Fintech startups: why Bulgaria is a hotbed for financial software development
With more than 60 financial technology companies, half of which have been established in the past three years, Bulgaria is becoming a leading center for new financial technology companies in the south-east of Europe. The growth of the sector has been rapid. Last year, Bulgarian fintech companies realized a turnover of 212 M € (234 M $). Their net income has more than doubled compared to 2017. According to some information, operating income should exceed € 300 million ($ 331 million) in 2019. While the success of the fintech industry has many reasons, its ecosystem is characterized by its ecosystem of resources. According to Gergana Stoitchkova, Director of the Bulgarian […]
Fintech: Why It Matters So Much to Your Investment
Fintech is a term that combines two words; Financial and Technology. It means emerging financial services that are fast expanding to include inventions in financial literacy, retail banking, education, investing, and cryptocurrencies. While fintech was initially only applied to conventional technologies that were applied to back-end established clients and financial institutions, the term now refers to how to people operate their enterprises ranging from double-entry accounting to currency invention. Notably, financial technology has grown explosively as mobile internet revolution advances. Facts about Fintech and their applications today In their latest report, Accenture established that international investment in fintech blast through the roof in just a couple of years. From $ […]
Praise the lord: Pushpay shares rise after $33m placement
Pushpay, an ASX-listed fintech seeking to convert United States church goers to donating via their mobile phones, has raised $US25 million ($33 million) in an oversubscribed placement as it targets a doubling of revenue next year. Fifteen new institutional investors in Australia and New Zealand, where Pushpay is also listed, backed the private placement at $NZ1.51 per share, 26 per cent below the price when it raised $54 million ahead of its ASX float last October. The latest fundraising was managed and underwritten by Deutsche Craigs and Ord Minnett and initially reported by Street Talk. When the Seattle-based company resumed trading on the ASX on Thursday, shares rose 6.9 per […]
HK, Singapore rivalry hobbling Asia in $100b Fintech race
Asia’s competitiveness in fintech is being undermined by the rivalry among the region’s financial centers that has created regulatory complexity and uncertainty, a financial lobby group has warned. Governments across Asia—most notably Hong Kong and Singapore—have launched a raft of initiatives to grab a slice of the $100 billion invested in financial technology globally but the regulatory hotch-potch is making it tough for firms to scale up, the Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association said in a report on Friday, PTI reported. “The regulatory landscape is very fragmented and a lot of the initiatives, though well-intentioned, are not necessarily well thought through,” said Mark Austen, CEO of ASIFMA. The […]
Online lending startup Earnest said to look for a buyer
Earnest Inc., the financial-technology startup backed by venture capital firms including Andreessen Horowitz, is looking for a buyer as the market for peer-to-peer lending matures, and it struggles to raise new funds. The San Francisco-based company, which offers student loan refinancing as well as personal loans, is shopping itself for about $100 million, according to people familiar with the matter. Earnest last raised $75 million in equity and $200 million in debt in 2015, bringing the total to just over $300 million since it was founded in 2013, according to research firm CB Insights. The most recent equity financing was led by Battery Ventures, and the debt was led by […]
Robo Advice: Better Than No Advice?
The proliferation of Robo-Advisors bringing low priced financial services out into the market has received significant buzz over the past few years. As is customary with all new things, one must ask questions before buying into it. As a Certified Financial Planner, my question is: Does Robo Advice have true value to the average consumer? My answer: A definitive “maybe.” The road to good advice lies in a tangle of issues that can easily sway the answer from a strong “avoid at all costs” to “yes, there’s value there.” According to Wikipedia, “Robo-advisors are a class of financial advisers that provide financial advice or portfolio management online with minimal human […]
How Singapore is primed to build Fintech Talent
Fintech is a burgeoning industry and leveraging it is a step in the right direction for Singapore to become the world’s first “Smart Nation”—a city-state connected and empowered by technology in all facets of everyday life. Last November, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) informed the country of its commitment to invest in the fintech sector by staging the Fintech Festival in collaboration with The Association of Banks Singapore. This event saw participation from around 50 countries and more than 10,000 participants. It even saw appearances from Microsoft, Paypal, Citi, and other market biggies. Why fintech? There is no dearth of financial startups, especially in the Asian markets of China, […]
