[ad_1]
Image credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch
Welcome to The Interchange. We cover the hottest fintech news from the past week. Happy New Year to you and your family. If you’d like to receive The Interchange straight to your inbox every Sunday, go here and sign up. We’ll continue to run our newsletter, but we’re happy to announce that starting next week it will have a completely new name and a different look. stay tuned!
new funds
The year started with news that there are several new venture funds writing checks to fintech startups.First, we scooped the original news anthemis group Partner Ruth Fox Blader started her own company; fox capital. Joining her in the new business, also focused on fintech, are former Anthemis investment associate Kyle Perez and former principal Sophie Winwood.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Ruth at TechCrunch Disrupt 2022 and was impressed by her knowledge and insight on venture capital. Therefore, it was no surprise that she wanted to expand and invest in her business independently.
What was a bit unusual about this move, however, is that, at least for the first year, she will continue to invest on behalf of Anthemis, essentially putting the remaining funds behind the vehicle she was hired to manage in 2017. That is. You will be paid by Anthemis as a sub-advisor. It’s unclear whether the firm will support her as an LP as she launches her new investments. Although she didn’t say it, I suspect she was bound by her contractual obligations, so this arrangement circumvented them.
London-based Anthemis has experienced considerable turmoil over the past year. Last April, TechCrunch broke the news that Anthemis had completed a restructuring that involved layoffs of 16 people, about 28% of its workforce.
At the time, a company spokesperson said the move was in response to “strategic priorities” to “better reflect current market conditions and position the business for future growth.” People familiar with the company’s internal affairs told me at the time that there was a lot of drama going on behind the scenes, including allegations of mismanagement and inflated salaries among company executives.
When asked if her departure had anything to do with what’s going on inside Anthemis, Blader told me: Together with the founders. ”
I also wrote about Exponent Founders Capital Closed second fund of $75 million. Charlie Ma, one of the company’s co-founders and managing partners, was a fun story to write, considering I knew him well from his time at Alloy and as an angel investor. Ta. He and Mahdi Raza secretly co-founded Exponent in 2021, investing in about 40 companies from an initial $50 million fund. What’s interesting is that the two actually first met “on opposite sides of the table” when Ma was at Plaid and Raza was at Robinhood. Both have experience as business owners and angel investors. And like Ruth, Charlie also seems like a nice person.
Also, it’s always interesting to see corporate graduates start their own thing. The PayPal mafia has been talked about for years, but it appears there are many other similar mafias, albeit smaller, whose investors are graduates of other late-stage fintech companies. is. — Mary Ann
You can hear Alex and Mary Ann talk more about it on Friday’s episode of Equity.
weekly news
Senior reporter Romain Dilett explains some of the pros and cons. HSBC‘s new international payments app Zing and how it compares to Wise and Revolut. Zing is currently limited to users in the UK. In it, Romain writes about his Zing’s different approach to foreign exchange fees. What is his overall opinion? “Immigrants and frequent travelers will appreciate that there are new candidates in this field.” Read more.
We’re looking at the aftermath of their breakup. synapseits banking partners Evolve Bank & Trust and Startup Banking Platform Mercury. In October, I reported on this after speaking with Synapse and Evolve, which run platforms that allow banks and fintech companies to easily develop financial services. This stemmed from suspicions including who was responsible for a customer’s lack of funds. The latest information is that Mercury is seeking to recover approximately $30 million, among other things, as part of a lawsuit filed against Synapse, as first reported by Fintech Business Weekly in December. The lawsuit was filed in California Superior Court on Dec. 13 over San Francisco County. In response, Synapse founder and CEO Sankaet Pathak called Mercury’s claims “worthless” in a lengthy Medium post on December 28th. He also said that Mercury would rather “tarnish Synapse’s reputation rather than seek true legal recourse.” What’s next? I think we’ll find out later this month. — Christine
especially, deal CEO and co-founder Alex Bouaziz posted on X last week that his company is hiring for more than 1,000 positions this year. Of course, our first thought was, “Did Deal raise more money?” When I contacted Alex to ask, he said the company hasn’t raised any additional funding but has been profitable since September 2022, “just lots of new products and ambitious goals!” added. Meanwhile, VC Rex Salisbury posted on X in response, saying he is “aware of several companies that are expanding to 1,000+ employees in the later stages.” That’s crazy. — Mary Ann
Mary Ann, on the other hand, reflected: The biggest fintech hits and misses of 2023. Remember when Apple launched competitive interest rate savings accounts? This sparked a battle of sorts for fintech companies to outdo the consumer tech giants. We also saw WeChat Pay and Alipay go cashless. And who can forget when his CEO at Carta, Henry Ward, called for more caution on some bad news? There were also many acquisitions. What do you think is the biggest fintech story of the year? Let us know in the comments or email us.
And Mary Ann shares her memories with editors Brian Heater and Zach Whitaker. Startups lost in 2023. Some of the fintech companies included Braid, Daylight, and ZestMoney.
Other items we are reading:
Prediction: We think that in 2024, we could actually, really, ultimately, go public with maybe 15 companies. As her colleague Rebecca Szkutak reported on her TechCrunch+, venture capitalists also expect more companies to exit in 2024. Here’s what they have to say:
Walmart has added Affirm’s “buy now, pay later” option to its self-checkout. Watch Chrisine’s conversation with her Affirm product lead girlfriend Vishal Kapoor. There, he discussed the company’s new approach to continuous innovation: buy now, pay later.
Baaskit launches in Chile with Financial Markets Commission approval to introduce ‘banking as a service’ for businesses using API technology
Neobanks vs. Legacy Banks: Drawing the Battle Lines in 2024
Neobank Bunq deploys customer-facing gen AI tools
Robinhood acquires Chartol to expand media portfolio
Fintech IPO index soars 55% in 2023 as platforms record triple-digit growth
Funding and M&A
As seen on TechCrunch
Peak XV-backed MobiKwik aims to raise $84 million in Indian IPO
ICYMI: Bestwell raises $125 million to help companies accelerate workplace savings programs
Saudi shopping and BNPL platform Tamara surpasses $1 billion valuation with $340 million Series C funding
can be seen elsewhere
Crew raises $2.5 million in pre-seed investment
Visa adds real-time funds transfer to fintech fast track
Lennar bought proptech ViiV, raised $600 million and blew it up. TechCrunch first reported on the company’s struggles here.
podcast
Mary Ann recorded a number of podcasts in December that you may have missed. Catch up here:
The most fascinating fintech stories of 2023
Equity managers predict VC decline in 2024
Startup closures and AI showdown: A 2023 chronicle
SVB, SBF and (and more) OpenAI: Chronicles of 2023, pt. 2
And here’s our article on podcasts you should listen to overall in 2024.
[ad_2]
Source link