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This week we’re a startup that’s out to assist folks navigate long-term care utilizing AI, a flurry of exercise in Africa, one other fintech firm shutdown, and extra.
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The massive story
Lengthy-term care just isn’t one thing most individuals take into consideration till they’re older, or till they’re compelled to. And by then, it’s typically too late. This subject is private to me, as I noticed each my oldest brother and my mom endure from diseases and require long-term care in recent times. Not solely is it tough to search out high quality care, however additionally it is extraordinarily costly — even in case you had been lucky sufficient to buy some kind of insurance coverage coverage. So once I was not too long ago pitched a narrative on a startup utilizing AI to assist folks navigate long-term care planning, I used to be intrigued.
Lily Vittayarukskul began Waterlily in late 2021 after her household was “worn out” financially by serving to look after her aunt who had been identified with terminal colon most cancers. The corporate makes use of synthetic intelligence to foretell a household’s future long-term care wants and prices after which guides them “in constructing a care plan and determining the correct technique to pay for it.”
Fascinating. I’m not the one one who thinks this manner. Vittayarukskul initially began Waterlily as a solo founder till Evan Ehrenberg, a small angel investor, got here alongside. Ehrenberg — who had beforehand based and bought Clara Well being — helped with early analysis and was struck by the business’s response. Curious, he examined the platform and was shocked by his long-term care predictions — a lot in order that he modified his eating regimen, employed a private coach, and up to date his monetary plans. That have pulled him in deeper. By 2022, Ehrenberg — who grew to become MIT’s youngest neuroscience PhD — had joined Waterlily as a co-founder.
{Dollars} and cents
Uber-backed Moove, an Africa-born mobility fintech that provides car financing to ride-hailing and supply app drivers throughout six continents, has acquired Kovi, a Brazilian city mobility supplier. Moove co-founder and co-CEO Ladi Delano advised TechCrunch that the deal bumps the mobility fintech’s annual income to $275 million. Final March, Moove reported a $115 million ARR.
Formance believes there’s worth in providing a modular platform that’s just like Amazon Internet Providers’ tackle cloud internet hosting: Prospects can use a single service, however it’s extra environment friendly in case you home all of your cloud infrastructure below the identical roof. And it’s simply raised $21 million in a spherical co-led by PayPal Ventures and Portage.
French embedded banking startup Swan has raised one other €42 million (round $44 million at present alternate charges). The corporate considers this spherical to be the second a part of the Sequence B that was initially introduced in September 2023.
Cedar Cash not too long ago closed $9.9 million in seed funding led by QED Buyers. Like many cross-border fee platforms utilizing stablecoins, Cedar Cash acts as a bridge. It launched in early 2024, beginning operations in Nigeria.
Guinea-based fintech Cauridor not too long ago raised $3.5 million in seed funding to proceed constructing its fee rails that permit retailers, banks, telecom operators, and cash switch corporations transfer funds out and in of Africa.
What else we’re writing
The Shopper Monetary Safety Bureau (CFPB) has hit U.Ok.-based remittance firm Smart with an roughly $2 million advantageous for what it described as “a sequence of unlawful actions.”
Cushion, a fintech startup that described itself because the “Plaid for purchase now, pay later (BNPL),” has shut down. Founder and CEO Paul Kesserwani mentioned that “regardless of bringing a number of new fintech merchandise to market,” Cushion “didn’t attain the dimensions wanted to maintain the enterprise.”
Elon Musk-owned social community X introduced a partnership with Visa to deal with person-to-person funds for its upcoming X Cash product.
With its 700,000 prospects, Alan might be thought-about as a mature firm. However the medical insurance firm that desires to change into a digital companion on your well being is nonetheless rising like a startup.
Serial entrepreneur and former recording artist Victor D. Lombard, often known as DIVINE, introduced the launch of a brand new fintech firm for musicians in partnership with RAKIM, one in all hip-hop’s most influential emcees.
The rise of stablecoins — now a $205 billion market — is pushed by real-world utility, not hypothesis, notably in rising markets the place essentially the most compelling use circumstances unfold. Tage Kene-Okafor does a deep dive.
Excessive-interest headlines
Nu Mexico hits 10 million buyer milestone
Actual property fraud prevention startup Closinglock secures $34M
Trump stands to realize $250 million after media firm expands into monetary companies
Itaú Unibanco bets massive on AI with NeoSpace funding
Advisor AI startup Bounce completes $20M Sequence A funding
Thanks for studying! Till subsequent week … comply with me on X @bayareawriter for breaking fintech information, posts about espresso, and extra.
