Which bank will be the next to buy a fintech? (TWIF 1/22)

Basquiat Before Basquiat: East 12th Street, 1979-1980

Hello Fintech Friends,

So far in 2023, we’ve tracked 40 fintech and bank M&A deals, with a number of bank/fintech deals like JP Morgan’s stake in Viva Wallet, MUFG’s purchase of Kanmu, Banco Itaú’s acquisition of Prex, and now American Express’ acquisition of Nipendo.

Something tells me that we are just getting started.

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

📺

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Klaros’ Jonah Crane argues that, “following a challenging year for the fintech sector, enterprising banks may be able to acquire startups whose previous valuations put them out of reach.”

And as per Alex Johnson, "My feeling is that banks will continue to approach the task of investing in, partnering with, and acquiring fintech companies with optimism in 2023 (perhaps a more opportunistic optimism given the challenging financial straits that many early-stage fintech companies find themselves in these days). And this will not be limited to the big banks. According to Cornerstone, roughly 70% of financial institutions said partnerships will be important to their business strategies for the upcoming year."

☯️ Exits

🤝 SPACs

Openmarkets, an Australian provider of B2B equities market infrastructure, agreed to go public at an implied $90 million valuation via combination with the Broad Capital Acquisition Corp SPAC.

🤝 M&A - Fintech

Small business insurance platform Vouch acquired lending startup Level* (disclosure: an angel portfolio company) to enhance its underwriting capabilities.
Credit card network and issuer American Express acquired Israeli firm Nipendo, a provider of solutions for global businesses to automate and streamline B2B) payments.
Crypto tax and accounting platform TaxBit acquired its rival Tactic.
Australian tech billionaire Richard White personally acquired listed corporate KYC company Kyckr.
Financial management software company Proven Optics received a strategic growth investment from digital workflow platform ServiceNow.
Crypto exchange WonderFi confirmed that it is in merger talks with rival Coinsquare.

🏦 M&A - Bank and FinServ

Wealth management platform FNZ acquired German credit institution Fondsdepot Bank and acquired US fixed income portfolio management technology YieldX.
Insurance and financial services giant Liberty Mutual is considering a $1 billion divestment of its entire Latin America business.

What’s it like to start a company?@deirdreclute shares how detachment helps her handle the emotional highs and lows of being the founder of @hellorightfoot.

We also discuss the debt crisis and what that means for future generations.

Hope you enjoy :) https://t.co/zfRWzZB5X7 pic.twitter.com/vDwukOevF1
— John Haboush (@haboush_john) January 15, 2023

2023 African fintech predictions:

🌍 aspiration for African growth goes from pan African to regional focus

🧑🏽‍⚖️ crypto adoption starts to be regulated

💸 renewed respect for cash

1/5
— gwera (@notgwera) January 9, 2023