Fintech Highlights - 8/6/2024
Stripe acquires Lemon Squeezy. USAA Teams up With Aflac. Block to reorganize. And more...
Here's what we've been watching this week 👇
Pinned to the Top
Payments giant Stripe has made its third acquisition over the past 14 months and at least the 15th total over its lifetime, TechCrunch exclusively reported.
Stripe picked up 13-person Lemon Squeezy, a merchant of record that calculates and pays global sales tax for digital products, handling legal processing and fees in every country.
The startup primarily served SaaS and software businesses.
It’s always interesting when a larger fintech acquires a smaller competitor. In announcing the acquisition on X, Stripe CEO Patrick Collison said Stripe was “going to scale merchant of record selling in a big way.”
The BFD
BNP Paribas is in exclusive talks to acquire AXA Investment Managers for €5.1 billion ($5.5 billion).
Why it's the BFD: The deal would create one of Europe's largest money managers, with roughly €1.5 trillion in assets under management.
The bottom line: "The purchase is the biggest yet for the BNP CEO, who until now shied away from big takeovers, deciding instead to return excess cash to shareholders after selling US lender Bank of the West for $16.3 billion last year. The proposed deal would allow BNP to challenge Europe's No. 1, Amundi SA, although it would still be dwarfed by US firms such as BlackRock Inc. or Vanguard Group Inc." — Alexandre Rajbhandari, Pamela Barbaglia, and Jan-Henrik Foerster, Bloomberg
M&A
Summer acquired Vault, an Austin, Texas-based student loan repayment company. More here ->
Bain Capital Insurance invested in 1970 Group, a N.Y. specialized risk financing provider to the insurance industry. More here ->
Sequoia Financial Group acquired Karpas Strategies, a Litchfield, Conn.. independent investment management firm. More here ->
Arch Insurance North America, part of Arch Capital Group Ltd. announced it has closed the acquisition of the U.S. MidCorp and Entertainment insurance businesses from Allianz originally announced on April 5. More here ->
Wefox announced a deal to sell its e-bike insurance subsidiary assona to German insurance broker Ecclesia Group. More here ->
Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE: DNB), a Jacksonville, Fla., financial data firm with a $5b+ market cap, is weighing strategic options that could include a sale, per Reuters. More here ->
Embedded Fintech
Canadian legal tech Clio has raised $900 million at a $3 billion valuation - led by new backer New Enterprise Associates, which ponied up more than $500 million alone. A large driver of investor interest was embedded fintech. Clio began integrating payments into its offering in 2022 and has since seen its ARR surge to over $200 million, up from $100 million ARR in June of 2022. More here ->
Fintech
Bilt Rewards, a N.Y. credit card startup, raised $150m in additional funding. Bilt Rewards is a New York-based startup that offers a unique loyalty program allowing members to earn points on rent payments and other neighborhood activities. More here ->
Monto, an N.Y. payments and billing startup, raised $9m in seed funding. The company has developed an AI-based platform that connects enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems with accounts payable (AP) portals, aiming to simplify the payment collection process for suppliers. More here ->
HouseAmp, a Seattle-based home-financing startup, raised $12.4m. The company aims to simplify the process of accessing funds for home improvements, thereby reducing costs and stress associated with selling a home while maximizing returns for homeowners and other stakeholders involved in the selling process More here ->
TigerBeetle, which has built an open source database engineered for financial online transaction processing, recently closed a $24 million Series A round. More here ->
MNT-Halan, a fintech unicorn out of Egypt, is on a consolidation march. The microfinance and payments startup has raised $157.5 million in funding and is using the money in part to fund the acquisition of another fintech, Tam Finans, to expand into Turkey. More here ->
Bourgeois Boheme, a Lithuanian finance management and lifestyle services startup, raised $7m in seed funding. The company offers a sophisticated platform that integrates traditional banking services with cutting-edge technology, providing a comprehensive suite of financial services tailored to the needs of affluent clients More here ->
Investtech
Savvy, a New York provider of wealth management software, raised $15.5m in Series A extension funding led by Canvas Ventures, per Fortune. Savvy Wealth's platform integrates various tools to enhance the efficiency of financial advisors, including AI-powered CRM, digital client onboarding, and marketing automation. More here ->
Crypto
Pichi Finance, a Hong Kong-based crypto trading protocol, raised $2.5m in seed funding. More here ->
Morpho, a French crypto lending startup, raised $50m via a token sale led by Ribbit Capital, with Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase Ventures, Variant, Pantera, Brevan Howard, BlockTower Capital, and Kraken Ventures also participating. More here ->
Insuretech
Boost Insurance, the insurance infrastructure platform, has secured a considerable equity investment from BHMS Investments, LP (BHMS), a private investment firm with a specialty in middle market insurance and insurance-related businesses. More here ->
Gradient AI, a Boston insurance software startup, raised $56.1m in Series C funding. Gradient AI's software-as-a-service platform provides data-driven insights that help insurance companies manage risk more effectively and expand their offerings to underserved markets More here ->
Faye, a Newark, Del., travel insurance startup, raised $31.5m in Series B funding. Faye's insurance plans cover a wide range of areas, including health, trip disruptions, and personal belongings. The company provides digital services, allowing customers to get quotes, purchase coverage, and file claims through its mobile app, which also offers 24/7 support. More here ->
Wisedocs, a Canadian medical records and insurtech company, raised C$4.5m led by CIBC Innovation Banking. More here ->
Proptech
Perchwell, an N.Y. residential real estate data startup, raised $25m in Series B funding led by Lux Capital, with Starwood Capital Group, Flex Capital, Stellar MLS, REcolorado MLS, and California Regional MLS also participating. perchwell.com More here ->
Stairpay, a U.K. shared home ownership startup, raised £750,000 in pre-seed funding. More here ->
From the Stash
USAA Teams up With Aflac to Provide New Insurance Options for Members - USAA, a leading provider of insurance, banking, and investment and retirement solutions to members of the U.S. military, veterans and their families, has announced a new relationship with Aflac, the leading provider of supplemental insurance in the US. More here ->
Inside look: Frost Bank’s AI and payments strategy - Frost Bank is investing in its AI, payments and customer onboarding experience to remain competitive and penetrate new markets. In the second quarter, the $49 billion San Antonio-based bank upped its technology spend 8% year over year to $35.9 million, according to its July 25 earnings report. More here ->
PayPal focuses on omnichannel capabilities for long-term growth - PayPal is investing in its platforms and capabilities to keep up with consumer demand for digital payments. “Today, we operate in a massive, $6 trillion plus, global e-commerce market that benefits from the ongoing digitization of payments,” PayPal President and Chief Executive Alex Chriss said during today’s second-quarter earnings call. More here ->
Fintech Funding: Startup funding jumps 11% YoY - Fintech funding saw a rebound in the second quarter as global funding increased to $8.9 billion, up 11% year over year. The U.S. saw the most fintech funding during the quarter at $4.8 billion across 324 deals, followed by Europe with $1.9 billion across 185 deals, according to data service provider CB Insights. More here ->
Visa takes on not-so-friendly fraud - Dishonest consumers are upping their fraud game as “friendly fraud” becomes the No. 1 problem in credit card disputes, but tech providers and merchants alike are upping their ability to fight through data and AI. Friendly fraud and chargeback fees cost businesses more than $117 billion in 2023, according to a PayPal report. More here ->
Digital banking startup Mercury said that it was no longer serving U.S.-domiciled customers with business and residential addresses from certain countries, including Ukraine and Nigeria, in a move that upset founders and investors alike. Mercury has since gone back on the claim, telling TechCrunch that it was "an error" and that the change in policy only applies to founders living in Ukraine, not founders living in the U.S. with a Ukrainian passport. Seeing an opportunity, competitor Brex swooped in to try and help Ukrainian founders. More here ->
HSBC digitalizes retail, transaction banking - HSBC continued to invest in digitalizing its retail and transaction banking businesses in the first half of 2024. “The steps we’ve taken to change our retail business model and our continued investment in people and digitization have made wealth a key driver of revenue growth,” Chief Executive Noel Quinn said during today’s H1 earnings call. More here ->
Mastercard, Visa deploy AI to fight fraud - Payments behemoths continued investing in technology to control costs and streamline operations in the second quarter. Visa and Mastercard are deploying AI for the following: To fight fraud; Enhance data and analytics; and Boost accounting and sales operations. Mastercard is using AI for operations including data analytics, fraud and cybersecurity to improve offerings and efficiency. More here ->
CRED, an Indian fintech startup, has rolled out a new feature that will help its customers manage and gain deeper insights into their cash flow - as the startup seeks to drive engagement through personal finance tools. More here ->
Revolut has been granted a banking license from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the U.K - This is a significant milestone for the London-based fintech company, particularly since it has been trying to secure this license since 2021. More here ->
Alex Cook is leaving Tiger Global - where he led fintech deals as a partner, per TechCrunch. More here ->
Lemonade posts $57.2m net loss in Q2 results, IFP increases 22% YoY - Lemonade, a digital insurance firm powered by AI, has posted a net loss of $57.2 million for the second quarter of 2024, compared to a loss of $67.2 million from the second quarter of 2023. More here ->
Nationwide planning 5% cut to workforce over the next year - Nationwide has announced that the company will be reducing its workforce by 5% within the next year. More here ->
U.S. Bank readies AI-driven cash forecasting tool - U.S. Bank is developing AI-driven solutions for its business clients, with its latest efforts targeting the launch of an AI-driven cash-forecasting tool. Major financial institutions like Bank of America, Citizens Bank and PNC Bank have already deployed cash-forecasting solutions. The $669 billion bank is working with cloud-based fintech Kyriba on the tool. More here ->
More from the stash:
Gené Teare
Paula Soler
Editorial Team
Editorial Team
—
☑️ Thanks for reading. Please, share this post with your friends, colleagues and tell them to sign up.
If you haven't already signed up - do it now....☝️
If you have any companies or news to share - use the form
AND - if we’re not already connected - let’s do it.