Stripe's big changes, Brazil's newest fintech unicorn and the tale of a startup shutdown | TechCrunch
Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at Stripe’s big product announcements, a bump in valuation for a Brazilian fintech startup and much more!
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The big story
Stripe announced that it will be de-coupling payments from the rest of its financial services stack. This is a big change, considering that in the past, even as Stripe grew its list of services, it required businesses to be payments customers in order to use any of the rest. Alongside this, the company is adding in a number of new embedded finance features and a new wave of AI tools. The fintech giant also announced that after a six-year hiatus, it will let customers accept cryptocurrency payments, starting with just one currency in particular, USDC stablecoins, initially only on Solana, Ethereum and Polygon.
Analysis of the week
Brazil got a new fintech unicorn last week. Banking-as-a-service startup QI Tech 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 is also preparing to close on the acquisition of Singulare, a Brazilian fund administration services provider, in the third quarter. Meanwhile, another Brazilian startup, Vixtra, secured $36 million in debt and equity funding — another example of companies in the region continuing to attract venture dollars.
Dollars and cents
Bump, a platform that helps creators manage and grow their businesses, announced a $3 million seed round, with investments from ImpactX, Capitalize and Serac Ventures. Bump allows creators to track income and market value, which can help them negotiate better deals and see how much money partners owe them.
Y Combinator alum and B2B fintech startup Fintoc raised a $7 million Series A round of funding to consolidate its presence in its home country, Chile, and in Mexico, where it expanded one year ago.
Pomelo, a startup that launched in the Philippines in 2022 — allowing people in the United States to send money to the country while at the same time building their credit — has raised $35 million in a Series A round led by Dubai venture firm Vy Capital with participation from Founders Fund.
You can hear the Equity crew talk about this deal and more here:
What else we’re writing
Bengaluru-headquartered CRED, valued at $6.4 billion, has received the in-principle approval for a payment aggregator license in a boost to the Indian fintech startup that could help it better serve its customers and launch new products and experiment with ideas faster.
Winding down a startup can be bittersweet for founders. In the case of Fundid, rising interest rates killed the business finance startup. But VCs and partners hurt it, too, founder Stefanie Sample says in this compelling read by Christine Hall.
After a tumultuous year, banking-as-a-service (BaaS) startup Synapse has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and its assets will be acquired by TabaPay.
High-interest headlines
401Go raises $12M Series A to fuel next phase of growth
Ramp vs. Brex risks becoming fintech’s Uber vs. Lyft, some VCs warn
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