Fundid founder explains how rising interest rates, VCs and partners killed the corporate finance startup
WelcomeI come to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we look at Stripe’s big product announcements, a Brazilian fintech startup’s valuation increase, and much more!
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The big story
Band announced that it would be decoupling of payments from the rest of its financial services stack. This is a major change, given that in the past, even as Stripe expanded its list of services, it required businesses to be customers of payment services to use the rest. At the same time, the company is adding a number of new integrated financial features and a new wave of AI tools. The fintech giant also announced that after a six-year hiatus, it allow customers to accept cryptocurrency paymentsstarting with just one currency in particular, USDC stablecoins, initially only on Solana, Ethereum and Polygon.
Analysis of the week
Brazil welcomed a new fintech unicorn last week. Banking-as-a-Service Startup IQ Technology achieved unicorn status after raising an undisclosed amount of capital in a General Atlantic-led investment that was an extension of its $200 million Series B raise, which TechCrunch covered last October. QI Tech said it was also preparing to complete the acquisition of Singulare, a Brazilian provider of fund administration services, in the third quarter. Meanwhile, another Brazilian startup, Vixtra, secured $36 million in debt and equity financing — another example of area companies continuing to attract venture dollars.
Dollars and cents
Bumpa platform that helps creators manage and grow their businesses, announced a round of 3 million dollars, with investments from ImpactX, Capitalize and Serac Ventures. Bump lets creators track their earnings and market value, which can help them negotiate better deals and see how much money their partners owe them.
Formerly of Y Combinator and B2B fintech startup Fintoc raised a $7 million Series A funding round to consolidate its presence in its country of origin, Chile, and in Mexico, where it expanded a year ago.
Pomeloa startup launching in the Philippines in 2022 – allowing Americans to send money into the country while building their credit – has raised $35 million in Series A funding round led by Dubai-based venture capital firm Vy Capital with participation from Founders Fund.
You can hear the Equity team talk about this deal and more here:
What else do we write
headquartered in Bangalore CREDIT, valued at $6.4 billionreceived approval in principle for a payment aggregator license in a boost to the Indian fintech startup that could help it serve customers better, launch new products and experiment with ideas faster.
Liquidating a startup can be bittersweet for founders. In the case of Fundid, rising interest rates killed the corporate finance startup. But venture capital firms and partners also hurt it, says founder Stefanie Sample in this fascinating read by Christine Hall.
After a tumultuous year, the banking-as-a-service (BaaS) startup Synapse has filed for bankruptcy (chapter 11) and its assets will be acquired by TabaPay.
Very interesting titles
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