PayPal to Lead $30 Million Funding Robo Adviser

PayPal Holdings Inc.

 Leading a $30 million funding round for investing mobile app Acorns Grow.

Acorns offers an app targeted at young investors, allowing users to deposit small amounts in a brokerage account that automatically buys a diversified group of exchange-traded funds.

The robo advisory companyonline-only firms that make automated investment decisions for clients has raised $30 million from PayPal and Rakuten Fintech Fund, a unit of the Japanese Internet firm, Acorns is set to announce on Thursday. Early investors Greycroft Partners and e.Ventures are also participating in the fundraising round.

The investment doesn’t yet include any specific partnership between PayPal and Acorns, but the two firms see possible future integration with PayPal products such as its Venmo unit, the peer-to-peer money transfer app, and other PayPal accounts.  

“There’s lots of potential between Acorns and Venmo, and Acorns and PayPal,” incoming Acorns Chief Executive Noah Kerner said in an interview.

Advertisement

PayPal split from eBay Inc. last year and now has one of the largest market values of any financial technology company, about $48 billion. The San Jose, Calif., company has been seeking ways to keep adding new customers who haven’t used the service to make payments in the eBay marketplace. PayPal shares are up about 11% so far in 2016.

A PayPal spokeswoman said that the company is “looking forward to developing a strategic partnership” with Acorns. PayPal will have a minority stake.

Mr. Kerner is moving into the chief executive role after joining Acorns as an adviser last year. He has previously advised companies including WeWork on marketing to millennials. He sold his marketing startup Noise in 2014.

Acorns, which was founded in 2012 by Walter and Jeff Cruttenden, who are father and son, said that 75% of its 850,000 active investors are between the ages of 18 to 34. Its customers have average annual income between $50,000 and $99,000.

Its assets are still relatively small compared with some other robo adviser startups. Betterment Inc. is the largest robo adviser, with roughly $4 billion in assets under management. It raised $100 million in new funding earlier this year. Acorns has now raised $62 million in total venture funding.

But Acorns is growing quickly, rising from about 475,000 accounts with $74 million in assets at the beginning of January to more than 850,000 accounts with more than $150 million invested. It first launched the investment app about 20 months ago.

Acorns charges $1 a month for accounts with less than $5,000 in assets, and 0.25 percentage points on accounts larger than that.

Mathias Schilling, co-founder of e.ventures, said that Acorns aims to stand out in the growing robo adviser niche with a focus on investing via mobile phone, rather than the web.

A number of big investment houses, including Charles Schwab Corp. and Fidelity Investments, have also launched automated allocation programs.

“We strongly believe mobile-only is the right approach for this market,” he said. “It’s a laser-focus on the target millennial group.”

Most people deposit money into their Acorns accounts by rounding up their small purchases to the nearest dollar, Jeff Cruttenden said. The typical deposit is $50 a month. “We want to make a big decision small,” he said.

PayPal has made previous venture investments in companies including Loop Commerce, which enables users to make online purchase gifts, and Pulsate, a marketing software firm.

Barbie Doll is Making a Comeback

Barbie 

Sales of the iconic doll have been brisk this year, according to industry analysts, who expect parent company Mattel Inc. to confirm the trend when it reports first-quarter results after the bell on Wednesday. 

Global sales of Barbie rose 1 percent in the fourth quarter, marking the first uptick in several years and signaling the beginning of a comeback for the aging doll. 

“Barbie has had a very strong few weeks leading up to Easter and sales are definitely better than last year,” said Jim Silver, president of consumer toy review site TTPM.

While there are hundreds of iterations of Barbie, the expansion of its Fashionista line to include three body types,curvy, petite and tall and a range of seven skin tones has been selling out at retailers since it debuted in January. 

The line also addressed the wrath of Barbie’s biggest critics, who have long held that her slender body proportions were not reflective of the general population. 

What’s more, licensees of Barbie merchandise maintain that sales of items like a cash register, styling heads and dress-up clothing are up between 10 percent and 20 percent compared to a year ago, added Silver.

Hello Barbie, the controversial talking doll that was introduced before the holidays, however, has not been a hit.

“But it doesn’t matter,” said BMO Capital Markets analyst Gerrick Johnson. “Mattel didn’t bet the farm on Hello Barbie and it got a lot of buzz which was probably worth the investment.”

The doll category in general is experiencing a renaissance, according to Johnson. He estimates doll sales will increase by 10 percent this year, outpacing a 3.5 percent increase for the overall toy industry.

Mattel’s DC Super Hero Girls, for example, are hard to find and selling at a 50 percent premium on eBay, Johnson said. 

Mattel’s stock, which has risen 25 percent this year, was down 1.14 percent to $33.53 before the release of earnings.

Mitsubishi Admits To Falsifying

Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

    The Japanese automaker tarnished by a massive recall cover-up 15 years ago, owned up to another scandal Wednesday, saying employees had intentionally falsified fuel mileage data for several vehicle models.

The inaccurate tests by the Tokyo-based automaker involved 157,000 of its own-brand eK wagon and eK Space light passenger cars, and 468,000 Dayz and Dayz Roox vehicles produced for Nissan Motor Co.

The models are all so-called “minicars” with tiny engines whose main attraction is generally great mileage. They were produced from March 2013.

The problem surfaced after Nissan pointed out inconsistencies in data, the company said. Mitsubishi Motors conducted an internal probe and found that tire pressure data was falsified to make mileage appear better than it actually was.

“The wrongdoing was intentional. It is clear the falsification was done to make the mileage look better. But why they would resort to fraud to do this is still unclear,” company president Tetsuro Aikawa told reporters.

He and other company executives bowed in apology.

Aikawa said that although he was unaware the irregularities were happening, “I feel responsible.”

The company said it would investigate whether data were altered for vehicles sold overseas.

Fuel economy was falsely boosted by about 5 or 10 percent on the models, which were billed as getting 30.4 kilometers per liter (71.5 miles per gallon), according to the company.

Mitsubishi Motors struggled for years to win back consumer trust after an auto defects scandal in the early 2000s over cover-ups of problems such as failing brakes, faulty clutches and fuel tanks prone to falling off dating back to the 1970s.

Aikawa was asked if the latest impropriety highlighted how the company had not fundamentally fixed itself after the recall scandal, although it had promised repeatedly to come clean.

“I realize that view exists,” he said, his voice shaking slightly. “I see how difficult it can be to have compliance consciousness spread among all our employees.”

Mitsubishi Motors, which also makes the Outlander sport-utility vehicle and the i-MiEV electric car, said it is setting up a panel of outsiders to investigate the latest scandal.

“We will investigate why this happened and prevent a recurrence,” Aikawa said. “We will inform our customers. I feel horrible they were given the wrong numbers.”

Production and sales of all affected models were halted, according to the companies.

Nissan said in a statement that it recently discovered discrepancies in data from Mitsubishi Motors about light vehicles it provided while assessing the current model in preparation for its next-generation vehicle.

“In response to Nissan’s request, Mitsubishi admitted that data had been intentionally manipulated in its fuel economy testing process for certification,” Nissan said.

It said that after consulting Japan’s transport ministry, it told dealers to stop selling the affected vehicles. Nissan said it is considering ways to help the owners of cars already sold.

“Nissan understands and regrets the inconvenience and concern this will cause our valued customers,” it said.

Japan has been hit periodically by such scandals at top-name companies. Among the recent ones are electronics company Toshiba Corp., which acknowledged it had doctored accounting books for years.

Unlike some Western accounting scandals, the ones in Japan did not result in enrichment of individual employees. Instead, workers simply wanted to “save face” for the company.

Mitsubishi Motors shares fell 15 percent in Tokyo trading. Although the news conference came after trading ended, the company had begun to invite media and some Japanese media carried a report during trading hours.

Mitsubishi Motors forecast a 100 billion yen ($917 million) profit for the fiscal year that ended in March 2016, down 15 percent from the previous fiscal year.

Niños Con Paralisis Cerebral Aprenden a Caminar

El sistema mecánico creado por investigadores del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), en México, permite que niños con parálisis celebrar aprendan a caminar de forma erguida y con los brazos sincronizados, situación que no se lograba con los aparatos actuales de rehabilitación motriz.

Después de visitar centros de rehabilitación, los científicos se percataron que los equipos para tratar la discapacidad motriz en infantes no cumplen las funciones necesarias, ya que no están diseñados para la complexión de infantes mexicanos.

“Decidimos analizar qué era lo que en realidad se necesitaba en casos como parálisis cerebral infantil, específicamente aquellos niños que aún pueden recuperar la movilidad y entrenarse para aprender a caminar”, explicó la doctora Paola Andrea Niño Suarez, jefa del departamento de investigación de la Escuela Superior de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica (ESIME), unidad Azcapotzalco.

El equipo diseñado por el IPN cuenta con una pechera en el tronco y un sistema de movimiento de los brazos, que le ayuda a sujetarse y mantenerse erguido mientras camina. Aunque el sistema aún está en desarrollo, ya se cuenta con un diseño de tobillo y rodilla.

Los equipos comerciales de rehabilitación están diseñados para persona que ya saben caminar, por lo tanto sólo se enfocan en mover las piernas. “Se supone que ya saben cómo mantener derecha la espalda y mover los brazos. El problema de los niños que tienen parálisis cerebral es que nunca hicieron las conexiones neuronales necesarias para aprender a caminar, como sentarse, arrastrarse, gatear, levantarse y dar los primeros pasos, por ello necesitan aprender cómo hacerlo”.

El sistema en el que trabajan especialistas de la ESIME y del Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico en Cómputo (CIDETEC) del IPN, a cargo del doctor Edgar Alfredo Portilla Flores, enseña al menor a manipular la cadera, mantenerse erguido y sincronizar los brazos con el movimiento natural al caminar, situación que con los aparatos actuales no sucede debido a únicamente mueven las piernas.

La doctora Niño Suarez señaló que las terapias pueden durar uno o dos años, depende de la capacidad de asimilación del menor. Los médicos ortopedistas explican que los infantes pueden rehabilitarse a partir de los 18 meses hasta los 12 años. Pero las maquinas actuales permiten un tratamiento desde los seis años porque fueron diseñadas para la complexión del adulto y sólo se adaptan accesorios para la rehabilitación de niños.

El proceso de enseñanza neuronal se logra por medio de repeticiones. Los especialistas, al realizar la rehabilitación manual sujetan al menor de la cintura y lo jalan para mover el cuerpo y caminar. Un ejercicio agotador para el terapeuta, si se considera que tienen que rehabilitar a 10 o 15 niños al día.

“Cuando los niños usan estas máquinas o rehabilitación manual, caminan agachados porque tienen un soporte de peso que es como una polea que los jala para mantenerlo de pie, es como si fuera una marioneta que al soltarlo se agacha, pero el diseñó del IPN evita esto”.

Se planea tener un producto completo para la mitad del próximo año, con una interfaz gráfica para programar la intensidad, llevar un registro de la evaluación y se adapte al avance del menor.

El proyecto es multidisciplinario, en el trabajan miembros de la Red de Expertos de Robótica y Mecatrónica del IPN. Investigadores del área mecánica, diseño, computación y realidad virtual, quienes diseñan ambientes en los cuales los niños desarrollen su rehabilitación.

Por el momento los recursos se obtienen del IPN, pero se espera trabajar con instituciones de salud para realizar pruebas y mejorar el prototipo. “Generar un producto competitivo, de fácil manejo”.