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Category: Fintech

$25B-valued Chime files for an IPO, reveals $33M deal with Dallas Mavericks

At long last, digital consumer bank Chime has moved forward with its IPO by filing its S-1 paperwork Tuesday. Chime had reportedly filed confidential S-1 paperwork back in December. S-1 filings typically reveal all kinds of information, covering financial, legal, and other risk factors. But Chime’s S-1 documents still have a lot of blank spaces.…

Insurtech Bestow lands $120M Series D from Goldman Sachs, Smith Point Capital

Melbourne O’Banion co-founded insurtech Bestow with Jonathan Abelmann in 2017 after struggling to secure his own life insurance policy. His goal was to make it easier for people to obtain life insurance and make the process more tech-enabled. Initially, Bestow operated as a direct-to-consumer insurance provider — selling, underwriting, and servicing life insurance policies. In…

Congressman is investigating fintech Ramp’s attempt to win $25M federal contract

Rep. Gerald Connolly, ranking member of the U.S. House Oversight Committee, has initiated an investigation into whether expense management startup Ramp is receiving preferential treatment in its bid for a $25 million government contract. Connolly sent a letter to the General Services Administration (GSA) Acting Administrator, Stephen Ehikian, demanding information and documents related to the…

Stripe unveils AI foundation model for payments, reveals ‘deeper partnership’ with Nvidia

Fintech giant Stripe announced Wednesday a slew of new product launches at its annual Stripe Sessions user event. The highlights include a new AI foundation model for payments; stablecoin-powered accounts; a new Orchestration offering, and a recent migration with chip behemoth Nvidia. Stripe’s payments foundation model has been trained on tens of billions of transactions,…

Finom, a challenger bank aimed at SMBs, lands $105M in growth funding from General Catalyst

Finom, an Amsterdam-based digital bank for small- and medium-sized businesses, has raised €92.7 million (roughly $105 million) in a growth investment from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund, the company tells TechCrunch exclusively. The capital infusion “will be used exclusively and only for growth” and not for operational expenses or product development, Kos Stiskin, Finom’s chairman…

Agree.com raises $7.2M to take on Docusign, Bill.com with AI

Agree.com says its AI-powered e-signature platform is different from competitors because it includes invoicing and payment processing. That’s why the company might have a shot at tackling the industry goliath, Docusign.  Because the startup makes its money from transaction fees for any money movement facilitated by its platform, Agree.com has made e-signatures free to all…

MoneyFellows raises $13M to take its group savings model outside Egypt

While most African digital lenders depend on working capital to fuel growth, MoneyFellows has quietly done what few others have: lend billions of Egyptian pounds with almost no debt or balance sheet exposure. Now, after raising $13 million in a pre-Series C round led by Casablanca-based Al Mada Ventures and DPI’s Nclude Fund, the Cairo-based…

World partners with Tinder, Visa to bring its ID-verifying tech to more places

World, the biometric ID company best known for its eyeball-scanning Orb devices, at an event late on Wednesday announced several partnerships aimed at driving sign-ups and demonstrating the applications of its tech. World is partnering with Match Group, the dating app conglomerate, to verify the IDs of Tinder users in Japan. Via collaborations with Kalshi…

Nuvo, a network for B2B trade, has nabbed $34M from Sequoia and Spark Capital

Nuvo, a company that has built a social-like platform to facilitate easier purchasing of physical goods between businesses, has raised a $34 million Series A from Sequoia Capital and Spark Capital, it tells TechCrunch exclusively. The San Francisco-based startup previously raised $11 million in an undisclosed seed round led by Founders Fund and Index Ventures…

AI sales tax startup Kintsugi had doubled its valuation in 6 months

Kintsugi, a Silicon Valley-based startup that helps companies offload and automate their sales tax compliance, has raised $18 million in new funding led by global indirect tax technology solution provider Vertex. The startup plans to enable more small and medium businesses to use its AI-enabled capabilities for tax calculations and filings. The ongoing growth of…

Near Space Labs nabs $20M to take its high-res imaging Swift robots into the stratosphere

When it comes to creating images of the earth from above, satellites, drones and planes are the air and spacecraft that tend to come to mind. But a startup called Near Space Labs is taking a very different approach to high-resolution photos from up high. It’s building aircraft that are raised by helium balloons and…

UK fintech Sprive closes $7.3M round to facilitate mortgage overpayments

Most mortgage lenders would rather people didn’t pay off their mortgages early. After all, that’s that’s how they make their money. Indeed, overpayment is positively discouraged and sometimes even penalized. What if there were a solution that solved the technology behind it, alongside the financing arrangements? That’s the idea behind the Sprive fintech app. This…

Flex acquires a16z-backed Maza for $40M as fintech M&A heats up

Flex, a startup that offers personal finance software for business owners, has acquired Maza, a finance app aimed at Spanish speakers in the U.S., for $40 million, the companies told TechCrunch exclusively. At first glance, the pairing may seem a bit curious. Flex’s software and payments infrastructure is to help business owners have a single…

Speak at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025: Applications now open

TechCrunch Disrupt returns October 27–29 to Moscone West in San Francisco — and we’re inviting thought leaders, founders, VCs, and tech experts to apply for a chance to take the stage at one of the most anticipated tech events of the year. Applications are now open to speak at Disrupt 2025, where over 10,000+ tech…

Froda secures $23M Series B for its debt financing platform for SMEs

Swedish Fintech startup Froda has secured a $22.7 million (€20 million) Series B round led by Incore Invest, also based in Sweden. The move bucks the trend of a slight slowdown in investments into fintech, plus a further confirmation of the long-term trend towards the ’embedded finance’ model.  Largely operating in northern European countries from…

Ramp is trying to get the US government as a customer after seeing a tweet from DOGE

Expense management startup Ramp is being considered for a charge card pilot program by the U.S. government’s General Services Administration, the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Thursday. The government’s internal expense card program, dubbed SmartPay, is a $700 billion program. It is estimated that the charge card pilot program contract for which Ramp is being…

Rippling wants UK fintech Revolut to reveal who paid off Deel’s alleged “spy”

Another highly-valued startup has just been added to the mix in the ongoing legal drama between Rippling and Deel: U.K. fintech giant Revolut. In his blockbuster affidavit that reads like it’s straight out of a movie, Irish Rippling employee Keith O’Brien claimed that he was paid about $6,000 a month to spy on Rippling. He…

Bolt’s Ryan Breslow pins his hopes on a new app that takes on Coinbase, Zelle, and PayPal

Ryan Breslow is officially back. While the founder of one-click checkout company Bolt re-assumed its helm as CEO in March, Breslow is unveiling Wednesday a new “superapp” that he hopes will formally mark his return as the fintech’s leader. He describes the new product as “one-click crypto and everyday payments” in a single platform, in…

Visa-backed African unicorn Moniepoint tackles remittances. But is it late to the game?

When Visa invested in Nigerian fintech Moniepoint earlier this year, it didn’t just validate the newly minted unicorn — it signaled a bold new direction. As part of that deal, the Nigerian fintech best known for building one of Africa’s largest business banking platforms, hinted at plans to integrate with Visa Direct, a move that…

Marshmallow, the UK insurance startup for migrants, raises $90M at a $2B+ valuation

U.K. startup Marshmallow has blown up over the years by using innovations in data science to build car insurance policies for immigrants and other consumers who have been overlooked or priced out of traditional insurance. Now, with a million drivers insured and a profitable annual revenue run rate of $500 million, Marshmallow has raised a…

Stripe CEO says company management regularly asks customers for ‘candid feedback’

Digital payments platform Stripe invites customers to join its management team meetings on a bi-weekly basis so it can get “candid feedback,” according to co-founder Patrick Collison. In an April 8 post on X, the fintech giant’s CEO said the company has a customer join for the first 30 minutes of the meeting, which is…

Stripe CEO says he ensures his top leaders interview a customer twice a month

Digital payments platform Stripe invites customers to join its management team meetings on a bi-weekly basis so it can get “candid feedback,” according to co-founder Patrick Collison. In an April 8 post on X, the fintech giant’s CEO said the company has a customer join for the first 30 minutes of the meeting, which is…

Fintech founder charged with fraud after ‘AI’ shopping app found to be powered by humans in the Philippines

Albert Saniger, the founder and former CEO of Nate, an AI shopping app that promised a “universal” checkout experience, was charged with defrauding investors on Wednesday, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. Founded in 2018, Nate raised over $50 million from investors like Coatue and Forerunner Ventures, most recently raising…

Jobandtalent raises $103M on a down-round $1.5B valuation as it looks to AI to recruit temps

Jobandtalent, an AI-based “workforce as a service” marketplace that connects people with companies looking for hourly workers, announced it has raised €92 million ($103 million).  The Series F — which includes participation from Atomico, BlackRock, DN Capital, Hercules, Infravia, Kibo, and Kinnevik — values the Madrid, Spain-based company at €1.3 billion ($1.5 billion) post-money.  On the surface,…

Jobandtalent raises $103M on a down-round $1.5B valuation as it looks to AI to recruit temps

Jobandtalent, an AI-based “workforce as a service” marketplace that connects people with companies looking for hourly workers, announced it has raised €92 million ($103 million).  The Series F — which includes participation from Atomico, BlackRock, DN Capital, Hercules, Infravia, Kibo, and Kinnevik — values the Madrid, Spain-based company at €1.3 billion ($1.5 billion) post-money.  On the surface,…

Jobandtalent raises $103M on a down-round $1.5B valuation as it looks to AI to recruit temps

Jobandtalent, an AI-based “workforce as a service” marketplace that connects people with companies looking for hourly workers, announced it has raised €92 million ($103 million).  The Series F — which includes participation from Atomico, BlackRock, DN Capital, Hercules, Infravia, Kibo, and Kinnevik — values the Madrid, Spain-based company at €1.3 billion ($1.5 billion) post-money.  On the surface,…

AI insurtech Ominimo bags its first investment at a $220M valuation

How do you get talented engineers to work for a startup in a mundane field at a time when more exciting companies are paying well and hiring aggressively? Here’s an answer from one insurance startup out of Poland called Ominimo: make pay competitive, but more importantly, give those engineers the license to apply their talent…

Solid, which claimed to be the ‘AWS of fintech,’ files for bankruptcy after raising nearly $81M in funding

Banking-as-a-service startup Solid (formerly called Wise) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to documents filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on April 7. Founded in 2018, the fintech company had raised a total of nearly $81 million in funding from investors such as FTV Capital and Headline.…

Los Angeles-based Rain raised a $75M Series B in another good sign for fintech

Rain, a startup offering employer-integrated earned wage access (EWA) app coupled with financial-wellness features like overdraft alerts and spending trends, has raised $75 million in an all-equity Series B round. The round was led by Prosus at a post-money valuation of $340 million. Rain plans to use the new funds to help it add credit…

Turkey’s Sipay raises $78M to expand its Stripe-like services into emerging markets

Billing itself as “Stripe for emerging markets,” Turkish Fintech Sipay has raised a $78 million Series B funding round, claiming a valuation of $875 million in the process. This round is significant, as Sipay plans to expand into markets outside of Turkey, offering additional services like remittances that Stripe currently does not offer in those…

Turkey’s Sipay raises $78M to expand its Stripe-like services into emerging markets

Billing itself as “Stripe for emerging markets,” Turkish Fintech Sipay has raised a $78 million Series B funding round, claiming a valuation of $875 million in the process. This round is significant, as Sipay plans to expand into markets outside of Turkey, offering additional services like remittances that Stripe currently does not offer in those…

Turbine raises $22M to help VC investors get cash without selling their stakes

Since IPOs slowed to trickle a few years ago, limited partners who invest in venture capital funds have had one giant problem: a dearth of liquidity. Lack of cash returns has been especially troublesome for wealthy individuals or their small family offices – who manage the assets of the wealthy – that made substantial investments…

Thatch raises $40M to give employees more control of their health care choices

Thatch, a startup that aims to transform the health insurance experience for employers and employees alike, has raised $40 million in a Series B round of funding, it tells TechCrunch exclusively. Index Ventures led the financing, which included participation from existing backers Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), General Catalyst, SemperVirens, PeopleTech Partners, The General Partnership, and new…

Fuse raises $6.6M to fix a payment problem for companies expanding to MENA

Expanding into the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) remains a costly and complex challenge for global businesses, thanks to fragmented regulations and banking systems. Dubai-based fintech Fuse aims to simplify that with a cross-border payments API and has raised $6.6 million in seed funding to make it happen. Founded in 2023 by George Davis,…

Fintech Plaid raises $575M at a $6.1B valuation, says it will not go public in 2025

Plaid, which connects bank accounts to financial applications, has sold about $575 million worth of common stock at a $6.1 billion post-money valuation, the fintech company confirmed to TechCrunch. The valuation is about less than half of the $13.4 billion that San Francisco-based Plaid was valued at when it raised a $425 million Series D…

Y Combinator neobank Djamo raises $17M with 1M users across Francophone Africa

Djamo is one of several digital banking startups targeting Africa’s underbanked. But unlike many that focus on large markets like Nigeria, Egypt, or South Africa, Djamo has carved out a niche in Francophone West Africa, specifically the Ivory Coast and, more recently, Senegal. It now serves over one million customers across both countries. The Y…

Javice found guilty of defrauding JPMorgan in $175M startup purchase

Charlie Javice, the founder of student loan application startup Frank that was purchased by JPMorgan for $175 million, was found guilty on Friday of defrauding the bank by greatly inflating the customer count. After a five-week trial, the jury found Javice guilty, agreeing with prosecutors’ claims that she fabricated the vast majority of Frank’s customer…

Fintech VC powerhouse Frank Rotman stepping down from QED Investors to found his own startups

Prolific fintech investor and QED Investors co-founder Frank Rotman said Friday that he will transition to a partner emeritus role by year’s end to focus on founding his own startups. But those startups won’t necessarily be financial technology companies. In a post on X, Rotman – who helped start QED in 2007 – declared that…

YC alum Mendel, a ‘Ramp for LatAm enterprises,’ raises $35M Series B

Mexico City-based Mendel has raised $35 million in a Series B round of funding, it tells TechCrunch exclusively. Corporate spend management platform Mendel last raised in December 2021 — a $15 million Series A round and $20 million in debt — after participating in Y Combinator’s Winter 2021 cohort. With this latest capital infusion, the…

Fintech Mercury lands $300M in Sequoia-led Series C, doubles valuation to $3.5B

Digital banking startup Mercury has raised $300 million in primary and secondary funding at a $3.5 billion post-money valuation, the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Wednesday. The valuation is more than double the startup’s valuation when it last raised capital — a $120 million Series B round in 2021 that valued the company at $1.62…

Step into the spotlight: Apply to speak at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

Calling all tech innovators, startup fanatics, marketing gurus, and emerging VCs — this is your moment! You’ve waited long enough, and now the time has come to step into the spotlight at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, taking place October 27–29 in San Francisco. Share your expertise with over 10,000 eager attendees and make an impact by…

Ex-Network International execs raise $6M for Enza, an African fintech serving banks

Over the past decade, Dubai-based Network International has become one of the dominant payment processors across the Middle East and Africa, thanks in part to a pair of acquisitions. However, many large incumbents can fall prey to slower innovation, opening the door for smaller, faster-moving startups. The latest development is Enza, a fintech founded in…

Charlie Javice trial becomes a master class in hubris for both sides

Charlie Javice’s high-profile fraud trial has become a showcase of embarrassing missteps on both sides, with eyebrow-raising details about how JPMorgan Chase was allegedly deceived into buying her startup, Frank, for $175 million when it had just 300,000 customers instead of four million. Per a new WSJ article, one pivotal moment came when former Frank…

Next Insurance gets scooped up by Munich Re for $2.6B

Germany’s Munich Re has signed a definitive agreement to acquire digital insurance company Next Insurance for $2.6 billion, the firms announced on Thursday. Founded in 2016, Palo Alto-based Next Insurance is focused on providing insurance to small-to-medium-sized businesses. It was last valued at $2.5 billion in late 2023 when it raised $265 million. Next Insurance’s…

Make waves in 2025: Exhibit at TechCrunch events

If you’re reading this, you already know: It’s time to amplify your brand. Get in front of thousands of TechCrunch event attendees, readers, and decision-makers who can take your business further this year by exhibiting at a TechCrunch event. The perks of exhibiting: What’s in it for you Exhibiting doesn’t just elevate your brand —…

ClearGrid, armed with a fresh $10M, is developing AI to improve debt collection in MENA

Debt collection in emerging markets often feels outdated, and can be costly — damaging borrower trust. As consumer lending surges and regulators push for fairer practices, legacy collection outfits are struggling to maintain pace. ClearGrid aims to help modernize debt collection — and recovery — with AI. The Dubai-based startup, which is emerging from stealth…

Mortgage as an employee benefit? Kleiner Perkins leads $23.5M Series A for Multiply Mortgage

After hitting record lows at the start of the pandemic, mortgage rates began to climb in 2022 and haven’t come down significantly since.  With 30-year mortgage rates hovering at over 6.5% today (they were as low as 2.49% in 2020!), buying a home is simply not that attainable for many people. One Denver-based startup is…

BaaS startup Synctera raises $15M, signs Bolt as a customer

The banking-as-a-service space took a hit last year when Synapse collapsed. But that hasn’t stopped BaaS startup Synctera from raising another $15 million in funding, it tells TechCrunch exclusively. Synctera works to provide companies “of all shapes and sizes with everything they need to launch and operate fintech and embedded banking products,” including: accounts, cards,…

The sibling founders of Stax Payments are back with a $20M seed raise for their new fintech, Worth

Worth, a company focused on helping fintechs, banks, and enterprises underwrite small and medium-sized businesses more easily, has raised $20 million in a seed funding round, the startup tells TechCrunch exclusively. It’s a large seed round, especially these days when capital is harder to come by. But the founders’ history may have something to do…

Supercharge your brand visibility with an exhibit table at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

From October 27-29, TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 will bring together over 10,000 startup pioneers, VC leaders, and tech enthusiasts at Moscone West in San Francisco—the epicenter of innovation set to reshape the future of technology. What’s in it for your startup? A golden opportunity to put your innovation in front of an eager audience for all…

Nirvana keeps on truckin’ with $80M at a $830M valuation for its AI-powered insurance

As the U.S. trucking industry gears up for the negative impacts of new Trump tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, a startup building a new kind of trucking insurance — a critical cost for truck drivers — has raised some money to grow, and (it hopes) help truckers weather the changes. Nirvana, an AI-based…

Ryan Breslow is back as CEO of fintech Bolt, after years of controversy

Ryan Breslow is once again the CEO of Bolt, the fintech company told TechCrunch on Wednesday. Bolt shared a communication that recently went out to investors in which Breslow wrote that “following a challenging few years,” he had been reinstated as Bolt’s CEO with “unanimous approval” of the board of the one-click checkout company. Justin…

Flex, a Brex for business owners, has raised $25M at a $250M valuation

Flex, which offers personal finance software and payments infrastructure for business owners, has raised $25 million in equity funding while securing a $200 million credit facility, it told TechCrunch exclusively. The equity funds were raised at a valuation of “just under $250 million.” The company last raised a $20 million Series A announced in September…

Grain emerges from stealth with $50M to help any business hedge against FX volatility

Foreign exchange fluctuations can make or break a business that trades across borders, but keeping up and responding to the FX market can be tricky if you’re anything smaller than the world’s largest enterprises. Today, a startup called Grain is emerging from stealth with a product that it says will let finance teams at companies…

New Mobile App Scanning Tool Created by Approov and CMU Africa

Approov and Carnegie Mellon University Africa’s Upanzi Network have teamed up again to help fintech companies provide more secure services to their customers by creating a new web-based open source tool which scans Android mobile application software for vulnerabilities and security issues and present a detailed report with recommendations on how to fix any issues…

Ramp has more than doubled its annualized revenue to $700 million

Fintech startup Ramp has crossed $700 million in annualized revenue as of January of this year, according to a source familiar with the company’s internal operations. The company had crossed $100 million in annualized revenue before its third birthday in March 2022, passed $300 million by August 2023, and now effectively more than doubled that…

Fintech startup Ramp nearly doubles valuation to $13B in secondary share sale

Expense management startup Ramp has nearly doubled its valuation to $13 billion after a $150 million secondary share sale, the company announced Monday morning. New and existing backers including VC Stripes, GIC, Avenir Growth, Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, Lux Capital, 137 Ventures and Definition Capital bought the secondaries from employees and early investors.…

Alkami is buying fintech Mantl for $400 million

Digital banking services provider Alkami Technology is acquiring Mantl, which has been described as “the Shopify of account opening,” for $400 million. Mantl, founded in 2016 by Nathaniel Harley and Benjamin Conant, developed software to make it easier for people to open accounts digitally at community banks and credit unions. The end goal is that…

TechCrunch Disrupt 2025: Final 24 hours to save up to $1,130

The early bird gets the worm and time is running out! You have less than 24 hours left to save up to $1,130 when purchasing passes to TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. If you want massive savings on Disrupt 2025 individual passes and up to 30% on group tickets, secure your low ticket rate today. These offers…

Stripe CEO says AI startups are growing faster than SaaS ever did and calling them wrappers ‘misses the point’

In its annual letter released Thursday, payments giant Stripe declared that it was “seeing an AI boom” with its data revealing that artificial intelligence startups are growing more rapidly than traditional SaaS companies have historically. In a chart, Stripe showed that the top 100 AI companies (by revenue) were able to achieve $5 million in…

ResilienceVC bucks trend, unveils $56M fund to back fintechs working on financial inclusion

ResilienceVC, a new seed-stage fintech venture capital firm based out of Washington, D.C., is announcing its $56 million debut fund, the firm shared exclusively with TechCrunch. Founded by Tahira Dosani and Vikas Raj in 2023, ResilienceVC’s mission is a straightforward one: to back fintech companies dedicated to helping Americans find financial stability. It’s writing checks…

2025 TechCrunch Events Calendar

For two decades, TechCrunch has provided a front row view to the future of technology, shaping conversations that matter and spotlighting the next big things before they break — both on the page and in person at our world-renowned events.  This year, as we celebrate our 20th anniversary, we’re launching our most ambitious events calendar…

TechCrunch Disrupt 2025: Just 2 days left to save up to $1,130

Clock’s ticking! You’ve got just 48 hours left to lock in your spot at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 and save up to $1,130 on individual ticket types or 30% on group tickets. Don’t wait — secure your pass now before prices go up on February 28 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Disrupt 2025 takes place on October…

Stripe finalizes tender sale at a $91.5B valuation, says payment volumes grew to $1.4T in 2024

Digital payments platform Stripe has yet to lay out plans to go public, but in the meantime the company has thrown past and present employees a line for some liquidity. The company on Thursday confirmed a tender offer where investors will buy up shares from those employees at a valuation of $91.5 billion. Stripe said…

Unique, a Swiss AI platform for finance, raises $30M

A four-year-old Swiss startup has raised a sizable chunk of change to capitalize on the burgeoning “agentic AI” movement. Unique said on Thursday that it has raised $30 million in a Series A funding round that was led by London-based VC firm DN Capital and CommerzVentures, the investment offshoot of Germany’s Commerzbank. “Agentic AI” is…

Taktile helps fintechs build automated decision-making workflows

The automated logic behind many financial decisions — for example, decisions that determine whether a client is approved for a credit line — is hard-coded. Often, it’s not easily changed. If a head of credit at a bank wanted to adjust the bank’s lending criteria, for example, they’d likely have to raise a ticket with…

Capim, a Brazilian BNPL startup for dental services, lands a $26.7M Series A

Capim, a startup offering Brazilians the option to buy now, pay later (BNPL) for dental services, has raised $26.7 million in Series A funding, it tells TechCrunch exclusively. Founded in July 2021 by Marcelo Lutz and Roberto Biselli, who serve as co-CEOs, Sao Paulo-based Capim describes itself as a vertical SaaS company specializing in the…

TechCrunch Disrupt 2025: 3 days left to save up to $1,130 on passes

Tick-tock! The last three days to save up to $1,130 to TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 are winding down! Get your tickets today for massive savings on Disrupt 2025 individual passes and up to 30% on group tickets. These offers end February 28 at 11:59 p.m. PT, so don’t miss out on major savings of the year.…

Gozem nets $30M to expand vehicle financing, digital banking in Francophone Africa

Since its launch in 2018 as a ride-hailing service in Togo, Gozem has steadily expanded across French-speaking West Africa, integrating a wide range of services as it sought to become a super-app. The company now offers ride-hailing, commerce, vehicle financing, and digital banking across Togo, Benin, Gabon, and Cameroon. Now, in a bid to scale…

Brex eyes $500M in revenue as it adds the likes of Anthropic and Robinhood as customers

Fintech Brex expects its annual net revenue to reach $500 million in 2025, according to a person familiar with the company’s operations as cited by Bloomberg and The Information. While the startup did not comment on the specific revenue projection, it did share that Brex has seen “3x overall revenue growth” year-over-year. It also told…

Fintech founder Charlie Javice’s criminal trial has begun

The criminal trial against fintech startup founder Charlie Javice began on Friday, with lawyers laying out their opening arguments, Reuters reported.  Lawyers reiterated their original claims and defenses from the lawsuit filed by JPMorgan Chase against Javice in December of 2022. The financial services giant alleges that Javice had helped “fake millions of customers in…

TechCrunch Disrupt 2025: Lowest prices of the year end in 7 days

You read that headline correctly! The best deals for TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 tickets are about to end in just 7 days. Save up to $1,130 on individual passes and up to 30% on group tickets. Don’t wait — these offers end on February 28 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Join us in celebrating 20 years of…

Tether backs stablecoin liquidity provider Mansa in $10M seed round

As payment companies increasingly explore stablecoins for cross-border payments and real-time settlement, some startups are tapping into the zeitgeist by providing liquidity via a revolving line of credit in stablecoins. One of them is Dubai-based but Africa-focused Mansa, whose offering allows payments companies to settle transactions and fund customer accounts instantly. The startup has raised…

After raising $1 billion, fintech Varo closes another $29 million, replaces founder CEO

Fintech Varo has been hoping to raise a $55 million Series G round but has, so far, closed on $29 million to date, according to a recent SEC filing. Varo declined to comment on this new round but the fintech has raised just over $1 billion in funding since its 2015 inception, according to PitchBook. …

Kuda and CEO face allegations of sex discrimination and unfair dismissal from former executive, per filing

An employment tribunal case has placed Kuda Technologies, one of Africa’s fastest-growing digital banks, under scrutiny over allegations of workplace discrimination, harassment, and wrongful dismissal. Rosemary Hewat, Kuda’s former Group Chief People Officer (CPO), filed a complaint accusing the company and its CEO, Babatunde Ogundeyi, of sex discrimination, victimization, and unfair dismissal. According to the…