As we head into Superbowl weekend here are what I consider to be the top 10 most important fintech news stories of the past week (go Chiefs!).
Challenger Bank Chime Reaches The 12 Million Customer Mark from Forbes – Ron Shevlin digs into some new research that shows Chime is actually the fifth largest bank in the U.S. by number of customers today.
SPACs Become the Go To Listing Vehicle for Fintech Companies from Lend Academy – SPACapalooza! SPACmania! SPACinsanity! The fintech SPAC frenzy shows no signs of slowing down so we did a roundup of all the deals announced to date.
Klarna adding one million new customers each month from FinLedger – Speaking of frenzies, buy now pay later continues to remain the hottest area of fintech with Klarna adding a million customers a month in the U.S. since October and with a Superbowl ad to boot.
Bezos May Be Stepping Down, But Amazon’s Banking Ambitions Remain from The Financial Brand – Jeff Bezos announced he is stepping as CEO of Amazon but this probably won’t mean a pullback from their forays into financial services.
loanDepot Expected to IPO This Week Raising Over $300 Million from Crowdfund Insider – Mortgage lender loanDepot is getting set to go public the old fashioned way with a valuation of over $6 billion.
The GameStop Stock Frenzy Is Turning Into A Cautionary Tale For Fintech from Forbes – This article from Jennifer Tescher is a must read for everyone in fintech. Our collective brand has been tarnished in the last couple of weeks. Consumers want products that are better and companies that operate transparently. We need to do better.
PayPal Earnings Paint A Picture Of The Connected Economy from PYMNTS – PayPal reported earnings this week and provides insight into the latest fintech trends. Love this quote from CEO Dan Schulman, “Today’s digital reality is rapidly accelerating the need for a digital wallet that encompasses payments, financial services and shopping”.
Cadre Announces New $400 Million Fund from The Motley Fool – Real estate platform Cadre has announced it is launching a $400 million fund with low investor minimums and a focus on working with underrepresented operators.
Investing app Stash raises $125 million as it looks to add new customers — just not day traders from CNBC – Stash announces a new funding round as they have avoided the controversy that has engulfed Robinhood.
Goldman Sachs partner Adam Dell has stepped down from his role as one of the leaders on Marcus as the bank prepares for a massive transformation in its consumer business from Business Insider – Adam Dell came to Goldman Sachs via their acquisition of his company, Clarity Money, as Goldman is incorporating the app into Marcus Insights.
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.