welcome to the exchange! If you got this in your inbox, thanks for signing up and your vote of confidence. If you are reading this as a post on our site, sign up here so that you can receive it directly in the future. Every week, we’ll take a look at the latest fintech news from the previous week. This will include everything from funding rounds to trends, an analysis of a particular space, and opinions on a particular company or phenomenon. There’s a lot of fintech news out there and it’s our job to stay on top of it, and make sense of it, so you can stay on top of it. — maria anna and christina

hi, hi Christine and I strayed a bit from our typical Fintech coverage this week to do some investigative reporting. we take a look at newchip, an Austin-based accelerator that recently imploded. In our humble opinions, it definitely is worth reading. While not focused exclusively on fintech startups, it’s a complex story of a troubled accelerator that claimed to help entrepreneurs “succeed.” Some founders say it did the opposite, while a group of employees were so unhappy with the way the company was run that they left en masse more than two weeks ago. There is a lot of back and forth, and while we don’t know for sure what happened behind closed doors, it’s sad to see any organization meant to serve the startup community end up in this situation, especially for affected founders and employees.

On a purely fintech note, we saw a flurry of insurtech funding rounds last week. Techcrunch reported only four such increases, including wefox, Obie, pernotech and figorr. This led TC+ editor Alex Wilhelm to dig a little deeper and conclude that “despite messy initial public offerings, there are good reasons to be optimistic about insurtech startups.” — maria anna

Move over from Apple, Step launches 5% savings account

In recent years, every time I looked at the monthly dividend in my bank account, I would say to myself, “The bank could really keep that 6 cents.” Well, neobanks and other fintechs think we should get better returns too.

This week I wrote about Step, the digital banking service aimed at teens and young adults, which announced a whopping 5% rate for their savings accounts.

While the rate is important, I want to point out how widely known it is that few Americans could come up with $400 in an emergency, so it’s good to see Step and others focusing on ways to motivate people to save more.

The news comes a month later Apple launches its savings account at a rate of 4.15%. Step co-founder and CEO CJ MacDonald told TechCrunch that the company’s goal was always to offer the highest rate; Yet he can’t help but wonder if Apple’s entry into the market might have inspired neobanks and other financial organizations to close the gap.

Find out how the 5% Step account works. — christina

weekly news

As reported by Manish Singh: “Founders of ZestMoney have given up on the startup, the latest twist in fate for the Indian fintech whose ability to underwrite small loans to internet customers for the first time once attracted the backing of many high-profile investors, including Goldman Sachs. Lizzie Chapman, Priya Sharma and Ashish Anantharaman, the founders of ZestMoney, informed employees of their decision on Monday. Further here.

After recently acquiring another startup, Tapefintech real estate EasyKnock confirmed that it laid off 10% of its employees. A spokesperson told TechCrunch that the decision “was part of a larger effort to accelerate” the company’s “path to profitability and ensure long-term business sustainability.”

In the WTF section of our newsletter: Revolut UK boss told client he would be waiting for him with a shotgun.

If it feels like every week a corporate spending the company is releasing new features, it’s because… that’s pretty much what’s happening. Here’s the latest: On-ramp to introduce AI tools to track business costs. Also, Fintech Ramp Launches Money-Saving AI Tools for Businesses, Microsoft CEO Announces, More Like Investors.

Truist Invites Clients to Play ‘Long Game’ Financial Fitness (TechCrunch covered the news when Truist acquired Long Game in an effort to attract the younger demographic in 2022).

Stripe powers Pay By Bank for Airbnb

Público Introduces Alpha: Your AI-Powered Investment Companion for Smarter Decisions

Financing and M&A

Spotted on TechCrunch

Wefox raises new funding at $4.5bn valuation as it targets profitability

UK pension startup Smart Banks $95M

Cold Chain Startup Figorr Raises $1.5M, Backs Launch of Data-Driven Perishable Goods Insurance

M-KOPA acquires more than $250 million of debt and equity for its asset financing platform

Spiff Begins ‘Massive Overhaul of Core Sales Commission Engine’ Following $50M Series C

Insurtech bolttech lands $196M at $1.6B valuation from investors including MetLife

Tiger Global-backed Axis launches digital payments platform for Egyptian SMEs months after its $8.25 million seed

Percentage secures $30 million investment to connect investors with private credit

Owner-Focused Insurtech Obie Raises $25.5M Led by Battery Ventures

Shopping platform Zip raises $100M at $1.5B valuation

and in other places

Accounting software company Tipalti secures $150 million growth funding

PayIt makes its first acquisition with the purchase of S3

Avenue One Rental Platform Hits $1 Billion Valuation

Co-branded credit card startup Cardless lands a $75 million line of credit

Fintech Maxwell Acquires Mortgage Solutions Provider LenderSelect

Once again, thanks for reading and all your support! We are thankful for you. See you next week! xoxoxo, Mary Ann and Christine

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