Fintech Highlights - 3/14/2022

Note: this has been a busy week, and we hit a delay in our Tuesday deployment.

Therefore this one will be brief - but 3/21 is gonna be 🔥

Pinned to the Top

Silvergate Bank is winding down its operations and will voluntarily liquidate, its holding company Silvergate Capital said. Silvergate had been a top bank for crypto companies and saw a run on deposits following the collapse of FTX, a major customer.

The announcement comes a week after Silvergate warned it could be “less than well capitalized” due to heavy losses. It also shut down the Silvergate Exchange Network, a system used by crypto companies and institutional investors for quick payments. The issues at Silvergate have prompted crypto startups to search for new banks, which for many smaller firms has been a challenge, as The Information reported Tuesday. Silvergate said on Wednesday that all deposits will be repaid in full through the liquidation.

“In light of recent industry and regulatory developments, Silvergate believes that an orderly wind down of Bank operations and a voluntary liquidation of the Bank is the best path forward,” the company said in a statement. Silvergate has tapped investment bank Centerview Partners as a financial advisor and Cravath, Swaine & Moore as legal counsel to assist with the liquidation.

The BFD

⚡ The latest: New York-based Signature Bank, once known as one of the most crypto-friendly institutions on Wall Street, was shut down by regulators Monday night.

• 👀 Barney Frank — the former Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, and Dodd-Frank namesake — is on Signature's board.
• Signature's collapse comes after last week's failure of crypto bank Silvergate. (Go deeper)

First Republic — an SVB rival that many felt could be next to face a bank run — shored up its finances via JPMorgan Chase. (Go deeper)

• 🇬🇧 Silicon Valley Bank's U.K. business has been sold to HSBC for £1 (not a typo), the British government and bank announced this week. (Go deeper)

🔎 Between the lines: The Biden administration is keen that the announcement not be seen as a "bailout" — one of the more toxic concepts to the American electorate, Axios Markets co-author Matt Phillips writes.

• "The banks, equity and bondholders are being wiped out," a senior Treasury Department official said on a call with reporters. "They took a risk as the owners of these securities, they will take the losses."
  

M&A

Slice, an Indian consumer payment unicorn, invested $3.4m to acquire a 5% stake in Indian bank North East Small Finance.  More here →

Railsr, a London-based embedded finance startup that raised over $180m in VC funding, filed for administration as part of an agreement to be acquired by a shareholder consortium that includes D Squared Capital and Moneta.  More here →

Embedded Fintech

Synctera, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based banking-as-a-service startup, raised $15m. Synctera is also announcing that it is partnering with the National Bank of Canada to help companies launch fintech apps and embedded banking products in the country.  More here →

Fintech

Fynn, a provider of private student loans for skilled workers, raised $11m in seed funding   More here →

Barley, a Toronto-based compensation management platform, raised US$4m in seed funding. The company enables it’s customers to “structure, analyze, and manage compensation across their entire company - and keep a pulse on changing salary trends.” More here →

Till Payments, an Australian payments tech startup, raised A$70m in Series D funding led by Silva Fortune. Founded in 2012, Till Payments claims to serve hundreds of merchants across 12 countries, providing a data-driven and end-to-end payment solution for online and bricks-and-mortar stores.  More here →

Investtech

Masttro, a New York-based provider of wealth management tech for ultra-high-net-worth families, raised $43m. Masttro “aggregates, analyzes and reports customers total net worth. It ingests all structured and unstructured data including illiquid and liquid investments, liabilities and passion assets in every currency, in every region.” More here →

Crypto

Kresus, developer of a crypto "super app," raised $25m in Series A funding. Liberty City Ventures led, and was joined by JetBlue Ventures, Craft Ventures, Franklin Templeton, Marc Benioff and Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.  More here →

Tweed, a white-label wallet and web3 payment solution, raised $4m in seed funding. Accel led, and was joined by Communitas Capital Partners and Zero Knowledge Ventures.  More here →

From the Stash

Tech needs government - The federal rescue of Silicon Valley Bank customers offers a visceral reminder of just how deeply dependent on government the tech industry remainsAfter a year of layoffs and market retreats, the run on the Valley's own community bank accelerated tech's new status as a troubled industry.  More here →

Stripe’s Fundraise to Reach $6 Billion - Stripe is wrapping up its funding round with an eye-popping total: $6 billion.That’s the amount of money that Stripe will shovel both toward the Internal Revenue Service—to cover employees’ tax withholdings—and to employees themselves who want to sell shares in a tender offer.   More here →

Even with the collapse of SVB, crypto is going to be OK, for now - Regulators shutting down both Silicon Valley Bank and New York-based Signature Bank this week seemed like it would cause serious trepidations in the crypto market. That has not been the case.  More here →

Crypto Bank Anchorage Digital Lays Off 20% of Staff - Cryptocurrency bank Anchorage Digital laid off 20% of its staff, or 75 people, on Tuesday, citing crypto market volatility, macroeconomic challenges and U.S. regulatory uncertainty. More here →

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