Fintech Update, 1/23 - 1/29
Hi! It’s Monday, January 30, 2023.
The Rundown
Early Warning Systems, the big bank-backed company behind the Zelle payments network, is building a digital wallet designed to compete with popular digital wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the new service already has Visa and Mastercard on board and also is investigating partnerships with other card networks like Discover as EWS considers new ways to keep payments and other money movement firmly tied to traditional (large bank) payment rails.
Amazon and Stripe are significantly expanding their partnership: Stripe announced that it “will become a strategic payments partner for Amazon in the U.S., Europe and Canada, processing a significant portion of Amazon’s total payments volume.”
In other Stripe news, the Wall Street Journal reported that the company is considering an IPO or direct listing in the next year that would allow employees and investors to sell their shares in the public markets. Stripe executives “set a goal of either taking the company public or allowing employees to sell shares in a private-market transaction within the next 12 months.”
PayPal and eCommerce firm Bold Commerce are partnering to offer brands and retailers tailored checkout experiences and accept the full suite of payment options offered by PayPal.
Online checkout company Bolt laid off ~50 employees, some 10% of its workforce.
The Reading Nook
Forbes columnist and industry veteran Ron Shevlin writes that community banks are investing more in fintech amid a decline in VC dollars, citing a recent report showing how nearly 500 community banks and credit unions have made direct investments into fintech and expect to the trend to continue in 2023.
The Economist dove deep on Goldman’s recent struggles, driven in part by an underperforming bet on consumer banking that we talked about two weeks ago.
Selected fundings
On-demand payment platform DailyPay raised $260 million in new funding via a revolving credit facility and new term loan funding.
AI-powered fraud detection service provider Inscribe raised $25 million in Series B funding.
Spend and procurement management platform Payem raised $20 million in Series A funding and secured a $200M line of credit.
German AML and fraud prevention platform for banks Hawk AI raised $17 million in a Series B funding round led by Sands Capital.
Debt management and repayment tool provider Method raised $16 million in a Series A funding round led by a16z.
B2B enterprise sales closing and financing platform Vartana raised $12 million in a Series A funding round and secured a $50 million line of credit.
Mexican super app Zenfi raised $8.5 million in new funding.
London-based B2B BNPL company Tranch raised $100 million in equity and debt financing in a seed funding round.