Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech (formerly The Interchange)! This week, we look at how the closure of Africa's hottest fintech startup, Mint, benefited Copilot, and why venture capital is doubling down on one particular expense management startup.
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big story
Although venture funding in Africa (like the rest of the world) has been declining in recent years, last week was a good week for the region's fintech ecosystem. TC reporter Tage Kene-Okafor explains how Uber led a $100 million investment in African mobility fintech Moove when it reached a valuation of $750 million. reported on. He also wrote about how Zone raised his $8.5 million to expand its decentralized payments infrastructure. And Annie Njanja reported on how Tanzanian payments company Nala's successful pivot to providing remittance services in 2021 led to the creation of a B2B payments platform.
This week's analysis
Intuit's decision to shut down budgeting app Mint presents an opportunity for startups in the space. Christine Hall explains how Copilot has grown in the past four months more than in the past four years, and how the startup has parlayed that growth into her $6 million Series A round led by Nico Wittenborn's Adjacent. I am writing about how I was able to use it to raise funds. TC previously reported on Copilot when it first launched with $250,000 in angel funding and again when it later added support for Apple Card. Monarch Money co-founder Ozzie Osman also told TechCrunch that Mint's loss is their gain.
dollars and cents
Even unsexy industries are attractive to investors. Expense management startup Coast is pursuing a business with so-called real-world field personnel and fleets to manage. Last year, it claims to have increased its revenue by 550% and raised an additional $25 million in equity funding.
Digital bank Onyx Private is pivoting to B2B. The YC-backed startup raised $4.1 million last year with the goal of serving high-income millennials and Gen Z. But last week, the company told customers it was suspending banking operations and closing their accounts.
nsave, a Swiss fintech company that makes banking in Switzerland accessible to people in countries with unstable banking sectors or facing high inflation, has raised $4 million in seed funding.
what else are you writing?
Despite the recent growth in fintech, Eric Greiman, co-founder and CEO of Ramp, believes the industry and companies like his have only scratched the surface. Griman recently told TechCrunch Found's podcast that despite how much his unicorn corporate card and expense reimbursement startup has grown so far, it's only tapped into 1% of its potential market share. . Fun fact: Lamp and Diehl turned 5 years old this week, just one day apart.
The U.S. Department of Justice is specifically targeting Apple's huge financial operations amid broader antitrust allegations against the company and its iPhone business.
Other headlines of interest
An unexpected combination: Bolt and the Checkout.com team bring frictionless commerce to life
Rewards startup Fetch capitalizes on private credit boom, raises $50 million from Morgan Stanley
Wealthfront postpones IPO plans
Affirm Holdings Director Keith Lavoie sells $318,000 worth of stock
Cloud banking technology provider nCino acquires DocFox
Marco raises $12 million to support trade finance in Latin America
PayPal-backed NX Technologies raises $24 million to streamline car payments
Prize Pool receives cease and desist order from FDIC for false and misleading statements
DLocal appoints Pedro Arndt as CEO following Sebastian Canovic's retirement
Ryan Zauk joins OMERS Ventures as fintech investor
ICYMI: Klarna aims to take on Visa, Mastercard with open banking drive
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