\nEarly-stage fintech startups just got a new funding source<\/br>
\n2023-04-24 22:13:35<\/br><\/p>\n
Welcome to\u00a0The Interchange<\/a>! If you received this in your inbox, thank you for signing up and your vote of confidence. If you\u2019re reading this as a post on our site, sign up\u00a0<\/em>here<\/em><\/a> so you can receive it directly in the future. Every week, I\u2019ll take a look at the hottest fintech news of the previous week. This will include everything from funding rounds to trends to an analysis of a particular space to hot takes on a particular company or phenomenon. There\u2019s a lot of fintech news out there and it\u2019s our job to stay on top of it \u2014 and make sense of it \u2014 so you can stay in the know.<\/em><\/p>\n Hello! I am excited to report the introduction of two new additions to this newsletter. First, the amazing Christine Hall will be co-writing with me moving forward. Christine and I have actually known each other for 19 years, having used to work together at the Houston Business Journal. She\u2019s been covering fintech for the past few years and I am thrilled she will be working on The Interchange with me moving forward. Second, if you read to the end, you\u2019ll see a logo created just for the Interchange by TC\u2019s incredible graphic designer, Bryce Durbin. I\u2019m ridiculously excited about it. \u2014\u00a0Mary Ann<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Thanks so much to Mary Ann for that greeting! I\u2019m excited to be working with her in covering the wide world of fintech and look forward to contributing to what I biasedly consider the go-to newsletter for this industry. \u2014 Christine<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Now on to the news.<\/p>\n I, as many of you I\u2019m sure, continue to be disappointed in the lack of LP (limited partner) dollars flowing toward female-led venture capital firms. So you can imagine my excitement when I got an email about a new venture firm, called Vesey Ventures, that was founded by three female former managing directors of Amex Ventures who had recently closed a $78 million debut fund<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vesey\u2019s self-described mission is to back companies \u201ctransforming financial services\u201d at the seed to Series B stages. It plans to invest $1.5 million to $3 million as initial checks, and larger amounts for follow-ons. Based in the United States and Israel, the fund has so far backed five startups, including Coast<\/a>, Cyrus<\/a>, Grain<\/a>, Equi<\/a> and Proper<\/a>.<\/p>\n The trio would not say whether Amex is an LP in its new fund but implied there were no hard feelings when they all decided to leave (at the exact same time in late 2021, mind you). Personally, besides the fact that this means more money out there for fintech startups, I do love that Dana Eli-Lorch, Lindsay Fitzgerald and Julia Huang worked together for about a decade and got along so well as colleagues and friends that they decided, \u201cHey, let\u2019s do this on our own.\u201d<\/p>\n Clearly, their track record impressed enough LPs \u2014 including seven \u201cprominent\u201d unnamed financial institutions \u2014 that they were able to close the fund in a very challenging macroenvironment. During their time at Amex, they worked on investments in companies such as Plaid, Stripe, Melio and Trulioo. They also worked a lot on helping fintechs build partnerships with incumbent financial institutions \u2014 experience they plan to use to offer portfolio companies bespoke \u201cStrategy Sheets\u201d alongside term sheets.<\/p>\n Vesey defines fintech in its broadest sense \u2014 meaning that it invests outside of traditional categories of financial services such as consumer and B2B. It also looks at vertical software, embedded fintech, the future of commerce and the infrastructure layer \u2014 such as cybersecurity, risk and compliance.<\/p>\n It made my week to have the opportunity to cover this news, not going to lie. Here\u2019s to more money flowing to female investors, and founders, too!!<\/p>\n Speaking of which, I also covered the $15 million raise for Kindred<\/a>, a home-swapping network. While that company is more proptech than fintech, I am mentioning it because it was also founded by women who previously worked together \u2014 in this case, at Opendoor \u2014 and saw an opportunity to branch out on their own. \u2014 Mary Ann<\/p>\n Vesey Ventures founding partners Lindsay Fitzgerald, Dana Eli-Lorch and Julia Huang Image Credits:<\/strong> Vesey Ventures<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This week, we took a look at global fintech funding for the first quarter of 2023<\/a> and found some notable tidbits.<\/p>\n First things first, funding for the quarter totaled $15 billion, which is up 55% from the fourth quarter, but clearly showing a market correction due to the staggering amounts fintech companies raised in both 2021 and 2022.<\/p>\n And, it\u2019s important to note that of that $15 billion, $6.5 billion was Stripe\u2019s raise<\/a>. Without that deal, CB Insights said funding would have amounted to $8.5 billion, or a 12% drop in funding from the fourth quarter of 2022.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, 2022 was flush with fintech companies reaching unicorn status, with 72 unicorns minted that year, and 38 in the first quarter alone. That was likely aided by the plethora of available capital flowing into the sector, however; in the first quarter of 2023, just one fintech company was minted a unicorn: Egypt-based MNT-Halan, which in early February raised $260 million in equity financing at a $1 billion valuation<\/a>. According to the CB Insights\u2019 latest State of Fintech report<\/a>, this is the first time that has happened since the end of 2016.<\/p>\n Though MNT-Halan was the only company to earn a horn, the first quarter was ripe with \u201cmegarounds,\u201d the term for deals valued at $100 million or more. There were 16 deals like this, totaling $9.2 billion, an increase of 179% over the fourth quarter of 2022 and accounting for 61% of total funding in the first quarter, CB Insights reported. After Stripe\u2019s $6.5 billion deal came Rippling, which raised $500 million<\/a> in mid-March as Silicon Valley Bank was melting down. Notably, deal count was down, dropping 24% quarter over quarter. \u2014 Christine<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> CB Insights<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Does every tech company want to become a fintech? As reported by Romain Dillet: \u201cApple Card customers in the U.S. can now open a savings account and earn interest through an Apple savings account. To learn the specifics about Apple\u2019s new offering, click here<\/a>. When the company originally announced the new financial product back in October<\/a>, Apple said that it couldn\u2019t share what interest rate would be paid out on these accounts because rates are fluctuating so much these days. As of today, Apple is going to offer an APY of 4.15%.\u201d You can read more details on the move here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Moody\u2019s Investors Service issued a new report summarizing its view that consumers\u2019 ability to realize higher yields on their cash through the tech giant\u2019s new savings account (which is being offered in partnership with Goldman Sachs) \u2014 if well integrated into the Apple ecosystem \u2014 \u201cis credit negative for incumbent banks and cash alternatives such as money market funds.\u201d<\/p>\n As we know, the new savings account deepens Apple\u2019s offering of financial services products, which already includes a digital wallet, credit card and its buy now, pay later credit offering, Apple Pay Later<\/a>. As Moody\u2019s points out, \u201cthe expansion aligns with a common technology firm strategy to increase the scope, utility and appeal of their digital platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf Apple promotes the savings product aggressively, it could attract a significant amount of savings to the Apple ecosystem and away from traditional banks. Through the partnership, Goldman Sachs could benefit from increased deposit funding through the broad reach of Apple\u2019s digital ecosystem,\u201d said Stephen Tu, a vice president with Moody\u2019s Investors Service, in a written statement.<\/p>\n Moody\u2019s further added: \u201cWhile there are already many higher-yielding cash alternatives available for most consumers, Apple\u2019s higher-than-average rate of interest on the account combined with its simple and easy to use ecosystem could incentivize consumers to shift funds to the Apple platform from incumbent financial institutions.\u201d \u2014 Mary Ann<\/p>\n (Disclosure: My husband works for Apple, but not in any capacity related to this project.)<\/i><\/p>\n Lili claims super app status with new accounting platform<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n Greenwood \u2014 a digital banking platform for Black and Latino individuals and businesses \u2014 goes live for all, cancels waitlist<\/i><\/a> (TechCrunch covered the company\u2019s 2021 $40 million raise <\/i>here<\/i><\/a>.)<\/i><\/p>\n UK-based Finastra partners with Plaid to give users access to fintech apps<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n Airbase adds guided procurement to spend management platform<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n Online real estate firm Opendoor cuts 22% of workforce <\/i><\/a>(<\/em>TechCrunch covered the company\u2019s <\/i>previous round of layoffs<\/i><\/a>, which affected 18% of its staff at that time, last November.)<\/i><\/p>\n Bain Capital Ventures\u2019 Matt Harris published a piece on how banks should be working with startups: Lessons from Ancient Rome: How banks can learn to love startups<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n Seen on TechCrunch<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Autotech Ventures\u2019 new $230M mobility fund adds fintech, circular economy to its investment strategy<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n Accounting automation startup Trullion lands $15M investment<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n And elsewhere<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Wealthtech-proptech-fintech crossover Plotify raises $12.5 million in equity financing<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n Actor Ryan Reynolds Buys Position in Canadian Payments Tech Company Nuvei<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n Insurtech Capitola raises $15.6M Series A from Munich Re<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n Clerkie raises $33M Series A funding from top investors to address the broken debt system<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n French expense management firm Mooncard bags \u20ac37M Series C funding<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n YELO Funding, a college financing startup, announces $1.2 million in pre-seed funding<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n TiiCKER, a shareholder loyalty and engagement platform, raises $5M in seed round<\/i><\/a><\/p>\nCelebrating female-led ventures<\/h2>\n
![\"Vesey](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/MG_0480-1_edit-e1682016020365.jpg?resize=1140%2C641&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nFintech funding in Q1<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nApple pushes further into fintech<\/h2>\n
Other weekly news<\/h2>\n
Fundings and M&A<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
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