Blend, Huize Help FinTech IPO Index Notch 0.2% Gain in Volatile Week

A volatile week on Wall Street is bringing the third quarter to a close.

And for the FinTech IPO Index, the slight gains of 0.2% came as platforms and international names showed some outsized momentum.

Blend stock surged 12.6%.

In an announcement, Blend disclosed the addition of Assets-Derived Income to its existing Blend Income product. The company detailed that Blend Income is now integrated with Freddie Mac’s AIM Check application API.

In terms of the mechanics of the offering, the announcement stated that it “enables Freddie Mac-approved Sellers and third-party originators to get a preliminary view of a borrower’s qualifying asset, income and employment before submitting a full application. With this newest enhancement, lenders will have an additional pathway to verify more income sources — including Social Security benefits, pension distributions, military benefits, child support and alimony payments — far earlier in the application process,” Blend said.

International Names Gain Momentum

Huize shares were up 5.6%. The China-based company said this week that it has partnered with Dingcheng Life Insurance Company Ltd to launch “Xiao Tao Qi No.2,” which is being billed as the “latest child critical illness insurance product offering in the ‘Xiao Tao Qi’ series.” The offering, as per the announcement, “extends coverage to more illnesses and increases the hospitalization allowances for families.”

Shares of dLocal were up 3%.

As reported, the company, based in Uruguay, said it would pause its expansion plans while refocusing its efforts in existing operations, co-CEO Pedro Arnt told Reuters. He pointed to markets such as Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt as showing strong momentum and potential.

“We could add a few (countries) if there are specific requests,” he told Reuters, adding that there still remains “a lot of company building that still needs to be done.”

The reports come weeks after we noted in this space that the payments services provider is reportedly seeking a buyer. A spokesperson for the company told PYMNTS last month that dLocal could “not comment on market rumors or speculations.”

Affirm’s stock lost 1.9%.

PYMNTS detailed this week that Affirm is partnering with Weave, an all-in-one experience platform for small and medium-sized healthcare businesses. The partnership will provide flexible payment options for eligible patients. By integrating Affirm’s pay-over-time options with Weave’s patient experience platform, healthcare practices can receive payments more quickly, the companies said. With the integration of Affirm’s payment options, Weave customers can now offer their patients pay-over-time financing with as low as 0% APR. Separately, Affirm is also reportedly mulling a subscription service called Affirm Plus. The service would conceivably offer upgrades for both its buy now, pay later (BNPL) plan users and savings account holders.

The subscription offering was discovered via code from Affirm’s iPhone application, where it is not visible to users, by developer Steve Moser, who shared it with the media, as had been reported earlier in the month.

Nubank shares were up about 6% through the past five trading sessions. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), an investment vehicle for the World Bank, increased the loan to Nubank’s Colombian unit to $265 million, where that tally had been about $150 million originally. The company plans to make investments worth a bit more than $507 million in Colombia by 2025.

Flywire shares were up 5% in a week where its latest education survey revealed that 80% of students said that paying tuition in installments would help them better afford their education expenses. 81% of students surveyed who were offered a payment plan option have used it, are currently using it, or plan to in the future.