Insurtech is a booming sector, and deep-pocketed investors show no sign of slowing down in pouring money into the next hot start-up. The latest example is Health IQ Insurance Services, Inc., which this week announced it has raised $55 million in growth capital, bringing its total funding raised to $140 million.
Read MoreWhy can’t banks innovate like start-ups? It’s a question that’s been asked a thousand times and has many answers. It’s certainly true that financial firms face a more stringent regulatory environment than most other industries. And they tend to have a more conservative nature than other businesses that tend to take fewer risks.
Read MoreIn light of Michael Cohen’s conviction and prison entrée on May 6, we thought we’d share a fascinating story from Institutional Investor on what white collar criminals and Wall Streeters face in prison. Since the 80s and the height of the “greed is good” era, there has been a perception that the minimum security prisons that white collar felons go to are more akin to hotels (think “Club Fed”).
Read MoreBitcoin, and the wider crypto industry, took a big step forward to mainstream acceptance this week when the owners of the New York Stock Exchange announced they had acquired a crypto custodian service called Digital Asset Custody Company. Atlanta-based Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which owns the NYSE, also applied for its cryptocurrency subsidiary—known as Bakkt—to become a registered trust with the state of New York.
Read MoreThe financial world started this week to the sad news that Bart Chilton, former commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, died at the age of 58. Chilton was known for his folksy, homespun turns of phrase and initial criticism of high-frequency trading.
Read MoreLast week, we covered how Elon Musk has set his sights on dominating the rideshare industry with his army of robot-powered cars. Well, now his flagship company aims to disrupt the insurance industry as well. Musk said during a Tesla earnings call recently that the company plans to create its own insurance product and launch it within a month.
Read MoreWho knows for sure, but it was an interesting question posed recently in the media as Britain grapples with how leaving the European Union and its single market will affect trade, travel, and other logistics.
Read MoreWall Street is starting to realize what we have said all along: that while “hot” consumer-focused technology gets all the buzz, enterprise tech that serves businesses is where it’s at. That’s the software that truly powers the world and is indispensable to the modern globalized economy.
Read MoreThis month marks the start of the ninth year for FinTech Innovation Lab New York. The 12-week non-profit program is designed to put the focus on the country’s most ambitious, budding fintech companies. The event is also somewhat of a matchmaking exercise, as growth-stage companies meet with VCs and financial services execs for in-depth business and product development consultations.
Read MoreThe last couple of years have seen once-beloved big tech companies like Facebook and Google face negative press and a few black eyes due to various scandals involving data security, sexual harassment, and other issues. One of the beneficiaries of this fallout is the healthtech sector, which is now finding it easier to recruit talent away from these companies, where before they struggled.
Read MoreBesides car ownership, another thing we are always told millennials hate are credit cards. Perhaps with that in mind, credit card companies are ramping up their advertising on social media sites in an attempt to better reach a younger demographic. In addition to regular digital ads, some companies that issue credit cards are also paying social media influencers to hock their wares.
Read MoreWhile the narrative that millennials and Gen Z will bring about the end of personal car ownership is a bit overwrought (and perhaps not entirely accurate), these are still heady days for companies that want to provide rides for people. Uber’s upcoming IPO is perhaps the most anticipated in years, even if its valuation may seem a bit high to some.
Read MoreIt all started with the “original” Amazon, which changed e-commerce forever and almost single-handedly introduced the word “platformification” into the popular lexicon. Then came the “Amazon of China,” Alibaba, which successfully integrated digital payments, e-commerce, and fintech to create a world-beating behemoth.
Read MoreDirect banks — online-only banks that typically pay much higher interest rates on various accounts — have seen a rise in popularity in recent years. Without being burdened by the high operating costs of maintaining a traditional branch network, these banks generally offer robust digital services, as well as generally much more attractive rates on everything from savings accounts to CDs. But are there also downsides to their digital-centric approach?
Read MoreFintech M&A has continued at an unprecedented pace, with 2019 shaping up to be the biggest year yet in terms of total deal value. The activity comes not only from private equity firms making investments in start-ups, but also from legacy financial technology vendors and financial firms acquiring innovative fintechs as a way to add to their own tech capabilities.
Read MoreThe Financial Revolutionist is weekly newsletter and blog focused on the torrid pace of financial innovation. Today, thanks to the exponential rate of technological change, explosion in global trade and new regulations ushered in by the Great Financial Crisis, a new financial revolution is under way. In this battle, virtually every aspect of the greater financial services sector is subject to rigorous challenge. With the Financial Revolutionist, we are aspiring to create a boots-on-the-ground and highly opinionated assessment of important financial innovation developments in the past week.
