How Fintech Outfits Are Streamlining Clients’ Financial Lives

By Duncan Ferris

Share:

In this article

  • Loading...
  • Want to see what you should be buying? Check out our top picks.

WonderFi is leading the way in the DeFi ecosystem with its innovative business model - find out more about this exciting company.

WonderFi Technologies (TSX: WNDR) (OTCQB: WONDF) operates as a software company. It has developed a platform that integrates with the entire decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, with the business serving customers around the world.

WonderFi Technologies’ most recent earnings showed that it achieved revenue of CA$2.9m for the three-month period ended 30 June 2022, which demonstrates a substantial improvement over the past 12 months.

The young company's thesis is that the future of cryptocurrency will be on both decentralized and centralized (licensed) platforms, leading the company to build and acquire businesses and products in both lanes.

WonderFi Technologies has acquired leading Canadian licensed crypto asset trading platform, Coinberry in its most recent quarter. Additionally, March saw it bring Bitbuy under its umbrella, a move that made the business one of the largest crypto exchange businesses in Canada by number of registered users and daily trading volume.

While both of these acquisitions have expanded the company’s customer base, they have also provided it with the ability to spread beyond the Canadian borders. This lets the already growing business target expansions into other high growth markets.

 Famed Canadian entrepreneur and businessman Kevin O'Leary, a strategic investor in WonderFi Technologies recently appeared on Logan Paul's Impaulsive podcast and said he believed that the company “will eventually become a giant holding company for all these licensed exchanges around the world”. 

Upstart Holdings (NASDAQ: UPST), which is headed by Dave Girouard, operates as a holding company. The business, through its subsidiaries, provides a cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform to improve access to credit while reducing the risk and costs of lending for bank partners.

The company’s latest earnings update showed the business’ second quarter revenues increased by 18% compared to the same period last year, climbing to $228.2m. The rise came on the back of a 38% increase in fee revenue.

However, Upstart Holdings still described the period as “disappointing” as it swung to a net loss of $29.9m from a profit of $37.3m after operating expenses skyrocketed.

The business is facing other difficulties too, with a shareholder lawsuit asserting that the business’ AI model was incapable of properly adapting to changes in macroeconomic conditions. The lawsuit alleges that Upstart Holdings had failed to properly inform investors of the shortcomings.

Even so, Upstart Holdings appears to be backing its technology. The company claims it has the financial flexibility “to survive and thrive through a variety of market conditions and to achieve our ambitious long-term goals”.

Additionally, the business said in early August that its AI model is well calibrated to current market conditions and has created a significant opportunity to generate outsize returns on its platform.

Max Levchin’s Affirm Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: AFRM) designs and develops software. The company offers an online platform which provides lending and consumer credit services, as well as enables customers to buy what they want and pay over time. The business serves customers in the United States. 

The company’s most recent earnings showed that quarterly revenue increased from $261.8m to $364.1m as its merchant and virtual card networks both achieved significant growth.

Affirm Holdings Inc has recently warned that the buy-now-pay-later sector could face funding difficulties as the cost of living crisis puts it under increasing pressure.

However, it has also asserted confidence that consumers are increasingly willing to turn towards flexible and transparent payment methods in order to continue spending even while they deal with growing bills.

It noted that the 4 July weekend saw the number of Affirm Holdings Inc transactions more than double year over year, with transactions relating to concert tickets, flights and bridal apparel notably increasing across the period.

Affirm Holdings Inc Chief Revenue Officer, Geoff Kott, commented:

“In recent months, paying over time with no late or hidden fees has become even more compelling for consumers looking to manage their finances amidst rising costs. We’ve seen this first-hand at Affirm Holdings Inc as consumers seek to increase their purchasing power in a flexible and responsible way. With a wide breadth of merchants spanning from home and consumer electronics to apparel and travel, we enable our consumers to do just that.”

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) is headed by Stelleo Passos Tolda and operates an online trading site for the Latin American markets. The company's website allows businesses and individuals to list items, conduct sales, and purchases online in either a fixed-price and auction format.

The business offers classified advertisements for motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft, and real estate, as well as online payment services.

MercadoLibre’s most recent earnings showed that its revenues increased from $1.7bn to $2.6bn in the three months ended 30 June 2022. Net income also more than doubled, rising from $68m to $123m amid growth from the company’s fintech business.

The company’s payments processing and acquiring business delivered a total payment volume of over $30bn, growing 72% in on a USD basis and 84% on an FX-neutral basis.

Though it has wide-ranging ecommerce interests, the success and profitability of its fintech operations appears to have convinced MercadoLibre to make further investments in this segment of its business. 

Previous investments that the company has made in this arena include blockchain projects such as Paxos, a leading regulated blockchain infrastructure platform that powers the Mercado Pago cryptocurrency experience in Brazil.

MercadoLibre says it has taken multiple steps to engage in the dynamic ecosystem of digital assets and blockchain technology and aims to be a “core participant” in the changes that it can bring to consumers.

Share:

In this article:

Topics:

Industries:

IMPORTANT NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

This communication is a paid advertisement. ValueTheMarkets is a trading name of Digitonic Ltd, and its owners, directors, officers, employees, affiliates, agents and assigns (collectively the “Publisher”) is often paid by one or more of the profiled companies or a third party to disseminate these types of communications. In this case, the Publisher has been compensated by WonderFi Technologies Inc. to conduct investor awareness advertising and marketing and has paid the Publisher the equivalent of one hundred and ninety thousand US dollars to produce and disseminate this and other similar articles and certain related banner advertisements. This compensation should be viewed as a major conflict with the Publisher’s ability to provide unbiased information or opinion.

CHANGES IN SHARE TRADING AND PRICE

Readers should beware that third parties, profiled companies, and/or their affiliates may liquidate shares of the profiled companies at any time, including at or near the time you receive this communication, which has the potential to adversely affect share prices. Frequently companies profiled in our articles experience a large increase in share trading volume and share price during the course of investor awareness marketing, which often ends as soon as the investor awareness marketing ceases. The investor awareness marketing may be as brief as one day, after which a large decrease in share trading volume and share price may likely occur.

NO OFFER TO SELL OR BUY SECURITIES

This communication is not, and should not be construed to be, an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security.

INFORMATION

Neither this communication nor the Publisher purport to provide a complete analysis of any company or its financial position.

This communication is based on information generally available to the public and on an interview conducted with the company’s CEO, and does not contain any material, non-public information. The information on which it is based is believed to be reliable. Nevertheless, the Publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information. Further, the information in this communication is not updated after publication and may become inaccurate or outdated. No reliance should be placed on the price or statistics information and no responsibility or liability is accepted for any error or inaccuracy. Any statements made should not be taken as an endorsement of analyst views.

NO FINANCIAL ADVICE

The Publisher is not, and does not purport to be, a broker-dealer or registered investment adviser or a financial adviser. The Publisher has no access to non-public information about publicly traded companies. The information provided is general and impersonal, and is not tailored to any particular individual’s financial situation or investment objective(s) and this communication is not, and should not be construed to be, personalized investment advice directed to or appropriate for any particular investor or a personal recommendation to deal or invest in any particular company or product. Any investment should be made only after consulting a professional investment advisor and only after reviewing the financial statements and other pertinent corporate information about the company. Further, readers are advised to read and carefully consider the Risk Factors identified and discussed in the advertised company’s SEC, SEDAR and/or other government filings. Investing in securities, particularly microcap securities, is speculative and carries a high degree of risk. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This communication contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding expected continual growth of the featured companies and/or industry. Statements in this communication that look forward in time, which include everything other than historical information, are based on assumptions and estimates by our content providers and involve risks and uncertainties that may affect the profiled company’s actual results of operations. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause the actual results and performance to differ materially from any future results or performance expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among others: the success of the profiled company’s operations; the size and growth of the market for the company’s products and services; the company’s ability to fund its capital requirements in the near term and long term; pricing pressures; changes in business strategy, practices or customer relationships; general worldwide economic and business conditions; currency exchange and interest rate fluctuations; government, statutory, regulatory or administrative initiatives affecting the company’s business.

INDEMNIFICATION/RELEASE OF LIABILITY

By reading this communication, you acknowledge that you have read and understand this disclaimer in full, and agree and accept that the Publisher provides no warranty in respect of the communication or the profiled company and accepts no liability whatsoever. You acknowledge and accept this disclaimer and that, to the greatest extent permitted under applicable law, you release and hold harmless the Publisher from any and all liability, damages, injury and adverse consequences arising from your use of this communication. You further agree that you are solely responsible for any financial outcome related to or arising from your investment decisions.

TERMS OF USE AND DISCLAIMER

By reading this communication you agree that you have reviewed and fully agree to the Terms of Use found here https://www.valuethemarkets.com/terms-conditions/ and acknowledge that you have reviewed the Disclaimer found here https://www.valuethemarkets.com/disclaimer/. If you do not agree to the Terms of Use, please contact valuethemarkets.com to discontinue receiving future communications.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

All trademarks used in this communication are the property of their respective trademark holders. Other than valuethemarkets.com, the Publisher is not affiliated, connected, or associated with, and the communication is not sponsored, approved, or originated by, the trademark holders unless otherwise stated. No claim is made by the Publisher to any rights in any third-party trademarks other than valuethemarkets.com.

AUTHORS: VALUETHEMARKETS

valuethemarkets.com and Digitonic Ltd and our affiliates are not responsible for the content or accuracy of this article. The information included in this article is based solely on information provided by the company or companies mentioned above. This article does not provide any financial advice and is not a recommendation to deal in any securities or product. News and research are not recommendations to deal, and investments may fall in value so that you could lose some or all of your investment. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance.

ValueTheMarkets do not hold any position in the stock(s) and/or financial instrument(s) mentioned in the above piece. ValueTheMarkets have been paid to produce this piece by the company or companies mentioned above. Digitonic Ltd, the owner of valuethemarkets.com, has been paid for the production of this piece by the company or companies mentioned above.


Sign up for Investing Intel Newsletter