Exits & Deep Reads

India's Groww is going public with 50M customers (TWIF 1/26)

Hello Fintech Friends,

Please find another week of fintech exits and deep reads below.

(👍👎 Have feedback for us? Let us know! Find me at @nikmilanovic, @twifintech, and @ndm)

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📖 Reads of the Week

I alluded to financial nihilism in Friday's commentary on the growing popularity of memecoins, sports betting, online gambling, and options trading, but this blog post from a year ago by Epsilon Theory goes into better detail on what exactly 'financial nihilism' as a philosophy is, and why it's growing in popularity.

You always have to take "theory of everything" explanations with a grain of salt – the full story is often more complex – and the data on differences intergenerational wealth is inconclusive. But the author does do a good job illustrating how higher asset prices and lower social mobility make young people much more likely to take on risk than prior generations. Viewed in this lens, the easy access that people have today to high-risk, high-reward investment options on their phones is a symptom, not a cause. It's a worthwhile read.

☯️ Exits

💻 IPOs & SPACs

Billionbrains Garage Ventures, the developer of the popular Indian investment platform Groww – which has 50 million customers – selected banks including JPMorgan and Kotak Mahindra for a potential initial public offering in Mumbai that could raise up to $750 million at an $8 billion valuation.
Northpointe Bancshares, a Michigan bank offering loan and deposit services across the U.S., filed with the SEC to raise up to $201 million in an initial public offering. The company planned to list on the NYSE.

🤝 M&A - Fintech

Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group acquired Hashnote, the issuer of US Yield Coin (USYC), the largest tokenized treasury and money market fund globally, planning to integrate USYC with its $48 billion stablecoin, USDC.
Brookfield Asset Management agreed to a $950 million deal to acquire 3,800 single-family rentals from Divvy Homes, a rent-to-own startup, aiming to expand Brookfield's residential real estate portfolio. The deal is an asset purchase, rather than an equity purchase of the startup.
myPOS, a London-based fintech firm, acquired French cash register company Toporder to enhance its presence in the French retail, food, and beverage sectors by offering integrated payment and cash register systems.
Norwegian open banking firm Neonomics acquired UK-based platform Ordo to strengthen its position in the UK market and enhance its Variable Recurring Payments capabilities.
Esusu, a fintech platform focused on rental data and credit building, acquired Celeri, an AI-powered fraud prevention software provider for the residential real estate industry, aiming to improve fraud detection and promote equitable housing opportunities.
iCapital announced plans to acquire Parallel Markets to streamline digital identity investment onboarding and compliance verification.
OneDigital pursued an acquisition of Canadian wealth management firm PWL Capital to expand its presence in the Canadian market.
Move Health acquired Caribou Health Technologies Inc. to provide financial advisors with a comprehensive healthcare planning solution that integrates analysis and enrollment processes.
xPortal, an AI-powered DeFi super-app, acquired Berlin-based Web3 startup Alphalink to enhance user-friendly crypto experiences and drive innovation at the intersection of AI and cryptocurrency.

🏦 M&A - Bank and FinServ

Generali Investments agreed to acquire a 77% stake in MGG Investment Group, a U.S.-based private direct lending firm, for $320 million, with additional payments contingent on performance milestones.
Bain Capital matched CC Capital Partners' revised offer to acquire Insignia Financial for $1.92 billion, valuing Insignia's shares at AUD 4.43 each, a 3.8% premium over the previous closing price.
Monte dei Paschi di Siena launched a €13.3 billion ($13.9 billion) all-share takeover bid for Mediobanca, offering 23 Monte Paschi shares for every 10 Mediobanca shares, representing a 5% premium over Mediobanca's stock price

Top 10 finance apps:

1. Crypto
2. Crypto
3. Crypto
4. Crypto
5. Taxes
6. Offers crypto
7. Budgeting
8. Offers crypto
9. Offers crypto
10. Crypto pic.twitter.com/okpFIuRa3Z
— Yano 🟪 (@JasonYanowitz) January 21, 2025

(h/t Simon Taylor for spotting this tweet)

💡

Sponsored Content

While you're reading this, other SaaS and digital product companies are already selling globally and scaling fast.

Paddle makes it easy for SaaS and digital product companies to sell anywhere. As a Merchant of Record, we manage global payments, tax compliance, subscriptions, and more, so you can focus on growth.

Get paid from anywhere and grow everywhere with Paddle.