#553
Meme Stocks to Moneylines

Published:

Aug 17, 2024


Author:

Sarah Parsons Wolter

Published:

Aug 17, 2024


Author:

Sarah Parsons Wolter


Share:

As the thrill of meme stocking trading fades, a new temptation may be luring thrill-seekers away from Wall Street – sports betting. A newly published working paper titled Gambling Away Stability finds that every dollar spent on sports betting is associated with a $2 decrease in net deposits to traditional brokerage accounts.

This data comes to light after a fantastic summer of sport, featuring events like the Paris Olympics, Euro, Copa America, and Wimbledon. NBCU reported this week that the Paris Olympics averaged 30.6m viewers across their platforms, an 82% jump from the Tokyo Olympics. Now, as the Premier League kicks off and the NFL season approaches, sports fans are gearing up for another round of high-stakes action – both on the field and in their betting apps. But the excitement may come with a hidden cost: a shift away from sound financial planning toward the dopamine-driven highs of sports wagering.

While platforms like Robinhood are attempting to nudge users toward more responsible investments and retirement accounts, the lure of quick gains from sports betting continues to grow. In the end, whether on the pitch or the stock market, it seems some fans just can't resist a good gamble. But as with all games of chance, when the final whistle blows, will they find they've bet on the wrong horse?

Portfolio News


Octane Lending again named to Inc. 5000 list - Congratulations to portfolio company Octane for being named to the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies for the third year in a row. It ranked in the top third of companies (No. 1671) with a three-year growth rate of 310%. In 2023, the company ranked No. 1680, and in 2022, it ranked No. 462. Read more

Antler closes $72m SEA Fund II to drive early-stage innovation - The new fund will continue investing in early-stage tech-enabled companies in Southeast Asia with pre-launch, pre-seed, and seed capital, Antler said in a statement. Over the next six to nine months, Antler SEA Fund II plans to allocate $27m to approximately 45 early-stage startups. Read more

Proptech startup success: leaders at IMMO, BridgerPay, Propy & Hostaway share their advice - Hans-Christian Zappel, CEO and co-founder of IMMO, a tech-enabled platform providing data on potential housing investment opportunities, brings attention to the challenges of entering the real estate market, which he describes as one of the most difficult sectors to disrupt. Read more

5 Minutes with: Vitor Torres, CEO and founder of Contabilizei - In an open conversation with Startups, Vitor spoke about some of the main challenges of his entrepreneurial journey and the company's strategies to grow even during the turbulent startup winter that has affected the market in recent years. In addition, he shared Contabilizei's current moment and vision for the future , and the startup's opportunities for expansion in the Brazilian market. Read more

Latin American exchange Bitso taps Coincover for security services - Through integration with Bitso's multiparty computation (MPC) infrastructure, Coincover will provide non-custodial disaster recovery, giving the exchange protection against events such as hacking or lost access. In addition, Bitso will use Coincover to monitor outgoing transactions in real-time. Read more

Meme Stocks to Moneylines


Gamblers are dumping stocks to bet on sports, new study says - As sports gambling takes off in the US, turning quickly into a multi-billion dollar business, a worrisome trend is starting to emerge: Americans appear to be yanking money out of their stock-brokerage accounts to fund their online betting. Read more

The Paris Olympics averaged 30.6m viewers across NBCU platforms - NBC touts the Summer Olympics has been the highest rated primetime program for 152 consecutive nights, dating back to the Closing Ceremony of the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Read more

Industry News


Dozens of financial groups to pay nearly $400m in SEC texting probe - Twenty-six Wall Street companies have agreed to pay $393m to the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle the latest round of charges over employee texting and messaging on platforms such as WhatsApp about business matters. Read more

The dramatic turnaround in millennials’ finances - Millennials are now wealthier than previous generations were at their age. They can’t believe it either. The biggest driver of that increase was real estate. Millennials’ housing wealth grew $2.5t, after accounting for the additional mortgage debt they took on. Stocks and mutual funds also played a key role, in part because many employees made larger contributions to retirement accounts earlier in their careers. Read more

Revolut announces secondary share sale to provide employee liquidity at $45b valuation - The deal makes Revolut the world's second-most valuable privately owned fintech company, behind Stripe, and also positions Revolut as the U.K.'s second-most valuable bank, behind HSBC, but ahead of Barclays, Lloyds and NatWest. The round was led by Coatue, D1 Capital Partners, and existing investor Tiger Global. Read more

MetaMask starts rollout of blockchain-based debit card developed with Mastercard, Baanx - The offering comes as traditional financial services and blockchain-based digital assets are getting increasingly intertwined. The MetaMask Card is first available in a pilot phase to a few thousand users in the EU and UK, with a wider release expected later this year. Users will be able to make purchases directly with their USDC, USDT and wETH assets held on the layer-2 network Linea. Read more

CFPB to scour banks’ chatbot use in White House initiative - The Biden administration is asking the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to look at banks’ use of chatbots and to address customer service “doom loops” as part of a wider effort to prioritize customers’ time. Among the pillars of the initiative, the White House said the CFPB is planning to issue guidance meant “to crack down on ineffective and time-wasting chatbots used by banks and other financial institutions in lieu of customer service.” Read more

Why credit unions are buying community banks faster than ever - The deals are expanding credit unions’ footprints geographically, while boosting deposits and allowing them to offer a wider array of products. The trend is also turning them into competition for retail banks. While it seems a win-win for the banking public, the deals come with steep challenges post-merger, including concerns over culture, customer retention and compliance. Read more

Apple gives third parties access to tap-and-go payments tech - The move comes in the wake of an agreement between Apple and the European Commission (EC) to allow access to the technology on iPhones. The EC, which is the executive arm of the EU, had charged Apple with competition law violations in 2022, alleging that the iPhone maker had prevented competitors from accessing the technology that enables tap-and-go payments. Read more

Kfw selects Boerse Stuttgart for issuance of blockchain-based digital bond - German development bank KfW has selected Boerse Stuttgart Digital as infrastructure partner for its new blockchain-based digital bond. Under the deal, Boerse Stuttgart Digital will manage wallets and secure private keys throughout the issuance and redemption processes of the crypto security planned by KfW in the coming weeks. Read more

Klarna takes on JPMorgan, BofA with foray into bank accounts - Klarna is adding retail-banking services in the US and across much of Europe, expanding beyond its signature buy-now, pay-later offering as the fintech company prepares for an initial public offering. Customers in 12 countries will newly have the option to add money from their bank account to a digital wallet, called Klarna balance, where they can get cash-back rewards for shopping in the Klarna app or receive refunds from returned items. Read more

Select Financings


Capitalize - New York based startup focused on automating 401(k) rollovers raised $19m in Series B funding led by existing investor RRE Ventures. Read more

Chaos Labs - New York based on-chain risk management tool for DeFi protocols and exchanges raised $55m in Series A funding led by Haun Ventures. Read more

Companion Protect - Kansas City based pet insurance administration company raised $20.3m in Series A funding led by Avanta Ventures, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Old Republic International Corp. and Stray Dog Enterprises. Read more

Conduit - Montana based B2B cross-border payments startup raised $6m in new funding led by Helios Digital Ventures. Read more

Essential - Ethereum Layer-2 based blockchain developer raised $11m in Series A funding led by Archetype. Read more

FLYR - California based revenue operating system for airline and transportation companies raised $225m in Series D funding led by WestCap. Read more

Heatmap - New York based data analytics tool for e-commerce websites raised $4m in Seed funding led by Vine Ventures. Read more

Holonym Foundation - Decentralized crypto digital identity security startup raised $5.5m in Seed funding led by Finality Capital and Paper Ventures. Read more

Ion Protocol - US based liquidity protocol for staked and restaked assets raised $4.8m in new funding led by Gumi Capital Cryptos and others. Read more

Levitate - Raleigh based CRM software startup raised $15m in Series D funding led by Harbert Growth Partners, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, and Bull City Venture Partners. Read more

PayZen - San Francisco based health care financing startup raised $32m in Series B funding led by NEA. Read more

Rhinestone - London based smart accounts infrastructure developer raised $5m in Seed funding led by 1kx. Read more

Sahara AI - Los Angeles based decentralized AI blockchain platform raised $43m in Series B funding led by Pantera Capital, Binance Labs and Polychain Capital. Read more

Setpoint - Austin based credit decisioning infrastructure provider raised $31m in Series B funding led by 645 Ventures. Read more

Skydo - India based cross-border payments platform raised $5m in pre-Series A funding led by Elevation Capital. Read more

SoloSuit - California based company providing tools for consumers to settle debt with collectors raised $2m in Seed funding led by McPike Global Family Office, Lobster Capital, Mana Ventures and Temerity Impact. Read more

Syfe - Singapore based investment platform raised $27m in Series C funding led by two U.K.-based family offices, Valar Ventures and Unbound. Read more

Vayana - India based trade credit platform raised $20.5m in Series D funding led by SMBC's Asia Rising Fund. Read more

Yuze - UAE based provider of business accounts and card programs for SMEs raised $30m in new funding led by Osten Investments. Read more


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