VIRTUAL BANKING
Mox Bank, a virtual bank backed by StanChart, is now available for everyone in Hong Kong
Mox Bank, a virtual bank in Hong Kong backed by Standard Chartered, in partnership with HKT, PCCW and Trip.com, is now available for everyone in Hong Kong. Five months ago, Mox invited select customers to try its services all the while helping refine it. One week ago, it started onboarding pre-registrants who signed-up for its waitlist and also started sending out limited-edition metal Mox card. Within a span of a week (22nd September 2020), Mox has opened its virtual doors to the whole of Hong Kong. It is also the first virtual bank in Hong Kong to support both Apple Pay and Google Pay. Mox customers can use their “digital wallets, make regular payments, get real cash back to their accounts, while earning daily interest.”
FUND RAISING
TrueLayer raises $25 million in Series C funding
TrueLayer – an open banking start-up in the UK recently raised an additional $25 million investment in Series C round. The additional investment came from exiting investors. The start-up in 2018 was given the green light by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) “to provide account information and payment initiation services under Open Banking and PSD2”. Ever since then TrueLayer’s platforms and products account over 50% of all Open Banking traffic in the UK. This round of funding will allow TrueLayer to “build financial connectivity that’s open to everyone, power the development of new financial services in new geographies, and give people more control over their financial lives.”
Affirm raises $500 million in Series G funding
Affirm, a flexi payment alternative to credit card, recently announced that it raised $500 million series G round of funding. The funding round was led by GIC, a returning investor, and Durable Capital Partners LP. Apart from this, other existing investors included Lightspeed Venture Partners, Wellington Management Company, Baillie Gifford, Spark Capital, Founders Fund, and Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC. With this capital infusion round, Affirm hope to “better support merchants who offer smaller ticket items and bring their customers a more transparent, flexible way to pay.”
Chime raises $485 million Series F funding
Chime, a US challenger bank, recently raised $485 million in Series F funding round. With this round Chime is valued at $14.5 billion, as reported by CNBC, making it the most highly valued (private) startup. The startup provides banking services via mobile app and a website. A new customer can apply for a bank account takes less than 5 minutes and can also avail a Visa debit card without any costs. CEO of Chime – Chris Britt told CNBC, “We’re more like a consumer software company than a bank. It’s more a transaction-based, processing-based business model that is highly predicable, highly recurring and highly profitable.”
IMPACT INVESTING
Citi Impact Fund – a $150 million fund – recently announced its first four investments
Citi Impact Fund – a $150 million fund, created to “double bottom-line” while having a positive impact on society, recently announced its first four investments. The companies which are beneficiaries for the investments are, Fulcrum BioEnerg, ICON, PadSplit and The Mom Project. These companies demonstrate features such as existing customer base, previous funding rounds, while solving problems which are beneficial to societies and the environment. Ed Skyler, Head of Global Public Affairs at Citi said, “These companies have created distinct approaches for what’s possible as we address some of the biggest challenges we face today, such as creating affordable housing, reducing carbon emissions and bringing top female talent back to the workplace.”
