Ripio, previously known as BitPagos, has secured $1.9 million in funding for expansion in South America; the firm's Series A funding investors included Huiyin Blockchain Venture, Digital Currency Group, Boost VC and Draper VC; the company was founded in Buenos Aires, Argentina and will use the funding for expansion to Brazil and Mexico; currently the firm offers bitcoin and digital wallet services; it targets underserved banking consumers through its wallet app which also aggregates data for microloan approvals. Source
Artificial intelligence innovation is an important focus for many companies in 2017. Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance Company has taken a lead in the insurance market with its announcement to replace 34 workers in its payment assessment department with an IBM Watson artificial intelligence solution. The firm says the Watson system will improve productivity and save approximately 140 million yen ($1.21 million) per year. This is one of the first times we've seen a public announcement of how employees have been replaced as a direct result of artificial intelligence. Source
PitchBook provides its insight on the fintech market in 2017; cites securitization as a positive factor for the online lending market with marketplace lending securitizations at $5.4 billion through the third quarter of 2016, an increase of 86% from 2015; also notes robust data providers including Orchard, DV01, MonJa and PeerIQ as another positive factor for the marketplace lending industry's growth. Source
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) had meetings with various bitcoin exchanges this week including BTCC, OKCoin and Huobi; along with the meetings two press releases were issued; according to a translation from Coindesk, the document reads, "Bitcoin is not a currency and shouldn't be viewed as such. Those who invest in bitcoin should accordingly be aware of the risks it poses and protect their investment"; officials also reminded exchanges about complying with local state laws and other regulations. Source
Unison offers funds for a down payment in exchange for a home ownership stake; in the case of one California homebuyer, the company matched their 10% down payment and required no monthly payments; instead the borrower must repay Unison with the sale of their house plus 35% of any real estate gains incurred from the sale; a handful of companies are offering similar real estate products including Point which offers cash-for-equity arrangements for existing homeowners. Source
Liberty Mutual has announced new personalized offerings within its usage-based insurance strategy; HighwayHero is a driving app launched to track driving and offer driving score discounts; it will be expanding its pay as you drive, ByMile, program to additional states; its usage-based insurance app, RightTrack, is also being expanded to additional states. Source
NYC-based, insurance software provider Namely has obtained $50 million in Series D funding; the company offers software services for human resources, payroll and benefits; its services are targeted for small to medium-sized businesses with 50 to 2,000 employees; they have recently been enhancing their software services to offer new features including daily employee interactions and company news feeds. Source
Reports continue to show Chinese investors increasingly investing in bitcoin as the yuan devalues; over 90% of bitcoin trading has been reported by Chinese investors and the cryptocurrency's price is showing close correlation with the value of the yuan; Chinese regulation limiting foreign investment to $50,000 per year in order to stabilize the currency appears to be a factor as wealthy Chinese investors use bitcoin investment to evade the regulation since it is considered a borderless investment; while China appears to be a driving force for the currency's gains, experts also believe improved trading efficiencies and solutions for bitcoin are also factors for its recent appreciation. Source
One of China's e-commerce giants, Baidu, has obtained regulatory approval for Baixin Bank; follows banking sector business activity from competitors Alibaba and Tencent; the banking unit will be digital only, offering online banking, telephone banking, ATM and mobile banking services; Baidu owns 30% of Baixin Bank and will work in partnership with China CITIC Bank which currently owns 70% of the bank. Source
A venture capitalist blogpost from avc.com provides some interesting predictions for 2017; expects the US stock market to continue its bullish trend higher into the first half of 2017 with support from corporate and personal tax cuts from President Trump; thinks tech initial public offerings (IPOs) will increase in 2017; Google and Facebook will see some challenges as monopolies; software as a service companies will consolidate; artificial intelligence (AI) will continue emerging with corporate AI strategies a top priority for businesses; venture capitalists will invest in genomics and biometrics; crypto programming will be important for cybersecurity. Source