#492
Where The Wild(fires) Are

Published:

Jun 12, 2023


Author:

Sarah Parsons Wolter

Published:

Jun 12, 2023


Author:

Sarah Parsons Wolter


Share:

In case you’ve missed the yellow haze on the news – or IRL if you were unlucky enough to be anywhere close to FTC HQ – over the past few days, insurers are making sure that homeowners take note.

AIG is the latest insurer to join State Farm and Allstate in pulling out of fire-prone California. In their absence, residents who have lost their homes have been left with the option to purchase a policy from the California FAIR Plan, a private high-risk pool that was established by state law.

But insurers say this change is necessary to protect business health – an understandable concern after 2020-2022 marked a record stretch of $275b of insured damages, while reinsurers raised rates by more than 200% due to the war in Ukraine and severe hurricanes.

California is unfortunately just the beginning. Challenges in Florida are already acute, with 47 local property insurance businesses going under within the past 13 months. As more states become uninsurable, what are the repercussions, and more importantly – what’s the solution?

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Portfolio News


Plaid, Vestwell named to Forbes' Fintech 50 2023 - Congratulations to portfolio companies Plaid and Vestwell for being named to Forbes' Fintech 50 for 2023. The Fintech 50, in its eighth installment, is an annual list of the most innovative private fintech companies, which considers everything from product originality and customer and revenue growth to leadership team diversity. Read more

Vestwell partners with payroll provider Gusto on integrated 401(k) - New York-based Gusto, which provides payroll services to 300,000 businesses, has teamed with Vestwell to provide retirement plan services through an API the firms say will save “time (and money)” on adding a retirement savings options for employees. Read more

Antler branches out from pre-seed to later-stage investing with $285m fund - Now the global investment network is moving past pre-seed to A rounds and beyond with its hefty new $285m Elevate fund. In this interview, TechCrunch speaks with Antler founder and CEO Magnus Grimeland about the decision to branch out from its “day zero” approach and take on an entirely different form of investing. Read more

​​Minu announces partnership with Citibanamex to serve their 5m payroll customers - The employees of all companies that have a Citibanamex payroll account will soon be able to access Minu's salary advance solution. In addition to earned wages on-demand, Minu's digital platform encompasses more than 35 benefits to manage the financial, physical and mental health of workers in Mexico. Read more

Flutterwave and Token.io partner on ‘pay by bank’ transfers - A2A payments (often called ‘Pay By Bank’) is a fast and secure way to move money between bank accounts. Open banking-powered A2A payments do not require registration or error-prone data entry, making them a seamless payment method. Read more

Centrifuge launches Centrifuge Prime - Centrifuge launched Centrifuge Prime, a comprehensive suite of services and technologies that helps DeFi-native organizations — like DAOs, stablecoins, and protocols — easily onboard and scale a portfolio of real-world assets (RWAs). Read more

Where The Wild(fires) Are


Uninsurable America: Climate change hits the insurance industry - Decisions by two major insurers to stop offering new homeowner's policies in California highlight the growing portion of America that's becoming close to uninsurable.The recent moves by State Farm and Allstate to stop offering new homeowner insurance policies in California have kicked off a national conversation on insuring risk in an increasingly perilous climate. Read more

Climate change and homeowners’ insurance are on a collision course - A summer that has already seen water crises and wildfire smoke is rapidly becoming an inflection point in the pitched battle between climate change and the price of homeowners' insurance in the US. Read more

State Farm stops new home insurance sales in California as wildfire risks grow - Global insurers are facing a challenging 2023 as reinsurers hike rates on key business lines by as much as 200% from Jan. 1. The reinsurers blame sharp losses from the war in Ukraine and from natural catastrophes such as Hurricane Ian in Florida. Additionally, climate change has added to problems. Read more

New York City tops world’s worst air pollution list from Canada wildfire smoke - Canada is on track to experience its worst-ever wildfire season, with more than 400 active wildfires currently burning across nearly all Canadian provinces and territories. The smoke from Canada’s wildfires has drifted south and prompted air pollution warnings across the country. Read more

Industry News


Affirm’s buy now, pay later added for Amazon Pay retailers - The service, known as Adaptive Checkout, offers biweekly and monthly payment options for purchases of more than $50 with annual percentage rates starting at zero. The buy now, pay later option can increase sales and customer loyalty, and attract new customers, San Francisco-based Affirm said. Read more

SEC says Binance misused customer funds, ran illegal crypto exchange in U.S. - The SEC said that Binance and Zhao misused customers’ funds and diverted them to a trading entity that Zhao controlled. That trading firm, Sigma Chain, engaged in manipulative trading that made Binance’s volume appear larger than it actually was, the SEC said. Binance also concealed that it commingled billions of dollars in customer assets and sent them to a third-party, Merit Peak, which was owned by Zhao, the SEC alleged. Read more

Online banks are winning the deposit war - Online banks have managed to pull off what has become a tall order in 2023: They brought in more deposits than they lost. Online-focused banks can often offer higher rates, as they don’t have to pay for the real estate, employees or equipment required to run a traditional network of branches. Read more

SEC sues Coinbase, alleges it is unregistered broker - The lawsuits are significant moves by the SEC and Chair Gary Gensler to try to regulate the entire crypto industry. The SEC’s strategy has centered on using its enforcement division to subdue crypto companies and show why its regulations apply to crypto activities, with increasing focus on the biggest players rather than just the companies and currencies at the margins. Read more

Origin buys Finny to expand financial wellness app for employees - Origin, which built a financial wellness app for employers to help employees, has acquired financial education startup Finny. With the acquisition, Boston-based Origin will be able to broaden the educational element it can provide to users, while also boosting ongoing engagement on its platform. Read more

Big banks could face 20% boost to capital requirements - Tougher rules were already on the way for the biggest lenders before the March failures of Silicon Valley Bank and another bank sent tremors through the industry. Since then, regulators have said they plan to apply new rules to a wider range of banks. Institutions with at least $100b in assets might have to comply, effectively lowering an existing $250b threshold for which regulators have reserved their toughest rules. Read more

US debt ceiling deal blocks 30% bitcoin mining tax: congressman - If passed, it would impose a 30% tax on cryptocurrency mining firms—a move that the Biden administration argued was required to limit the environmental and societal damage caused by crypto mining operations. Read more

Select Financings


Bonside - New York based financing platform designed for brick-and-mortar businesses raised $4.35m in Seed funding led by Floating Point. Read more

Griffin - London based Banking-as-a-Service platform raised $13.5m in Series A funding led by MassMutual Ventures. Read more

Helium Health - Nigeria based provider of telemedicine and loans to health care facilities raised $30m in Series B funding led by AXA IM Alts. Read more

Insify - Amsterdam based insurance startup for small and medium-sized enterprises raised $10.7m in growth funding led by Munich Re Ventures. Read more

Keeta - California based payments platform offering instant and secure cross-border transactions raised $17m in growth funding led by Eric Schmidt. Read more

Meanwhile - Bermuda based digital asset-denominated life insurance provider raised $19m in Seed funding led by Sam Altman, Lachy Groom, and Gradient Ventures. Read more

Minoa - San Francisco based developer of pricing management software for enterprise SaaS sales raised $2.7m in pre-Seed funding led by 468 Capital. Read more

Mitigram - Stockholm based digital trade financing platform raised $11m in new funding from undisclosed investors. Read more

Mosaic - California based strategic finance platform enabling real-time planning and analytics raised $26m in Series C funding led by OMERs Ventures. Read more

Payrails - Germany based OS for payment flows raised $14m in Seed extension funding led by EQT Ventures. Read more

Pigment - Paris based business planning software company raised $88m in Series C funding led by Iconiq Growth. Read more

Thunes - Singapore based global B2B payment infrastructure platform raised $60m in Series C funding led by Marshall Wace. Read more


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