The Thrilling Ups and Downs of Fintech in 2023

As 2023 comes to an end, we’re reviewing the biggest fintech stories of the year. Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse affected startups in the fintech space. Apple launched savings accounts for Apple Card customers and Apple was offering a competitive APY of 4.15%. Mastercard CFO expressed concerns about India’s UPI, while China’s two dominant mobile payment solutions, WeChat Pay and Alipay, announced that foreign users could now pay at Chinese retailers using their foreign credit cards. In late June, Visa acquired Brazilian payments infrastructure startup Pismo for $1 billion in cash. Slope closed a $30 million venture round with ‘major participation’ from Sam Altman. Carta’s CEO reached out to customers about bad press in an attempt at damage control. In a surprising move, Robinhood acquired credit card startup X1 for $95M. A new venture firm, Vesey Ventures, founded by three female former managing directors of Amex Ventures, closed a $78 million debut fund. Digital mortgage lender Better.com went public via a long-delayed SPAC but did not perform well. ZestMoney, an Indian fintech, shut down following unsuccessful efforts to find a buyer.