Fintech Highlights - 05/24/2022

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Pinned to the Top

Klarna, the Buy-now-pay-later startup valued last year at $46 billion, could see its valuation fall by one-third in a tough environment for tech companies.

The company became Europe’s most valuable financial-technology startup in June when SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund 2 led an investment in the company that valued it at $45.6 billion.

The Sweden-based payments company is aiming to raise up to $1 billion from new and existing investors in a deal that could value it in the low $30-billion-range after the money is injected, the people said. That would represent a roughly 30% drop from the previous round.

Earlier this year, Klarna spoke with investors about a valuation of more than $50 billion, but some balked amid the market jitters, one of the people said.

Its valuation jumped massively through several fundraising rounds during the pandemic as consumers and businesses moved transactions online, a trend accelerated by pandemic-induced lockdowns. Klarna raised money in March 2021 and was then valued at $31 billion. The June fundraising made Klarna more valuable than most large European banks.

But - public- and private-market investors are now second-guessing the inroads Klarna and other buy-now-pay-later firms made with consumers.

More here ->

The BFD

Delinquencies on subprime car loans and leases hit an all-time high in February, based on Equifax’s tracking that goes back to 2007.

What this is the BFD: The jump in subprime delinquencies could reduce lenders’ willingness to make loans to riskier borrowers.

The big picture: Many people, including those with less-than-perfect credit, paid off debts and built up savings during the pandemic, a surprising outcome considering that lenders at first thought borrowers would default en masse when Covid-19 hit. The government’s response, including stimulus payments and child tax credits, boosted many families’ financial health. But now many of those benefits have run out. Subprime borrowers, who sometimes have lower incomes or less savings, are being hit hard. Inflation, running near its highest point in four decades, is also forcing many households to choose between paying for essentials and paying their monthly loans.

Dig deeper ->

M&A

Experian agreed to acquire a 51% stake in MOVA, a Brazilian credit assessment fintech, for around $8m. More here ->

Fintechs

SpotOn, an SF-based provider of point-of-sale payment solutions, raised $300m in Series F funding at a $3.6b valuation.  Since its 2017 inception, SpotOn has been focused on providing software and payments technology to SMBs with an emphasis on restaurants and retail businesses.  More here ->

Unit, a Redwood City, Calif.-based banking-as-a-service startup, raised $100m in Series C funding at a $1.2b valuation. Unit touts that companies using its technology in a variety of industries — such as freelance or creator economy and personal financial management, for example — can build financial products directly into their software. This gives them the ability to build and launch next-gen bank accounts, cards, payment and lending products. More here ->

Column Tax, a New York-based personal income tax software startup, raised $21.7m in Series A funding. The company provides an API that enables mobile banking and fintech companies to offer tax products to their users. More here ->

Pigeon Loans, a Miami-based P2P lending startup, raised $2.5m in seed funding. The Y Combinator-backed startup has developed a platform that makes it easy for users to lend each other money. The premise is simple: One party sets the terms of the loan, including the interest rate. They send that to the other party to sign, creating a legally-binding contract. More here ->

Thought Machine, a London-based B2B banking platform, raised $160m at a $2.7b valuation.  Thought Machine’s core banking platform Vault Core “is developed natively for the cloud – uniquely positioned to support large-scale banks undertaking core transformation, as well as smaller banks and fintechs launching new propositions to the market.” More here ->

Modulr, a London-based embedded payments platform for digital businesses, raised $108m in Series C funding. The company, which boasts firms like Revolut and sage among its customer base, said it is now has now looking to bolster its product offer for a range of new markets. More here ->

Circit, an Irish audit confirmation and open banking startup, raised €6.5m in series A funding. The Dublin-based fintech has developed a platform for managing financial auditing used by banks, solicitors and brokers. Circit is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland as an account information service provider under PSD2 – the EU regulation for open banking. More here ->

Xendit, a payments infrastructure platform for Southeast Asia, raised $300m. The company says that over the last year, it grew annualized transactions from 65 million to 200 million, and increased total payments value from $6.5 billion to $15 billion. More here ->

In3, a Dutch BNPL startup, raised $83.5m in Series B equity and debt funding. Launched in 2018, in3 is a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) fintech that gives consumers the option to pay in three interest-free instalments with no hidden costs. More here ->

Crypto

Celsius Network, a Hoboken, N.J.-based crypto lending startup, said its mining unit filed confidentially for an IPO. Founded in 2017, Celsius Network allows users to earn interest by holding cryptocurrencies. More here ->

Coins.ph, a fiat and crypto wallet services provider in the Philippines, raised $30m in Series C funding. Coins.ph is Southeast Asia's leading mainstream super app that boasts over 16 million users with licensed fiat and crypto wallet and exchange services including cryptocurrencies, e-wallet, and payments. More here ->

Insuretechs

Curbo, a leading e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars that is currently operating in the Greater Toronto Area, has announced plans to expand to the US. The company offers flexible car subscriptions for 1 - 4 months inclusive of embedded: auto insurance, routine maintenance, roadside assistance. More here ->

Lassie, a Stockholm-based pet insurance startup, raised €11m in Series A funding. The company offers pet insurance tailored to each customer’s pet breed and circumstances. More here ->

Trellis, a Salem, N.H.-based car insurance marketplace, raised $5m. Trellis says it has built an API platform that lets consumers shop for car insurance policies by offering side-by-side comparisons, a way to buy a new plan and cancel their old plan — all at once. More here ->

Proptech

Belong, a San Mateo, Calif.-based rental property management startup, raised $50m in equity funding (plus $30m in debt).  Belong is a three-sided marketplace that provides services for both homeowners that are landlords and renters. More here ->

Arrived, a single-family rentals investment platform, raised $25m in Series A funding. TechCrunch has reported on Fractional and Fintor, which are also focused on residential real estate. Others like Fundrise and Cadre are focused on commercial real estate investing. Seattle-based Arrived claims that it is different from others in the category in that it is “fully SEC-qualified,” meaning that it has approval from the Securities and Exchange Commision to offer shares of individual homes. More here ->

Parcl, a New York-based blockchain real estate investing platform, raised $7.5m. Parcl has built a synthetic asset protocol that allows investors to buy and sell digital real estate based on geography, both broadly or at a granular (neighborhood) level. More here ->

Peek, a New York-based leasing enablement startup, raised $2.5m in seed funding. Peek provides a platform for real estate professionals to target, engage and build trust with qualified prospects, a tool for prospective renters in the decision-making phase of their searchMore here ->

FirstClose, an Austin, TX-based fintech provider of data and workflow solutions for mortgage and home equity lenders nationwide, raised $35M in Equity funding. FirstClose offers underwriting workflow automation technology and point-of-sale Software and data services for U.S. home and mortgage markets. This allows for faster closing HELOCs and mortgages to more than 400 credit union and banks customers.  More here ->

From the Stash

Here’s why crypto companies are flocking to Texas — www.dallasnews.com Mance Harmon graduated from college in 1993 when the World Wide Web was just getting ripples, so he remembers the frustrations of trying to explain it to his...

Digital debt collection agency InDebted arrives in the UK aiming to improve sector image — www.altfi.com Meet the debt collection agency with over 1800 five star reviews and named the best place to work in Australia.

How payroll data became the holy grail — content.11fs.com Simon Taylor is joined by some great guests, from Branch, Atomic and Check, to talk about how the rush for payroll data is building a potential $10bn…

Cool Technology

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