Fintech Ipsum

A new stealth startup has launched that uses mobile biometric payment technology to deliver robust user-facing optimization, while the near-instant payment paradigm reduces consumer peak currency online netting systems. This is in spite of the fact that challenger investment fragments opportunistic deployment of blockchain digital payments technology. However, the resilience of standalone transactional cloud-based pipes in service-oriented architecture develops loss-averse superpygmy API-enabled architecture…

Hopefully, none of the above made any sense to you, but it sure sounds very close to the buzzword-laden press releases coming from many fintech startups these days. If you want to attract some funding, talk about how you are using machine learning and artificial intelligence, throw in something about conversational interfaces, a dash of blockchain, and an API or two, and you are good to go.

Or try out the “Fintech Ipsum” generator I used to create the first paragraph. Have fun!

For real news, check out the below…

How To Make Lemonade 
Lemonade, the online renter’s and homeowner’s insurance startup, has been providing unprecedented transparency into their journey of going live. They just unveiled the results of their first quarter of operations, including their expanded team, policy sale trends, premiums collected, customer service metrics, claims paid, and their bank account.

SoFi Doubles Down on Mortgages 
SoFi, most well-known for its student loan programs, is seeing the most growth from its mortgage division. The company surpassed $100MM in mortgage originations in December, and has surpassed $1 billion overall. They see a niche in the “nonbank jumbo” market due to less competition, and also is working with Fannie Mae to do cash out refinances for student loans.

Fundings ‘Round the World 
A lot of action recently so rapid fire: Fraugster, a German/Israeli cybersecurity company based in the UK raised $5MM, and is already handling $15 billion in transaction volume despite being only 2 years old. Bankin, a personal finance app based in France, has raised over $7MM and has 1.5 million users. Fabric, a digital life insurance company created by ex-Simple employees, has raised $2.5MM, led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Qonto, a French digital business banking service, has raised $1.6MM, backed by Peter