Despite what some headlines may suggest, it’s not all gloom and doom for the fintech space. According to Pitchbook, the payments segment (the segment that makes up the largest share of deal value within fintech startups) raised $7.6 billion in the second quarter of this year. While still down from Q1, the second quarter included some notable deals. Expense management specialist Ramp raised a $748.3 million Series C, point-of-sale software and hardware developer SumUp raised $626.6, and API-based payment company Scalapay raised $524 million.
This month’s roundup looks at several different trends making headlines – from the phenomenon of Cross River’s growth to how fintech has become the new business model for internet companies. We also feature our own articles from the month to give you helpful advice and tips on putting your best marketing foot forward if you operate in the fintech space.
It’s also Back to School season – and not just for the kiddos. If you’re looking to graduate to the next level of content marketing at your organization and produce more consistent, interesting content in 2022, reach out for a free consultation. We’d love to talk through your thoughts and offer some of ours to ensure you get started on the right foot.
In the meantime, here’s a look at some of the most interesting stories around fintech and marketing and…fintech marketing from August.
Top Fintech News from Around the Web
Market Map: Fintech payment startups hold their own in uncertain times — The shift toward online shopping and digital payments has underscored much of the growth fintech has enjoyed over the past several years. The pandemic accelerated some of these trends as people forewent face-to-face transactions and interactions for digital payments, instead. This segment has continued to experience disruption in the past two quarters as online demand continues to soar and remote work has pushed the need for payroll software. This market map from Pitchbook outlines the global fintech VC ecosystem.
How do fintech companies and marketing agencies cooperate? — Konstantin Rabin makes a compelling case for collaboration between fintech companies and marketing agencies.
Given the ever-evolving digital environment, businesses are spending increasing amounts of marketing budgets on digital presence. Outsourcing things like inbound and content marketing can help companies attract more customers by telling interesting stories that are highly findable on search engines like Google. Creating the evergreen content that inbound marketing relies upon can drain internal resources; however, working with an experienced agency can lighten the load on your in-house team while ensuring you deliver high-quality content to your audience.
Bank Behind Fintech’s Rise Reels in Billions in Pandemic’s Wake — This article looks at Cross River’s rise from a little-known suburban New Jersey firm to a $3 billion valuation in its recent funding round. Much of this rise can be attributed to its ability to dole out pandemic aid via loans that generated about $1 billion in gross fees for the bank. However, these loans are showing signs of trouble as forgiveness rates are unusually low, signaling that online borrowers may have abused the program and have not completed the necessary debt cancelation paperwork. While this bank and others that hurried to push out pandemic aid have not been accused of wrongdoing, the phenomenon has raised concerns. As the regulated bank behind a swath of fintech startups, Cross River is planning to expand and help mature fintech ventures branch out.
a16z’s fintech leads say ‘Silicon Valley is becoming unbundled’ — This TechCrunch article features an interview with General Partners Angela Strange and Anish Acharya of Silicon Valley venture capital firm a16z to discuss how more people working globally means more opportunity for fintech companies. As COVID helped catalyze the push to go global, technology has helped companies do so from Day One, leveraging platforms that allow global payment acceptance via local payment methods. The article also delves into just how expansive fintech is, branching out well beyond the narrow view of banking, payments, lending, and insurance. Fintech is becoming a business model for many internet companies. Infrastructure also plays a big role here as compliance takes center stage and companies must adapt to a web3 world.
Top Content Rewired Posts from August
And of course, here’s a curation of Content Rewired’s top posts from August:
How to Optimize Fintech Content Marketing Operations — As content marketing continues to constantly change, fintech content marketers must get strategic about the next steps and plan accordingly. This article outlines a list of resources and tips to help you effectively get more value from your content marketing. Optimizing fintech content marketing operations is no easy feat, but by breaking the process down into smaller steps, you can iteratively improve over time. The first step is a documented strategy that provides the foundation to start. Standardizing workflows and reporting procedures can help you optimize the performance of your content and your overall operations over time.
Building a Strategic Fintech Content Calendar, Part II — This is the second in this two-part series that outlines the framework for a strategic content calendar that seres as a flexible roadmap. We look at how measurement, analysis, and iterative improvements can enhance the effectiveness of your content marketing over time. Along with setting aside time each quarter to review performance, your strategic content calendar can house some of the finer details of your content marketing program, enabling you to bring your calendar to life.
Building a Strategic Fintech Content Calendar, Part I — Content calendars should be more than a simple, tactical sheet of reminders about when and where to publish content. Fintechs can use a strategic content calendar to better manage content marketing with agility and flexibility. Creating a roadmap can help fintechs achieve all the objectives they laid out in launching content marketing in the first place. What’s more, a strategic content calendar can be updated in real-time, using data and metrics to inform on-the-fly changes that promise better performance. How do you do this? Read this article to learn the framework for creating a strategic content calendar.
Looking for more in-depth fintech marketing tools and content? Check out one of our helpful guides:
