European venture capital firm 83North has announced the closing of a $250 million investment in its fourth fintech fund; the firm focuses on startup investments in Europe and Israel and says that its fourth fund will continue to invest in those regions; the firm's latest investment brings its total capital under management to $800 million; the firm says it sees a greater opportunity for startup investment throughout Europe following Brexit. Source
A new survey by Israel-based Bank Leumi’s challenger brand Pepper found 90 percent of UK consumers feel they are undereducated...
9F Group has invested in a blockchain company called Wyre in Silicon Valley; the Group will establish its Southeast Asia headquarters in Singapore soon; plus it already has 9F Primasia Securities in Hong Kong. Source (Chinese)
The island seeks to consolidate itself as a leading Caribbean fintech hub, with 55 reported fintech companies as of 2021.
SeekingAlpha reports on the valuation of Square, Inc. citing several factors that have led to an overvalued stock price of $17.37; the author reports that assumptions on the growth of its customers is overestimated; says it will have difficulty when expanding to higher value customers and internationally also reporting that the business model is at risk to lower cost market competitors; also says that its reliance on Square Capital lending to retain customers and balance attrition of gross payment volume is unlikely primarily due to market competition. Source
Last month as Wirecard was unraveling the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority temporarily suspended Wirecard Card Solutions (WCS) from operating; this...
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported a spike in troubled assets, suggesting a fairly large bank may be under heightened scrutiny. But confidentiality rules make it impossible to confirm any details.
The startup PointCard's new charge card ignores applicants' credit scores, instead weighing their cryptocurrency holdings and other investments to determine ability to repay.
Kevin Shane, EVP Capital Markets at Sharestates shares his ideas for what is needed to help support American small businesses...
An article in Hacker Noon digs into crypto platform NEO, exploring the company's background, website and white paper; what makes NEO different is that it doesn't have a crypto coin and NEO uses fiat as its internal currency; the NEO coin is similar to a traditional security, functioning as shares in the company that runs the platform. Source