Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we take a look at the madness that is Bolt’s proposed fundraising, how much money the Synapse founder has raised for his new venture, how much money Stripe has, and much more.
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The big story
Last week, the fintech world was abuzz with the crazy deal that Bolt had proposed to its shareholders. It was enough to make anyone’s head spin. So I spoke to a venture lawyer and two of the potential investors and provided some context in this room. The TLDR is that Bolt is trying to get investors to vote for a $200 million Series F raise and a $250 “marketing credits” deal. As part of this, founder Ryan Breslow would return as CEO – and receive a $2 million bonus, plus an additional $1 million in back pay, for doing so! We’re all on the edge of our seats to see what happens next.
Analysis of the week
The founder of a bankrupt banking-as-a-service startup Synapse made headlines last week when he took to social media to share details about what he’s building in his latest venture – a robotics startup called Foundation. Many people were surprised that Sankaet Pathak was so quick to move on, considering that tens of millions of dollars in customer deposits (these are Synapse customers, by the way) remain missing. Shameless and unapologetic, Pathak continues to blame partner bank Evolve for the missing money, while Evolve points the finger at Synapse. Meanwhile, he confirmed to TechCrunch that he had raised $11 million in pre-seed capital for his new startup.
Dollars and cents
Fintech in Brazil Magic raised $4 million as part of a funding round led by Lux Capital, marking the company’s first investment in Brazil. The company, which has raised $5.1 million in total, is creating an AI-powered financial assistant. The current product allows people to send money and pay bills via WhatsApp.
Kenyan HR and payroll startup Working salary raised $5 million in a Series A financing led by pan-African venture capital firm Norrsken22 with new participation from Visa.
Heavenly Firewhich created a payment network specifically enabling AI agents to make autonomous transactions, officially launched its payment network and announced $8.5 million in seed funding.
Wazaa payment and liquidity platform backed by Y Combinator, came out of stealth with $8 million in seed capital. The startup claims to make it easier for African businesses and merchants to manage and pay their suppliers globally.
What else do we write
Paypal is set to take advantage of the iPhone’s new NFC (near field communications) capabilities by developing a clean mobile wallet for EU users. Earlier this month, Apple announced that it allow third-party developers to access the new NFC and Secure Element APIs, which today power contactless transactions and payments, like those enabled by Apple Wallet. Although PayPal has not yet explicitly confirmed that it will now develop a competing wallet using these new APIs, the company has widely hinted in recent weeks that such a plan is in the works.
I recently published a call ask fintech companies that are hiring. In just over an hour, I received over a dozen responses. After a few days, I heard dozens more. The number – and quality – of the responses was surprising even to me, who writes regularly in this space. We plan to update the hiring position regularly over time, so check back regularly! Also, if you’ve submitted job postings and don’t see them in the post yet, don’t worry. They will be added at some point in the future.
Very interesting titles
Prize-linked neobank PrizePool shuts down app ahead of acquisition
Stripe, now flush with cash, plans tender for new employees
Note: A source familiar with this deal confirmed to TechCrunch that Stripe is indeed self-funding an entire tender offer that will allow current employees to sell up to $50,000 of eligible stock. That same source confirmed that Stripe had $615 million in free cash flow in the quarter ended June.
TechCrunch reported in February that Stripe had signed deals with investors to provide liquidity to current and former employees through a public purchase offer valued at $65 billion. The difference this time is that Stripe is self-funding the entire latest offering.
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