Fintech Focus For July 21, 2021

Quote To Start The Day: “The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity.”

Source: Seneca

One Big Thing In Fintech: DeFi builds on three major waves of blockchain innovation across the last decade, each of which began with deep skepticism and has since progressed to acceptance and adoption.

Source: Future

Other Key Fintech Developments:

• Titan added $58M Series B round.
• Nasdaq spins out pre-IPO trading.
• Mastercard enhances crypto offer.
• Square added bank, savings offer.
• 4K added $3M for an NFT market.
• TT connecting to new exchanges.
• ProNvest intros a fintech platform.
• Veem intros new product offering.
• Pillar VC closes $192M for funds.
• Venmo cut out global, public feed.
• Payveris introduced P2P platform.
• Centime, First National partnered.
• FTX closes $900M funding round.
• Nasdaq to expand ESG data hub.
• Zumper modernizes rental market.
• Capchase taps funds, intros BNPL.
• LedgerEdge taps RBC leadership.
• Vestwell adds new $70M Series C.
• Neon deploying its tech on Solana.
• Fidelity hones in on fintech efforts.
• OpenSea added $100M Series B.
• Silvergate posting strong quarters.

Watch Out For This: Startups are on an acquisition spree buying other startups, as the 268 acquisitions of venture-backed companies by other VC-backed companies from January to mid-July is the highest level in that period of the past decade. The last time the numbers approached those levels was 2016, when there were 204 acquisitions of VC-backed companies by other VC-backed companies.

Source: Crunchbase

Interesting Reads:

• SoFi alums build aid for founders.
• Tesla taps owners to test software?
• US sees chip supply gains, relief.
• Delta variant in 83% of new cases.
• Biden nominates big tech enemy.
• Instagram beefs content screening.
• Jeff Bezos celebrates space flight.

Market Moving Headline: We still expect Equities to outperform bonds and cash and believe that this remains the largest risk management decision in a multi-asset portfolio. Portfolio allocations during this period should continue to emphasize balance across and within asset classes.

Source: Merrill