Today in FinTech: Plaid, Mollie Partner to Make Payments Easier for EU, UK eCommerce Merchants

In today’s FinTech news, Plaid and Mollie team up to help eCommerce merchants in Europe and the United Kingdom, while Slice raises $50 million in Series C funding.

Plaid Teams With Mollie to Help European eCommerce Merchants

Data network Plaid is partnering with Dutch FinTech Mollie to make it easier for merchants across Europe and the U.K. to open online stores and receive payments. The partnership will enable Plaid’s open banking data network to directly link to Mollie’s platform. Initially, support is being extended to Mollie’s merchants in the U.K. Support for France and Germany is on tap.

Slice Notches $50M to Expand UPI Payments Feature

FinTech unicorn Slice raised $50 million in a Series C funding round to expand its unified payments interface (UPI) payments feature. The card-based lending and payment solutions provider first started as a buy now, pay later (BNPL) service and then pivoted to a card product.

Tech Pros Join Academia to Counter Crypto Lobbying on Capitol Hill

Lobbying efforts on behalf of cryptocurrency and blockchain firms are getting pushback from technology experts and academia who are now launching their own “counter-lobby” to make a stand on Capitol Hill. A letter signed by 26 professionals to Congress urged lawmakers to “resist pressure from digital asset industry financiers, lobbyists and boosters to create a regulatory safe haven for these risky, flawed and unproven digital financial instruments.”

HyperPay Raises $36.7M to Advance Payment Services to MENA Merchants

Payments FinTech HyperPay is using the $36.7 million raised in a funding round to expand payment services to merchants in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The funding round was led by Mastercard with participation from Amwal Capital Partners and AB Ventures.

Klarna Intros Physical Visa Card with Issuing Platform Marqeta

Card issuing platform Marqeta is collaborating with BNPL firm Klarna to launch a physical Visa card. People can use the card to pay for purchases without interest over four installments, either in-store or online. The Klarna Card is now available in the U.S. with further launches planned globally.