VC & Funding

Last week's fintech newsletters devoted significant attention to mergers and acquisitions in banking and payments. The Chime-Stride Bank transaction drew coverage from multiple outlets: Fintech Futures reported that Chime struck a $590m all-cash deal to buy Stride Bank, American Banker Fintech noted that Chime agreed to buy longtime partner Stride Bank for $590 million, and Banking Dive Newsletter also reported on Chime's agreement to buy Stride Bank for $590M. Fintech Futures additionally covered EverBank and WaFd Bank's agreement to a $3.9bn merger, and reported that Stream acquired workplace financial wellbeing platform Salary Finance. Banking Dive Newsletter separately reported that Circle agreed to buy Tazapay for $400M.

Acquisitions extended into payments and international markets as well. Fintech Futures reported that PayTabs agreed to acquire Amazon Payment Services MENA in a $100m deal. Connecting the Dots in FinTech covered Checkout.com going direct in US acquiring. Sifted Fintech Newsletter reported on a startup that acquired four companies in its first eight months and has now raised €36m to buy more, though the piece did not name the company in the title.

On the funding side, Fintech Futures was the most active newsletter, reporting several raises: Savvy Wealth bagged $100m in an oversubscribed Series C funding round, Kapital secured $125m to accelerate expansion in Mexico and the US, OpenReserve secured conditional approval for a US national bank charter alongside a $25m seed financing, India's Slice reportedly raised $100m in funding at a $450m valuation, and Cari landed $32.5m for a blockchain banking network.

Other coverage touched on industry figures and history. The Generalist (Fintech Issues) published a piece on Scott Morton, Founder & CEO of Revel, discussing his background as an ex-SpaceX engineer, Elon Musk, Starship, and building a $1B-valued startup. Net Interest covered the history of Apollo through a piece titled "The Five Deals That Made Apollo."