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The SHEconomy
The SHEconomy is the growing portion of the American economy driven by women. In its latest research report, Morgan Stanley reports that this part of the US economy is booming – contributing to an outsized share our current economic growth.
So what are the SHEconomy tailwinds, and what does it mean for investment opportunities and financial services?
The growth in the SHEconomy has three important tailwinds – single woman are growing as a demographic (25% of the US population), the female workforce is growing (44.5% of the US workforce), and women’s purchasing power is expanding (3% CAGR versus 2.5% for men). Still, there are many obstacles to overcome - chief among them the 22.5% wage gap between men and women.
To increase exposure to the SHEconomy, Morgan Stanley recommends buying stocks such as LuluLemon, Nike, TJ Maxx, Starbucks, and Tesla. In the private sphere, fintech startups such as Miss Kaya, FinMarie, and Ellevest are providing digital wealth management tailored to the evolving needs and values of women.
VCs should also pay attention – KPMG has found that fintech startups with at least one female founder have more than double the internal rate of return (IRR) than all-male founding teams.
As secular trends push us towards improved gender equality and female empowerment, we are happy to recognize the outsized role women will play in the economy for the coming decades.
Portfolio News
Ascensus selects Nextcapital to improve retirement outcomes - Portfolio company NextCapital will provide Ascensus with technology to provide more personalized digital financial advice to employees across the company’s 401k offerings. Read more
The SHEconomy
8 SHEconomy stocks Morgan Stanley recommends to buy - Morgan Stanley put out an interesting note in recent days which broadly outlined a handful of stocks to buy given their robust exposure to the fast growing Sheconomy. Read more
Fintech startups founded by women are better investments, KPMG finds - KPMG surveyed 91 financial technology companies in the U.K., including nine where at least one founder was a woman. Read more
Industry News
N26 launches Shared Spaces and is now fully available in the US - After limited beta testing, the Berlin based digital challenger bank is now launching in the US with open registration. It has also announced Shared Spaces which lets users share sub-accounts with other users in just a few taps (essentially an N26 joint account). Read more
Globalizing fintech in action: a discussion with David Vélez at Nubank - David Velez, founder and CEO of decacorn Nubank, discusses the origins and growth story of his company - which now reaches over 12m customers and is expanding from Brazil into Argentina and Mexico. Read more
Engineers v. management: R3 is facing rumblings among its core ranks, but it may not be alone - R3 is one of the more prominent ventures in the blockchain space having raised $120m to fund its middleman-cutting creation, counting over 200 employees across offices in NYC, Brazil, and London, and pinning down a consortium of high-profile banks. But according to The Block, it’s facing a divide among its engineers who are losing faith in its core tech. Read more
The Apple Card's best feature is also its biggest flaw - With the Apple Card, Apple has created a credit card that lives entirely on your iPhone. Business Insider reviews how this can make its use more secure and convenient, but also presents some limitations for mass adoption.Read more
Singapore fintechs continue hiring despite economic slowdown - Despite the retrenchment by normal financial institutions such as banks, 94% of fintech companies in the Lion City are eyeing workforce expansion in the next 12 months, with 28% expected to double their numbers in the next three years. Read more
Funding Circle surpasses $10bn lent to SMBs globally - The online small business lender currently manages a loan portfolio of $3bn in the UK, $1bn in the US, and $175m in Germany. According to Oxford Economics, every $1 lent to a small business contributes $2 to GDP.Read more
Slack’s direct listing: the non-IPO threat to Wall Street and its future in security tokens - Slack is the second big brand name in tech (after Spotify last year) to choose the 'direct listing' route to the market averaging fees of 1% versus 7% for an average IPO. George Salapa explores whether the direct listing, combined with security tokens traded on a blockchain, are the ultimate disintermediation tools. Read more
Select Financings
Better - New York based digital home mortgage lender raised $160m of Series C capital led by Activant Capital with participation from Ping An, Ally Financial, Citi, AmEx Ventures, Goldman Sachs, and Kleiner Perkins. Read more
Knotel - New York based office leasing startup has raised $400m in financing at a $1b valuation led by Wafra. Read more
Fund That Flip - New York based residential refinancing platform raised an $11m Series A led by Edison Partners. Read more
Numbrs Personal Finance - Zurich based banking and personal finance startup has raised a $40m equity financing at a valuation over $1b from unnamed investors. Read more
Tala - Santa Monica based smartphone digital lending company for emerging markets has raised $110m in a Series D round led by RPS. Read more
FinTech Collective Newsletter
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