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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!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n This is the last edition of The Interchange for 2023 \u2014 it\u2019s hard to believe that the year is almost over.<\/p>\n It was an eventful 12 months, even if funding was down<\/a>. We saw a bunch of M&A activity (read about it here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a>), BNPL made a comeback<\/a> (sort of), new fintech-focused venture firm capital raises (Flourish<\/a> and Vesey<\/a>), some startup shutdowns (Daylight<\/a> is one example) and more layoffs<\/a> than we would have liked.<\/p>\n And, remember when FedNow went live<\/a> in the U.S. in July? At the time there were 35 financial institutions on the list, and five months later, more than 330 of them are in the network.<\/p>\n It\u2019s never a dull day in the world of fintech. For a broader look back, stay tuned before year\u2019s end for a deeper dive into the top fintech stories we reported on.<\/p>\n Until then, we wanted to take this opportunity to give heartfelt thanks to all of you, our readers, for supporting us throughout the year. We know you have a plethora of fintech newsletters to choose from, so the fact that you signed up for this one, and keep coming back, means the world to us.<\/p>\n As we head into 2024, we wish you and your families a wonderful holiday season and a New Year ahead filled with much love, peace and happiness. We are grateful for you. \u2014 Mary Ann and Christine<\/p>\n Christine reported on layoffs at Bolt<\/strong><\/a>, an e-commerce and fintech company, which was at one time the subject of a federal probe<\/a>. The company, via a spokesperson, confirmed the one-click checkout company laid off 29% of its staff. In an emailed statement, the Bolt spokesperson said the company made the cuts to get Bolt to \u201can operating model optimized for sustainable growth and efficiency\u201d and so it could set itself up \u201cwith the speed and agility required for the next phase of our business.\u201d We\u2019ve been following Bolt for years, and this new round of job cuts is the latest in a handful of other layoffs made since 2022. In May 2022<\/a>, Mary Ann reported at least 185 employees, or one-third of its workforce, were let go. Bolt, which provides software to retailers to speed up checkout, raised around $1 billion<\/a> in total venture-backed funding and at one time was valued at $11 billion.<\/p>\n Mary Ann reported on a couple of high-profile executive departures this week. She broke the news that Credit Karma<\/strong> co-founder Nichole Mustard would be stepping down<\/a> after more than 16 years at the company. Mustard\u2019s decision to step down marks the third known high-profile executive departure at Credit Karma in 2023. Then she wrote about how Opendoor<\/strong> co-founder Eric Wu is leaving the real estate fintech company after 9 years to get back to his startup roots. Notably, Wu has been investing in startups during his time at Opendoor. According to Crunchbase<\/a>, Wu has backed dozens of companies, including Airtable, Scribe, Roofstock and the now-defunct Zeus Living<\/a>.<\/p>\n Over on TC+, Jacquelyn Melinek wrote about the fact that while Robinhood<\/strong>\u2019s foray into crypto isn\u2019t necessarily new, the company is still trying to expand its efforts there<\/a> \u2014 even in groups that have typically strayed from the platform. \u201cI think crypto has always been made by very technical people and for technical people,\u201d Johann Kerbrat, the general manager of crypto at Robinhood, said on the Chain Reaction podcast<\/a>. \u201cAt the end of the day, I think customers, when they use crypto, they don\u2019t really care what is the protocol under it? What is the network that you\u2019re using? They just want the thing to work.\u201d<\/p>\n Other items we are reading<\/strong><\/p>\n Google Pay to add BNPL options early in 2024<\/a> (In October, Apple made Apple Pay Later available to all users<\/a> in the United States, after initially releasing<\/a> it to a limited number of users back in March.)<\/p>\n Visa acquires Brazilian fintech Pismo in USD$1 billion deal<\/a> (See TechCrunch coverage on how the Pismo\/Visa acquisition<\/a> initially came about.)<\/p>\n Dallas\u2019 Apex Fintech Solutions files for IPO in its second go-public bid<\/a><\/p>\n Melio rolls out real-time payments<\/a><\/p>\n HR tech platform Checkr moves into payments for gig workers<\/a><\/p>\n Deel launches a compliance hub<\/a><\/p>\n Repay partners with Green Dot to enable cash-based bill payment<\/a><\/p>\n Klarna plans to replace workers with AI to drive profitability<\/a><\/p>\n Neobank Dave\u2019s new chatbot achieves 89% resolution rate, CEO says<\/a>\u00a0 (Head here<\/a> to read a Q&A Mary Ann conducted with Dave\u2019s founder in March.)<\/p>\n As seen on TechCrunch<\/em>:<\/p>\n SumUp taps \u20ac285M more in growth funding to weather the fintech storm<\/a><\/p>\n Comun channels local banking approach to serve Latino immigrants<\/a><\/p>\n British International Investment backs India\u2019s Aye Finance in $37M funding<\/a><\/p>\n Hyperplane wants to bring AI to banks<\/a><\/p>\n Kapital secures $165M in equity, debt to provide financial visibility to LatAm SMBs<\/a><\/p>\n Prevu\u2019s home sale process gives credit to home buyers with cash-back rebates<\/a><\/p>\n Seen elsewhere<\/em>:<\/p>\n Stairs Financial platform launches to help first-time homebuyers<\/a><\/p>\n Waste management payments firm CurbWaste raises $10M<\/a><\/p>\n Fintech startup Pontera raises $60 mln, plans more hiring in Israel<\/a><\/p>\n January closes $12M Series B funding<\/a><\/p>\n Necto raises $8M in seed funding<\/a><\/p>\n HSBC backs Aii\u2019s decarbonization grant fund<\/a><\/p>\n E-commerce lender SellersFi secures Citi-led credit facility<\/a><\/p>\nWhat a year<\/h2>\n
Weekly news<\/h2>\n
Funding and M&A<\/h2>\n