Venture funding

Deserve wants to deliver credit cards to students and underbanked young adults through a system that underwrites credit without relying on FICO scores and instead by judging the applicants on their future potential.

Deserve is offering unsecured cards to young adults who do not have traditional credit scores. The Silicon Valley startup uses a proprietary algorithm that analyzes bank account activity to evaluate the likelihood that borrowers will repay.

The banking crisis in 2008 has created a generation of consumers that will always carry some mistrust of traditional banking, making them more agreeable to alternative payment models.

Santander Group's fintech venture capital fund is investing in ePesos, a Mexican mobile funding and payments startup targeting underbanked small businesses.

Omnyway wants to boost its global reach, necessitating a geographically diverse range of investors for its $12.75 million funding round, led by Nyca, CommerzVentures and CEFIF.

Canadian startup Payment Rails, which aims to use APIs, blockchain and artificial intelligence to find efficient routes for cross-border payments, has closed a seed round bringing funding for its concept to $1.1 million.

Bill.com's efforts to crack one of the last bastions of paper checking with automation has drawn a fresh $100 million investment round.

Researchers in Sweden found that venture capitalists often use unflattering language to describe female entrepreneurs. That could explain why women’s applications for funding were rejected more frequently than men’s.

The company, founded by musician Jack Conte about five years ago, allows fans to give creators a steady paycheck to create new content, and it's a clear hit among certain communities. But by severing the clear link between product and payment, it has also created some unprecedented issues.

New European standards require greater data sharing to accommodate faster transaction processing, mobile payments and other digital efforts — a trend that is also inspiring new collaborations across the pond.