Your Daily FinTech Podcast - June 28th, 2022

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below: Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast. THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS Klarna’s UK executive Alex Marsh has hit out at Barclays for publishing a report that he called “mind-boggling” and “irresponsible”. This research explores mounting buy-now-pay-later debt levels in the UK. Barclays joined forces with debt charity StepChange to warn that 876,000 Brits could fall into financial difficulty as a result of using BNPL. JUST IN: Tesla CEO Elon Musk is facing a new class-action suit that alleges his actions involving the meme-themed cryptocurrency Dogecoin constitute a Ponzi scheme. ALSO: Digital bank Kroo has just won its full UK banking licence ahead of plans to launch personal current accounts "in the coming months". WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS? SleekFlow, an Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund-backed SaaS omnichannel social commerce platform, announced that it has raised an US$8 million Series A funding round. Tapcheck Inc., an employee financial wellness and earned wage access platform announced a $20 million Series A led by PeakSpan Capital. Blockchain-based paytech Roxe is to go public via a $3.6 billion special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal. WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS? Thirty-nine new billion-dollar FinTech companies have emerged in the past year, making up 25% of all Unicorns 🦄in Europe. LET’S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS: New York-based fintech Glia has acquired Finn AI, the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot platform for banks and credit unions. NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES. Open banking provider Volt.io is launching a new bank account authentication service for online merchants and businesses. Revolut Business has reportedly launched a new cashback offer for US customers.