Nubank partners with Hopper to launch travel portal

Nubank partners with Hopper to launch travel portal, Microsoft adds PayPal’s Pay Later and Venmo to Microsoft Store, and SoFi to report second-quarter earnings before markets open

July 31, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Hi!

Hope you had a fantastic weekend! This will be the busiest week of the second-quarter earnings season. We will hear from SoFi, PayPal, Block, Shopify, and many others. Exciting! In the meantime, let’s revisit the key events from last week:

  • Nubank partnered with Hopper to launch a travel portal,

  • Microsoft added PayPal’s Pay Later and Venmo to Microsoft Store, and

  • SoFi will report second-quarter earnings before markets open

Thank you for reading and have a great day!

Jevgenijs

p.s. have feedback? DM me on Twitter

Nubank Partners with Hopper to Launch Travel Portal

Nubank (NYSE: NU) partnered with the Canadian online travel marketplace Hopper to introduce a comprehensive travel portal within Nubank's Shopping Platform. The portal is expected to launch next year and will include a full range of travel booking options for mobile users. Founded in 2007, Hopper raised $730 million in capital over multiple funding rounds and boasts Capital One as one of its lead investors. Capital One is not only invested in the company but also became its strategic partner by launching Capital One Travel, the first implementation of Hopper's new B2B platform called Hopper Cloud.

Image source: Nubank

Nubank announced multiple partnerships this year to promote its NuPay and Shopping Platform solutions. One of these collaborations is with Amazon Brazil, where Nubank customers can enjoy exclusive benefits through the Shopping platform. Nubank customers will receive a 2% cashback on all purchases made on Amazon Brazil's website and gain special advantages during the Amazon Prime Day event. Nubank Shopping offers access to over 150 merchants, enabling customers to shop directly within the Nubank mobile banking app while earning cashback on every purchase.

Microsoft Adds PayPal’s Pay Later and Venmo to Microsoft Store

Microsoft has integrated PayPal's Pay Later solution into its Microsoft Store, allowing eligible consumers in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy to pay for purchases over time in fixed amounts. PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) offers two “Buy Now Pay Later” products, “Pay in 4”, which allows consumers to split the purchase into four weekly payments, and “Pay Monthly”, which offers 6, 12, or 24-month payment plans. The company entered the BNPL market in 2020 and has issued over 200 million loans to more than 30 million customers worldwide since then.

Additionally, Microsoft will allow its customers in the U.S. to use Venmo as a payment method in the Microsoft Store on Xbox. This move extends Venmo's capabilities beyond peer-to-peer money transfers, allowing users to pay for games, movies, TV shows, apps, and even Xbox Game Pass subscriptions. In 2022, Venmo facilitated close to $250 billion in payment transactions, contributing 18% of PayPal’s total payment volume. Venmo is available as a payment method at Amazon, Starbucks, and McDonald’s, and its payment volume increased at a compound annual rate (CAGR) of 55% during the 2020-2022 period.

SoFi Will Report Second Quarter Earnings Before Markets Open

SoFi (NASDAQ: SOFI) will report its second quarter 2023 earnings today, before markets open. In the first quarter, the company onboarded 433,000 new members during the quarter, bringing the total to 5.7 million. Total net revenue increased 43% YoY and 3% MoM to $472.2 million, driven by the 149% YoY growth in Net interest income. The company reported a Net loss of $34.4 million and an Adjusted EBITDA of $75.7 million, an improvement from a Net loss of $110.4 million and an Adjusted EBITDA of $8.7 million a year ago.

SoFi's stock is up 107% year-to-date, as it is expected to benefit from the end of the freeze on student loan payments, which was introduced at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. SoFi originated $0.53 billion in student loans in the first quarter of 2023, compared to its peak originations of $2.44 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019. SoFi’s management guided for $470 to $480 million in adjusted net revenue and $50 to $60 million in adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter of 2023, as well as reiterated the ambition to reach GAAP profitability by the end of the year.

I wrote a short Twitter thread on Adyen (AMS: ADYEN) stock outperforming Block (NYSE: SQ) and PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL). Over the last 9 years, Adyen a) grew its revenue faster than Block, and b) grew its free cash flow faster than PayPal. Perhaps, it is not surprising its stock did better.

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Cover image source: Nubank

Disclaimer: Information contained in this newsletter is intended for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. You should do your own research or seek professional advice before making any investment decisions.

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