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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Step aside, challenger banks. Google and a band of eight traditional FIs are coming for you.
News broke this morning that six financial institutions have joined Citi and Stanford Federal Credit Union in offering checking and savings accounts through Google Pay. The new banks include BankMobile, BBVA USA, BMO Harris, The Coastal Community Bank, First Independence Bank, and SEFCU.
These new accounts will leverage Google Pay’s existing infrastructure, which will serve as the front end of a fully digital banking experience.
BBVA announced today that its accounts will launch in 2021 as co-branded, FDIC-insured accounts. The bank will provide the account, while Google will provide the front-end, user experience, and financial insights. The collaboration will be facilitated by the BBVA Open Platform, the bank’s open banking initiative.
“BBVA has focused for decades on how it could use digital to advance the financial industry and, in so doing, create more and better opportunities for customers to manage their financial health,” BBVA USA President and CEO Javier Rodríguez Soler said. “Collaborations with companies like Google represent the future of banking. Consumers end up the true winners when finance and big tech work together for their benefit.”
Aside from the list of bank partners, there are not many details available about the new, hybrid accounts. Tech rumor site 9 to 5 Google speculates, however, that Google with leverage the partnerships to issue its own branded debit card.
ZenBusiness, an Austin, Texas-based company that specializes in serving micro-businesses, announced late last week that it has closed its first acquisition. The company has purchased fintech platform Joust in a move that will bring Joust’s business banking features to the ZenBusiness platform, and enable the firm to re-launch as ZenBusiness Money later this year.
The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
CEO and co-founder of ZenBusiness Ross Buhrdorf called the acquisition an opportunity to extend its “mission to provide the nation’s 57 million micro-businesses with exceptional and friendly tools that simplify the process of forming and running their business.” Founded in 2015, ZenBusiness helps entrepreneurs complete the necessary filing and paperwork to ensure compliant formation of their business, and provides a variety of additional services – from identity theft protection and business management tools – to help micro-businesses grow and expand.
Also based in Austin, Texas, Joust offers merchant services and business banking for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and the self-employed. The company, which merged with LoanDolphin earlier this year to scale mortgage reverse auctions, was a finalist at the 2020 SXSW Innovation Awards, and raised $11 million in funding prior to its acquisition by ZenBusiness. Joust was launched in 2017.
“We believe all entrepreneurs should have access to the same banking services reserved for large companies,” former CEO and Joust co-founder Lamine Zarrad said. “By bringing our financial tools to the ZenBusiness platform, we will quickly scale up and empower even the smallest businesses by simplifying and strengthening their daily operations while protecting their interests.”
ZenBusiness has raised $19.5 million in funding from 11 investors including Greycroft and Lerer Hippeau. The company was featured last December by The Jeruslem Post in its look at the top seven business formation services in the U.S.
Village Capital has unveiled the names of the 12 companies that will participate in its Finance Forward Latin America 2020 accelerator program. The incoming cohort will get five weeks of training to help them improve their business models and tailor their solutions for the current demands of the marketplace. The top two peer-selected startups will be eligible to receive $50,000 each in grant funding from program partner MetLife Foundation. Startups ranked third to fifth each will receive $16,000 in grant funding.
What do the 12 startups chosen – from an applicant pool of more than 140 – suggest about the state of fintech innovation in Latin America?
First of all, in some ways, the geographic distribution of companies is representative of what we see in terms of fintech’s strength in the region. Mexico has three representatives, Argentina has two, and Brazil and Chile both have one. Perhaps more surprising is the representation from Colombian fintech, with the country bringing five startups to the program.
Village Capital notes that the selected startups also reflect impressive gender diversity, with more than 80% of the participating companies having one or more female founders. The accelerator also credited the more than 40% of these companies that are innovating “outside major fintech hubs.”
The startups are involved in a wide range of fintech focus areas – from debt management and credit services to e-commerce, “buy now pay later” solutions. Many of these firms offer innovations that are particularly geared toward un- and under-banked populations. Among the more interesting startups in this category are Fundefir, a Colombia startup that specializes in bringing credit and insurance to the underbanked, and Quipu Market, also based in Colombia, which offers an e-commerce marketplace that enables informal microbusinesses to buy and sell locally using community tokens rather than cash.
Village Capital’s accelerator program features the support of PayPal and Moody’s, as well as MetLife Foundation. Since its launch in 2009, Village Capital has worked with more than 1,000 early stage entrepreneurs via its accelerator programs.
“The coronavirus pandemic has had devastating financial effects on low-income populations in Latin America,” Regional Manager for Village Capital Daniel Cossio said. “Now more than ever, tech-driven innovation can be at the forefront of helping small businesses stay afloat, families manage their income, and the region embark on what is bound to be a challenging recovery.”
Some of the more recent research on fintech in Latin America includes this February report from CB Insights, which helps provide context for the expectations many analysts had for the region at the end of 2019. For insights since the COVID-19 crisis, the May discussion published by Latin America Reports shows how fintech has played a “stabilizing” role in helping businesses and individuals cope with the economic and social impact of the pandemic.
Here is our weekly look at fintech around the world.
Payment solutions provider Cohort Go teams up with Brazilian bank Itau as it expands into the country.
Konsentus and Open Vector collaborate to bring open banking to financial institutions in Latin America and Canada.
Asia-Pacific
Hong Kong payments network infrastructure startup EMQ raises $20 million in funding to accelerate cross-border payments.
Venio, a mobile app that specializes in providing financing in emerging markets, goes live in the Philippines.
AEE News Today profiles Malaysian fintech Instapay Technologies which recently partnered with Mastercard to launch an e-wallet service for migrant workers.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Alegra, a cloud-based accounting software provider based in Colombia, announces expansion to Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.
Airtel Africa teams up with Mukuru to enable cross-border payments.
Mobile money operators are among the biggest players in fintech in sub-Saharan Africa. TechZim reviews the state of mobile money in the southern part of the continent.
Central and Eastern Europe
A biometric facial recognition-based payments system developed by Romanian fintech PayByFace goes live in Bucharest’s Tucano Coffee shops.
Nordigenscores payments license from Latvia’s Financial and Capital Markets Commission (FKTK), enabling it to provide account information services.
Lithuania’s Bankera introduces business loans for SMEs.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Arabian Business takes a look at the rise in popularity of buy now pay later platforms in the UAE.
Dubai International Financial Centre inks Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China’s Jiaozi Fintech Dreamworks.
Al Khaleej Today profiles Saudi Arabia-based payments company Tap Payments and its initiatives to help small businesses during the COVID-19 crisis.
Central and Southern Asia
Indian online investment and wealth management platform, Paytm Money, introduces new Chief Executive Officer Varun Sridhar.
Uzbekistan’s first digital bank, TBC Bank, goes live with technology from Capital Banking Solutions.
Niyo, an India-based neobank, acquires mutual fund investment platform Goalwise.
Remember when the mobile payments game was first getting started? The industry was rallying around NFC as the technology of choice for mobile payments. Bluetooth low energy (BLE) was a close second, and QR codes were generally the last choice.
That was in 2012 and now it appears that 2020 is throwing us yet another curve ball– QR Codes are back in style in the U.S. That’s because PayPal has partnered with InComm to launch its PayPal and Venmo QR codes technology at pharmacy chain CVS.
This move will implement low-touch mobile payments at CVS’ 8,200 brick-and-mortar stores across the U.S., offering shoppers a secure payment experience without needing to touch a keypad or sign a receipt.
PayPal users can pay using stored debit or credit cards, bank accounts, their PayPal balance, or PayPal Credit. Venmo users can also pay using their stored debit or credit cards and bank account, but will additionally be able to tap into their Venmo balance or Venmo Rewards.
“In the midst of COVID-19, we have seen an incredible acceleration of digital payments and touch-free payments,” said PayPal EVP and CPO Mark Britto. “Companies of all types and sizes are looking for ways to maintain the safety of their customers and employees, especially through touch-free experiences like curbside pickup and enhanced online shopping. QR codes complement these and provide retailers an additional payment method that furthers this touch-free mission and continues the growth of digital payments for all partners in the ecosystem. The essential nature of pharmacies makes CVS Pharmacy the perfect initial partner for PayPal and Venmo QR Codes – and we’re proud to help their customers stay safe while purchasing what they need.”
This week’s deal also marks a multi-year agreement between PayPal and InComm. The partnership enables InComm to distribute PayPal QR Code technology to its network of retailers, allowing them to integrate the QR code payment technology into their POS terminals.
PayPal has been touting its touch-free payment technology amidst the COVID-19 pandemic (see below). And given the payment giant’s previous traction and existing user base, the company will certainly come out on top as a winner in the post-pandemic economy.
Elsewhere across the globe, QR code payments have already seen success. Ant Group’s Alipay uses QR codes for in-store payments and had over a 50% adoption rate at the end of 2018.
It’s been a good year for Varo Money. The company became the preferred destination for clients leaving Moven this spring, when the fintech announced that it was pivoting away from consumer banking in favor of a focus on its financial wellness technology.
Today we learn that one of Varo’s biggest goals for 2020 – earning a national bank charter – has been fulfilled. The San Francisco, California-based company has been granted a charter by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and has earned regulatory approvals from both the FDIC and the Federal Reserve, making it now set to launch Varo Bank N.A. Varo is the first consumer-facing, U.S. fintech to accomplish this achievement.
“2020 has been challenging for many of us across the country and has highlighted, once again, how the traditional financial system is not meeting the needs of hardworking, everyday Americans,” Varo Money co-founder and CEO Colin Walsh said. “The ability to operate as a full-service national bank gives Varo more freedom to deliver the kind of innovation and allyship that many Americans have never had from their bank before.”
Launched in 2015, Varo Money offers consumers a digital banking alternative including a savings account with an initial APY of 1.21%, and a checking account that comes with a VISA debit card, and early payday for customers that sign up for direct deposit. Varo’s mobile banking app enables users to check up on their accounts and balances, make transfers and mobile check deposits, monitor incoming and outgoing transactions, and more. The company charges no hidden or overdraft fees for its service, and deposits are FDIC-insured up to $250,000.
Bank charter in hand, Varo will soon be able to offer a broader range of products and services including credit cards, joint accounts, and certificates of deposit.
The new, low-touch economy has set me thinking about robots recently. The less society is able to interact with fellow humans, the more voids exist, especially in the services industry.
And I’m not just talking about restaurants and hair salons (though, are robot barbers in our future?). The banking industry is a prime candidate for the intervention of a physical robot in a world suffering from a highly transmissible disease.
Perhaps the most famous robot in fintech is HSBC’s Pepper, a humanoid robot created by Softbank. HSBC has deployed Pepper at branches around the world and has been praised for boosting ATM transactions, increasing credit card applications, and more.
At last year’s FinovateFall event I caught up with HSBC’s Head of Innovation Jeremy Balkin, who discussed the bank’s traction with Pepper the robot.
In a world still struggling to collectively fight the virus while remaining socially distant, HSBC is leveraging technologies such as AI, wearables, and robotics to bring people together. The bank is using these enabling technologies to help promote financial inclusion, spur wealth creation, and support equality through language translation.
These goals may require heavy-lifting but the technologies we have are more-than capable for the tasks at hand. At FinovateFall this September, be sure to catch Balkin’s keynote address as he discusses HSBC’s efforts amidst the global health crisis.
FinovateFall will take place in a digital format– complete with live, remote networking– on September 14 through 18. Discounts are available so be sure to book today.
A partnership between Nutmeg and TrueLayer will bring the benefits of open banking to the U.K. wealth management business for the first time. The online investment platform announced that it will leverage TrueLayer’s financial APIs to enable its customers to make faster, more secure payments to their accounts online or from their mobile device.
“The payments industry is still dominated by card payments, but bank transfers are the best and fastest way to get money into a Nutmeg account and therefore into the market,” Nutmeg Chief Operating Officer Matt Gatrell said. Unfortunately, he explained, the lack of a quality user experience has made customer reluctant to use this option. “With this in mind,” Gatrell said, “Nutmeg has worked with TrueLayer to launch Open Banking payments for customers – reducing a lengthy user process to just a couple of taps.”
Courtesy of the new partnership, all users will need to do is login to their bank, and confirm the payment to their Nutmeg account to make additions to their investments. Nutmeg said this will enable investors to get their money into the market quicker, and boasts that it is the first wealth manager in the U.K. to offer this account funding option, which TrueLayer CEO and co-founder Francesco Simoneschi called “the killer use case for Open Banking.”
Simoneschi explained: “Simplifying and speeding up processes such as payments makes a tangible difference to consumers. It helps them to have much more control and choice with their finances. This is a fundamental goal of Open Banking and another step forward in its wider adoption.”
Nutmeg has bigger plans for leveraging Open Banking than just bank transfers. In a blog post at the company’s website, Nutmeg Product Manager Charlie Masters noted that open banking has helped incentivize the company’s integrations with companies like Yolt, Emma, and MoneyDashboard earlier this year. “We see these new financial products as a great opportunity to improve the customer experience,” Masters wrote.
Founded in 2011 and headquartered in London, U.K., Nutmeg has been a Finovate alum for more than eight years. With more than $153 million in funding raised, the company includes Goldman Sachs, Armada Investment AG, Convoy Global Holdings, Taipei Fubon Bank, and Pentech Ventures among its investors.
Blockchain-based money transfer platform Circle is making double headlines today. The U.S.-based company not only landed $25 million in funding, it also partnered with Genesis, an institutional trading firm offering two-sided liquidity for digital currency, including bitcoin.
Genesis parent company Digital Currency Group is the investor behind the $25 million. The investment is Circle’s first since August of 2018 and brings the company’s total funding to $271 million.
“Circle has been a pioneer in the digital currency market, building innovative products and services, and has consistently provided our industry with leadership on technology, standards, and regulatory policy,” said Genesis CEO Michael Moro. “With the rapid rise of USDC, we are clearly seeing mainstream momentum for digital currencies, and through this partnership with Circle we believe we can materially advance our shared mission of building a new global financial system.”
Circle will use the new funding to accelerate the adoption of USDC, a digital dollar stablecoin issued by regulated FIs, backed by fully reserved assets, governed by membership-based consortium Centre, and redeemable on a 1:1 basis for U.S. dollars. USDC has been gaining traction this year; earlier this month the cryptocurrency’s market capitalization crossed the $1 billion mark.
The investment will also provide a boost for Circle’s new Business Account and API products that the company launched earlier this year. These new services offer financial services companies a suite of APIs for USDC payments, facilitating the use of USDC in e-commerce, on-demand delivery marketplaces, digital gaming, internet services, P2P digital wallets, exchanges, B2B payments, challenger banks, trade finance, and digital asset lending and yield products.
“The partnership announced today between Circle and Genesis will bring to market solutions for businesses and developers who are seeking to generate strong positive yield from their own or customer USDC holdings, and access to USDC-based credit for businesses and merchants that are using USDC for treasury operations and business payments,” said Circle’s Josh Hawkins in a blog post announcement.
Digital Currency Group, which describes itself as the “epicenter of the bitcoin and blockchain industry,” has made 180 investments since it was founded in 2011. Digital Currency Asset Manager Grayscale and crypto news organization Coindesk are also Digital Currency Group’s subsidiaries.
Let’s face it, 2020 hasn’t been the year we were anticipating. We’re experiencing increased stress levels created by not only by fears of contracting a life-threatening virus, but also an economic downturn of unknown proportions.
And from a business perspective, stay-at-home orders and lack of childcare create a frustrating environment for co-worker communications. Not only that, but the lack of in-person meetings and a firm handshake makes it difficult to land partnerships.
Despite these (and many more) woes, here are a handful of silver linings:
Digital is working
Even for firms who have yet to implement it, the technology is available for them to create a fully-digital banking experience. While many of these capabilities have been around for awhile, we have now reached a point where consumers feel comfortable with interacting with tools such as remote onboarding, remote deposit check capture, and even chatbots.
Funding is on
At the onset of the public health crisis earlier this year, many prepared to say farewell to VC funding. And though funding has declined and valuations are stagnant, the fintech industry is still experiencing growth. So far this week alone, we’ve seen five fintechs raise $262 million in funding.
Fintechs are hiring
Layoffs and furloughs have taken place within the industry and there may be another round of layoffs in the future as the coronavirus drags on. However, we may ultimately see many of these employees shift to new positions. That’s because there are plenty of fintechs hiring. A search on Angel List reveals that more than 800 fintechs are currently seeking to fill roles. And the new remote working environment enables many companies to tap into global talent.
Partnerships are strong
Social distancing requirements may be preventing companies from gathering together in conference rooms and sealing a deal with a handshake. However, that doesn’t seem to be stopping fintechs from inking deals. Over the past month, we saw 10 major fintech-bank partnerships. Much of this collaboration was driven by the sudden need for traditional providers to digitize their offerings.
Transformation is mandatory
This point may seem like a strange silver lining. In fact, many may view mandatory transformation as more of a storm cloud, since fintech as an industry will not come through this crisis scot-free. Unfortunately, there will be cut backs and unplanned exits. Here’s the silver lining part– companies that fight to see the other side of the crisis will be better off for it. And so will their customers.
There’s no denying that challenger banks are one of the hottest things in fintech right now. The coronavirus has accelerated the need for a purely digital banking solution and this boost in demand has spurred an increase in the number of players in the space.
The newest challenger bank to enter the ring is Intuit-owned QuickBooks. The 28-year-old company is launching a business bank account called QuickBooks Cash. The new account will be promoted to QuickBooks’ existing user base of over seven million small businesses. The accounts boast a business bank account, debit card, an envelope budgeting tool, and cash flow management tools that work seamlessly with QuickBooks existing products, including payroll, payments, and accounting tools.
“QuickBooks Cash delivers what current business accounts don’t — a banking experience that enables small businesses to accept payments, pay teams and vendors — with automatic reconciliation for easy financial management,” said Rania Succar, Senior Vice President of QuickBooks Capital and Payments at Intuit. “Combining QuickBooks Cash with the powerful insights and financial management platform powered by QuickBooks, we are building a tool that accelerates the growth of small businesses. Companies that have more working capital can take advantage of more opportunities.”
QuickBooks Cash accounts will be backed by FDIC-insured Green Dot Bank and feature no balance requirements, a high-yield interest rate of 1%, billpay capability, cash flow planning tools, and more. Unlike most challenger banks which offer unlimited free ATM withdrawals, however, QuickBooks only allows four free withdrawals per month.
The new account, along with the corresponding tools, will roll out over the course of the next several weeks.
If deal-making is a sign of the health of an industry, then the fintech business – global public health crisis notwithstanding – may be doing better than some suspect.
The latest signs of hi-life from the nexus of finance and technology comes from the news released after hours on Tuesday that Enova International – an online financial services company that provides financing to non-prime borrowers and small businesses – has agreed to acquireOnDeck in a deal valued at $90 million.
“This strategic transaction, which brings together two FinTech leaders, is a great opportunity for customers, employees, and shareholders of both companies,” Enova CEO David Fisher said. “Together, our companies will be stronger because of the complementary strengths and synergies of our businesses.”
Fisher highlighted both OnDeck’s online SME lending business as well as its ODX bank platform as being able to increase Enova’s “scale and resources” and drive continued growth in the company’s portfolio. Enova has nearly seven million customers worldwide and has provided more than $20 billion in loans and financing since its inception in 2004.
Of the $90 million total deal value, $8 million will be paid in cash. OnDeck shareholders will get $0.12 per share in cash and 0.092 shares of Enova stock for each share of OnDeck they own. The deal is based on the implied price of OnDeck shares of $1.38, a 90.4% premium on its closing price of $0.73 per share on Monday, July 27. Enova’s Fisher will lead the combined company, with OnDeck CEO Noah Breslow assuming the role of Vice Chairman and taking a seat on the company’s management team.
Breslow expressed pride in the progress OnDeck has made since its founding in 2006, pointing to the $13+ billion in financing the company has provided small businesses over the past decade-and-a-half or so. He said the acquisition was “the right path forward for customers, employees, and shareholders” and posited that the combined entity would be an even more effective online lender and a more powerful ally to small businesses.
The acquisition has been approved by the boards of directors from both Enova and OnDeck, and is expected to close later this year.
When Bank Operating System creator nCinowent public earlier this month, we shared a feature on some of the other fintechs – Finovate alums all – that, like nCino, also hail from the state of North Carolina.
For those who may find North Carolina an atypical location for some of the country’s most innovative fintech companies, recall that many of these fintechs are benefitting from the proximity of the famous Research Triangle. This area of the state includes three universities – Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University, and has had a reputation as a technology hotspot since the 1950s. Hall of Fame caliber technology firms from IBM to Cisco Systems to Red Hat have made “The Triangle” their home over the years, solidifying the region’s high-tech reputation and helping attract new generations of entrepreneurs and technologists.
Recently we learned of big news from one of the members of this new generation. Cognitect, which provides engineering and software development talent and technology to clients in industries ranging from health and science to fintech, announced that it has agreed to be acquired by long-time client Nubank, a financial institution based in Brazil.
Cognitect founder and President Stuart Halloway called the company’s relationship with Nubank “a spectacular success story” for its two signature offerings: Clojure – Cognitect’s general purpose programming language – and Datomic – the company’s transactional database. Nubank currently has 600 Clojure developers, running 2.5 million lines of Clojure code in 500 microservices on 2000+ Datomic servers. “Cognitect has been there every step of the way, helping Nubank’s developers translate Clojure’s ideas into business agility,” Halloway wrote at the company’s blog.
The acquisition, according to Halloway, will pave the way for bigger teams for both Clojure and Datomic – technologies Finovate fans were first introduced to via our FinDEVr developers conference in 2016. In that presentation – and in the company’s return to the FinDEVr stage the following year – the Durham, North Carolina-based company demonstrated how its solutions enable companies to have more control over and insight into their data – including the ability to conduct analytics on real-time information without hindering performance.
Nubank’s relationship with Cognitect in general and Clojure and Datomic in specific stems from the Brazilian neobank’s decision to use those technologies to provide a data infrastructure for its microservices platform. The result, for Nubank’s customers, has been greater clarity and complete history on transactions, as well as insight into the origins of suspicious cyber incidents or problems with data.
“Because we use Clojure and Datomic, we’ve built a tool that has already moved beyond what many of our competitors do, and our speed of innovation – new features, continuous deploys – increases with every passing day,” Nubank CTO and cofounder Edward Wible said in a statement. Founded in 2013, Sao Paulo-based Nubank is Latin America’s largest fintech with more than 20 million customers. Cognitect is the firm’s second acquisition of the year, having purchased software engineering company Plataformatec in January.
Going forward, Cognitect will benefit from the continued leadership in its Clojure and Datomic teams, and the company itself will remain a U.S. C corporation. Datomic customers will continue to receive professional services from Cognitect, though the company expects to transition away from general consulting development. Customers also will likely get the next Datomic feature “a bit sooner” Halloway added, pledging to users that “the resources behind (their) software are greater than ever before.”
