FinTech megadeal that didn’t happen 😳; Despite the blood on the streets, Lightspeed raises >$7B across 4 funds & launches new 'crypto native' team 🤯; European InsurTeech giant in the making 👀

Good Morning FinTech, 14 July

Good morning Everyone,

And happy Thursday! Today we’re looking at the FinTech megadeal that didn’t happen (and what this tells us), Lightspeed raising >$7B across 4 funds & launching a new 'crypto native' team (be greedy when others are fearful!), and a European InsurTeech giant in the making (they are killing it!). Let’s jump straight into the exciting stuff:

FinTech megadeal that didn’t happen 😳

The surprisingly unsurprising news 🗞 Australian Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) company Zip has ditched plans to buy rival firm Sezzle weeks after saying the deal was proceeding.

Zip said it and Sezzle agreed to walk away from the deal due to “current macroeconomic and market conditions,” adding the decision was “in the best interests of Zip and its shareholders, and will allow Zip to focus on its strategy and core business.”

More on this 👉 We can remember the companies announced the proposed deal in February where the implied price for Minneapolis-based Sezzle was at 491M Australian dollars ($352M). For the perspective, the current market cap of Sezzle is less than $40M on the Australian Stock Exchange. Ouch 😓

More importantly, the combination of the two firms would have meant a BNPL megadeal resulting in both firms having a total of 8.8M customers and over 60,000 merchants in the US. That wasn’t too bad at all!

This is yet another nail into BNPL’s coffin and a great reminder of changing market conditions when it comes to all things FinTech. Here’s the takeaway: