This week in fintech:
1) The U.S. Department of Justice has approved MasterCard’s acquisition of Finicity, a startup that connects financial institutions with consumer data.
2) SoFi CEO Anthony Noto is advocating for government action to reduce student loan debt. SoFi is a student loan innovator and one of the first fintechs to prove a new business model in student lending.
3) A survey by the deVere Group reveals that 75% of high net worth individuals plan to invest in cryptocurrencies by the end of 2022. This news follows on the heels of Bitcoin climbing over $17,000, approximately $3,000 shy of its record high.
4) Mortgage innovator Better.com is planning to go public sometime 2021.
5) Point-of-sale lender Affirm isn’t waiting. They’ve filed IPO after doubling year-over-year profits in the third quarter. Affirm is led by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin.
6) ID verification firm Onfido is getting a new CEO. Mike Tuchen is replacing Onfido co-founder Husayn Kassai.
7) Earlier this year, as COVID-19 ramped up, many fintech lenders saw a drop in loan originations. Now, they’re beginning to see a climb in numbers even though they’re not quite at pre-pandemic levels yet. Could this be hope for an improve industry outlook? We’ll see.
8) Congratulations to Groundfloor, which won the Best Lending Platform Award from Benzinga. Groundfloor is a real estate investing platform for non-accredited investors, one of the few on the market that appeals to investors at all levels. The minimum to invest at Groundfloor is only $10.
9) Finally, I’m proud to announce that I’ve signed a contract with Business Expert Press to write a book about blockchain-based social media. This is significant for fintech because many of the platforms I’ll be writing about reward users with cryptocurrencies that can then be traded on open market.
Got a fintech announcement? Send it to allen@tayloredcontent.com.
