Fintech Highlights - 11/15/2022
Pinned to the Top
This week it was announced that PayPal and Venmo debit cards will be accepted in Apple Wallet. And that PayPal will offer Apple Pay as an option in its checkout offerings.
The news puts to bed an issue dating back to 2014, when PayPal irked the tech giant by partnering with Samsung.
But is it too late in the day to really benefit the veteran payments company?
Over the last 20 years, a lot has happened in space they used to call their own, and there’s a question over which party this really benefits the most.
Just how far the relationship between these two old rivals goes is up for debate. But we’ve seen Apple put the squeeze on their competition before, and we probably will again. The scale and power they’ve built up over the years is nearly impossible to reckon with. PayPal’s next move? That’s anyone’s guess.
The BFD
The once-third-largest crypto exchange FTX has fallen from prestige in the past week and has now announced it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S.
FTX CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried has resigned from his role, and Enron turnaround veteran John J. Ray III has been appointed as the new CEO.
Why this is the BFD: Easy. A lot of people are losing a lot of money. Including FTX’s once high flying and well respected founder. One of the most respected VC firms in the country, Sequoia, just write off their entire position in FTX,
What happened? This news comes after a week-long collapse of the FTX empire as the company attempted to keep itself afloat, seeking acquisitions and fresh capital from market players. On Tuesday, the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance signed a letter of intent to acquire FTX. But just a bit over 24 hours later, Binance backed out of the plan after reviewing FTX’s structure and books.
What’s next? This is a significant moment for crypto. Some likening it to the 2008 market collapse - a Lehman like situation. What will happen is anyone’s guess but watch out for more regulation and scrutiny perhaps?
USAA’s Pitch Day
One way USAA is celebrating its 100th anniversary - is by looking for the next generation of entrepreneurs who can carry the spirit of service-minded innovation into the next century. Up to 36 startups competed in regional pitch contests of five to six businesses, culminating in the finals event in San Antonio this week.
The companies that made their way to Texas were:
Straylight Systems is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) company working withfinancial institutions and fintechs to solve the millions of dollars wasted onfailed software & data engineering projects. More here →
OrganizedQ - We are a growing team of Military Spouses & Veterans dedicated to providing Quality Virtual Executive Assistant Services to Entrepreneurs, Solopreneurs, and Small Business Owners. Our goal is to help you get organized so that you can focus on growing your own business. More here ->
PERMITS.com - Making it easy for general contractors and skilled trade professionals in the construction industry to obtain building permits, manage sub-contractor compliance, and access permit-related insights at over 19k local municipalities in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Guam. More here →
WingDriver - is an Artificial Intelligence Software as a Service company that applies AI to a combination of facial analysis, vehicle inertial data, and the vehicle surroundings to accurately identify dangerous situations. Alerts are generated to wake up drowsy drivers and to warn distracted drivers of danger. Other driver states are also detected. Data is optionally sent to the cloud for analysis and further algorithm improvement and product updates and new features are sent down from the cloud to the smartphone. More here →
City Detect - Using cameras and AI to analyze and report on the exterior condition ofhousing. The company is co-led by Erik Johnson, PhD and Gavin Baum-Blake, Esq. Transforming Communities! More here →
Readyly - We build technology that transforms how people work. More here →
Candelytics - is an accelerator-backed startup building the digital infrastructure to support the coming revolution in 3D data. We are partnered with the Navy Information Warfare Center's (NIWC) research lab to leverage LIDAR-based technology and develop advanced analytics that will make 3D data accessible, intelligent, and impactful across a diverse array of operational environments. More here →
Duality Systems - is a technology products and services provider with deep professional experience in artificial intelligence, operations analytics, data science, and decision and risk analysis. Our premier product, Balance Scheduler, is an AI-powered automatic scheduling system that instantaneously creates appealing and effective custom schedules for the most complex industries. More here →
re:3D® Inc - Spun out of Engineers Without Borders – NASA Johnson Space Center in 2013, re:3D® Inc. is a social enterprise pioneering new innovations to decimate the cost & scale barriers to 3D printing in order to create jobs & enable problem-solvers worldwide to independently address local needs. More here →
Fluid Intelligence (FI) - analyzes a building's water usage data to prevent property damage, to provide peace-of-mind, and to educate the water consumer. FI uses IoT and Cloud computing to monitor water usage 24/7/365, to create water usage profiles down to the fixture level, and then uses such profiles to identify abnormal water usage, including pipe ruptures, leaks, and wasteful behaviors. More here →
And the winner was……Candelytics. More here →
M&A
Bill (NYSE: BILL) agreed to buy Finmark, a Raleigh, N.C.-based financial planning and analysis software firm that had raised over $11m from firms like Bessemer Venture Partners, Draper Associates and American Express Ventures. More here →
Thomson Reuters has announced plans to acquire SurePrep, a tax automation software company based in Irvine, California. The transaction, which Thomson Reuters said it expects to close in Q1 2023, values SurePrep at $500 million, which will be paid entirely in cash. More here →
Fintechs
SparkPlug, an SF-based payout automation and sales management platform, raised $8m in Series A funding. Working with more than 1,000 US retailers and over 200 brand partners, SparkPlug helps businesses harness the power of frontline employees and influence buying decisions at the point of sale. Using SparkPlug’s platform, retail and restaurant management teams, as well as brands themselves, can create a profit-sharing incentive program or sales contest that integrates directly into an organization’s POS system. More here →
PayZen, an SF-based health care payments affordability platform, raised $20m in equity led by 7wire Ventures and a $200m credit facility from Viola Credit. More here →
Tellus wants to give you higher yields on your savings. The six-year-old fintech startup claims it can offer people yields of 3.85% to 4.5% on their savings balances by using the money to fund certain U.S. single-family-home loans. More here →
Altar, a Swedish business payment automation startup, raised €5m. The company has been working on an application programming interface (API) that facilitates bank-to-bank payments for European businesses. Atlar provides a modern API that hides all the complexities involved with bank connections. Once a company uses Atlar, it can trigger transfers, reconcile transactions and process direct debits through Atlar’s API directly. More here →
Bink, an Egyptian consumer credit startup, raised $12.5m in equity funding. The digital lending platform partners with Egyptian merchants, allowing them to underwrite customers at the point of sale and provide them with finance to purchase items such as electronics, furniture and automotive services via 6-36 month installments. More here →
Kuda, the London-based and Nigerian-operating startup taking on incumbents in the country with a mobile-first and personalized set of banking services, is expanding to the U.K. by offering a remittance product to Nigerians in the diaspora. More here →
Lentra, an Indian embedded finance startup, raised $60m in Series B funding at a valuation north of $400m. Bessemer Venture Partners and SIG co-led, and were joined by Citi Ventures. More here →
Investtech
Savvy Wealth, a New York-based wealth management startup, raised $11m in Series A-1 funding. Savvy is a “technology-driven wealth management firm with an emphasis on building software to drive automation and efficiency for wealth managers so they can focus on what truly matters — quality time with clients.” More here →
Crypto
Amber Group, a Singapore-based digital asset trading platform, is seeking to raise over $100m at a $3b valuation, per Bloomberg. More here →
Ramp, a London-based crypto payments infrastructure startup, raised $70m in Series B funding. Ramp says payment volumes have increased 240% year-over-year, and the number of unique users coming from integration partners rose by more than seven times. More here →
Ping, a digital payments wallet focused on Latin America, raised $15m in seed funding. The company was started in 2021 to solve payment challenges in Latin America, where about 70% of the population does not have a traditional bank account. Today, it is a digital payment tool, available on Android, iOS and desktop, facilitating international payments for remote workers, contractors and freelancers in both their local currency and in fiat and cryptocurrency. More here →
Archax, a British digital asset exchange, raised $28.5m in Series A funding. Archax is the UK's only digital asset exchange to be licensed by the Financial Conduct Authority. More here →
Fordefi, a DeFi wallet maker for institutions, raised $18m in seed funding. Fordefi’s first product is a DeFi-focused wallet built for institutional investors and crypto-native funds working with decentralized applications. More here →
Insuretech
Glow, an SF-based digital insurer for small businesses, raised $22.5m in Series A funding. Glow partners with a number of well-known insurance providers to offer all the commercial insurance lines a small business needs, starting with workers’ compensation and then offering extended coverage to existing customers with an automated and streamlined insurance experience. More here →
Anzen, a provider of executive risk insurance software, raised $10m led by Andreessen Horowitz. The company states that “42% of early-stage startups and small businesses get sued by their employees” and that “Anzen provides the most comprehensive insurance you need to protect your business.” More here →
Napo, a pet insurance startup, raised a £15 million Series A funding round.The company not only offers pet insurance but also pet health prevention information, pet ownership education and additional services. More here →
Proptech
Billd, a provider of financial solutions for commercial subcontractors, announced that it has closed on a $100M debt facility, led by LL Funds LLC. The company last raised a $30M Series B led by LL Funds in 2021. More here →
From the Stash
Tech Companies Are Bracing For A Winter of Layoffs - More here →
What a bleak way to start November. By our analysis, around 15% of the U.S. tech sector layoffs so far this year happened just last week. Experts we spoke with say that after an uncertain market that led to sparse layoffs in the summer, companies are now seeing the writing on the wall and cutting their numbers by the hundreds.
Elon Musk detailed his vision for Twitter’s plan to enter the payments market - More here →
The new remarks followed a report this morning by The New York Times which confirmed Twitter last week had filed registration paperwork that would allow it to process payments.
FTC warns 'no CEO or company is above the law' if Twitter shirks privacy order - More here →
The has telegraphed what appears to be a now-inevitable investigation into Twitter’s internal data handling practices, as the company continues to shed important staff and improvise new features
Grab online bank leader Reuben Lai to step down - More here →
Lai was head of Grab Financial Group until May 2022, and then executive director and head of regional strategy at GXS Bank, the digital bank joint venture between Grab Holdings and telecom Singtel.
Grab online bank leader Reuben Lai to step down - More here →
Core provider FIS selected President Stephanie Ferris as its chief executive, effective Jan. 1, 2023. In addition to her new title, Ferris was also appointed to the FIS Board of Directors.
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