🌊The Fintech Wave(#32)
Welcoming 17 new members of the Fintech Wave community who have joined us since Monday.
TLDR; The first developer infrastructure bank is launched. Lending products focused on immigrants. Coinbase NFT marketplace launches in Beta. NFT infrastructure in the EU is getting crowded.
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Europe News and Funding
Lending products💳 focused on immigrants
UK startup Pillar raised $16.9M Pre-seed!! to build credit card products for immigrants. This is probably the largest Pre-seed round ever. Almost $17M of funding pre-product.
The startup is trying to solve a classic immigrant problem (which I also had when I moved to the USA): you don’t have a credit score, so you cannot get a credit card, loan, lease, etc. and you have to pay for everything in cash.
Pillar wants to use international credit history when you apply for their credit card. Once approved, they help users build credit scores across the globe. Also, the smart thing for an additional revenue stream is that they will cover the other lenders: they will open their data to give access to international credit data for underwriting in countries across the globe.
Americas News and Funding
The first chartered bank built from the ground up for developers
Column bank is owned by William and Annie Hockey. He is a billionaire and founder of fintech startup Plaid. They spend $50M to buy a traditional bank with all the licenses and built Column bank on top of that. So, Column bank is a Member of FDIC. They connect directly to the Federal Reserve with dedicated hardware, built their own ledger and core, and don't use any middleware.
With column, building the fintech products was never easier, especially for lending products - loans, debt financing, credit cards. Even the pricing is super transparent so you know the exact costs before you start. This is HUGE.
Crypto ₿ites
Coinbase NFT marketplace launches in Beta
The long-awaited Coinbase NFT marketplace places was launched in beta version last week. They are inviting beta-testers based on their position on the waitlist.
Coinbase put emphasis on community interaction, so they allow you to follow other profiles and engage with the comments and up/downvotes. Also, for a limited time, there’ll be no Coinbase transaction fees, so make sure you check your mailbox to see if Coinbase gave you access to the marketplace.
NFT🖼️ infrastructure in the EU is getting crowded
The main selling point of the platform is that anybody without technical experience can now create NFTs and sell it. The platform operates on a NEAR protocol which they developed because Ethereum became too expensive. Part of the funding will be used to fund grants for other projects on NEAR protocol.
Tweets and Threads of the Week
