More than 40 African startups from a handful of countries have gone through YC over the past decade. Zambia joins that list today, and its entrant, Union54, is a worthy first entry. Union54 (54 is a nod to the number of African countries) is a fintech company founded by Perseus Mlambo and Alessandra Martini. The […]
Octane raises $52M at a $900M+ valuation to help people finance large recreational purchases
Most of the time when people get loans, it’s for big life purchases such as a house or a car. But not every big purchase is a necessity. Some are more for fun, and the financing options for those types of buys — such as motorcycles and ATVs — are more limited. Today, Octane Lending, […]
Reserve Trust raises $30.5M to become the ‘Stripe for B2B payments’
Reserve Trust, a Denver-based financial services provider, has raised $30.5 million in a Series A round led by QED Investors. FinTech Collective, Ardent Venture Partners, Flywire CEO Mike Massaro and Quovo founder and CEO Lowell Putnam also participated in the financing, which included $17.9 million in secondary shares. It brings the startup’s total raised since […]
Rapyd raises $300M on $8.75B valuation as fintech-as-a-service continues to boom
Neobanks, other financial startups, and the basic concept of “finance anywhere” are seeing huge gains at the moment, and today one of the key companies building the infrastructure that powers services like these is announcing a major growth round of funding to double down on the opportunity. Rapyd — which provides a range of financial […]
The next generation of global payments: Afterpay + Square
Sunday was a big day in fintech: Afterpay has agreed to merge with Square. This agreement sets two of the most admired financial technology companies in recent history on a path to becoming one.
Square to buy ‘buy now, pay later’ giant Afterpay in $29B deal
In a blockbuster deal that rocks the fintech world, Square announced today that it is acquiring Australian buy now, pay later giant Afterpay in a $29 billion all-stock deal. The purchase price is based on the closing price of Square common stock on July 30, which was $247.26. The transaction is expected to close in […]
Chilean fintech Xepelin secures $230M in debt and equity from Kaszek, high-profile angels
Xepelin is built on a SaaS model designed to give SMEs a way to organize their financial information in real time.
Squire, a Barbershop tech platform, triples its valuation (again) with Tiger Global
When co-founders Songe LaRon and Dave Salvant first began barbershop tech platform Squire in 2016, they leaned in quite literally: the duo bought a barbershop in Chelsea, New York to see first-hand how the business worked. For one year, the co-founders religiously worked at the shop, now owned by a larger barbershop chain, handling every […]
Solarisbank raises $224M at a $1.65B valuation to acquire Contis, expand API-based embedded banking tech in Europe
The round comes about a year after Solarisbank’s last round of $67.5 million, but as a sign of the times, what is perhaps more notable is that its valuation has nearly quintupled since then.
How one founder aims to make money management a mutiplayer game
Aditi Shekar’s path to entrepreneurship was a very intentional one, and while it wasn’t quite a childhood dream, it was the real-world version of the goals she did have as a kid. Fast forward to today, and Aditi’s company Zeta is on a rocket ship ride in fintech, having recently jumped from being a money […]