Walmart Fintech Incursion
walmart innovation
From the Financial Brand Jan 2021 — The deal with Ribbit may reflect Walmart’s desire to get further into the actual guts of financial services, rather than being solely a distribution partner. At present, the fintech startup will be majority-owned by Walmart and some activities will be pursued via partnerships with other fintechs. Leadership will include both Walmart execs as well as Meyer Malka, Managing Partner at Ribbit Capital. Malka’s firm is a fintech heavyweight, having helped develop Robinhood, the no-fee mobile investment platform, Credit Karma and Affirm.
Editors Note: Walmart has toe-dipped in financial services over the last 20 years. Experimenting and collecting data. Building up services capability. Having thousands of physical stores across the country and a stranglehold on the unbanked and underbanked population, its always been a bit of wait and see what Walmart finally does. Same thing for Kroger and Costco. Not sure how the conventional banks benefit except as middleware plumbing and services providers.
Read the full article at the Financial Brand
