Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we look at Mercury’s latest expansions, the rise of wallet-as-a-service startup Ansa, and more!
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The big story
Launch of digital banking Hermes puts software into its bank accounts, enabling its business customers to pay bills, bill customers and reimburse workers, the company told TechCrunch exclusively. The additional features put the company in even more direct competition with Brex and Ramp, two fintech rivals that have been battling for market share in an increasingly crowded space for years. Mercury says it has more than 200,000 customers sending $4 billion in outgoing payments each month through its platform, and that this move is a natural fit for the seven-year-old company.
Analysis of the week
CB Insights undertook to identify 85 potential acquisition targets For Staircase “Given its increased interest in mergers and acquisitions.” Here are some examples: Greycroft-backed Streamlined, which automates accounts receivable (AR) and whose $4 million raise was covered by TechCrunch; Oddr, which focuses on cash invoice management for the legal sector. Pactum, which negotiates with AI vendors. and OpStart, a $10 million startup in 2022 that offers “financial functions for startups.” So far Ramp has acquired Cohere, Buyer and Venue.
Dollars and cents
We covered first Ansa in 2023 when they came out of stealth announcing a $5.4 million raise. Last week, the buzzy fintech exclusively shared with TC that it had raised another $14 million to grow its wallet-as-a-service business. We were impressed by the fact that 95.6% of the investors in the Series A round were women and by the attraction of the company. Read more here.
Flipping houses is not for the faint of heart, no matter how fun or easy HGTV may make it seem. A startup wants to make the process less complicated by offering a different way to borrow money to finance such a purchase. Reverse jump offers a service to real estate investors to secure short-term loans. In addition to helping users secure funding, Backflip’s technology also helps investors source, track, compare and evaluate potential investments. Think of it as a cross between Zillow and Shopify. And it just raised $15 million.
What else are we writing?
Hans Tung, managing partner at Worthwhile chapter, formerly of GGV Capital, has many thoughts on the state of venture capital today. We recently featured him on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast to discuss valuations, why founders need to play the big game, and why some VC firms struggle more than others. We also dug deep into why he’s still bullish on fintech and what areas of the fintech space he’s most excited about. Check out the interview excerpts and the actual podcast here.
High interest titles
The inside story of Chime, America’s largest digital bank
Marqeta extends Uber Eats partnership
Nayax acquires VMtecnologia, expands to Latin America
Federal prosecutors are looking into financial transactions at Block, owner of Cash App and Square
Custodian RIA Altruist Valued at Over $1.5B in Latest Funding Round
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