Today In Digital-First Banking: Hopper Notches $170 Million; NextPay Raises $125K In Pre-Seed Funding

In today’s top news in digital-first banking, Hopper has landed $170 million in additional venture capital funding, while NextPay raised $125,000 in pre-seed funding. Plus, NatWest is working on a revamp of its core retail banking operation.

Hopper Lands $170 Million, Launches Travel Partnership With Capital One

Hopper has notched $170 million in further venture capital funding powered by Capital One. The mobile travel app said the aim is to make Capital One Travel for the banking firm’s cardholders. Hopper reportedly achieved “unicorn” status in 2020, meaning the upstart was worth in excess of $1 billion. The firm said it had “quietly” notched $70 million last spring.

Y Combinator Gives SMB Digital Banking Platform NextPay $125K Boost

NextPay landed $125,000 in pre-seed funding from California startup accelerator Y Combinator (YC). The firm, which is a digital bank concentrated on serving small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the Philippines, is putting the new funds aside to further services for underbanked businesses throughout the island nation.

NatWest Counters FinTechs With Revamp Of Retail Banking Operation

NatWest is at work on a revamp of its core retail banking operation to counter FinTech competitors and shore up revenue amid low interest rates. The firm runs about 16 percent of British personal current accounts, although it doesn’t have nearly as much of a share of the mortgage and unsecured credit markets. Among the bank’s efforts to attract more consumer clients is to make bankers accessible for evening video meetings.

MoneyGram-As-A-Service Launches, Along With Digital G-Coin

MoneyGram is rolling out a new offering that would make its application programming interface (API)-powered platform accessible to third-party suppliers and new companies while also opening it up to G-Coin. In addition, the rollout of MoneyGram as a Service includes the integration of the G-Coin digital token. G-Coin lets people own parts of a Responsible Gold kilobar that can be saved or spent like fiat currencies.