Fintech Focus For January 29, 2021

Quote To Start The Day: Knowledge should be rewarded.

Source: John Vitti

One Big Thing In Fintech: The biggest challenge facing consumers in finance is a lack of trust; it’s tough to discern whether financial institutions are acting in the interest of customers and sharing their values.

That’s according to Aspiration co-founder and CEO Andrei Cherny, a historian, policy expert, lawyer, and former Clinton White House aide who spent nearly 20 years working to democratize finance.

Based in L.A. for its technology ecosystem, Cherny's neobank is looking to build a better world through socially conscious sustainable cash management services and investment products. On Wednesday, the firm added an investment from Robert Downey Jr.'s FootPrint Coalition Ventures.

Source: Benzinga

Other Key Fintech Developments:

• Quiver Quant closed a $525K round.
• N26 eyeing hiring spree amid growth.
• Moody’s launches cloud technology.
• Coinbase chooses direct listing route.
• WEF intros a responsible AI alliance.
• Nubank closes out $400M Series G.
• Robinhood had to tap its credit lines.
• Plaid makes it easier to switch banks.
• Dalio is looking into BTC investment.

Watch Out For This: Versus Game, a consumer prediction and social wagering marketplace just closed a $4-million seed round led by Raised In Space, the joint venture between Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings and Ripple’s Xpring initiative, with Raised In Space partners Shara Senderoff and Zach Katz supporting the investment with hands-on guidance.

Source: Benzinga

Interesting Reads:

• Verbal, nonverbal sales buy signals.
• WSB founder reckoning with legacy.
• Funding to Atlanta hit a 5-year high.
• Tesla’s charging stations, networks.
• Biden lays out blueprint for housing.

Market Moving Headline: Senator Sherrod Brown, the incoming Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, will be holding a hearing on the GameStop – Reddit phenomenon, according to a tweet.

Senator Brown said it was time for the SEC and Congress to make the economy work for everyone while castigating Wall Street, worrying about rules only when they get hurt.

Source: Crowdfund Insider