Fintech Update, 2/12 - 2/18
Hi! It’s Monday, February 19th, 2024
To kick things off, we’re proud to share another cool milestone for The Fintech Update: we now have over 2k Substack subscribers! We’re very grateful for your continued support, and we’re pumped to share some exciting updates in the coming months as well.
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The Rundown
Revolut announced that it is offering eSIM plans to users in the UK that give them access to data abroad without incurring roaming charges. The move, a rare example of a fintech offering telecom services, supports Revolut’s goal of becoming a financial “super-app” encompassing features like banking, currency exchange, and travel. Users can activate virtual SIM cards in their app to access Revolut features and top up data balances when abroad.
Shares in the Swiss fintech Temenos plunged by nearly a third after prominent American short-seller Hindenburg Research accused the company of “manipulating” its earnings. In a curious move, Petrus Advisers, one of Temenos’s largest shareholders, both accused Hindenberg of sloppy research and capitalized on the controversy to support its calls for a management change. Temenos, which claims 41 of the world’s top 50 banks as clients, refuted the claims.
Cash App announced that it will now offer up to 4.5% APY for its Savings product, as the battle for customer deposits continues to get hotter and hotter. However, there are a number of requirements that need to be hit for users to get access to this rate: (1) direct deposit $300 or more per month in paychecks, (2) have a Cash App Card, (3) use a personal account, and (4) be 18+ years old.
Neon Money Club launched Score, a dating app for people with good to excellent credit - users must have at least a 675 credit score to use it. First thing that came to mind for us here at TFU —> some of the horrible pick up lines that are about to get dropped, including, but not limited to: Are you my credit card? Cause you definitely got my interest. Or maybe, damnnnnn, you’re finer than the print engraved on the agreement of my credit card. Or lastly, are you a credit score? Because you’re worth checking out. Ok, that’s enough of that.
The chair of the House Financial Services Committee sent a letter to FDIC chair Marty Grunberg expressing concern regarding the regulator’s dismantling of its public-facing innovation office, and a lack of publicly available information on its examination practices and supervisory actions related to banks and fintechs.
Financial technology giant FIS announced a partnership with open banking provider Banked, to develop real-time pay-by-bank solutions.
The Reading Nook
Not a read, but check out the first episode of This Week in Fintech’s Fintech OG Series featuring Matt Harris and Steve McLaughlin!
Selected fundings
Dutch challenger bank for SMEs and freelancers Finom raised $54 million in Series B funding.
Colombian payments infrastructure company Bold raised $50 million in a Series C funding round led by General Atlantic.
Rasa, a startup working to streamline enterprise customer service in financial services and telecoms with generative AI, raised $30 million in a Series C funding round co-led by StepStone and PayPal Ventures.
Financing platform for out-of-pocket elective procedures PatientFi raised $25 million in new funding.
FlowFi, the marketplace for entrepreneurs to find finance experts, raised $9 million in seed funding.
Cambio, the startup putting AI bots to negotiate debt collections on behalf of consumers with banks, raised $3 million in seed funding.