Posts by Alex Johnson
NGMI
I was planning to write about something else this week, but then this happened: Silicon Valley Bank, Santa Clara, California, was closed today by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect insured depositors, the FDIC created the Deposit Insurance National Bank of…
Read MoreControl the Attributes
#1: Wealthfront Zagging What happened? Wealthfront introduced a new service: Today, we’re thrilled to announce Wealthfront is expanding into stock investing to serve a broader set of our clients’ investing needs. Our Stock Investing Account has all of the features you’d expect from a stock trading app including fractional shares, zero commissions, and a $1…
Read MoreCatching Up On All The Takes
#1: How Were Your Grades? What happened? Revolut claims that it was profitable in 2021: Financial technology giant Revolut reported its first-ever annual profit in 2021, according to financial accounts released Wednesday, as subscriptions to its paid packages and overall usage of its app grew sharply. The company reported revenues of £636.2 million ($767.1 million)…
Read MoreUnlocking the Next Wave of Lending Innovation
First, an observation. While there have been a lot of great fintech lending companies that have been built in the last couple of decades – from peer-to-peer lending to BNPL – there has been a notable lack of lending products being launched by fintech companies that didn’t start out in lending. This is, speaking as…
Read MoreMaking Rewards Unrewarding
#1: Speeding Up Auto Lending What happened? Carmoola raised a Series A: UK car finance fintech Carmoola has raised £8.5 million in a Series A funding round and secured another £95 million through a debt facility. The round was led by QED Investors, with participation from existing investors VentureFriends and InMotion Ventures, the investment arm…
Read MoreThe Bank Account Multiverse
A bank account is basically three things: Let’s go through each of those in a bit more detail. First, a safe place to keep your money. I have argued many times in this newsletter that the most foundationally important job of a bank account is to ensure that the money I have in it today…
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