The interchange is welcome. Thank you for signing up and voting for confidence after you received this. If you read this as a post on our site, you should sign up here so you can receive it in the future. I take a look at the hottest news from the last week. This will include everything from funding rounds to trends to an analysis of a particular space. My job is to stay on top of the news and make sense of it so I can keep you up to date.
The top recipients of venture capital in the year were fintech startups, accounting for 21% of the total. The third largest number of layoffs, by percentage, has been earned by fintech startups.
According to an analysis by Roger Lee of Layoffs.fyi, 3,709 employees were laid off across 41 layoffs in the second quarter of the year. Out of 36,861 startup employees laid off in the second quarter, 3,709 were from the fintech sector. The food and transportation space ranked first and second, respectively. The site classified Better.com as a real estate company. The category that saw the most layoffs by percentage in the first half of the year was fintech.
8,715 employees were laid off in the year 2020. There are many more fintechs today than there were in the past. When it came to layoffs as percentage of the total, the transportation and travel categories led the way.
According to Lee, there were zero layoffs in the entire of 2021.
Out of 46,740 startup employees laid off, 4,189 were let go in the first half of the year. In the first half of 2020 there were 8,373 cases of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The largest layoffs in the second quarter were at Klarna and Robinhood.
It is important to keep in mind that there were other layoffs that weren't recorded here, so the true number is likely even higher.
Layoffs are very difficult for the workers and the companies. Some companies are better at handling them than others. "Layoffs are hard and I don't want to diminish that, but most likely the talent will get redistributed quickly." Don't give up if you lost your job. The most important thing if you had to let people go is to treat them well. You are sending a message to those people that are staying with you by doing that.
Bolt and Better have been the subject of a lot of negative headlines recently. Their reputation has taken a beating. Both companies shared some news this week in the hopes of improving their reputations. Bolt settled with a retail giant and became a shareholder, in what many viewed as a strange turn of events. One might wonder why the latter would want to own a stake in the company. It doesn't make sense, although Insider speculated that it was ABG's goal with the litigation to start with. Bolt is on a mission to grow more responsible, having shed some jobs in the second quarter, and doubling down on things that are a core value proposition.
There were a number of new senior executive hires at Better.com that were mind-blowing. TheyTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkia I did not speak to Better CEO Vishal Garg but he did provide a canned statement conveying his excitement about all the new people coming on board. A lot of people are willing to bet on Better after everything that has happened. Is the company going in the right direction? It will be seen.
I did a deep dive on Atlanta's startup scene a couple of years ago and was surprised to see how strong it was. Last week, Protocol's Veronica Irwin looked at the southern city with a fintech lens, writing "San Francisco has Square, Stripe and Plaid." Core Card, Kabbage and CheckFree are in Atlanta. It claims to be the pioneer of charge cards, electronic payments and ATMs. The Atlanta metropolitan area has helped us with many of the everyday innovations.
We already know that investing in the world of technology has slowed down. Financing activity slowed notably compared to Q1 and the year ago period, but activity remained quite robust when compared to any other period besides 2021, according to the managing partner of Financial Technology Partners. The total dollar volume raised by private fintech companies in the second quarter was down 27% compared to the first quarter. Q2 was above every quarter before the year 2020.
It is rare for a week to go by without some layoffs happening. A week ago, Brazilian proptech startup Loft let go of over 300 employees, or 12% of its workforce. The company laid off 159 people earlier this year. Loft described the move as a reorganization of its operations. LatAm is not immune to the housing market downturn in the face of rising interest rates and other factors.
Last week, two big names in the financial services industry formed a partnership. According to the company, it is working with Stripe to support payments in the UK and Europe. Payments will be made through Stripe's infrastructure.
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n1co raised $12 million at a post–money valuation of $64.8 million, making it the first pre–seed round for the region. Hugo was a super app that recently sold to Delivery Hero for $150 million.
Alejandro was invited to join the trio as a co-founder and is currently serving as COO and interim CEO. The original founding trio bet on a region that is usually forgotten in the tech landscape. Over 1,000 merchants have signed up with n1co to accept credit and debit card payments using n1co's technology. With almost $1 million monthly transaction volume across five countries, n1co will use the fresh capital to accelerate growth, develop its POS devices and push its soon-to-be-released product.
With the introduction of the n1co card, the company believes it will become the first neobank focused on Central America and the Dominican Republic. The market has lower banking penetration and an average of 1.5 phones per adult.
The startup decided to forgo the typical VC route during its raise, instead focusing on regional groups that it believes will add value to its business model, such as the largest gas station operators in the region. They have committed to processing with n1co the amount of card transactions they have.
N1co is the image.
It was seen on a website.
Capital and customers are attracted by Peakflo's bid to build business payments.
YuLife picks up $120 million at an $800 million valuation as it expands its approach to life insurance.
A16z leads a $6.5 million seed round for adaptive. Air base, Brex and Ramp put money in the round.
Deuna is entering Latin America's crowded one-click checkout sector.
Elsewhere.
Finalis raised $10.7 million for global expansion.
Fello secured $25 million in debt and equity.
Unreal Estate lands $6 million.
This week is over for me. Next week the place will be the same. Thanks for reading and taking good care.
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