online lending

Tracking Klarna’s plunging valuation

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Fintech Klarna reportedly raising at a $6.5B valuation, giving new meaning to the phrase ‘down round’

In a sign of the times, Swedish buy now, pay later giant Klarna is reportedly close to inking a new round of funding that would slash its valuation to $6.5 billion — about 1/7 of what the compan

Google backs Progcap, a startup delivering working capital to small retailers in India

Google has invested in Progcap, an Indian startup that provides working capital to small and medium-sized businesses, the firms said Tuesday, making a new push into a category that has attracted the a

Amid real estate tech industry layoffs, HomeLight raises $60M and acquires lending startup Accept.inc

Just days after publicly traded real estate tech companies Redfin and Compass laid off a combined 900-plus employees, another proptech — HomeLight — is announcing that it has secured $60 m

Middesk raises $57M to automate business verification and underwriting

Middesk, a platform designed to automate business verification and underwriting decisions, today announced that it raised $57 million in a Series B round co-led by Insight Partners and Canapi Ventures

Former Better.com exec alleges company misled investors ahead of SPAC

One of Better.com’s former executives has filed a lawsuit against the online mortgage lender, alleging that the company and its CEO Vishal Garg misled investors when it attempted to go public via a

Nigeria’s Indicina raises $3M to help businesses offer credit to their customers at scale

For years, Africa’s credit infrastructure has lagged behind the rest of the world due to low credit coverage from its bureaus. Per a World Bank report, only 11% of Africa’s population have their c

Can recurring revenue financing drive growth in a turbulent market?

As the saying goes, “Everyone is selling something.” Sometimes, we forget that when it comes to fundraising. The trick is to sell something investors really want.

BNPL in 2022: 4 fintech investors discuss regulation, trends and how to stand out

To get a better picture of where the BNPL market is at right now, we spoke with four active investors about their expectations for the space, upcoming regulation, scalability, default risk and more.

The half-billion-dollar profit swing that led to Better.com’s myriad layoffs

An S-4 filing from Aurora Acquisition Corp., the SPAC that digital mortgage provider Better.com intended to merge with, provides stark details about the latter company’s financial performance. The f

Affirm’s CTO talks transparency and the tech that makes BNPL possible

TechCrunch sat down with Libor Michalek, president of technology at Affirm, to understand just how the company differentiates itself from its plethora of competitors.

Digital bank Umba raises $15M, plans to expand into three new African markets

There’s no shortage of digital banks in Nigeria and, in general, in Africa. As the region continues to experience rapid growth in mobile usage and the corresponding growing young population, these f

Fintech Roundup: Goldman Sachs buys another startup, Fast hits a speed bump and BaaS gets hotter

Welcome to my weekly fintech-focused column. I’ll be publishing this every Sunday, so in between posts, be sure to listen to the Equity podcast and hear Alex Wilhelm, Natasha Mascarenhas and me riff

January raises $10M to be a ‘tech-enabled debt collector’

Most people have a negative association with debt collection. A startup called January is out to change that with a fresh $10 million fundraise.  Founder Jake Cahan says most debt collectors are lump

Cross River Bank goes from tiny to mighty, with a $3B+ valuation and a crypto-first strategy

Financial technology startups raised $121.6 billion last year — up 153% year-over-year in terms of global VC deal value — and include a range of outfits, from payments companies to digital banks t

Churpy raises $1 million to help enterprises reconcile and manage payments across Africa

Churpy, a fintech startup based in Kenya, is looking to expand across Africa by setting up hubs in Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa for a planned continent-wide growth, driven by the $1 million in seed

Migrante steps on the gas of vehicle leasing for gig workers in Latin America

The company develops secured loans for motorcycles, cars and trucks so borrowers can improve their income.

Nigeria’s CredPal secures $15M in debt and equity to scale its BNPL product across Africa

The adoption of buy now, pay later (BNPL) in Nigeria as a payment option both online and at the point of sale is expected to record a CAGR of 20% from 2021 to 2028, per this report. BNPL’s growt

Digital lenders in Kenya must disclose source of funds as new law takes effect

Digital credit providers (DCPs) in Kenya will have to disclose their sources of funds and provide evidence of the same after a law meant to regulate the sector came into effect. The new regulations pu

SME lending platform Validus acquires Citi Singapore’s CitiBusiness loan portfolio 

Validus, a Singapore-based lending platform for small and medium-sized enterprises, is acquiring CitiBusiness’ loan portfolio for an undisclosed amount to bolster its top-line revenue and custom
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