welcome to interchangeIf you get this in your inbox thank you for signing up and trusting and voting. If you read this as a post on our site please sign up here You can receive it directly in the future. Mary Ann This week is a well-deserved day off, so I’m going to take her place with the hottest fintech news of the past week. You’re probably wondering what’s going on with your favorite bank. We promise to get there first. Alright, let’s go! — Christine
learned a lot more about The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank Since the last time I read this newsletter (a lot and a lot).
The latest is that SVB Financial Filed for Chapter 11And First Republic Bank caught in all this mess Earlier this week, we reportedly found some saviors in the way some of the country’s biggest banks came together to strengthen their banks. $30 billion relief deposit.
This week, some of my colleagues took a deep dive into the implications for consumers, businesses, banks, investors and others around the world who made deposits with SVB. If anything, it shows how connected the startup ecosystem really is.
Annie Njanja and Tage Kene-Okafor for the scoop African companies affected by the SVB collapse. For example, they spoke to mobile money transfer startup Nala. He was able to withdraw funds from SVB before Nala went bankrupt. Chipper Cash, by contrast, was one of several startups that did not have access to some of the funding at the time.
They point to the heavy use of SVB in the startup ecosystem when it comes to companies that open SVB bank accounts, especially those participating in the US accelerator program, and how potential account holders are looking to join social security. I explained how difficult the process would have been if I didn’t have the number. or an established US address. They also wrote that incidents of this kind, along with existing risky banking options, “enhanced the need to build homegrown solutions” in Africa.
Stephen Deng, co-founder and general partner of DFS Lab, an early-stage VC focused on Africa, said: “What change do you think is that founders have to know how to manage counterparty risk? The mop-up network and financial management are all top priorities.”
Brian Heater, on the other hand, gives founders and investors in the typically capital-intensive industry, robotics, what the implications are for them in terms of future access to capital and continued diversification of funding sources. I was contacted about what it meant.
Playground Global’s Peter Barrett said: On the one hand, now that we have Banklan’s motor memory, things can get messed up. How would an adversary best attack robotics innovation? I’ve seen how devastating a tweet or email can be to unwind a worthy and respected 40-year-old institution. Well-placed capitalized words from a seemingly reputable source can hurt thousands of the most innovative companies, so why bother with cyberattacks?”
That’s right. As you can imagine, all of these are still in development, so stay tuned for more to come.
Moving forward, we are always told in the financial world to diversify our holdings – have money in several different mutual funds or have money in checks and save other money. I have it in At TechCrunch+, all this her SVB business made her Natasha Mascarenhas think about how to do this.
With some founders and investors, she said,single point of failureSpecifically, other places where your business can diversify, such as founding teams and succession planning, you need to make sure your eggs don’t all fit in one basket.
Before getting into further news, I would like to mention that while people are withdrawing money from SVB, there are still those who support banks. For example, Brex announced: Deposit $200 million in funds with SVB — withdraw it from other big banks to do so. CNN also reported on others.
weekly news
Some companies that provide banking services to startups have stepped up to provide services and help businesses maintain cash flow after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Mary Ann reported on several companies such as: Lowthe following new customers surged Mercurymoved swiftly over the weekend to launch a new product called Mercury VaultThe product “provides customers with up to $3 million in FDIC insurance through a new product in the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank financial crisis. collapseThis is 12 times the agency industry standard of $250,000 in FDIC insurance offered by other agencies. ’ Then on Friday, the company raised it, announced on twitter “By Monday, Mercury customers will have access to up to $5 million in FDIC insurance, which is 20 times the bank-by-bank limit.”
stripe has been quite active this week. I’ve updated my previous post about Stripe raising additional funding, which Mary Ann was working on. At the time, it was expected to bring in about $2 billion, but instead Stripe ended up with $6.5 billion However, the valuation has been lowered to $50 billion.Series I earnings are “used to provide liquidity to current and former employees and to meet employee withholding obligations related to stock awards. Stripe shares will be retired to offset the issuance of new shares.” Work with OpenAI Monetize ChatGPT and DALL-E.
Manish Singh reports:PhonePe have Raise another $200 million Movements currently helping it as part of an ongoing round Withdraw $650 million in recent weeks Indian fintech giant Recent departure from parent company Flipkart. walmartPhonePe’s majority owner has invested $200 million in the startup. In the ongoing round, he values the Bengaluru-based company at $12 billion in pre-money. The startup says it plans to raise up to $1 billion as part of an ongoing round. ”
Natasha Mascarenhas reports: shake off the dust After a week bankruptcy of silicon valleyRumors are swirling About who is going to buy the assets of the beleaguered bank. Some of the top companies urged portfolio managers to: Diversify your assets Banks were collapsing and continue to collapse even though regulators stepped in to ensure all depositors have access to their stored cash. It sounds like a good idea, but actually following that advice is harder than it sounds. ”
according to Siftof Q1 2023 Digital Trust & Safety Index, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) businesses found a whopping 211% increase in payment fraud in 2022 compared to 2021. The report explored over 34,000 sites and apps and highlighted specific scams scammers are using to steal from his BPNL businesses and merchants. Telegram, for example, is one of the platforms Sift says has seen a “rapid surge of scammers advertising the services they can offer using stolen information.” This includes selling fake credit cards and compromised email credentials. In one scheme, Sift confirmed that a scammer was posting “unlimited access” to her three top BNPL provider accounts for just $35.
Adiensaid it will offer end-to-end payment capabilities Further evolution of digital authentication solutions, providing customers with a combination of security and a seamless checkout experience. In tests, Adyen was able to authenticate consumers on behalf of publishers, while consumers remained on the merchant’s checkout page and merchants were able to increase conversions by up to 7%.
Financing and M&A
Saw it on TechCrunch
Wingspan raises $14 million for all-in-one payroll platform for contractors
This is a new corporate card startup backed by $157 million in equity and debt after Brex and Ramp.
Metaverse payment platform Tilia receives strategic investment from JP Morgan
Indonesia’s Broom builds automated asset-backed financing for used car dealers
Nigerian Credit-Driven Fintech FairMoney Acquires PayForce
and elsewhere
Masttro Secures $43M Growth Equity Investment Led by FTV Capital
Embedded Protection Insurtech Cover Genius Acquires Clyde
Greek Fintech Natech Expands with €10M Convertible Bond Acquisition
Payments infrastructure startup Payabl raises $12 million
Payments Orchestration Startup Apexx Global Raises $25 Million
Chile-Based Recurring Payments Company Toku Raises $7.15 Million
That’s all. I hope you enjoyed that I took over her Mary Ann column.Don’t worry, she’ll be back for her March 26th edition!Have a great week, Christine
