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A look at all 35 international fintech startups at YC’s winter 2022 Demo Day
As more banking, e-commerce and insurance startups work to improve the way business is done in emerging countries, it should come as no surprise that this winter’s Y Combinator batch is rife with...
View ArticleLightning Labs raises funding to enable stablecoin transfers through Bitcoin...
Lightning Labs is building infrastructure that would enable users to send money across the world almost instantaneously and at a low cost through the Bitcoin network. The company just raised funding to...
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Pandemic-fueled companies are finding the new reality hard to swallow
Companies that rode COVID-driven demand for their products during the first years of the pandemic are seeing their fortunes come back to Earth. Whether some of the biggest names in the cohort have a...
View ArticleRobinhood to lay off 9% of full-time employees
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev announced Tuesday that it was laying off 9% of its full-time employees. Earlier this year, Reuters reported that Robinhood had 3,400 employees, and though that did not specify...
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Consumer fintech trading revenues don’t measure up to SaaS ARR
After a lengthy period of experimentation, investors have decided that consumer fintech trading businesses are not SaaS companies, meaning that those fintech revenues should not be valued as if they...
View ArticleDoes it smell like teen spirit, or teen bankruptcy?
Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This was a live week! Which meant that Mary Ann Azevedo was on...
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Robinhood’s sinking value is proof that ‘free’ can often be very costly
One thing I love about fintech is the promise of unlocking more tools for more people. In a broad sense, the current era of fintech has done just that — people around the world now have access to...
View ArticleRobinhood to let users lend out their shares in its attempt to diversify revenue
Trading platform Robinhood is launching a feature that will allow its users to lend out their stocks in hopes of earning passive, recurring income from borrowers, the company announced today. Robinhood...
View ArticleUnusual Ventures just closed a $485M fund by promising hands-on (full-time) help
Unusual Ventures, a now 30-person outfit founded nearly five years ago by former Lightspeed Ventures investor John Vrionis and serial entrepreneur Jyoti Bansal, has closed its third fund with $485...
View ArticlePost-pandemic reset leads to wave of layoffs in tech
OK, maybe it is a reckoning. Over the past week, we’ve witnessed an alarming amount of layoffs across the startup ecosystem, from buzzy, big names like Cameo, On Deck and Robinhood, to B2B platforms...
View ArticleRobinhood aims to court users by offering attractive 1% interest rate on cash
Investing app Robinhood is on a roll with announcing new features as it looks to appeal to more customers amid dwindling transaction revenue. Less than a week after unveiling plans to allow users to...
View ArticleTech layoffs don’t happen to companies, they happen to people
Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single...
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As FTX’s CEO eyes Robinhood, will we see crypto exchanges move into equities...
Because no one parties harder than I do, I spent a portion of my week reading through Coinbase’s investor call after its earnings report. The U.S. crypto exchange pulls in some questions from...
View ArticleRobinhood lets users manage their own crypto wallets in push to spur trading
After a difficult first quarter, investing app Robinhood is doubling down on new product launches, particularly in its crypto unit, in hopes they will help buoy the business. CEO Vlad Tenev announced...
View ArticleA blockchain billionaire’s big bet
Hello and welcome back to the Chain Reaction podcast, where we unpack and explain the latest crypto news, drama and trends, breaking it down block by block for the crypto curious. Although we’re in a...
View ArticleSecond-largest crypto exchange FTX expands its empire with launch of stock...
Cryptocurrency exchange FTX is launching stock trading capabilities for its customers through its U.S. division. The company, helmed by co-founder and billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, said in an...
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Coinbase’s lost momentum
Hey everyone, and welcome back to Chain Reaction. In our Chain Reaction podcast this week, Anita and I chatted with Mercedes Bent of Lightspeed Venture Partners on backing blockchain startups and the...
View ArticleRobinhood almost imploded during the GameStop meme stock chaos
The House Committee on Financial Services released a report late last week offering a harrowing glimpse inside Robinhood during the frenzy around Gamestop stock early last year. The stock trading and...
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Why a crypto exchange might want to buy Robinhood
Selling your company — or not selling your company — is a complicated decision. Price, timing, pride and a host of other factors play into the decision. Hell, you might simply enjoy running the...
View ArticleWhen do layoffs matter? Trick question — always
Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This was a live week on the podcast, meaning that Mary Ann and...
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