Mary Ann Azevedo, Author at TechCrunch

Fintech Payoneer is buying 5-year-old global payroll startup Skuad for $61M in cash

Mary Ann Azevedo — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 11:30:00 +0000

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 up to another $10 million, contingent on if Skuad meets various performance goals within the first 18 months of the acquisition. Payoneer also committed to […]

Europe’s most valuable fintech, and which startups became unicorns this year

Mary Ann Azevedo — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 17:05:00 +0000

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 important fintech stories delivered to your inbox every Tuesday at 8 a.m. PT, subscribe here. The big story Revolut reportedly told staff last week of […]

Fintech giant Stripe keeps on buying

Mary Ann Azevedo — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 17:05:00 +0000

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 get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important fintech stories delivered to your inbox every Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. PT, subscribe here. The big […]

FranShares has a new approach to passive income, letting people invest in franchises for as little as $500

Mary Ann Azevedo — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 15:00:00 +0000

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: the chance to invest in franchises for as little as $500. For the unacquainted, a franchisor is a party that owns and licenses a franchise […]

The next fintech to go public may not be the one you expected

Mary Ann Azevedo — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 17:05:00 +0000

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 TechCrunch’s biggest and most important fintech stories delivered to your inbox every Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. PT, subscribe here. The big story SMB-focused 401k provider […]

Legal tech Clio raises $900M at a $3B valuation, plans to double down on AI and fintech

Mary Ann Azevedo — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 12:00:00 +0000

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 April 2021 when it raised […]

Fintech startup Coast lands $40M just 4 months after its last $25M raise

Mary Ann Azevedo — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 13:00:00 +0000

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 a $25 million venture round and $67 million in debt financing, the startup has told TechCrunch exclusively. Back-to-back fundraises were common prior to and during […]

Matera raises $100M from Warburg Pincus to help the US catch up to Brazil in instant payments

Mary Ann Azevedo — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 11:00:00 +0000

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 banking systems of different financial institutions. Adoption has been widespread and ubiquitous. The country’s residents have the ability to even pay street vendors using the […]

Sequoia bets big on Stripe, LatAm fintechs clean up and one African startup’s outsized Series A

Mary Ann Azevedo — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 17:05:00 +0000

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’ attention, a sizable Series A from an African startup, and more. To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important fintech stories delivered to […]

Major Stripe investor Sequoia confirms $70B valuation, offers its investors a payday

Mary Ann Azevedo — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 19:01:17 +0000

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 LPs in funds raised between 2009 and 2011 with an offer to buy up to $861 million worth of shares in Stripe, Axios reported. Sequoia […]

Synapse’s collapse has frozen nearly $160M from fintech users — here’s how it happened

Mary Ann Azevedo — Sun, 14 Jul 2024 15:00:00 +0000

Here is a timeline of Synapse’s troubles and the ongoing impact it is having on banking consumers.

HeadSpin, whose founder is in prison for fraud, sold to PE firm in fire sale, sources say

Mary Ann Azevedo — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 18:03:06 +0000

In total, HeadSpin raised $117 million since its 2015 inception and was last valued at $1.1 billion in 2020.

Should venture capitalists be held accountable when startups screw up?

Mary Ann Azevedo — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 17:05:00 +0000

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 the ongoing drama around Synapse and partner Evolve Bank, Revolut’s record year and more. To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important fintech […]

Newsletter writer covering Evolve Bank’s data breach says the bank sent him a cease and desist letter

Mary Ann Azevedo, Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 21:04:29 +0000

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 confirmed the stolen data has been posted to the dark web. Now Evolve has sent a cease and desist letter to the writer of a […]

Senators urge owners, partners and VC backers of fintech Synapse to restore customers’ access to their money

Mary Ann Azevedo — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 22:49:32 +0000

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 senators implicated both the partners and investors of the company as being responsible for missing customer funds. In a letter shared publicly on Monday, U.S. […]

Plaid, once aimed at mostly fintechs, is growing its enterprise business and now has over 1,000 customers signed on

Mary Ann Azevedo — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Plaid's expansion into being a multi-product company has led to real traction beyond traditional fintech customers.

Announcing the agenda for the Fintech Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024

Mary Ann Azevedo, Romain Dillet, Richard Smith — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 14:45:00 +0000

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 one big roof. As the fintech industry evolves, new opportunities abound for founders, investors, and customers. Areas such as mobile banking, global payroll, digital payments, embedded […]

Rainforest lands $20M to challenge Stripe with embedded payments for SaaS providers

Mary Ann Azevedo — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 13:00:00 +0000

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 seed financing. Raising back-to-back rounds was more common in 2021 but we don’t see it happening as often in this new environment. Rainforest’s traction is […]

From Brex exec to venture capitalist

Mary Ann Azevedo — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 17:05:00 +0000

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 of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important fintech stories delivered to your inbox every Tuesday at 7:00 a.m. PT, subscribe here. The big story Ali Rathod-Papier […]

Brex’s compliance head has left the fintech startup to join Andreessen Horowitz as a partner

Mary Ann Azevedo — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 20:48:44 +0000

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 and compliance officer, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. Rathod-Papier and a16z declined to comment on the move. According to her LinkedIn profile, Rathod-Papier now “oversees a16z’s […]