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From Brex exec to venture capitalist
Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re diving into a flurry of activity including a top executive from Brex switching to venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Klarna divesting its payments arm, and some significant funding rounds. To stay updated with TechCrunch’s key fintech stories, sign up to receive our newsletter every Tuesday at 7:00 a.m. PT.
Top Story
TechCrunch has exclusively learned that Ali Rathod-Papier has left her position as the global head of compliance at Brex, a startup specializing in corporate card expense management, to join Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) as a partner and compliance officer. This move comes during a turbulent time for a16z, which had invested in Synapse—a banking-as-a-service startup that declared bankruptcy in April amid controversies over approximately $85 million in unaccounted-for customer funds. Additionally, another former Brex executive, Sam Blond, left his role as chief revenue officer to venture into capital investment. However, he departed from his position at Founders Fund earlier this year, stating that being a full-time investor was not the right fit for him.
Weekly Analysis
Gynger, a platform that provides capital to companies for technology purchases, has completed a $20 million Series A funding round led by PayPal Ventures. Unlike other companies that help startups finance technology purchases, Gynger uniquely supports both buyers and sellers. It offers vendors a way to provide embedded financing with flexible payment terms through an accounts receivable platform. Gynger has already processed thousands of payments for its customers across numerous vendors, including major players like AWS, Google Cloud, and Okta.
Funding Highlights
- Finbourne has raised $70 million in a funding round, reaching a post-money valuation of just over $356 million. The company has developed a platform that helps financial institutions better organize and utilize their data in AI and other models.
- Cadana has emerged from stealth mode, having secured $7.4 million in funding for its APIs and white-label solutions that enable global workforces to integrate payment and payroll management systems.
- Paris-based Hero, which is developing a sophisticated banking product for small businesses, secured $12.2 million in an all-equity funding round led by Valar Ventures.
- Materia, which enhances existing workflow software and applications to help accounting firms manage vast amounts of unstructured data, has also come out of stealth with $6.3 million in funding.
Additional Insights
Four years after acquiring Shine, a French fintech startup that provides banking services to freelancers and very small businesses, Société Générale has announced its intention to sell Shine to Ageras. Back in 2020, TechCrunch reported that Société Générale acquired Shine for around €100 million, a deal that gained considerable attention not just for its technological or talent aspects but for its broader implications. Romain Dillet provides more details on this development.
Source: techcrunch.com
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