Stripe's record-setting crypto acquisition (TWIF 10/27)

Hello Fintech Friends,

Shout-out to Ramon on our LatAm team, and our partners Ensemblex, Timbi, and bgbg for co-hosting a great Fintech Founders and VC Mixer at Mexico Tech Week this week!

Drop us a note at latam@thisweekinfintech.com if you'd like to partner.

And for everyone at Money2020, see you tonight.

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

(👍👎 Have feedback for us? Let us know!)

📺

Sponsored Content

Escape the Money20/20 madness—find april at Cabana 10, poolside at the Venetian. Kick back, relax, chat about embedded tax. Chill drinks, even chiller people, all day Monday and Tuesday. Join us.

Want to sponsor a newsletter? See our sponsorship information here.

📖 Reads of the Week

☯️ Exits

🤝 M&A - Fintech

Stripe Acquires Bridge: Stripe acquired the stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1 billion, marking a significant move in the cryptocurrency space as one of the largest tech acquisitions in this sector.
- It was also revealed that, in 2021, Stripe paid $850 million to $900 million to acquire tax compliance provider TaxJar.
Socure Adds Real-Time Decisioning: Digital identity verification, fraud prevention and sanction screening platform Socure agreed to acquire Effectiv, a real-time risk decisioning company, for $136 million.
Thomson Reuters Acquires Materia: Thomson Reuters acquired Materia, a specialist in agentic AI, to enhance its offerings in the tax audit and accounting sectors.
Kaspikz Acquires Majority Share of Hepsiburada: Kaspikz acquired a majority stake in the Turkish e-commerce platform Hepsiburada for $1.1 billion, aiming to strengthen its position in the region.
Tide Acquires OnFolk: Tide acquired payroll provider OnFolk to enhance its financial services for small businesses and expand its payroll management offerings.
CoStar Group Acquires Visual Lease: CoStar Group announced its acquisition of Visual Lease, a leading lease administration provider, to bolster its real estate information services.
R3 Explores Sale: R3, an Intel-backed blockchain startup for financial services, is exploring various options, including a potential sale, as it evaluates its future direction in the market.

🏦 M&A - Bank and FinServ

Capital One / Discover Under Review: New York AG Letitia James is investigating whether Capital One's proposed $35 billion takeover of Discover violates the state's antitrust law.
Kotak Mahindra Bank Acquires Standard Chartered's India Loan Book: Kotak Mahindra Bank is set to buy Standard Chartered's personal loan portfolio in India for approximately $1.3 billion.
DNB Bank Acquires Carnegie: DNB Bank agreed to acquire the Swedish banking group Carnegie for $1.1 billion to strengthen its investment banking and asset management services.
UBS Sells Stake in Swisscard: UBS sold its 50% stake in Swisscard to a private equity firm as part of its strategy to focus on core banking operations.
Saxo Bank Attracts Interest from Altor-led Group: Saxo Bank is reportedly attracting interest from an Altor-led consortium that includes Interactive Brokers, signaling potential changes in its operations.
Monroe Capital Sells Majority Stake to Wendel: Private credit manager Monroe Capital sold a majority stake to investment firm Wendel to support its growth strategy.
Nomura-backed Komainu Makes First Acquisition: Komainu, a crypto custodian backed by Nomura, completed its first acquisition to enhance its position in the cryptocurrency market.
Wendel Buys Majority Share of Monroe: French investment firm Wendel acquired a 75% stake in Monroe Capital, a Chicago-based asset management firm specializing in private credit markets, for $1.1 billion.

Really good writeup on the Stripe / Bridge deal -- the biggest M&A deal in crypto history.

AI takes ~100 tweets like these, and writes a three paragraph story like that.

This is with OpenAI's "o1" model -- best LLM for writing (for now).https://t.co/cOt2ER3gWI pic.twitter.com/HBVDSJIzHZ
— Nikolai Yakovenko (@ivan_bezdomny) October 21, 2024

📺

Sponsored Content

Escape the Money20/20 madness—find april at Cabana 10, poolside at the Venetian. Kick back, relax, chat about embedded tax. Chill drinks, even chiller people, all day Monday and Tuesday. Join us.