Greetings from TechCrunch Fintech’s latest edition! This time, we delve into Stripe’s seamless endeavor, how fintech catalyzed Clio’s recent fundraising, the evolution of digital banking pioneer Mercury, and beyond.
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The headline act
The payment behemoth Stripe recently completed its third purchase in the last 14 months, reaching a milestone of at least 15 acquisitions in its history, as exclusively revealed by TechCrunch. The latest addition is Lemon Squeezy, a compact team of 13, specializing as a merchant of record that figures out and remits global sales tax for digital goods, besides managing legal stipulations and charges across all jurisdictions. Its services were mainly utilized by SaaS and software enterprises. When a larger fintech entity absorbs a smaller rival, it always piques interest. Stripe CEO Patrick Collison announced on platform X that Stripe is set to “massively escalate merchant of record sales.”
This week’s insights
Having tracked Canadian legal tech enterprise Clio for many years, the news of its $900 million fundraising at a $3 billion valuation, significantly supported by newcomer New Enterprise Associates with an investment exceeding $500 million, caught my attention. What intrigued me even more was discovering the pivotal role of embedded fintech in drawing investor interest. With the integration of payment solutions in 2022, Clio witnessed its Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) jump to over $200 million, a substantial rise from $100 million ARR in June 2022, while also achieving profitability. Clearly, fintech is a game-changer!
Tune into the Equity podcast to dissect this deal:
Financial figures
MNT-Halan, an Egyptian fintech unicorn, is aggressively pursuing consolidation. The enterprise, focusing on microfinance and payments, has successfully secured $157.5 million in funding, which it plans to partially allocate for acquiring another fintech firm, Tam Finans, aimed at entering the Turkish market.
TigerBeetle, creators of an open-source financial database tailored for online transaction processing, announced the closure of a $24 million Series A investment round. The round was led by Natalie Vais of Spark Capital, with contributions from Amplify Partners and Coil.
Other stories of interest
Digital banking trailblazer Mercury shared that it had ceased servicing U.S.-based customers with business and home addresses from certain nations, including Ukraine and Nigeria, causing disappointment among entrepreneurs and investors. Mercury later clarified to TechCrunch that this was a misunderstanding, stating the policy shift specifically targets founders residing in Ukraine, not U.S.-resident founders holding a Ukrainian passport. In light of this, competitor Brex quickly moved to aid Ukrainian founders.
CRED, an emerging Indian fintech startup, introduced a novel functionality aimed at empowering clients with enhanced control and insight over their financial transactions. This move is part of the startup’s mission to boost user engagement by offering sophisticated personal finance tools.
Revolut has achieved a landmark victory by obtaining a banking license from the U.K.’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). This achievement marks a significant milestone for the London-based fintech firm, especially considering its pursuit of this approval since 2021.
Top headlines
A slowdown in global financial services funding observed over the past five quarters
Robinhood enhances its offerings with the introduction of joint investing accounts
Belgium set to launch Europe’s counter to Visa and Mastercard
Nova Credit welcomes Credit Karma co-founder Nichole Mustard to its board (Coverage of the startup’s last funding round by TC.)
UniCredit poised to acquire banking-as-a-service venture Vodeno along with Belgian digital bank Aion
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