This week, we look at Betterment launching a bank account and payments feature. They are not the first, but they could be the best! Still, it feels like the world has moved on. Barriers to entry around digital finance have collapsed, and shifted industry goal posts. Hundreds of companies are integrating API-based solutions that connect to banking and investment entities. Amazon, Google, and Apple are there already. And let's not forget the incredible pressure from the COVID recession: 20MM+ unemployed, $100 billion decrease in global remittances, 1 in 8 banks being unprofitable. Is it time for incremental improvement, or a sea change?
In this conversation, we chat with Henry Yoshida – Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Rocket Dollar. Prior to Rocket Dollar, Yoshida was the co-founder of Honest Dollar, a robo-advisor retirement platform that was acquired by Goldman Sachs, as well as a founder of MY Group LLC, a $2.5-billion assets under management investment firm. Henry shares his industry expertise as a speaker at several industry conferences, as well as having been featured or quoted in the Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Financial Times. Henry has a passion for helping people be the best that they can be and contributes as a member in several financial and technology industry organizations. He graduated from The University of Texas at Austin and has an MBA from Cornell University.
More specifically, we touch on Henry’s career at BoA Merrill Lynch, his role at building a multi-billion dollar RIA business, how he started a digital retirement account platform called Honest Dollar which was sold to Goldman Sach’s neobank Marcus, the inception of Rocket Dollar, we talk IRAs and 401ks and how important these are for the current Gen-Z market, and so so much more!
In this conversation, we chat with Elizabeth Rossiello – the CEO and founder of AZA, an established provider of currency trading solutions which accelerate global access to frontier markets through an innovative infrastructure. Elizabeth founded the company in 2013 in Nairobi, Kenya and has expanded it to 10+ markets across Africa and Europe.
Before founding AZA, Elizabeth was a rating analyst for microfinance institutions across sub-Saharan Africa, consulting for Grameen Foundation, Gates Foundation and the Acumen Fund, as well as working with regulators and policy-makers on legislation for financial innovations. Elizabeth co-chairs the World Economic Forum's Council on Blockchain and holds an M.A. in International Business and Finance from Columbia University.
More specifically, we touch on ratings agencies and the activity of rating intitutions, M-Pesa and how it influenced the thinking towards a crypto-centric future, Africa’s banking landscape and some of the outstanding issues it faces, Bitpesa and how it became Aza, banking infrastructure in Africa, and so so much more!
Mexican fintech Kapital raised $40 million in a series-B funding this month and $125 million in debt financing to expand to new markets.
In this conversation, we chat with Tim Frost, CEO and Co-Founder of Yield App, a fintech app making DeFi accessible to everyone. Prior to founding Yield, Tim helped build 2 previous digital banks, Wirex and EQIBank. Tim has also helped accelerate early-stage blockchain startups QTUM, NEO, Paxful, Polymath, and many others.
More specifically, we touch on all things crypto banking and debit cards, crypto onramps, juristictions and regulation, defi banking, yield generation mechanisms, and so much more!
Welcome back to the Fintech Blueprint / Rebank podcast series hosted by Will Beeson and Lex Sokolin. In this episode, we talk through a few recent events that are indicative of the Fintech world right now. Brex raised an additional $150 million at a slightly improved valuation vs. its last round just as Monzo is reportedly looking at a 40% down round. Why? Shopify launched bank accounts for its merchants and announced the Shop app, basically an Amazon competitor plus Klarna, just as it worked with Facebook to support the launch of Facebook Shops and joined the Libra Association. Lots going on. Lastly, we discuss why Goldman’s M&A activity over the past couple years leads to the natural conclusion that they should buy Schwab.
E-commerce fintech SellersFi secured a $300 million credit facility from Citi, leveraging the increasing popularity of alternative payments.
Looking into the statistics of gambling is illuminating and depressing. The UK, where gambling is more widely accepted than in the US, sees rates of 40-60% across all adults according to 2016 research. Revenues for casinos are over $100 billion annually, and global gambling revenues, including sports betting and the national lotteries, amount to over $400 billion. That's like the equivalent of the entire software cloud industry. And it asymmetrically addicts and disadvantages the already disadvantaged (see academic research here, here, and here).
We look at some of the recent Fintech bundling news that boggle the mind. Neobank Chime just raised a mammoth round from DST Global, valuing it at $6 billion. Figure raised another $60 million round. Goldman is launching a retail roboadvisor. Revolut is offering pensions. Wealthfront is offering mortgages. The world is upside down. We cool down with pictures showing augmented reality implementations in commerce and finance, and finish with an elevated thought about the future.
Colombian fintech Bold secured $50 million in a series C round led by private equity firm General Atlantic.