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Hi all, Julie here.

Exciting announcements from us! First off, if you are a student, you should sign up for a new private Slack channel we have that will connect you to others in the space and give you access to Q&A sessions with founders, HR teams and more. It’s only $5 a month and you can cancel any time.

Second, we’re thinking about covering crypto and DeFi more, and would love your input! Fill out this survey and you’ll also be entered to win FTT Swag.

Today's Partner, Payitoff

Put down your NFTs for a sec, this is important

46M student loan borrowers re-enter repayment at the same time in early 2022 - a first in financial services history. The "Student Loan Tsunami" will bring devastation to American account balances, spending and credit scores.

The bad news: while there are a ton of existing federal programs available for your customers, the application process is unbearably tedious and easy to get wrong. This makes it prohibitive for the average borrower to do without the right tools, despite the fact that 47% of all borrowers financially benefit from them.

The good news: with Payitoff, you can bolt on full service student loan management in under 10 minutes, save the average user $240 / month on their next student loan payment, all while increasing spend, ADB, LTV and improving DTI.

Think of them as FEMA for your customers with student debt. Book some time with Payitoff today to see its tech in action and see how you can surf the tsunami instead of being washed away in it

Company News

Green Dot No Longer Buying Tax Refund Business

According to a new filing, Green Dot’s $165M deal for Republic Bank & Trust’s tax-refund business is being called off after hitting a regulatory snag. The prepaid card issuer “has been unable to obtain” the Federal Reserve’s approval or non-objection to the acquisition. Meanwhile, Republic said it is suing Green Dot, alleging breach of contract for failing “to disclose the existence of any regulatory issues that would cause a delay” in closing the deal.

Funding and Deals

Masterworks Gets Fresh Capital

Masterworks.io, which you’ve heard about here before, raised $110M in funding at a pre-money valuation north of $1B. Led by Left Lane Capital, the fractional investment platform for fine art is one of the first companies to try and make it easier for people to buy a stake in expensive pieces of art. CEO Scott Lynn told Axios that it expects to buy nearly $400M of art this year and closer to $1B in 2022. Safe to say the team is betting that people will continue to want to diversify their investments outside of the typical stocks and 401K plans.

Commonstock Announces New Round

Commonstock, a startup that’s part of the social investing trend, announced a new round of funding led by Coatue along with QED, Floodgate, Upside Ventures. The valuation was not disclosed, but others in the space have seen valuations soar as millions of people enter the investing and trading space. Commonstock offers a similar yet very different model to others - rather than being an actual brokerage, Commonstock uses APIs to let investors link their brokerage accounts and then have a profile on the app that will feature a user’s stock picks and performance. Instead of total followers, the feed shows the aggregate dollar amount of people following someone.

Modern Treasury’s New Round

Congrats to our friends at Modern Treasury on the new funding round! The team announced an $85M raise led by Altimeter Capital along with Benchmark and Quiet Capital. Not to mention, it came with a big valuation jump, now topping $2B. It was valued at around $300M at the beginning of the year. In case you’re not familiar with the company, Modern Treasury’s software helps finance and treasury teams automate the payment process from payment initiation through approvals. Today it works with a wide range of businesses, from finance to real estate and health care to education. I'm having Co-Founder and CEO Dimitri Dadiomov on the podcast the week of October 18, let me know what you want me to ask.

Crypto Watch

Crypto Crackdown

While there’s a not so small chance that there is a crackdown on crypto in the US, folks can rest assured that it won’t be as strict as the one we’ve recently seen in China. SEC Chair Gary Gensler says the U.S. won’t follow China’s lead in banning digital tokens. After a Republican lawmaker asked if a China-like prohibition was on the table in the U.S., Gensler said “Our approach is really quite different,” adding that any ban would probably have to be legislated by Congress. He also said that the government’s focus is on ensuring that the industry adheres to investor and consumer protection rules, anti-money laundering regulations and tax laws.

NFT Gaming Funding

Sky Mavis, the developer of the NFT gaming site, Axie Infinity, announced that it has closed a $152M funding round. The company has said that this fresh round will be used to help scale both its product as well as its team in order to further its mission of bringing economic freedom to gamers. Notable investors include FTX as well as a16z. It should also be no surprise that Axie’s meteoric success has coincided with a deep dive that our friend, Packy, published on it.
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​Lead Product Designer, Banking Ecosystem, Square:​

Equal parts design systems, IA, and visual design, this role will impact the future of everything Square builds. As the Lead Designer on the Square Banking Ecosystem team, you will be the first dedicated designer on this newly formed team, reporting to the Head of Design & Creative for Banking. Square is building a suite of new financial products and you will be essential to creating connections between these products and defining the roadmap and design vision for the shared product surface areas. Apply at the link above!

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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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