WEEK STARTING JAN 14

Happy Friday! This message has been sent in a non-invasive manner, unlike the recent texts from Clive Palmer. See that story and more below:

AUSTRALIAN FINTECH 

Open Banking was quietly delayed by 8 months, til February 2020. It's been replaced by a pilot between the Big Four and Data61. Interestingly, this announcement actually came out in December 23rd and has been widely under-reported

Xinja's equity crowdfunding raise is massively oversubscribed (over 200%) and it still has 35 days to go

ANZ bought a stake in online broker Lendi. Highly similar to Westpac's investment in uno

SME lender, Capify, secured a $135m investment from Goldman Sachs

BIG TECH

German neobank, N26, hit a $27bn valuation. N26, like Revolut, makes money by charging customers a monthly subscription fee (as well as lending)

WeWork's CEO is under scrutiny for being both a tenant and a landlord

Slack rebranded their logo. Hilariously, some users think that the negative space makes it look politically incorrect (disclaimer: you won't be able to unsee it)

Lime scooters are being halted in Switzerland, after a software glitch caused their users to fall off. Gives a new meaning to user drop-off

POTPOURRI

Elon Musk claims he could build a $1bn tunnel through the Blue Mountains

Clive Palmer's been sending unsolicited text messages to garner support for the United Australia Party. Marketing genius or invasive stupidity?

Google spent $40m on Fossil's smart watch technology. Watch this space

Long read: The Startup Playbook. Comprehensive advice from YCombinator on starting-up-startups

TRIVIA 
Answers at the end of the email

(a) Once considered too sacred to use, what was the top girl's name from 1880-1940?

(b) Along with Communist China & North Korea, can you name 1 of 2 formerly Communist nations bordering Asian Russia? Bonus point for both.

(c) The creator of which United States landmark said its parts represent the nation's founding, expansion, development & preservation? 

(d) Can you name 1 of 2 sports that bans left-hand playing to avoid injury?

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If you have any feedback or comments, fire away to james.david.grafton@gmail.com. Article submissions are welcomed too!

All the best
Jimmy