Hi all, Julie here.
I tried to watch Elon on SNL this weekend. And by tried, I mean cringed 90% of the time and then turned it off. I usually like SNL, but this episode was just a mess. Sigh. Guess the Dogefather was a bit overhyped, much like the price of Dogecoin was since it fell 30% following Elon’s appearance.
On a completely different note, you might have heard of a little treadmill issue that Peloton is currently facing (TLDR: lots of recalls and not so happy regulators). This led me to an interesting question: what can fintech companies learn from this? John Pitts, the Global Head of Policy at Plaid, wsa quick to give me a couple of great answers. Tune in to the latest episode of Tux Time to hear more.
The News
Remitly IPO
Late last week, Reuters reported that Remitly is prepping for an IPO that could value it at $5B. That would be a big jump for the remittance processor, which last raised at a $1.5B valuation in July 2020. As we have become even more aware during Covid, remittances are a big part of the global economy and a slew of startups are trying to build businesses around this. Startups are aiming to offer cheaper and more convenient remittance methods, challenging incumbents like MoneyGram and Western Union. Can't blame them with more than $548B being transferred by overseas workers to low and middle income countries in 2019, according to World Bank data.
Ether’s Time
While Dogecoin was crashing, Ether was surging. The crypto surpassed $4,000 for the first time ever. In case you missed it, the cryptocurrency closed 2020 around $600 and started 2020 around $100. Wow.
PayPal’s Gonna Be Busy
Great article from my former colleague Jenny Surane. The payments giant is gonna have a lot of news in the next few months in its attempt to become the next super app. As ambitious as he is in the boxing ring (I’ve witnessed it first hand), PayPal CEO Dan Schulman is equally ambitious when it comes to the impact PayPal can have. The firm is planning to debut a slew of new services that are rumored to include high yield savings accounts, check-cashing services and stock-investing capabilities. The biggest question in my mind when reading this piece though is: hasn’t Square already beaten PayPal to the punch on a lot of this? Of course, being the first doesn’t always mean being the most successful at it, but Cash App is crushing it right now and certainly giving PayPal a run for its money. I’ll definitely be following these roll outs and the traction they get closely.
Binance’s Mishap
Asian startup Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange, briefly suspended withdrawals. Binance made the announcement on Twitter that it had stopped withdrawals, and then about half an hour later said they had resumed. The hit comes as the company has been attracting more than 300K user registrations a day. These things have been known to happen in the world of crypto, but it has been a growing area of concern as users flock to the space and regulators keep an ever closer eye on what’s going on.
Today's Partner, Laika
Fintech businesses need a SOC 2 to play in the big leagues. Especially if your business deals with data and cloud software (which one doesn't?). Not to mention, SOC 2 reports are the gold standard for SaaS and have been a key component of the software buying business.
Laika, a service-and-software platform, streamlines every part of the SOC 2 process so that startups can stay focused on their business. Every customer gets a dedicated team of experts to guide them from implementation to post audit.
Compliance is complex, no doubt. But with the right guidance and tools, you’ll save time, energy, and the frustration of learning an entire information security playbook.
Check them out
Career Corner
VP of Finance: Stem Disintermedia, Inc: Stem enables independent artists to build their businesses, with tools that empower musicians and their teams to distribute music, collect royalties from streaming platforms, pay their collaborators, and take out advances on their future earnings. It's looking for a talented finance leader to join its own FP&A, accounting, investor relations, tax strategy, and royalty payments for our company.
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Community Highlights
I’m biased, but this might be the best community highlights section ever. Stay tuned for the FTT merch store!
Julie VerHage-Greenberg is the co-founder of Fintech Today, where she focuses on editorial content and brand. Prior to joining, she was Bloomberg’s first fintech reporter, covering Robinhood from before it was a billion dollar company, breaking the news that Plaid was acquiring Quovo, and interviewing executives on Bloomberg TV and at several large conferences.
