Fintech Today - FTT Update: SPAC Season Is Back
Hi all, Julie here.
I’ve touched on my home buying frustrations here a bit (in case you weren’t aware, Austin...and basically everywhere...is seeing a huge increase in home prices). This new podcast from the two people that hired me to work at Bloomberg was SO GOOD. They break down all the craziness of the housing market and what to expect next.
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Dave Does A SPAC
Dave, the banking startup backed by Mark Cuban, said it’s going public via a SPAC. Word on the street is you got early access to shares if you buy with Dogecoin (I’m kidding). The merger will value Dave at $4B. I’d assume that after seeing SoFi do fairly well in its recent SPAC, the company and the sponsor decided the time was now. Here’s a link to the full investor presentation, as well as a slide below with some interesting stats. Like many others in the space, there was a nice boost to growth during the pandemic when everything went digital. While Dave is obviously acquiring a lot of customers, the big question is whether or not the unit economics work. This presentation didn’t make me a believer, but I’m willing to be proven wrong.
Visa and Goldman Partner
Visa and Goldman are partnering to help businesses move money faster around the globe with Visa B2B Connect and Visa Direct Payouts solutions. The two companies say this means Goldman’s corporate clients will be able to “move funds quickly and securely, have near real-time visibility into their payment status, obtain necessary reconciliation and compliance data, ultimately helping improve organizations’ cash flow.” B2B Connect is a cross border payments network available in nearly 100 markets that can help optimize payments for businesses. Visa’s Direct Payouts solution will increase the number of payment options Goldman can offer its clients and help make smaller, more frequent payouts less complex.
All very interesting developments given the focus we’ve had on fast, global money movement over the past 12-18 months in particular. I hosted an event recently with Matt Harris of Bain and Stephany Kirkpatrick of Orum that discusses this topic a lot. It’s up on our YouTube channel if you want to go back and learn more.
Payment For Order Flow Changes
FTT Expert John Collins is going to dive deeper into this later this week for our FTT+ subscribers so I don’t want to steal his thunder, but SEC Chair Gary Gensler told WSJ conference attendees that payment for order flow is on his radar. So far there aren’t many details on what kind of changes the SEC might be drafting up for review, but this bears close attention.
Full-Stack Engineer at Found: From its unique position as the central ledger, Found uses raw payment data to automatically assess bookkeeping categories and calculate deductions using its proprietary tax calculator. Its customers use Found for business banking and expense tracking, and are rewarded with accurate books and taxes—for free.
As an engineer, you will work on user-facing as well as internal-facing features. Found truly embraces the role of full-stack developer, and its engineers work closely with designers, product managers, and other engineers to see projects from the idea stage through to production. As you go, you will make decisions about how it builds, tests, deploys, and scales the features you work on.
Found is a small team expecting to grow quickly, and it is looking for team members who are excited about the opportunity to help shape and support its engineering culture. Found cares deeply about building and iterating quickly, writing secure, maintainable code, and solving real problems for its customers. If you are looking for a company with a strong vision where you can make a meaningful contribution that has a great impact, it would love to hear from you!
For more job openings in fitnech, check out our job board. If you're interested in advertising a role, head to this link and tap "post a job."
Julie VerHage-Greenberg is the co-founder of Fintech Today, where she focuses on editorial content and brand. Prior to joining, she was Bloomberg’s first fintech reporter, covering Robinhood from before it was a billion dollar company, breaking the news that Plaid was acquiring Quovo, and interviewing executives on Bloomberg TV and at several large conferences.
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Older messages
FTT Update: Why I Wish I'd Gone to MIT
Friday, June 4, 2021
Hi all, Julie here. Well, it's officially the first Friday of the summer! We're going to start publishing our final post of the week a bit earlier to accommodate those of you that might be
FTT Update: This Newsletter Is Getting Rid of Overdraft Fees
Wednesday, June 2, 2021
Hi all, Julie here. The world came full circle today when I was invited to go on Bloomberg's Quick Take to talk about fintech and how so many of you guys are hiring! Thanks to my friend Sonali
FTT Update: Do You Want the Good News or the Bad News First?
Friday, May 28, 2021
Hi all, Julie here. So ready for a holiday weekend. There's a possibility that Robinhood's S1 drops after I send out this email. If so, you'll have to wait until next week for my
FTT Update: The New Trading Floor
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
Hi all, Julie here. It was so much fun meeting dozens of you at our event with Green Dot earlier this week! The Texas fintech scene is booming ;) Check out Community Highlights below for pics. And
FTT Update: Ray Dalio and I Both Own Bitcoin
Monday, May 24, 2021
Hi all, Julie here. Excited to see some of you in person in a few hours at our event with Green Dot here in Austin! Keep an eye out for photos in Wednesday's community highlights section and on
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