The rise of the venture capital boom of 2021 has shaken much of the startup world, but the lack of capital is sharply visible in one particular niche: fintech.
CB insights indicate data that after peaking in 2021, funding for fintech startups around the world fell dramatically by 46% to $75.2 billion from $139.8 billion a year ago. Early 2023 data is still trickling in, but we haven’t heard from anyone yet that venture finance for fintech will recover. Yes, Stripe’s $6.5 billion raise may be biased, but let’s not forget that it’s also a round of downside.
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But fintech is broad, encompassing everything from Chime and Alpaca to Brex. In fact, it is almost too broad a group to be of much use. You need to dig deeper and be more specific to get a clearer picture of the developing trends.
This brings us to CFOs, everyone’s favorite person on a company’s executive team: the naysayer, the receipt claimant, the fuss over budgets.
Call them what you will, CFOs are a critical part of a startup’s evolution. We don’t pay enough attention to CxOs here at businesskinda.com, as we’re a little more focused on founders, but last year CFOs managed to get their way to our attention: businesskinda.com reported on a surge in CFO turnover at companies going IPO. track before the market blocked that path or put the company in a slump.
That’s the bad news for CFOs: Shifting valuations in many startup categories have taken IPOs off the table, and they’re now tasked with stretching money as far as possible in a market where capital is drying up faster than a puddle in Death Valley.
But there’s also good news: Many fintech startups are building tools for CFOs and their larger office, often referred to as “the CFO stack.”
Janice has been with businesskinda for 5 years, writing copy for client websites, blog posts, EDMs and other mediums to engage readers and encourage action. By collaborating with clients, our SEO manager and the wider businesskinda team, Janice seeks to understand an audience before creating memorable, persuasive copy.