Better.com Acquires U.K.-Based Property Partner

Better.com Acquires U.K.-Based Property Partner

Mortgagetech company Better.com announced today it has acquired Property Partner, a U.K.-based property investment company, for an undisclosed amount.

Property Partner is a property crowdfunding investment platform that offers users fractional ownership of rental property homes. The company’s investors can select a diversified portfolio of properties to own and receive monthly rental income from those properties that is paid out as a dividend. Since it was founded in 2014, Property Partner has raised $35.2 million and accumulated $194 million (£140 million) in assets under management from its 9,000 users.

“Combining Property Partner’s unique residential property investment platform with Better’s arsenal of homeownership products and services changes the game for the future of real estate investment,” said Better Founder and CEO Vishal Garg. “We’re turning residential real estate into a liquid asset class and changing how families can grow their wealth. Together, we will lower costs, improve convenience, and deliver huge value to all real estate market participants.”

This marks the second U.K.-based company that Better has acquired this summer. In July, the New York-based company bought Trussle, a digital mortgage brokerage company based in London. Both of these moves hint at Better’s potential plans for international expansion. The company currently offers mortgages in 46 U.S. states and Washington, D.C.

Today’s deal comes ahead of the company’s planned SPAC merger, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, with Aurora Acquisitions Corporation. The deal will value Better at $7.7 billion.

Founded in 2016, Better offers mortgages for home purchases and refinances, real estate agents, title insurance, and mortgage insurance. The company has funded $30.9 billion in home loans and provided over $7 billion in coverage through its insurance products.

Last month, Better launched a cash offer program that allows a customer to buy a home using cash. Better purchases the home on a customer’s behalf, then finalizes the customer’s mortgage after the deal has closed. The buyer can move in as soon as Better finalizes the purchase, but pays Better prorated daily rent until their mortgage is approved and they buy back the home from Better.


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MX Inks Partnership with Payveris

MX Inks Partnership with Payveris

Financial data platform and connectivity leader MX is teaming up with integrated money movement platform Payveris to enable financial services and fintechs to offer low-cost, low-risk money movement via enhanced account connectivity.

“We respect Payveris as a leader in the money movement space and we’re excited about this partnership because it will help our joint customers have full control over almost every aspect of the experience for money movement,” MX co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Brandon Dewitt said. “Payveris has a long track record of strength, security, and reliability in lowering the friction to the user experience, significantly reducing operating costs, and future-proofing their IT investment.”

The integration, announced this week, will enable organizations to offer intelligent digital payment and money movement services, as well as use Payveris’ MoveMoney platform and suite of open APIs, SDK widgets, and SSO products – all embedded into an integrated money movement offering.

Payveris VP of Product Management Chirag Patel said that the partnership was a response to growing demand from financial institutions for automation in billpay and money movement. Patel noted that this challenge was especially acute for banks and credit unions that are facing new competition from technology companies and retailers that are offering banking services. “Banks and credit unions are looking to have a major role in delivering the best experience possible for their users,” Patel said. “With MX’s industry-leading financial data platform and modern connectivity, we’re making the payment experience seamless – the way consumers move and manage money – and simpler than ever.”

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Cromwell, Connecticut, Payveris was acquired by cloud-based billpay technology company Paymentus last month for $152.2 million. In July, Payveris announced that it had optimized the P2P functionality on its MoveMoney platform, enabling users to send money to anyone with a U.S. bank or credit union account using only the recipient’s mobile phone number of email address. In May, the company reported that its MoveMoney platform supported a total of more than 225 credit unions, including 27 CUs added in the past year alone.

Named to the Forbes Cloud 100 last month, Lehi, Utah-based MX includes partnerships with finance platform and “virtual goal mall” Goalry, credit union giant BECU, and fellow Finovate alum Dwolla among its more recent collaborations. The company connects more than 16,000 financial institutions and fintechs with its data connectivity network, and powers 85% of digital banking providers – in addition to thousands of banks, credit unions, and fintechs. Be sure to check out the latest from MX as the multiple-time Best of Show winner returns to the Finovate stage next week for FinovateFall 2021.


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FinovateFall 2021 Sneak Peek: Veem

FinovateFall 2021 Sneak Peek: Veem

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall on September 13-15, 2021. Register today and save your spot.

Veem’s Partner Connect Product offers clients an all-in-one business payment platform; from payables and receivables to end-to-end payment processes showcased in your brand experience.

Features

  • Offer clients flexible payment options
  • Provide access to an all-in-one, global, business payments platform
  • Show tour bank’s branding at the forefront with little-to-no coding

Why it’s great
The Partner Connect Product by Veem offers clients a wide range of payment functions and services conveniently in one place.

Presenter

Jeffrey Revoy, Chief Growth Officer
Revoy is a well-networked, integrity-driven, and respected technology and digital Global Executive with a 20+ year history of achievements including senior roles during IPO and three major acquisitions.
LinkedIn

FinovateFall 2021 Sneak Peek: PwC

FinovateFall 2021 Sneak Peek: PwC

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall on September 13-15, 2021. Register today and save your spot.

Turn customer data into smarter action with Customer Link, PwCs customer data platform that provides a 360 degree view of your customers.

Features

  • Access over 60K+ consumer attributes
  • No coding necessary
  • Form rapid connections to common first party customer data systems

Why it’s great
Create better, more personalized experiences with unmatched customer data you can’t get from just any customer data platform.

Presenters

Brian Morris, Partner
Morris is a Partner at PwC and leads the customer analytics and digital marketing practice. He has more than 25 years of financial services industry experience.
LinkedIn

Corey Cederquist, Director of Customer Transformation
Cederquist is a Director of Customer Transformation at PwC. He translates advanced analytics into actionable initiatives at leading financial services, private equity, and insurance clients.
LinkedIn

FinovateFall 2021 Sneak Peek: Nufi

FinovateFall 2021 Sneak Peek: Nufi

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall on September 13-15, 2021. Register today and save your spot.

Nufi empowers everyone to build financial products quickly and with regulatory compliance. We are the Legos of fintech.

Features

  • Create new fintech products like Legos
  • Avoid regulatory compliance or technical complexities
  • Reduce development times and costs for creation of products

Why it’s great
We empower everyone to build financial products quickly and with regulatory compliance, thus enabling financial innovation in LatAm.

Presenters

Ilich Nuñez, COO
Nuñez is a lawyer from Escuela Libre de Derecho. He has 10+ years of working experience in the banking sector, including at the Mexican National Bank of Public Services and BBVA in the areas of credit, compliance, and strategy.
LinkedIn

Gianni Marossero, Chief Relations Officer
Marossero is an engineer in innovation with a passion for organizing teams and people. He has a multicultural background, having worked in various countries including Argentina, the UAE, Venezuela, Colombia, and Mexico.
LinkedIn

PayPal to Acquire BNPL Player Paidy for $2.7 Billion

PayPal to Acquire BNPL Player Paidy for $2.7 Billion

PayPal announced plans today to acquire Japan-based Paidy, a payments company with a buy now, pay later (BNPL) offering that facilitates transactions for both merchants and consumers. The deal is expected to close for $27 billion (¥300 billion) in the fourth quarter of this year.

PayPal’s purchase will work alongside its existing ecommerce business in Japan, which is the third largest ecommerce market in the world. Paidy will also expand PayPal’s capabilities, relevancy, and distribution in Japan’s domestic payments market.

“Paidy pioneered buy now, pay later solutions tailored to the Japanese market and quickly grew to become the leading service, developing a sizable two-sided platform of consumers and merchants,” said VP and Head of Japan at PayPal, Peter Kenevan. “Combining Paidy’s brand, capabilities, and talented team with PayPal’s expertise, resources, and global scale will create a strong foundation to accelerate our momentum in this strategically important market.”

Paidy was founded in 2008 and enables its six million registered users to make purchases online without the use of a debit or credit card. Instead, Paidy operates on a BNPL model by billing customers for all purchases at the end of each month. Payments can be made via bank transfer or in-person using cash at a convenience store.

This model works not only for ecommerce purchases, but also for brick-and-mortar transactions. The company’s Paidy Link tool was launched earlier this year and allows customers to link digital wallets, including PayPal, to make purchases using the digital wallet but make payment via Paidy. For PayPal, Paidy’s model that circumvents credit and debit card rails is a good thing. It enables PayPal to own the payment flow (and the revenue that comes with it).

“Paidy is just at the beginning of our journey and joining PayPal will accelerate our plans to expand beyond ecommerce and build unique services as the new shopping standard,” said Paidy President and CEO Riku Sugie. “PayPal was a founding partner for Paidy Link and we look forward to working together to create even more value.”

Sugie, along with Paidy Founder and Executive Chairman Russell Cummer, will continue to lead Paidy, which will continue to operate and maintain the brand.

Paidy marks PayPal’s 23rd acquisition, following Honey in 2019 and Curv and Happy Returns in 2021. The purchase of Paidy, with its BNPL capabilities, hints at PayPal’s evolution into becoming more of a holistic shopping platform.


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The 10 Elements of a Super App

The 10 Elements of a Super App

Even though super apps aren’t common in the U.S. or Europe, most everyone in fintech across the globe is familiar with them. Super apps serve as a one-stop shop that allow users to access multiple services from a single place.

In Asia, the hot spot for super apps, users are able to use super apps for everything from ordering groceries to hailing a cab to managing their finances. Apps including WeChat, AliPay, Paytm, and Grab are commonplace across Asia. In fact, WeChat has more than 1.2 billion monthly active users; 78% of people in China between the ages of 16 and 64 are using WeChat.

It is the “super” nature of these apps that makes them so successful; they are a platform and do not just fulfill a single purpose. With a combination of in-house technologies and third party integrations, the apps serve a range of consumer needs. Many super apps began with only a single purpose, accumulated a large number of users, and then began adding new capabilities.

What does it take to become a super app? Starting with a massive user base helps, and providing a range of tools for everyday tasks and activities will help keep those users coming back. Below are 10 common capabilities of successful super apps.

Social

As the popularity of WeChat has proven, social tools are sticky. Building communication, collaboration, and sharing capabilities into an app not only builds a user base, but also creates a community around a brand.

Ecommerce

Shopping is taking place increasingly online, which means that ecommerce purchases are becoming a large part of consumers’ everyday lives.

Food delivery

Everybody needs to eat. And between online grocery orders and takeout meal deliveries, super apps can help users meet this need.

Transportation services

Just as important as having food and online purchases delivered is having the means of getting from one location to another. Included in this category are ride hailing services, car sharing services, and bike or scooter sharing services.

Personal finance

Another one of life’s essentials is managing finances. From budgeting for daily expenses to planning for retirement, banking and finance tools are key components of a super app.

Travel services

Offering travel services, such as travel insurance, concierge services, and rental car discounts, is commonplace for many financial services companies. Super apps offer more robust capabilities, however, such as flight comparison and booking tools, train schedules and ticketing services, and hotel booking capabilities.

Billpay

Paying bills is a regular occurrence for most people, so including utility billpay and a mobile top-up feature will give users yet another reason to log into a super app on a regular basis.

Health services

The healthcare industry is fragmented. So providing health services, such as appointment booking, tele-health calls, records management, general health information, and ask-a-nurse services in a single place provides a lot of value for end users.

Insurance

Similar to the health industry, insurance comes with a lot of moving pieces. Offering a digital lock box with insurance cards, contact information, coverage options, and payment history is a valuable tool that can help keep users organized.

Government and public services

Rounding out the list of life’s necessities in the digital realm are government and public services. Super apps can host social security cards and information, public transportation payment options, and library card information.


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Ryd Lands $11.9 Million for In-Car Payments

Ryd Lands $11.9 Million for In-Car Payments

Germany-based Ryd announced this week it has received $11.9 million (€10 million) in funding for its technology that allows users to pay for vehicle fuel via their mobile app.

The investment, which marks the first time Ryd has received funding, comes from BP Ventures, the investment arm of British Petroleum. As part of today’s announcement, BP Ventures’ Managing Partner Daniela Proske will join the Ryd board.

Ryd offers a digital payment solution that enables drivers to pay for fuel, electric vehicle charging, and car washes without leaving their vehicle by using the company’s mobile app or with an integration with smart car systems. “This new payment form is much faster, easier, and more comfortable,” said Ryd Founder and Chairman Oliver Goetz, “Ryd is on its way to lead this movement in Europe.”

Goetz called BP “the perfect addition” to the company’s existing network of service stations and added that it completes Ryd’s ecosystem with strategic partners in finance, automotive, and energy sectors.

Ryd plans to use the funding to fuel expansion and deliver digital payment options for BP customers across Europe. The company’s payment technology is currently accepted at 3,000 service stations across seven countries in Europe.

BP will use the strategic relationship to expand its BPme digital fuel payment app into more European countries. The app currently works in the U.K. and the Netherlands. “In-car digital payments are an integral part of the seamless and convenient experience that customers increasingly expect at our retail sites,” said BP SVP of Mobility and Convenience for Europe and Southern Africa Alex Jensen. “Ryd’s technology can help deliver just that, and for an increasing range of services. Our investment and partnership will help BP provide these digital services more widely across Europe, making our customers’ experience easier and more enjoyable.”

The first BP filling stations are expected to go live with Ryd in the fourth quarter of this year.


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Point Scores $46.5 Million for its Millennial-Focused, Rewards-Based Debit Card

Point Scores $46.5 Million for its Millennial-Focused, Rewards-Based Debit Card

Could the death of credit turn out to be fintech’s greatest gift to humanity?

From the Cancel Student Debt movement to the rise of Buy Now Pay Later payment options, Millennials have led the way in a broad rejection of interest-based consumer financing. For those of us who vividly remember the carnival-like atmosphere of credit card companies aggressively courting new students on college campuses during the first weeks of the school year, this youth-led shift away from debt-fueled consumption has been an impressive development.

Today we learned that Point, a challenger bank based in San Francisco, California, has raised $46.5 million in Series B funding to support development of its “anti-credit card.” Point’s account and debit card offer users many of the same benefits and rewards they get with traditional credit cards, while providing them with the kind of payment flexibility they have come to appreciate with debit.

Like most debit cards, Point offers direct deposit, ATM withdrawal access, and the ability to top up your Point card with funds from another debit card. The Point card also supports contactless payments courtesy of an embedded RFID transponder, instant money transfer, and card spending controls.

However, the Point card also offers a number of rewards typically not found with debit card products. These include 5x points on subscription services such as Netflix and Spotify, 3x points on delivery services like DoorDash and ride-sharing services like Uber, and 1x points on all other transactions ranging from gasoline purchases to groceries.

Another interesting feature of Point’s rewards system is the way the company offers limited-time, cash-back rewards with specific, popular brands. Among the company’s current offerings are 15x points with Nike, Reformation, and Italic, as well as 5x points with Amazon, Whole Foods, and Starbucks.

Point also offers insurance for smartphone loss or damage, trip cancellation, and car rentals, as well as for new purchases if damaged or lost within 90 days. Becoming a Point account and cardholder costs $49 a year, and deposits are backed by Radius Bank, which was recently acquired by Finovate alum Lending Club.

Point’s Series B round was led by existing investor Valar Ventures. Also participating in the funding were Breyer Capital, YC Continuity, and Human Capital. Combined with a Series A investment of $10.5 million in the summer of 2020 and a previous seed funding round, Point has raised $60 million in total equity capital. The company said that the financing will enable it to add talent, launch new functionalities, and introduce new products.


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Blueprint Title Raises $16 Million for New Insurtech Model

Blueprint Title Raises $16 Million for New Insurtech Model

Insurtech company Blueprint Title recently raised $16 million, bringing its total funding to $24.5 million. Forte Ventures led the Series B round.

Blueprint Title launched in 2017 to tackle title insurance, a type of insurance that protects prospective homeowners from being sued for a claim against the home from before the purchase was finalized. These “clouds” can arise from back taxes, liens, conflicting wills, and other unresolved issues.

The title insurance market in the U.S. is small, however. Blueprint Title CEO Steve Berneman estimates that the market is comprised of four companies with 90% of the market share.

Blueprint Title offers an API that allows customers to search new transaction submissions, pull information about in-process deals, and view real-time updates when there’s a change in title status. Built for secure collaboration, the company’s portal enables document uploads and status updates that keep everyone up-to-date.

Blueprint Title is part of a wave of neoinsurance companies, a term coined by TechCrunch to describe digital-first insurtechs such as Metromile, Roots, and Trov. Blueprint Title’s model is slightly different than these three companies, however, in that it operates on a B2B model instead of marketing directly to consumers. The company’s client base is comprised of real estate investors, lenders, proptech companies, and home builders.

Blueprint Title is currently licensed in 26 states and operating in 19 states.


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Argentina’s Veritran Earns $225 Million Valuation, Joins Finovate’s Largest Latin American Cohort To Date

Argentina’s Veritran Earns $225 Million Valuation, Joins Finovate’s Largest Latin American Cohort To Date

Low-code fintech platform provider Veritran has secured a strategic growth investment from Trivest Partners, a private equity fund based in Miami, Florida. The specific amount of the investment was not disclosed, but the company did report that funding gives the Buenos Aires, Argentina-based firm a valuation of $225 million.

“Today marks a major milestone for Veritran’s team, as we embark upon a new chapter of becoming the next fintech unicorn,” Veritran CEO and co-founder Marcelo Gonzalez said, “while continuing to democratize access to the digital economy.” Gonzalez highlighted Trivest Partners’ successful track record of working with “founder-owned businesses” and said the collaboration would help Veritran expand “into new geographies and reach new customers.”

Founded in 2005 and maintaining offices in the U.S., Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, and Guatemala, Veritran offers a low-code platform that helps companies integrate new, enabling technologies into their legacy systems. Companies looking to enhance customer engagement via digital channels ranging from mobile banking and digital wallets seek out Veritran’s technology to future-proof their retail and corporate banking operations, as well as digital payments and onboarding processes.

With 50 bank clients and 25 million users, Veritran processes 25 billion transactions a year on its platform. In August, the company announced that it had partnered with Visa to promote push payments, tokenization, and Click to Pay projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. The previous month, Veritran teamed up with behavioral biometric-based online fraud detection platform Revelock to help banks reduce fraud losses and call center costs. The partnership with Revelock – a Feedzai company – followed Veritran’s collaboration with another biometric technology company, FaceTec, which brought its facial recognition technology to the Buenos Aires-based firm’s low code platform.

Veritran’s funding announcement comes less than a month before it makes its return to the Finovate stage at FinovateFall in New York. The company will join what may be the largest contingent of Latin America-based fintechs ever assembled at a Finovate event (see below).

FinovateFall 2021 takes place at the Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York City, September 13 through 15. For more information, including how to attend our autumn fintech conference live or on-demand, visit our FinovateFall hub today.


Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean


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Walgreens Launches Scarlet to Promote Financial Wellness for Customers and Patients

Walgreens Launches Scarlet to Promote Financial Wellness for Customers and Patients

The company that strives to be America’s most-loved pharmacy is the latest retailer to get deeper into the banking business. Courtesy of a partnership with InComm Payments, Walgreens announced today that its bank account and debit card product, Scarlet, is now live. The new card is powered by Mastercard, issued by MetaBank, and available exclusively at more than 9,000 Walgreens locations in the U.S., as well as online and on the Walgreens mobile app.

In addition to credit and debit solutions, Scarlet offers Walgreen Cash rewards, and personal financial planning and payment tools ranging from early direct deposit and billpay to mobile check capture and money transfer to other Scarlet accountholders. Maria Smith, VP of Payments & Financial Services at Walgreens, put the new offering in the context of other financial services initiatives from the company, including the Walgreens mobile wallet, remittances, ATMs, third party banking services, and the company’s “recently launched myWalgreens Credit Card.”

“With a focus on our customers’ health and wellbeing,” Smith said in a statement “Walgreens is pleased to expand our financial services offerings with Scarlet, and further expand the broad spectrum of financial solutions that are accessible to the customers, patients, and communities we serve.”

The latest evolution in the 12-year partnership between Walgreens and InComm was announced back in the spring, and was heralded as part of the drugstore chain’s “alternative profit strategy” and a “broader initiative” to offer a wider range of services to its customers. The collaboration between the two companies, the latter a Finovate alum since 2011, also supported the relaunch of Walgreens’ branded gift card program, including boosting distribution of Walgreens’ gift card offering – physical and digital – across B2B, loyalty, rewards, and e-commerce channels.

“We’re honored that Walgreens has selected InComm Payments’ financial services solutions to provide further benefits to its customers and communities,” InComm Payments President Stefan Happ said earlier this year when the collaboration was announced. “This new product offering will establish Walgreens as a destination for financial services, building on Walgreens’ legacy as a one-stop shop for pharmacy and convenience.”


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