Welcome to The Interchange! If you received this in your inbox, thank you for your subscription and vote of confidence. If you are reading this as a post on our site, please register over here So you can receive it directly in the future. Every week, I look at the hottest fintech news from the previous week. This includes everything from funding rounds to trends to niche analysis to hot takes on a specific company or event. There’s a lot of fintech news out there and it’s my job to stay on top of it – and understand it – so you can stay informed. – Mary Ann
Hey, hey, Mary Ann here, I feel sorry for myself because it took me so long to be thankful that I had COVID the first time, didn’t I? Fortunately, you can’t catch my germs on a computer or phone screen. I’ll be fine but as a result…you’re stuck with another slightly shorter version of this newsletter! Big thanks and thanks to Kyle Wiegers of TechCrunch who once again saved the day by writing up all the downsides here. Kyle, you are the best.
With Thanksgiving just a week away, how grateful I am to take this opportunity to give you the trust and confidence to put together this newsletter and for all of you to take the time to read it and share it with others. I don’t take this for granted because I wouldn’t have done it without your support. I know there are many fintech focused newsletters, so it really means the world. Okay, now that I’m done with the boring part of this newsletter (not to mention my kids), let’s get straight to the news.
Weekly news
Image Credits: John Anderson, head of payments / Plaid
Plaid It announced the hiring of former Meta exec John Anderson to serve as its first chief payments officer. The move comes as fintech startups lean toward payments, both aiming to streamline themselves and help others do things better and faster. Our first thought was that Stripe was taking another swing at it, but surprisingly, the two remain partners — for now. Plaid also announced that its signal offering from early adopters such as Robinhood, Webull and Uphold is out of beta. Using Signal, he says, companies can “unlock fast ACH.”
Unlike crypto, some parts of the credit market appear to be strong – at least for now. Now HoldingsThe Warren Buffett-backed Brazilian banking firm, which offers credit cards and personal loans and is commonly known as Nubank, posted a nearly three-fold jump in Q3 revenue on Monday. While U.S. stocks have lost more than half their value this year when Nu went public, its customer base has grown to more than 70 million following a dramatically expanded footprint in Mexico. Total revenue in Q3 reached $1.3 billion, up 171 percent, and profit rose to $427 million, up 90 percent.
Five years ago, Revolt, a British fintech company with an extensive portfolio of banking services, made the news when it reached more than a million customers across Europe. That seems rare now; this week, revolution The company has hit 25 million customers globally as it prepares to expand into new markets including India, Mexico, Brazil and New Zealand. Revolut was last valued at 33 billion dollars, but last year at least the company was not yet profitable; Revolut reported a net loss of 167 million pounds (~$197.94 million) in 2021, the highest ever.
A discussion on Twitter quotes suggests that valuations are retreating and the backlog of IPOs is growing in fintech? Silicon Valley Bank This week’s State of the Markets report says yes on both counts. According to the firm, the steepest decline in valuation has occurred for late-stage fintech companies. “Enterprise value” to “next 12 months” earnings multiples for public fintechs have fallen 55% since the market peaked in early January. Meanwhile, the number of US fintech unicorns has grown by 38% to 159 by the end of 2021 – standing at an impressive total valuation of $656 billion, indicating a huge backlog to exit.
According to a study by the National Institute of Mental Health, 72 percent of startup founders are affected by mental health issues. Stepping out of the lane a little fintech giant Brakes He launched Catharsis, a program designed to provide resources dedicated to mental health. Brax says it’s partnering with Spring Health to facilitate access to therapists and extend discounts on sleep tracking AuraRing. It sounds like a worthy cause, but some of us wonder if the effort is aimed at distracting the ill-received pillar of Brexit from supporting small businesses.
Payment cards are big business. According to research and markets, the segment may exceed $2 billion in 2026, growing from $1.96 billion this year. That’s why banking-as-a-service started Room It’s investing — the company on Tuesday launched a service that lets customers build custom charge cards for end users. The unit handles all aspects of the backend including card printing, compliance and transaction tracking. In this way, it’s a different approach from corporate card issuers Brakes and Ramp, argues Unit CEO Itai Damti, who are strictly business-to-business – Unit sees its offering as more “business-to-business-to-consumer”.
If you’re itching to read articles about the tech sector’s supposed economic woes, a Ukraine-based fintech investor Vadym Synegin He wrote a great article for TC+ on what founders can do to help their companies thrive in times of crisis. Among other steps, he suggests that founders double down on developing and ensuring product quality, manage risk, and find ways to grow their company with high-performing talent.
Just over a year ago, Wise – the company formerly known as TransferWise – has gone public on the London market. Now, looking for new avenues of growth, Wise is forging wider partnerships with up-and-coming remote hiring startups. Share To (ostensibly) allow companies to pay workers faster. Wiz and Dell’s new feature allows customers to send money with just an email address, unlocking new currencies within Dell’s existing payments infrastructure. To benefit, Dell customers simply need to open a Wiz account and link it to the Dell platform.
In another post for TC+, a fintech consultancy Greg Easterbrook He lays out four moves he believes fintech companies should take to set themselves up for success in the coming months. He urges startup founders to ensure their technology stack supports the edge of fintech, and warns of competition from traditional financial firms offering a more “superior” experience with robust member benefits and perks. Fintechs that outperform the market focus on specific services or adopt a strategy to build new products and benefits, Easterbrook says.
Although the world’s largest prepaid debit card company by market capitalization, Green point It usually flies under the radar. But the firm has faced challenges in recent months, with Uber – one of its contract customers – and “several” banking customers saying they were unwilling to renew their contracts this summer. In a shakeup aimed at righting the ship, Green Dot this week named a new CFO, COO and chief revenue officer and said it is focusing on modernizing tech, including moving to a cloud-based core banking platform and card management system.
Fintech startup Swelling And MasterCard They’re teaming up on a new card aimed at musicians and content creators (think TikTok influencers). How does one build a card for creators, you may ask? Well, in Bump’s case, you avoid monthly fees and credit checks, such as a customer’s Web3 assets (e.g. cryptocurrencies, NFTs) when determining credit limits. There are many cards that don’t require a credit check, and at least one startup, Spectral, is trying to create a Web3 “credit scores” system. But the bump supply is interesting.
StellarFi, an evolving credit building service that makes bill payments on your behalf and submits them to the major credit bureaus. The company announced this week that five months after its launch, it has surpassed $1 million in annual recurring revenue and has seen an 83 percent increase in customer base over the past month. The current economic climate has something to do with StellarFi’s success – US inflation remains above 7% and short-term lending rates are at their highest level since January 2008.
Funding and M&A
Image Credits: Co-founders Carolina Noukamendi and Brenna Curran / Wavir
Featured on TechCrunch and beyond.
Daylight, LGBTQ+ Neobank, raises funds to launch subscription plan for family planning
Fiat Ventures, with $25M in initial funding, brings an ‘insider’ approach to early-stage fintech investing.
Valar Ventures leads $20M round in online brokerage platform Barca.
UK fintech banking raises $15 million for US expansion
The founders of Waiver had failed at their first company. That’s how they landed $1.4 million for their company.
WeGift closes £26M Series B funding as demand for digital payments platform continues to grow.
Indian fintech Lentra raises $60 million to expand loans-as-a-service for banks
Payzen Raises $20M for Healthcare Buyout Now, Pay Later
Revere Partners has invested 10 million dollars to bring about the transformation of fintech in dental care
That’s it for now. I’ll be picking it up next week and I hope many of you are too! This newsletter will be back on December 4th. I wish you all the best and a safe and healthy holiday week. xoxo, Mary Ann
