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Float secures $5 million seed round to make corporate credit cards less of a headache (BETAKIT)
The seed round consisted of $4 million in equity co-led by Susa Ventures and existing investor Golden Ventures. Silicon Valley Bank provided $1 million in debt.
Revolut hits $33bn valuation after giant fundraise from Softbank and Tiger Global (SIFTED)
The new pricetag makes Revolut the most highly valued fintech in the UK — and the second top in Europe just behind Klarna.
Blend Labs hits a nearly $4 billion valuation as it makes its NYSE debut (FORBES)
Blend’s cloud-based platform is now used by 31 of the top 100 U.S. financial firms, including big mortgage lenders like Wells Fargo and US Bank.
Wealthsimple rolls out fractional shares trading in Canada, US companies (BETAKIT)
The Toronto-based FinTech startup claims it is the only trading platform in Canada to offer fractional shares in Canadian and United States (US) companies.
Payments pioneer Paytm files for a $2.2 billion IPO, potentially India’s largest ever (FORTUNE)
Indian digital payments pioneer Paytm has filed its prospectus for a $2.2 billion initial public offering, hot on the heels of fellow tech unicorn Zomato Ltd.’s hugely popular share sale.
Indian financial services firm MobiKwik looks to raise $255 million in IPO (TECHCRUNCH)
MobiKwik’s move comes as a handful of Indian startups, including Zomato and Paytm, are working to list on stock exchanges.
Clearco secures $268 million CAD in round led by SoftBank (BETAKIT)
The round, which comes mere months after Clearco raised $125 million CAD of equity financing, accelerates the company’s international expansion plans and overall roadmap by at least one year.
China called finance apps the best thing since the compass. No longer. (NEW YORK TIMES)
Beijing’s tech crackdown could imperil the innovation that brought modern finance to underserved people — but also led to concerns about reckless lending and borrowing.
M1 Finance raises $150M in SoftBank-led Series E, boosts valuation to $1.45B (TECHCRUNCH)
The financing, which also included participation from existing backers, propels the Chicago-based FinTech to unicorn status with a valuation of $1.45 billion.
Tetra Trust to become Canada’s first qualified crypto custodian, raises funding from Coinbase, Mogo (BETAKIT)
Tetra investor Coinbase Ventures is the venture capital arm of American crypto trading giant Coinbase.
Apple, Goldman plan ‘buy now, pay later’ service to rival Affirm (BNN BLOOMBERG)
The buy now, pay later system could help drive Apple Pay adoption and convince more users to use their iPhone to pay for items instead of standard credit cards.
Digital mortgage lender Better acquiring Goldman Sachs-backed FinTech ahead of public listing (CNBC)
The announcement comes ahead of Better’s public listing via SPAC merger with Aurora Acquisition Corp., which is expected to value the company at $7.7 billion.
Data shows how Robinhood makes more money from its users than other brokers (PROTOCOL)
A deep dive into the popular online broker’s filings shows its money-making formula: a lot more trading and higher payments from market makers.