š INTELLIā¢ Weekly Insights
Friday October 14, 2022 | Volume 1 Series 14 - Weekly summary of funding insights, M&A transactions, and other FinTech news from around the globe.
š Good evening! Whether some of you are grabbing that extra espresso to knock out a few more hours of work, or settling in with a nice glass of red as you wind down from the day, the team at INTELLIā¢ is ready to share a fresh round of updates for you to wrap up this week. But first, a few announcements & reminders:
š PreIPOās 2nd Panel Event: The Web2 to Web3 Transition is on October 28th, 2022 at 11 AM EST (Register / RSVP here).
āļø Correction Regarding PreIPOās Seed Round š° | In our last newsletter to you, we mentioned that the round had closed, but we would like to make a correction to state that the round is almost closed. We apologize for any confusion. With that being said, it is unlikely that the round will remain open for very long, so if you are interested in participating, you can get in touch with our team here for more information.
š» INTELLIā¢ will launch in a public beta format to all of you readers, so please reply if youāre interested in accessing the platform for a sneak peak! Hereās a recap of the platform:
š Kim Kardashian hit with $1.26m SEC fine for crypto promotion violations (link to story here).
The SEC says Kardashian was paid $250,000 to post on her Instagram account about EMAX tokens, a crypto asset being offered by EthereumMax, but since failed to disclose the payment she received for the promotion. The post contained a link to the firmās website, where potential investors could purchase EMAX tokens.
Without admitting or denying the SECās findings, she agreed to pay the aforementioned $1.26 million, including approximately $260,000 in disgorgement, which represents her promotional payment, plus prejudgment interest, as well as a $1,000,000 penalty. She also agreed to not promote any crypto asset securities for three years.
šø Railsr secures $46m in Series C funding
Railsr has landed $46 million in a Series C funding round, consisting of $26 million in equity and $20 million in debt.
Founded in 2016, Railsr provides embedded finance services to businesses, including banking products, wallets, cards, credit and rewards. It claims to work with more than 300 customers from the financial and retail industries.
š PreIPO INTELLIā¢Ā Stats of the Week
Global payments revenues bounced back by 11%.
75% of UK financial institutions are expecting costs of operations to rise in the next year due to the cost of living crisis. Their solution? Investing in tech!
Fintech Challengers might cost banks 89% of SME business customers.
Q3 Asia fundings saw a 26% decrease from the second quarter of 2022. (Source)
European venture funding for Q3 continues to fall down 35% quarter over quarter as well.
Half of fintechs are losing $11m per year in product delays due to BaaS providers. (Source)
š¤ Recent Acquisitions
A healthcare platform that develops value-based healthcare payment programs, Signify Health was acquired by CVSHealth which provides an integrated healthcare services offering for its members for $8B.
A social marketplace for fashion, Poshmark was acquired by a search engine and e-commerce platform providing fintech, digital content, and cloud services called Naver for $1.6B.
Walgreens who provide multi-channel access to consumer goods and cost-effective pharmacy, health, and wellness services acquired CareCentrix who delivers a suite of health at home solutions for $392M.
Banias Labs which develops infrastructure solutions for next-generation communications was acquired by a semiconductor IP company focused on providing DSP based, multi-standard connectivity Silicon IP solutions, Alphawave IP for $240M.
GENFIT, a late-stage biopharmaceutical company acquired Versantis is a pharmaceutical company developing medicine for CHF40M
š° Selected Fundings
Juno, a startup that provides checking accounts to crypto enthusiasts and allows them to take their paychecks in digital tokens raised $18 million in Series A funding.
Solvento, a Mexico City-based digital platform providing trucking companies with access to capital, announced Monday it has raised $4.5 million in a fundraising round led by Dynamo Ventures, along with a $3 million debt facility from Marco Financial.
Jiko banks $40 million in Series B funding to offer companies a way to park their cash in T-Bills.
Fintor, a fintech startup making it easier for non-accredited investors to invest in real estate properties just raised a $6.2 million extension funding round from its existing investors and is valued at $80 million.
Zenskar, a startup that is aiming to help SaaS companies automate their billing workflows, has raised $3.5 million in a seed funding round.
š Product Launches
Lloyds Bank in the UK has launched Smart Start, a combined spending and saving account designed for 11 to 15 year olds.
Deutsche Bank and Fiserv launched vert, a payment acceptance and banking services provider to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Santander UK launched a new service in its mobile app designed to assist mortgage customers with all aspects of managing their home.
HSBC launched HSBC Trade Solutions (HTS), a new API-based trade finance platform in the UK and Hong Kong making trade simpler, faster, and safer for customers.
Bank ABC launched the regional rollout of its own neobank, ila, to major MENA markets starting with Jordan.
Visa partnered with crypto exchange FTX to launch debit cards in 40 new countries with a focus on Latin America, Asia and Europe.
BNY Mellon, the world's largest custodian and America's oldest bank, launched their crypto custody platform or safeguarding client holdings in ether and bitcoin alongside traditional financial assets.
Barclays launched purchase-less cashback in thousands of locations across the UK.
Uber launched its new Uber Pro Card, offering faster payments and fuel rewards for drivers, in partnership with Marqeta, Mastercard, and Branch.
Venmo launched charity profiles so that nonprofits can raise directly in the app.
Doshi launched an āeducationalā crypto wallet for teens and their guardians.
Betterment, the largest independent digital investment advisor in the U.S., launched Crypto Investing by Betterment which will add expert-built, managed, and diversified crypto portfolios alongside its traditional investing portfolios.
Investing app Stash added crypto investing and passed $125 million in annual revenue in a Series G round.
Student loan app Chipper (not the African Chipper), the app working to empower student loan borrowers to chip away at their debt faster, launched Chipper Easy Apply, an easy apply app for students to apply for loan forgiveness.
Swiss mass affluent neobank Alpian launched out of stealth.
šš½ Have a great weekend, and weāll see you Monday!
PreIPO INTELLIā¢