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Invest now, install later
Westpac is trying to cash in on the popularity of installment payment apps, investing $90 million in Kredivo, an Indonesian point of sale credit app.
The Australian bank made the investment through its Reinventure VC fund, which has made a handful of bets in the region, including in Zest, another "buy now pay later" firm, reports
Across the pond
A fintech called Teller, which is positioning itself as a rival to Plaid, has raised $4 million in seed funding to restart its service in the U.S., a few months after shuttering its service in the U.K.
The investors include Max Levchin's SciFi, Founders Fund and Lightspeed Ventures, reports
Teller is in beta testing in the U.S., while Plaid is in the midst of being
Selloff
The
Travel stocks have been particularly hard hit, as well as
The virus could also pressure firms such as
Postal code
Poste Italiane is trying to drive small small-business revenue through a QR code-based payment system.
Users can make payments directly with a mobile device by scanning the code, without the need for other hardware, reports
Payment technology has been increasing in postal networks in other countries, such as
Island payments
Mastercard is pushing to increase cashless commerce in the Caribbean, launching what it calls a "smart islands" initiative.
The card brand will incrementally release a series of payment technology projects in different locations, with an initial goal of reaching tourist regions, reports
From the Web
VERDICT | Mon January 27, 2020
Remitly customers will be able to transfer funds using their smartphone or computer. Also, users can receive money in the Alipay app. Remitly is said to be the first online money transfer service to launch this feature in the US and offer the service internationally.
TECHCRUNCH | Tue January 28, 2020
PrimaHealth Credit, which offers loans to borrowers to pay for medical treatment, is expanding its pitch to cover addiction treatment centers. According to the company, PrimaHealth won’t charge any interest for most of its loans — depending on the creditworthiness of the borrower — instead, the company will make money by charging a fee to the treatment center.
CNBC | Mon January 27, 2020
German mobile bank N26 has attracted 250,000 users in the United States, where it claims new customers are shifting funds from established giants like Chase Bank and Citibank. As is the case with rivals like Monzo, Revolut and Starling, people can sign up for an account with N26 within minutes and don’t pay any additional foreign exchange fees when spending abroad.
More from PaymentsSource
Facebooks’ Libra cryptocurrency project has been losing high-profile support for months, but the loss of Vodafone may be its most critical.
Florida startup GRUBBRR, whose software enables restaurants to add touchscreen ordering and payment, has teamed with payment platform provider FreedomPay to speed the rollout of its services.
Since its launch in 2017 in Boca Raton with a few restaurants and a handful of employees, GRUBBRR was hampered by the challenge of adapting to each merchant’s different payment processing system, said founder and CEO Bhavin Asher.
Innovation comes in many forms. It makes the world around us look better, work faster and be more useful for companies, consumers and communities. Biometric technology has been around for some time, but recent technological developments are driving significant adoption across new use cases, especially in banking and payments.
