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Global FinTech News - 19th of March

Global FinTech News - 19th of March
By Holland FinTech  • Issue #90 • View online
Dear fintech enthusiast,
This week, we saw Europe worried about the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, and watched closely the Dutch elections, which resulted in Prime Minister Mark Rutte claiming a fourth election win in a row, likely leading the new cabinet. In terms of fintech, Stripe, SumUp, and Flutterwave claim attention in funding and China is going down on their tech giants, and much more interesting developments in RegTech, crypto, insurance, digital identity, security, stock market, brokers.
This morning, our Founder & CEO, Don Ginsel, explored in a new Flash Friday edition insights on the payments landscape and subscription-based business models together with Paul Scholten, CEO at Buckaroo. Check out the video recording here.
From the Holland FinTech Team, we wish you a nice end of the week!

Highlights from last weeks news related to fintech
Explore the latest fintech news for this week and dive into topics regarding startups, tradings, RegTech, crypto, stocks:
  • Cambodia delivery startup Meal Temple goes into fintech with new merger with Kiwi Pay Group, a Hong Kong-based fintech firm
  • Trading platform eToro will go to the NASDAQ via a SPAC in a $10.4 billion deal
  • China’s Ant Group is valued at $200 billion by their current investors, much lower than the valuation it was to do an IPO for
  • Call for stronger regulations on the tech sector in Beijing due to existing risks and low standards of platforms. Fintech branches may be forced to be spun out. Tencent lost almost 10% in value over 2 weeks
  • India will propose a law banning cryptocurrencies, fining anyone trading in the country or even holding such digital assets
  • Stripe boosted the net worth of its co-founders to about $11.5bn (€9.63bn) each and reached a $95bn (€79bn) valuation after its last funding round
Read more about this news HERE.
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The largest funding rounds we found from across the world
More deals, transactions and investments in AI, security, brokerage, payments, insurance, and more. Dive into the funding selection, gathered from 10 March to 17 March:
  • Pagaya (New York, US), a company which uses AI for the digital lending space, announced a $900m (€755.7m) deal to expand the Pagaya AI Debt Selection Trust (PAID) shelf
  • Stripe (San Francisco, CA, US), a payments technology company, raised $600 million in new funding at a record valuation
  • Snyk (London, UK), a developer of application security technology, is now worth $4.7 billion after a new fundraising
  • WorkFusion (New York, US), a company specialized in AI, robotic process automation, raised $220 million (€184m)
  • Bitpanda (Vienna, Austria), a retail broker for buying and selling cryptocurrencies, has picked up $170 million (€142.7m) in a Series B
  • Flutterwave (San Francisco, CA, US), a fintech company that provides a payment infrastructure for global merchants and payment service providers, has raised $170 million (€142.7m) in Series C funding
  • Zego (London, UK), a commercial insurance company, received $125m (€125m) funding, led by DST Global
  • Other funding rounds we thought to be relevant for this week: Corvus Insurance (€83m), Brim (€20.9m), DIEM (€4.6m), Dayra (€2.5m), FlexClub (€1.07m)
Read more about this funding news HERE.
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A selection of recent research reports and papers worth reading
Cross-border payments, M&A, financial inclusion, data privacy, cybersecurity, and AI. Check the reports below and find out the latest trends from fintech:
  • “The 2021 Cross-Border Payments 100” (FXCintelligence) - this article ranks the 100 most important cross-border payment companies based on criteria, such as scale and size and customer base
  • “2020 Annual Fintech Almanac Global Financing and M&A Statistics” (FT Partners Research) - this report gives an overview of the Fintech landscape in 2020 in terms of financing and M&A volume transactions
  • “EIF Working Paper: Financial and social inclusion in Europe” (EIF) - this research investigated whether financial and social inclusion can coexist in the same country
  • “Startup Continent: The Most Well-Funded Tech Startups In Latin America And The Caribbean” (CBInsights) - this report categorized the top-funded companies in latin America and the Caribbean based on total disclosed equity funding
  • “Cut through the noise: 5 key considerations when selecting your payments platform” (Finextra) - the findings provide insights about payment platforms to assist financial organizations in their long-term digital transformation and offering
  • “Branching off: The outlook for Hong Kong’s virtual banks” (Quinlan & Associates) - the report reveals the importance of data privacy and cybersecurity for the virtual banks
  • “Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2021” (AI Index | Stanford University) - the findings of this report show the effects of COVID-19 on AI development from multiple perspectives
Read more about the research papers and download the pdf’s HERE.
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Background information and insights from opinion leaders and experts
Find out the most recent opinions and leadership thoughts from fintech. Topics of interest for this week - mobile phones, remittances, Covid-19 implications, CBDCs, embedded finance, and more:
  • “Back in the U.S.S.D.: Most Smartphone Owners—Especially Women—Don’t Use Apps for Financial Services” via NextBillion - Bryan Pon, co-founder at Caribou Data, dives into how mobile phones have revolutionized communications and finance across emerging markets of the Global South
  • “Want equality for women? Give them affordable remittances” via AltFi - Dora Ziambra, Chief Operating Officer at Azimo, argues that high street remittance providers and banks, on which a disproportionate number of women depend, need to reduce their fees
  • “Every Bank Needs A Chatbot (Or Two) For Its Digital Transformation” via Forbes - Ron Shevlin, Managing Director of Fintech Research at Cornerstone Advisors, dives into the positive implications of Covid-19 for the technological sector
  • “Right time for CBDC to be considered, says BoE senior manager” via Bobsguide.com - Leanna Reeves, writer at Bobsguide.com, dives into The Bank of England’s (BoE) reiteration to introduce a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) to improve the payment landscape’s resilience
  • “Banking’s long road to BaaS” via FinTech Futures - Dharmesh Mistry, CEO at AskHomey, explores whether banks are well prepared to take advantage of new services such as embedded finance
  • “Intelligent Automation: Its benefits on customer service for traditional banks” via Finextra - Steve Morgan, Banking Industry Market Lead at Pegasystems, finds solutions on how traditional banks can improve customer service when faced with actors who threaten customer satisfaction and retention
  • “Why you really need to fix your startup’s ‘leadership debt’” via Sifted.eu - Martina van Hettinga, Managing Partner at i-potentials GmbH, highlights the key ingredient to build and scale a tech company, besides using a customer-centric product
Read more about these analyses & opinion pieces HERE.
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Connect with the fintech ecosystem at some of the upcoming events
At this event, we will launch the guide and let the lawyers involved tell you what’s important and how to make compliance easier. We will also look at the soon-to-be-implemented AMLD6 that was launched soon after AMLD5. To secure your license to operate and avoid serious fines: join us on this informative session, where you can also ask your questions and discuss your challenges.
Register HERE.
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Customer Experience Exchange For Banking, Financial Services & Insurance - 23rd-24th March
The Customer Experience Exchange for BFSI is an exclusive executive-level, invitation-only forum.
Register HERE.
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Finovate Europe Digital - 23rd-25th March
See cutting-edge fintech you can deploy now, hear from experts who can help you plan for a digital future, and connect with people who can help you take your business to the next level.
Register HERE.
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Wolves Summit 2021 - 24th-26th March
Wolves Summit fosters collaboration between angel investors, VC funds, corporations, and the most promising startups in the CEE region invested in creating real, positive value in the world.
Register HERE.
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GBA Blockchain Week Virtual Summit 2021 - 30th March-1st April
Greater Bay Area Blockchain Week 2021 is the premier virtual event for an international audience passionate about technology.
Register HERE.
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Ready to get involved? Click here to find out more.
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