Quevos, Loyalty Programs, Digital Payments Top This Week’s News

In this week’s news, we saw Quevos secure funding, new data on loyalty and rewards programs, and research on how nonprofits are using digital payments. The Weekender is here to catch you up.

News

22-Year-Old Entrepreneurs Win ‘Shark Tank’ Deal For Quevos Startup

Quevos recently secured an approximately $400,000 investment on the ABC TV reality show “Shark Tank” from the inventor of Kind Bars, Daniel Lubetzky.

Robinhood May Sell Shares Directly To Users If It IPOs

Robinhood is mulling selling shares directly to users if it chooses to have an initial public offering (IPO).

Open Banking Meets Instant Payments At The Online Checkout

PayDirect, which builds on top of the open banking technology, is a new payment method that lets firms accept digital payments and also pay out to clients via the same rails.

Cloud Speeds Cross-Border Card Issuance For Visa And TransferWise

Visa and TransferWise announced this week that they have created an international partnership that will deploy and grow TransferWise’s multi-currency debit cards and mark the inaugural use of Visa Cloud Connect.

FedNow Details Pilot Program Participants

The Federal Reserve said this week that over 110 organizations, with the inclusion of processors and financial institutions (FIs), are taking part in the test effort for FedNow, the instant payments offering that is at least a few years away.

Trackers and Reports

Flexible Healthcare Payments Provide Critical Care To Patient Satisfaction

The Healthcare Payment Experience Report considered over 2,000 responses from patients to uncover what changed about their experiences last year. Patients saw themselves as empowered healthcare consumers. They wanted choices in everything from how they kept track of appointments to how they paid their bills.

Loyalty Rewards Boost Takeout Spend For A Third of US Consumers

Loyalty and rewards programs correspond with more than just heightened monthly spending. PYMNTS data strongly suggests that the availability of these offerings has an important role in driving it. Thirty-three percent of all diners say that loyalty and rewards programs would encourage them to spend more on their food orders.

Twice As Many Online Shoppers Believe Credit Cards Are More Secure Than Debit Cards

PYMNTS research shows that security is at the core of distinctions between consumers’ viewpoints on using credit, debit or other choices to pay online. Thirty-five percent of credit card users believe that they provide protection against the theft of funds.

The Digital Payments Key To Keeping Donors In A Charitable Mood

The Navigating Nonprofits’ Digital Payments Shift Report looks into how nonprofits are turning to digital payment methods, online fundraisers and other tools to keep donations coming in.

Fun, Cool and Otherwise Interesting

GameStop: Brokers, Regulators Try To Stop Wild Trading, Raising Ire Of Small Investors

Due to the unavoidable attention brought on by 300+ percent intraday trade swings in GameStop’s stock, the hard left and hard right politicians have discovered common ground in the need to defend small investors.

Apple Earnings Blowout Rides Success Of Global Connected Economy

Riding the success of the international connected economy and better-than-expected performance from the iPhone 12, Apple logged its inaugural $100 billion quarter.

Scheduling Apps Thrive In Stay-at-Home Economy

Reports have emerged that Booksy, the beauty and wellness appointment booking app, has landed $70 million in a Cat Rock Capital-led Series C round.

Ant Group’s IPO Green Light Comes With Speed Bumps Ahead

The on/off status of Ant Group’s IPO seems switched to “on” now – at least as signaled by an official with the central bank of China. According to reports, Bank Governor Gang Yi has “suggested” that a public offering might be “reconsidered.”

Livestream Goes Mainstream As New Players Try To Teach An Old Dog New Tricks

The new frontier in media is poised to take low-budget livestreaming out of the basement, spruce it up and put it into the spotlight. Nowhere is the upscaling of livestreaming better shown than in Live Nation’s purchase last week of Veeps, the music streamer.