Fintech

Unit’s banking-as-a-service platform is getting into the charge card game • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 15, 2022Posted in banking-as-a-service, Brex, Fintech, Itai Damti, Startups, unitNo Comments

If the banking-as-a-service fintech Unit does its job right, it will be ubiquitous among businesses and simultaneously have a name unknown to the end user. The company gives companies a way to embed financial services into their product — and after already launching debit cards, Unit is officially breaking into the charge card game. Unit customers can now use the startup’s API to build custom-designed charge cards for their own end users. Customers can offer their customers a charge card, credit card, revolving loan or any other credit products that Unit’s bank partners offer. On the back end, Unit will handle card printing, compliance and, once the card is in use, transaction tracking as well. According to co-founder and CEO Itai Damti, cards are Unit’s fourth and final pillar as a venture-backed company, adding onto its products in the debit, bank accounts and payments space. Just six months ago, Unit announced that it raised a $100 million Series C at a $1.2 billion valuation, making its total equity raised since inception to nearly $170 million. Charge cards, which are more popular than credit cards for small businesses, give Unit a way to enable customers to build and offer lending products, even though the startup is not a lender itself. “Once you can store money for people, you can move money for people and you can give people money, this is the full spectrum of banking that all these software products can use to launch within their environments,” Damti said. Image Credits: Unit If Unit’s new card line sounds competitive with the likes of Brex and Ramp, valued at billions of dollars — I had the same thought, and it’s a little more complicated. Instead of selling a card to startups like its well-capitalized competitors, Unit is selling customers on a way to create personalized cards for their own end users. It’s going for a classic B2BC model instead of a B2B model. “If you’re a company that sells to construction companies, instead of your customers finding other solutions in the market, you can just embed [lending] into your software,” Damti said. “We don’t compete with [Brex and Ramp] per se, but we do allow companies to basically offer an equivalent product and do it in a way that is embedded.” Unit’s expansion sits differently during a particularly tough economic run for fintech companies such as Chime and Stripe, which conducted layoffs over the past few weeks. Unit VP of lending David Sinsky, who recently joined the company after a seven-year stint at Opendoor, explained that the new product could help its customers introduce an entire new line of revenue through interchange fees. “There’s maybe less VC money to spend on Google and Facebook ads, but we’re working with companies that have built differentiated software,” Sinsky said. “And I see Unit [as an] opportunity to better serve those users and improve their unit economics.” Unit claims that a card swipe transaction will yield 0.5% more interchange revenue when done with a credit card compared to a debit card. Damti added that there’s “less of a red ocean in vertical finance … there’s a tremendous opportunity, because they have data, they have a distribution and they can be very effective underwriters who are very effective lenders in their vertical.”

Bootstrapping basics, fintech’s future, tech employers gain advantage • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 15, 2022Posted in EC roundup, Fintech, immigration law, Startups, tech layoffs, Venture, venture capitalNo Comments

Are you planning to play League of Legends during your next investor pitch? (If so, reading this probably isn’t a good use of your time.) For founders who are interested in building on their own, maintaining control and staying off the fundraising treadmill for as long as possible, investor/entrepreneur Marjorie Radlo-Zandi sets out five basic principles for bootstrapped founders in her latest TC+ article. It’s not for everyone: self-funded companies will ask more from their employees than larger operations that offer free lunches and other perks. At one bootstrapped startup where I worked, I was asked to defer part of my salary — after I was hired. Full ZebethMedia+ articles are only available to membersUse discount code TCPLUSROUNDUP to save 20% off a one- or two-year subscription Radlo-Zandi covers the basics with regard to hiring, managing expenses and shaping company culture, but she also urges self-funders to tamp down expectations and take a measured approach: “Don’t be tempted to hop on a plane at a moment’s notice to meet potential customers in glamorous locations or for meetings in far-flung locations,” she writes. “Your bootstrapped business likely will not survive such big, optional financial outlays.” Bootstrapped founders face longer odds, but if they can drive growth and reach product-market fit, “fundraising will be that much easier.” Thanks very much for reading, Walter ThompsonEditorial Manager, ZebethMedia+@yourprotagonist The power pendulum is swinging back to employers, isn’t it? Image Credits: AOosthuizen (opens in a new window) / Getty Images More than 120,000 tech workers have lost jobs so far this year, according to layoffs.fyi. And with more than a fifth of those layoffs taking place in November, many from well-capitalized public companies, it’s easy to see why Continuum CEO Nolan Church believes this is the beginning of a wave. “Over the last 12 years, the pendulum between who has power between employees and employers has drastically swung toward employees,” he said last week on the ZebethMedia Equity podcast. “Now, we’re in a moment where the pendulum is swinging back.” Answers for H-1B workers who’ve been laid off (or think they might be) Group of young adults, photographed from above, on various painted tarmac surface, at sunrise. Sophie Alcorn, an immigration law attorney based in Silicon Valley, estimates that 15% of the people recently laid off from Bay Area startups are immigrants, 90% of whom are H-1B holders. If you’re a visa holder who’s been laid off, your first priority is to “figure out your last day of employment, because that’s when you need to start counting the 60-day grace period,” says Alcorn. “You either get a new job, you leave, or you figure out some other way to legally stay in the United States, but you have to take some action within those 60 days.” Nearly 80% of venture funds raised in just two states as US LPs retreat to the coasts Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / ZebethMedia After the pandemic began, there was a lot of buzz about how venture capital was shifting away from its roots in San Francisco and New York to make inroads into the Midwest. But after an extended slump in public markets led so many investors to sit on the sidelines, data show that “most funds outside of the two largest startup hubs… are feeling the frost from potential LPs,” reports Rebecca Szkutak. “So far this year, 77% of capital has been raised in just California and New York. In 2021, those states raised 68% of the year’s totals.” Preparing for fintech’s second decade: 4 moves your firm must make now Image Credits: Emilija Manevska (opens in a new window) / Getty Images According to consultant Grant Easterbrook, fintech startups that hope to succeed over the next few years must be prepared to go up against: Major banks and financial service providers with loyalty programs and “super apps.” Emerging DeFi protocols “that can offer financial products that involve real-world assets.” Banking, invoicing, lending, payments, accounting packaged as “embedded financial products.” Multiple countries issuing their own Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). “Your firm will need a very strong value proposition to compete with all four types of competitors,” writes Easterbrook, who shares his ideas for navigating the next decade of fintech in a TC+ guest post.

4 moves your firm must make now • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 14, 2022Posted in Column, EC Column, EC Fintech, Fintech, fintech infrastructure, fintech software, fintech startup, StartupsNo Comments

Grant Easterbrook Contributor Grant Easterbrook is a fintech consultant based in Amsterdam. His work has been cited in the media over 150 times. He also co-founded Dream Forward, which was acquired in 2020. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the fintech phenomenon. Companies such as E*TRADE, Rocket Mortgage, and TurboTax began to disrupt the established financial services sector well before 2012, but that year marked the turning point when fintech morphed into a sustained movement that would drastically change how most people manage their money. If you’re a fintech startup, you will face four main types of competitors over the next decade: Traditional financial firms offering more of a “super app” experience with strong member benefits and perks; Advanced decentralized finance protocols that can offer financial products that involve real-world assets; Increasingly common embedded financial products sold by non-financial firms; A government-issued CBDC in many (but not all) countries. Your firm will need a very strong value proposition to compete with all four types of competitors. This leaves most firms with two options over the next decade. One avenue is to specialize in a handful of products or services that you believe will have value on their own that consumers will sign up for despite robust competitor ecosystems. Alternatively, you need to develop a comprehensive strategy to compete and build a compelling suite of products, services and perks. How can fintech startups prepare to compete in the next decade? Here are four steps you can take to remain competitive. Any corporate strategy document will remain a fantasy on paper if your tech infrastructure is outdated and incapable of meeting your future needs. Your tech stack must support fintech’s cutting edge The foundational step of any long-term strategy for the 2020s is to revamp your firm’s tech stack to support future needs. You will need modern tech infrastructure that can support greater cross-product automation, a sophisticated AI assistant, more integrations with external parties such as the crypto ecosystem, and non-financial perks/benefits. The process for improving your tech stack varies based on the type of firm. If you work for a large bank still running COBL, the first step is likely a massive investment in a multi-year process to migrate to a modern and streamlined tech infrastructure. If you are a relatively young fintech company, you generally have more “white space” to design your stack. The challenge for smaller companies isn’t dealing with decades of tech debt; rather, it’s optimizing limited engineering resources to build the best possible tech stack. Modernizing tech infrastructure is a difficult and expensive proposition. Generally speaking, the best way to get company leadership on board with such investments is to highlight what competitors are doing to help them understand the competitive threat.

Citi backs Indian SaaS startup Lentra as it plans to expand internationally • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 14, 2022Posted in citi ventures, Fintech, india, SaaS, StartupsNo Comments

India initially made its name in the tech world years ago when it staked out reputation as a key hub for business process outsourcing. Now that legacy has taken a very different turn in fintech with outsourcing of a very different kind, with the emergence of embedded finance technology. In the latest development, Lentra, an Indian embedded AI-based finance startup, has raised $60 million — a Series B that values the startup at “over $400 million,” D Venkatesh, the founder and CEO of the startup, told ZebethMedia in an interview. Existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Susquehanna International Group (SIG) led the round with strategic participation also from Citi Ventures, a subsidiary of the New York-based investment banking giant Citigroup. This is Citi Ventures’ first investment in a fintech out of India, and that and this round overall underscores how far the fintech and embedded finance ecosystem have come along in recent years. Lentra, which is profitable, has been growing at a very fast clip. In 2019, its first year of operations, it registered $1 million from its “annual consumption rate” — this term relates to the amount of revenue Lentra makes based on usage of its APIs. As of this year, that figure is up to $10 million, and it is projected to hit $100 million in 2024. The Mumbai-based startup works with commercial banks to power their digital loan services. HDFC Bank, Federal Bank, Standard Chartered and IDFC First Bank are some of its key customers. Overall, Lentra has more than 50 clients and has processed over 13 billion transactions and $21 billion worth of loans since its launch. Venkatesh said the startup achieved all this growth without hiring a single sales executive until April this year. The company’s mission is not unlike that of a number of other fintechs that have thrown their hats into the ring to work with — rather than completely upend and disrupt — legacy financial services providers, which have found themselves unable to keep up with innovation from faster moving, tech based competitors. “We want to help and empower the banks, who are our clients, to lend better, lend completely on a digital platform and improve on all parameters,” said Venkatesh. Those parameters are the same for banks the world over. Yes, banks want to lend more, and to be more accessible to more potential borrowers — hence moving to digital platforms to help them scale and compete better against digital-first offerings. But banks have had their feet burned many a time already: they don’t want to take on a load of bad debt in the process of scaling, so they need better tech to improve how they vet borrowers, and also to have a better grip on forecasting what they might expect to get in returns (and losses) as a result. The four-year-old fintech helps them do this through a variety of loan tools. Lentra Lending Cloud, which gives ready-to-use third-party API connectors to various data sources, as well as a Loan Management System (LMS) and a no-code Business rules engine (BREx) with modules for clients to use out-of-the-box. The startup also has a platform called GoNoGo in its catalog that helps banks ascertain whether a loan should be given to a customer once they get their application. Venkatesh said that in India, 90% of lending frauds occur by way of ID proof thefts, where bad actors impersonate someone with a better credit record to get a loan quickly. Lentra uses AI to triangulate data to identify potential fraud attempts. “If you solve ID theft fraud, you minimize the approach or the stance that the bank will have towards a non-performing asset or bad loan,” the founder said. He claimed while banks had only been able to whittle down the loan process — applying, processing and approving or denying applications — to between six and seven days, Lentra’s technology has reduced that turnaround to a few seconds. Even though a number of startups are trying to ease lending for banks, interestingly Lentra sees Salesforce as one of its biggest competitors when it comes to loan origination. “Our number one target is anyone who’s using Salesforce for loan origination. We go, latch on to them, and then we convert them,” Venkatesh said. Citi is not just interested in tapping more into India’s tech ecosystem, but to leverage it for its own global growth, too. “Lentra is our first fintech investment in India, and we are very excited about the team’s ability to develop and scale low-friction software solutions for lenders,” said Everett Leonidas, Director & APAC Lead Investor for Citi Ventures, in a statement. “As a global bank, we look forward to Lentra scaling their products and platform internationally.” Venkatesh told ZebethMedia that Lentra plans to utilize the funding to continue updating its platform, add new features and make it more robust and faster. The startup is also set to expand beyond India and establish its business outside the country, starting with three economies in Asia: Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Post the initial expansion, the startup plans to go beyond Asia and enter the U.S. Offices in the three new Asian countries will become operational starting as early as January, the founder said. Lentra already has its presence in Singapore since it acquired an AI startup TheDataTeam in June this year that had an office in the Lion City. Venkatesh said that the office in Singapore would become the vehicle for the startup to go into the ASEAN economies. Alongside improving the offering and expanding the business, Lentra has plans to acquire complementary businesses. The founder told ZebethMedia that its acquisition plans focus on three areas — robotic process automation, payment systems or solutions that are not regulated entities and teams working on statistical modeling or building heuristics model within statistics. “Lentra is empowering lenders to fuel the dreams of millions with effective financial inclusion and credit decisioning,” said Vishal Gupta, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “We were really impressed with

What goes up must come down • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 13, 2022Posted in Fintech, Layoffs, Startups, The InterchangeNo Comments

Welcome to The Interchange! If you received this in your inbox, thank you for signing up and your vote of confidence. If you’re reading this as a post on our site, sign up here so you can receive it directly in the future. Every week, I’ll 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’s a lot of fintech news out there and it’s my job to stay on top of it — and make sense of it — so you can stay in the know. — Mary Ann Like many of you, I’m sure, I was caught up last week watching the downfall of FTX unfold. It was a startling development in the world of crypto, and while I don’t cover the space directly, I couldn’t help but be fascinated by the goings-on — and not in a good way. For more on that debacle, check out our crypto-focused Chain Reaction podcast here and our general coverage here. I also couldn’t help watching the train wreck of Elon Musk taking over Twitter and Meta’s letting go of 11,000 people. But I digress. Last week, I ended the newsletter saying I hoped this week would come with more uplifting news. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Real estate fintech Redfin announced on November 9 that it was laying off 13% of its staff, or 862 people, in response to the continued slowing of the housing market. This followed Opendoor’s layoff of 550 people, or 18% of its workforce, the week before and Zillow’s cuts of 300 in late October. It also follows Redfin’s letting go of 470 employees in June. Notably, Redfin also said it is shuttering RedfinNow, its iBuying division. To that end, CEO Glenn Kelman wrote in an all-hands email: “One problem is that the share gains we could attribute to iBuying have become less certain as we rolled it out more broadly, especially now that our offers are so low…And the second problem is that iBuying is a staggering amount of money and risk for a now-uncertain benefit. We’ve tied up hundreds of millions of dollars in houses that you yourself wouldn’t want to own right now.” Kelman went on to say that the company’s June layoff was in response to Redfin’s expectation that it would sell fewer houses in 2022. The latest layoff “assumes the downturn will last at least through 2023.” Redfin’s, Zillow’s and Opendoor’s layoffs aren’t the only ones in the industry. Digital mortgage lender Better.com conducted yet another layoff or two in the past couple of weeks. One source told me 240 employees were let go on November 4. And San Francisco Business Times reporter Alex Barreira tweeted on November 11 that dozens more workers were let go, sharing colorful details of the company’s WARN notice, in which Better.com said it was not able to provide notification earlier as the separations were the result of a “dramatic deterioration” in the company’s business. When I reached out to the company about the layoffs, a spokesperson wrote via email: “Better is focused on making prudent decisions that account for current market dynamics.” Okay, back to Redfin. One thing that stood out most to me with regard to that company’s latest round of layoffs was Kelman’s candor as he addressed employees. In his email, he said: “To every departing employee who put your faith in Redfin, thank you. I’m sorry that we don’t have enough sales to keep paying you.” Interestingly, Kelman appears to be putting his own personal bets into real estate markets outside the U.S. In September, he co-invested in a Seattle startup called Far Homes that was founded by Redfin alums and is focused on “buying and selling real estate in foreign markets,” as reported by GeekWire. CEOs as of late have been particularly remorseful as their companies either deteriorate or lay off staff. Besides Kelman, other examples this week include Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitting he overestimated how long the post-pandemic revenue surge would last, saying: “I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that.” Also last week, FTX CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried admitted he “fucked up” and “should have done better” right before FTX declared bankruptcy and he stepped down from his role. This is after the crypto exchange was valued at $32 BILLION earlier this year. In Early August, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev took responsibility for the company’s letting go of 23% of its staff, saying: “This is on me.” Even Better.com CEO Vishal Garg admitted at one point that he had not been disciplined over the previous 18 months, telling employees: “We made $250 million last year, and you know what, we probably pissed away $200 million.” What does this tell us? CEOs are human, yes. Flawed humans just like the rest of us. In some cases, decisions such as over-hiring were made out of genuine (or foolish) belief that the people hired would be needed in years to come. In other cases, decisions were less honorable and more about furthering the executive’s own agenda. Unfortunately, either way, thousands of employees are paying the price. Image Credits: Kuzma / Getty Images Weekly News Months after acquiring gamified finance mobile app startup Long Game, Truist Financial Corporation has introduced the Truist Foundry, an innovation division that it says “will function as a startup within the bank.” The goal will be to deliver “game-changing projects” and serve the bank’s lines of business. A spokesperson told me via email that specifically, the Truist Foundry will work on “building software solutions that drive value and market leadership for the bank.” In other words, it looks like one of the United States’ largest banks is getting even more serious about its digital efforts. Instacart has tapped Dutch payments giant Adyen to serve as “an additional payments processing partner.” As part of the new partnership, the

Pet insurance startups chase the market as pet ownership booms among Gen Z and Millennials • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 11, 2022Posted in Fintech, insurance, Pets, Startups, VentureNo Comments

Walk through any public park these days and you will see a hell of a lot more dogs than you might have done three years ago. The loneliness of the pandemic lockdowns led to an explosion in pet ownership. Plus, The demographic of pet ownership has shifted. Whereas previously it was Granny or Grandpa who tended to be the pet owner, now, Gen Z and Millennials represent around 70% of pet owners, according to some statistics. This has created a big fight between insurers over this new market, and has of course predictably led to new startups in the arena. In the UK you can find UK ManyPets, Waggle, PetPlan, while in the US there’s Lemonade, Figo, ManyPets and Trupanion. Over in the EU you’ll find Dalma (France), Lassie (Sweden) and ManyPets (Sweden). Meanwhile, pet insurance start-up Napo has decided to take a particular angle on this topic, not only offering pet insurance but also pet health prevention information, pet ownership education, and additional services. It’s now raised a £15m Series A funding round, led by DN Capital, and with the participation of the petcare-focussed Companion Fund as well as Helvetia Venture Fund, M Tech Capital, Picus Capital, dmg ventures, Sarona Partners, T0 Ventures and FJ Labs. Napo claims to have insured over 35k pets in the year since its launch last December. It offers access to 24/7 online vet consultations, obesity awareness resources, and access to expert-led live classes to help puppy train their dogs. In a statement, co-founder and CEO Jean-Philippe Doumeng said: “Our mental model is fundamentally different from traditional pet insurance. We are aligning all stakeholders to look in the same direction by helping people to take better care of their pets.” Guy Ward Thomas, who led the deal at DN Capital, added: “We met all of the ‘neo pet-insurers’ in Europe… What set Napo apart was their focus on building a virtuous circle between educating owners, providing veterinary care and improving pet health – all leading to lower claims, lower premiums and happier customers in the long-term.”

Thomson Reuters to acquire tax automation company SurePrep for $500M • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 11, 2022Posted in Enterprise, Fintech, Robotics & AI, SurePrep, thomson reutersNo Comments

Thomson Reuters has announced plans to acquire SurePrep, a tax automation software company based in Irvine, California. The transaction, which Thomson Reuters said it expects to close in Q1 2023, values SurePrep at $500 million, which will be paid entirely in cash. Founded in 2002, SurePrep is one of numerous software providers that help tax professionals and accountants gather and file 1040 tax returns on behalf of their clients. Integrating with existing tax software systems, SurePrep offers various products that support uploading documents at regular intervals through the year via automated document requests, with support for mobile scanning, esignatures, and more. Built-in AI smarts also automatically extracts and repopulates data in companies’ tax compliance software of choice, removing many of the manual paperwork steps involved. SurePrep’s TaxCaddy product SurePrep is the latest in a long recent line of tax management software companies to be acquired. In August, Vista Equity Partners announced plans to acquire automated tax compliance company Avalara for $8.4 billion, while earlier this month private equity firm Cinven revealed it was buying online tax preparation software provider TaxAct for $720 million. Last year, Stripe bought TaxJar for an undisclosed amount. Thomson Reuters, though perhaps best known for its news agency, has a number of business units including legal, government, and tax and accounting. Indeed, it has been partnering with SurePrep for the past six months, according to Thomson Reuters, “providing complementary solutions” for tax and accounting workers — this has effectively meant Thomson Reuters serving as a reseller for SurePrep’s software. For SurePrep, the deal will give it extensive reach into Thomson Reuters’ existing customer base, while for Thomson Reuters it gets an arsenal of automated tools to bolster its existing tax products.

a16z-backed Tellus wants to help people use their savings to become real estate investors • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 10, 2022Posted in a16z, Fintech, real estate, Startups, TellusNo Comments

Crypto is not having a good week, as Bitcoin crashed to under $17,000 — its lowest level in two years. The stock market continues to post declines as layoffs abound. Meanwhile, inflation recently reached a 40-year high. For those looking for a safe place to park their cash and actually earn a decent amount of interest on their savings above the national average APY of just 0.20%, the options are not exactly plentiful. Enter Tellus. The six-year-old fintech startup claims it can offer people yields of 3.85% to 4.5% on their savings balances by using the money to fund certain U.S. single-family-home loans. With mortgage interest rates having more than doubled since a year ago, one might think that this is not the best time to be a digital mortgage lender. But co-founder Rocky Lee believes his company’s unique business model sets it apart from other such lenders in the space. For one, the company has a very niche offering. It targets existing home owners who wish to upgrade to larger homes without selling the homes they live in, which makes it difficult for them to get approved for loans by traditional mortgage lenders. If it sounds complicated, well, it is. Lee breaks it down as such: “The home they [Tellus’ borrowers] buy typically is not the starter home. What they are seeking is called a super jumbo loan, which is designed for people that actually don’t have a ready to use mortgage solution. And we provide that solution for those categories of people.” So where does the savings part come in? Tellus’ interest rates are typically two basis points higher than the standard conforming mortgage. For example, in today’s market if a loan’s rate is 7%, Tellus will charge 9% — a premium because it claims it’s offering to lend money to American single-family-home borrowers “in prime cities” who would otherwise not be able to get such loans. Because it is using its retail customers’ savings deposits to fund these loans at a 3.85% to 4.5% yield, Tellus makes its money on the spread of what it’s paying out in interest versus what it’s charging its borrowers. Its retail customers are able to earn interest on a daily basis, while getting help with things such as budgeting funds and setting financial goals. Tellus says it promotes financial literacy by quizzing users on financial terms, for example, and then rewarding them with higher interest rates. At the same time, the company touts that it is enabling these consumers to invest in real estate in a way they would not have otherwise been able to while having the ability to withdraw their money at any time. While its strategy might sound risky, Lee told ZebethMedia that Tellus utilizes “very strict underwriting criteria” and has not yet seen any defaults because the majority of its borrowers go on to soon after refinance their loans at more favorable terms. Since its 2016 inception, Tellus has lent out more than $80 million with an average loan size of $2 million. It partners with mortgage brokers to find borrowers. And it finds its retail clients via channels such as Instagram, TikTok and Google. Since the company is mobile-first, it focuses on people using a smartphone. Tellus allows anyone in the U.S. to use its savings software. It only lends in California because that’s where it has a lending license and partnerships. Despite a challenging real estate market, the company says it grew its revenue by 55% in the third quarter compared to the second quarter of 2022, according to co-founder T Zhu. And earlier this year, it raised $16 million in a seed round of funding led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and with participation from All-Stars Investments, Alumni Ventures, Decent Capital, Vectr Ventures, West Arrow and Westwood Ventures. Co-founders of YouTube, Lime and Sereno Group Real Estate also participated in the financing, which followed a $10 million SAFE. The remote-first, Cupertino, California-based startup is emerging from stealth as it seeks to build out its engineering, marketing and product teams, adding to its headcount of 50. It also plans to build upon its recently launched new offering aimed at SMBs.

In times of crisis, fintech startups should take the long view instead of hibernating • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 10, 2022Posted in Column, EC Column, EC Fintech, Fintech, hiring, Startups, Verified Expert - lawyerNo Comments

Vadym Synegin Contributor Vadym Synegin is a Ukrainian impact entrepreneur, philanthropist and investor in fintech and crypto projects with more than 15 years’ experience as an entrepreneur in Europe and the UAE. More posts by this contributor 5 reasons why Ukraine’s fintech sector is growing despite war The fintech industry is currently facing several macroeconomic problems, including global economic inflation, skyrocketing costs of living, companies reducing their workforce, and a possible recession on the horizon, not to mention the war in Ukraine. All of these factors have caused fintech M&A exits to decline 30% in Q2 2022, the lowest point since Q3 2020. This is not the first time the economic climate has worsened so quickly. But when we look at the industry’s overall performance compared to previous years, the current downturn is not that different. What can founders do to help their companies prosper during this period? Hire high-performing talent The worsening financial climate is causing leading fintech companies to suspend hiring or reduce their workforce to avoid cost overruns. The industry saw 1,619 job cuts in May, compared to 440 in the first four months of the year. Personnel losses have also affected the Ukrainian startup ecosystem. More than one in ten startup employees in the country has had to leave their firms since the beginning of Russia’s invasion, and since then, the number of enterprises with up to five team members has risen, while companies with bigger teams are dwindling. Nearly every founder would agree that layoffs are a hard but necessary decision to make in times of crisis, as payroll spend can be redirected towards growth or maintaining a runway. But if you take the long view and look past the current downturn, it’s likely your startup will have higher chances of survival if you hold on to specialized talent. And sometimes, hiring a new employee can bring in a new perspective that may help you detect problems within your firm. Ukraine has a huge pool of talent, and thousands of specialists are currently searching for an exciting project to join. So instead of battening down the hatches as you face this crisis, consider it an opportunity to strengthen your company with dispersed, high-performing talent. Develop and prove the quality of your product Crises are also times of opportunities — you just need to look carefully to spot a golden egg. Crises give founders a chance to focus on building robust products since times like these usually highlight problems that are in need of a viable, long-term solution, and startups can go heads-down on building rather than focusing on incessant growth. The brutal truth is that tough markets also clean up the hundreds of startups without a solid product cluttering the market. This gives top companies a chance to develop an even more extensive set of products and services. Develop a solid strategy To run a business sustainably, founders must direct business development and manage risk well. That’s why during times of crisis, startups that have focused on developing solid business strategies and products usually emerge to win the market from those that didn’t. I know it’s hard to focus on developing a strategy when there are so many external factors affecting your company. But the fact is that companies that focus on strengthening their business plan and solidifying their strategy have a higher chance of bouncing back and coming out stronger than before compared to those who hibernate. Individuals and businesses thrive in the face of crises by managing their resources, analyzing the situation they’re in, and recognizing potential opportunities regardless of the amount of noise and chaos around them. Tough times allow teams that set big goals to recharge and look at things from a different angle. For instance, you might as yourself: What is the unique proposition of the product? What can we do to make the most out of the current market? What can we do to catapult our product even farther when the market recovers? Despite all the setbacks, founders can excel in business by following three rules during a crisis: strengthen your staff, develop a better product, and work to solidify a business strategy. While these aren’t laws or panaceas for all problems, I’ve found them to be very effective during rough times.

Blnk, a fintech that provides instant consumer credit in Egypt, raises $32M in debt and equity • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 10, 2022Posted in Blnk, Egypt, Fintech, StartupsNo Comments

Credit card penetration in Egypt is low, with just over 4 million cards used in a population of more than 100 million people. As such, people in the country have little or no access to credit, given the other few options that exist in the market. One of these options, consumer loans, is being explored by Blnk, a fintech launched last October. The digital lending platform partners with Egyptian merchants, allowing them to underwrite customers at the point of sale and provide them with finance to purchase items such as electronics, furniture and automotive services via 6-36 month installments. Blnk said it has raised $32 million, money split across different stages and funding types: $12.5 million pre-seed and seed equity rounds (led by Abu Dhabi’s Emirates International Investment Company [EIIC], Sawari Ventures and other investors), $11.2 million debt financing and $8.3 million securitized bond issuance. It plans to “accelerate financial inclusion within underserved communities across the country” and support its “AI-powered” lending infrastructure. Customers who use Blnk at the point of sale need a National ID for starters, after which they can get financing in three minutes, according to the company. “It’s a very fast service,” said Amr Sultan, co-founder and CEO, in an interview with ZebethMedia. “And by being there at the point of sale, we help increase conversion rates and provide affordability products to significantly underserved populations. We’re heavily focused on financial inclusion, especially on how to underwrite people who don’t have a credit history.” Sultan, who started the company with Tarek Elsheikh, said Blnk does this via its proprietary credit underwriting system and risk-scoring model that assesses the customers’ riskiness and ability to service their debts. So far, Blnk claims to have disbursed over $20 million in loans via a network of more than 300 merchants (half of which are active) to over 60,000 customers who pay an average of 2.6% monthly interest. Joseph Iskander, the head of investment at lead investor EIIC, speaking on the investment: “We are convinced that the Egyptian market and its startup ecosystem present a compelling opportunity for regional and international investors, and we are committed to identifying and investing in value accretive businesses. We are pleased to partner with Blnk to drive financial inclusion and economic development in Egypt, and we look forward to working with the team to achieve their goals.” Other fintechs that offer loans and other financial services in Egypt include MNT-Halan, MoneyFellows and Khazna.