Friday September 20, 2019 –
Here are the new and noteworthy stories we have been following this week.
Fintech company Plaid discloses investments from Visa, Mastercard
Plaid disclosed that Visa and Mastercard were strategic investors in a $250 million C round raised in December and reportedly will be working with the two companies “at the intersection of data and payments.”
Mission Lane Names New CEO, Raises Half Billion Dollars In Financing
Mission Lane a subprime credit card issuer has raised a Series A investment of $200 million and debt capital of $300 million to continue to scale the company.
Kid-focused fintech startup Greenlight closes $54M Series B with participation from JP Morgan and Wells Fargo
Atlanta based fintech startup Greenlight, which provides a debit card and app for kids to learn about financial education, has closed a $54 million Series B funding round to continue to grow the company as well as add new products and features.
https://hypepotamus.com/news/greenlight-closes-series-b/
Visa Allows Real-Time Insurance Claim Payout Via Visa Direct
Visa is working to provide real-time funds disbursements for insurance companies in partnership with their financial institutions using the Visa Direct service and debit card credentials.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/visa-allows-real-time-insurance-123612332.html
GoCardless launches US debit payments solution and opens San Francisco office
GoCardless has opened a US office and launched its ACH based direct bank debit recurring payments solution for both C2B and B2B segments in effect competing with cards and checks.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/17/goamerica/
Wells Fargo tests cryptocurrency for internal transactions
Wells Fargo announced that it will pilot its own digital currency, ‘Wells Fargo Digital Cash’ using the bank’s distributed ledger technology to help with cross-border transfers and intra branch transfers in real time.
Santander commences JCB merchant acquiring operations in Spain
Santander has launched JCB merchant acquiring operations in Spain to facilitate JCB card acceptance at Santander merchants.
Credit card start-up Petal raises $300 million debt round from Jefferies
Petal a start-up credit card issuer that caters to the ‘new to credit’ segment has raised a $300 million debt round from Jefferies to fund its business growth and receivables.
Fintech Company Stripe Joins Silicon Valley Elite With $35 Billion Valuation
Stripe raised new funding of $250 million from Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz and other investors at a $35 billion valuation.
Amazon figured out a way for online shoppers to pay in cash
In an effort to cater to undeserved and unbanked consumers, Amazon is enabling cash payments for e-commerce transactions using the Western Union distribution network.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/18/amazon-figured-out-a-way-for-online-shoppers-to-pay-in-cash.html
