Fintech Lanistar risks financial collapse as it fails to pay managers and faces legal action August 18, 2021 Payments startup Lanistar is reportedly facing a series of employment tribunal cases over unpaid salaries from current and former staff, including members of its senior management team. The company has had problems with securing funding, has been accused of mistreating staff, and has not yet launched any of its payment cards. Despite this, it has [...]
Bitpanda triples valuation to $4.1bn in latest funding round August 17, 2021 Austria’s first tech unicorn has more than tripled in value to $4.1bn in a matter of months. Bitpanda, a crypto trading platform, raised $263m at a valuation of $4.1bn in a series C investment round led by Valar Ventures. British hedge fund manager Alan Howard, UK based Venture Capital firm LeadBlock Partners and Jump Capital [...]
Chinese tech shares drop after Beijing tightens rules on internet competition August 17, 2021 China has marked its latest crackdown on the technology sector as the authorities announced new rules today to tackle unfair internet competition and companies’ handling critical data. The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) published a set of draft regulations banning unfair competition and restricting the use of user data. Shares of Chinese tech companies [...]
Fintech firm Plus500 announce strong half-year results as industry swells August 17, 2021 Plus500, a global fintech company, has announced strong half-year results after the acquisitions of rivals Cunningham and CTS. The group has seen its revenue swell from where it was in H2 in 2020. It had fallen from $564.2m to $308.3m over the course of 2020, but has since rebounded to $346.2m. The pattern is much [...]
Monzo savings partner pauses products amid money laundering probe August 14, 2021 OakNorth, a Monzo partner that provides savings products for the challenger bank, temporarily withdrew offers for new customers a fortnight after it emerged that the FCA had launched an investigation into the British digital bank over possible money laundering activity. Challenger bank OakNorth, which is one of the lenders that have provided £1bn worth of [...]
Robinhood acquires investor relations platform Say Technologies in $140m takeover deal August 10, 2021 Fresh from its IPO at the end of last month, Robinhood today announced to its new shareholders that it will acquire online retail investor relations platform Say Technologies in a $140m (£101m) all-cash deal. New York fintech startup Say provides a digital platfrom that aims to enable retail investors to interact with the companies where [...]
UK fintechs shatter records and attract $24.5bn investment in first half of the year August 10, 2021 Investment in UK fintech has reached an all-time high, as firms in the industry attracted a staggering $24.5bn in the first half of the year across the highest volume of deals on record. British fintech investment across private equity (PE), venture capital (VC) and M&A deals has exploded as the country emerges from the pandemic, [...]
China tech crackdown: From Jack Ma’s disappearance to online tutoring debacle August 5, 2021 Chinese technology giants once seemed untouchable, with billions of profits through aggressive expansion. But that status is now more uncertain after a year of Beijing’s sweeping regulatory crackdowns that have spread like wildfire across sectors. The saga started last October when Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, who founded e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, criticised China for lacking a [...]
Moscow Metro introduces face recognition payment system August 3, 2021 The Tube has Oyster cards and the New York subway its Metrocards, but Moscow’s Metro is going one better – rolling out ticketing based on facial recognition technology. The Face Pay technology use biometric data and bank card details to recognise, and charge, travellers on the Metro. The tech is currently being trialled on the [...]
Michael Spencer-backed fund raises $130m for B2B fintech push August 2, 2021 Fintech-focused venture capital firm Element Ventures has announced a $130m (£93.5m) fund to invest in b2b financial enterprise technology businesses. Michael Spencer, City grandee and founder of interdealer broker Icap, was the fund’s cornerstone investor. It comes after Spencer contributed at least £25m to the fund upon launching last year, via his investment vehicle IPGL. [...]