Hello, and welcome to PCN Pulse. Your first stop for all fintech, saas, e-commerce and cyber news. Delivered to you weekly by PCN Media.
E-Commerce juggernaut Amazon announced a $1.2billion dollar scheme to cover 100% of college tuition for 750,000 US employees. Amid a competitive job market exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, ecommerce retailers, including Walmart, Target, and Sam’s Club have struggled to attract and retain staff.
The pandemic has kicked into full gear online sales for the beauty industry, now worth $511 billion, as consumers buy into the ‘treat yourself’ motto. Beauty Pie, a luxury subscription service for beauty and wellness products, will be taking a big slice of that pie. It has raised $100 million funding with a unique business model that sees it sourcing high-end products from producers and selling at a more affordable price by way of the subscription service is not very different from Amazon Prime’s model.
Money20/20 makes a return to the event world after events were cancelled due to the pandemic. The leading sales and networking platform will be taking place in Amsterdam and other global locations this month. Allowing those that attend access to networking opportunities, talks and insights into the future of money.
The no-fee trading app Robinhood is now truly a cultural force as it achieved its $32 billion IPO. A new, younger, hipper, more diverse, up-to-beat generation of investors are being brought up with Robinhood’s newsletter and podcast- hitting a record high of 32 million subscribers. Robinhood’s admirable mission to “democratize finance for all” has been transforming the investment landscape and investor demographics.
As we’re in the last leg of 2021, Europe’s fintech unicorns look to be introduced to the US market. A unicorn is a company valued at $1 billion or more. 23 companies across Israel and Europe have become unicorns so far this year despite the ongoing challenges of Covid19. 32.5 billion euros have been invested into European startups. At the front are British Blockchain.com, German Scalable Capital and Gorillas, and most unsurprisingly, Swedish Klarna which already reigned in September 2020 and doesn’t seem to be budging from its number 1 position.
Klarna will reportedly take part in the Women Returners and Innovate Finance cross-company returner program for female professionals trying to re-enter fintech after long-term or extended breaks. Digital bank Starling and PrimaryBid are set to partake and offer 6-month returnship placements starting from January 2022.
That’s it from us. Thanks for watching, tune in next week for more industry news from us.
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