OneConnect Financial Technology Co., Ltd, the leading Technology-as-a-Service (“TaaS”) provider, was included as part of the 2022 IDC China Fintech Top 50 for the third consecutive year during the 2022 IDC Digital Finance Awards in Beijing held on August 18. Awarded by International Data Corporation (“IDC”), the award recognizes the Company’s outstanding performance in “technology empowerment”, “innovations and transformations,” and “financial services.”
Fintech giant Ant Group Co.'s valuation has been lowered again by global investors who bought private shares ahead of its suspended initial public offering. According to Bloomberg, Fidelity Investments lowered its estimate for Ant to $70 billion in late May. That's down from $78 billion last June, and $235 billion just before Ant's November 2020 IPO was torpedoed by regulators.
Mexican digital and banking services platform Covalto (website) announced that it would list on the Nasdaq through a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC). The deal values the company, formerly known as Credijusto, at an implied pro forma enterprise value of $547 million and could generate up to $177 million in capital before expenses, according to Covalto.
Indian Buy-now-pay-later card startup Uni (website) plans to temporarily suspend its card services in the South Asian market due to the local central bank's digital lending guidelines. The fintech, which is backed by General Catalyst, Elevation Capital, and Lightspeed Venture Partners, confirmed that the cards will be inactive until further notice.
San Francisco-based Pomelo receives $20 million in venture capital and a $50 million credit facility in a round led by Founders Fund and A* Capital, with participation from Afore Capital, The Chainsmokers, and The Weeknd, among others. Pomelo's platform combines consumer loans and money transfers with no transfer fees. In partnership with Mastercard, the fintech has developed a credit card that allows U.S. customers to assign credit to their friends and family members.
At the beginning of July, the Hamburg fintech Rubarb had surprisingly filed for insolvency. Behind the company are Fabian Scholz and Jakob Scholz, the nephews of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. In the past, the two founders had repeatedly used their relationship with the SPD politician for marketing purposes.
The purchase price paid by French startup Qonto for fintech Penta has not been officially disclosed. However, the financial portals Finance Forward, and Finanz-Szene has researched that the purchase price is said to have been around 200 million euros. The media refer thereby to documents from the French trade register.
Israeli online investment platform eToro is set to complete its acquisition of fintech startup Gatsby, following approval from the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). This was reported by the tech news portal TechCrunch. According to the report, the deal is worth $50 million in cash and common stock.
Samir Desai (pictured above), the co-founder of Funding Circle, has unveiled Super Payments, a fintech startup he founded back in February but very little was known about until now. The startup successfully raised £22.5 million (about $27 million) in a funding round led by Accel, with participation from Union Square Ventures, LocalGlobe, and several angel investors.
