Investment

Olaf Carlson-Wee, founder and CEO of the cryptocurrency hedge fund Polychain Capital, discusses which digital currencies and blockchain technologies are reshaping payments and which are “nonsense projects.”

The fintech world is expanding at a sometimes breathtaking pace. Much of that growth is driven by venture capital, but how do VCs decide which companies to invest it in--or not? Join Greycroft partner Will Szczerbiak in a discussion with Olugbenga Agboola, the founder and CEO of Flutterwave, the San Francisco-based startup building the largest payments infrastructure in Africa. Guest host James Ledbetter, editor and publisher of the fintech newsletter FIN, will explore these questions: What are VCs looking for in a fintech startup? What are the hottest fintech sectors in 2021? How has the rise in fintech valuations affected the market? Where will growth be strongest in the next few years?

Will Graylin's new company OV Loop wants to use artificial intelligence — including the platform it just inherited with its PayFi acquisition — to connect digital ID to in-app payments, making it easier for banks to work with third-party wallets.

Sending money should be simple, but fintechs can’t do it alone. By leveraging cutting-edge technology like blockchain, we can solve real problems in payments that impact everyone, everywhere, says RippleNet's Vidya Mani.

Emerging consumer attitudes toward privacy threaten to overturn long-standing industry assumptions about customer data and personalization.

City National Bank is working with the fintech startup Extend to further boost contactless payments at the point of sale for business employees through the launch of a virtual Visa commercial credit card.

Fast has received a new round of funding from backers including Stripe.

Machine learning and innovations such as voice assistants can give the newly mature e-commerce industry an extra push, says Qualpay's Penny Townsend.

PaymentSource's Daniel Wolfe sits down with Carey O'Connor Kolaja, AU10TIX's new CEO to discuss the rise in synthetic fraud, the fastest-growing financial crime, and how payments security has been changed by the pandemic.

The latest round includes two new investors, Eurazeo Growth and Wellington Management, as well as one returning shareholder, Sprints Capital.