**Why last week felt like 2021 in fintech** Last week was a reminder of the heady days of 2021 for fintech. The headlines were dominated by massive funding rounds, eye-popping valuations, and talk of a new era for financial services. Here are a few of the highlights: * **Stripe raised $600 million at a valuation of $95 billion.** This is the largest funding round ever for a private fintech company. * **Fintech unicorn Klarna went public in a $45 billion SPAC deal.** This is the biggest fintech IPO since 2014. * **Venmo parent company PayPal acquired social media company Pinterest for $44 billion.** This is the largest acquisition ever for a fintech company. These deals are a sign that the fintech industry is still booming, despite the economic headwinds. Investors are still willing to bet big on fintech companies, and they believe that these companies have the potential to revolutionize the financial services industry. It remains to be seen whether the fintech industry will continue to grow at its current pace. However, last week’s deals show that there is still a lot of excitement about the potential of fintech.

November 5, 2023
/TechCrunch The Interchange is a weekly newsletter that provides readers with the latest fintech news and updates. This week, we covered three nine-figure funding rounds...