Friday November 13, 2020 –
Here are the new and noteworthy stories we have been following this week.
Nigeria’s Kuda raises $10M to be the mobile-first challenger bank for Africa
Kuda, a Nigeria-based startup digital bank has raised $10 million in seed money; Kuda which launched in 2019 has 300,000 accounts and targets the consumer segment but plans to cater to small businesses as well, and has aspirations of becoming the digital bank for all Africans.
Grab leads $100 million round in LinkAja
Grab has led a $100 million Series B round in Indonesian e-money institution LinkAja; LinkAja focuses on the middle class/ aspirant, and Micro, Small, and Medium enterprises (MSMEs) segments and has more than 58 million registered users.
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/36910/grab-leads-100-million-round-in-linkaja
Wells Fargo Explores Selling Private-Label Card Unit
As part of a broad strategic overhaul, Wells Fargo is exploring the sale of its private-label credit card business; at one time Wells had planned to expand its private-label credit card business but did not do so and the portfolio remains small relative to major providers like Synchrony and Citi.
After $30M round, Bumped launches app that gives people free stock after spending with brands
Bumped, a Portland-based startup has launched its app after a year of beta testing; Bumped users create a brokerage account, link their debit or credit card, and pick their brands and when they spend money with certain companies, they get a percentage of their purchases back in fractional shares, or a piece of a full share.
https://www.geekwire.com/2020/30m-round-bumped-launches-app-gives-people-free-stock-spending-brands/
AppBrilliance Raises Over $3M in Seed Funding
AppBrilliance, an Austin-based payments technology startup, closed over $3 million in seed financing; AppBrilliance provides a technology platform for open payments and banking, which enables instant and secure “push” C2B payments by combining a novel, non-custodial funds-flow and data model with real time account visibility and control.
https://www.finsmes.com/2020/11/appbrilliance-raises-over-3m-in-seed-funding.html
Afterpay Introduces Cross Border Commerce for Merchant Partners
Afterpay, one of the ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ providers has announced that its merchants will be able to offer installment credit to consumers across markets; specifically, Afterpay merchants can open their e-commerce sites to Australian, British, Canadian and New Zealand shoppers, and next year to US consumers.
Railsbank Raises USD37 Million Growth Funding Co-led By MiddleGame Ventures and Ventura Capital
Railsbank. the Banking-as-a-Service platform has raised $37 million co-led by MiddleGame Ventures and Ventura Capital; the new funding will help Railsbank to continue expanding its global footprint, strengthen its core product proposition, and launch Credit Cards as a Service in the US.
BitPay Enables Businesses to Pay Out with Crypto Using BitPay Send
Atlanta-based BitPay has launched BitPay Send, a new mass payout service that enables organizations to pay employees, affiliates, customers, vendors, contractors and others with cryptocurrency; the companies fund payments in fiat and leverage the blockchain to send pre-tax payments without having to own or handle digital currency.
Payments Canada selects Mastercard’s Vocalink as the clearing and settlement solution provider for Canada’s new real-time payments system, the Real-Time Rail
Payments Canada has selected Mastercard’s Vocalink as the clearing and settlement solution provider for the country’s new real-time payments system, the Real-Time Rail (RTR); the RTR will allow Canadians to initiate payments and receive irrevocable funds in seconds, 24/7/365.
