Ride-hailing firm Grab branched out into payments last year and now the $11 billion-valued company, which acquired Uber’s Southeast Asia business earlier this year, has given its fintech division a major boost after it announced plans to introduce virtual pre-paid debit in partnership with Mastercard. The move is the largest digital payment push in Southeast […]
View More Southeast Asia’s Grab partners with MasterCard to offer virtual debit cardsCategory: mastercard
Hong Kong’s Neat raises $3M to offer easy banking for startups and SMEs
Neat, a Hong Kong-based startup that gives startups and SMEs access to credit cards and banking services has pulled in $3 million in fresh funding. The new round is led by China-based VC Linear Capital with participation from Hong Kong’s Sagamore investments and existing backers Dymon Asia Ventures and Portag3 Ventures . Neat previously landed a $2 million […]
View More Hong Kong’s Neat raises $3M to offer easy banking for startups and SMEsGoogle and Mastercard reportedly partner to track offline purchases
According to a report from Bloomberg, Google and Mastercard have signed a secret deal so that Google could track retail sales using Mastercard transaction data. This is yet another proof that Google’s true customers are its advertising partners. Online advertising have now overtaken all other advertising methods. Companies spend more on online ads than TV […]
View More Google and Mastercard reportedly partner to track offline purchasesNeat is a challenger bank for early-stage startups and SMEs
With the growth in cross-border payment services and ‘challenger’ bank cards for consumers, you’d be forgiven for wondering where the options are for small business — where cash is particularly precious. They do exist. One of the newer options is Neat, which is nested in Hong Kong but open for business worldwide. The startup started off […]
View More Neat is a challenger bank for early-stage startups and SMEsAirwallex raises $80M for its international payment service for businesses
Airwallex, a three-year-old fintech startup focused on international payments for SMEs and businesses, is putting itself on the map after it raised an $80 million Series B round. Based of out of Melbourne, but with six offices in Asia and other parts of the world, Airwallex’s new funding round is the second largest financing deal […]
View More Airwallex raises $80M for its international payment service for businessesVenmo officially launches its own MasterCard-branded debit card
Venmo today is officially introducing its own debit card in partnership with MasterCard, following beta tests of a Visa-branded debit card last year. The new card will allow Venmo users to pay anywhere MasterCard is accepted in the U.S., and will record transactions to the user’s Venmo account for easy splitting with friends. It can […]
View More Venmo officially launches its own MasterCard-branded debit cardBrex picks up $57M to build an easy credit card for startups
While Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi were giving up on their augmented reality startup inside Y Combinator and figuring out what to do next, they saw their batch mates struggling to get even the most basic corporate credit cards — and in a lot of cases, having to guarantee those cards themselves. Brex, their new startup, aims […]
View More Brex picks up $57M to build an easy credit card for startupsPayPal and Singapore’s Temasek invest $125M in Indian payment startup Pine Labs
Fresh from agreeing its largest acquisition to date with a deal to buy European payment firm iZettle for $2.2 billion, PayPal is on the investment hunt once again after it backed India’s Pine Labs with a $125 million round. The financing jointly comes from PayPal and Temasek, the sovereign investment fund from the Singaporean government […]
View More PayPal and Singapore’s Temasek invest $125M in Indian payment startup Pine LabsIfOnly, a marketplace for experiences, has new funding — and a new CEO
IfOnly, a San Francisco-based online marketplace that offers more than 3,000 unique experiences to its adventuresome users, has raised $20 million in Series D funding led by MasterCard, which was joined by other strategic investors, including Hyatt Hotels and Sotheby’s. It has another new announcement, too: The company has brought aboard a new CEO, John […]
View More IfOnly, a marketplace for experiences, has new funding — and a new CEORevolut adds direct debits in Europe
Fintech startup Revolut is slowly making traditional bank accounts irrelevant. The company is adding direct debits in EUR to make it easier to pay for utilities and subscription services. While Revolut is currently applying for a banking license, the company has already been adding everything you need to replace your bank account with a Revolut […]
View More Revolut adds direct debits in EuropeVISA and Mastercard make it harder to buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
Sometime in the last week Bitcoin investors started noticing additional fees on their bank statements. It turns out that VISA and Mastercard both decided (how convenient!) to reclassify the way Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency purchases are processed on their networks. Incidents like this pose several challenges for the cryptocurrency industry short-term, but also show just how scared the… Read More
FarmCrowdy raises $1M round to bring Nigerian farmers online and to market
Bringing small scale Nigerian farmers to a broader market has netted the new startup Farmcrowdy $1 million from investors including Techstars, Cox Ventures and Social Capital. Farmcrowdy’s digital platform connects investors to farmers through sponsorship packages to fund higher yields for a share of the returns. The app allows the sponsors to “Farm Shop” screened… Read More