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New Portage FinTech SPAC files for $200 million Nasdaq public offering (BETAKIT)
Sagard Holdings, the alternative investment arm of Power Corporation and manager of Portage Ventures, is launching a blank cheque company, or SPAC, focused on FinTech acquisitions.
Visa buys Swedish FinTech Tink for more than $2 billion (WALL STREET JOURNAL)
Tink would give Visa a foothold in open banking, which connects consumers to multiple financial institutions.
Clearco, Caravan launch $50 million USD fund for celebrity-backed companies (BETAKIT)
The $50 million for the new Caravan fund comes from Clearco’s existing pool of debt facilities.
Binance, world’s largest crypto exchange, exits Ontario amid regulatory crackdown (THE LOGIC)
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, is exiting Ontario. The exchange also recently said it detected and identified a group of money launderers who worked for the infamous ransomware gang Cl0p.
Wealthsimple launches 14 new coins on its crypto trading platform (BETAKIT)
In May, Wealthsimple raised a $750 million round of funding at a post-money valuation of $5 billion CAD. Since then, Wealthsimple has been expanding other areas of its business.
‘Largest crypto fund ever:’ a16z officially launches new $2.2 billion crypto venture fund (THE BLOCK CRYPTO)
Andreessen Horowitz has officially launched its new crypto fund, called Crypto Fund III.
Intuit, Highline Beta launch new Prosperity accelerator for AI startups (BETAKIT)
The five-month program is aimed to accelerate the growth of seed-stage startups based in North America that use AI to power their financial solutions.
Wise (formerly TransferWise) confirms direct listing on the LSE in early July, reportedly at a $6B-$7B valuation (TECHCRUNCH)
Wise has been one of the huge success stories for FinTech coming out of Europe and London — founded by Estonians Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus, the company’s been based out of London and has stuck with that even through all the financial turmoil of Brexit.
South Korea’s answer to Robinhood and Venmo lands a $7 billion valuation (WALL STREET JOURNAL)
Viva Republica said it completed a round of fundraising worth the equivalent of $406 million.
Shopify reportedly invests in Stripe, bringing total stake to over $350 million (BETAKIT)
In December, Shopify partnered with Stripe and Evolve Bancorp to power two products within its Shopify Balance small business banking offering, which it first unveiled in May 2020.
Crypto finance startup Amber Group raises $100M at $1B valuation (TECHCRUNCH)
The firm’s past investors Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures and Blockchain.com also participated in the new round.
BetaKit Live: Canada’s FinTech Unicorns on June 29th (BETAKIT)
On Tuesday, June 29th at 4:15PM EDT, BetaKit will be joined by two Canadian tech CEOs of unicorn companies making moves in the FinTech space: Wealthsimple’s Michael Katchen and Clearco’s Michele Romanow (exclusive to BetaKit Patreon supporters).
Robinhood’s IPO plans slowed by SEC review (BNN BLOOMBERG)
Robinhood said it filed confidentially for an initial public offering in March. It had been targeting June for its IPO but then that plan slipped to July, Bloomberg News has reported.