Tag Archives: fintech

Managing Bills Together: Tips for Dividing Expenses Without Damaging Relationships | Fintech

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Consider the Financial Situations of Others…

An income disparity among friends can create conflict. A survey conducted by US financial services company Bread Financial last year revealed that 26% of respondents felt they were “financially incompatible” with their friends, and 21% said they had ended friendships due to financial reasons.

Talia Roderick emphasizes the importance of addressing the wealth gap between money coaches and friends. She notes, “It’s easy for friendships to suffer because money can be such a contentious issue.”

When dining with friends, it’s crucial to discuss how costs will be divided before receiving the bill. This can be a contentious topic. A survey conducted by a comparison website in the dining industry found that 34% believed bills should be split evenly, including tips, while 36% preferred splitting based on individual expenses.

Vivi Friedgut, the founder and CEO of Black Bullion, a free money management app for students, stresses the importance of having open and honest conversations about cost-sharing, whether for household items or dining out.

…Especially in University Settings

Vivi Friedgut, founder and CEO of Black Bullion, emphasizes the need for open and honest conversations. Photo: Room Agent/Aramie

Tom Allingham, Communications Director for The Money Website Save the Student, highlights the common practice of saying, “I’ll pay this time, and you can get the next one.” However, over time, this can lead to imbalances. Allingham explains, “Eventually, one person ends up owing much more than the other.”

Student finances can further complicate matters. According to recent data, most students face a £504 shortfall each month beyond their maintenance loans, leading to disparities within friend groups when splitting expenses.

Utilize Apps to Simplify Splitting Costs

Use apps to streamline bill-splitting. Photo: City Image/Alamy

There is an array of apps and services available to simplify splitting costs among multiple individuals. It’s recommended to explore these options to find the best fit for your specific needs.

One popular bill-splitting app is Splitwise, which allows users to track shared expenses like rent, holidays, meals, and travel costs.

An integration between Splitwise and the payment platform Tink enables UK users to make direct payments through the Splitwise app by linking their bank accounts.

For UK users, Splid is another useful app that supports over 150 currencies and offline functionality, making it ideal for group travel.

Apps like these can help alleviate the awkwardness of splitting costs and promote fairer divisions, as noted by Roderick.

Allingham suggests that apps like Splitwise are particularly effective for splitting minor expenses among friends, such as coffee outings.

Explore Your Bank’s Bill-Splitting Services

Some banks provide bill-splitting services. Photo: Chris Ratcliffe/Rex Shutterstock

While Natwest’s Housemate app was well-received for bill splitting, it has since been discontinued. Other banks offer similar tools to facilitate cost-sharing.

Digital banks like Monzo, Starling Bank, and Crew offer features like Split, Split the Bill, and group-based spending options to help users manage joint expenses and split bills easily.

Revolut also enables customers to split bills with other users, providing another convenient option for simplifying group expenses.

Source: www.theguardian.com

RHUNA Revolutionizes Event and Entertainment Industry with Fintech Innovation: Embracing Blockchain Technology – Latest News, Analysis, TV, Career Opportunities

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Bucharest, Romania, February 19, 2024, Chainwire

Luna is a visionary fintech platform dedicated to revolutionizing the events and entertainment industry through innovative technology.

By integrating Web 3.0 and blockchain technology, RHUNA aims to improve user experience, improve security and transparency, and foster closer and more engaged communities around the world.

UNTOLD Universe is one of the top five music festival organizers in the world, with over 1.5 million attendees each year. Rhuna combines CryptoDATA's innovative technology development expertise and experience with this pioneering platform.

One of the key features RHUNA offers is the introduction of a decentralized ticketing system that leverages the power of blockchain, where tickets are issued as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This ensures authenticity, ownership, and a secure and transparent secondary market. This system effectively eliminates common problems such as fraud and scalping, providing a fairer and more reliable ticketing experience. The modular functionality structure within the ecosystem means that even large event organizers can customize event management, especially ticketing and payments, with incredible speed and accuracy.

The platform also features an integrated digital wallet that supports various cryptocurrencies, allowing seamless trading of tickets, goods, and services. This not only caters to a growing crypto-savvy audience, but also reduces fees and simplifies the payment process.

Smart contracts automate key transactions and contracts, from ticket sales to performer payments, ensuring efficiency, transparency, and trust across all transactions. Additionally, RHUNA values ​​user privacy and control, allowing participants to securely manage their personal data through decentralized identities.

As an industry first, RHUNA introduces a token-based loyalty and rewards program, giving users the opportunity to earn tokens on a variety of activities. These tokens can be redeemed for special experiences, merchandise, or discounts, fostering a strong sense of community and engagement within the RHUNA ecosystem.

The platform also pioneers the use of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) in event planning, giving the community a voice in the decision-making process, from event themes to artist lineups. This democratized approach ensures that RHUNA remains closely aligned with the desires and preferences of its user base.

“The Rhuna project is not just a technical solution. It is an adaptable and dynamic system that interconnects social and technical elements, providing opportunities through solutions that address a wide range of needs. Architecture, Technology, implementation methods, and usage modes are factors that influence the optimization of resources when performing activities.In the current movement, resources such as time, people, materials, and costs are multifaceted within a 3D system. Rhuna is the perfect tool to give everyone access and control. Rhuna is a way for everyone to visualize and actively intervene in them. Luna is a catalyst that makes the abstract tangible and essential for everyone involved in the entertainment industry.” – Bogdan Marunšiš, Global Head of Strategy, CryptoDATA

Bogdan Radulescu, co-founder and CBO of UNTOLD, put it succinctly: “We are pushing the boundaries of festival finance into the 21st century, redefining event organization and engagement for the benefit of organizers around the world.”

The interface will be accessible to participants of all technical backgrounds and will be unveiled at the 9th UNTOLD festival in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. RHUNA aims to introduce new innovations to the “World Capital of Night and Magic” to enhance the festival experience for over 400,000 attendees.

About crypto data

A leader in technology innovation, CryptoData develops solutions that address real-world challenges and pushes the boundaries of technology to advance society.Users can learn more at cryptodata.com.

About Untold Universe

Known for creating transformative experiences through music and entertainment, UNTOLD Universe invites you to explore enchanting realms. untold.ae.

Users are welcome to join this thrilling journey. RHUNA.iotechnology and entertainment come together to create an unforgettable experience.

For more information and updates, please see below. discord | twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Moderate

contact

Bogdan Radulescu
Hello @rhuna.io


Source: the-blockchain.com

The Successes and Setbacks of Fintech in 2023

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As 2023 draws to a close, we’re here to look back at the year’s biggest fintech stories.

Silicon Valley Bank Collapse

It felt like a fintech story in that many startups in the space (e.g. Brex, Arc, Mercury) jumped in to fill the void left by its collapse. But this was truly a story that affects every industry and founders and investors alike. And it continues to unfold.

Apple launches savings account for Apple Card customers

Ironically, one of the biggest news stories of 2023 involved a tech giant rather than a startup. During April, apple shared it Apple Card customers in the U.S. Open a savings account and earn interest As Romain Dillet reported, through Apple’s savings account. At the time, Apple was offering him a competitive APY of 4.15%. The company partnered with Goldman Sachs to provide this feature, but that partnership fell apart by the end of the year (Event) we saw it coming) and it was not yet clear who would replace Goldman Sachs.

Mastercard CFO says India’s UPI is an ‘incredibly painful experience’ for ecosystem participants

Another of this year’s most-read articles is about financial services giants rather than startups. Manish Singh writes about the following facts: Mastercard CFO declares India’s UPI is ‘great on many levels’ However, it remained an “incredibly painful experience” for ecosystem participants who ended up losing money. The comments highlighted tensions surrounding the mobile payment rail, which facilitates more than 10 billion transactions each month in a country with low card penetration.

Foreign WeChat Pay and Alipay users can go cashless at Chinese retail stores

In July, Rita Liao reported that China’s two major mobile payment solutions wechat pay and alipayHe announced. Foreign users can now pay at Chinese retail stores By linking foreign credit cards such as Visa, Mastercard, and Discover. This was a big deal because it has historically been difficult for travelers to go cashless like locals. Previously, using WeChat Pay and Alipay in China required a local bank account, making it difficult for short-term residents to use these payment methods.

Visa acquires Brazilian fintech startup Pismo for $1 billion

In late June, I announced news for the credit card giant. visa Plans to acquire Brazilian payment infrastructure startup Pismo It is expected to be one of the largest fintech M&A deals of the year, with $1 billion in cash. The deal was completed later this year. Visa was just one of several companies that made bids for the startup, and was not seeking acquisition or financing, according to reports. Pismo What was scooped by Visa was a kind of coup for the entire Latin American region; Global investors are pouring capital into the region 2021 and a little bit more Withdrawal after just one year.

Image credits: Pismo

Slope closes $30 million venture round with ‘major participation’ from Sam Altman

When Sam Altman gets involved in a venture, people pay attention. Christine Hall reported in late September: slopeis a B2B payment platform for businesses. Completed $30 million venture round To expand your business. The round “included key participation from OpenAI’s Sam Altman.” At the core of Slope’s technology is order-to-cash workflow automation with artificial intelligence-driven tools for checkout, customer and vendor risk assessment, payment reconciliation, and cash management.

Carta CEO contacts customers about bad press and warns them about bad press

People love reading about other people’s failures. In an attempt at damage control, CEO of stock management startup KarutaHenry Ward, October Customer who sent email, told him that if he was worried about “negative press” related to his outfit, he should read his Medium post. The move seemed only to draw attention to a number of issues reportedly plaguing the 11-year-old company, as covered by me and TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos. Investors in Carta, which had been assigned a post-money valuation of $7.4 billion in 2021, when Carta last raised institutional funding, even called Ward’s decision “bizarre.”

Robinhood acquires credit card startup X1 for $95 million

In a somewhat surprising move, robin hood Announced in late June Acquires no-fee credit card startup X1 for $95 million in cash. X1offers a credit card with benefits based on income, and had raised a total of $62 million in venture-backed funding.Why did we choose X1 in particular over many other credit card startups? We believe it’s because X1 had a plan. To launch a new trading platform This allows cardholders to use earned reward points to purchase stocks. The company’s CEO even named Robinhood as a company he wants to compete with.

Vesey Ventures closes $78 million debut fund

A new venture company was born. VC Ventureswas founded by three women who are former managing directors of Amex Ventures. $78 million debut fund closed In early April. During their time at AmEx, the firm’s three founding partners invested in companies such as Plaid, Stripe, Melio, and Trulioo. The fact that early-stage fintech startups had more funding caught our readers’ attention.

Bonus: Once again, we dig a little deeper into Apple’s fintech aspirations (mentioned above).

Image credits: Vesey Ventures / Founding Partners Lindsay Fitzgerald, Dana Eli Roach, Julia Huang

Better.com officially goes public via long-delayed SPAC

We never thought that day would come. August, Digital Mortgage Provider Better.com Published via a long-delayed SPAC. No one expected him to do so well in his public debut. And it wasn’t. The company’s management probably knew it wasn’t doing well, but moved forward anyway for a variety of reasons that Alex Wilhelm and I have detailed. here. As of December 20th, the stock price was Only 63 cents.

ZestMoney is closed

In mid-May, Manish zest money quit the startup. Indian fintechs can take out small ticket loans for first-time internet customers and once attracted the backing of many prominent investors. Including Goldman Sachs. By December, Manish said ZestMoney shut down After efforts to find a buyer failed. The Bangalore-headquartered startup, which also counts PayU, Quona, Zip, Omidyar Network and Ribbit Capital as backers, employs around 150 people and has raised more than $130 million in eight years of work. has been procured.

Want more fintech news in your inbox? Sign up for Interchange here. Have a news tip or inside scoop on a topic we’ve covered? We’d love to hear from you. Contact us at maryann@techcrunch.com. Or send us a note at tips@techcrunch.com. We will be happy to honor your request for anonymity.

Source: techcrunch.com

The highs and lows of Fintech in 2023

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welcome home interchangeHere are the hottest fintech news from the past week. If you would like to receive The Interchange directly in your inbox every Sunday, please visit: here Sign up!

What a year!

This is the last edition of The Interchange for 2023. I can’t believe the year is almost over.

It’s been an eventful 12 months, even with reduced funding. We’ve seen a lot of M&A activity (read about it here, here, here, and here), BNPL has (sort of) made a comeback, and new fintech-focused ventures are raising money (Flourish and Vesey), several startup closures (Daylight being one example) and more layoffs than we would have liked.

And remember when FedNow went live in the US in July? At the time, the list included 35 financial institutions, and five months later, more than 330 of them were on the network. Participating in

There’s never a dull day in the world of fintech. For a broader look back, keep an eye out for a deeper dive into the top fintech stories we reported on through the end of the year.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to all the readers who have supported this magazine thus far. There are a lot of fintech newsletters out there, so the fact that you subscribe to this newsletter and keep coming back means a lot to us.

As we look forward to 2024, we wish you and your families a wonderful holiday season and a new year filled with lots of love, peace, and happiness. Thank you very much. — Mary Ann and Christine

weekly news

Christine reported on her dismissal: bolt, an e-commerce and fintech company that was at one time the subject of a federal investigation. The company confirmed through a spokesperson that the one-click checkout company has laid off 29% of its workforce. A Bolt spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the company is working to make Bolt an “operating model optimized for sustainable growth and efficiency” and is committed to “the next steps for our business.” “We can ramp up with the speed and agility necessary for this step.” ” We have been following Bolt for years, and this layoff is the latest of several other cuts that have taken place beyond 2022. In May 2022, Mary Ann reported that at least 185 employees, one-third of its workforce, had been laid off. Let go. Bolt, which provides software to retailers to speed up checkout, has raised a total of about $1 billion in venture backing and was once valued at $11 billion.

Mary Ann reported on several high-profile executive departures this week.She announced the following news credit karma Co-founder Nicole Mustard is stepping down after more than 16 years with the company. Mr. Mustard’s decision to step down marks the third high-profile departure of an executive at Credit Karma in 2023. She then wrote: open door Co-founder Eric Wu is leaving his job at a real estate fintech company after nine years to return to his startup roots. Notably, Wu has invested in startups during his time at Opendoor.according to crunch baseMr. Wu has backed dozens of companies, including Airtable, Scribe, Roofstock and the now-defunct Zeus Living.

At TC+, Jacqueline Melinek wrote about the following facts: robin hood‘s foray into cryptocurrencies isn’t necessarily new, and the company is still looking to expand its efforts in cryptocurrencies, even among groups that tend to stay away from the platform. “I think cryptocurrencies have always been created by and for very technical people,” said Johan Kerblatt, general manager of cryptocurrencies at Robinhood. chain reaction podcast. “At the end of the day, I don’t think customers care too much about what the underlying protocol is when they use cryptocurrencies. What network are they using? They just want things to work. That’s what I’m hoping for.”

Other items we are reading

Google Pay to add BNPL option in early 2024 (Apple made Apple Pay Later available to all users in the U.S. in October, after releasing it to a limited number of users in March.)

Visa acquires Brazilian fintech company Pismo in US$1 billion deal (See TechCrunch’s coverage of how the Pismo and Visa acquisitions first happened.)

Dallas-based Apex Fintech Solutions files for IPO in second public offering bid

Melio introduces real-time payments

HR technology platform Checkr moves to payments for gig workers

Deel launches compliance hub

Repay partners with Green Dot to enable cash-based bill payments

Klarna plans to replace employees with AI to boost profitability

Neobank Dave’s new chatbot achieves 89% resolution rate, CEO says (Go here to read Mary Ann’s Q&A with Dave’s founders in March.)

Funding and M&A

As seen on TechCrunch:

SumUp raises another €285m in growth funding to weather the fintech storm

Comun Channelizes Local Bank Approach to Serve Latino Immigrants

UK International Investment backs India’s Aye Finance with $37 million funding

Hyperplane wants to bring AI to banks

Kapital secures $165 million in equity and debt to provide financial visibility to Latin American small businesses

Prevu’s home sales process rewards homebuyers with cashback rebates

can be seen elsewhere:

Launch of Stairs Financial platform to assist first-time home buyers

Waste management payments company CurbWaste raises $10 million

Fintech startup Pontera raises $60 million, plans to expand jobs in Israel

Completed $12 million Series B financing in January

Necto raises $8 million in seed funding

HSBC supports Aii’s decarbonization grant fund

E-commerce financier SellersFi secures Citi-led credit facility

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Source: techcrunch.com

SumUp secures an additional €285m in funding to weather challenges in the fintech industry

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summary The fintech company, which provides payments and related services to around 4 million small and medium-sized businesses in Europe, the Americas and Australia, is raising growth capital to navigate the current turbulent fintech market. The thumb-up itself is tilted and shaken.

The London-based startup with German roots has raised €285 million (just under $307 million). The company plans to use the funding to continue growing its business organically and launch more financial services, focusing on card readers and other POS tools, offering invoicing, loyalty, business accounts, and more. is. We also have our sights set on more regions beyond the 36 we currently operate in.

The company will also focus on inorganic growth, namely M&A. The latter is noteworthy. We are currently in a buyer’s market. Fintech startups are experiencing a significantly tighter funding environment, with funding declining 36% globally in the last quarter. According to S&P.

(M&A deals can check several strategic boxes. When SumUp acquired loyalty startup Fivestars in 2021, it gave it an edge in the U.S. and also brought new services to its platform.) (Introduced)

Sixth Street Growth is leading this latest round, with participation from previous backers Bain Capital Tech Opportunities, Fin Capital, and Liquidity Group. SumUp has currently raised approximately $1.5 billion. pitch book data.

Hermione McKee, who was appointed SumUp’s CFO earlier this year, described the round as “mostly equity” but declined to provide a more precise figure. He also declined to discuss SamUp’s specific valuation, but he did note that SumUp has raised 590 million euros (half equity and half debt) in 2022. He said it was more expensive than the dollar.

The company states that it has been “positive on an EBITDA basis since the fourth quarter of 2022” (note: this does not mean it is profitable). And, compared to the previous year, he has achieved “sales growth” of more than 30%.

But on the other hand, there are other signs that business is tough right now. According to SumUp, the company’s customer base is now around 4 million people, which is exactly the same number the company had two years ago.

And today’s funding news comes on the heels of several other volatile data points about the company. It was only a few months ago that Groupon revealed it was selling some of its shares at a valuation of $4.1 billion as part of a larger secondary transaction between existing shareholders. In other words, we were able to sell the company for less than half of its 2022 value.

Meanwhile, the $8.5 billion valuation from 2022 is a significant discount to the 20 billion euros ($21.5 billion) that SumUp was aiming to achieve, reflecting how difficult it would be to raise a large equity round. It highlighted that. (And in line with this, the last raise SumUp gave in August was $100 million credit facility. )

Payment technology companies in Europe and the United States also faced increased scrutiny and suffered weak performance.

PayPal and Square, two U.S.-listed companies that directly compete with SumUp, have seen their stock prices and market caps decline since 2022. (PayPal’s stock is now less than $60 a share, down from a peak of nearly $300 a share.) Square and parent company Block are trading at about 25% of their peak. ) Stripe’s valuation famously fell by almost half this year to $50 billion.

Closer to home, listed Adyen has also reported slowing growth and is in financial trouble. But as a measure of how volatile the current market is, and how desperate investors are for signs of good news, Adyen’s mere mention of a turnaround plan (a plan, not an outcome) suggests that the company’s ‘s stock price soared. 30% up.

So far, Klarna and Checkout haven’t been so lucky. Klarna’s valuation fell by around 85% during its last funding round. Checkout was valued at $40 billion when it raised $1 billion in January 2022, but that number has reportedly been lowered since then. 10 billion dollars Internally.

Now 11 years old and one of the largest private payments startups, SumUp relies on a track record of longevity as proof of its stability.

“For more than a decade, SumUp has consistently delivered sustained growth, boldly entering and leading entirely new product categories and markets,” said Nari Ansari, MD of Sixth Street Growth. said in a statement. “This … track record and culture of innovation, combined with SumUp’s thoughtful approach to growth and efficiency, aligns well with Sixth Street Growth’s investment strategy.”

Source: techcrunch.com