Biz Builder Mike

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U.S. Financial Services Startup Step Secures $50 Million Through Series B Investment Round Led By Coatue

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Step, a U.S.-based financial services company built for teens and families, announced on Wednesday it secured $50 million through its Series B round, which was led by Coatue, with participation from returning investors Stripe, Crosslink Capital, Collaborative Fund, and Will Smith’s Dreamers VC. To-date, Step has raised more than $75 million from investors.

Founded in 2018 and launched just two months ago, Step describes itself as the next-generation financial services company building the best banking experience to help teens and young adults achieve financial independence and knowledge at an earlier age.

“Step gives you a free bank account with zero fees. Track your balance, earn interest, deposit checks and manage your savings from the Step mobile app. You can also send and receive money instantly on your phone, shop with a personalized spending card and earn rewards.”

Step also reported that it has seen tremendous growth, with more than 500,000 users on the platform. Speaking about the investment round, CJ MacDonald, Founder and CEO at Step, stated:

“Since Step’s launch, we’ve seen massive demand for this new type of all-in-one banking solution, making it much easier for teens to learn about money management. We founded Step to help improve the financial future of the next generation and this investment not only validates what we’ve built, but it will also help us continue to innovate and grow with our users.”

Michael Gilroy, General Partner at Coatue, further commented:

“Gen Z is a very passionate and engaged group and they also have an estimated spending power of $75 billion. As this generation continues to mature, they’ve been vocal about the importance of establishing healthy financial habits—with many having lived through two recessions. We’ve invested in Step because we think their game-changing technology and grass-roots approach will help capture the next generation.”

Step added that with the investment round’s funds, it plans to accelerate growth and will continue to expand the team which has doubled in size since the start of the pandemic.

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Yearn teams up with Akropolis to boost institutional outreach

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Yearn Finance announced on Monday yet another merger with Akropolis, a multi-product DeFi protocol featuring yield optimization and under-collateralized loans.

Like the Cream Finance merger announced last week the two ecosystems will remain largely independent in terms of their tokens and overall product lines, a shared announcement clarifies. However, like with Pickle Finance, Akropolis will now integrate Yearn vault technology and will publish its yield farming strategies on its Vault V2 platform.

The two development teams will combine and benefit from each others’ expertise. Akropolis developers will be able to build their strategies using tools from the expanding Yearn ecosystem, including Cream’s lending platform.

For the Yearn protocol, Akropolis will offer its business development expertise and institutional contacts, the announcement says. Akropolis will also deprecate AkropolisOS and Sparta, its two other products unrelated to yield generation. These will be moved into open source development mode. Development will then be concentrated on an institutional front-end that would let professional traders access the combined Yearn-Akropolis ecosystem.

Akropolis will also introduce an IOU token to track losses from its recent hack. Platform profits will be redirected into this token’s fund to eventually repay all those who lost money on the hack. The team said it will streamline integration with insurance protocols to let more users benefit from coverage in the future. The Yearn ecosystem now also includes Cover protocol, a DeFi insurance provider.

Akropolis said that calling it a merger “is a bit of a misnomer,” despite using the same word to describe the cooperation in its announcement. Many of the integrations rely on the permissionless nature of DeFi, meaning that Akropolis could have unilaterally decided to integrate itself in the Yearn ecosystem at any previous point.

However, the cooperation between development teams is expected to be very tight and seems to be relying on very specific strengths of each team — Akropolis would seemingly make use of Yearn’s development experience in exchange for facilitating institutional onboarding.

Cointelegraph reached out to Andre Cronje and Akropolis, who both declined to comment.

Yearn teams up with Akropolis to boost institutional outreach

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Chinese President Encourages ASEAN Countries to Join the ‘Digital Silk Road’

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China’s vision for trade and economic development is part of what caused the government to turn bullish on blockchain and a potential Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

However, the Xi administration now seems poised to apply the same technology to one of its most ambitious projects – the Belt and Road initiative.

Strengthening Trade in the Asia-Pacific

Earlier this week, President Xi Jinping told representatives from several top Asian economies to join it in developing the “digital Silk Road.”

According to a report from the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the president made the speech at the China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning. He highlighted that Beijing takes the ASEAN countries seriously and hopes to partner on a more fruitful economic future.  

In a recorded message, Xi assured the Asian leaders that as the only high-performing economy in the 10-country economic bloc, China will continue opening up to them. With everyone looking to build their economies following the coronavirus pandemic, Xi assured help with trade.

“China will unswervingly expand its opening up to the outside world, enhancing its domestic and international economic linkages, and driving the world’s common recovery through its recovery, from which all countries in the world, including Asean, will benefit. Looking to the future, there will be even more room for cooperation between China and Asean,” the president said.

A Set of Ambitious, Controversial Projects

The speech appeared to have mentioned China’s ambitious Belt and Road initiative, which began in 2013. The project is described by many as the 21st century Silk Road, mirroring the old trade routes that traversed much of the developed world.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative reportedly plans to connect trade routes in Africa, Asia, and Europe. The project consists of a “belt” of overland corridors and a “road” of shipping lanes. It includes over 70 countries, all accounting for about half of the world’s population and 25 percent of global GDP.

Estimates from Morgan Stanley show that the initiative could cost over $1 trillion. The Chinese government has reportedly invested over $210 billion into it already, with most of the money being spent in Asia.

Although Xi didn’t highlight what the “digital Silk Road” meant, China has been bullish on technological innovations for trade in the past few years. Part of that has been its fixation on the blockchain, with patents related to the technology exploding. A report highlighted that Chinese companies have applied for 4,435 blockchain patents since the government endorsed the technology.

The government has also made significant progress with its digital yuan, with some believing that the asset could launch in 2022. Like the BRI, the digital yuan has also been the subject of significant controversy. Some think that it will challenge the dollar’s status as the global reserve currency, essentially making China the world’s sole superpower.

Chinese President Encourages ASEAN Countries to Join the ‘Digital Silk Road’

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