Friday January 29, 2020 –
Here are the new and noteworthy stories we have been following this week.
Stripe leads $102 million funding round for online checkout start-up Fast
Fast, an online payments checkout company has raised $102 million in a Series B funding round led by Stripe and Addition; Fast lets shoppers log into websites and check out, without having to enter information more than once, and also allows users to purchase items without going into a shopping cart.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/26/stripe-leads-102-million-funding-for-checkout-start-up-fast-.html
Jack Ma’s Ant Plans Major Revamp in Response to Chinese Pressure
The Ant Group is planning to restructure itself into a financial holding company that will be overseen by China’s central bank in response to pressure from regulators; a financial company holding structure will subject Ant to capital and regulatory guidelines similar to banks, and impact growth and profitability.
JPMorgan to join British online banking chase within months
Chase is launching a digital consumer bank in the UK under the ‘Chase’ brand; Chase has been working on this project for two years (internally dubbed Project Dynamo) and has built the entire tech stack from the ground up.
Visa Inc. Reports Fiscal First Quarter 2021 Results
Visa reported net income of $3.1 billion (-6%) and net revenue of $5.7 billion (-3%) in fiscal Q1 reflecting the challenging COVID-19 environment; total processed transactions were 39.2 billion, a 4% increase over the prior year, led by domestic transactions with cross-border and international continuing to be soft.
https://s1.q4cdn.com/050606653/files/doc_financials/2021/q1/Visa-Inc.-Q1-2021-Financial-Results.pdf
Mastercard Incorporated Reports Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2020 Financial Results
Mastercard reported net income of $1.8 billion (-15%) and net revenue of $4.1 billion (-7%) in Q4 2020 as COVID-19 continued to impact global commerce; gross dollar volume was up 1%, but cross border volume declined 29%.
https://s25.q4cdn.com/479285134/files/doc_financials/2020/q4/4Q20-Earnings-Release.pdf
Fintech darling Nubank raises blockbuster $400M Series G at $25B valuation
Brazil-based Nubank has raised a $400 million Series G round at a $25 billion valuation (up from $10 billion 2019); Nubank has been growing rapidly going from 12 million customers in 2019 to 34 million in 2020, and now operates in Mexico and Colombia in addition to Brazil.
US giant Fidelity in talks to take £100m stake in Starling Bank
Fidelity is reportedly in talks to take a £100m stake in Starling Bank as part of £200m fund raise; Starling which turned profitable last October has more than two million customers (of which 300,000 are small businesses), about £4.7 billion of deposits, and loans of just under £2 billion.
https://news.sky.com/story/us-giant-fidelity-in-talks-to-take-100m-stake-in-starling-bank-12202172
Another one bites the dust: NAB to acquire 86 400
National Australia Bank (NAB) is to acquire 86 400, one of the new Australian digital banks which have recently started to experience growth challenges; NAB will combine 86 400 with its direct banking unit UBank.
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/37377/another-one-bites-the-dust-nab-to-acquire-86-400
