Affirm IPO sees shares surge 98%

Affirm, a San-Francisco buy now, pay later (BNPL) fintech, has almost doubled its value following a successful initial public offering (IPO) on 13 January.

The fintech, led by PayPal co-founder, Max Levchin, priced its shares at $49 a piece, above its target range of $41 to $44 each.

Affirm managed to more than halve losses by June 2020

Shares then surged to $97.24 at the market close. That’s a 98% gain jump from the IPO price.

Affirm closed its IPO with a market value of more than $23 billion. The company has a fully diluted valuation of almost $30 billion, including options and restricted stock units, according to Bloomberg calculations.’

The fintech filed for its IPO back in October, but kept all the financials private.

For Levchin, it marks almost two decades since PayPal went public. He owned a stake in Affirm worth almost $1.4 billion at its IPO … Read the rest

Next consortium in pole position to buy Philip Green's Topshop empire

Arcadia, which employed 13,000 staff in 500 outlets when it collapsed, up for auction

A consortium that includes high street giant Next is thought to be in pole position to buy Sir Philip Green’s Topshop empire out of administration.

Arcadia, which employed 13,000 people across 500 outlets at the time of last year’s collapse, is being auctioned, with Monday being the deadline for final bids.

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Video: Top fintech stories this week – 15 January 2021

The FinTech Futures weekly round-up of the industry’s top stories and developments from across the globe.

This week we cover:

 

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Close coffee shops and nurseries during lockdown, voters say in new poll

Observer Opinium survey finds a majority think lockdown rules should be tightened yet further

Most people now believe takeaway coffee shops, cafes and children’s nurseries should be closed in a further tightening of the national lockdown, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.

A majority of voters also think lockdown rules should be tightened on outside exercise with a ban on people walking or exercising with anyone from a different household.

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Grab’s fintech arm lands $300m Series A

Grab, the Singapore-based ride sharing turned “super app”, has landed a $300 million Series A funding round for its fintech arm.

Led by Hanwha Asset Management – one of South Korea’s Big Three – the round also saw participation from early Grab backers K3 Ventures and GGV Capital. Flourish Ventures, the venture capital firm funded by eBay’s founder Pierre Omidyar, and Arbor Ventures, also participated in the round.

It says it will use the funding to keep serving Singapore’s unbanked population. Southeast Asia as a whole houses an unbanked population of around 290 million, according to US credit agency Fitch Ratings.

Grab launched its first micro-investment service last August

The fintech arm, called Grab Financial Group, saw its total revenues jump up by more than 40% in 2020, compared to 2019.

Just last month, Grab and its partner – major Asian telco Singtel – became just one set of two … Read the rest