article thumbnail

Beautycounter Embraces D2C Innovation With Purpose

PYMNTS

No matter how innovative they are, companies still need to get paid. And not many companies this year have combined business model creativity with payments innovation more than Beautycounter. While all the innovations and the business awards are nice to have, Renfrew is most proud of her work as a beauty industry activist.

article thumbnail

Figure CEO: Figure Pay, National Bank Charter Will Boost Financial Inclusion

PYMNTS

He pointed to brands and merchants like Dunkin and Dollar General, marked by underserved populations that could benefit by better economics than has been seen with prepaid cards or payday lending. As Cagney noted, firms such as Figure leverage technology to reduce the cost of delivering new innovations to consumers.

National 215
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

On National Burrito Day, Chipotle Serves Up Signs Of QSR Innovation

PYMNTS

As far as made-up, non-holiday holidays go, you could probably do worse than National Burrito Day , which takes place on Thursday (April 4). Even so, 62 percent of customers said innovations would make them more inclined to visit QSRs in the future, according to the latest PYMNTS Restaurant Readiness Index. Chipotle’s Digital Gains.

article thumbnail

Varo crosses 1 million customers, with plans to become a bank by 2020

Bank Innovation

Digital banking brand Varo has 1 million customers, and is pushing ahead with plans to become a nationally-chartered bank early next year, CEO Colin Walsh told Bank Innovation Tuesday.

National 284
article thumbnail

Bump On The Road To National FinTech Charters?

PYMNTS

The news came Thursday (May 2) that, per a ruling in federal court in New York, the State Department of Financial Services can move forward with a suit that looks to derail national bank charters for FinTech companies. The national licenses would let FinTechs lend money and paychecks to consumers. lakh (roughly $1.6

National 165
article thumbnail

Will Giving Brands A Voice Boost Conversation Commerce?

PYMNTS

While the concept of a brand having a “voice” is not a terribly new idea, before this month it was more metaphorical and mostly a synonym for “style.” As of a few weeks ago, however, Amazon announced that Polly is now taking its offering up a level, and allowing brands the opportunity to customize text-to-speech voices for their Alexa skills.

Branding 161
article thumbnail

What Innovators Can Learn From Netflix

PYMNTS

But the one thing that might work is taking a page from the innovation playbook that Netflix seems to have written and followed over the last 22 years. A combination of forces — Netflix’s own content and technology innovations and advances in hardware and software — helped them consistently attract more eyeballs.