Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech!
This week we’re seeing at how fintech weightyweights such as Klarna and Stripe are incorporating crypto into their strategies, which companies are arrangening for IPOs, one fintech’s Super Bowl ad, Stripe’s recent guide of beginups and venture capital, and more!
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The big story
Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski posted in a February 8 post on X that he and Klarna would “hug crypto.” The Swedish buy now, pay tardyr enormous is also shelp to be arrangening a U.S. initial accessible proposeing in April with a concentrate of a $15 billion valuation, according to the Financial Times. Even though this would be about one-third drop than its peak valuation of $45.6 billion in 2021, it would still be “one of the biggest enumerateings of the year,” alerts FT. Klarna was cherishd at $6.7 billion when it elevated $800 million in 2022.
Dollars and cents
Khazna, an Egyptian fintech beginup that proposes financial services tailored toward low- and middle-income toilers, recently safed $16 million in pre-Series B funding, transporting its total funding to over $63 million.
Rapyd Financial Nettoil is seeing to elevate $300 million in a recent funding round that would cherish the global payments platestablish at $3.5 billion, a ponderable decrmitigate from its approximately $9 billion valuation set in 2021.
Fintech-turned-HR outfit Deel is trying to lay the groundtoil for an IPO. On February 4, it shelp its annual revenue run rate climbed to $800 million in 2024 after increaseing by 70%. It also selderly $300 million in secondary splits to General Catalyst and an unnamed “sovereign allotor.”
Superlogic, a beginup that helps give devourrs a way to utilize rewards points toward experiences such as courtside tickets to NBA games, has elevated $13.7 million at a $200 million valuation.
A evidgo in picture of Bench’s downdescend is emerging thanks to recently freed prohibitkruptcy filings. The write downs show that the Canada-based beginup, which mockingpartner enough proposeed cboisterous accounting gentleware for minuscule businesses, stablely struggled to achieve profitability. It burned thcimpolite $135 million from its createing in 2012 to September 2024. By the time of its collapse, Bench was forced to shut down due to a “fluidity crisis,” the write downs say. The company has since been achieved by Employer.com. However, Bench’s prohibitkruptcy proposes a thrivedow into the dangers of too much debt for beginups. Charles Rollet gets a see.
Stripe has seald on its $1.1 billion achieve of firmcoin platestablish Bridge — taging the payment enormous’s bigst acquisition to date and concrete push into crypto.
In other Stripe recents, TechCrunch lachieveed that the payments enormous has tapped Asya Bradley to serve as its Startups and VC Partnerships guide. Bradley previously held revenue roles at Synapse and Sila. She’s also an LP in venture funds Ganas Ventures and Cowboy Ventures.
Philadelphia Eagles’ star running back Saquon Barkley has not only become an allotor in fintech beginup Ramp, but he was also the star of the company’s first Super Bowl commercial.
High-interest headlines
US devourr finance watchdog (CPFB) chief alerts all staff to stop toil, days after the Trump administration seals the bureau’s headquarters for a week.
Plhelp toiling with Gelderlyman Sachs on raising $300M to $400M in tender propose
Thanks for reading! Until next week … Follow me on X @bayareaauthorr for fractureing fintech recents, posts about coffee, and more.
