During the week I share the latest marketplace lending and fintech news on Twitter as it happens. Then every Saturday I take the most interesting news items and blog posts from the past week and share them here.
Home lending fintech expands into student loan refis from American Banker – This news is not much of a surprise. Figure, founded by former SoFi CEO Mike Cagney, is expanding into student loan refinancing, a category that Cagney basically invented at SoFi. Like the HELOCS, these loans will be originated on the Provenance blockchain.
Uber announces deeper push into financial services with Uber Money from CNBC – Now we know why Uber has been hiring so many finance people. They announced the launch of Uber Money, a new initiative that includes a digital wallet and enhanced credit and debit cards.
Real Estate Fintech PeerStreet Raises $60 Million In Series C Funding from Forbes – Congrats to Brew Johnson, Brett Crosby and the Peer Street team on their $60m Series C led by none other than Colchis Capital. They also announced $4.25b in institutional capital commitments.
BlueVine Adds Checking Accounts, Cards For Small Firms from PYMNTS – Small business lender BlueVine is getting into business banking with a new checking account. It pays 1% interest on balances over $1,000, includes a debit card, payments capability and an online dashboard.
Walmart and Green Dot to jointly establish a new fintech accelerator, Tailfin Labs from Tech Crunch – It seems that everyone has an accelerator these days. Now, we have Walmart jumping into the fray with their TailFin accelerator in collaboration with Green Dot Bank.
China Goes Full Bore on Blockchain, Bans Content Critical of the Controversial Tech from CrowdFund Insider – This is a little bit crazy if true. We all heard about China’s full throated endorsement of blockchain last week. Now, it seems that China is banning critical articles of blockchain technology.
Shopify Capital Originated $141M Of Loans And MCAs In Q3, Says It’s a Meaningful Part Of The Shopify Business from deBanked – I find it really interesting that more tech companies are growing their lending operations. In just three years Shopify has built a sizable lending business, doing $141M of loans in Q3.
Digit’s latest feature tackles student loan debt from American Banker – Digit has long been known for its automated savings tools and now they are adding student loan repayment into the mix.
Behind Credit Karma’s savings account launch with Jagjit Chawla from Tearsheet – Interesting interview with Credit Karma’s head of tax and savings about their innovative new savings product.
Mobile investments give banks a small-business trust bump from American Banker – When it comes to mobile there is a lot of focus at banks on their consumer offerings. But small businesses also are seeing better mobile engagement from their banks.
Peter Renton is the chairman and co-founder of LendIt Fintech, the world’s first and largest digital media and events company focused on fintech. Peter has been writing about fintech since 2010 and he is the author and creator of the Fintech One-on-One Podcast, the first and longest-running fintech interview series. Peter has been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The New York Times, CNBC, CNN, Fortune, NPR, Fox Business News, the Financial Times, and dozens of other publications.