Today in FinTech: Rakuten Joins Uber Eats; Union54 Raises $12M; Ualá Founder Intros 17Sigma

In today’s FinTech news, Uber Eats customers in Japan will soon be able to tap Rakuten for payments, while Zambia card issuing startup Union54 added more growth to its seed funding round. Plus, the founder of FinTech Ualá notched $30 million for his new venture capital operation 17Sigma.

Rakuten Teams With Uber Eats Japan for Digital Payments

Customers of Uber Eats in Japan will soon be able to use Rakuten Pay as an option for payments. Rakuten Pay, the Rakuten Group’s online payment service, processes payments using the credit card linked to the Rakuten ID system.

The new service will be available at the end of this month and also enables users to earn Rakuten Points when ordering through Uber Eats and pay for orders using earned points.

Zambian Card Issuer Union54 Raises $12M

Zambia card issuing startup Union54 just added more to its seed funding round, bring its total to $12 million.

The round was led by Tiger Global, Vibe VC and new investors Earl Grey Capital and Not Boring Capital, and the startup will use the fresh capital to further its goal of offering an alternative to major card companies.

Founder of Argentina’s Ualá Launches VC Fund

The founder of FinTech Ualá, Pierpaolo Barbieri, has secured $30 million for his new venture capital operation 17Sigma, which focus on early-stage Latin American startups.

Ualá, a Buenos Aires-based financial services firm that also operates in Mexico and Colombia, is one of the region’s unicorns and was valued at $2.5 billion in its latest funding round in August 2021.

Philippine BNPL Firm BillEase Raises $20M Debt Facility

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) startup BillEase raised $20 million from emerging market credit provider Lendable.

The funds will be used to speed its growth across the Phillippines. Alongside its BNPL offering, BillEase offers other in-app services including personal loans, eWallet top-ups, mobile loads and gaming credits.

UK SMEs Gain ‘Instant, Single Click’ Lending Via Embedded Finance

Anil Stocker, co-founder and CEO at London-based FinTech MarketFinance, told PYMNTS in an interview that people expect the same one-click service in their business demands as they do in their consumer apps.