Capital markets

Investors are making bets on checkout-free retail, a category that is just as challenging as it is innovative. But it's payment technology's race to the moon, a chance to seize a favorable position in the struggle to save retail.

Starbucks is looking to reclaim its role as the global leader in streamlined, intuitive order-and-pay systems through machine learning technology it’s developing in-house and through a deal with restaurant-tech startup Brightloom, its new equity investment partner.

A centerpiece of her “economic patriotism” bill is to transform private equity firms, which she said will buy a company and bleed it dry before “walking away enriched even as the company succumbs.”

Visa Inc. has become the latest investor in ride-hailing giant Go-Jek as the two companies push digital payments across Southeast Asia.

While senders prefer mobile devices, recipients remain stubbornly attached to receiving cash.

The new funding comes as the challenger bank inches closer to gaining regulatory approval for a national bank charter.

Just a few months after leading a funding round for Berlin-based fintech company Elinvar, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is backing another startup in the German capital.

Finix, a startup offering tools for businesses to develop their own payments technology, has raised $17.5 million in Series A funding from investors that include Bain Capital and Visa.

Fintech startups have been a natural fit for the gig economy, leading Visa and Mastercard to seek them out as partners to maintain relevance.

Raisin, an online marketplace that aggregates high-yield savings accounts in Europe, aims to launch in the U.S. in the next nine to 12 months.

Seattle-based digital remittance provider Remitly has raised $220 million in new investments and financing to accelerate its growth in more global markets.

Vehicle payment technology startup Car IQ raised $5 million in a Series A funding round that included Citi Ventures as an investor.

In a downturn, some fintechs, such as independent lenders, will be more vulnerable to economic forces than those working to service banks' regulatory needs.

The fast-growing data company, which says its mission is to help banks be better consumer advocates, will use its cash infusion for hiring, software development and new partnerships.

Aura is one of the few fintechs in the nation to have a community development financial institution designation from the Treasury Department.

The Cincinnati bank could add about $30 million a year in noninterest income with its deal for the capital markets firm Bannockburn Global Forex.

The Dutch company is no longer a bank in some countries, but more of a digital matchmaker between consumers and financial products provided by third parties, explains innovation chief Benoit LeGrand.

Financing and payment technology provider Sunbit has received $26 million in a Series B funding round through Zeev Ventures and participants Group 11 and Chicago Ventures.

India’s government has taken drastic steps to encourage and standardize digital transactions, and those moves appear to be paying off.

The Los Angeles company has established a network that is designed to help verify the identities of consumer and small-business borrowers. It says 20 lenders are participating and that it is trying to recruit more.