Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at the craziness that is Bolt’s proposed fundraise, how much money Synapse’s founder has raised for his new venture and just how much cash Stripe has.
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The big story
Last week, the fintech world was abuzz with the crazy deal that Bolt had proposed to its shareholders. It was enough to make anyone’s head spin. So I talked to a VC lawyer and two of the potential investors and provided a bunch of context in this piece. The TLDR is that Bolt is trying to push investors to vote in support of a $200 million Series F raise and a $250 “marketing credits” deal. As part of that, founder Ryan Breslow would come back as CEO — and get a $2 million bonus, plus an additional $1 million of back pay, for doing so! We’re all on the edge of our seats to see what happens next.
Analysis of the week
The founder of bankrupt banking-as-a-service startup Synapse made headlines last week when he took to social media to share details on what he’s building at his latest venture — a robotics startup called Foundation. Many people were surprised that Sankaet Pathak was so quick to move on considering that tens of millions of dollars in customer deposits (that’s Synapse’s customers, btw) remain unaccounted for. Unabashedly unapologetic, Pathak continues to blame partner bank Evolve for the missing cash, while Evolve finger points right back at Synapse. Meanwhile, he confirmed to TechCrunch that he has raised $11 million in pre-seed money for his new startup.
Dollars and cents
Brazil fintech Magie raised $4 million in a seed round led by Lux Capital, marking the firm’s first investment in Brazil. The company, which has raised $5.1 million in total, is creating an AI-powered financial assistant. The current product allows people to send money and pay bills through WhatsApp.
Kenyan HR and payroll startup Workpay raised $5 million in Series A funding led by Pan-African venture capital firm Norrsken22 with new participation from Visa.
Skyfire, which has created a payment network specifically for AI agents to make autonomous transactions, officially launched its payment network and announced $8.5 million in seed funding.
Waza, a Y Combinator-backed payment and liquidity platform, has emerged from stealth with $8 million in seed money. The startup claims to make it easier for African businesses and traders to manage and pay their suppliers globally.
What else we’re writing
PayPal is poised to take advantage of the iPhone’s newly opened-up NFC (near-field communications) capabilities by developing a mobile wallet of its own for EU users. Earlier this month, Apple announced it would allow third-party developers to access new NFC and Secure Element APIs, which today power contactless transactions and payments — like those enabled by Apple Wallet. Though PayPal has not yet explicitly confirmed it will now develop a competing wallet thanks to these new APIs, the company has broadly hinted in recent weeks that such a plan is in the works.
I recently put out a call asking for fintech companies that are hiring. In just over an hour, I had received more than a dozen responses. After a few days, I heard from dozens more. The sheer number — and quality — of responses was surprising even to me, someone who writes about this space on a regular basis. We plan to update the hiring post regularly over time, so keep checking back! Also, if you submitted jobs and don’t yet see them in the post, don’t fret. They will be added at some point in the future.
High-interest headlines
Prize-linked neobank PrizePool shutters app ahead of acquisition
Stripe, now gushing money, plans new employee tender
Note: A source familiar with this deal confirmed to TechCrunch that Stripe is indeed self-funding the entirety of a tender offer that will allow current employees to sell up to $50,000 of eligible shares. That same source confirmed that Stripe had $615 million in free cash flow in the quarter that ended in June.
TechCrunch had reported in February that Stripe had inked deals with investors to provide liquidity to current and former employees through a tender offer at a $65 billion valuation. The difference this time is that Stripe is self-funding the entirety of the latest offer.
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