Earlystage fintech startups just got a new funding source

News Summary

  • Without that deal, CB Insights said funding would have amounted to $8.5 billion, or a 12% drop in funding from the fourth quarter of 2022.Meanwhile, 2022 was flush with fintech companies reaching unicorn status, with 72 unicorns minted that year, and 38 in the first quarter alone.
  • That was likely aided by the plethora of available capital flowing into the sector, however; in the first quarter of 2023, just one fintech company was minted a unicorn: Egypt-based MNT-Halan, which in early February raised $260 million in equity financing at a $1 billion valuation.
  • According to the CB Insights’ latest State of Fintech report, this is the first time that has happened since the end of 2016.Though MNT-Halan was the only company to earn a horn, the first quarter was ripe with “megarounds,” the term for deals valued at $100 million or more.
  • )UK-based Finastra partners with Plaid to give users access to fintech appsAirbase adds guided procurement to spend management platformOnline real estate firm Opendoor cuts 22% of workforce (TechCrunch covered the company’s previous round of layoffs, which affected 18% of its staff at that time, last November.
  • There were 16 deals like this, totaling $9.2 billion, an increase of 179% over the fourth quarter of 2022 and accounting for 61% of total funding in the first quarter, CB Insights reported.
  • )Lili claims super app status with new accounting platformGreenwood — a digital banking platform for Black and Latino individuals and businesses — goes live for all, cancels waitlist (TechCrunch covered the company’s 2021 $40 million raise here.
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