PayPal sells its consumer credit portfolio to Synchrony for $7 billion

In November 2017, PayPal announced it had agreed to sell $5.8 billion in consumer credit receivables to Synchrony Financial, as a part of an expanded relationship between the two companies. That deal has now closed, with Synchrony actually acquiring $7.6 billion in receivables, including PayPal’s U.S. consumer credit portfolio, totaling $6.8 billion at the close, as […]

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Venmo 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 […]

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PayPal to buy Simility, a specialist in AI-based fraud and risk management, for $120M

Payment provider PayPal continues apace with its acquisitions streak to bring more modern tools into its platform to serve its 237 million customers. Today the company announced that it is buying Simility, a fraud prevention specialist, for $120 million in cash. PayPal had been an investor in Simility (it owns three percent of the company, […]

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PayPal is shelling our $400 million in cash for this 18-year-old company that helps gig workers get paid

PayPal announced today that it’s paying $400 million in cash for Hyperwallet, an 18-year-old, Bay Area-based company that helps people and small businesses receive payments for products and services that they sell, including through the vacation rental platform HomeAway and Rodan & Fields, the multi-level marketing company that specializes in skincare products and employs an […]

View More PayPal is shelling our $400 million in cash for this 18-year-old company that helps gig workers get paid

Toss, Korea’s top payment app, raises $40M from Sequoia China and Singapore’s GIC

The largest payment app in South Korea, Toss, has pulled in $40 million in fresh investment from Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and Sequoia China. The deal for Viva Republica, Toss’s parent company, comes just over a year after it raised $48 million from payment giant PayPal and others. There’s no valuation for this newest round, […]

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Venmo is discontinuing web support for payments and more

PayPal-owned, peer-to-peer payments app Venmo is ending web support for its service, the company announced in an email to users. The changes, which are beginning to roll out now, will see the Venmo.com website phasing out support for making payments and charging users. In time, users will see even less functionality on the website, the […]

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Reid Hoffman to talk ‘blitzscaling’ at Disrupt SF 2018

When it comes to scaling startups, few people are as accomplished or consistently successful as Reid Hoffman . While the rest of us consider scaling a startup to market domination a daunting task, Hoffman has continued to make it look easy. In September, Hoffman will join us at TC Disrupt SF to share his strategies […]

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PayPal 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 […]

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Verizon stealthily launched a startup offering $40-per-month unlimited data, messaging and minutes

Earlier this year, Verizon quietly launched a new startup called Visible, offering unlimited data, minutes, and messaging services for the low, low price of $40. To subscribe for the service, users simply download the Visible app (currently available only on iOS) and register. Right now, subscriptions are invitation only and would-be subscribers have to get an […]

View More Verizon stealthily launched a startup offering $40-per-month unlimited data, messaging and minutes

Safaricom rolls out Bonga social networking platform to augment M-Pesa

Jake Bright Contributor Jake Bright is a writer and author in New York City. He is co-author of The Next Africa. More posts by this contributor Business solutions firm Africa’s Talking closes $8.6M round led by IFC Uber and Taxify are going head-to-head to digitize Africa’s two-wheeled taxis When it comes to monetizing digital social […]

View More Safaricom rolls out Bonga social networking platform to augment M-Pesa