Friday May 1, 2020 –
Here are the new and noteworthy stories we have been following this week.
Oriente raises $50 million to continue building its infrastructure for digital financial services
Oriente, a Hong Kong-based startup that develops tech infrastructure for digital credit and other online financial services, has raised $50 million for its ongoing Series B round; according to Geoff Prentice, one of Oriente’s co-founders, the company is “innovating credit as a service.”
Rapyd expands mass-payout platform
Rapyd, a global Fintech as a Service company, has announced a major expansion of Rapyd Disburse, it’s mass-payout platform; the platform allows businesses to leverage a single, unified cloud-based solution and reach more than 100 countries.
https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/82303/rapyd-expands-mass-payout-platform
KPMG unable to verify Wirecard’s third-party profits
KPMG’s six-month special audit of Wirecard has not been able to verify the genuineness of sales and profits from third parties which was central to the whistleblower allegations of accounting fraud; following the release of the KPMG report, Wirecard shares declined 26.1% in Frankfurt to close at €97.60.
https://www.ft.com/content/56a2057c-b975-4965-b0cf-641b83ee0f82
WhatsApp eyes lending feature in India as Amazon rolls out Pay Later to tens of thousands of customers
According to a local regulatory filing in India, Facebook owned WhatsApp has listed credit as one of the areas it will pursue in the country; lending could be a way for PayPal to monetize its payments and messaging offering in India.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/28/whatsapp-eyes-credit-feature-for-users-in-india/
FIS Accelerates Innovation with $150 Million of New Capital for Venture Investments
FIS announced the launch of FIS Ventures, its new corporate venture investment division; FIS Ventures is targeting to invest $150 million in promising fintech startups over the next three years.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fis-accelerates-innovation-150-million-120000274.html
Mastercard Incorporated Reports First-Quarter 2020 Financial Results
Mastercard reported $4 billion in Q1 revenue (up 3% from Q1 2019) and $1.8 billion in net income (-9% from Q1 2019); GDV increased by 8% to $1.6 trillion and the company had 2.2 billion cards in circulation.
https://s2.q4cdn.com/242125233/files/doc_financials/2020/1Q20-Earnings-Release.pdf
Visa Inc. Reports Fiscal Second Quarter 2020 Results
Visa reported $5.9 billion in Q2 net revenue (up 7% from Q2 2019) and $3.08 billion in net income (up 4% from Q2 2019); total processed transactions increased by 7% over the prior year to 34.9 billion, while payments volume grew by 8%.
https://s1.q4cdn.com/050606653/files/doc_financials/2020/q2/Visa-Inc.-Q2-2020-Financial-Results.pdf
Investing platform Stash raises $112 million in Series F led by LendingTree
Stash, a New York-based investing and savings platform, raised $112 million in Series F funding led by LendingTree at a valuation in excess of $800 million; the company reports 4.5 million users and $1 billion in assets under management.
https://www.axios.com/stash-investing-series-f-lendingtree-aad60d1d-3738-4340-8719-6f99e956223e.html
Visa gives Kenya’s Safaricom ‘missing link’ for global payments
Visa and Safaricom have agreed to a deal which will connect the M-Pesa financial services platform with Visa’s global network of merchants and cards; in essence, M-Pesa will serve as a virtual card, allowing users to make payments abroad when they travel and also letting them transfer cash from their Visa-linked debit cards to their M-Pesa wallet.
Google releases AI tool for processing Paycheck Protection Program loans
Google has released ‘PPP Lending AI”, a to help lenders process PPP loan applications; the solution can be implemented in days and consists of three parts: front-end processing, a document parser, and an analytics module.
Tencent buys 5% stake in Australian buy-now-pay-later firm Afterpay
Tencent has invested A$390 million for a 5% stake in in Australian POS lender Afterpay; Aterpay wich also has a presence in the US, reports about 4.3 million active customers and approximately 30,600 active retail merchants.
