Sequoia relies on Stripe, Latin American fintechs clean up and an African startup launches oversized Series A

Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we look at Sequoia Capital’s efforts to get its LPs liquidity for the firm’s investment in Stripe, how Latin American fintechs are still attracting investor attention, a sizable Series A from an African startup, and more.

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The big story

Payment giant Stripes has delayed the IPO for so long that its main investor Sequoia Capital is getting creative to offer returns to its limited partners. The venture capital firm emailed LPs of funds raised between 2009 and 2011 with an offer to buy up to $861 million worth of Stripe stock. The move is evidence that LPs are increasingly clamoring for liquidity in this dry IPO market. But perhaps more tellingly, Sequoia’s gesture shows that the firm is confident not only in Stripe’s future, but also that it can eventually exit in a way that offers investors a generous reward. It was also revealed that the company’s most recent 409A valuation was $70 billion.

Analysis of the week

Latin American fintechs continue to attract investors. CloudWalk is expected to raise up to $400 million, at a valuation of at least $4 billion, reports The Information (the company declined to comment on the rumors). TC’s Anna Heim reported that Caliza has raised $8.5 million to enable real-time money transfers to Latin America using crypto stablecoins – specifically, Circle’s reserve-backed USDC. Initialized led the round, with lead investor Abdul Ly taking the lead on the investment. Meanwhile, OneCarNow — a Mexican fintech company for gig workers across the Americas — told TechCrunch it had secured $86 million in funding, mostly debt but also some equity.

Dollars and cents

Nalaa remittance startup currently expanding its portfolio with a new B2B payments platform, has raised $40 million in equity in a rare deal that becomes one of the largest Series A transactions in Africa.

Meet Adfina new UK-based fintech startup that aims to help businesses get their bills paid, whatever the cost. The startup has already raised $4.9 million in seed funding, co-led by Index Ventures and Visionaries Club.

Adaptablewhich provides a range of workflow automations for financial management including budgeting, expense tracking, accounts payable and electronic payments, has closed a $19 million Series A funding round led by Emergence Capital.

What else we write

The Synapse The debacle has led observers to question the concept of banking-as-a-service and digital banking as a whole, as millions of consumers with nearly $160 million in deposits remain without access to their funds. Here’s a timeline of Synapse’s problems and the ongoing impact they’re having on banking customers.

Evolve Bank & Trust confirmed that the personal information of at least 7.6 million people was accessed during the incident, including more than 20,000 customers based in Maine, and that the fallout from this is growing.

The European Union has accepted commitments from Apple regarding the functioning of Apple Pay in order to settle a lengthy competition investigation. Apple has until July 25 to implement changes that will allow developers of competing mobile wallets to offer contactless payments using the technology prevalent in the EU (NFC).

Interesting headlines

Better CEO Vishal Garg must pay $5.5 million in a ten-year legal battle

Bain Capital acquires financial software provider Envestnet in a $45 billion deal

CNBC has released its list of the world’s top 250 fintech companies for 2024

ICYMI: Fintech funding hit a five-quarter high in the second quarter, according to CB Insights.

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