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PayPal Ventures’ first AI funding, a credit-based courting app and Robinhood’s good week

Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech (previously The Interchange)! This week, we’re a brand new finance-based courting app, Robinhood’s earnings outcomes and the startup through which PayPal Ventures made its first funding. Let’s dive in!

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The large story

A brand new courting app was launched simply in time for Valentine’s Day, however there’s a catch: You could have at the least a 675 credit score rating to make use of it. Launched by monetary platform Neon Cash Membership, Rating is a dating app for people with good to excellent credit, and it seeks to assist elevate consciousness in regards to the significance of funds in relationships. TC’s Dominic-Madori Davis gave us a have a look at what the startup goals to do and the way it happened. Studying all of the feedback on X and LI was additionally fairly entertaining!

Evaluation of the week

Robinhood’s inventory obtained an enormous increase final week when the corporate posted a shock revenue within the fourth quarter “driven by higher interest income from customers paying back loans and a rebound in trading,” in accordance with Reuters. It additionally revealed that it could possibly be breakeven or worthwhile by next year. Shares climbed to their highest worth final week in practically two years and closed at $14 on Friday, up 17% from a detailed of $11.94 on February 13. When public fintechs do effectively, it normally means good issues for privately held fintechs. CEO and co-founder Vlad Tenev spoke at TechCrunch Disrupt final yr — learn all about that here.

{Dollars} and cents

Finom, a European challenger financial institution aimed toward SMEs and freelancers, has raised €50 million ($54 million) in a Collection B fairness spherical of funding.

FlowFi, a startup making a market of finance consultants for entrepreneurs, closed on $9 million in seed funding. Blumberg Capital led the funding.

Daring, a monetary know-how firm constructing an digital funds infrastructure in Colombia, raised $50 million in Series C funding in a spherical led by current investor Common Atlantic.

Rasa, an enterprise-focused conversational generative AI platform with monetary companies firms as shoppers, raised $30 million in a Collection C spherical co-led by StepStone Capital and PayPal Ventures. Notably, this marked PayPal’s first AI funding.

What else we’re writing

India is facing a quandary in imposing long-delayed guidelines to curb the dominance of PhonePe and Google Pay within the nation’s ubiquitous UPI funds community, which processes over 10 billion transactions month-to-month.

After current launches within the U.Ok. and Eire, workforce administration platform Rippling is continuous its bold worldwide growth with the opening of its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Sydney, Australia. The corporate additionally poached Eisar Lipkovitz from JPMorgan to function its new chief product officer.

Apple’s current transfer to boost the interest rate for its Apple Card financial savings account to 4.5% is now prompting a competitor to do the identical. Money App introduced it should now provide “up to” a 4.5% APY (annual percentage yield) for its Cash App Savings customers, with a couple of caveats.

Different high-interest headlines

Bolt, once worth $11B, slashes share price 97% in buyback 

Venture capital’s optimistic that fintech deals will rebound in 2024

Parlay raises $1.3M to offer inclusive access to financial resources for small businesses

Mia Share raises $6.5 million to facilitate digital tuition payments

Sequoia pressures former leader Moritz to leave Klarna board seat

Airbase appoints Forrester veteran Mathew Schulz to procurement role

Fintech garners over one-third of last week’s €745M invested in European tech

Observe me on X @bayareawriter for breaking fintech information, posts about espresso and extra.

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