Latest from Mary Ann Azevedo
In this week’s episode of Equity, Haje Kamps and Mary Ann Azevedo delve into the recent decision by fintech company Brex to abandon its co-CEO…
Startups
Raspberry Pi goes public, Musk drops his OpenAI lawsuit and startups compete with Apple Intelligence
8:00 AM PDT • June 14, 2024
In today’s episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Mary Ann Azevedo, Becca Szkutak and Haje Kamps dug into three very different but all interesting deals of the week. Haje…
Startups
Robinhood’s crypto bet, AI-powered healthcare, and Fisker’s fall
7:05 AM PDT • June 7, 2024
As always, there was a lot happening in startup land this week, and the Equity team had so much fun breaking it down for you.…
Consumer startups have taken a hit when it comes to venture funding. But according to Eurie Kim, partner at Forerunner Ventures and founding member of…
Welcome back to Friday Equity! We kick things off with the Deal of the Week. First up, xAI. Elon Musk has once again proven that…
Startups
Infighting among fintech players has caused TabaPay to ‘pull out’ from buying bankrupt Synapse
1:59 pm PDT • May 9, 2024
A dust-up between Evolve Bank & Trust, Mercury and Synapse has led TabaPay to abandon its acquisition plans of troubled banking-as-a-service startup Synapse.
Fintech
Startup neobank Mercury is taking on Brex and Ramp with new bill pay, spend management software
6:00 am PDT • May 7, 2024
Digital banking startup Mercury is layering software onto its bank accounts, giving its business customers the ability to pay bills, invoice customers and reimburse employees, the company has told TechCrunch…
Venture
Inside TC’s Techstars investigation and how AI is accelerating disability tech
7:15 AM PDT • May 3, 2024
The downturn in venture capital funding has impacted startups, VC firms, and accelerators alike. One company in the final category, Techstars, has been shaking up…
Featured Article
They thought they were joining an accelerator — instead they lost their startups
Lacey Hunter thought all was well as she put her startup through the three-month Newchip accelerator. Then the organization filed for bankruptcy in May 2023. Things went from bad to worse later that year when she discovered warrants of her company — rights to buy an ownership stake — had…
10:38 am PDT • May 2, 2024
Changpeng Zhao, also known as “CZ,” the founder and CEO of crypto exchange Binance, has been sentenced to four months in prison. Six days ago, the US Department of Justice…
Venture
Notable Capital’s Hans Tung on why founders need to play the long game
7:30 AM PDT • April 30, 2024
Hans Tung, a managing partner at Notable Capital, formerly GGV Capital, has a lot of thoughts on the state of venture capital today. With $4.2 billion…
Fintech
‘Wallet-as-a-service’ startup Ansa raises $14 million with female investors leading the way
6:00 am PDT • April 30, 2024
Ansa, a startup that helps merchants develop and offer branded virtual wallets, has raised a $14 million Series A round of funding, the company has told TechCrunch exclusively. Renegade Partners…
Startups
Backflip raises $15 million to help real estate investors flip houses
7:30 am PDT • April 29, 2024
Flipping houses is not for the faint of heart, no matter how fun or easy HGTV might make it seem. One startup wants to make the process less complicated by…
Fintech
Stripe’s big changes, Brazil’s newest fintech unicorn and the tale of a startup shutdown
7:30 am PDT • April 28, 2024
Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at Stripe’s big product announcements, a bump in valuation for a Brazilian fintech startup and much more! To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s…
Featured Podcast
Good news for Rubrik, bad news for TikTok and medium news for early-stage startups
Rubrik’s strong IPO pricing and warm reception by the public markets after its listing add more weight to the perspective that the public markets are not as closed to tech startups as some thought. If Rubrik’s result isn’t enough to break the logjam, well, maybe there’s something else going on. But there was a lot more that…
7:15 AM PDT • April 26, 2024
Eniac has raised $60 million for Select 1, the firm’s vehicle for follow-on later-stage investments, and $160 million for Eniac VI.
Fintech
‘Send now, pay later’ startup Pomelo lands $35M Series A from secretive Vy Capital, Founders Fund
11:00 am PDT • April 22, 2024
Pomelo, a startup that combines international money transfer with credit, has raised $35 million in a Series A round led by Dubai venture firm Vy Capital, TechCrunch has exclusively learned.…
Fintech
SoftBank-backed TabaPay is buying the assets of a16z-backed Synapse, after it filed for bankruptcy
8:37 am PDT • April 22, 2024
After a tumultuous year, banking-as-a-service (BaaS) startup Synapse has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and its assets will be acquired by TabaPay, according to the two companies. The deal is…
Fintech
Fintech startup Ramp sees 32% bump in valuation, Mercury expands into consumer banking
7:30 am PDT • April 21, 2024
Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at Ramp’s big raise and valuation jump, Mercury’s move into personal banking, Klarna’s new credit card, global funding rounds and more! To get…
Venture
Notable Capital’s Hans Tung on the state of VC and the upside to down rounds
7:30 AM PDT • April 20, 2024
To some investors, “down round” is a dirty phrase, but not to Notable Capital’s Hans Tung. Hans is a managing partner at Notable Capital, formerly…
It’s been more than a minute since Tesla went public, but the EV company was inescapable on TechCrunch this week. From layoffs to pricing changes…
Fintech
Ramp raises another $150M co-led by Khosla and Founders Fund at a $7.65B valuation
3:08 pm PDT • April 17, 2024
Spend management startup Ramp has raised another $150 million at a post-money valuation of $7.65 billion, the company confirmed to TechCrunch today. New investor Khosla Ventures and existing backer Founders…
Startups
Cherub, an angel investing community inspired by dating apps, entices investors and founders to pair up
8:42 am PDT • April 17, 2024
Jaclyn Johnson and Angeline Vuong were on a hike deliberating how hard it can be for people to get started in angel investing when they realized they had stumbled upon…
Fintech
Fintech Mercury, whose B2B business is caught up in regulatory scrutiny, expands into consumer banking
6:00 am PDT • April 17, 2024
Business banking startup Mercury, founded in 2017, is now launching a consumer banking product. Mercury today serves more than 100,000 businesses, many of which are startups, via its B2B practice.…
Featured Article
Klarna credit card launches in the US as Swedish fintech grows its market presence
Klarna is launching its credit card in the United States, the Swedish fintech giant told TechCrunch in an exclusive interview. “It was one of our most asked for products,” said David Fock, Klarna’s chief product and design officer, “and will allow people to pay in the Klarna way but with…
5:30 am PDT • April 17, 2024
Fintech
TechCrunch Fintech: Meet PayJoy, a fintech operating at the intersection of doing good and making money
7:30 am PDT • April 14, 2024
Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at how two fintech companies serving the underserved are faring, and more! To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important…
Startups
Beeper acquired by Automattic, fintech’s decline and YC’s lack of LatAm founders
7:05 AM PDT • April 12, 2024
When it comes to news items that we love at TechCrunch, IPOs rank pretty darn high. Another great newsy bit that comes along less frequently…
Fintech
How PayJoy built $300M in revenue by letting the underserved use their smartphones as collateral for loans
7:34 am PDT • April 11, 2024
Lerato Motloung is a mother of two who works in a supermarket in Johannesburg, South Africa. After her phone was stolen, Motloung had to go without a mobile phone for…
Fintech
Fintech representation in YC’s Demo Days is definitely shrinking
7:30 am PDT • April 7, 2024
Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at just how many fintech companies made it into Y Combinator’s Winter 2024 cohort, how much funding slid in the first quarter,…
What a week, everyone. Two full days of Y Combinator demo day activity kept us busy, but the latest accelerator cohort’s launch was far from…
