Uncle Sean's Update - 4/23/21

Happy Friday – we made it!!!!
 
There is quite a bit to go over this week, so let’s get right to it - here is the Uncle Sean Update for 4/23/21:
 

• Nymbus receives a $15M investment from Financial Services Capital to continue broadening their offerings.  This is fresh off the launch of Nymbus Labs in March that enables banks and credit unions to leverage a Direct Bank offering (i.e. digital brand); and their last funding round of $53M Series C back in February.

 

• Nymbus gets another nod from Uncle Sean this week as Locality Bank (digital Florida de novo in organization) selects Nymbus to provide the new banks cloud-native technology platform, in conjunction with a full suite of banking-as-a-service solutions for handling the essential back-end, middle, and front-end elements the bank requires.  According to Keith Costello, CEO of Locality Bank: “Nymbus provides an ideal solution with the go-to-market timeline that has met our needs exactly.”

 

• Unifimoney is making headlines this week by announcing the launch of their Unifi Premier Credit Card backed by Railsbank with a very unique and intriguing rewards platform offering bitcoin, gold, or equities (very cool and beats the heck out of airline miles – yawn) beginning 3Q21.  If I am not mistaken, I believe this is Railsbank first entrance into the US market with their Credit Card as a Service (CCaaS) product. 

 

• Venmo is the latest to join the crypto craze allowing it’s 70M US customers to buy, hold, and sell bitcoin, ether, litecoin, and bitcoin cash.  Not unexpected as Venmo is a PayPal subsidiary and this is an expansion of their parent’s operations allowing users to buy sell and hold crypto as well as spend virtual coins through PayPal's Checkout with Crypto feature.  

 

• Apple announced Apple Card Family upgrade that allows people to share the Apple Card (issued by Goldman Sachs) and, more importantly, build credit together. Also enables parents to share Apple Card with their children (13 years of age +), while offering optional spending limits and controls to help teach smart and safe financial habits.  “Children” participants over the age of 18 can also opt in to credit reporting.

 

• Crypto exchange firm Binance.US hires former OCC chief Brian Brooks as US CEO. 

 

• Paxos is granted OCC approval to convert from a New York State-chartered Trust to a National Trust.

 

• Check this out – Amazon One (a biometric payment solution and contactless way for people to use their palm to enter, identify, and pay) is rolling out to select Whole Foods Market stores in the Seattle area.

 

• Mastercard announced an agreement to acquire Ekata for $850M in response to the rapid increase in online commerce.  Ekata is in the red hot online identity verification space that provides a score in real time to verify the authenticity of the person making the transaction.

 

• We are definitely starting to see Bank M&A deals pick up, but the one that broke my heart was HPS Investment Partners acquires Marlin Business Services Corp. where Marlin Business Bank will effectively “de-bank” and cease operations as a bank.  Now don’t get me wrong – I know that Marlin is an equipment leasing and business capital lender; and maybe not your “traditional” bank……  And they did get a nice 65% premium on closing share price, but the truth is that the transaction equates to 1.48X P/TBV as of Dec 31, 2020 – another bank going away at traditional community bank performance multiples.  With all of the fintech / challenger FI’s out there trying to obtain a charter, it just seems wrong to see another one go away (especially one that does not have an antiquated branch network; and has a successful business lending platform already in place).

 

• MANTL raises $40M series B funding as their revenue grew 210% (dang!) in 2020 while providing digital new account opening solutions for banks and credit unions.

 

• Welcome Tech raises $35M in Series B bringing total funding to $50M.  Welcome Tech serves the Hispanic immigrant community through their Saber es Poder (Knowledge is Power) platform with the PODERcard Visa Debit Card issued by Green Dot.

 

• Deluxe to acquire First American Payment Systems for $960M in cash and is expected to accelerate Deluxe’s transformation into a leading payments technology company as part of its One Deluxe strategy.

 

• BNPL fintech Affirm announced an agreement to acquire Returnly, an online product return platform, for approximately $300M.  This deal looks good as Returnly allows eligible consumers to receive an instant merchant credit upon initiating a return, allowing them to order a new or replacement item immediately (and queue up another BNPL transaction for Affirm) versus waiting until their return is fully processed. Thus making returns and exchanges seamless and helping merchants drive higher return-to-repurchase rates, increased revenue from returns and higher customer satisfaction – oh yeah, and even more money for Affirm!  LOL

 

• In the banking world, Florida and Boston have been very active as of late:
  • A quick look at the FedFis Bank M&A database (yep, that’s a plug) shows that the Greater Boston area has been the focus of significant M&A announcements.  4/22 - Independent Bancorp to acquire Meridian Bancorp in Peabody, MA for $1.2B (1.5x P/TBV);  4/7 - Eastern Bankshares to acquire Century Bancorp for $643M (1.75x P/TBV);  2/22 - M&T Bank to acquire Peoples United Financial which has significant branch presence in Boston for $7.6B (1.64x P/TBV); and earlier this year on 1/4 – SVB Financial to acquire Boston Private Financial Holdings for $900M (1.15x P/TBV).
  • Conversely, a review of the FedFis De Novo Report (yep, that’s another shameless plug) points to Florida seeing an expansion wave of De Novo activity.  Locality Bank (pending De Novo application submitted 3/19), Climate First Bank (FDIC conditional approval 3/26), OUR Community Bank (FDIC conditional approval 3/5), and Payservices (existing FL money transfer company).

 
 
Random Uncle Sean Stuff:

• Funniest thing I read this week was from the infamous El Arroyo sign – “It’s 4/20!  Don’t forget to leave milk and cookies out for Willie Nelson!”
• Headed over to see Tanner Mayo this weekend.  Hopefully it’s not too muddy at his ranch after today’s rainfall – but if it is, that’ll just make it even more fun!!!

 
 
Have a GREAT weekend and please stay safe!!!
 
Uncle Sean
 
 
Sometimes known as Sean Mayo – contact me directly for scope and pricing of custom reports / analysis projects at [email protected] | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | [email protected] #FedFisHasTheData FedFis
 
FedFis, LLC disclaimer – The views and opinions of Uncle Sean are of his own and may not necessarily represent the views, endorsements, and/or opinions of FedFis, LLC – we all know he’s a little bit different; but that’s why we love him.
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