Join our AMA with Frank Rotman (TWIF 3/19)

Hello Fintech Friends,
Ask-Me-Anything with Frank Rotman - Thursday, March 23rd
Frank Rotman has been a pillar of the fintech community since before it was called 'fintech'. As the Founding Partner of QED Investors, he has led investments into industry trailblazers like Credit Karma, Prosper, Avant, SoFi, GreenSky, LendUp, and Current. He has been on the front lines of banking for over 20 years, building Capital One's subprime business since the early days of its formation (when it was known as OakStone Financial).
Today, Frank spends some of his time disambiguating key concepts in banking, lending, and fintech for the rest of us via his Twitter. So naturally, he was the first person we turned to in the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank meltdown for our new AMA series.

This Thursday, March 23rd, Frank has agreed to make himself available in the Finnovation Community Slack to answer any and all of your questions – not just on fintech, but on financial services, life, philosophy, and the universe.
Know someone else who should join the Finnovation community for an AMA? Let us know at news@thisweekinfintech.com!
Also, if you're a founder, the The Forbes Fintech 50 list for 2023 is now open for applications for the next two weeks.
Will I see you in London on April 20th?
👍👎 Have feedback for us? Let us know!
Please find another week of fintech exits and deep reads below.
☯️ Exits
💻 IPOs & SPACs
- Australian buy-now-pay-later provider Sezzle plans to list its shares for trading on the Nasdaq (without an IPO or share sale).
🤝 M&A - Fintech
- Nigerian consumer credit fintech FairMoney acquired merchant payment services provider PayForce in a cash-and-stock deal in the range of $15 million to $20 million.
- Payments, banking, and regulated data provider Cuscal acquired Basiq Pty.
- Software builder Orion Innovation acquired core banking implementation partner Banktech Software.
- African p2p payments startup Chipper is reportedly weighing a sale of the company.
- Fintech software giant Bloomberg entered an agreement to acquire front-office solutions provider Broadway Technology.
- French payments firms Synalcom, an electronic payments provider for 20,000 merchants, and Qori are merging to form a new merchant payments platform called Sylq.
- Private equity firm Motive Partners is reportedly working to acquire payments technology platform ACI Worldwide for around $2.5 billion.
- Private equity firm Helios is working with advisors to sell a stake in Crown Agents Bank, a cross-border payments firm.
- Pushpay, a New Zealand based charitable donation payments services for US nonprofits, received a takeover bid for NZ$1.62 billion ($1 billion).
🏦 M&A - Bank and FinServ
- HSBC acquired the distressed UK branch of Silicon Valley Bank for £1.
- Vietnam’s VPBank is reportedly nearing a sale of 15% of the company to Japanese bank SFMG.
My payments "chart of the year" is from McKinsey's 2022 Global Payments Report. Asia represents 50% of the payments revenue pool and 60% of growth. https://t.co/lU8J8vfaGR pic.twitter.com/4mqPy2k0jd
— Tom Noyes (@noyesclt) March 9, 2023
Sweep networks just became the coolest thing in fintech (Mercury launching their Vault product)
— Bruno Werneck de Almeida (@brunoswerneck) March 13, 2023
Useful reads on how the product works under the hood
From Mercury: https://t.co/lF8nRkDnft
From Evolve: https://t.co/OGaN6s7avM https://t.co/zyttxYK3UT
Yo the "average" American had $5,300 in checking in 2019 so I don't think they are losing sleep over the $250k cap pic.twitter.com/OFxUZmBCd7
— ~JON (@joncoffey) March 13, 2023
— Teddy Blank (@teddypowday) March 15, 2023
🌎 Fintech Around the World
Startups in Francophone Africa are on the rise
Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse is hitting financial hubs around the globe
How African startups are using data & distribution to de-risk lending
Where Digital Payments, Even for a 10-Cent Chai, Are Colossal in Scale
Indian startups have deposits of about $1 billion in SVB, minister says
📚 Deeper Reads & Features
Silicon Valley Bank Isn’t Lehman
What does Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse mean for the financial system?
What really went wrong at Silicon Valley Bank
Signature Bank’s collapse spells trouble for cryptocurrency industry
“Project Yeti”: Inside the scramble to save Silicon Valley Bank UK
Silicon Valley Bank Collapse Produces An Early Winner: Digital Banks
Fintechs Winning Silicon Valley Bank’s Abandoned Customers
Panic Mustn’t Be Allowed to Spread After SVB Collapse
Why the biggest banks were first shut out of bidding on Silicon Valley Bank
The End of Silicon Valley (Bank)
FDIC wants buyer of Signature Bank to give up crypto business, report says
Goldman looked to buy SVB in 2020 but talks fizzled
Post-collapse, here's what's next for Silicon Valley Bank's wealth management business
California’s Tech-Fueled Economy in Trouble After First Republic, SVB Woes
How the Banking Mess Applies to Fintech Giants PayPal and Block
And in non-SVB news…
Why did Brex really decide to ditch SMBs?
Here’s how GajiGesa reduced costs by 15%
Asset managers warn too much choice is confusing retail investors
Consumer Finances, Student Loans and Debt Repayment in 2023
Fintech Products Have Benefits and Risks to Underserved Consumers, and Regulatory Clarity Is Needed
FinEdge's DiA platform is creating a generation of better investors
Brits tell Russia: There’s nothing wrong with eating squirrel
Have a news item for us? Reach out to news@thisweekinfintech.com
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