Why some old Bench customers are not happy

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This week, we look at embattled fintech Bench, Robinhood’s $45M settlement, a few M&A deals, some cool fundraising and more.

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Great story

After the accounting starts Bench suddenly closed Acquired by Employer.com in a fire sale on December 27th, Bench customers are now learning that they can easily just take their financial information and leave. And some of them he is very unhappy about it. Meanwhile, the Bench argues that “the only way they can access their data is to refuse to allow Employer.com access to their data because the only other entity that currently has that data no longer exists and is currently active.” bankruptcy proceedings.”

Dollars and cents

Float FinanceIt’s an expense management and corporate card startup focused on the Canadian market collected 50 million dollars in a Series B funding round. The Toronto-based fintech likens itself to US fintech giants Brex and landing however, it differs in that it focuses exclusively on Canadian SMEs.

At 24, Pryce Yebesi already has an exit: selling crypto-invoicing company Utopia Labs to Coinbase for an undisclosed sum. On Monday, Yebesi announced the opening of his new company, Open Ledgerwhich integrates automated accounting software into products already used by businesses and small businesses. He has already collected 3 million dollars In a round led by Kindred Ventures and Blank Ventures.

Focused on cross-border payments for merchants across Asia and the Middle East, NomuPay there is collected 37 million dollars $200 million in funding to expand its business.

Financial services company Moodyhas agreed to buy Cape Analyticsgeospatial AI startup for an undisclosed sum.

Clearwater Analyticsis a company that develops accounting, compliance and risk reporting tools for asset managers agreed to buy investment management platform Infusion for $1.5 billion.

What else are we writing?

Robinhood agreed It took out 45 million dollars To settle an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into several alleged violations related to the 2021 hack.

As digital payments become strategic assets, India offers a template for other countries to follow. The West is trying to reduce dependence on payment networks Like Visa and Mastercard.

grew upIt is India’s largest retail stockbroker It is preparing to apply for an IPO Sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch that it is looking for a price between $6-8 billion within 10-12 months.

High interest headlines

In HR software news, BukA human resources software provider based in Santiago, Chile, collected 50 million dollars About $850 million in Series B funding. That’s it worth 417 million dollars it was achieved in 2021.

Located in Toronto On the ground has been has been obtained by a fellow HR software company Employment HeroAn Australian company is trying to “get a foothold in Canada.”

The fintech giant Plaid He told TechCrunch that he plans to open an office Raleigh, North Carolina. Headquartered in San Francisco, Plaid currently employs more than 1,000 people and has additional offices in New York; Washington, DC; London; and Amsterdam. A spokesperson told TC that “Raleigh is the next step in expanding Plaid’s footprint to meet the growing demand for its technology as the financial services sector increasingly moves online.”

Thank you for reading. See you again next week!