Jan. 11, 2019

LendUp, a San Francisco-based fintech company, has received an investment from LL Funds, Invus Opportunities and QED Investors as part of a restructuring plan to spin off its credit card business into a firm called Mission Lane.

The amount was not disclosed.

Anu Shultes, general manager of LendUp Loans, and a veteran financial service and subprime specialist, will serve as CEO of LendUp and will also become a board member, according to the company.

LendUp co-founder and CEO Sasha Orloff will step down from that position but remain with the company as a board member and an adviser to Mission Lane.

"Anu brings the perfect combination of background, skills and vision to her role as CEO," Orloff said in the announcement. "She's an absolutely fearless leader, and she's the right person to shepherd LendUp through its next stage."

LendUp will focus on personal loans, gamified education and savings as a stand-alone company while the credit card business will look to build on the company's Arrow Card and L Card,

Vijesh Iyer, the former chief operating officer of LendUp, will serve as the interim CEO of Mission Lne, until a permanent CEO is found. Prior to joining the company in 2015, he worked 18 years in the industry, including stints at Cerberus Capital, Capital One and PayPal.

Raj Mundy, of LL Funds and former executive vice president of HSBC's U.S. bank cards business, and Ben Tsai of Invus Opportunities, will join the board at Mission Lane.

Topics: Financial News, Mobile Banking

Companies: LendUp

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Jan. 11, 2019

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has launched a partnership program called A100 that helps companies complete their digital transformation, according to a company announcement.

Alibaba, which is Amazon's main competitor, said the program is based on what it calls the Alibaba Operating System, related to its evolution from a pure e-commerce site to an integrated global technology company that competes in the digital entertainment and local services space.

Alibaba executives said the company now offers expertise in a range of services, including supply chain, logistics, payments, sales and marketing based on cloud-based technologies.

"With over 600 million monthly active users and nearly 30 business units specializing in enterprise services including tech-driven retail, mobile payment, digital marketing, media entertainment, IT infrastructure and more, Alibaba is the leading partner for business within China and around the world to capitalize on the growing consumption by China’s middle class," Daniel Zhang, chief executive of Alibaba Group, said in the announcement.

The company cited Nestle as one of the early success stories in the A100 partnership, noting that the company recently expanded into Alibaba channels like Lingshoutong, Freshippo supermarket and RT Mart, according to Alibaba. Nestle meanwhile enhanced its presence in the B2C TMall, TMall Supermarket and rural Taobao.

Nestle in 2018, signed an agreement with Alibaba’s logistics arm, Cainiao to consolidate its four distributors serving Alibaba into one, according to the announcement.

In another example, Starbucks entered a strategic retail partnership in August 2018 with Alibaba to collaborate with key businesses, including the Ele.me food delivery partnership, Freshippo supermarket, Alipay mobile payment, Tmall and Taobao, according to Alibaba. Starbucks launched a virtual store in China using Alibaba technology in December, offering a unified experience across its own mobile app and several apps across the Alibaba ecosystem.

Topics: Mobile Apps, Region: APAC, Retail

Companies: Alibaba

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Jan. 10, 2019

N26, a Berlin-based fintech startup, said it raised $300 million in Series D financing led by New York-based Insight Venture Partners and will use part of the proceeds to help expand its mobile banking operations to the U.S. during the first half of 2019, according to a company release.

The company said the new investment represents one of the largest private fundraising rounds for a fintech in recent years in Europe and brings the total valuation to $2.7 billion.

The fintech has raised more than $500 million to date, with investors including Tencent, Allianz X, billionaire Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures, Hong Kong billionaire Li-Ka Shing's Horizons Ventures, Earlybird Venture Capital, Redalpine Ventures and Greyhound Capital. Besides Insight Venture, the current round of investors includes Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and several existing investors.

The company, which operates in 24 European markets, said it has expanded its customer base to 2.3 million over the past 12 months. The company  said it aims to have more than 100 million customers within the next few years.

"Around the world, people still suffer from bad banking experiences and high fees," N26 co-founder and CEO Valentin Stalf said in the announcement. "With Insight Venture Partners and GIC joining our renowned group of existing investors, N26 has the support of the best investors globally to disrupt one of the largest industries in the world."

N27 launched in 2013, and announced in October 2017 during the Money 2020 Conference in Las Vegas that it would enter the U.S. by 2018. Nicolas Kopp, who joined the firm in 2015 as head of business development and operations, is chief executive of the U.S. operation, which is based in New York. He previously spent five years in investment banking at Morgan Stanley in the company's New York and Hong Kong offices.

A spokesperson for N26 was not immediately available for comment.

Topics: Financial News, Mobile Banking, Region: Americas, Region: EMEA

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Jan. 10, 2019

Olo, a mobile ordering and delivery platform for restaurants, has received $18 million in financing from Tiger Global Management, according to a company release.

"We have invested heavily in the restaurant technology industry as part of our focus on e-commerce and we are very impressed with the work Olo has done to help restaurant brands benefit from digital ordering adoption by acting as their digital interface and technology backbone," Scott Shleifer, partner at Tiger Global Management, said in the announcement. "We believe Olo has a long runway ahead."

The investment was structured using common equity held by long-term Olo employees, which will give them the opportunity for long-term benefit, the company said.

Olo works with some of the biggest U.S. restaurant chains, including Applebee's, Chipotle, Denny's, Five Guys Burgers & Fries and others.

Tiger Global led a $300 million investment in September 2018, for Postmates, a major on-demand delivery platform that operates in more than 400 cities in the U.S. and Mexico. That firm delivers for Chipotle, 7-11, Blaze Pizza, Shake Shack and other brands.

Topics: Financial News, Mobile Marketing, Online Purchasing, Restaurants, Technology Providers

Companies: Olo, Postmates, Chipotle

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