Fintech funding rounds in 2020 Fintech funding, like all other sectors, suffered in 2020 because of the pandemic. The funding received by fintech companies decreased, although not by much. Still, there was some good news: the number of mega-rounds increased. North American Companies Brought In Half The Money Like the stock markets, funding started the year strong but then saw a slight dip in March that was quickly surpassed. Still, the overall funding of the fintech sector decreased, according to the preliminary datafor the State of Fintech Report by CB Insights. According to the same source ..read more

 At the beginning of the year no one suspected that in just a few months, the whole world will face the same problem, nevertheless of nationality, race, or religion.  At one moment, we are celebrating New Year’s Eve, flying back home to visit relatives, and looking forward to new beginnings. In the next one, we are locked out, travel plans are put on hold, and masks are a commonality. Even though the economy took a hit, it is logical to assume that some industries will benefit from the current situation and expand their businesses. Some of those industries are e-commerce, online reta ..read more

  Apple has purchased Canadian company Mobeewave, which will allow it to create mobile pay hubs out of iPhones, Bloomberg reported. Before we embark on the journey of understanding what the Mobeewave acquisition represents for Apple, let’s take a brief overview of Apple as a company, what are their core businesses, what are they doing today, what acquisitions they made in the past and what can we expect for future ones. Moreover, we will introduce shifts in consumers’ behavior for a better understanding of underlying implications.   Apple was founded in April 1976 by Steve Jobs, Stev ..read more

Fintech: COVID-19 Challenges and OpportunitiesAs the world fights itself out of the uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic, fintech companies are frustrated by several fronts. Most firms struggle to secure funding investments, especially startups since investors shift their focus on companies with defined business models. Furthermore, the current interest rates status has deteriorated following the economic shutdown. Consequently, many industries have changed their assumptions as of the larger economy shifts from response to recovery strategies. This forces firms to embrace new opportuni ..read more

There are thousands of fintechs evolving every year on financial industry. What are the most interesting fintech companies to follow in 2020? I'm introducing the ones that requires closer look in my blog. These are the 10 companies across the Europe that has caught the attention for this year: Finland Sortter Ferratum France Payfit Germany Check24 Deposit Solutions Sweden Northmill Klarna Tink UK Transferwise ..read more

TransferWise TransferWise is a British online money transfer service, and it is based in London. It was founded in 2010, by Kristo Kaarmann and Taavet Hinrikus. Their vision was to make international money transfers cheap, fair, and simple. Some of the largest investors in the world backed their idea, including IA Ventures, Index Ventures, Seedcamp, Kima Ventures, Virgin Group Sir Richard Branson, and PayPal’s founder, Max Levchin. Over the years the company has grown significantly, opening 13 offices, with more than 1,300 employees, across 4 continents. Over 6 million customers from diff ..read more

Deposit Solutions Deposit Solutions runs a public banking platform that connects banks and other financial services firms in the deposit business. Banks seeking financing can operate deposits via the platform without having to build and operate their retail infrastructure. Banks and other platforms that interact with savers can offer attractive third-party deposit products while maintaining the relationship with the customer. And savers can choose from a wider selection of savings products, without the hassle of opening multiple accounts. With the solution, every participating party is su ..read more

Check24 Check24 online portal started in August 1999, as a comparison portal for car insurance. It was first called Einsurance Agency AG. In the beginning, it had only 20 employees. It continued to grow in 2008, merging the insurance comparison portal with the portals for finance, credit, electricity and gas prices comparison. The company is headquartered in Munich, Germany. Today, it employs almost 1400 employees. Since going online, Check24 has served more than 15 million consumers on the search for the best prices in the market. The motto of the company is "Here, I check everything ..read more

Sortter Sortter is a FinTech company providing online loan comparison. The mission of this portal is to provide neutral, unbiased loan comparisons from different providers. The company even offers a guarantee for the lowest interest rates. If you find a lower interest rate - they will cover the difference for you! Sortter operates in the Finnish market, comparing different loan providers. The procedure is very simple. The customer submits a free application and receives the best loan offers. Only a loan amount and loan maturity are needed in order to receive the best loan deals in the mar ..read more

Northmill Northmill is a technology bank, which was founded in Stockholm, Sweden in the year 2006. Their main goal is to simplify and help people manage their finances, with the bonus of saving their time and energy. Since its inception, in addition to their main office in Sweden, Northmill has successfully managed to establish themselves in Katowice, which is located in Poland, as well as in Helsinki, Finland. The company employs over 120 employees, who are in turn servicing roughly 200,000 satisfied customers. Northmill is clearly about to challenge traditional banks Northmill believes ..read more