DTC’s Daily Digest brings you the latest news on the world’s fastest growing direct-to-consumer brands. In today’s edition: Atom Bank raises £50m; Paysend smashes target on Seedrs; and Netflix struggles in latest earnings.

Atom Bank raises £50m

Atom Bank — which targets mainly millennial-aged consumers with mobile-first savings accounts and mortgages as well as small business loans — has raised a further £50m in funding. It’s not disclosing its valuation officially, but sources confirm it’s £530m, up from £450m previously.

This latest round included investments from banking giant BBVA — which led its last round of £149 million in 2018 — as well as Toscafund, Woodford Patient Capital Trust and funds advised by Perscitus LLP. Other high-profile investors have included the likes of musician and embracer of all things future technology, will.i.am.

Atom’s rise mirrors a larger trend in Europe, and especially in the U.K., of what are collectively referred to as challenger banks. While Atom was one of the originals, there are now a number of others building banking offerings — sometimes on top of more legacy infrastructure, which they take as white-label services — that appeal to younger earners and savers because of lower fees, more flexibility in how money can be moved and borrowed and perks aimed specifically at their demographic. Others include Monese, Monzo,  Revolut, Starling, N26 and Tandem.

Paysend smashes target on Seedrs

UK fintech Paysend, which allows you to pay, hold and send money instantly and across borders, is fundraising on Seedrs. The business has currently raised over £8.5m, smashing the initial target of £4.2m. 

Paysend issues cards to facilitate these transfers, and in just two years, Paysend has grown to over 720,000 users, we do over 2 million transactions every month and process over USD$55m (£44m) per month. An average of 2,000 new customers sign up to PaySend every day.

Paysend has also created a global network of international payment systems, banks and local card schemes operating in over 70 countries and currencies. 

The current round of funding is about adding strategic products in line with the vision of money for the future and to fund international expansion. The global push involves developing partnerships with financial institutions around the world, and through these Paysend intends to market directly into new countries. This requires expansion capital and marketing investment, for which the fundraising will be utilised.

Netflix struggles in latest earnings

Shares of Netflix were down 10% in extended trading Wednesday after the company released its earnings report for the second quarter. The results showed a rare loss in U.S. subscribers and a large miss on international subscriber adds.

In addition to blaming its content slate for the quarter for weak subscriber growth, Netflix said its first-quarter subscriber growth was so strong that “there may have been more pull-forward effect than we realised.” However, Netflix is projecting a stronger third quarter on the heels of heavy viewership of the third season of “Stranger Things.”

It seems as though Netflix’s advantage from being one of the first subscription streaming services to market, is slowing being eaten away at. With other big budget subscription services like Amazon Prime Video, and, very soon, Disney+, consumers are having to decide where to dedicate their monthly spend for on-demand TV services. With other leading providers possessing the budgets to make enticing original content, and even pay for some of the shows previously on Netflix, the business doesn’t quite have the edge it once did. 

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