The Challengers 9: N26’s US launch — Capital One invests in MoneyLion — Betterment’s bank account
- In this week's episode of The Challengers, hosts Josh and Zack talk about N26 launching in the US.
- Also covered in the podcast are Betterment's new bank account and MoneyLion's latest investment round.
The Challengers this week looks at a couple big investments that happened in the challenger banking space and a new product launch.
N26 finally launched in the US and Josh and Zack explore how the challenger bank structured its launch (100,000 beta users and via a banking partner). Your hosts also explore what this means for the other European challenger banks gearing up to launch like Monzo and Revolut.
Next up, Zack mentions MoneyLion's $160 million investment which included Capital One's participation. This appears to be the bank's first investment in a challenger bank but perhaps it's also the first time a major bank has invested in a challenger bank. This investment provides more ammo to go after the NASCAR audience.
Robo-adviser Betterment has launched a new banking product which includes a high yield savings account -- Everyday Savings -- and announced it will roll out checking -- Everyday Checking -- later in 2019. This product eventually replaces the firm's Smart Saver product that used ETFs to produce short term returns.