Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we look at Human Interest’s journey to an IPO, fintech’s new unicorn, a host of new fundraising rounds, and much more.
To receive a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important fintech stories in your inbox every Tuesday at 8 a.m. PT, subscribe here.
The big story
401k provider focused on SMBs Human interest announced last week a funding round of 267 million dollarsthus paving the way for a listing on the public market. No timetable was given. CFO Tripp Faix told TechCrunch: “We are looking to become a public company when the time is right. » It’s been crazy to see this company grow. I first covered Human Interest when it raised a $40 million Series C round in March 2020. This made it possible to collect some towers before BlackRock acquired a minority stake in the business in January 2023. Impressively, the company states that it is “approaching break-even and has sufficient cash on the balance sheet to fund continued growth of over 70% year-on-year.” ‘other without additional capital’. Fun Fact: Founder of Layoffs.fyi Roger Lee co-founded Human Interest in 2015 and remains a director on its board of directors.
Analysis of the week
Fintech unicorns are becoming as rare as a four-leaf clover. According to CB Insights Q2 State of Fintech Reportthe number of new fintech unicorns born in the second quarter was only two. For comparison, in the second quarter of 2021, 49 new fintech unicorns were born. Altruistica registered investment advisor (RIA) custodian, raised $169 million in a Series E funding round led by investment firm ICONIQ Growth in May that gave it a valuation of more than $1.5 billion. And in April, the Parisian startup Pigment raised a funding round of $145 millionvaluing it at $1 billion just five years after its creation. The business software company offers a business planning platform that allows large companies to visualize their past financial performance and forecast future quarters. Will we see more unicorns in 2024? Scroll down to learn more.
Dollars and cents
Getting Started with the Digital Ledger API Fragment raised $9 million from fintech infrastructure executives from Stripe, BoxGroup, Avid Ventures, Zach Perret (Plaid) and Jack Altman (Lattice).
Sidea startup that describes itself as “a financial services platform for the future of transportation,” has raised $40 million in Series B funding led by ICONIQ Growth — just four months after announcement a 25 million dollars venture out.
Astora free personal finance platform for women that merges community and investing in an accessible way, raised $1.4 million.
Sam Altman supported Slopea Silicon Valley-based B2B payments platform offering order-to-cash workflow automation for businesses, has secured JP Morgan Payments leadership in this sector. a new round of strategic equity and debt financing of $65 million.
Materaa Brazilian company that provides instant payments, QR code payments and core banking software to financial institutions, received an investment of 100 million dollars by Warburg Pincus.
What else do we write
Indian financial technology Paytm’s the struggles will not seem to end. Business Friday reported that its revenue fell 36% and its loss more than doubled in the first quarter as it continues to face a regulatory crackdown that has significantly reduced the business of its payments bank subsidiary.
Fast-growing payroll provider Deel has made another acquisition – the third this year. Deel has acquired Hofya London-based company that delivers and helps manage office equipment for remote rentals. Financial terms were not disclosed, but a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch the deal was worth more than $100 million.
Remittance fintech in Africa Weight is in the final stages of acquiring the licenses required for deployment in the United Stateswhich has just been launched in 27 European countries after having enjoyed success in Canada.
Very interesting titles
Tiger Global in talks to lead $500 million Revolut stock deal
Inside the new fintech unicorn: a credit card backed by your house
Capstack Technologies acquires Edge Tradeworks
Would you like to give us some advice? Send me an email to maryann@techcrunch.com or message me on Signal at 408.204.3036. You can also send a note to the entire TechCrunch team at tips@techcrunch.com. For more secure communications, click here to contact uswhich includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and links to encrypted messaging apps.