Wirecard short sellers make ‘a fortune’ as shares nosedive on missing €1.9bn June 18, 2020 Wirecard short sellers hit the jackpot today as shares in the German fintech plummeted following reports of a €1.9bn (£1.7bn) accounting black hole. Short sellers have piled bets against the payments firm, which offers customers electronic payment transaction services and risk management, amid mounting questions over its accounting accuracy. Wirecard’s announcement this morning that auditor [...]
Monzo confirms £60m funding round as valuation slides June 16, 2020 Digital bank Monzo has today confirmed a fresh funding round of £60m from existing investors, which is understood to have been accompanied by significant cut to its valuation. Backers included Y Combinator, General Catalyst, Accel, Stripe, Goodwater, Orange, Thrive, Passion Capital, as well as some new investors such as Reference Capital and Vanderbilt University. Monzo’s [...]
Whatsapp rolls out first wave of in-app digital payments June 15, 2020 Messaging platform Whatsapp today launched its first nationwide rollout of digital payments, starting in Brazil. Users will be able to send payments inside a Whatsapp chat to individuals or businesses in a similar way to attaching a picture or video to a message. The rollout follows an initial testing period in India two years ago, [...]
Robinhood delays UK launch amid pandemic popularity June 12, 2020 Commission-free stock trading app Robinhood has pushed back its UK launch date after failing to meet its initial timeframe. The tech giant told customers on its UK waitlist today that it will now miss its original goal of a launch in early 2020, but committed to becoming available before the end of this year. “Our [...]
CoinCorner launches UK ‘Bitcoin cashback’ initiative June 8, 2020 One of the UK’s leading Bitcoin exchanges, CoinCorner, has launched a new ‘Bitcoin cashback’ service to reward customers when they shop online. CoinCorner has partnered with more than 400 top retailers to launch the first-of-its-kind service in the UK. Some of those who have partnered with the exchange include household names such as Burtn, Twinings, [...]
Digital bank Monzo to cut up to 120 jobs due to coronavirus June 3, 2020 Digital bank Monzo will cut up to 120 jobs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, it was revealed today. In an internal note seen by Reuters, the cuts, which amount to about eight per cent of the bank’s workforce, were announced. The memo said: “Unfortunately we haven’t been able to achieve the goal of [...]
Monzo co-founder Tom Blomfield steps down as chief executive May 21, 2020 Monzo co-founder Tom Blomfield is stepping down as chief executive of the challenger bank to take up the role of president. Blomfield will take up the newly created role of president meaning he’ll be stepping back from the day to day operational running of the bank. Monzo’s US chief executive TS Anil will take over [...]
Why RBS killed digital bank Bo only five months after launch May 1, 2020 The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has abandoned its challenger bank Bo just five months after launching it. In an already dire update on its first quarter performance today, RBS said it would “wind down Bo as a customer-facing brand” after launching it only in November. The Bo platform will instead be integrated with Mettle, [...]
Crypto data provider Skew launches trading platform as it raises $5m April 29, 2020 Skew, a data analytics platform for crypto, has today launched a trading platform after a $5m funding round led by Octopus Ventures. Skew Trading is a partnership with Kyte Broking focused on attracting institutional traders entering the crypto world. Skew is initially focusing on OTC execution of Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) block trades for bitcoin [...]
VCs shun new startups as coronavirus slowdown hits investors April 29, 2020 Venture capitalists are prioritising their portfolio companies over new startups as they anticipate a slowdown in investment during the coronavirus pandemic. According to new research by Plexal and Beauhurst, investment since lockdown began grew 34 per cent to reach £663m. However, the drop in the number of deals, down 39 per cent, indicates investor confidence [...]