BENTONVILLE, Ark.–Aiming to battle back against Amazon, Walmart is launching a new fintech start-up.
The new company is being led by two former Goldman Sachs executives and aims to provide financial services for Walmart’s millions of customers and workers. The start-up entity is a joint venture with Ribbit Capital and LEAP.
Options under consideration include building a user base around mobile payments, as well as potentially buying a startup that offers consumer bank accounts through a mobile app, people familiar with the situation told the Wall Street Journal.
The venture doesn’t plan to seek a banking license, those sources indicated.
Walmart is the majority owner of the business, which has yet to be named publicly, the Journal said, adding, the “venture has hundreds of millions of dollars in commitments from its new backers, the people said, and it is likely to acquire other companies to jump-start the business, not build the bulk of the technology in-house.”
Former Apple Exec Hired
The startup recently hired Chris Faught, a former Apple and Affirm Holdings executive, to help craft the strategy, according to the report.
The two former Goldman executives leading the effort helped their former employer to launch Marcus, which generated $734 million in revenue in the first half of the year, about 2% of Goldman’s total.