Capital markets

The stock market has reached record highs despite rampant unemployment, recession and a global pandemic. What gives?

Betsy Cohen, formerly of The Bancorp Bank, and venture capitalist Ryan Gilbert have created a vehicle to raise hundreds of millions of dollars, purchase a technology company and expand it.

Record profits from trading and other capital markets activities helped to offset steep revenue declines in personal and business banking.

Socure, which applies machine learning to spot identity fraud, has raised $35 million in a new funding round from venture capital funds and banks.

Dutchie, an online cannabis delivery service for dispensaries, has raised $35 million by attracting rapper Snoop Dogg, basketball star Kevin Durant and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz as investors.

Vanessa Colella, innovation chief at Citi, says remote working has had a democratizing effect. She also touches on the types of technology Citi has been incubating, the startups it’s investing in and her efforts at fostering a culture of generosity.

Jo Jagadish, who joined TD Bank in April as head of commercial products and payments innovation, spent her childhood moving from country to country, so she's used to a world without borders — the kind of world emerging from the capabilities of fintech and demands of the pandemic.

The company said it will use the new funding to accelerate its growth.

PayPal is improving its ability to reach innovators, adding a key executive in its recent hire of former Wells Fargo senior vice president and fintech veteran Peggy Mangot to be operating partner at PayPal Ventures, PayPal’s VC team.

Fintechs are facing unique challenges in the pandemic. There might be a resurgence in funding on the horizon, but startups are looking to see what they can do now to weather the storm.