F|T: The FinTech Times – Bad news comes in threes for Dapper Labs
Plus: Roham on the hot seat.
Welcome to FinTech Times, a weekly newsletter covering the biggest FinTech news from around the world. If you want to read F|T before anyone else, be sure to subscribe using the form at the bottom of this page.
Backed by Bay Street veterans, Obsiido wants to make alternative investment available (BETAKIT)
Obsiido came out of stealth earlier this year, and is currently running a waiting list as it works to launch its platform. The startup recently secured $815,000 CAD in pre-seed capital to make it happen.
NBA Top Shot CEO’s Decadent Lifestyle, ‘Public Shaming’ Led To Toxic Culture While Dapper Flaaks (THE BLOCK)
The Block spoke to 11 current and former employees who described the extravagant spending habits of Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou, including $200,000-a-week yacht parties. These claims couldn’t come at a worse time amid Dapper’s significant staff cuts and a class action lawsuit alleging their NFTs are securities.
Uplinq partners with World Bank Group Affiliated Global Network to Educate on Financial Inclusion (BETAKIT)
Launched in 2022, Uplinq claims to offer the first global credit rating platform. Targeting small business lenders, the company says its API gives users access to billions of unique and validated data signals to measure small business performance to support lenders’ credit decisions.
A unique experience, Inventures is a high-energy forum of conversation, convergence and creative collision that attracts more than 3,000 investors, entrepreneurs and industry leaders. It is the place to discover new technologies, talent, capital, customers and markets.
Hosted by Alberta Innovates, Inventures brings the world’s brightest minds and boldest ideas together in Calgary for three extraordinary days of learning, sharing, inspiration and fun. The diverse program features eight curated program tracks with more than 150 sessions and 300+ speakers, including keynotes, expert panels, startup pitch events, networking opportunities and more.
Register for Inventures 2023 today.
FTX includes more than 30 Canadian firms on an extensive creditor list (THE LOGIC)
A 116-page document that lawyers for FTX filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Delaware last month lists 36 Canadian entities and businesses, including the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan; three well-known technology companies; two white shoe law firms; Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation; a handful of Canadian SMEs; two gaming influencers, Air Canada and former “Dragons’ Den” star Kevin O’Leary. It also lists the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Ontario Securities Commission and the federal Attorney General.
Canada’s small businesses also want open banking (BETAKIT)
According to a recent survey by Mastercard, 90 percent of small business owners with disabilities, 79 percent of Indigenous small business owners and 71 percent of women small business owners have sought new digital tools to manage their businesses.
Visa, Mastercard pause crypto push in wake of industry meltdown – sources (REUTERS)
Both Visa and Mastercard have decided to push back the launch of certain crypto-related products and services until market conditions and the regulatory environment improve, said the people, who asked not to be named as the talks were confidential.
Latest Alberta, BC budgets target talent shortage with otherwise minimal new technology investment (BETAKIT)
Although British Columbia and Alberta’s most recent budgets allocate some funds to each province’s innovation sector, promises for technology were minimal, with industry stakeholders hoping to see more for the sector and small to medium-sized businesses.
Canadian Crypto Pioneer Ted Livingston Divorces Kin Foundation (THE LOGIC)
Ted Livingston, founder and CEO of the former Waterloo, Ont.-based messaging app Kik, and the team at his new startup Code have publicly split from the Kin Foundation, a nonprofit created to support a crypto token that Kik launched in 2017.
How to Build a Diverse Talent Ecosystem for Canada (BETAKIT)
In an Op-Ed, Palette Skills Chief Strategy Officer AJ Tibando says Canada appears well-placed when it comes to acquiring talent, particularly in technology and innovation.
However, Tibando argues that companies are still struggling to recruit workers and an educated workforce alone is not enough to solve Canada’s talent crisis.
Insurtech giant Equisoft lands $125 million in investments, eye acquisitions (TECHCRUNCH)
Montreal-based Equisoft, a developer of insurance and investment software, announced today that it raised $125 million in venture capital. That’s a large amount made more significant by the fact that the investment climate for insurtech providers is becoming increasingly challenging.
Canadian securities regulators tighten rules on crypto platforms after Voyager, Celsius, FTX collapse (BETAKIT)
These moves come in light of the recent collapse of a number of different unregulated international crypto trading platforms, from Voyager Digital to Celsius Network and FTX, amid the broader crypto downturn.
Crypto Companies Behind Tether Used Forged Documents and Shell Companies to Get Bank Accounts (THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)
At the end of 2018, the companies behind the most traded cryptocurrency struggled to maintain access to the global banking system. Some of their backers turned to shady middlemen, forged documents and shell companies to get back in, documents show.
Non-Custodial Liquid Staking Platform Ether.Fi Closes $5.3M Fundraising (COINDESK)
Ether.Fi, a decentralized and non-custodial liquid stake platform founded by former Top Hat CEO Mike Silagadze, said it closed a $5.3 million fundraising round. This comes after Silagadze’s crypto-focused Gadze Finance suffered damage in the wake of the FTX meltdown in November.
How the biggest fraud in German history unraveled (THE NEW YORKER)
In late spring 2020, Jan Marsalek, an Austrian bank executive, was suspended from his job as CEO of Wirecard, Germany’s fastest growing financial technology company.
On 18 June 2020, Wirecard announced that almost two billion euros were missing from the company’s accounts. There were only two possibilities: the money had been stolen, or it had never existed.
