Issue #138: Robinhood Acquires TradePMR, Revolut’s ATM Play, And UPI Continues To Go Global
Fintech’s latest trends and insights delivered straight to your inbox
👋 Welcome back to another edition of Fintech Radar!
Sorry for the delay in publishing this week’s issue — it’s been a surprisingly hectic one.
If you’re new, here is a breakdown of what you can expect from each issue.
If you missed our recent editions, you can catch up here. Some previous issues you might want to check out if you’re new include “A Deep Dive Into The Cash App's Growth Machine”, “The Future Of Payment Initiation”, and “Current: Doing It Differently”.
Your ad could be HERE!
Fintech Radar is a must-read for fintech founders, operators, and investors. If that’s your target audience, placing an ad right HERE is a cost-effective way to reach them.
If this sounds like a good fit for your brand, head to our sponsorship page for more details and to secure your advertising slot. Prices start at $100 per issue!
If you have any questions, reply to this email and ask away!
Robinhood buys wealth management platform TradePMR, Banking Dive
🏃♂️ The Rundown: Robinhood has acquired TradePMR, a wealth management platform serving independent financial advisers. The deal expands Robinhood’s presence in the wealth management sector and underscores its ambition to grow beyond retail investing. TradePMR’s technology will help Robinhood better support financial advisers and their clients.
🥡 Takeaway: Robinhood continues its all-out push across the investing landscape, now adding more firepower to the RIA front. From fractional stock trading and crypto to prediction markets, they’re steadily building a diverse portfolio of offerings.
More broadly, in consumer fintech, the “more-is-more” strategy seems to be the playbook of choice for the big boys. Traditional banks have long relied on cross-sell and up-sell models to grow revenue, but challengers like Robinhood and Revolut are taking it up a notch with tech-first approaches that prioritise speed and reach. The big question? Whether these sprawling, multiline businesses can sustain their momentum in the long run.
Revolut preps AI assistant, ATMs and mortgages for 2025, Finextra
🏃♂️ The Rundown: Revolut is preparing to roll out several new services by 2025, including an AI-powered financial assistant, a network of branded ATMs, and mortgage offerings. The AI assistant aims to help users better manage their finances, while the ATMs are part of a broader strategy to provide cash access and payment solutions. Revolut’s foray into mortgages represents a deeper dive into traditional financial products.
🥡 Takeaway: Revolut’s relentless product release cadence shows no signs of slowing. The move into mortgages makes perfect sense — it’s a lucrative, logical step for them. And, of course, more AI in the app was always coming.
The real curveball? Branded ATMs. It’s not the kind of play we’ve come to expect from a neobank, but these aren’t your average cash machines. Reports suggest tech-heavy features like facial recognition and card dispensing. Whether this marks a smart physical-world expansion or veers into gimmick territory remains to be seen, but as always with Revolut, it’s worth watching.
Crypto.com buys Australian brokerage service and trading company Fintek Securities, Fintech Futures
🏃♂️ The Rundown: Crypto.com has acquired the Australian brokerage service Fintek Securities to enhance its offerings in the region, leveraging Fintek's Australian Financial Services Licence. This acquisition allows Crypto.com to provide Australian customers with access to various financial products, including managed investment schemes and foreign exchange.
🥡 Takeaway: While fintechs like Revolut and Robinhood making moves into crypto have been grabbing headlines, we haven’t seen as many bold plays from crypto exchanges stepping into mainstream finance lately. The narrative seems to have shifted, with much of the focus now on stablecoins and their push into the broader market.
Crypto.com’s acquisition of Fintek Securities is likely a strategic move to deepen its Australian presence and broaden its offerings beyond crypto. It’s also likely a play to shore up their regulatory footing, especially as ASIC ramps up scrutiny on exchanges (see, for example, ASIC v Kraken case).
Google Pay to Add BNPL Options From Afterpay and Klarna, Pymnts
🏃♂️ The Rundown: Google Pay has integrated with Afterpay and Klarna, enabling users to manage and repay their BNPL purchases directly through the app. This integration aims to streamline BNPL management and attract more users by offering enhanced convenience.
🥡 Takeaway: Much like Apple, Google seems content to play the role of platform rather than competitor in the BNPL space, opting to platform players like Afterpay and Klarna rather than challenge them directly.
Once upon a time, the narrative was all about Big Tech coming for financial services. But as we’ve seen, they’re more interested in providing distribution, especially for anything requiring a balance sheet.
It’s becoming clear that Apple and Google’s full-stack ambitions in financial services are likely behind them. Instead, they’ll stick to their strengths: acting as the gatekeepers and charging a vig for access to their massive distribution.
Paytm users can now make UPI payments at select international locations, The Times of India
🏃♂️ The Rundown: Paytm users can now make UPI payments at select international locations, including destinations like the UAE, Singapore, and Mauritius. This feature allows seamless cross-border transactions via UPI at merchant outlets, providing Indian travellers a convenient payment option without relying on traditional foreign exchange mechanisms.
🥡 Takeaway: UPI continues its global march. What I’ve been calling one of the most under-discussed trends in payments—the globalisation of faster payment networks — remains in full swing. Rarely does a week go by without UPI or PIX announcing a new market or partnership.
This move by Paytm underscores how players are leveraging UPI to enter competitive remittance corridors with a more seamless, native solution for cross-border payments. Looking ahead to 2025, this trend shows no signs of slowing as faster payment networks continue to double down on going global.
Minu Raises US$30 million in Series B, Fintech Finance News
🏃♂️ The Rundown: Minus, a Mexican startup that focuses on employee benefits, has raised $10m to expand its platform, which offers financial wellness, medical services, and emergency credit for workers. Minus focuses on improving employee benefits in Mexico’s competitive job market, helping companies retain talent while supporting workers’ financial and physical health.
🥡 Takeaway: As highlighted in recent FR issues, LATAM’s fintech sector remains a market to watch. Despite a challenging funding landscape (which is gradually improving), the region’s founders have continued to build. With a vast unbanked population, growing internet penetration, and progressive regulatory frameworks in places like Brazil and Mexico, fintech innovation continues to thrive.
Minu is an excellent example of how the market is evolving beyond first-generation solutions like digital payroll solutions and basic access to financial rails. By addressing a growing need for more comprehensive employee benefits, they’re capitalising on a shift toward holistic, employer-backed offerings. This trend not only highlights untapped opportunities in Mexico but also points to broader growth potential for more high-end vertical fintech offerings across Latin America.
JUST raises €8M Commerce 3.0 retail checkout experience, TechEU
🏃♂️ The Rundown: JUST, a retail technology startup, has raised €8m in Seed funding, bringing its total funding to over €11m. The round was led by Backed, with participation from Daphni, Otium, and FJ Labs. Founded in 2022, JUST provides a plug-and-play checkout solution that incorporates marketing triggers, enabling merchants to boost revenue by an average of 10–15%. The company has onboarded over 500 merchants and serves over 1m users.
🥡 Takeaway: Shopify has set the bar high when it comes to innovating the e-commerce checkout experience, leveraging its full-stack offering to drive some impressive conversion rates. JUST’s approach is intriguing—they’re honing in on the checkout flow with a clever twist: integrating social marketing triggers directly at the point of purchase to boost merchant revenue.
That said, the checkout experience is a tough space to disrupt, with established players dominating the ecosystem. JUST’s traction so far—500 merchants and over 1 million users—is promising, but the big question is whether its marketing-focused differentiation is enough to drive wider adoption in a hyper-competitive market.
The Rise of Vertical SaaS: Achieving 110% NRR from SMBs with Mangomint's CEO, SaaStr
In this episode, SaaStr founder Jason Lemkin sits down with Mangomint CEO Daniel Lang to chat about the resurgence of vertical SaaS and how embedded fintech is reshaping the segment. Lang shares how embedded payments, payroll, and other financial services helped Mangomint scale to 110% NRR and eight-figure ARR, transforming traditional salon and spa software into a full-stack operating system.
Though not strictly fintech-focused, the discussion offers some valuable nuggets and insights into how SaaS founders think about embedding fintech in their overall product offering.
The Fintech OG Series Season Two: Tom Brown and Edward Woodford, This Week In Fintech
In this episode of FinTech OG, Julie sits down with Tom Brown of NYCA and Edward Woodford of Zero Hash. Tom shares insights from his early days at Visa, including his pivotal role in its IPO, while Ed dives into the entrepreneurial journey that led to founding Zero Hash.
The discussion spans “next-gen financial services,” regulatory challenges, and innovations like tap-to-pay and earned wage access, which are cutting down on overdraft fees. A great listen, as always.
❤️ Show Some Love For FR
📧 Feel free to reach out if you want to connect. I'm @alantsen on Twitter, or you can D.M. me directly by clicking the button below ↴
Ps. If you like what I'm doing with FR, please share it on your social disinformation network of choice. I'd also appreciate it if you forwarded this newsletter to a friend who might enjoy it.
🙏 What did you think of this week's issue of FR?
I Love It! ◌ I Like It ◌ Not Bad ◌ I Don’t Like It ◌ It’s Awful