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Welcome back to\u00a0<\/em>The Interchange<\/em><\/a>, where we take a look at the hottest fintech news of the previous week. If you want to receive The Interchange directly in your inbox every Sunday, head\u00a0<\/em>here<\/em><\/a> to sign up! Last week, we chronicled some big rounds in the fintech space, Intuit\u2019s decision to shutter Mint and what that means for startups and much more. Read on!<\/em><\/p>\n Last week felt like 2021. Well, sort of.<\/p>\n There were at least three nine-figure funding rounds in the fintech space announced over the past week. It\u2019s rare enough these days to see ONE nine-figure round, much less two or three. So we were excited to say the least.<\/p>\n First, I covered Brazilian banking-as-a-service startup QI Tech\u2019s <\/strong>$200 million raise<\/a> led by General Atlantic. This was a big deal, besides just being a lot of cash, because it also marked the largest venture round in Brazil so far this year \u2014 not just in fintech, but across all industries. The company was gracious enough to share revenue figures, which is also not very common, noting that revenue was up 89% in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period last year. This also proves that infrastructure continues to be resilient, even during this downturn. Earlier this year, Visa announced it was going to acquire Brazilian payments infrastructure company Pismo in a $1 billion deal.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in the Middle East, Tabby<\/strong> nabbed $200 million in a Series D funding round<\/a> that valued it at $1.5 billion. I was a bit surprised that a buy now, pay later platform would attract so much venture capital considering that so many players in the space have had their challenges in the past year or so. But TC\u2019s Tage broke it down for us, explaining that the markets in which Tabby operates don\u2019t have the same kind of access to credit cards that we do in the U.S. He wrote: \u201cAs a result, BNPL serves as a crucial source of credit; where it is seen as a convenience in developed markets with abundant credit options, it is essential for many consumers in the Middle East and, by extension, the Gulf.\u201d Tabby\u2019s profitable, too!<\/p>\n And last but not least, Palo Alto, California\u2013based Next Insurance<\/strong> announced it had landed $265 million in strategic capital<\/a> from Allianz and Allstate. As reported by CNBC, Next \u201cis nearing $1 billion in premium revenue but remains unprofitable.\u201d In April 2021, TechCrunch reported that the SMB-focused insurance provider had raised a $250 million round<\/a> at a valuation of $4 billion.<\/p>\n Combined, the three fintech companies raised $650 million alone. And it\u2019s noteworthy that two of the three companies were located in markets outside of the U.S.<\/p>\n While I don\u2019t think this means we\u2019re suddenly going to see mega-rounds on the regular, it\u2019s still encouraging news for the space!<\/p>\n You can listen to Alex Wilhelm, Becca Szkutak and I (Mary Ann) drill down on the topic in Friday\u2019s episode of Equity:<\/p>\n Now that Intuit says it is discontinuing<\/a> its personal finance app Mint in January, the company hopes most of Mint\u2019s customers will stay on and join Credit Karma. However, some Mint competitors told me they were already seeing a bump in new customers.<\/p>\n Monarch Money<\/a>, a subscription-based money manager app, was one of them. You might remember that Mary Ann wrote about their $4.8 million<\/a> seed round in 2021.<\/p>\n The company shared via email that over the past week it saw \u201ctwice the number of users\u201d since the news broke. After the story went out, Monarch\u2019s execs got back to me to say that the normal sign-up rate jumped to 10x and ended the day at 20x higher.<\/p>\n I later heard from a number of other Mint competitors, including Copilot co-founder Andr\u00e9s Ugarte, who told me that Nov. 2 was the company\u2019s \u201cbiggest day ever.\u201d Like Monarch, Copilot, who we covered here<\/a> and here<\/a> in 2020, is a subscription-based personal finance tracker, and even from the first story, it was going after Mint.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re currently getting more than five times the number of users we see on a daily basis,\u201d Ugarte said via email.<\/p>\n I covered Plenty\u2019s pre-seed round<\/a> back in May, which provides a platform for couples to manage their finances together. Emily Luk, co-founder and CEO, said via email that the startup interviewed hundreds of millennial couples who manage their finances online, and found that of the 90% who had tried Mint, just 10% were still using it. Their reason? \u201cThe budgeting and reporting are too granular for this stage of their life, or it takes too much work to maintain,\u201d Luk said.<\/p>\n \u201cMint was part of the last generation of products that helped people track and monitor their finances,\u201d Luk said. \u201cThe next generation will help people actively manage their money.\u201d<\/p>\n Plenty is still in waitlist mode; however, as a result of the news, the startup added a dropdown item on its waitlist to measure if new users signing up are looking to replace Mint. If so, those people will get early access and a way to import transaction history before Mint\u2019s January 1 cutoff.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Origin<\/a> had a well-timed launch on November 3. The startup claims it is \u201cthe first personal finance platform to provide holistic tracking of net worth, AI-powered financial guidance, automated investing, easy tax filing, estate planning and the option to meet with a Certified Financial Planner.\u201d It\u2019s too early to know if Mint\u2019s closing will affect user sign-ups, so hopefully I can come back with an update. \u2014 Christine<\/p>\n Revolut<\/a>, the fintech giant based in the U.K., has appointed a new CEO for its U.K. division. Francesca Carlesi will be in charge of Revolut\u2019s division in its home country, and Nik Storonsky remains the CEO of Revolut Ltd. It\u2019s worth noting that today\u2019s news comes as Revolut still doesn\u2019t have a banking license in the U.K. after years of back-and-forth with British regulators. The company applied for a U.K. banking license back in 2021<\/a>. More here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Unit, which raised $100 million at a $1.2 billion valuation<\/a>, has launched a white label app, which it says allows software companies to embed banking and lending into their platform \u201cwith only one line of code.\u201d<\/p>\n Klarna employees were set to strike next week in the fintech\u2019s home country of Sweden, according to these tech.eu<\/a> articles<\/a>. But by the end of last week, the strike was called off. Via email, Klarna CEO and co-founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski told TechCrunch on Friday that \u201cafter an intense week of negotiations,\u201d the company had reached an agreement to join the Banks Employer Organisation by January 1, 2024. More\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n As reported by Yahoo Finance, PayPal announced third-quarter earnings \u201cthat topped analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines. The fintech company reported adjusted earnings of $1.30 compared to an estimate of $1.23. Revenue of $7.42 billion was slightly better than the expected $7.39 billion.\u201d The company\u2019s shares \u201cclosed nearly 7% higher at $55.06 on Thursday as a strong full-year profit forecast also calmed market jitters about a spending slowdown,\u201d as reported by Reuters<\/a>. Interestingly, the company\u2019s new CEO, Alex Chriss, told American Banker<\/a>: \u201cOur cost base is too high and it is slowing us down. The company\u2019s focus has not been clear.\u201d<\/p>\n Neon Money Club last week became the first Black-owned tech company in the U.S.<\/a> to launch an American Express card: \u201cAccording to information provided to AfroTech (and cited by Yahoo Finance), Neon Money Club \u2014 co-founded by Luke Bailey and Jackie Liao \u2014 has scored a partnership with American Express (Amex) \u2018to launch a credit card that will challenge norms through its design and benefits, which include allowing users to invest reward points in the U.S. stock market.’\u201d Hear more from Bailey in this article by TC\u2019s Dominic-Madori Davis here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Other items we are reading<\/strong>:<\/p>\n Why this investment banker says bank M&A is poised to rebound in 2024<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n DigiSure launches new tool to prevent fraud on sharing platforms<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Amazon unveils buy now, pay later option from Affirm for small business owners<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n TodayPay teams With Visa to bolster \u2018refunds as a service\u2019<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Now you can start a fundraiser for any charity of your choice in seconds<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n As seen on TechCrunch<\/em><\/p>\n Charlie\u2019s senior-focused banking puts new funding toward stopping fraud<\/em><\/a> (The round came just six months after the company announced its seed round of funding, and launched. Since then, it has amassed \u201cthousands of users,\u201d according to its CEO.)<\/p>\n Payroll Integrations grabs $20M to build employee financial wellness tools<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Seen elsewhere<\/em><\/p>\n Atlanta insurance technology startup raises $10M\u00a0<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Preczn rakes in $6.8M to revolutionise SaaS platforms with operational fintech features\u00a0<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Kasa Living raises $70M to expand property portfolio<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Viably\u2019s groundbreaking $50m financial boost for ecommerce wholesalers<\/em><\/a><\/p>\nThe return of mega-rounds<\/h2>\n
Where do all the Mint users go?<\/h2>\n
Weekly news<\/h2>\n
Fundings and M&A<\/h2>\n