Stripe’s big changes, Brazil’s newest fintech unicorn, and the story of startup closures

Image credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch

Welcome to TechCrunch FinTech! This week, we cover Stripe’s big product announcement, soaring valuations for Brazilian fintech startups, and more.

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big story

stripe has announced that it will decouple payments from the rest of its financial services stack. This is a big change, considering that previously, as Stripe expanded its list of services, businesses needed to become payment customers to access the remaining services. In addition to this, the company is adding many new built-in financial features and a new wave of AI tools. The fintech giant also announced that after a six-year hiatus, it will now allow customers to accept cryptocurrency payments starting with one currency in particular, the USDC stablecoin, initially only in Solana, Ethereum, and Polygon.

This week’s analysis

Brazil acquired a new fintech unicorn last week. Banking-as-a-Service startup QI Tech It achieved unicorn status after raising an undisclosed amount of capital in an investment led by General Atlantic, an extension of a $200 million Series B raise that TechCrunch featured last October. QI Tech also said it is preparing to complete its acquisition of Singulare, a Brazilian fund management services provider, in the third quarter. Meanwhile, another Brazilian startup vikstra, secured $36 million in bond and equity financing. This is another example of how companies in the region continue to attract venture capital.

dollars and cents

bump, a platform that helps creators manage and grow their businesses, announced a $3 million seed round with investments from ImpactX, Capitalize, and Serac Ventures. Bump allows creators to track their income and market value, helping them negotiate better deals and see how much their partners owe them.

B2B fintech startup from Y Combinator Fintock has raised $7 million in Series A funding to strengthen its presence in its home country of Chile and Mexico, where it expanded a year ago.

Pomelo, a 2022 Philippine startup that allows people in the United States to build credit and send money to the Philippines at the same time, has raised $35 million in a Series A round with participation from Dubai venture firm Vy Capital. From Founders Fund.

You can hear Equity staff talk about this deal and more here.

what else are you writing?

Headquartered in Bengaluru creed, valued at $6.4 billion, has received in-principle approval for a payments aggregator license to boost Indian fintech startups. This will allow the company to better serve customers, launch new products and experiment with ideas faster.

Downsizing a startup can be bittersweet for founders.in the case of Funded, rising interest rates killed business finance startups. But venture capitalists and partners are also hurting it, says founder Stephanie Sample in this compelling read by Christine Hall.

Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) startup after a turbulent year synapse has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and its assets are Tabapay.

Interesting headlines

401Go raises $12M in Series A to fuel next phase of growth

Some VCs warn that Lamp vs. Brex risks becoming fintech’s Uber vs. Lyft

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