Fintech Highlights - 10/22/2024
Here's what we've been watching this week 👇
Pinned to the Top
Payments giant Stripe is in advanced talks to acquire Bridge, a San Francisco-based stablecoin infrastructure company founded by Coinbase and Square alumni, according to Bloomberg.
Stripe declined to comment. Bridge did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Founded in 2022, Bridge helps companies convert dollars or euros into blockchain-based stablecoins and works with clients such as SpaceX. The company has raised around $58 million from investors including Ribbit Capital, Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital. Sequoia is also a big Stripe investor and recently completed a $861 million purchase of Stripe shares from some of its own limited partners, according to someone with direct knowledge of the financing.
The acquisition, if completed, would be yet another example of Stripe deepening its support for crypto products, after ending support for bitcoin payments in 2018. Stripe has spent the past six months working on adding crypto options for merchant payments; and last week, Stripe announced its own feature that would allow merchants to accept stablecoins for payments.
The BFD
Morgan Stanley joined its rivals reporting resurgent investment banking activity on last week, adding to signs Wall Street is enjoying a healthier environment for dealmaking and trading.
Morgan Stanley’s third-quarter profit rose 32% to $3.2 billion in what chief executive Ted Pick described as a “constructive” environment across the bank’s global footprint, adding to a chorus of rebounding investment banking activity reported over the last week by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Bank of America.
Overall revenue for the third quarter at Morgan Stanley rose 39% to $15.4 billion. Investment banking revenue rose 56% to $1.46 billion compared to the same period a year ago, thanks to more mergers and acquisitions advisory work, higher underwriting fees as the IPO market reopened, and an increase in fixed income fees.
M&A
Nordic Capital is exploring exit options for Swedish digital payments company Trustly, which could be worth around $10b in a sale or IPO, per Bloomberg. More here ->
Aleph Holding acquired a control stake in Localpayment, an Argentinian payment services provider focused on emerging markets. axios.link/3NrRO9P More here ->
ACA Group, backed by Genstar Capital, acquired Effecta Compliance Group, a regulatory consultancy for financial services firms in the U.K. and UAE. More here ->
Invex Ventures acquired Manigo, a London-based banking-as-a-service startup that had raised $6m from Allegro Capital and Level39. More here ->
American Express (NYSE: AXP) agreed to buy a 50% stake in credit card provider Swisscard from UBS, which acquired the business as part of its Credit Suisse takeover. More here ->
DNB Bank (Oslo: DNB) agreed to by Swedish bank and asset manager Carnegie for around $1.14b. More here ->
Fintech
Acquired.com, a U.K. payments startup focused on recurring commerce, raised £4m. The company’s platform enables customers to unify and optimize their payments ecosystem, track key performance indicators (KPIs), and analyze trends in their payments data. More here ->
Diesta, a London-based provider of B2B payments solutions for the insurance industry, raised $3.8m in seed funding. Diesta offers a next-generation reconciliation engine for the insurance industry, designed to automate reconciliation and distribution of insurance payments. More here ->
Akua, a payment processing infrastructure startup focused on Latin America, raised $4.3m in seed funding. The company's key featrues are 1) Acquiring-as-a-Service (AaaS) platform offering scalable, secure, and efficient payment processing solutions, and 2) Cloud Native processor enabling seamless transaction processing, fraud prevention, and comprehensive regional integration. More here ->
Investtech
Vanilla, a Salt Lake City provider of estate planning software for financial advisers and wealth managers, raised $35m in Series B extension funding. More here ->
Crypto
Ithaca, a Layer 2 blockchain developer, raised $20m from Paradigm. More here ->
Bitnomial, a Chicago digital asset derivatives exchange company, raised $25m led by Ripple. More here ->
Solv Protocol, a Bitcoin staking protocol platform, raised $11m at a $200m valuation from Nomura subsidiary Laser Digital, Blockchain Capital, and OKX Ventures. More here ->
Predicate, a blockchain network "built to simplify transaction prerequisites," raised $7m co-led by 1kx and Tribe Capital. More here ->
Insuretech
Stoïk, a French cybersecurity insurance company for SMBs, raised €25m in Series B funding. The company offers a Cyber insurance product designed specifically for SMEs, addressing their unique risk profiles. More here ->
Herald, a digital infrastructure provider for commercial insurance, raised $12m in Series A funding. Herald is a digital infrastructure company that connects software developers to commercial insurance carriers through a single API. Founded to revolutionize insurance connectivity, Herald provides the necessary tools for software developers to integrate with commercial insurance carriers, enabling efficient quoting, binding, and issuing of insurance products. More here ->
INSHUR has successfully raised $19 million in a new funding round. The company offers fully digital auto insurance for taxi, TLC, ride-share, private fleet, and private hire drivers. More here ->
COVU, a leader in AI-native services for insurance agencies, announced a $12.5 million in equity and debt financing as part of its first Series A funding round. More here ->
ClaimSorted, an insurtech company dedicated to streamlining claims processing, has raised $3 million in pre-seed funding. More here ->
Proptech
King Energy, a Durango, Colo., installer of solar panels on commercial buildings, raised $10m in seed funding. More here ->
Zephyr, a McLean, Va., digital home services platform, raised $60 million. The platform offers a range of services, including Home Automation, Smart Home Security and Centralized Support. More here ->
From the Stash
Capital One offers its authentication tool to FIs - Capital One is offering its AirKey authentication tool to other financial institutions to combat rising fraud. Built in-house at Capital One seven years ago, AirKey is embedded into more than 75 million debit and credit cards and offers an added form of account authentication, Tom Poole, senior vice president, emerging payments, told Bank Automation News. More here ->
Wells Fargo’s tech spend up and headcount down in Q3 - Wells Fargo trimmed its staff and total costs in the third quarter, with efficiency in mind. “We have maintained strong credit discipline and driven significant operating efficiencies in the company while investing heavily to build a risk and control infrastructure appropriate for a bank of our size,” Chief Executive Charlie Scharf said during today’s Q3 earnings call. More here ->
Goldman narrows consumer footprint - Goldman Sachs is trimming its consumer business in the third quarter, turning its attention to bread-and-butter segments including wealth management, dealmaking and trading. “We have been pretty clear with our messaging that we continue to narrow our consumer footprint,” Chief Executive David Solomon said today during the bank’s third-quarter earnings call. More here ->
How AI and ‘behavioral banking’ boosts FI revenue - Financial institutions can couple AI with “behavioral banking” to grow revenue, industry experts say. Behavioral banking is a strategy that banks are exploring to analyze consumer data as a way to present timely products to customers to increase loyalty alongside bank revenue. Banks usually sell the same financial products at about the same price. More here ->
Revolut Business, Amex team up for payments acceptance - London-based Revolut Business is accepting American Express cards to boost revenue. Revolut clients can accept American Express card payments via channels including Tap to Pay, Revolut Gateway and Payments Link, according to an Oct. 9 release from the digital bank. Revolut Gateway provides customers with a unified payment experience for in-store or online payments. More here ->
Bank of America clients flock to digital tools in Q3 - Bank of America clients continued to flock to digital channels in the third quarter as the bank invested in transaction channels, wealth management and self-service capabilities. “Digital adoption and engagement continue to improve, and customer satisfaction scores remain near record levels, illustrating the appreciation of enhanced capabilities from our continuous investments” More here ->
Ally focuses on digital experience in face of outflows - Ally Financial expects deposits to flow out as interest rates go down, but it is looking to digital tools and experiences to maintain — and even grow — deposits. “Our focus remains on providing a great customer digital experience while simultaneously demonstrating efficiency by adapting to different operating environments” like a low-rate cycle, Russ Hutchinson. More here ->
Reports & Webinars
Financial services are entering a new era of innovation. By adopting new technologies and accelerating modernization efforts, financial institutions can better position themselves to leverage emerging opportunities and meet evolving customer needs in today's rapidly changing landscape.
Read this Forrester study, commissioned by AWS Marketplace, to gain insights on how financial services organizations are evaluating and using AI to innovate and improve the customer experience.
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This webinar on November 7, 2024 is focused on overcoming affordability concerns, communicating the value proposition and more
- Andrew Leeds, VP & Chief Claims Officer, Plymouth Rock Assurance,
- Corey Schieler, Director, State Farm Ventures
- Linsey Miller, SVP Business Development & Strategic Marketing, Resideo
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