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Capitalized
Standard, which specializes in autonomous checkout tech, has raised $150 million in a new funding round it plans to use to retrofit up to 5,000 stores with its AI-driven solution in the next five years.
Softbank Vision Fund 3 led the Series C funding round along with existing investors, as Standard readies the rollout of its computer vision technology to stores in Europe and the U.S., including Circle K.
San Francisco-based Standard’s solution relies on ceiling-mounted cameras enables secure, low-touch shopping especially suitable for convenience stores, office buildings and other high-traffic zones, the company said.
Rising stars
Singer Jennifer Hudson appears in a new Mastercard TV spot this week showcasing Black female business owners as part of a broad campaign that includes grants, educational and technical support for these entrepreneurs.
Mastercard is working with Fearless Fund, a VC fund created by and for Black women-owned businesses, which will manage a grant program. Plans call for a road show to cities demonstrating ways to promote an equitable business climate, Mastercard said in a press release.
The effort builds on Mastercard’s plan to support Black communities over the next five years with $500 million through products, services, technology and financial support.
Found money
Gravy has raised $4.5 million in an initial funding round to build a service that helps subscription-based businesses recover “failed payments,”
The growing number of digital subscriptions means many consumers forget to pay and companies don’t know how to reach them. Gravy integrates with companies’ payment processing systems and tracks down consumers via texts and emails to resolve billing issues.
Gravy’s founders devised the solution after discovering the difficulty of collecting on failed subscription payments for an earlier firm it launched and sold called The Rocket Company. Gravy, which launched in 2017, has 300 clients.
Busted
The U.S. has indicted three North Korean computer programmers accused of widespread cyberattacks over several years that aimed to steal more than $1.3 billion in cash and cryptocurrency from banks and companies.
The programmers allegedly hacked into computer networks around the world, sent fraudulent wire service messages, attempted to develop and sell a blockchain platform and conducted phishing campaigns targeting U.S. Defense Department employees in a series of scams beginning as early as 2014,
The indictment charges Jon Chang, Kim Il and Park Jin Hyo, all members of a North Korean military intelligence agency, with a broad series of criminal acts and hacking; Ghaleb Alaumary, a Canadian-American citizen, also plead guilty to helping the crew with money-laundering as part of the schemes.
From the web
COINDESK | Thursday, February 18, 2021
Ctizens and companies based in Zug will be able to pay up to 100,000 CHF (around $111,300) of their taxes in either bitcoin or ether.
TECHCRUNCH | Thursday, February 18, 2021
There are over 1.7 billion underbanked people globally, the majority of which are from emerging markets. For them, accessing loans can be difficult, which is a problem fintechs try to solve.
YAHOO | Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, which is preparing to trade publicly in the next few months, is being valued at $77 billion, based on trading of the company’s privately held shares on a secondary market.
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Bitcoin's price climbed from $29,000 to just below $42,000 in the first half of January before leveling off in recent weeks. Now, following a $1.5 billion investment by Tesla, many are asking themselves: Is there a ceiling?
Bank-hosted consumer bill payment has been fading in popularity for years, but recent trends are giving Mastercard hope of reversing that trend.
The Japanese payments market has long been something of a paradox. On the one hand, Japan boasts the third-largest economy in the world and is a culture synonymous with high-tech and innovation. Japan even claims to have invented Near Field Communication (NFC) and QR Codes, arguably the two most prevalent mobile payment communication technologies worldwide.
