FinTech newsreels are booming with information about new products and investments. It is reassuring to see that a large chunk of these initiatives are in the spirit of sustainable growth. Find out about new apps from Minted and Hapi, the development of Moss and Aspiration and a project by The Scottish National Investment Bank.
Weekly FinTech news digest: 17—23 August 2021
An official launch of Hapi, a platform for parents to invest for their children
Sustainable investment for sustainable living
Hapi is a sustainable investment platform dedicated to parents who would like to build a financial standing for their children. This can be done by setting up an account and creating an investment portfolio from a range of socially-conscious companies available on the platform. The companies are grouped into several themes that support ESG causes such as for example: clean energy, global water or healthcare innovation. Besides the theme, you also choose the risk level. Your family and friends can join in too by making donations to your account.
Read more about sustainable FinTech
Minted releases an app focused on saving and investing in gold
Art of saving up with gold
Minted is also an investment app but its purpose is to buy, share, sell and save gold. It is FCA-licensed and aims at making investment in gold safer and more accessible. The creation of the app was triggered by the experience of the founder. Working as a private wealth manager, Shahid Munir discovered that gold is a good saving option but the processes around investment in gold were quite outdated and not transparent enough for the modern standards. Minted is here to change it.
Read more about investment trends
German FinTech Moss raises €25 million in additional funding
Internationalisation is their next step
The transformative spirit is also behind Moss, a spend management platform from Germany which uses cutting-edge technology to improve on the efficiency of how companies manage their spendings. Less than a year since its initial product launch, Moss reports a valuation of €226 million, which reflects how successful it has been with its offerings. It has just closed an extension of its Series A funding round of about €25 million, which was attended by Valar Ventures, a VC firm associated with an American entrepreneur Peter Thiel. Currently, Moss operates in Germany but the next step for the company is to expand internationally. They also plan to deliver new products.
Read more about FinTech companies to watch in 2021
Aspiration, which brings the sustainability to the table, is now a publicly listed company
“Business of fighting the climate crisis”
Yet another stage of development has been reached by a sustainability-driven American company Aspiration, which has announced a merger agreement with Interprivate III Financial partners, a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company. This means that Aspiration is now publicly listed. Aspiration offers Sustainable as a Service solutions for both private individuals and companies. It has been growing exponentially since its inception in 2013. Only in the last year it has driven over 7x growth.
Read more about leading green FinTech companies
The Scottish National Investment Bank invests £50 million into Scottish forests
Taking care of Scottish forests
A sustainability-inspired move has also been made by The Scottish National Investment Bank which has declared £50 million over five years to the Scottish Gresham House Forest Growth & Sustainability Fund. The investment will be used to plant new trees and to generate income from the sale of timber and its regeneration. Additionally, the fund will serve to accumulate carbon credits in the form of Woodland Carbon Units (WCU).
Read more about green initiatives in FinTech
FinTech Wire! We are always happy to chip in with a weekly selection of FinTech news.
The multi-faceted growth of FinTech is not only illustrated by the described examples but is also captured by the data prepared by KPMG and Dealroom.co. It’s a trend that is likely to continue with new success stories surfacing every day. Watch this space, follow us on Linkedin!