This time, I’ll talk about Brex’s most recent round of cuts, the state of investing in fintech in 2023, and more! Fintech will still be around even though I may be taking a break in the next few weeks. We’ll be right back!
The Main Plot
Things that go up have to come back down. For the number of employees at spend control startup Brex, this was the case. When interest rates were low, business went up and it was easier to get venture capital money. Before it let people go in October 2022, it had grown to about 1,300 work there. As things have calmed down, Brex is trying to start over. This week, the company announced that it would be laying off 282 workers, which is almost 20% of its staff. There were rumors that the company spent $17 million in cash every month during the fourth quarter and is now trying to save money.
A Look Back At The Week
“Oh, fintech,” you say. You had a rough year last year. According to statistics from PitchBook, fintech investors put $34.6 billion into 2,055 startups in 2023, which is a drop of 43.8% and 32.4% year-over-year. The median price was $19.4 million, which is 13% less than the median price in 2022. Exits also went down. In 2023, 185 deals brought in only $5.9 billion in exit value, which is a 76.1% and 22.3% year-over-year drop, respectively. But Q4 was good. CB Insights says that during that time, eight new unicorns were created in fintech and stock funding rose by double-digit percentages.
Money And Coins
The platform behind Bilt Rewards is meant to let people earn rewards on rent and daily purchases in the neighborhood. The company reported last week that it had raised $200 million at a valuation of $3.1 billion. The financing, led by General Catalyst, more than doubled the value of the New York-based company compared to its $150 million raise in October 2022. There haven’t been many mega-rounds (deals worth more than $100 million) lately, so the raise and value jump are pretty big. According to the State of Venture Report 2023 by CB Insights, mega-rounds “were a hallmark of 2021, with 350+ occurring each quarter. In Q4’23, that figure fell to just 78—the lowest level since 2017.”
What Else Are We Writing?
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PayPal will start testing a few new features for its service in the near future. Some of these features will use AI to make them more personalized. The business is adding a new cash-back program called “Smart Receipts” to its “CashPass” line. This program will include individual suggestions and other features.
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Other Interesting News Stories
- Rainbow gets $12 million.
- Sequence gets $5.5 million in funding
- Citi leads Sunbit in securing a US$310 million debt warehouse facility.
- Platform for investing The public starts trading options and pays people for their orders.
- The Colombian fintech company FinZi has been bought by Girasol Payment Solution.
- FTV Capital gives $90 million to BillingPlatform as a growth stock investment.
- Plaid’s CEO makes statements about fintech
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