Bolt reoves their CEO. Robinhood launched its first credit card. Ibotta goes public (!). And more...

Here's what we've been watching this week 👇

Pinned to the Top

Maju Kuruvilla, the former Amazon executive who took over as Bolt CEO after co-founder Ryan Breslow stepped down from the position, is leaving the role after the board voted to remove him this weekend, Bolt told its shareholders. Justin Grooms, Bolt’s global head of sales, has become interim CEO. Bolt said the split with Kuruvilla was “amicable” but didn’t give further reasons.

Kuruvilla’s exit, which he confirmed on LinkedIn, follows a tough two years for the company, which sells software to merchants designed to make it easier for shoppers to buy goods online. As growth slowed, it underwent at least four rounds of layoffs. Then in February, it offered to buy back shareholders’ stakes at a price that implied a $300 million valuation, 97% lower than its 2022 fundraising when BlackRock and an Abu Dhabi government fund valued it at $11 billion.

Kuruvilla, a former Amazon vice president, joined the startup in January 2021 as chief technology officer before rising to CEO the next year. In a statement, Bolt spokesperson Brett Stanton said the firm is “confident that we have the right leadership team in place to help guide Bolt’s next phase.”

The BFD

Robinhood launched its first credit card yesterday during a first-ever product keynote event in New York City.

Why it matters: The retail trading firm is entering a competitive and convoluted space with a Visa card that offers 3% cash back on all categories.

The big picture: Robinhood hopes that an attractive credit card will draw people in to use all of its services.

• "What I predict we'll see is a significant number of customers that join for the credit card and then become investors," CEO Vlad Tenev told Axios in an interview ahead of the news.
• The company's stock soared today on the news, closing up 3.8% to a more than two-year high.

How it works: There's no annual fee for the card, but it will require a Robinhood Gold membership, which runs $5 per month, or $50 annually.

• In addition to the 3% cash back, features include no foreign transaction fees, a companion app that makes it relatively simple to create virtual and one-time cards, and the ability to set up cards for up to five family members with spending limits.
• Robinhood Gold, meanwhile, gives investors additional benefits, such as 5% APY on uninvested cash and a 3% match on Robinhood Retirement IRA contributions.

To help spark interest in the new card and to grow Gold subscriptions, the company is also offering a solid 10k gold version of the credit card to the first 5,000 users who refer 10 friends who sign up for memberships.

M&A

Ibotta, a Denver-based digital rebates platform, filed for an IPO. It plans to trade on the NYSE (IBTA) and reports $38m of net income on $320m in revenue for 2023. The company has raised over $200m in VC funding from backers like Walmart, Koch Disruptive Technologies, GGV Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Teamworthy Ventures and FJ Labs.  More here ->

Adam Neumann and his VC-backed real estate tech firm Flow confirmed that they've offered to buy WeWork out of bankruptcy for more than $500m, without identifying their financing partners. More here ->

Technology provider nCino is looking to create a single platform in the cloud that offers deposits, business loans and personal loans, while meeting regulatory demands and increasing overall efficiency.  With that effort in mind, nCino on March 18 announced its $75 million acquisition of DocFox to eliminate paperwork and reduce overall onboarding time.

Home Depot (NYSE: HD) has agreed to buy building materials supplier SRS Distribution for around $18.25 billion from Leonard Green & Partners and Berkshire Partners. More here ->

Genstar Capital is seeking to sell 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty, an Aurora, Colo.-based home warranty firm that could fetch around $600m, per Bloomberg.  More here ->

Fintech

Goalsetter, a Brooklyn-based family finance app, raised $9.6m in Series A extension funding. Edward Jones and MassMutual co-led, and were joined by Fiserv, Webster Bank, Seae Ventures, Astia Fund, and Partnership Fund for New York City. More here ->

🚑 Goodbill, a Seattle-based startup focused on reducing errors in hospital bills, raised $2m from Founders' Co-op, Maveron, and Liquid 2 Ventures.  More here ->

FlexPoint, a Minneapolis-based payments and financing platform for MSPs, raised $5m in equity funding led by Haymaker Ventures and another $30m in debt, per Axios Pro. More here ->

Uzum, an Uzbekistani food delivery and fintech startup, raised $52m in Series A funding at a $1.2b valuation. FinSight Ventures led, and was joined by Xanara Investment Management.  More here ->

Global Screening Services, a London-based provider of sanctions-screening solutions for banks, raised $47m from Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Cynosure Group, and AlixPartners.  More here ->

ZayZoon, a Phoenix-based earned wage access provider for SMBs, raised $15m in Series B extension funding. Viola Fintech led, and was joined by Intuit Ventures and insiders Framework Venture Partners and Export Development Canada.  More here ->

Keeyns, a Dutch tax tech company, raised €10m from Alea Capital Partners and Mountainview Capital Partners. More here ->

Mortgage Brain, a British mortgage tech startup, raised £1.5m from Fintel.  More here ->

Investtech

FundGuard, a New York-based investment accounting platform, raised $100m in Series C funding. Key1 Capital led, and was joined by Euclidean Capital, Hamilton Lane, and insiders Blumberg Capital and Team8. More here ->

Belong, a British wealth-building startup, raised £3m in pre-seed funding from Octopus Ventures, Viola Fintech, Connect Ventures, Portage Ventures, and January Ventures.  More here ->

NewRetirement, a Mill Valley, Calif.-based financial planning startup, raised $20m. Allegis Capital led, and was joined by Nationwide Ventures, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, and Motley Fool Ventures. More here ->

Crypto

Espresso Systems, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based "shared sequencing" blockchain startup, raised $28m in Series B funding. Andreessen Horowitz led, and was joined by Polygon Labs, StarkWare, Taiko, and Offchain Labs. More here ->

MyPrize, a crypto casino (ed note: redundant?), raised $13m. Dragonfly and Boxcars Ventures co-led, and were joined by a16z, Mechanism Capital, Arrington Capital, Breed VC, JST Capital, and 2 Punks Capital.  More here ->

Rails, a decentralized crypto exchange, raised $6.2m. Slow Ventures led, and was joined by CMCC Global, Round13 Capital and Quantstamp.  More here ->

BOB, a hybrid Layer-2 blockchain, raised $10m in seed funding. Castle Island Ventures led, and was joined by Mechanism Ventures, and Bankless Ventures.  More here ->

Insuretech

Qoala, an Indonesian personal insurer, raised $47m in Series C funding. PayPal Ventures and MassMutual Venturesco-led, and were joined by MUFG Innovation Partners, Omidyar Network and insiders Flourish Ventures, Eurazeo and AppWorks.  More here ->

Proptech

• PipeDreams, an SF-based home services provider, raised $25.5m in Series A funding co-led by Canvas Ventures and Plural.  More here ->

Blueground, a New York-based furnished monthly rental property company, raised $45m in Series D funding led by Susquehanna, per TechCrunch.  More here ->

From the Stash

(COuld have easily been the BFD): Visa and Mastercard agree the largest antitrust settlement in US history - On Tuesday. Visa and Mastercard agreed to limit credit and debit card fees for merchants, in a deal thought to be worth $30 billion. If the settlement is approved by the courts it would resolve almost all litigation claims against Visa and Mastercard, stretching back to 2005, and therefore put an end to a near 20-year legal battle. More here ->

Ally Financial names Rhodes as CEO | Auto Finance News

Ally Financial named a new chief executive today, ending a three-month search.

Auto Finance NewsJoey Pizzolato

Paytm secures license it desperately needed to survive | TechCrunch

India’s Paytm has secured a vital license it needed to survive and maintain continuity of several core features of its eponymous payments app, a day India’s Paytm has secured a vital license it needed to survive and maintain continuity of several core features.

TechCrunchManish Singh

Why VCs are investing in startups that help other startups shut down | TechCrunch

And with an estimated 90% startup failure rate, there’s no shortage of potential customers for startups helping other startups shutter.

TechCrunchMary Ann Azevedo

Fintech giant Stripe’s valuation spikes to $65B in employee stock-sale deal | TechCrunch

The valuation represents a 30% increase compared to what Stripe was valued at last March when it raised $6.5 billion in Series I funding.

TechCrunchMary Ann Azevedo

Visa Adds New AI Tools to Help Fight Digital Fraud on Payments

Visa Inc. is adding three new AI-powered fraud-prevention tools to its suite of products for business clients as the credit-card giant uses the technology to improve security.

BloombergLyla Du

Google is sunsetting the Google Pay app in the US later this year | TechCrunch

Google has announced that Google Pay is shutting down in the United States in June, as the standalone app has been replaced by Google Wallet

TechCrunchAisha Malik

Paytm wallet and FASTag products will cease to exist, Bernstein says | TechCrunch

India’s central bank has extended the deadline for some business restrictions on Paytm’s Payments Bank to March 15 in “larger public interest,” dashing The Reserve Bank of India extended the deadline for some of the business restrictions it’s imposing on Paytm’s Payments Bank to March 15 from February 29.

TechCrunchManish Singh

Grifin’s new model can automatically invest your money as you shop | TechCrunch

Investing app Grifin today officially launched its anticipated investing model called “Adaptive Investing,” which enables you to automatically invest in Investing app Grifin today officially launched its anticipated investing model called “Adaptive Investing,” which enables you to automatically invest in your favorite brands that you frequently shop from.

TechCrunchLauren Forristal

Cash App takes on Apple with a 4.5% APY for savings accounts (with direct deposit) | TechCrunch

Apple’s recent move to boost the interest rate for its Apple Card Savings Account to 4.5% is now prompting a competitor to do the same. Cash App today

TechCrunchSarah Perez

Finix launches integrated payments offering in Canada

San Francisco-based FinTech company Finix has officially launched its business payments solution in the Canadian market.

BetaKitIsabelle Kirkwood

Reports / Webinars

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