Information World Fintech: Meet PayJoy, a fintech working on the intersection of doing good and earning profits

Welcome to Information World Fintech! This week, we’re how two fintech corporations serving the underserved are faring, and extra!

To get a roundup of Information World’s greatest and most essential fintech tales delivered to your inbox each Sunday at 7:00 a.m. PT, subscribe right here. 

The massive story

PayJoy is an instance of an organization with optimistic unit economics and a mission to assist the underserved. It’s not typically that we see these two issues intersect, so once we do, we get fairly excited. I wrote in regards to the firm’s milestone of reaching $300 million in annualized income and profitability final 12 months, whereas additionally managing to land $150 million in Sequence C funding. The corporate’s mannequin is exclusive: It helps individuals construct credit score by way of pay-as-you-go financing for smartphones. As soon as the telephones are paid off, clients can apply for loans by way of PayJoy utilizing their gadgets as collateral. Learn all about its progress right here.

Evaluation of the week

Petal is one other fintech firm that goals to assist the underserved “construct credit score, not debt.” Final Might, Information World wrote in regards to the firm’s $35 million elevate and plans to spin off its knowledge unit. Final week, Empower Finance introduced its plans to accumulate Petal, which apparently started searching for consumers final 12 months “when it was brief on money,” in accordance with Fortune. A spokesperson for Petal advised me by way of e-mail: “Like Petal, Empower … makes use of money movement underwriting for its suite of credit score merchandise. … With the Petal acquisition, it is going to quickly have a household of bank cards to enrich that providing.” Will we see extra M&A in 2024? I’m desperate to see.

{Dollars} and cents

TransferGo, the U.Ok.-based fintech finest often called a shopper platform for international remittances, has raised a $10 million progress funding spherical from Taiwan-based investor Taiwania Capital, with a view to increasing within the Asia-Pacific area. It final raised a $50 million Sequence C funding spherical in 2021. TransferGo claims its progress, mixed with the brand new funding, doubles its valuation.

What else we’re writing

Brazilian startup Salvy, a cellular service for companies, was the one firm primarily based in Latin America in Y Combinator’s newest batch, the accelerator confirmed to Information World’s Anna Heim. That’s a major drop in comparison with cohorts that went by way of the accelerator throughout COVID when it was distant, but additionally more moderen lessons. For instance, there have been 33 Latin American corporations in Y Combinator’s Winter 2022 batch. May the general state of the fintech sector be partly in charge? Traditionally, round one-third of the 231 Latin American corporations that went by way of YC targeted on fintech. And with fintech funding on the decline, this might maybe partly clarify YC’s lack of LatAm curiosity.

Excessive-interest headlines

Investors circle ‘most hated’ fintech and e-commerce sectors

Stride and Utah set new precedents in benefits for independent workers

US startup Parafin lands $125M warehouse facility from SVB and Trinity Capital

Tabs secures $7M seed funding to enhance AI-driven accounts receivable platform

UAE’s fintech Fortis secures $20M in a Series A round 

Anrok hits a $250M valuation with a mundane idea: calculating

Need to attain out with a tip? E mail me at maryann@techcrunch.com or ship me a message on Sign at 408.204.3036. You too can ship a observe to the entire Information World crew at suggestions@techcrunch.com. For safer communications, click on right here to contact us, which incorporates SecureDrop (directions right here) and hyperlinks to encrypted messaging apps.