What was once a disruptive force in the financial world has become standard practice for many industry leaders.

Fintech industry funding has already reached new highs globally in 2018, with overall funding hitting $32.6 billion at the end of Q3.

Some new regions, including South America and Africa, are emerging on the scene.

And some fintech companies, including a number of insurtechs, have dipped into new markets to escape heightened competition.

Now that fintech has become mainstream, the next focus is on the rising stars in the industry. To that end, Business Insider Intelligence has put together a list of 10 Up and Coming Fintechs for 2019.

Coconut

Total raised:   £1.9 million ($2.5 million)

What it does: Coconut is a UK-based current account and accounting platform for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

Why it’s hot in 2019: Next week, Coconut will launch its first subscription service, dubbed Grow, which will bundle unlimited invoicing and end of year tax reports, for £5 ($6.51) a month. This will make it a very attractive option for SMBs, that conventionally don’t have a lot of time on their hands to handle their accounting.

Brex

Total raised: $282 million

What it does: Brex is a US-based corporate credit card provider, which initially focused on serving startups.

Why it’s hot in 2019: The startup gained unicorn status in 2018, only months after it launched its first product. Now, after receiving debt financing worth $100 million, Brex wants to target larger enterprises with its topic — opening it up to a whole new set of customers and helping bring the company to the next level.

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BaaS platforms enable fintechs and other third parties to connect with banks’ systems via APIs to build banking offerings on top of the providers’ regulated infrastructure. This means banks that launch BaaS platforms can actually benefit from fintechs entering the finance space, as it turns fintechs into customers rather than just competitors. Other benefits from launching a BaaS platform include being able to monetize such platforms, establishing strong relationships with fintechs, getting ahead of the curve in terms of open banking, and accumulating additional data from third parties.

In The Rise of Banking-as-a-Service, Business Insider Intelligence looks at the benefits banks stand to gain by offering BaaS platforms, discusses key players in the industry that have already successfully launched BaaS platforms, and recommends strategies for FIs looking to move into BaaS.

The companies mentioned in this report are: BBVA, Clearbank, 11:FS Foundry, Starling.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• Offering BaaS also allows banks to unlock the opportunity presented by open banking, which is becoming a vital part of the financial services industry.
• There are two key types of players — BaaS-focused fintechs and BaaS providers with a retail banking arm — that banks will need to learn from and compete against in the BaaS space.
• Banks that have embraced digital will have an easier time ensuring that their infrastructure and systems are suitable for third parties.
• It’s vital for incumbents to accurately assess third-party needs to create an in-demand portfolio of white-label BaaS products.

 In full, the report:

• Outlines what BaaS is and how it relates to open banking.
• Highlights the benefits of launching a BaaS platform, including two different monetization strategies.
• Explains what BaaS players are currently doing in the space, and outlines the services they offer.
• Discusses what incumbent players can do in order to launch their own successful BaaS platform.

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Since Monday, nearly 1,800 total positions were eliminated across four major companies — Jetblack, Wayfair, Kohl’s, and Barneys — in retail. These workers join a growing legion of retail employees who continue to be axed en masse from major companies, despite the US unemployment rate reaching a 50-year low in 2019.

While the challenges plaguing these companies are nuanced, the cuts represent a wide cross section of the issues affecting both traditional retailers and e-commerce companies alike, as they struggle to keep up with the fickle whims of consumers.

After several quarters of underperforming sales, Kohl’s announced on Wednesday it would slash 250 jobs, including several regional managers, as part of a larger companywide restructuring plan. Though Kohl’s will not close any stores at the time being, the Midwest retailer has significant work to do in order to improve efficiencies and bolster sales, even after testing innovative partnerships like its return program with Amazon.

“I was convinced that [the Amazon] partnership would have brought new potential customers through their doors to return Amazon products, with some portion of those customers spending money in the store on their way out,” Jonathan Treiber, CEO of offer-management platform RevTrax, told Business Insider last year. “However, even if this were true, the rest of the Kohl’s value proposition and store experience needs a face lift.”

Wayfair employees on Thursday received an email from CEO Niraj Shah detailing mass layoffs, part of what staffers have dubbed the “Valentine’s Day massacre.” The cuts will affect 550 employees as part of the company’s focus on “organizational changes” intended to “increase efficiencies,” a Wayfair spokesperson told Business Insider’s Mary Hanbury earlier this week.

In recent years, the company has hemorrhaged money into advertising and improving its inventory selection, investments that have failed to improve the company’s “already wafer-thin margins,” Neil Saunders, the managing director of GlobalData Retail, said previously.

Adding to its woes, in June Wayfair found itself at the center of controversy when customers and employees alike protested the brand for its role in furnishing migrant detention centers.

On Thursday, Walmart announced that it would shutter its exclusive, members-only concierge service Jetblack, coming off a 2019 Wall Street Journal report that found the company was losing a staggering $15,000 per member. The brand was ambitious from the onset, but it garnered significant buzz as the brainchild of former CEO Jenny Fleiss, who also cofounded Rent the Runway.

However, the departure of Fleiss in 2019 signaled that strife was afoot, and it didn’t take long for the company to be crushed by its own zeal. Jet Black will close for good on February 21, at which point Walmart will “focus on how to leverage [its] infrastructure to make conversational commerce scalable,” a spokesperson told Business Insider’s Áine Cain.

After months of hanging by a thread, Barneys announced it would officially close its doors on February 23, marking the end of an era for the iconic luxury department store. The shuttering will effectively entail laying off more than 700 employees, many of whom had already experienced a barrage of difficulties during the liquidation period, including rampant theft and paycheck delays.

Since Barneys first filed for bankruptcy in August 2019, its most loyal fans held on hope for a possible restructuring deal that would save the company. However, its acquisition by Authentic Brands Group in November marked the beginning of the end for Barneys. ABG subsequently called for the closure of all remaining Barneys stores and moved licensing of the Barneys name under Saks Fifth Avenue.

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Misinformation and rumours about the novel coronavirus outbreak are spreading on Facebook, prompting the social network to talk to the World Health Organization (WHO) about how to battle the fake news — but that’s not the only way the virus has affected Facebook.

Like numerous companies, Facebook’s core business has been impacted by the viral illness, which has sickened more than 64,000 people and killed nearly 1,500 over the past few months — from upsetting hardware supply chains to forcing it to cancel planned industry conference appearances.

Its effects on Facebook illustrate has the outbreak is disrupting global businesses, and how the issue might wreck further havoc if not contained in the months ahead.

Facebook’s hardware supply chain has been affected

Like other tech companies, Facebook’s supply chain for its virtual reality hardware is heavily reliant on Asian suppliers, which have been disrupted by the coronavirus. Oculus Quest, its latest VR headset, is facing shortages as a result.

“Oculus Quest has been selling out in some regions due to high demand. That said, like other companies we’re expecting some additional impact to our hardware production due to the Coronavirus,” a spokesperson said. “We’re taking precautions to ensure the safety of our employees, manufacturing partners and customers, and are monitoring the situation closely. We are working to restore availability as soon as possible.”

Facebook’s Portal, a smart speaker and video-chat device, isn’t currently affected by the outbreak.

Facebook employees are being advised against travel to China

Facebook is advising employees against traveling to China and requiring those who need to go to seek company approval in advance, Bloomberg previously reported.

Meanwhile, employees who have visited are being asked to work from home.

Facebook pulled out of a major tech conference

Facebook was one of numerous tech companies to pull out of Mobile World Summit, a major mobile industry event that was due to take place in Barcelona in late-February.

Facing widespread drop-outs, conference organisers GSMA made the unprecedented decision this week to cancel this year’s event entirely.

It also cancelled its own San Francisco marketing conference

Facebook has cancelled a conference it had scheduled for mid-March.

The Global Marketing Summit, a 5,000-person San Francisco that was planned for March 9-12, will no longer go ahead, the company announced on Friday.

In a statement, spokesperson Anthony Harrison said: “Our priority is the health and safety of our teams, so out of an abundance of caution, we cancelled our Global Marketing Summit due to evolving public health risks related to coronavirus.”

If the outbreak continues to spread over the next few months, it raises questions about the future of another, more significant Facebook event — F8. It’s a developer conference that acts as Facebook’s largest event of the year, and is scheduled for May.

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Humans have a fundamental need to avoid risk and overcome adversity for survival. We try our best to prevent failure, disappointments or uncomfortable situations, from dodging critical feedback at work to shielding our children from scraped knees. But falling down and learning from our mistakes can actually be the most rewarding outcome, and when we avoid adversity, we can miss out on the life-changing experiences that fuel success.

So, what’s the secret to leveraging hardships into success instead of letting fear of failure or adversity hold you back? Here are five practices of successful people who utilize adversity to their advantage:

1. They welcome adversity

The most highly successful people don’t overcome adversity — they embrace it! They realize that becoming a wiser, more evolved version of ourselves is a gift, not an obstacle to overcome.

Think about a time in your life when you experienced the most rewarding personal or professional growth. Did you grow when things were going smoothly? Did your skills improve when you were already firing on all cylinders? Did you develop into the best version of yourself when everything was going your way? Probably not. If you’re anything like me, you experienced the greatest advancement of character and ability during times of adversity, when you faced difficult challenges and emerged stronger, savvier, and more resilient as a result.

My mother died four years ago. It was absolutely one of the most painful times in my life, but it also made me realize something: Life is going to happen no matter what. You can either waste your time avoiding it — not taking risks, not innovating, not going for the next challenge — or you can choose to meet those challenges head on and grow. By reframing difficulties as an opportunity rather than as a burden, you can lean in to risk and push yourself to evolve.

2. They make bold moves

Once you learn to shift your mindset, it’s time to start making the kind of bold moves that separate high achievers from the rest. A recent study from the CEO Genome Project found that, while it takes an average of 24 years to ascend to the position of CEO, those who take more risks get there in nearly half the amount of time.

By removing your fear of potential disappointment or failure, you can make the daring decisions that power high performance and success. Raise your hand in a meeting. Launch a new company. Speak up. Rise to the top!

3. They trust in positive outcomes

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While VR headset adoption has lagged behind expectations due to technical issues, the market is now on the cusp of a transformation thanks to the promise of 5G.

The new standard’s technical capabilities, like low latency, lightning-fast speeds, and support for edge computing, will help VR overcome the barriers that have inhibited its adoption. As a result, explosive growth in the VR market is expected to coincide with the rollout of 5G networks.

As the chief growth engine for the VR market, telecoms have an opportunity to monetize the immersive tech beyond simply providing the connectivity for it.

Since the VR market is still relatively nascent, early moving telecoms have an opportunity to step in and revolutionize the VR monetization paradigm before the technology is mainstream. Network operators have a particular advantage in becoming VR solution creators and enablers because they have early access to 5G networks. That gives them a head start on prototyping 5G-dependent VR hardware, content, and services. Telecoms that pursue this route have a significant opportunity: By 2026, the annual revenue for telecoms as solution creators for the immersive technology segment is expected to reach $24 billion, per Ericsson.

In Telecoms and Virtual Reality, Business Insider Intelligence examines how telecoms can expand beyond connectivity to become solution creators in the VR ecosystem. The report explores how telecoms will play a pivotal role in advancing the VR market, identifies what’s to be gained for telecoms that move up the VR value chain, and explores emerging VR monetization models.

Here are some of the key takeaways of the report: 

• Since content will remain a chief barrier to VR uptake, telecoms should drive value beyond connectivity in the VR ecosystem by expanding to become solution creators.
• Creating VR solutions can help operators stay ahead of the digital revolution as convergence reshapes the industry and become more attractive partners for enterprises.
• As 5G spreads and the VR ecosystem takes off, new monetization models will become possible for telecoms as well — like the solutions enabler model.

In full, the report: 

• Examines how 5G connectivity will help VR reach its potential.
• Explores how telecoms can move up the VR value chain.
• Identifies consumer and enterprise VR use cases that present the largest opportunities in the near- to mid-term.

The post How telecoms can move beyond connectivity and up the VR value chain to grab a slice of the $24 billion revenue appeared first on Startup Radar.

Samsung officially unveiled five new devices during its Unpackedevent on February 11, including new phones and new wireless earbuds to take on Apple’s AirPods

We’re talking about the brand new foldable smartphone called the Galaxy Z Flip, the three new Galaxy S20 phones, and the new Galaxy Buds Plus.

Each of these devices are a big deal. The Galaxy Z Flip, for example, is the second generation of a foldable smartphone — a highly scrutinized category of smartphones ever since the rocky start of Samsung’s first foldable, the Galaxy Fold.

The Galaxy S20 phones represents Samsung’s peak design and technology that helps keep the company as the top smartphone maker in the world. They’re also mastheads for mainstream 5G connectivity in phones that people are actually meant to buy rather than being an exclusive feature.

And the Galaxy Buds are an answer to Apple’s incredibly popular and successful AirPods.

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Lyft on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter financial results that largely topped Wall Street expectations but warned growth could slow in 2020, leaving investors largely unimpressed.

Here are the important figures:

• Revenue: $$1.02 billion million versus an expected $985.8 million
• Adjusted EBITDA loss: $130.7 million versus an expected $163.2 million

Despite the beat, Lyft’s numbers were hard pressed to top Uber’s accelerated profitability timeline revealed the previous week, and shares fell as much as 4% in late trading. 

For the quarter, Lyft had 22.9 million active riders, a 23% jump from the same period the year prior. Revenue per active rider also grew in-step to $44.40, the company said. Total net losses, at $356 million for the quarter, fell compared to the prior three months but were a major increase from the same period of 2018 when the company’s net loss was $249 million.

“Despite shares down on the print before the conference call we view this as a continuation of Lyft delivering across the board strength every quarter since it’s become a public company,” Daniel Ives, an analyst at Wedbush, said in a note to clients.”

Lyft’s results follow its larger competitor Uber which earlier in February reported results slightly ahead of expectations while accelerating its plan to reach a highly adjusted profitability metric. Its stock climbed on the news and likely left many Lyft investors if the company can do the same.

The path to profits for both companies has been pegged to a process called rationalization. In other words, its the willingness of consumers to pay higher fares for rides, as company’s capitulate to pressure from investors to shrink losses and end the coupons that helped them grow market share over previous years as privately funded companies.

“Fiscal 2019 was an exceptional year across the board,” Logan Green, Lyft’s chief executive, said in a press release. “We significantly improved our path to profitability while simultaneously reaching critical milestones toward our long-term strategy.”

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The Australian dollar crashed to an eleven-year low as a super-strong US jobs number proved too tempting for currency traders already grappling with fears about the potential damage to the Australian economy from the coronavirus and bushfires.

After sliding as low as US66.62¢ on Friday, a fresh post-global financial crisis low, the Australian dollar recovered to trade at US66.99¢ on Monday.

“The dampening economic impact of bushfires, drought and coronavirus and what that all means for economic activity” are broadly depressing the Australian dollar, said Richard Grace, head of foreign exchange strategy at Commonwealth Bank. “It’s clear that the economy in China has slowed and in some areas has ground to a halt,” said Mr Grace.

Currency markets have been weighing up those elements for a while and it took a stellar US employment report on Friday to lift the greenback and return the Australian dollar to historic territory.

The US dollar has also attracted buying as coronavirus deaths escalate in China, although the rate of infection is slowing. As traders flock to the perceived safety of the US dollar, they are turning away from riskier currencies, such as the Australian dollar.

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Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, one of Detroit’s “Big Three” automakers, is collaborating with Chinese startup AutoX to deploy robot taxis in China later this year, the companies announced. It’s the latest move by FCA to cast a wide net for autonomous vehicle suppliers as it seeks to catch up to its crosstown rivals.

AutoX, which is based in Hong Kong, says it will integrate its self-driving hardware and software in a fleet of Chrysler Pacifica minivans, which is also the vehicle of choice for Waymo, the Alphabet subsidiary that is widely seen as the leader in self-driving technology. FCA and AutoX say they are aiming to launch a pilot robot taxi service in several Chinese cities, including Shenzhen and Shanghai, in the first half of 2020.

AutoX is not as well-known as some of the other autonomous vehicle startups in the US and China. The company was founded in 2016 by former Princeton professor Jianxiong Xiao, a specialist in 3D learning, computer vision, and robotics (who also apparently goes by “Professor X,” according to the company’s Medium post). Since then, AutoX has nabbed several high-profile investors, including China’s Dongfeng Motor Group and e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Last December, AutoX applied to test self-driving vehicles without a human backup driver in California, the first company since Waymo to have done so. (The state’s DMV has granted Waymo’s driverless testing permit, but it has yet to approve AutoX’s.)

The deal is another example of FCA deepening its ties to China, which has the largest auto market in the world. The company recently announced a joint venture with Foxconn, the maker of the iPhone, to develop electric vehicles for the Chinese market.

FCA, which makes its own eponymous brand of vehicles as well as Jeep and Dodge, is seen as lagging behind its competitors in both EV and AV development. The company recently kicked off a merger with French automaker PSA Group, which makes cars under the Peugeot and Citroën brands (among others), partly in order to better attack the changing automotive landscape.

Rather than sink vast sums of money into costly AV development projects, FCA has opted to team up with other automakers, or sell vehicles directly to self-driving companies, to align its brand with the technology that many see as the future of the auto industry. The company is a member of BMW and Intel’s self-driving supergroup, and it is working with California startup Aurora to test self-driving technology on commercial vehicles.

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