Welcome to Fintech Fridays! The Fintech Times weekly roundup serves up something for the weekend – a shopping list of the latest deals, product launches and service updates.
India’s first NFT based cricket strategy game
Tezos India, a blockchain adoption entity, has teamed up with GoLive Games to launch ‘Cricket Stars’, India’s first NFT-based cricket strategy game.
Cricket Stars is an NFT-based multiplayer game with esports tournaments, without the need for a pay-to-play or a play-to-earn model.
Om Malviya, president of Tezos India, said: “This collaboration signifies a significant advancement for the gaming industry and the Tezos blockchain. We anticipate that this partnership will serve as a fundamental building block of our mutual dedication to transform the gaming sector.”
Tezos Blockchain allows users to buy, trade, and sell the card without any cryptocurrency. Tezos blockchain powers the Cricket Stars NFT marketplace, enabling users to trade, buy, and sell their cards with other gamers through the in-game store using Tezos wallets, as well as without requiring cryptocurrency.
Plum introduces Watchlists and Price Alerts
Plum, a smart money app, has recently launched new features that aim to improve the stock investment experience for its customers. The Plum team designed these features to assist customers in improving their understanding of their portfolios as well as supply them with timely information, allowing them to make informed investment decisions.
With the new Watchlists feature, Plum customers can keep track of the financial instruments they find interesting before deciding whether to buy them. This feature allows customers to track their favorite stocks in one place, improving their understanding of their portfolio and the broader investment landscape.
Customers can customise their experience by setting up as many smart notifications as they want and managing them at any time using the Plum app. This personalised feature means that investors can monitor all of the stocks on their radar for purchasing, with Plum automatically updating them on important price movements.
Plum has added up to 3,000 single US stocks for customers to invest in since introducing stock investing in May 2022.
IMPT launches platform for earning carbon credits through online shopping
IMPT, a blockchain-based carbon-offsetting ecosystem, has launched the first iteration of its retail shopping platform.
The platform will also be available to download on the App Store in the near future. IMPT is giving consumers the tools to acquire and retire carbon credits while doing their regular shopping across thousands of its affiliate retail brands, including Amazon, Nike, and Samsung.
Whenever a user purchases a product on the IMPT platform, the platform will credit a percentage of the total purchase price to the user’s account in the form of IMPT tokens. These tokens can be accumulated and used to acquire carbon credits, which take the form of NFTs, and support various environmental projects.
By using their carbon credits to support preferred environmental initiatives, consumers can participate directly in promoting sustainable development globally. Once they redeem their carbon credits, users will receive collectable NFTs and earn points towards their IMPT score, which measures the overall impact of their purchase history and is tracked on their Impact Card.
Great Western Credit Union unveils bond offer
Great Western Credit, the biggest credit union in the South West, has launched a new bond offer to make purpose-driven finance more accessible.
The bond offer aims to raise £400,000. Capital also allows the credit union to expand membership and services and increase financial stability for tens of thousands of people in the South West.
The credit union also recently secured investment from Fair4All Finance to grow their provision of affordable credit across the area and build a comprehensive growth strategy, resulting in a raise of £500,000 in 2022.
Gopuff and Pooch & Mutt join Cheddar’s cashback app
Cashback and payments app Cheddar adds two new retail partnerships with on-demand delivery service Gopuff and online healthy pet food supplier Pooch & Mutt.
The new collaborations sees Cheddar app users earning 10 per cent cashback on purchases made through Gopuff and 20 per cent cashback when spending at Pooch & Mutt.
“Cashback and loyalty reward programs are hugely effective ways to help our retail partners attract new high-intent customers, increase the loyalty of existing ones, and re-engage lost customers despite the current pressures on consumer spending,” said Luke Ladyman, chief operating officer & co-founder at Cheddar.
The cashback will be available in the app’s balance within 14 days. The free app requires no link clicks or codes from users.
Zbooni supports local UAE brands
Zbooni, a Middle East pioneer in connected commerce has launched its first chat-to-shop marketplace.
cShop Market brings businesses and customers together in a live, interactive shopping forum, showcasing local brands. Customers can discover unique listings and also chat-to-shop directly with UAE businesses.
For the initial launch phase Zbooni has onboarded 50 local companies across a variety of categories. Over the next 12 months, the platform will also scale up, drawing from its community of over 5,000 UAE-based Zbooni merchants, and look to welcome an estimated two million visitors.
Ramy Assaf, CEO and co-founder of Zbooni, said: “cShop market connects the local community and offers a more human approach to commerce. For shoppers today, their options are either to visit static online marketplaces, or go to a mall and shop in person. This is something new, that offers the best of both.”
Clara offers FREE cap table calculator for startups
Clara, the legal operating system, has released a free cap table calculator for startups.
A cap (short for capitalisation) table is a document outlining a company’s ownership structure, specifically the percentage of ownership held by each shareholder and the type of securities they hold (such as ordinary shares, preferred shares, options and warrants).
A cap table also includes details such as initial investment, funding rounds and equity grants.
Patrick Rogers, CEO and co-founder of Clara, explains: “Clara is all about bringing straightforward automation to the legal requirements start-ups need. Cap tables might sound complicated and time-consuming, but they don’t have to be.
“Our free calculator is a powerful tool designed to help startup founders easily track the ownership structure of their companies.”
