mainstream. But to Nicole Sanchez, people still need to have decent credit to get to the point where they’ll use those services — and that’s a huge hurdle to cross. (more…)
MarketInvoice Receives £45 Million to Lend from BNI Europe
MarketInvoice, a UK based invoice financing platform, has received a £45 million lending commitment from Portuguese bank BNI Europa. (more…)
Tungsten Targets Procure-to-Pay Friction With New Partner
Electronic invoicing company Tungsten has teamed up with the Institute of Finance and Management (IOFM) to help educate its business customers on how to streamline supply chain management. (more…)
