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Amid regulatory uncertainty, Coinsquare’s CEO is focused on expanding services while gaining public trust (BETAKIT)
“Ultimately, the mission statement of the business is to build a 21st century financial institution.”
Grab, Uber’s Southeast Asia rival, now offers micro-loans and other financial services(TECHCRUNCH)
For its new offerings, Grab has teamed up with Credit Saison, a $3 billion firm that is Japan’s biggest lender with some 70 million credit cards in circulation, to create a joint venture called Grab Financial Services Asia.
Google bans bitcoin advertisements in policy change (NYTIMES)
The new restriction would apply both to space on Google’s platforms, like YouTube, and to third-party websites where Google sells advertising space.
BMO partners with Finn.AI, Massively to launch chatbots(BETAKIT)
The bank has turned to two startups to develop its chatbot experiences.
Square’s Cash app now supports direct deposits for paychecks(ENGADGET)
Now you can use your hard-earned cash to buy bitcoin directly… if you want.
UK challenger bank Tandem acquires Pariti for money management
(PYMNTS)
While terms of the Pariti deal remain undisclosed, TechCrunch reports that Pariti CEO Matthew Ford and CTO Peter Townsend are joining Tandem.
Pilot.com raises $15M in Series A funding (FINSMES)
Pilot.com, which provides bookkeeping services for startups and other small businesses, raised the funds from Index Ventures.
Stock trade app Robinhood raising at $5B+, up 4X in a year(TECHCRUNCH)
The new raise would bring Robinhood to $526 million in funding.
Alipay now accepted at retailers across Canada through Motion Pay partnership (BETAKIT)
Alipay’s over 520 million active users in China will be able to use their Alipay Mobile Wallet with Canadian retailers.
BAugmentum FinTech raises £94M in IPO (FINEXTRA)
Set up by venture group Augmentum Capital, Augmentum FinTech is raising the money for a new fund to invest in early-stage financial technology companies in the UK and wider Europe.
Experian acquires UK’s ClearScore and its financial product matching engine for $385M(TECHCRUNCH)
The deal is emblematic of a trend that we’ve been seeing in the world of financial services for some time now: legacy behemoths are buying up smaller and more nimble startups that have revisited and rebuilt age-old services, bringing them up to speed with our changing technological times.
Merchant Advance Capital closes $30 million debt facility(BETAKIT)
The funding to Merchant is being used to refinance existing debt and provide growth capital.