Stash Raises $125 Million

Stash Raises $125 Million

Investment platform Stash announced a new round of financing today. The $125 million Series G round boosts the company’s total funding to over $427 million.

Eldridge led the round, which received additional funding from new and existing investors, including Owl Ventures, funds advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Goodwater Capital, Entree Capital, and others.

The funding comes after a year of record growth for Stash, which was founded in 2015. Last year, the New York-based company saw a 100% increase in account openings. It now has five million customers and $2.5 billion in assets under management. Fueling this increase was the boost in automated deposits; Stash reported a 50% increase in the number of customers automating their investments last year.

Stash’s investment platform democratizes long-term investing by making the process easier and more affordable. “We believe in tried and tested principles of regular, long-term, and balanced investing as the key to building wealth. We therefore built Stash to make diversified investing easy, affordable and accessible, backed by personalized advice and accessible education—in order to avoid the pitfalls of short-term speculation and day-trading,” said Stash Co-Founder and CEO Brandon Krieg. “This new round of funding enables us to take this mission to millions more Americans.”

Stash’s newest upcoming product, Smart Portfolios, helps customers build long-term, diversified portfolios that are fully managed by Stash. The new offering is made for users who want to invest, but don’t know where to start. To keep things simple, Stash uses a subscription model instead of charging fees based on portfolio size. The Smart Portfolios product is included in Stash’s Growth and Plus subscription plans, which cost $3 per month and $9 per month, respectively.


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Dave “The Ambassador” Birch Joins Digital Jersey

Dave “The Ambassador” Birch Joins Digital Jersey

Consult Hyperion’s Global Ambassador – and frequent Finovate keynote speaker – David Birch is bringing his diplomatic talents to Digital Jersey, where he has been named the Fintech Ambassador for the island-based technology hub.

“I’m delighted to take on this role with Digital Jersey,” Birch said in a statement. “After visiting the island many times over the last few years, I have seen first-hand the opportunities provided by the technology and regulatory infrastructure there. This, combined with its world-class connectivity with an agile, innovative mindset, makes Jersey an interesting proposition in the Fintech space. I’m looking forward to working more closely with the DJ team.”

The largest of the islands in the English Channel between England and France, Jersey is home to Digital Jersey, a state-supported economic development agency and association designed to help grow the island’s digital sector. Established in 2013, Digital Jersey offers a co-working space for technology workers (with both hot and dedicated desks), as well as a lab designed specifically for testing IoT solutions, Digital Jersey Xchange (DJX). In addition to promoting sustainable economic growth on the estimated 107,000-person island and creating a “connected, digital society and enhanced quality of life” there, Digital Jersey also seeks to establish itself as a world-renowned digital center.

“Dave has an excellent reputation built through decades of experience,” Digital Jersey CEO Tony Moretta said. “We know he fully understands the unique advantages we have here in Jersey and will help spread the message off-island that we are open for business in the fintech arena.”

Formally known as the Balliwick of Jersey, the 45 square mile island has been the site of a significant amount of technology innovation compared to its larger, neighboring jurisdictions. Jersey was a pioneer in bringing full-fiber broadband to every home and, in 2016, the Jersey Financial Services Commission, was among the first jurisdictions in the world to implement a virtual currency regime.

Hear David Birch talk more about Jersey and fintech innovation. And check out our most recent conversation with “The Ambassador”, discussing one of his most commonly-requested topics: banks, digital identity, and the challenge of Big Tech.


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PayKey Unveils New Embedded Banking Solution

PayKey Unveils New Embedded Banking Solution

Tel Aviv-based fintech PayKey, which won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at our London conference in 2019, announced the availability of its new embedded banking solution this week. The offering leverages PayKey’s smartphone keyboard to enable users to manage investments and apply for personal loans directly without having to leave their WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter app. PayKey’s embedded solution allows users to simply tap on their banks’ logo within the mobile keyboard and get instant access to their investment portfolios – as well as the ability to balance checks, pay bills, and make P2P payments – as seamlessly as a text chat.

“Embedded solutions like PayKey’s keyboard are vital to helping banks engage with customers at the right time and with personalized products,” said company CEO Sheila Kagan. “Investments and personal financing are just the beginning and we’re excited to continue expanding our embedded keyboard solution in the future to help banks support their customers financial health even further.”

The company sees the new functionality as a timely addition given the surge of interest in stock trading, most recently evidenced by the Reddit/Gamestop/Robinhood market frenzy early in the month. The offering also takes advantage of the embedded finance trend of enabling users to access a wider range of functionalities from a singular app or interface. The result is a smoother, more seamless experience, and a way for technology innovators to provide more features that customers want without overly complicating the process to access or use them.

PayKey’s technology has gone live with more than 20 leading banks around the world, including ING and Unicredit. Standard Chartered Bank Korea announced that it was launching the new solution within its SC Mobile Banking app back in August.

Founded in 2014 by Daniel Peled and Offer Markovich, PayKey has raised more than $26 million in funding.


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Six Things to Know About Crypto So Far This Year

Six Things to Know About Crypto So Far This Year

Though we’re only four weeks into it, 2021 has been a big year for cryptocurrency. While there has been a multitude of news items in the crypto space, there are a handful of items worth highlighting.

Though much of the cryptocurrency news cycle is often quite hyped, it’s important for the traditional financial sector to keep their finger on the pulse of major news pieces in this space, especially as the decentralized finance trend takes off. That said, here are six things you need to know about what’s going on in the cryptocurrency realm:

Elon Musk stands bullish on Bitcoin

The price of Bitcoin hit an all-time high at the beginning of January of this year. A few weeks later, during an interview on Clubhouse, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said, “I do at this point think bitcoin is a good thing. I’m late to the party, but I am a supporter of bitcoin.”

This vote of confidence for the popular cryptocurrency didn’t send the price of bitcoin to the same highs that we saw on January 8. It did, however, offer it a nice boost in price and a stamp of approval that will be beneficial in boosting the cryptocurrency’s legitimacy.

Ethereum hits all-time high

The price of Ethereum reached an all-time high today, this time breaking the $1,600 mark. Fueling the surge is the pending launch of ethereum futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange next week.

While bullish buyers expect to see the price top out around $2,000, others anticipate it will level off.

The Indian government dances around a cryptocurrency ban

India is notorious for its hot/cold relationship with cryptocurrency. In 2018, the country’s central bank banned offering banking services for digital asset firms, but the Supreme Court overturned that ruling last year.

This week, the Indian government revealed that it will likely seek to regulate cryptocurrency, instead of ban it.

Visa announced plans to enable cryptocurrencies trading on its network

In an earnings call, Visa CEO Alfred Kelly said that he wants to make cryptocurrencies “more useful and applicable for payments.” To accomplish this, Kelly sees Visa working with wallets and exchanges to enable users to purchase cryptocurrencies using their Visa card or to cash out onto a Visa card to make a fiat purchase at a traditional merchant.

During the call, Kelly disclosed that the payments giant is already working with a handful of digital currency platforms and wallet providers to serve as their card issuer. This list includes crypto.com, Blockfi, Fold, and Bitpanda.

The OCC OK’d stablecoins

In the first week in January, U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) last week published Interpretive Letter 1174 detailing that banks may use stablecoins and independent node verification networks (INVNs) to facilitate payments for customers. Simply put, banks can transfer stablecoins to other banks.

This development happened under the watch of Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks, who stepped down mid-last month. Taking Brooks’ place is Blake Paulson, whose attitude toward cryptocurrencies is untested.

Gemini began offering a savings account

Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini is starting to step on traditional banks’ toes. That’s because the New York-based company is launching a savings account called Earn that allows users to move their crypto holdings into high-yield savings paying as high as 7.4%.

Thanks to Gemini’s business model, it can afford to pay the high rate. That’s because it lends users’ cryptocurrency deposits to other borrowers through its partner, Genesis Global Capital, at a higher interest rate.


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Digital Banking Innovator Narmi Tops $20 Million in New Funding

Digital Banking Innovator Narmi Tops $20 Million in New Funding

In a round led by New Enterprise Associates, a featuring the participation of more than twelve investors – including executives from Plaid – digital banking solution provider Narmi has raised $20.4 million in new funding. The investment represents the lion’s share of the New York City-based fintech’s total capital, and will be used to help power Narmi’s mission to enable regional banks and credit unions to compete with big banks and neobanks, alike.

“We started Narmi with the mission to help financial institutions thrive in a digital-first world and that mission hasn’t changed,” company co-founder Nikhil Lakhanpal said. “Since launching over four years ago, we’ve experienced over 100% revenue growth every year, launched four enterprise-grade platforms, and helped our partner financial institutions delivery transformational results.”

Also participating in the Series A round were Patriot Financial Partners, Picus Capital, Contour Ventures, and Firebolt Ventures.

Narmi’s cloud-based, API-powered platform gives financial institutions the ability to leverage its digital account opening, consumer and business digital banking, and administrator console platforms to boost growth, increase deposits, and make operations more efficient. The fintech’s customers have reported a 55% increase in new account applications from non-account holders, a 65% reduction in application time, and a 50% decrease in support volume, helping lower back office costs.

And like many fintechs in the digital banking space, Narmi has seen a dramatic uptick in interest in digital solutions with the onset of the COVID pandemic. The company reported a 70% increase in digital activity and transactions across its customer base.

Partner Radius Bank credited Narmi for helping it launch its online and mobile banking experience “50% to 70% faster” than its competitors. Radius Bank, named one of the Best Online Banks of 2021 by Bankrate, and one of the fastest growing banks in Massachusetts, was acquired by LendingClub a year ago for $185 million. Liz Landsman, General Partner at NEA, further praised Narmi for its “understanding of the challenges that regional banks and credit unions are facing to keep pace with an increasingly digitally-centric customer base in banking today.”

Founded in 2016, Narmi also includes Freedom Credit Union and Berkshire Bank among its customers.

Payoneer To Go Public Via SPAC, Now Valued at $3.3 Billion

Payoneer To Go Public Via SPAC, Now Valued at $3.3 Billion

Cross-border payments expert Payoneer is the latest fintech to go public via SPAC merger. The New York-based company has agreed to merge with FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp.

The transaction is expected to close during the first half of this year.

Once the reorganization is complete, the newly created holding company will be renamed Payoneer Global Inc. and the combined company will operate as Payoneer, a U.S. publicly listed entity. After the deal is finalized, Payoneer will have an estimated value of $3.3 billion.

Payoneer was founded in 2005 and offers multi-currency accounts to marketplaces, sellers, freelancers, gig workers, manufacturers, banks, suppliers, and buyers. With a mission to “democratize access to financial services and drive growth for digital businesses of all sizes from around the world,” Payoneer helps users pay and get paid globally as easily as they do locally.

“Payoneer is at the forefront of the rapid, global shift to digital commerce across all sectors,” said Betsy Z. Cohen, Chairman of the Board of Directors of FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp. “Its innovative and unique high-tech, high-touch platform positions Payoneer at the epicenter of some of the most powerful and enduring trends driving global commerce today. Its proven ability to facilitate the overall growth of e-commerce through capabilities such as B2B payment digitization, global risk and compliance infrastructure, and the enablement for SMBs to rapidly grow and scale sets Payoneer apart.”

Payoneer has raised $270 million from 18 investors including CBC Capital and 83North. Scott Galit is CEO.

Today’s news of Payoneer opting to go public via a SPAC merger echoes a larger trend. Lately, we’ve seen a rising number of tech companies, including Bank Mobile and SoFi, use SPAC mergers to go public. Benefits of the IPO alternative include a faster and cheaper process, no qualification threshold, and no IPO window.


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FinFirst Celebrates SuperApp’s Successful First Year

FinFirst Celebrates SuperApp’s Successful First Year

Two years after its debut at FinovateMiddleEast, Kuwait-based financial services aggregator FinFirst is celebrating a 2020 that saw the company facilitate millions of dollars worth of financing applications since the launch of its financial services app last summer. The company, founded in 2015 by CEO Abbas Hijazi, unveiled a financial superapp that serves as a marketplace for banks and financial services companies to offer auto, personal, student, and healthcare loans, as well as credit cards and Buy Now Pay Later installment loans. FinFirst promises a secure and fast, 20-click application process that averages less than 10 minutes to complete.

FinFirst also announced this week that it has secured a total of $4 million in equity investment. The investors were not disclosed. Hijazi said the funding “demonstrates the level of confidence in the market for a product which is simply transforming the face of the financial services sector.”

Since it began offering services to the small business community in March of last year – just before the COVID-19 crisis hit – FinFirst has received $40 million worth of financing applications from SMEs. FinFirst also has received $7.7 million worth of consumer financing applications since it began offering consumer-based solutions in the fourth quarter of 2020.

The majority of FinFirst’s personal finance customers are pursuing consumer financing – approximately 60% – while auto financing represents the remaining 40%. The company reports a high 90% lead conversion rate on its superapp, making the platform an attractive option for FinFirst’s financial services partners.

“These first-year results stand us in good stead to build upon a solid foundation of strong business and consumer appeal, which is enhanced by the speed and ease of our digital application app,” explained FinFirst Chief Operating Officer Afrah Al-Hubail. She added that FinFirst plans to spend 2021 enhancing its offering, collaborating with financial services providers and fintechs, as well as forging more partnerships and adding new products.

Among the more recent alliances announced by FinFirst is its partnership with Kuwait’s Boubyan Bank. An Islamic digital bank with total assets of more than $17 billion as of 2019, Boubyan Bank has the National Bank of Kuwait as its major shareholder, and is regarded as one of the up-and-coming banks in the Gulf region. The institution’s CEO and Vice Chairman, Adel Al-Majed, was named Arab Banker of the Year 2020 by The Union of Arab Banks.


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InvestCloud Becomes Fintech’s Newest Unicorn

InvestCloud Becomes Fintech’s Newest Unicorn

Wealth solutions platform InvestCloud announced it is now valued at $1 billion, making it a new fintech unicorn. The new valuation comes after the fintech restructured its debt and equity in a recapitalization.

“At a valuation of $1 billion, we can reward early investors in the business, while injecting new capital to fuel the next stage of our growth, further supporting our clients’ needs,” said InvestCloud Co-Founder and CEO John Wise.

Comprising a major portion of the recapitalization, Motive Partners, Clearlake Capital Group, and other InvestCloud client shareholders have agreed to acquire 80% of InvestCloud. As part of the deal, Motive Partners will contribute two portfolio businesses into the firm. The first is Finantix, which it acquired in 2018, and the second is Tegra118, which is a newly-formed company resulting from Motive’s acquisition of Fiserv’s Investment Services business.

InvestCloud expects the addition of Finantix and Tegra118 to solidify its presence in the wealth and asset management marketplace. After the restructuring, InvestCloud will have $4+ trillion in assets on its platform and revenues over $285 million, with a team of over 900 people. Moreover, Finantix and Tegra118 will boost InvestCloud’s presence in and knowledge of continental European and Asian markets.

“Together with Cheryl [Nash of Tegra118] and Christine [Mar Ciriani of Finantix] and their exceptional teams, they enable us to accelerate our plans to build platforms serving the main markets in global wealth and asset management, each utilizing the proven SaaS design principles, architecture and data models of the InvestCloud platform,” added Wise.

InvestCloud will use the expertise at Finantix and Tegra118 to offer four staple platforms and a marketplace:

  • Wealth Advisor Platform – With its existing skillset, InvestCloud will build upon its background in North America, the U.K., continental Europe, and Asia.
  • Private Banking Platform – Leveraging Finantix, InvestCloud will offer an international private banking platform. 
  • Custom Financial Platform – Using InvestCloud’s design-first methods and AI Programs Writing Programs, clients can build unique intellectual property to create cloud solutions.
  • Financial Supermarket – Using the Tegra118 product, InvestCloud will build an international financial supermarket to connect asset managers to wealth managers.

Logistically, John Wise will remain CEO of InvestCloud, while Rob Heyvaert will continue as Chairman. Tegra118’s Cheryl Nash will become the CEO of InvestCloud’s Financial Supermarket division and Finantix’s Christine Mar Ciriani will become the CEO of the Private Banking division.

InvestCloud was founded in California in 2010. The company has raised $54 million from investors including JP Morgan Chase and FTV Capital.


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Visa to Enable Cryptocurrency Trading

Visa to Enable Cryptocurrency Trading

For those still waiting for greater institutional endorsement of digital assets, the news that Visa will enable cryptocurrency trading on its network should come as a welcome sign.

Visa CEO and chairman Alfred Kelly announced the plan in an earnings call last week. Kelly noted that not only would Visa allow buying and selling of cryptocurrencies on its platform, but also that the company was “uniquely positioned” to do so, and to do so safely and securely.

Visa’s plan is to divide digital assets into two categories: cryptocurrencies and digital currencies. Cryptocurrencies, per Kelly, represent the “digital gold” of the digital asset market insofar as they are not typically used as a form of payment. For these assets, Visa plans to work with wallets and exchanges to allow users to buy these currencies using their Visa credentials. Visa also plans to enable users to cash out of their cryptocurrencies onto a Visa credential to make fiat-money purchases wherever Visa is accepted globally.

With regard to digital currencies, Visa defines these assets as “fiat-backed digital currencies including stablecoins and central bank digital currencies.” These assets, per Kelly, could find use cases in global commerce “much like any other fiat currency” and could run on public blockchains as additional networks much like RTP and ACH rails.

Kelly noted that Visa already has a strong relationship with 35 digital currency platforms and wallets, including BlockFi and BitPanda. These partnerships, Visa claimed, represent potentially more than 50 million Visa credentials – a significant size advantage over the company’s rivals. “And it goes without saying,” Kelly added, “to the extent a specific digital currency becomes a recognized means of exchange, there’s no reason why we cannot add it to our network, which already supports over 160 currencies today.”

Visa’s positive news on cryptocurrencies comes on the heels of the company’s announcement that its planned $5.3 billion acquisition of fintech infrastructure provider and fellow Finovate alum Plaid is now off the table. Visa is an alum of both our Finovate conferences, making its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring ten years ago, and participating in our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley, four years later in 2014.


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Robinhood Raises $3.4 Billion in Whirlwind Weekend Funding

Robinhood Raises $3.4  Billion in Whirlwind Weekend Funding

It looks like the Merry Men of Ribbit Capital have come to the rescue of the social trading app named after the mythological bowman who robbed from the rich to give to the poor.

Between the final trading days of January and the first trading day of February, Robinhood has raised a whopping $3.4 billion in convertible debt financing. The financing was provided to help the brokerage firm manage the tidal wave of activity that the platform experienced during last week’s trading moshpit in shares of heavily-shorted GameStop.

And with the additional participation from Little Johns and Friar Tucks like Iconiq Capital, Adreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, Index Ventures, and NEA, it looks like the social trading app for Millennials has more than picked up the requisite funding to continue its mission of serving its increasingly active trading and investing clientele. Note that Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said the company’s clearing house initially had requested $3 billion in margin deposits last Thursday, before lowering the requirement by more than 75% to $700 million.

“This funding is a strong sign of confidence from investors and will help us build for the future and continue to serve people through the exponential growth we’ve seen this year,” Robinhood’s blog read on Monday morning.

With more than 13 million users – and an alleged 600,000 new accounts added on Friday alone – Menlo Park, California-based Robinhood has become the face of retail trading in recent months. The company raised more than $1 billion in funding last year as a stimulus-fueled stock market – and an absence of opportunities for other financial-risk taking such as sports betting – helped drive short-term traders into the gamified, regular Joe-enabling, environment of Robinhood. The online trading and investing platform offers the ability to buy and sell stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), options, gold, and cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin – all commission-free.

“We’re witnessing a movement of everyday people taking control of their own financial future, many investing for the first time through Robinhood,” the blog post continued. “With this funding, we’ll build and enhance our products that give more people access to the financial system.”

As the frenzy in trading over Gamestop shares grew, Robinhood came under pressure for its decision to restrict trading in the shares, as well as in a number of other stocks that had experienced similar spikes in activity. Although Robinhood’s actions were clearly permissible given its Term of Agreement, the episode further fueled the Us (retail trader) vs Them (Wall Street hedge fund) narrative that, ironically, Robinhood was founded to champion on behalf of the “Us.”

Ribbit Capital Managing Partner Micky Malka spoke to this irony in his comment about the funding. “Robinhood has served millions of people who have felt left behind by America’s financial system,” Malka said. “We’re confident that Robinhood will emerge stronger through this phase of growth and unprecedented demand.”


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January’s M&A Fintech Landscape

January’s M&A Fintech Landscape

When analysts predicted what would happen in the fintech sector after the pandemic hit last year, one of the top forecasts was that the industry would consolidate. That is, companies that had an adaptable business model and were fierce enough to fight would get bigger, while other companies would seek exits or sometimes fold altogether.

The economic crunch from the pandemic isn’t the only thing boosting M&A activity. We’ve seen a rising popularity of using a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) instead of an IPO to go public. With these two forces boosting deal flow, we saw seven mergers and acquisitions announced last month:

This is quite a boost compared to last January when we saw only four M&A deals. In the next couple of months before the summer slowdown occurs, we can expect to see more M&A deals in the headlines. Keep an eye out specifically for two types of deals. First, SPACs are becoming a more legitimate option for a company to make a public debut. Second, digital bank acquisitions will increase as last year’s explosion of players in the digital banking space begins to deflate to a more sustainable level.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Visa’s attempted acquisition of Plaid. Visa formally announced its intentions to take over Plaid for $5.3 billion. The acquisition fell through, however, after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block the deal.


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Through the Pandemic and Beyond: Overcoming Data Management Challenges in Capital Markets

Through the Pandemic and Beyond: Overcoming Data Management Challenges in Capital Markets

The below is a sponsored post, from Gold Sponsors of FinovateEurope Digital 2021, InterSystems.


The COVID-19 crisis has thrown a spotlight on the inefficiencies underlying many functional areas of financial firms and caused executives to reevaluate operational resilience in light of increasing volumes and volatility. There’s been a lot of industry discussion about the potential of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to tackle challenges ranging from regulatory change management to improving the client experience.

AI has huge potential to augment and transform current market practices, but organizations need to make sure they are laying the groundwork for successful implementation by considering the underlying data infrastructure required to turn these technology ambitions into reality.

In this white paper, Firebrand Research discusses how to tackle the complex issue of data management and shares key reasons to invest in a smart data fabric, including:

  • Building the data foundation for next-generation initiatives
  • Enabling a firm to adapt to volatile markets via real-time analytics
  • Connecting and harmonizing data on demand from across a firm’s many silos
  • Keeping firms out of the regulatory hot seat by ensuring high data quality
  • Providing accurate and real-time insights and new innovative services to keep ahead of the competition

Read the full whitepaper here >>