FinGenius and TransferGo reach BBVA competition shortlist

Two of Level39's startups have made it through to the European finals of BBVA's 'Open Talent' competition. FinGenius does AI tech for banks, while TransferGo deals with remittances for migrant workers.

A marketer’s take on payments

Response Magazine, a marketing and advertising mag, have got an eye on payment processing and how it might affect marketers. The main point of their article is essentially ‘consumers don’t understand the logistics of the payment ecosystem but they’re getting more comfortable with it’ – Revelatory. 

Is it all about the exit?

Robert from Northwater Capital has his own take on startups-exit strategies. He suggests startups stop thinking about the ‘exit’ and start thinking about having a healthy cash-flow situation. Specifically, getting at a break-even point in your cash flow.

Holvi flies the nest

Holvi, the Finnish startup ‘bank’, is moving beyond Finland to 19 new European countries. It’s an invite-only system at the moment, let’s not get too excited.

New SBC partners

Startupbootcamp welcomes Arvato, Intesa Sanpaolo and Route 66 Ventures as partners to its programme.

P2P bitcoin lending platform gets €200K funding

Bitbond secured €200,000 in a seed funding round led by Point Nine Capital. They’ll use the cash to broaden their user base and accelerate loan origination. One of the Point Nine guys says that British regulators’ attitudes towards bitcoin and mobile technology is warming. Is it true?

Uber and AirBnB to go crypto?

VentureBeat, an online tech mag, and the WSJ report that Braintree, the payments unit behind eBay, Uber and AirBnB, is working towards accepting bitcoin as a payments option. The sources are ‘people familiar with the matter’ so take it with a pinch of salt for the time being.