Let’s look at the most recent news from the fintech sector:
London Leading Fintech
In a new twist, London has surged past American fintech investment strongholds such as San Francisco and New York. It is now the world’s leading hub for fintech development.
The city’s economic landscape and tech talent show how and why London’s pushed into the lead. The city has leaned into areas of fintech with fast growth: payment processing and online banking. This innovative focus combines London’s already-enriched “tech ecosystem” with ample access to connections that would help make fintech startups thrive. This advancement represents an exciting interplay of tech and ideal locale.
Interestingly, resilience has also been a factor in investors’ interest in certain European fintech companies. Resilience in the face of Europe’s oncoming recession, the war in Ukraine, and COVID-19 piques investors’ interest as resistance to previous headwinds indicates future strength.
Here’s a further breakdown of Europe’s fintech statistics:
- London had 27 local unicorns create 168 new operations
- Paris had 22 unicorn founders produce 125 startups
- Berlin had 24 local unicorns generate 138 even newer ventures
Novicap raises €200 million
The fintech company based out of Barcelona will use the money to grow its credit offerings to other fintech companies in its software-as-a-service (SaaS) business. At the same time, the company is turning its focus toward ESG. Founder Federico Travella noted, “This new funding is a testament not only to Novicap’s performance and its inherent ESG focus but also Fasanara’s ability to scout young, innovative fintechs and provide them with the capital necessary to develop into scalable operations.”
Novicap has already surpassed €1 billion in transaction volume and continues to show signs of tremendous growth.
Plaid Lays Off 20% of Its Workforce
Despite denying the possibility of future layoffs in May of this year, Plaid let go over 200 employees earlier this month. These layoffs come in the wake of 2021’s boom in fintech investment, which led Plaid co-founder Zach Perret to “hire and invest ahead of revenue growth.”
Plaid may be a recent example of layoffs in fintech, but they are not alone. Many fintech giants such as Klarna, Stripe, and Chime have also experienced large employment terminations this year. These occurrences across the board point to an unfortunate trend in which companies overinvested in talent when Ecommerce exploded during the pandemic and are now paying the price.
MoneyLion increases Financial Literacy
MoneyLion won Benzinga’s “Best Financial Literacy Tool” category this month. The event took place on December 8th, 2022. MoneyLion offers access to comprehensive, personalized financial knowledge for users that represent most people: those who are not financial mavens but need to understand how money works for their well-being.
This year MoneyLion has made even more strides by introducing initiatives such as MoneyLion University, which relies on “edutainment.” MoneyLion’s brand of edutainment delivers necessary knowledge in a captivating way, so it’s less like studying and more like watching TikTok. That’s a win!