Hello Fintech Friends,

Incubators and accelerators provide great opportunities for early-stage entrepreneurs to build their products with the resources and support of a community behind them.

Snowflake and Moderna were both famously originally incubated by VCs. Earlier-stage startups (at the idea phase) normally are a better fit for incubators – sometimes the idea comes from the VC – which help them build an early team and product. Startups that already have some traction tend to be better candidates for accelerators, which help with networking, launching new product lines, and early growth.

The downturn in the tech industry over the last year has re-energized its talent pool with a swathe of experienced employees as large tech companies went through waves of layoffs. Many of these people are well-positioned to become founders, and some are taking the leap. For people with the skills and drive to start a company who are still early in their journey, an accelerator can be a great fit.

That’s why I was excited to finally see this week’s announcement that the Better Tomorrow Ventures launched their new fintech-focused accelerator, The Mint. The Mint will be based in SF and run a three-month program, offering $500k for 10% equity in new companies and supporting them in their early development. In its first 24 hours, the accelerator received over 100 applications! If you're a fintech founder at the beginning of your journey, I'd recommend checking it out.

And if you're based in New York, I'd recommend the Grand Central Tech Residency Program run by Company Ventures, which provides a year of great office space and guidance for early founders.

PS - If you are early in your journey founding a fintech company, we're always happy to talk at The Fintech Fund.

👍👎 Have feedback for us? Let us know!

Please find another week of fintech financing events below.

Capital strategy will determine the winners and losers of fintech in 2023. To stay competitive, finance leaders need to understand what's on the horizon when it comes to equity and debt capital—and plan accordingly.

Download the 2023 Debt Capital Landscape report from debt capital software Finley Technologies to understand the latest benchmarks and trends in fintech funding.

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If you’re an early-stage startup founder raising equity or debt, we may be able to help - come check out our fund, The Fintech Fund (including a link to pitch us). Are you a fintech angel investor? Come join our syndicate.

💸 Venture Financing

1. Liquidity Group, an Israeli provider of unlimited unsecured, non-recourse, no-dilution growth capital, raised $40 million at a $1.4 billion valuation from Japanese bank MUFG.
2. Petal*, a consumer credit card provider and lender that uses cash-flow data to expand financial inclusion (disclosure: where I formerly worked), raised $35 million and spun off its underwriting into a separate entity, Prism Data.
3. Firmbase, an Israeli financial planning and analysis platform, raised $12 million.
4. ThreatFabric, a fraud detection provider, raised an €11.5 million seed round from Dutch bank ABN Amro.
5. Cable, which builds an automated risk assessment tool for financial crime, raised an $11 million Series A.
6. Salsa, an embedded payroll infrastructure developer, raised $10 million.
7. Charlie, a startup building banking services for the 62+ age community, raised $7.5 million.
8. Zamp, a sales tax solution for online sellers, raised $4 million.
9. Fingo, a Kenyan fintech holding company with a neobank subsidiary, raised $4 million in seed funding.
10. Fundly, a financing provider for the pharmaceutical supply chain, raised a $3 million seed round.
11. Bend, a corporate spend management platform focused on carbon offsetting, raised a $2.5 million seed round.
12. Kiddie Kredit, a startup that helps children learn about building credit in an entertaining way, raised $1.4 million.
13. AAZZUR, a German embedded financial services provider, raised a strategic investment.

We loved seeing this from our Fintech Fund portfolio co Stitch:

Pssst - if you like early-stage fintech investing, come join our angel syndicate.