Robinhood Reaches $1B in Banking Deposits and Declares War on American Express 🇺🇸
We're also covering Ualá's $3.2B insurance play 🇦🇷, Nubank planting its flag in Miami 🇧🇷, Monzo killing tax headaches for free 🇬🇧, a new UK unicorn 🇬🇧 & Elon's payments app going live 🇺🇸
🇺🇸 Robinhood Launches an Amex-Killer & Cross $1B in Banking Deposits
US Trading platform Robinhood has officially pivoted upmarket. It unveiled an invite-only Platinum Card aimed directly at American Express’s core high-net-worth demographic, and announced it crossed $1B in banking deposits less than one year after launching banking.
Robinhood Banking is still rolling out an invite-only basis, and offer VIP perks such as same-day cash delivery in select markets, access to invite-only events, and even estate planning services.
Priced at $695 annually, the Robinhood Platinum Credit Card undercuts the Amex Platinum ($895), while offering a hyper-aggressive rewards suite including 10% cash back on travel and 5% on dining, among other perks.
For Robinhood, currently led by CEO Vlad Tenev, capturing even a fraction of this super-spender segment represents a quantum leap in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). According to Rex Salisbury, founder of fintech VC firm Cambrian, this new card will add pressure to Amex: ”AMEX is facing competition on the business side from Brex and Ramp, and as far as I can tell, losing. Their consumer business has been stronger, but now they have to contend with Robinhood,’’ he said in a LinkedIn post.
Growth Metric: 10x Spending Concentration
Industry data reveals that the average annual spend on a standard U.S. consumer card is approximately $21,215, but Platinum-tier cardholders typically spend ten times more than basic users.
Source: Fintech Growth Insider & Bezinga
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🇦🇷 Argentine Neobank Ualá Hits $3.2B Valuation, But the Real Story Is How Allianz Plans to Sell Insurance to Its 11 Million Users
Argentine neobank Ualá’s has raised $195m at a $3.2bn valuation, with an insurance partnership quietly proving the bigger story.
Allianz X, the digital investment arm of Germany-based insurance giant Allianz Group, is the lead investor in this round. The insurer will also sell insurance to Ualá’s 11 million customers across Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico.
The two companies had already launched life and personal accident insurance products in Argentina before this round closed, generating over 300,000 quotes shortly after going live. That figure shows how quickly a neobank like Ualá, led by CEO Pierpaolo Barbieri (pictured above), can be converted into an insurance sales pipeline.
Growth metric: 300,000 insurance quotes post-launch
Ualá and Allianz’s co-launched insurance products generated over 300,000 quotes shortly after their introduction in Argentina alone.
Source: GMA Council
🇧🇷 Nubank Buys Naming Rights to Inter Miami Stadium
Brazilian neobank Nubank has secured naming rights to a Miami stadium, marking another major sports sponsorship as it pushes into the US market.
The venue, officially called Nu Stadium at Miami Freedom Park, is home to Inter Miami, a Major League Soccer club. The deal, announced on March 4, will also place the Nubank logo on Inter Miami jerseys beginning in August 2026.
MLS drew more than 11.2 million fans in 2025, marking the league’s second highest attendance season with average crowds of 21,988 per match. Nubank, which serves 131 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, is expanding its consumer brand into the United States, particularly among the country’s large Spanish speaking population.
The MLS deal follows Nubank’s recent multi-year partnership as Official Team Partner with the Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team ahead of the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship season.
FGI previously reported that Co-founder Cristina Junqueira has relocated to Miami to lead the expansion, while the company has also recently secured approval to establish a US national bank.
Growth metric: 11.2 million MLS fans annually
MLS recorded its second-highest attendance season in history in 2025 and average crowds of 21,988 per match.
Sources: Fintech Growth Insider & USA Today
🇬🇧 Monzo Launches Free Tax Tool as UK Forces Freelancers to File Digitally
UK-based neobank Monzo has launched a free tax tool ahead of the UK’s digital tax rules coming into force this April. The rules will require sole traders and landlords to file financial records digitally every quarter.
Built on Sage accounting software, Monzo's free tax software allows users to categorize transactions, upload receipts, track expenses, and set aside tax payments without leaving the app.
Monzo’s research found that 28% of freelancers do not expect to be compliant in time, while 69% do not use premium digital tax tools. By integrating these workflows directly into its banking app, Monzo lowers customer acquisition costs by solving a high friction compliance problem instead of competing on low margin perks like interest rates or cashback.
Monzo, now led by CEO Diana Layfield (pictured above), posted £60.5m ($81.68m) in pre-tax profits in the year to March, on revenues of £1.2bn ($1.62bn). It has 14 million total customers, 800,000 of which are business customers.
Growth metric: 69% of sole traders not using digital tax tools
Despite new UK tax rules taking effect this April, nearly seven in ten sole traders do not currently use premium digital tax tools
Source: FStech, Finextra & Financial Times
🇬🇧 Allica Becomes UK’s Newest Fintech Unicorn by Backing SMEs
UK challenger bank Allica has reached unicorn status after securing new funds to further expand lending to small and medium enterprises.
Allica raised $155m in a Series D round led by Dubai-based Ventura Capital, pushing its valuation to $1.2bn.
The bank, led by CEO Richard Davies (pictured above), has built total outstanding SME lending of £3.5bn ($4.69bn) since opening for lending in 2020, a period in which challenger banks have seized 60% of the UK SME lending market, up from just 10% in 2019 when the four largest banks controlled 90%.
Allica has also completed its third acquisition since 2020, purchasing Kriya, a London-based embedded BNPL lender that has processed £4bn ($5.36bn) in transactions since launching in 2011.
The deal plugs Kriya’s PayLater and invoice finance platform directly into Allica’s banking infrastructure, giving small businesses access to working capital inside the platforms they already use.
Growth Metric: 10% Market Penetration by 2028
Allica is now aggressively targeting 10% penetration of the established SME finance market and £1 billion in working capital finance by the end of 2028
Sources: City Am & Fintech Magazine
🇺🇸 “Everything App” Becomes Real as X Money Enters Beta
In a characteristically eccentric launch, Elon Musk (pictured above) has moved X Money into external beta, auctioning the first 42 invites through actor William Shatner for charity.
The service is powered by Cross River Bank and Visa, and offers up to 6% annual percentage yield on deposits. Winners received a metal debit card featuring their X username, a physical status signal designed to drive social sharing. X has already secured money transmitter licences in more than 40 US states.
By capping the beta at 42 invites tied to a charitable auction, X generated outsized earned media without a traditional marketing budget. The scarcity made a payments product feel like an exclusive release.
The 6% APY is also significantly higher than the current offering by other top banks in the US which usually hovers around 4%, according to Fortune.
Growth metric: 6.00% annual interest rate for direct deposits
While the industry average for high-yield savings sits around 4.5% in the US, X’s 6.00 annual interest rate a serves as a powerful lever for X to attract depositors
Sources: Fintech Growth Insider, TechCrunch & Fortune
🇺🇸 Fintech Ad of The Week: Cash App Is Paying Users to Sign Up and Calling It a Game
Cash App has launched Cash Apples, a limited time browser-based pixel game running from March 9 to 13 that rewards users with real money for shaking virtual trees. The daily prize pool starts at $80,000 and scales to $500,000 over five days. To claim any prize, players must link or create a Cash App account, turning a simple game into a high-conversion onboarding funnel.
Play is restricted to a four-hour daily window between 4pm and 8pm EST, creating appointment-based engagement and driving organic social mentions at scale. Rather than spending $500,000 on programmatic advertising with uncertain conversion, Cash App is putting that capital directly into users’ hands.
Source: Fintech Growth Insider
Upcoming Fintech Events
🇬🇧 CBC Summit Europe will take place on March 17, 2026, in London, with tickets priced between £906.43 and £1,246.53, with speakers such as Jason Allegrante (Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, Fireblocks), Ajay Amlani (President and CEO, Aware, Inc.), and Sabih Behzad (Head of Digital Assets and Currencies Transformation, Deutsche Bank).
🇬🇧 Insurtech Insights Europe will take place on March 18 to 19, 2026, in London, with tickets priced between £399 and £999. Speakers include Sirma Boshnakova (Board Member), Cécile Paillard (Group Chief Transformation Officer), and Pravina Ladva (Group Chief Digital and Technology Officer).
🚨 GFI Exclusive Offer: Enjoy a 25% discount on tickets using the GFI25 promo code!
🇺🇸 Fintech Americas will take place from March 24 to 26, 2026, in Miami, with tickets priced between $795 and $2,195, with speakers such as Cristina Junqueira (Co Founder and Chief Growth Officer, Nubank), Biswa Sengupta (Managing Director for Generative AI, JPMorgan Chase), and Rohit Patel (Director, Meta Superintelligence Labs, Meta).
🚨 GFI Exclusive Offer: Enjoy a 10 percent discount on tickets using the GFI10 promo code.
🇬🇧 PAY360 will take place from March 25 to 26, 2026, in London, with speakers such as Will Marwick (Chief Executive Officer, IFX Payments), Jas Narang (Chief Transformation and AI Officer, Santander), and Saira Khan (Head of Innovation and Partnerships, First Direct Bank).
🇺🇸 InsurTech NY Spring will take place from March 30 to 31, 2026, in New York City, with tickets priced between $657 and $1,017, with speakers such as Raj Kalahasthi (Chief Information Officer, The Baldwin Group), Patrick Gallic (Head of International AI Hub, Tokio Marine), and Greg Hendrick (Chief Executive Officer, Vantage Risk).
Who Am I?
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