SoftBank invests $100M in Konfio Konfio, an online lending platform that helps micro-businesses obtain affordable funding, closed their series D round of with a $100M investment from SoftBank. The Mexican fintech utilizes a propriety algorithm that allows lenders to measure creditworthiness of small-scale business owners. SoftBank is the latest investor in Konfio, joining Goldman Sachs,…
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The following is news from September and October: Bakkt Offers Physically-Settled Bitcoin Futures Up to this point, all Bitcoin futures have been ‘cash-settled’, meaning that the seller of the future delivered cash at the settlement date, and no bitcoin was ever transferred. And while those futures are still popular, Bakkt is offering an alternative that…
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Singapore Accepting Applications for Digital Banking Licenses The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will accept five applications this year, three of which for “restricted digital banks” and two for digital all-inclusive banks. The move is a historic one for Singapore, which has been slow to lay down a framework for financial technology adoption. Cielo Launching…
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Nebulous Closes $3.5M pre-Series A Led by Bain Capital Nebulous, the tech startup behind the data-decentralization blockchain Sia Network announced that it raised $3.5 million in July featuring investments from Bain Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Dragonfly Capital Partners. Nebulous has now raised $6.3 million since its launch five years ago. Sia Network was the…
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MoneyGram Partners Up With Ripple Ripple made waves in the equity markets this month when it committed $50 million in capital for equity in the money transfer company, MoneyGram, briefly sending the stock (MGI) up more than 100% in after-hours trading. Per FinTech Futures: With the aim of cutting the costs and timescales associated with…
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Bitcoin Comes to Whole Foods and Other Major Retailers Flexa recently announced the launch of its new mobile payment app, SPEDN, that will allow users to spend ETH, BTC, BCH, and the Gemini Dollar as easily as it is to use Apple Pay. Flexa revealed that SPEDN was created in partnership with Gemini exchange and…
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Mastercard Backs Out of Earthport Deal, Acquires Transfast Mastercard’s bidding war with Visa for payment-technology firm Earthport intensified in February, capped off by a $320m offer by Visa that forced Mastercard to drop out. One month later, Mastercard announced that it had agreed to acquire a different cross-border payment startup, Transfast. Transfast does not have…
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