Disbursements, Main Street SMBs And BarkBox’s Merger With SPAC Top This Week’s News

The PYMNTS Weekender is here to catch you up on the latest news at the end of the last full work week before Christmas. We have deep dives on disbursements, Main Street small- to mid-sized business (SMBs) and BarkBox reportedly combining with Northern Star Acquisitions Corp.

News

BarkBox To Go Public Via SPAC At $1.6 Billion Valuation

BarkBox, the New York subscription upstart, is reportedly combining with Northern Star Acquisitions Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), in a $1.6-billion arrangement.

Fiserv To Acquire FinTech Ondot Systems

Fiserv has inked a definitive deal to buy Ondot Systems, which offers a “digital experience platform” for financial institutions (FIs). Financial terms of the deal were not made known.

Why Affirm Would Delay Its IPO Amid A Hot Market

Affirm is the second hot initial public offering (IPO) candidate to reportedly put off going public after the massive first-day gains of DoorDash and Airbnb.

Bridgetown SPAC Considering $10 Billion Indonesian Tokopedia Deal

Bridgetown Holdings, the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), is reportedly mulling a deal with Tokopedia, the Indonesian online shopping company.

Afterpay Co-Founder & Co-CEO: Buy Now, Pay Later Is In Right Place, Right Time

Afterpay Co-founder and Co-CEO Nick Molnar told PYMNTS in a previous interview that Afterpay and buy now, pay later (BNPL) are just in the right place at the right time. “There aren’t many online payment providers that have successfully gone offline. Globally and in Australia, 20 percent of our transactions take place in physical retail,” Molnar said.

Trackers and Reports

Disbursements Choice Key To State And Federal Agency Payouts

COVID-19 is impelling consumers to seek expedient relief, meaning payments based on check and other manual disbursement methods are no longer sufficient for many. PYMNTS explores why providing digital disbursement methods that can satisfy people throughout the socioeconomic spectrum has to be an important consideration for government agencies.

Study: 69 Percent Of Consumers Say They Want Subscription Bundles

Subscription bundles are making a comeback, particularly as consumers spend increasing amounts of time in their residences with lockdown measures amid increasing COVID-19 cases. But this next generation of bundling provides people with heightened control and choice.

Study: 67 Percent Of Main Street SMBs Say They’ll Do More Business Online Post-Pandemic

PYMNTS research shows that 67 percent of Main Street SMBs foresee that their companies will be “much more” or “somewhat” more dependent on eCommerce.

REPORT: Connected At Home: The Devices That Got Consumers Through 2020

The daily lives of consumers look very different in the present day then they did one year ago, as consumers throughout the nation have hunkered down at home. PYMNTS explores how the kinds of connected devices they own are shifting as their lives keep revolving around home.

Trackers and Reports

Businesses Re-Evaluate Web Security After Attacks On US Government Sites

News of broad cyberattacks on multiple U.S. government agency websites have sent shockwaves across the nation and the globe, surfacing concerns about the capacity of any institution to safeguard its essential and private data.

Bitcoin Rally Here to Stay – Or Fleeting?

Bitcoin is up over 200 percent year to date, and some Wall Street observers anticipate the cryptocurrency trading as high as $250,000 or above. The important question stays, however: What’s different this time, if anything?

Expedia Asks: Why Work From Home When You Could Work From Here?

Expedia is looking to have workers take their telecommuting gig on the road and change it into a work from here adventure that brings together business and leisure.

‘Ship-ageddon 2020’ Just Keeps Getting Worse

With online shopping volume way higher for the holiday shopping season, we knew it was going to be a complicated year for gift shopping. What UPS, USPS and other shippers couldn’t have predicted, however, is that the coronavirus vaccine distribution would start this week, putting increased strain on delivery capacity throughout the country.