Tagged: small businesses

February 27, 2022 @ 11:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Since the start of the Coronavirus crisis, both digital-service use and the digital market have grown significantly in Southeast Asia. According to the e-Conomy SEA 2021 Report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, there are now around 350 million digital consumers in the region… Read More

February 27, 2022 @ 9:39 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) notes that they have made enhancements to the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme. The Financial Secretary confirmed in the 2022-23 Budget today (23 February) that the application period for the 80% Guarantee Product, the 90% Guarantee Product and the Special… Read More

February 25, 2022 @ 8:16 am By Omar Faridi  |  

European Fintech iwoca reveals that a new B2B payments solution is bringing together instant payments, free transactions and flexible financing “to address cash flow problems for both buyers and suppliers.” As mentioned in an update shared with Crowdfund Insider, online Fintech firm iwoca has noted… Read More

February 24, 2022 @ 8:53 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Michael Froman, Vice Chair and President, Strategic Growth at Mastercard (NYSE: MA), notes that shuttered storefronts might be a lingering symbol of the pandemic’s “economic fallout.” However, entrepreneurship is continuing to soar, “with a record 5.4 million new business applications filed in 2021, according to U.S…. Read More

February 21, 2022 @ 7:12 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Sydney-headquartered Fintech firm Lumi has acquired an additional $10 million in funding from existing investors Arbel Fund and Melbourne’s Perennial Partners in order to capitalize on the faster than anticipated growth in certain market segments. The SME lender has acquired a total of $30 million… Read More

February 20, 2022 @ 6:35 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Mastercard (NYSE: MA) recently joined forces with retail group Massmart in order to connect Small, Medium and Micro-Enterprises (SMMEs) to cost-effective e-commerce solutions, “enabling a safe transition away from cash.” During the latter half of last year- following the period of social unrest – SMMEs… Read More

February 18, 2022 @ 3:53 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Much has been made of embedded lending during the past couple years. With the COVID-19 crisis shuttering businesses and forcing a major shift to online and all-digital services, you could say that this was inevitable. Now, large Fintechs like Klarna, Stripe and PayPal have shown… Read More

February 9, 2022 @ 4:01 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Smarter.ai, the creators of an AI marketplace to democratize artificial intelligence and help SMEs meaningfully compete with Big Tech, has announced its pre- seed raise, which was led by Fuel Ventures and Hambro Perks. As noted in the update, this comes at a time when… Read More

February 8, 2022 @ 8:46 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Thincats, a UK-based lending platform, has secured £100 million in additional funding. As noted in a blog post by Thincats, the new capital will be deployed by the platform’s management as a senior finance line in order to support SMEs across the United Kingdom and… Read More

February 6, 2022 @ 11:55 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital transformation has worked its way through the bedrock of many industries, from Netflix’s transformation of cable and blockbuster video to Uber’s considerable influence over the ways we access transportation services. Meanwhile, the property market has remained “relatively immune” to such changes. However, Roxana Mohammadian-Molina,… Read More

February 6, 2022 @ 11:48 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Amount, a banking tech provider offering account opening, loan origination and BNPL financing solutions, recently confirmed the acquisition of Linear Financial Technologies, the SMB loan and account origination platform. Linear’s solution set is “complementary to Amount’s retail banking and BNPL solutions for consumer loans,” according… Read More

February 5, 2022 @ 4:20 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

BlueVine recently announced that it increased the size of its BlueVine Line of Credit warehouse debt facility with Atalaya by two new lenders, “both advised by 20 Gates Management, and increasing the committed amount to $150M, with the ability to upsize the facility to $300M.”… Read More

February 4, 2022 @ 3:26 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Tribal, a B2B payments and financing platform for emerging markets, has secured $60M in Series B funding led by SoftBank Latin America Fund. Coinbase Ventures also participated in the investment round, which included contributions from existing investors BECO Capital, QED Investors, and Rising Tide. In… Read More

February 4, 2022 @ 9:09 am By Omar Faridi  |  

European Fintech iwoca reports that small business owners are feeling confident about “taking on larger amounts of finance” in order to support their growth objectives this year. iwoca’s quarterly SME Expert Index (the source of these findings) is reportedly based on key insights from UK… Read More

February 3, 2022 @ 2:46 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

NEXT Insurance, the digital Insurtech firm streamlining small business insurance, has announced that it’s expanding its next-gen coverage to businesses in the Auto Services & Repair sector. The firm is providing its all-digital General Liability (GL), Workers’ Compensation (WC), Commercial Auto (CA) & Commercial Property… Read More

February 3, 2022 @ 3:38 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Capchase, a provider of non-dilutive capital for recurring-revenue firms, recently announced that it has expanded to the Netherlands and Belgium. The move comes on the back of Capchase’s expansion into the Nordic region last month, “building out headcount in Finland, Sweden and Denmark.” As noted… Read More

February 2, 2022 @ 3:31 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

C2FO, which claims to be largest global platform for working capital, has shared details of its record-setting business growth last year, “highlighted by the $54.7 billion in funding that the company enabled for businesses worldwide, an increase of 57% versus 2020 totals.” Beyond transaction volumes,… Read More

February 2, 2022 @ 8:43 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Global Fintech SumUp and PrestaShop – the digital commerce platform in Europe and Latin America – have announced a partnership that will aim to give thousands of merchants on the PrestaShop platform access to SumUp’s product suite of business tools (thanks to PrestaShop’s SumUp Payment… Read More

January 28, 2022 @ 5:58 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

NatWest Group, the banking and financial services organization that serves around 19 million UK clients, has reportedly become the first major banking institution to sign-up and support the Good Business Pays campaign. NatWest Group is one of the largest business and commercial banks in the… Read More

January 26, 2022 @ 2:36 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Around 500,000 new merchants across the MENA region will soon be able to take advantage of seamless and convenient virtual payment acceptance via Network International’s Tap on Phone tech, which enables smartphones to serve as payment terminals. The project represents a key milestone between Mastercard… Read More