Fintech

With its latest acqui-hire, OpenAI is doubling down on personalized consumer AI 

AI /

OpenAI has acquired Roi, an AI-powered personal finance app. In keeping with a recent trend in the AI industry, only the CEO is making the jump.   Chief executive and co-founder Sujith Vishwajith announced the acquisition on Friday, and a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch he is the only one of Roi’s four-person staff to join OpenAI. Terms of […]

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a16z crypto-backed Shield raises $5M to help facilitate international business transactions in crypto  

Cypto /

Crypto neo-bank Shield announced on Monday that it has raised a $5 million seed round led by Giant Ventures.  The company launched in 2022 and pivoted to payments in 2024. It allows exporters and importers to conduct cross-border transactions in US cryptocurrencies, while also providing compliance screenings, such as addressing sanctions and money laundering threats. 

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IPO hopeful Brex scored major win to sell in the EU, plans UK expansion

Startups /

Financial services provider Brex on Thursday announced that it achieved a major milestone: it is now licensed in the European Union. That means it can now directly issue credit and debit cards and offer its spend management products to any business in all 30 EU countries with “no workarounds required,” as co-founder and CEO Pedro

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Billing platform Lava raises $5.8M to build digital wallets for the ‘agent-native economy’

Fintech /

A new startup, Lava Payments, aims to take on payment giants by building a solution for the modern web where AI agents now handle transactions for their customers. The idea came to founder Mitchell Jones after he left his earlier Y Combinator-backed fintech startup, Lendtable, as he began to experiment with AI. He saw the

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Neobank Revolut seeks $65B valuation, a year after its $45B deal

Fintech /

Europe’s fintech darling Revolut is looking to raise a new funding round that would give it a $65 billion valuation, the Financial Times reports.  The UK-based company is reportedly in talks to raise around $1 billion by issuing new shares and selling existing ones. The US-based firm Greenoaks is said to be leading the round,

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Irish fintech NomuPay lands $40M at a $290M valuation from SoftBank

Startups /

As global trade evolves, there’s an increasing demand for diverse cross-border payment options. That’s why an Irish-based fintech startup called NomuPay has raised $40 million in a Series C round from SB Payment Service (SBPS), a subsidiary of Japanese telco giant SoftBank Corp, at a valuation of $290 million. NomuPay makes it easier for merchants

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Karat Financial is bringing business banking to creators

Fintech /

Karat Financial, the company known for its credit cards for creators, is launching a creator-focused business banking product. Powered by digital bank Grasshopper, Karat’s banking product is a natural extension of its credit card offering with Visa. “Six years in, the problem we’re solving is still the same,” co-founder and co-CEO Eric Wei told TechCrunch.

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Brex partners with former competitor Zip, with an eye on reducing cash burn to get to an IPO

Fintech /

Brex has once again made the surprising, but perhaps realistic, decision to partner with another one-time competitor. This time Zip, the CEOs of both companies told TechCrunch exclusively.  In April 2022, fintech Brex announced it was making “a big push” into both the enterprise and software. The news was notable considering that Brex originally was

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