Fintech Focus Roundup For March 27, 2021

Dan Gilbert-Backed Social Media App Plain Sight Launches Republic Crowdfunding Campaign
Plain Sight, a social media app geared toward in-person networking, has launched a funding campaign on Republic, a robust system for private investing in pre-seed to pre-IPO companies.

Benzinga chatted with Plain Sight CEO and founder James Chapman about the development.

Fintech Spotlight: How Reinno Creates An Intersection Between DeFi And Real Estate

Bitcoin, among other cryptocurrencies, lacks a utility component.

That’s according to Natalia Shirshova, CMO and co-founder at Reinno, a tokenization and lending company whose core focus is on increasing liquidity among real-world assets.

The co-founder said that prior to founding Reinno in 2019, she was part of conversations with institutions that were looking to level the playing field between public and private assets. Among the topics discussed was real-estate, the core focus of Reinno’s tokenization and lending efforts, today.

“We realized that there is much more value in bringing blockchain to real-world assets,” Shirshova said. “Real estate is a wonderful investment because it allows you to preserve value for generations and the prices of real estate increase over time.”

In bridging the gap between liquidity and capital, Reinno created an ecosystem for fractional ownership of the real estate.

“You [can] either sell to investors or use the tokens for loans,” the co-founder noted. “In this way, we’re basically bringing more liquidity to commercial real estate owners and investors.”

Prove Acquires Fintech Powerhouse MEDICI Global

Prove, a platform for phone-centric identity authentication, formally announced its acquisition of MEDICI Global, a top fintech insights and advisory platform.

Miami's Path To Becoming A Tech Hub, According To TheVentureCity's CEO: 'Brainpower Doesn't Have A Zip Code'

“Thinking of moving to Miami? DM me.”

That’s according to a tweet from Miami Mayor Francis Suarez that's plastered across billboards along California. The initiative, sponsored by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and early Uber Technologies Inc and Airbnb Inc investor Shervin Pishevar, comes as Miami looks to transform itself into a booming tech hub.

In unpacking why Miami is a destination for those talents, Benzinga chatted with Laura González-Estéfani, the founder and CEO of TheVentureCity, an international, operator-led venture acceleration model designed to make the global entrepreneurial ecosystem more diverse, international and accessible to fair capital.

Fintech Spotlight: ClosingBell Launches API Tracking Retail Trader Sentiment

“I was struggling to find good ways of finding ideas — starting points — to look up and research stocks.”

That’s according to Weiner, who founded ClosingBell in 2014 as a collaborative stock trading platform that allows people a better way to share their ideas and learn about opportunities in the stock market.

Through ClosingBell, users share their trading theses and rate stocks. Then, the platform will rank users’ ratings based on the performance of their past stock picks.

“The whole concept is crowd-sourced stock tips,” the founder said. “I was never really interested in what any one person would say. I really care about what the best people in the group are saying, collectively.”

NYCE Launches 'Robinhood Of Real Estate' On App Store

According to some projections, median black wealth—measured by net worth—is projected to drop to $0 by 2053.

Founded by Martin Braithwaite, a soccer player for FC Barcelona, and Philip Michael, author of “Real Estate Wealth Hacking: How To 10X Your Net Worth In 18 Months,” NYCE is looking to mend wealth disparities between different classes and demographics.

“The number one driver behind the racial wealth gap is absence of real estate ownership in minority communities,” CEO Philip Michael said, adding that NYCE created 2,000+ first-time real estate owners to date through its two public offerings.

Through a newly launched Robinhood-like app, micro-investors can now buy into real estate for $100.

“Wall Street is talking a good game and I’d like to see them actually come through with programs that help build wealth vs. bathing in fees from non-financially savvy customers," he said.