Disrupt is around the corner — Here are the fintech players taking the stage | TechCrunch

Final 12 months was our first time attending Disrupt in particular person and the power was on hearth! There have been over 10,000 attendees gathered at Moscone Middle in San Francisco, and the networking alternatives are unparalleled. Come be part of us, and make sure to use the Code Phrase “Interchange” to get a 15% low cost in your tickets.

Hope to see you there! — Mary Ann and Christine

Weekly information

In we-can’t-believe-this-is-actually-happening information, digital mortgage lender Higher.com’s proposal to mix with Aurora Acquisition Corp. by way of a SPAC (particular function acquisition) was accredited by shareholders. Based on a Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) submitting, Higher.com will mix with Aurora, or go public, “on or about August 22, 2023.” Higher.com had initially started making plans to go public by way of a $6 billion SPAC in Could 2021. Issues took a dramatic flip for the more serious later that 12 months, and the SPAC was delayed greater than as soon as. Mary Ann digs in additional here.

Amid the layoffs, M&A and regulatory struggles inside banking-as-a-service, I spoke to a lot of consultants to assist make some sense of what’s happening on this sector and if BaaS is an outlier to the fintech mess. Check it out — you’ll want a TechCrunch+ subscription, but it surely’s value it!

Aisha Malik reported that with the addition of Alaska, Instacart is now accepting EBT SNAP funds in all 50 states. The grocery supply firm began engaged on this practically a 12 months in the past after it started accepting Digital Advantages Switch (EBT) for the Supplemental Diet Help Program in 2020. Read more.

Earlier this summer time, Mary Ann sat down with Marie-Elise Droga, SVP and head of world and NA fintech partnerships at Visa. In that interview, which TechCrunch revealed final week, Droga described the cost big’s fintech partnership follow as “the expansion engine of the group.” Extra particulars on that and what else they mentioned here.

Insurance coverage expertise startups have a brand new place to pitch: American Household Ventures introduced its AFV Fund IV with $444 million in capital commitments to put money into early-stage startups innovating insurance coverage in addition to danger administration within the areas of proptech, synthetic intelligence and enterprise software program. Dan Reed, managing director, mentioned in a press release: “Insurtech goes by means of its newest inflection level, and at American Household Ventures, we imagine this can be a time to be daring. Alternatives and returns will probably be inconsistently distributed in favor of those that transfer. To us, Fund IV is a device for shifting LPs and startups ahead into the following section of the trade’s transformation.” Read more.

ICYMI: As reported by PaymentsDive, Stripe introduced on August 3 that Steffan Tomlinson will take over as the corporate’s CFO in September. Particularly, the publication reported: “Tomlinson, who at the moment serves as CFO of software program supplier Confluent, is headed to Stripe with 20 years of company finance expertise at startups and Fortune 25 corporations throughout the expertise panorama. . . . Moreover Confluent, he has additionally labored for tech titan Google. . . . Tomlinson will succeed former Stripe CFO Dhivya Suryadevara, who introduced earlier this 12 months that she was stepping down ‘to take care of household issues.’”

Including your youngster to your bank card account is a follow of belief and persistence. I’ve one on my account, so I do know of what I write. Greenlight Monetary Expertise has all the time been about dad and mom and kids working collectively to assist find out about our monetary system, and the corporate’s latest providing is a number of the similar. Its Greenlight Household Money Mastercard is a departure from the standard debit card most corporations provide to teenagers. This isn’t a card that you just give to your children and set them unfastened; it’s a bank card that oldsters get and add their kids to the account so that everybody can construct their credit score collectively. And get 3% money again on all purchases. Get the scoop. — Christine

Earnings

A variety of fintech corporations launched earnings in current weeks. Listed here are some highlights:

• PayPal, which rolled out a stablecoin this week, beat analysts’ estimates as income grew to $7.29 billion within the second quarter, up from $6.81 billion throughout the identical interval in 2022. The corporate additionally turned its internet loss from final 12 months right into a revenue. Nevertheless, analysts didn’t like what occurred to PayPal’s decrease working margins, and that information despatched shares of PayPal into an 80% decline from the inventory’s all-time excessive, according to The Motley Fool.
• Marqeta reported a 24% year-over-year enhance to $231 million in internet income for the second quarter, although its internet loss widened to $58.7 million, up from $44.6 million. As well as, the card-issuing platform prolonged its partnership with Block’s Money App by means of 2027. Examine Marqueta’s Power Finance acquisition from earlier this 12 months.
• Former Snap Inc. chief technique officer Imran Khan has acquired a 2.5% stake in Dave Inc. The neobank additionally introduced its GAAP income within the second quarter was up 34% to $61.2 million and that non-GAAP variable revenue climbed to $32.9 million, which, in accordance with Dave, represented “a 53% margin relative to our non-GAAP income in comparison with 39% margin a 12 months in the past.” In the meantime, the corporate mentioned its delinquency charges remained low — at 2.83%. Learn TechCrunch’s Q&A with founder Jason Wilk from earlier this 12 months here.
• Flywire mentioned it had a superb quarter, signing on over 165 new shoppers in the course of the three-month interval and general exceeding analysts’ expectations. In the meantime, income was up 50.3% to $84.9 million whereas gross revenue jumped to $48.8 million, leading to a gross margin of 57.5%. The corporate additionally partnered with Tencent Monetary Expertise, Tencent’s fintech arm, to increase Weixin Pay (also referred to as WeChat Pay) as a cost choice for Chinese language college students and households making tuition funds overseas.

Different information on our radar:

Bud Financial launches Bud.ai, a generative AI platform for hyper-personalized banking

Zirtue protects loan customers against unexpected circumstances with TruStage payment guard solution

WeWork goes from $47B valuation to ‘substantial doubts’ about its future (Not fintech, however hey, nonetheless fascinating!)

Fundings and M&A

As seen on TechCrunch

Chargeflow, which taps AI to fight chargebacks, raises $14M

Identity management platform Veza secures $15M from Capital One and ServiceNow 

Seen elsewhere

IVIX closes $12.5M Series A led by Insight Partners to combat financial crimes

Educbank raises $14.2M to drive financial innovation in Brazilian education

Proptech consolidation: RentRedi Expands With Acquisition of eRentPayment and PaymentReport and LeaseQuery expands into SaaS management in Stackshine buy

Resilience raises $100M in Series D funding

ICYMI: Petal raises $200M debt facility to expand access to credit