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Something really scary is happening. It’s an internet-powered horror story unfolding in front of us in three interwoven acts: (1) AI technology is improving fast enough that I recently had a bit of an existential crisis, wondering if I, too, was an AI. (2) People have no idea what’s real and what isn’t on the internet. (3) With the 2024 presidential election coming up, we have a recipe for disaster.
We may be so comprehensively copulated at this moment in time that digging our way out might prove impossible. Brew a cup of coffee and take a breath; I’m exploring the full depth of my fears in “On the internet, nobody knows you’re a bot.”
Fintech keeps printing dollars, pounds, dinar and rupees
Earlier this year Mary Ann reported that even well-funded fintech companies were going through rounds of layoffs, but it appears that optimism has returned to the sector. This week, it transpired that celebrity investors (including Paris Hilton) piled into consumer savings startup Checkmate, and Kyle reported that Nymbus landed a $70 million round of funding to help drag banks away from legacy tech and into the new-fangled digital age.
Pay attention, though: You’d be wrong to believe that all of this innovation is happening only in the major, obvious financial centers of the world. Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen major innovations all over the world, including a major Brazilian player plotting to serve 11 African markets, a startup helping Indonesians take control over their credit scores, a bank raising $78 million to expand operations across South Africa, Singapore and the Philippines, and stories coming out of India, Kenya, LatAm, France, etc. That’s great news for startups that are looking for growth through international expansion. The playbook is there, as are the investment dollars.
Insert “house of credit cards” joke here to make this image make even less sense. Image Credits: Kuzma (opens in a new window) / Getty Images
PhonePe keeps on raisin’: Manish reports that PhonePe secures additional $100 million from General Atlantic, after the investor already invested $100 million last month.
“Likely a job for big banks”: Mary Ann reports that LGBTQ+ focused neobank Daylight calls it quits.
Like Mint, but for startups: Frederic reports that Firmbase raises $12M to modernize financial planning for startups.
Doing it for the LOLs
The social media landscape continues to evolve at neck- and thumb-breaking speeds, with stories coming thick and fast across the TechCrunch news desk. The surgeon general this week stuck an oar in, suggesting that social media “can have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.” As an adult who often finds that social media harms my mental health and well-being, color me a deep shade of unsurprised.
Some organizations are fighting back, including the state of Montana, who decided to try to ban TikTok altogether, citing it is taking action to “protect Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party.” TikTok sued in return, claiming the ban violates the First Amendment.
Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis decided to just skip the announcement rally and announce his run for president on Twitter, which brought the entire social media platform crunching to a halt. I’m wondering if we’re starting to see why Elon Musk had an interest in buying Twitter: being front and center seems to be something he rather enjoys. Not gonna lie, though: I’m so profoundly bored of the whole “Elon buys Twitter” saga, but I can’t look away. I’m super grateful to Amanda and Alyssa for putting together a what-you-need-to-know about Elon Musk’s Twitter overview.
Misinformation continues to run rampant on social media, particularly illustriously illustrated by the incident that