Latest from Mary Ann Azevedo
Venture
Flourish Ventures on repeat founders, emerging markets and when not to hop on the AI bandwagon
In today’s episode of Equity Podcast, Mary Ann Azevedo talked to Flourish Ventures co-founders Tilman Ehrbeck, Emmalyn Shaw and Arjuna Costa about a variety of…
New York-based fintech Payoneer has acquired Skuad, a Singapore-based global HR and payroll startup, for $61 million in cash, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. Payoneer said it could also pay…
Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at Revolut’s reported valuation hike, fintech unicorns, the Disrupt Fintech Stage, and more. To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most…
Global startup funding was up 16% in the second quarter, according to Crunchbase data, led by an uptick in mega-rounds. That increase was led, unsurprisingly,…
Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at Stripe’s easy-peasy acquisition, the role fintech played in Clio’s latest raise, the latest with digital banking startup Mercury, and more. To…
Fintech
FranShares has a new approach to passive income, letting people invest in franchises for as little as $500
Historically, passive income has been associated with investing in real estate such as rental properties. FranShares is a Chicago-based startup that wants to offer investors another form of passive income:…
Welcome back to another recap of Equity, TechCrunch’s flagship podcast about the business of startups. This episode is packed with some significant fundraises, a potentially…
Maven Ventures general partner Sara Deshpande has been investing in the consumer tech space for a decade. Over time, the seed-stage venture firm has backed…
Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at Human Interest’s path toward an IPO, fintech’s newest unicorn, a slew of new fundraises, and more. To get a roundup of…
Featured Article
Legal tech Clio raises $900M at a $3B valuation, plans to double down on AI and fintech
Clio, a Canadian software company that aims to help law practices run more efficiently with its cloud-based technology, has raised $900 million in a Series F round that values the company at $3 billion. The valuation is nearly double the $1.6 billion valuation the Vancouver, British Columbia company achieved in…
Welcome back to another recap of Equity, TechCrunch’s flagship podcast about the business of startups. This episode is packed with deals, antitrust musings, AI and…
Coast, a startup that describes itself as “a financial services platform for the future of transportation,” has raised $40 million in Series B funding — just four months after announcing…
Fintech
Matera raises $100M from Warburg Pincus to help the US catch up to Brazil in instant payments
To say that Pix, the instant payment system created by the Central Bank of Brazil, has been a resounding success is an understatement. With Pix, money moves directly between core…
Fintech
Sequoia bets big on Stripe, LatAm fintechs clean up and one African startup’s outsized Series A
Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at Sequoia Capital’s effort to give its LPs liquidity on the firm’s investments in Stripe, how LatAm fintechs are still catching investors’…
Payments giant Stripe has delayed going public for so long that its major investor Sequoia Capital is getting creative to offer returns to its limited partners. The venture firm emailed…
Here is a timeline of Synapse’s troubles and the ongoing impact it is having on banking consumers.
Featured Article
HeadSpin, whose founder is in prison for fraud, sold to PE firm in fire sale, sources say
In total, HeadSpin raised $117 million since its 2015 inception and was last valued at $1.1 billion in 2020.
Venture
Floodgate’s Mike Maples explains how startups that most people ‘don’t like’ are the best ones to back
Mike Maples Jr. is a prolific angel investor and co-founder of early-stage venture firm Floodgate. Over the years, he’s taken a lot of bets. Some…
Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! Last week was a holiday in the United States, so news was a bit lighter than normal. But there was still fintech-related items to report, including…
Fintech
Newsletter writer covering Evolve Bank’s data breach says the bank sent him a cease and desist letter
The situation around a data breach that’s affected an ever-growing number of fintech companies has gotten even weirder. Evolve Bank & Trust announced last week that it was hacked and…
Fintech
Senators urge owners, partners and VC backers of fintech Synapse to restore customers’ access to their money
A group of senators has banded together to urge Synapse’s owners and bank and fintech partners to “immediately restore customers’ access to their money.” As part of their demands, the…
Fintech
Plaid, once aimed at mostly fintechs, is growing its enterprise business and now has over 1,000 customers signed on
Plaid’s expansion into being a multi-product company has led to real traction beyond traditional fintech customers.
Welcome back to another recap of Equity, TechCrunch’s flagship podcast about the business of startups. This episode is jam-packed with deals, hot topics and the…
We’re incredibly excited to announce that we’ve added a dedicated Fintech Stage to TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. It joins Space, SaaS and AI as the other industry-focused stages — all under…
Rainforest, a startup that embeds payment processing into other software platforms, has raised $20 million in Series A funding — less than a year after announcing the close of its…
Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at a Brex exec’s jump to join venture firm a16z, Klarna selling off its payments unit and some mega-raises. To get a roundup…
Get ready for a jam-packed episode of Equity, TechCrunch’s flagship podcast about the business of startups! This week, co-hosts Mary Ann Azevedo and Haje Kamps…
Venture
Brex’s compliance head has left the fintech startup to join Andreessen Horowitz as a partner
Ali Rathod-Papier has stepped down from her role as global head of compliance at corporate card expense management startup Brex to join venture firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) as a partner…
Fintech
PayPal Ventures leads $20M round into Gynger, which offers companies ‘buy now, pay later’ for technology purchases
Gynger, a platform that lends capital to companies for technology purchases, has raised $20 million in a Series A round led by PayPal Ventures, it told TechCrunch exclusively. The financing…
Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at layoffs at BaaS startup Unit and car insurance company Loop, as well as Brex’s decision to abandon its co-CEO model, Apple…
