Fintech Focus Roundup For January 30, 2021

A Short Seller Joins Benzinga's 'Power Hour' To Talk GameStop. The Rest Is History.
On Jan. 21, Citron Research's Andrew Left went live with Benzinga’s Luke Jacobi and Jason Raznick on the daily "Power Hour" show to discuss his opinion on GameStop Corporation.

After that, the stock went on a meteoric rise, leaving Citron no other option but to exit its bearish bets on the stock at a loss.

Click here to see Benzinga unpack where the hype surrounding GameStop began, as well as the dynamics governing price action and trading in the days after.

How Rocket Companies Created The Biggest Game Of Super Bowl Squares
Jason Raznick, the founder and CEO at Benzinga, discusses entrepreneurship, overcoming the challenges to success and financial markets on his weekly Raz Report show.

Raznick recently sat down with Casey Hurbis, the chief marketing officer of Rocket Companies Inc-owned Quicken Loans, the nation's largest retail mortgage lender, to talk about his career, marketing initiatives and much more.

Robert Downey Jr.'s Fund Backs Neobank
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.

Quiver Quantitative Closes $525K Seed Round
Quiver Quantitative, an alternative data platform for retail investors, formally announced the closure of a $525,000 seed round led by Wisconsin’s Idea Fund of La Crosse.

Versus Game Taps Raised In Space, Winklevoss Brothers, Sway House, Others In $4M Seed Round
“Knowledge should be rewarded.”

That’s according to serial entrepreneur John Vitti, the CEO at Versus Game, a consumer prediction and social wagering marketplace that 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.

Social Leverage SPAC To Unlock Market Access To New Wave Technology Innovations
Social Leverage Acquisition I, a blank check company, filed an S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise nearly $300 million in an initial public offering.

United Wholesale Mortgage Begins Trading On The NYSE: Here's What It Means For The Market
Pontiac, Michigan-based United Wholesale Mortgage Holdings Corporation, home to one of the largest retail mortgage lenders, begins trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.

The development comes after the company closed a merger with special purpose acquisition company Gores Holdings IV Inc. The deal, which hails as the largest SPAC transaction to date valued at around $16 billion, provides UWM with $925 million for emerging growth opportunities.

Gores Holding IV changes its name to UWM Holdings Corporation and will trade under ticker "UWMC."

Who Is Michael Gruen, And How Did He Become So Well Connected?
"You can't be a real networker unless you’re connected."

That’s according to Michael Gruen, an entrepreneur, angel investor, consultant and media personality, who Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy has called "one of the most mysterious, obnoxious, interesting humans who ever walked the world."

Gruen is heralded for his network of celebrities, based on an analysis of his media posts and followers, like hedge fund manager Steve Cohen, Houston Rockets owner Tillman Fertitta, Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph, Twitch co-founder Justin Kan, Miami mayor Francis X. Suares, and TikTok star Josh Richards, among others.

In a conversation with Benzinga, Gruen spoke about his origins, as well as tips for scaling networks to grow brands.

tastytrade, IG Group Join Forces In $1B Deal To Democratize Global Markets
IG Group Holdings, a global online trading platform, formally announced it would purchase tastytrade, Inc, a financial network advocating for and empowering individual investors, for $1 billion.