The interchange is where you'll find us. 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.
Mark Goldberg has sat on the boards of several financial services companies and invested in them. Goldberg has a lot of ideas about what the future holds for the space.
Mark is not afraid to speak his mind, and I recently sat down with him to discuss all things fintech. The highlights are edited for clarity and length.
What is the difference between this year's environment and last?
The analogy I have been using internally is that last year was the party and this year is the aftermath. I feel like we are starting to understand the excesses of last year. After the fact, we saw the retrenchment period. We think the next generation of tech companies is going to be more aggressive in their investments.
Yeah? What do you think the next generation of companies will look like?
If you look at my portfolio, a lot of what I invest is in the infrastructure side of fintech. It is a function of the inherent volatility on the infrastructure side of the market that there is resilience there.
I am spending a lot of time looking at early-stage consumer finance, which I think is the most unloved category or subcategory of financial technology today.
When we are on the other side of the hype cycle, I think it is a great time to think about how people are going to do banking in the future.
One of the effects of the Pandemic is that people want to do banking from their phone instead of going to a branch. There is going to be a huge change in consumer finance. A lot of things were overvalued last year, but I think we are going to see a transformation from an old guard to a new guard in the next few years.
Do you think there's a big trend happening in the field?
The fusion of fintech and culture is going to be one of the enduring things from the excesses of last year. It has changed the market.
The best example of this is Cash App, where they have a clothes store. A bunch of my hedge fund friends received a bunch of their clothes. You wouldn't wear a Morgan Stanley shirt to a party in the banking world. The Gen Zs are buying clothes from the Cash App store.
I think the fusion of pop culture, hip hop and the consumerization of financial technology is what makes the Cash App commercial so fun.
A neobank has an advantage over a legacy bank because it doesn't have as many retail locations. The next generation of neobanks can compete in the brand war with an authentic voice that consumers care about.
What do you think will happen in the short term and long term?
It is going to be a slower year for the financial services industry. Since the peak last year, the rate of deals has dropped. I think it's healthy for everyone to see one deal a year.
I don't have any companies that are raising right now because they all raised last year and have three years of runway, and are just building and have to grow into the valuations they set last year
It is nice to not have a gun to your head when making a decision on a large investment. We are taking our time doing the work around what we are interested in, what are the best companies, and spending time with the founder is much better than it was a year ago. This is going to be a new norm for the next few quarters.
Deals are happening in the early stages. We are trying to figure out what companies we can go to and propose a flat round to their valuation that would say yes.
I believe the market will reopen in a big way next year.
The market for IPOs has stopped functioning. What are your thoughts on the M&A front?
We are going to see a lot of M&A and a lot of consolidation over the next few months. If we see one or two mega deals where people who thought they had a strong independent path are now looking at where public market companies are trading and saying, "That's a much harder path to being public than I had thought."
When the opportunity is 98% of the market that the two of us can reach together, you need to stop fighting each other. We are starting to have those conversations.
The next wave of infrastructure will be towards a single store that sells 10 products, not 10 companies that sell one product.
The image is from index ventures.
The investing app Stash, which last raised $125 million from investors in a Series G round last year, is addingcryptocurrencies to the set of products it offers. Ed Robinson, co-founder and president of Stash, shared in an interview that the company has a revenue figure of $125 million annually.
Venmo is launching a new feature called Charity Profiles that will allow charities to raise funds and receive donations directly within its app. The new profiles will be made available to charities that have received confirmation of their charity status.
Lemonade is launching in the U.K. with the help of one of the oldest and largest insurance providers in the country.
Pakistan's central bank revoked the in-principle and pilot operations approval of Tag to operate as an electronic money institution in a move that threatens the firm. The State Bank of Pakistan revoked Tag's approval to operate as an electronic money institution, the permission that is required for entities to offer innovative, user-friendly and cost-effective low-value digital payments instruments. The startup has been ordered by the central bank to close its wallet accounts and pull its apps from the app stores.
As traditional financial institutions continue to mingle with thecryptocurrencies world, Visa is the latest to expand its offerings in the space, collaborating with FTX for a long-term global partnership. The agreement between the two companies will allow FTX customers to use Visa cards in Latin America, Europe and Asia. The product was announced in the United States at the beginning of the year.
Wealthsimple and Shakepay have been accused of misrepresenting the true costs of theircryptocurrencies services. According to a report by BetaKit, a lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of Québec on September 29 and seeks $10 million in damages from both firms. The Québec court has yet to authorize the class action suit.
The latest move in a sweeping overhaul to rein in expenses as it adjusts to a sharp downturn in trading activity is the reason for the partial or complete shuttering of five more offices.
Leave by Breeze is a paid parental leave insurance solution for employers to support employees who need to take time away from work to care for their families. Breeze's online platform already includes short-term disability insurance, two types of long-term disability insurance, and critical illness insurance.
Volpi, a Brazilian digital mortgage provider, says it has registered 400% quarter-over-quarter growth over the last year and is partnering with RBR Asset with plans to finance up to $30 million for their clients over the next year.
It was seen on a website.
The real estate investing app raised $6.2 million.
The Series B funding from Jiko will allow companies to park their cash in T-Bills.
The finance company formerly known as Railsbank raised $46 million.
Korea Credit Data has raised $24.7 million.
The platform that is backed by Bessemer is a billing automation platform.
Elsewhere.
The debt platform said it nearly tripled its ARR in the last year.
Access to elite investing will be improved by Equi's fifteen million dollars.
The $5 million seed round was raised by Solvento to level the playing field for Latin American trucking companies.
MoneyGram invested in a financial super app called Jingle Pay.
Did you know that I co- host the EquityPodcast with Alex andNatasha? You can listen to us here. The three of us are going to be on the Pod at the event. We need you to come hang with us. Breakfast will be there. You can get 15% off passes to disrupt.
This is the last week for this one. I would like to thank you again for reading. Mary Ann said it would be until next time.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
