welcome to the exchange! If you got this in your inbox, thanks for signing up and your vote of confidence. If you are reading this as a post on our site, sign up here so that you can receive it directly in the future. Every week, I’ll take a look at the latest fintech news from the previous week. This will include everything from funding rounds to trends, an analysis of a particular space, and opinions on a particular company or phenomenon. There’s a lot of fintech news out there and it’s my job to stay on top of it, and make sense of it, so you can stay on top of it. — maria anna
Last week ended with an explosive report published by NY Magazine. The article focused on Light, an LGBQT+-focused neobank whose Series A seed and raises TechCrunch had covered here and here, respectively. The description of CEO and founder Rob Curtis was so far from the suave executive I interviewed that it made me question my own judgment of character. Lawsuits, fabrications, and inappropriate behavior are among the many allegations reported in this in-depth report. piece. One person who tried the bank’s service shared with me that other than being allowed to use their chosen name on a card, they “didn’t really see much in the way of benefits or specialization” and that it was “so flawed” that they left to use it.
Meanwhile, there’s never a dull day in the corporate spending space. Last week I wrote about Ramp reporting 4x revenue growth in 2022. That got me curious about other companies in the space, so I pinged a few of them. A Air base The spokesperson responded, sharing via email: “We grew 2X in the important dimensions of ARR, payment volume, and number of paying customers. It is important to note that the majority of our revenue is high-margin and subscription-based, unlike most exchange revenue-focused companies in our space. We chose not to play the disgusting obfuscation game ARR…” Ouch. Meanwhile, I forgot to include last week that Brex it had expanded into travel space. That company has reportedly altered some feathers, though lately, according to AwardWallet, by devaluing “cash and crypto redemptions by 40% and slashing Brex Rewards points transfer fees to partner airlines by more than 40%” with little to no notice. Twitter was also in an uproar over the news, if this cheep is some indication. I contacted the company, but had not yet received a response.
Other weekly news
Reports Haje Jan Kamps: “What do you do when you have a very successful and popular commodity (marijuana) that is legal in some places, but federally has been a Schedule 1 drug since 1970? Well, you can’t trust any national institution as your business partner. One of the main places it shows up is in payments and payment processing; even after recreational cannabis became legal in 21 states and decriminalized in another dozen or so, cannabis has largely become a cash business. In an increasingly cashless world, that’s a problem for both consumers and businesses. smoky earth it is currently testing a loophole that allows its customers to pay by credit card. It turns out that the secret is cryptography.” More here.
Anna Heim reports: “If you think built-in insurance is the only attraction in insurtech These days, we’ve got a surprise in store for you: While it’s true that startups that help sell insurance alongside other products and services are enjoying tailwinds, there are plenty of other opportunities in the space, multiple investors told TechCrunch+. More here.
I contacted the payment company checkout.comCéline Dufétel’s new CEO, to learn more about her plans in her new role, including what’s in store for the company this year, her thoughts on the future of payments in general, and why she sees so many opportunities in the US. He also asked you how you felt about the Stripe comparisons…and your answer may surprise you. More here.
Kyle Wiggers reports: “Confluent co-founder Neha Narkhede today announced a new fintech company, range, which is developing an ‘AI-powered’ platform to help financial institutions protect online transactions from fraud and theft. Oscillate is entirely self-funded, backed by $20 million that Narkhede and the company’s other co-founder, Sachin Kulkarni, contributed themselves. Narkhede says they opted out of external funding so they can “quickly build and scale the company as it launches publicly.” More here.
Kyle Wiggers reports: Months after submitting a “major update to apple payment Called Apple Pay Later, which allows users to split the cost of an Apple Pay purchase into four equal payments over six weeks with no interest or late fees, Apple has finally released the feature. But not for everyone, at least not yet. Starting today, Apple says it will begin inviting randomly selected users to access a preview version of Apple Pay Later, with plans to offer it to all ‘eligible’ users in iOS 16.4 or iPadOS 16.4 in the coming months.
Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings weighed in on Apple Pay Later news, with senior director Michael Taiano noting via email that “Apple not allowing customers to link to a credit card is a unique feature in their BNPL product that should limit borrowers’ ability to to repay one form of debt with another form of debt, although it does not fully address our broader concerns about the structural and cyclical challenges that the buy-now-pay-later business model continues to face.”
Tage Kene-Okafor conducted an in-depth interview with union54 co-founder and CEO Perseus Mlambo in which the executive “spoke candidly about the issues Union54 had to deal with when it had to halt operations over a $1.2 billion chargeback fraud attempt last year, how the company was at risk of a full shutdown and why fintechs need to be more transparent about fraud exposure.” A must read!
Fintech Futures reports: “Payments giants Visa and MasterCard They are reportedly among a number of companies vying to acquire the Brazilian payment and banking platform. Letter. News reports indicate that the company is working with Goldman Sachs on a potential sale with a reported valuation of $1 billion. Sources tell Bloomberg that other interested parties include a bank and a private equity firm, and that the talks may not result in a sale. According to Pipeline de Valor Economico, Visa submitted an initial offer of $1 billion that was rejected by Pismo, after which Visa increased its offer to $1.4 billion. Further here. TechCrunch covered Pismo’s $108 million raise in October 2021. If true, this is very exciting news not only for Pismo, but for the Latin American startup scene as a whole.
Speaking of Latin America, Latitudea self-described “tech entrepreneurship program” for the Latin American region backed by Andreessen Horowitz and NFX,”business accounts launched.” According to co-founder Brian Requarth, the move was made in part because “most of the founders in LatAm worked with SVB. . . . There is a huge hole,” he said by email. “We had been working on this for months, so we decided to launch it.” TechCrunch covered the rise of Latitude last March.
Aspiration presented a WARNING Notice in Oregon on March 24, 2023, notifying the state that it plans to lay off 180 people sometime between May 26, 2023 and June 1, 2023. Those affected include the director of administration, the president of the MENA region and the vice presidents of business development, HR and product design. As a source shared, Aspiration had planned to go public but has yet to resolve its SPAC. He SPAC requested an extension until June 9 to complete the merger. In particular, according to his website, “he has focused on selling carbon credits to companies rather than the green neobank most people might be familiar with,” the source said. TechCrunch reached out to Aspiration but received no response. The company has raised about $250 million in known funding.
Reports PAYMENTS: “Family Finance Application Green light has introduced an integration for banks and credit unions. Greenlight for Banks… enables financial institutions to add the Greenlight app to their financial service offerings… With the app, banks can offer customers Greenlight tools to earn, save and spend. Plus, parents can automate assignments and send money instantly, while kids and teens get ‘hands-on money management experience with parental supervision,’” the company said.
other headlines
Equals Money Launches New Expense Management Platform in the US
Novo to launch working capital program for small businesses
Pinwheel Launches Smart Branch to Bring Payroll Connectivity to Physical Bank Branches
Secfi and Daffy.org partner to make charitable giving perfect for counseling clients
Has fintech lost its shine? What VCs need to see from founders
Checkout.com President Celine Dufetel Image Credits: checkout.com
Financing and M&A
Spotted on TechCrunch
Salt Labs raises $10 million to gamify frontline work
StellarFi lands $15 million to help people build credit by paying bills and rent on time
Paytrix raises $18.3 million to build its one-stop-shop for payments
Payday wants to jumpstart the future of work in Africa with a $3 million seed led by Moniepoint Inc.
Amazon-backed Acko approaches $120 million in new funding
and in other places
Mexican restaurant payment startup Pacto raises $4 million in seed funding
Investing.com buys StreetInsider for $10 million
Personal finance app Playbook nabs $7 million in Series A
Stratyfy raises $10M to advance AI-powered loan offering
PSA: Last year was my first Disrupt and I was blown away. This year, I am even more excited, since we will have a stage dedicated to fintech! Come join us, it’s going to be amazing.
We’ll be taking a break next week due to the Easter holidays, but I’ll be back on April 16. Until then, take care of yourselves! And as always, thanks for reading and sharing this newsletter. xoxo, Mary Ann