Tagged: coronavirus

April 22, 2020 @ 7:45 am By Omar Faridi  |  

France-based Fintech firm PayFit has upgraded its HR and payroll platform to allow UK companies to determine furlough and sick pay during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. The updates to PayFit’s human resources software will give PayFit users the option to submit Coronavirus-related leave requests. The… Read More

April 22, 2020 @ 1:00 am By JD Alois  |  

OurCrowd, the world’s largest crowdfunding venture investment platform, has announced it would lead a $12 million funding round in MigVax Corporation – a startup that is developing a COVID-19 vaccine. MigVax is affiliated with the Migal Galilee Research Institute, is pioneering the effort to develop… Read More

April 21, 2020 @ 11:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

UK-based company, For Good Causes, has officially launched its services, which allow people to convert their loyalty points and rewards into a digital charity donation. UK-based charity organizations have begun to experience a significant increase in the demand for their services, following the deadly Coronavirus… Read More

April 21, 2020 @ 5:26 pm By JD Alois  |  

The US Senate has unanimously approved more funding for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) created under the original CARES Act that was tapped dry several days ago. The approval by the Senate now queues up a vote in the US House of Representatives later this… Read More

April 21, 2020 @ 7:52 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Barclays announced on Monday it has opened up the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) to help large corporate banking clients that are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Barclays reported that through the program, which is backed by a UK Government guarantee, it will… Read More

April 21, 2020 @ 1:35 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Singapore-based remittance firm TranSwap is reportedly holding discussions to secure $5-10 million in capital. Benjamin Wong, co-founder and CEO at TranSwap, confirmed that the cross-border payments company is planning to close its investment round “quite soon”. As reported by e27, the Fintech firm has acquired… Read More

April 21, 2020 @ 12:32 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Economic activity in Indonesia has slowed down significantly following the deadly Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. According to local reports, some businesses in the trillion-dollar economy have shut down completely. Peer to peer (P2P) lending platforms are also experiencing major challenges, which include having to deal with… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 11:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Earlier this month, Pakistan’s Easypaisa, a local provider of online financial services, teamed up with Zakat and Ushr department of the Government of (the province of) Punjab, in order to distribute funds to locals who have been impacted by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and resulting… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 11:26 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Filecoin, a highly-anticipated decentralized storage network (under development), announced that there will be more delays before its mainnet can be officially launched. Filecoin’s developers have postponed the release date for their mainnet to between late July and late August 2020. As mentioned in a recent… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 3:46 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Branch, a U.S.-based insurtech startup, announced on Monday it is set to give back 15% of monthly insurance premiums to its auto policyholders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Branch, the compassionate initiative recognizes clients’ reduced driving due to shelter in place orders… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 1:25 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fintech PrimaryBid has launched a call to action to empower “ordinary investors” to purchase shares in deeply discounted offerings. Earlier this month, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced a series of measures aimed at assisting companies to raise new share capital in response to… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 11:45 am By JD Alois  |  

An MIT professor believes that a new digital identity certifying an individual’s health status could be key to re-opening the economy that has been crushed by the COVID-19 pandemic. MIT Professor Alex “Sandy” Pentland says digital tools can certify a person’s health to create safe… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 9:24 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

HDR Global Trading Limited, operator of the BitMEX cryptocurrency trading platform, announced on Monday the launch of its COVID-19 Response Fund. The company reported that it has granted US$2.5 million towards the global effort to respond to the pandemic. The HDR Global Trading COVID-19 Response… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 9:16 am By JD Alois  |  

In a widely anticipated move, HM Treasury announced a new package of bailout programs for early-stage ventures that did not qualify for programs initially set into place to support the COVID-19 battered economy. There have been profound concerns that younger, entrepreneurial firms that require ongoing… Read More

April 19, 2020 @ 10:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital asset custody provider BitGo has reportedly laid off 12% of its employees. Several professionals working in BitGo’s marketing and sales departments have been laid off, according to sources familiar with the matter. The layoffs are the latest to hit the blockchain and crypto industry,… Read More

April 19, 2020 @ 9:57 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The developers of Baseline, an enterprise-grade smart contract and tokenization platform created by Microsoft, Ernst & Young (EY), and Ethereum development studio ConsenSys, aim to solve a number of flaws reportedly found in Apple and Google’s proposal for Coronavirus (COVID-19) tracking projects. Google and Apple… Read More

April 19, 2020 @ 7:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

The European Crowdfunding Network (ECN), the group that represents online capital formation platforms across Europe as well as the UK, has recently completed a survey of member platforms and several non-member platforms seeking to gain insight as to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The… Read More

April 18, 2020 @ 4:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

Many Fintechs are actively engaged in supporter consumers and businesses in the battle to survive in an economy battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Simultaneously, some funding has dried up putting some startups at risk. This may include Fintechs. Yet one report expects that Fintechs may… Read More

April 18, 2020 @ 2:29 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which is considered the world’s largest and “most representative” business organization, has requested governments and reserve banks across the globe to nullify any rules or laws that prevent the use of paperless trading. The ICC said that authorities must… Read More

April 17, 2020 @ 3:43 pm By JD Alois  |  

SME Marketplace lending platform Funding Circle (LSE:FCH) has been approved by the British Busines Bank as a lender under the  Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). The online lender becomes one of a handful of Fintechs in the UK facilitating the program. Funding Circle said… Read More