REPORT
Financial Technology Partners / FT Partners published a new report including use cases and interviews with MoneyLion , Klarna, Affirm , Curve , Tinkoff , Upgrade, Inc. , Revolut , N26 , Monzo Bank , Chime, and more!
👉 Read more here
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Buying a modern cell phone in Brazil requires a very large financial investment. After the joy of acquiring the device they wanted so much, many people are worried and afraid of the possibility of being stolen or damaging their dream smartphone.
To serve this audience, Nubank just released mobile insurance with full coverage. The service is customizable and can be hired directly from the fintech, with the start of protection after 30 days from the closing of the contract.
Nubank Celular Seguro covers all types of robbery and theft (simple and qualified) and accidental damage, such as a broken or oxidized screen. The customer can choose one of the two options or both.
Assistance is fast and works 24 hours a day, every day of the week. For now, it is possible to take out only one cell phone insurance per CPF.
👉 Read the full Play Crazy Game here.
😎 SPONSORED CONTENT
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📰 ARTICLE
Large banks worldwide are investing more heavily in Latin America's fintech sector.
Companies such as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Santander, and Scotiabank are making investments — which could lead to partnerships — in recognition that many unbanked Latin Americans are turning to fintechs rather than banks to meet their financial needs.
“We invest in startups that are distinct and have future partnership potential,” said Luis Valdich, managing director of venture investing at Citi Ventures. “We then work with the startup and the relevant Citi line of business to help the potential partnership materialize.”
👉 Read the full American Banker article here.
💡INSIGHTS
AstroPay, the online payment solution of choice of over five million users in the world has launched its cryptocurrency offering, giving those who want to explore the world of digital assets the option to buy and sell cryptocurrencies on its app and web app.
With the cryptocurrency offering, AstroPay is further expanding its business to reach a wider range of users. The option is currently available in selected emerging markets and there are plans to roll it out further.
👉 Read more here
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NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
☕️ REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ New fintech challenger R2 announced on Thursday that it has raised a $5.9 million Seed round led by General Catalyst. Family office 166 2nd and Y Combinator also participated in the fundraising. Link here
⭐️ Tribal Credit, a business-to-business payments and financing platform for emerging markets, has raised $60 million in a Series B funding round led by SoftBank Group Corp. Latin America Fund, with participation from Coinbase Ventures. The round brings total funding for Tribal up to $140 million. Link here
BRAZIL
Nubank founder and CEO David Vélez sees the economic struggles of Brazil as a potential opportunity for even faster growth for his digital banking platform across Latin America and around the world.
Nubank’s value has tumbled from the $52 billion valuations at which the company started its New York Stock Exchange journey less than two months ago, but its 48 million clients make Nubank one of the world’s largest digital banks. It also recently expanded into Mexico.
👉Read more here
COLOMBIA
Bold, a technology company working to enable financial access to electronic payments in Colombia, has raised $55 million in a Series B funding round led by Tiger Global Management. Link here
Bitso has announced the first transfer of a female player through the use of cryptocurrency. Tigres Femenil, one of the most popular women’s soccer teams in Mexico, has become the first team in Mexico to execute the global transaction of a female player, Stefany Ferrer, funded entirely by crypto. Link here
MEXICO
Hola Cash recently launched the first checkout solution in LatAm that combines and orchestrates all the different payment methods, prevents fraud, and powers one-click checkout with a single integration. Link here
Flexio, a B2B payments platform serving companies in Latin America, has raised $3 million in seed funding, the company said in a news release Friday (Feb. 4). Link here
EL SALVADOR
While many spent the holiday season with friends and family, at least dozens of people in El Salvador were also dedicating a good chunk of time to chasing down customer support for their government-provided bitcoin wallets — and posting about it on Twitter.
Sometime between November and December, the website began to fill up with noticeably more complaints about unknown or failed transactions related to Chivo, the state-backed bitcoin wallet that went live in September to much fanfare.
“I’ve spent almost two months waiting for them to help me with a transaction of almost $1,000 at the time,” Twitter user @Josh_91_L posted on December 9. “Now with the value of BTC plummeting and continuing like this, it seems like it will be much less. I’m still hoping that one day they can resolve it, willingly.”
👉 Read the full the block crypto article here
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.