September 15, 2016 @ 5:04 am By Erin Hobey  |  

The Gurgaon, India-based online payment service provider PayU has acquired its rival online payment gateway Citrus Pay. The deal was closed at $130M, making it by far the largest M&A cash deal in Indian fintech.Post completion, CitrusPay will be wholly owned by Naspers. Amrish Rau, an Citrus Pay MD, will become PayU India’s… Read More

September 14, 2016 @ 7:00 am By Erin Hobey  |  

LendKey, a fintech company which provides institutional investors, banks, credit unions, affiliates, and borrowers with “access, efficiency, and speed” within the lending ecosystem, today released an inaugural industry-specific report entitled Positive Signal for Private Student Loans. In April the New York and Cincinnati based platform surpassed the billion-dollar mark in… Read More

September 13, 2016 @ 8:30 am By Erin Hobey  |  

The Small Business Growth Survey, which surveyed small businesses from around the country, was conducted by Bizfi, a fintech company with a platform that combines aggregation, funding and a marketplace for small businesses. The purpose of this survey was to gain insight into what small businesses… Read More

September 13, 2016 @ 8:21 am By Erin Hobey  |  

While Peak Design may have officially closed its most recent rockin’ Kickstarter campaign which raised for its Everyday Backpack Collection.  Founded by Peter Dering, Peak Design is still offering the Everyday Backpack (in 20L and 30L), Everyday Sling, and Everyday Tote, but now on Indiegogo’s InDemand. Funded to the… Read More

September 13, 2016 @ 7:00 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Point, claiming the title as the first financial technology platform that allows homeowners to unlock their home equity wealth without taking on new debt, announced today that it has raised $8.4 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz which also led the company’s… Read More

September 13, 2016 @ 5:17 am By Erin Hobey  |  

British Business Bank Investments Ltd, the commercial arm of the British Business Bank, today announced an £18M investment in Blackburn and Manchester-based Praetura Asset Finance. The investment, comprising £15M of matched funding and an additional £3m of expansion capital, will support at least £36M of smaller… Read More

September 8, 2016 @ 5:57 am By Erin Hobey  |  

The word on the street is that one of the US’ largest online lenders, SoFi, is pitching a new $500 million fundraising effort, according to the WSJ; the San Francisco-based privately held lender helmed by CEO Mike Cagney will reportedly use the funding for new growth initiatives among mass-market borrowers and… Read More

September 8, 2016 @ 3:47 am By Erin Hobey  |  

A new patent-pending Trike, dubbed the Triple Tread, is now live on Crowdcube seeking s to raise £120,000 to bring to market a vehicle designed specifically to meet the needs of disabled or elderly riders.  Designed in the UK by Mark Harrison, the project has been bootstrapped by its founders… Read More

September 8, 2016 @ 3:19 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Aiming to bring one million electric cars to German roads by 2020, the German federal government recently introduced a subsidy for purchasers of electric cars. Demand for this subsidy has reportedly neither been very high. According to e-scooter start-up Kumpan, this subsidy does not apply to electric scooters. Despite this… Read More

September 6, 2016 @ 1:53 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

When Finnovista first covered Spanish fintech in 2013, the site recorded only 50 startups in the sector; now, three years later, in its first edition of Fintech Radar Spain, the site identified 207 Spanish fintech startups, indicating the sector had quadrupled in three years, stats largely in line with fintech’s global trend. Cofounded… Read More

September 6, 2016 @ 3:57 am By Erin Hobey  |  

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has unveiled a series of policy initiatives for banks to embrace technology, and changed the city’s tax regime to attract corporate treasury departments, as it sharpens its edge to compete with Singapore and Tokyo as Asia’s financial centre, reported… Read More

September 6, 2016 @ 3:35 am By Erin Hobey  |  

In order to accelerate growth, the Irish P2P lending platform Linked Finance — Ireland’s first — has moved from a model where lenders “bid” the interest rate they would offer to a company seeking funds, to one where a fixed-rate is set at the beginning… Read More

September 6, 2016 @ 3:08 am By Erin Hobey  |  

The UK innovation agency Nesta is planning a “multi-million pound” challenge prize programme aimed at encouraging fintech startups to build data-driven comparison tools to support small businesses in selecting financial products and services.The two-year programme is closely allied to a regulatory agenda aimed at enhancing… Read More

September 2, 2016 @ 4:26 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Cringle, a smartphone app used to send money quickly within Europe, is continuing to rally on Companisto.  To date, the fintech app has garnered over 459,010€ from nearly 1000 investors for 8.89% share offered.  The startup’s original funding goal was 400K€, which was surpassed and the campaign was extended to close in… Read More

September 2, 2016 @ 3:13 am By Erin Hobey  |  

In a decision filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, U.S. District Judge John Walter ruled in favor of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau when he determined that the Californian online loan platform CashCall Inc. was the “true lender” behind the transactions… Read More

September 2, 2016 @ 2:29 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Delhi-based One97 Communications, which runs mobile payment and ecommerce platform Paytm, has received Rs 400 crore ($60 million) from Taiwanese semiconductor maker MediaTek’s Mountain Capital Fund, reported the India Times.  The deal, which was ratified by the board of directors earlier this week, more than doubles Paytm’s… Read More

September 1, 2016 @ 3:27 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Currencycloud, an international payments engine, announced a new partnership with Arkéa Banking Services, a subsidiary of Credit Mutuel Arkéa. Through the partnership, Currencycloud will offer Euro bank accounts to its clients as well as have direct access to European payments systems, according to the release. Currencycloud’s clients will… Read More

September 1, 2016 @ 2:57 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Peak Design looks to the crowd to surpass $4.3 million (or better, $5M!) for its Everyday Backpack line during its final 8 days on Kickstarter, swiftly passing its modest goal of $500,000 for line’s four new bags. Within hours, the California-based initiative not only successfully secured its initial goal but nabbed over… Read More

September 1, 2016 @ 2:03 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Tile, the smart location company, today unveiled its newest consumer product – Tile Slim, a Bluetooth tracker designed specifically for wallets. The company also introduced today the Tile Smart Location Platform, a B2B offering that allows companies to embed Tile’s smart location technology into their own… Read More

August 25, 2016 @ 12:44 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

UBS and Clearmatics have  joined with BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank, Icap and Santander to advance the Utility Settlement Coin, an asset-backed digital cash instrument implemented on distributed ledger technology, according to a statement. “Digital cash is a core component of a future financial market fabric… Read More