Acorns, the savings and investing app, has raised $300 million from private investors at a $1.9 billion valuation, after abandoning plans to go public via a Spac. According to CNBC, TPG led the Series F round, which included participation from BlackRock, Bain Capital Ventures, Galaxy Digital, and basketball star Kevin Durant's venture capital firm. 

Lloyds Bank has invested £5 million for a 20% stake in invoice financing startup Satago and will roll out the platform for its Single Invoice Finance and whole of book Invoice Factoring customers.The deal with Satago follows a competitive tender process and a six month trial of the technology. Once deployed it will introduce a new digitised proposition for lending to the bank's SME customers. 

Although it hasn’t been long since open banking became a popular topic of debate, a new confusing term emerged – open finance. What is open finance and how is it different from open banking? Is open finance regulated by a legal framework? Let’s dive deeper into this concept and see how open finance can benefit individuals in the long run. 

What is open finance? 

Role to provide continued support for information security as Hyland accelerates its cloud-first vision

AstroPay, the online payment solution of choice of over five million users in the world, today announced the expansion of Payment Links across Latin America, now launching in Peru, Chile, Mexico and Colombia. This is part of the company’s plans to introduce it worldwide following the first launch in Brazil in December 2021.

Surecomp® today announced that it is partnering with the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) - the Swiss-based organization which supports the implementation of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) and the availability of the Global LEI Index - to facilitate Know your Customer (KYC) compliance and provide customers with immediate certainty and authentication that the credentials of their trade counterparts are verified and trustworthy.

Environmentalist behind the E-Alliance at COP26 turns his focus to insurance

Wecan Group SA, the Swiss leader in Blockchain software used by the largest Swiss private banks, is favoring an expansion in France for its internationalization. Behind this choice: an investment from Michel Reybier, owner of La Réserve hotels, and a selection in the Swave program, an initiative of the French government to attract the most promising fintechs in France.

Customers will benefit from centralized offering and new customer portal

IDnow, a European provider for identity proofing, will consolidate the comprehensive set of identification verification methods and document signing services into a single platform, to offer customers and their end users a secure, frictionless digital onboarding experience with even more transparency and greater flexibility.

FinGo and VMC team up for new unattended vending prototype