The big changes of Stripe, Brazil’s newest fintech unicorn, and the story of a startup shutdown

Fundid’s founder talks about how rising interest rates, venture capital funds and partners killed the corporate finance startup

Wellcome to JS Fintech! This week we look at Stripe’s big product announcements, a rise in valuation for a Brazilian fintech startup, and much more!

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The big story

Stripe has announced that it will decouple payments from the rest of its financial services package. This is a big change, as in the past, even as Stripe expanded its list of services, it required businesses to be payment customers in order to use the rest. In addition, the company is adding a number of new embedded financial features and a new wave of AI tools. The fintech giant also announced that it will let customers accept cryptocurrency payments after a six-year hiatus, starting with just one currency in particular, USDC stablecoins, initially only on Solana, Ethereum and Polygon.

Analysis of the week

Brazil got a new fintech unicorn last week. Banking-as-a-Service startup QI technology reached unicorn status after raising an undisclosed amount of capital in a General Atlantic-led investment that was an extension of the $200 million Series B raise that JS covered last October. QI Tech said it is also preparing to acquire Singulare, a Brazilian fund administration services provider, in the third quarter. Meanwhile, another Brazilian startup, Vixtra, secured $36 million in debt and equity financing – another example of companies in the region continuing to attract venture capital.

Dollars and cents

Bump, a platform that helps creators manage and grow their businesses, has announced a $3 million seed round, with investments from ImpactX, Capitalize and Serac Ventures. Bump allows creators to track revenue and market value, which can help them make better deals and see how much money partners owe them.

Y Combinator alum and B2B fintech startup Fintoc has raised a $7 million Series A funding round to consolidate its presence in home country Chile and Mexico, where it expanded a year ago.

Pomeloa startup that launched in the Philippines in 2022 — allowing people in the United States to send money to the country while building their credit — has raised $35 million in a Series A round led by Dubai venture firm Vy Capital with participation from the Founders Fund.

You can hear the Equity crew talk about this deal and more here:

What else we write

Headquarters in Bengaluru CREDvalued at $6.4 billion, has received in-principle approval for a payments aggregator license in a boost for the Indian fintech startup that could help it better serve its customers, launch new products and experiment with ideas faster.

Winding down a startup can be bittersweet for founders. In case of FundidRising interest rates have killed the corporate finance startup. But venture capital firms and partners are also affected, says founder Stefanie Sample in this compelling lecture by Christine Hall.

After a tumultuous year, banking-as-a-service (BaaS) starts. Synapse has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and its assets will be acquired by TabaPay.

News with great interest

401Go Raises $12 Million Series A to Fuel Next Phase of Growth

Disaster vs. Brex threatens fintech’s Uber vs. to become Lyft, some venture capital funds warn

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