Issue #139: Revolut Eyes New Zealand Banking Licence, eToro Targets US IPO, And Pocket Money Goes Digital
Fintech’s latest headlines, served with a side of analysis.
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eToro moves forward with plans for U.S. IPO, The Paypers
🏃♂️ The Rundown: eToro, the Israel-based social trading and investment platform, is reportedly moving ahead with its plans for a U.S. IPO. According to Bloomberg, the company is working with Goldman Sachs to explore the listing, though the timeline remains uncertain. This follows eToro’s earlier SPAC merger attempt, which fell through in mid-2022.
🥡 Takeaway: After a rocky SPAC experience, eToro is gearing up for a traditional IPO, joining the growing queue of fintech startups eyeing the public markets. While Stripe tends to dominate IPO chatter, eToro’s move highlights the broader trend of fintechs waiting for the right market conditions to make their public market debut.
Timing will be everything. With Klarna testing the waters and investor sentiment warming toward fintech IPOs, eToro has an opportunity—if it can stand out in the increasingly competitive investment app space. The bigger question? Will public markets favour superapps like Revolut and Monzo or more narrowly focused players like eToro? Game on.
Norway joins Eurosystem’s instant payment service, Finextra
🏃♂️ The Rundown: Norway has officially joined the Eurosystem’s TIPS (TARGET Instant Payment Settlement) service. TIPS allows real-time settlement of payments in euros, with plans to expand support to Norwegian kroner. This integration aims to enhance cross-border payments and bolster financial cooperation between Norway and the EU.
🥡 Takeaway: I’ve spilt a fair bit of (digital) ink this year on the growing influence of local faster payment networks, particularly the globally ambitious PIX and UPI. Their playbook? Going bilateral and partnering with PSPs to position themselves as go-to local payment options.
Meanwhile, multinational efforts like TIPS and Project Nexus are also gaining steam. While these approaches aren’t mutually exclusive (noting that India’s UPI joined Phase 4 of Project Nexus), it’ll be fascinating to see which model wins out. Personally, my bet’s on PIX and UPI — their audacious plans to dominate key trade markets make them the ones to watch.
Revolut seeks banking licence in New Zealand, MPA Magazine
🏃♂️ The Rundown: Revolut has applied for a banking licence in New Zealand, marking another step in its global expansion. The licence would allow Revolut to offer deposit-taking services and expand beyond its current suite of financial products in the country, which includes money transfers, spending analytics, and cryptocurrency trading.
🥡 Takeaway: It feels like Revolut has been in the headlines non-stop this year. Whether it’s ATMs, HR software, or their global expansion, they’ve been firing on all cylinders in 2024.
A few months back, I wrote about the NZ market (see here) and its potential as a small but affluent fintech opportunity. My guess? Revolut’s had solid traction using a partner banking model and now sees New Zealand as a market where they can quickly capture significant share—likely operating out of their Aussie HQ , keeping things cost-efficient. Honestly, when they eventually go public, don’t be surprised to see some eye-popping market share numbers from New Zealand.
Robinhood sets sights on Asia with Singapore HQ, The Paypers
🏃♂️ The Rundown: Robinhood has officially launched its Asia expansion by setting up a regional HQ in Singapore. The move aims to tap into the region’s burgeoning retail investing market. The Singapore office will serve as a base for Robinhood’s push into new markets, focusing on developing products tailored to local consumers and addressing region-specific regulatory requirements.
🥡 Takeaway: Speaking of global expansion, Robinhood, long laser-focused on the U.S. market, appears to be broadening its horizons with a serious push abroad.
After finally launching in the UK earlier this year, it seems they’ve gained the confidence to take on Asia—a region with a growing middle class and increasing appetite for investing products. Singapore as their regional HQ makes strategic (and tax) sense, but if I had to bet, I’d guess Australia might be next on their radar. It’s a mature market with a strong investing culture, making it a logical entry point for Robinhood’s global ambitions.
John Lewis unveils “Pocket Money Pet” app for kids, Finextra
🏃♂️ The Rundown: UK retailer John Lewis has launched “Pocket Money Pet,” a digital app designed to teach children aged 6–12 essential money skills. The app includes interactive games and tasks that introduce concepts like saving, budgeting, and spending in a fun, engaging way. Parents can also track progress and provide financial guidance directly through the app.
🥡 Takeaway: I don’t often get to talk about hardware, but this one caught my eye. With financial literacy more critical than ever, tools like this offer a clever way to teach kids the finance basics during their formative years. Here’s to seeing more innovations like this enter the market to make learning about money more accessible and engaging!
Zopa raises £68M in equity funding, Finextra
🏃♂️ The Rundown: Zopa, the UK-based digital bank and P2P lending pioneer, has secured £68m in fresh funding to support its growth ambitions. This latest funding round, led by existing investors, will be used to expand Zopa’s product offerings and grow its customer base. Since it transitioned from peer-to-peer lending to a full-fledged bank in 2020, Zopa has focused on products like savings accounts, loans, and credit cards, amassing over one million customers.
🥡 Takeaway: When we look back at 2024, it’ll likely be remembered as the year neobanks staged their comeback. The fundamentals that made this sector so exciting in the first place never really changed. What changed was a survival-of-the-fittest moment: the players who could adapt—building stronger customer relationships and growing deposits—emerged stronger, proving that building a bank is a marathon, not a sprint.
Post-ZIRP, those with bloated cost bases exited, while the lean operators who saw the storm coming hunkered down and are now thriving. As we head into 2025, the game shifts again with several neobanks poised to go public. The real test will be who can craft a compelling story for public markets and consistently beat the street’s expectations. One thing’s certain—2025 will be another exciting year for the segment.
Hub2 raises $8M to build “Stripe for Francophone Africa,” TechCrunch
🏃♂️ The Rundown: Hub2, a Senegal-based fintech startup, last week announced $8m in funding to expand its payment infrastructure across Francophone Africa. The round was led by Partech Africa, with participation from Breega and several angel investors. Hub2 aims to address the region’s fragmented payment ecosystem by offering a unified platform for businesses to accept payments via various local and international methods.
🥡 Takeaway: Building a consumer-facing product in Africa quickly exposes just how challenging the region’s fragmented payment infrastructure can be. Proximity between countries doesn’t translate to payment interoperability—what works seamlessly in one market may be nonexistent in another.
A big hurdle is the sheer variety of payment methods, especially mobile money, which operates differently depending on the country and provider. Hub2 is tackling this by offering something that many consumer-facing fintech startups desperately need: a platform that unifies mobile money, bank transfers, and card payments through a single API. It’s an ambitious solution for a very real problem and one that could unlock significant growth across Francophone Africa. Best of luck to the team as they take on this challenge!
Talking Fintech Unicorns, AI, and Leadership with Nik Storonsky, 20VC
In this 20VC episode, Harry Stebbings sits down with Nik Storonsky, co-founder and CEO of Revolut, to unpack the rise of one of Europe’s largest fintech unicorns. Nik shares Revolut’s evolution from a currency exchange app to a super app spanning payments, banking, crypto, and travel services. The conversation dives into Revolut’s shift toward profitability, its exploration of AI-driven products, and its ambitious plans for global expansion. It's a must-listen for all the Revolut super fans.
Ramp CEO Eric Glyman: Using AI to Build “Self-Driving Money”, Training Data
In this Training Data episode, Eric Glyman, co-founder and CEO of Ramp, delves into how Ramp scaled from a corporate card to a comprehensive spend management platform by zeroing in on customer pain points—easier said than done! He also explores the potential of AI to make “self-driving money” a reality, transforming how businesses manage their finances. It's definitely one to queue up this week.
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Really enjoyed listening to Nik and their strategy of "portfolio of products". He also gave an interesting interview at Slush in November that's on youtube (also worth listening to). In that interview he talks about global expansion and the importance of the banking license to allow them to launch their plethora of products. I predict that if they don't start getting those banking licenses they will start exiting those markets...