Identity crisis at Amazon: The tech giant is building its own identifier for its growing advertising business, a move that could alter how advertisers allocate spending on Amazon DSP.
Retailers lean into low stock: Some retailers are putting less merchandise in stores to improve margins by avoiding promotions and slowing transitions to new products.
SVODs should consider AVODism: Most US consumers aren't looking for more streaming video subscriptions, but if more platforms consider cheaper or ad-supported tiers, perhaps that could change.
Livestreams and NFTs: Shoppable livestreaming platform Ntwrk is moving into nonfungible transactions (NFTs) as it looks to broaden its digital commerce efforts.
Subscription-based mobile games are leveling up
The buy now, pay later firm saw record-breaking volume driven by significant US growth and is positioning itself to keep up this momentum through international expansion and new retail partnerships.
US digital sales of food and beverages from restaurants soared 123.8% last year, per eMarketer estimates. This massive increase was the result of more consumers using delivery services like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub amid lockdowns and restaurant closures.
Wefox has raised a $650 million mega-round following strong revenue growth in 2020. And doubling down on further European expansion will tap into the growth of the European insurtech space and drive profitability.
The pandemic paradoxically helped pad consumer’s bank accounts—and banks now face the reckoning that fees are unlikely to return to historic levels.
Telehealth contributed to higher consumer satisfaction with health plans amid the pandemic, per new J.D. power data—but long-term adoption of the tech remains uncertain as congress has yet to make pandemic-era telehealth regulations permanent.
Open finance provider Belvo raises $43 million: The Latin American financial data aggregator, which started operating in three of the region’s markets last year, will use its proceeds to scale and deepen offerings—giving its fintech customers chances to collect data to improve their own products.
Starling to cease thwarting transfers to crypto exchanges: The UK-based neobank will lift its ban on moving money to crypto exchanges, which it imposed due to concerns about financial crime—in contrast to its competitors’ courtship of crypto.
Neobanks, the digital disruptors of the fintech world, will see the number of US account holders reach 20.2 million by the end of 2021, more than double the number just two years ago, according to our inaugural Insider Intelligence forecast for digital-only banks. Neobank Chime, which was founded in 2013, is well ahead of its competitors. It will hold steady as the industry leader, but there will be a shift this year for the No. 2 spot.
Headspace is teaming up with health benefits platform Solera Health to expand its reach to more employers and payers—here’s why the duo could flourish.
Fitbit is reportedly adding a snoring-detection feature to its wearables that gives users a “sleep animal” persona as it plays catch up with the Apple Watch.