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This week we cover the latest on the beleaguered fintech bench, Robinhood's $45 million settlement, some M&A deals, some great funding, and more.
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After accounting startup Bench abruptly shut down on Dec. 27 and was acquired in a fire sale by Employer.com, Bench customers are now learning they can't simply walk away with their financial data. And some people are very unhappy about it. Meanwhile, Bench said, “The only way you can get your data in the first place is if you choose to give Employer.com access to your data, because the only company that currently has that data in the first place is Because it no longer exists, and it exists now.” Bankruptcy proceedings are becoming more active. ”
dollars and cents
Image credit: Float Financial
Float Financial, an expense management and corporate cards startup focused on the Canadian market, has raised $50 million in a Series B funding round. The Toronto-based fintech company likens itself to U.S.-based fintech giants Brex and Lamp, but says it is different in that it focuses solely on Canadian small and medium-sized businesses.
Price Iebesi, 24, already has one way out. He is selling his cryptocurrency billing company, Utopia Labs, to Coinbase for an undisclosed amount. Yebesi on Monday announced the launch of Open Ledger, a new company that will integrate automated accounting software into products that businesses and small businesses already use. He has already raised $3 million in a round led by Kindred Ventures and Blank Ventures.
NomuPay, which primarily focuses on cross-border payments for merchants in Asia and the Middle East, has raised $37 million in funding at a $200 million valuation to expand its business.
Financial services firm Moody's has agreed to acquire geospatial AI startup Cape Analytics for an undisclosed sum.
Clearwater Analytics, a company that develops accounting, compliance and risk reporting tools for asset managers, has agreed to acquire investment management platform Enfusion for $1.5 billion.
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Robinhood has agreed to spend $45 million to resolve an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into several alleged violations, including those related to this 2021 hack.
As digital payments transform into a strategic asset, India provides a template for other countries looking to reduce their dependence on Western payment networks such as Visa and Mastercard.
Groww, India's largest retail brokerage firm, is preparing to file for an IPO within 10 to 12 months with a valuation of $6 billion to $8 billion, sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. told.
Interesting headlines
In HR software news, Santiago, Chile-based HR software provider Buk has raised $50 million in Series B funding at a valuation of approximately $850 million. This is an increase from the $417 million valuation achieved in 2021.
Toronto-based Humi has been acquired by HR software company Employment Hero, an Australian company looking to “gain a foothold in Canada.”
Fintech giant Plaid Inc. tells TechCrunch it plans to open an office in Raleigh, North Carolina. Headquartered in San Francisco, Plaid currently has more than 1,000 employees and an office in New York. Washington DC; London; and Amsterdam. “Raleigh is the next step in Plaid's expansion of its footprint to meet the growing demand for the company's technology as the financial services sector continues to move online,” a spokesperson told TC.
Thank you for reading. See you next week!