The representation of Fintechs at Demo Days YC is definitely decreasing

Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we check what number of fintech firms were within the Y Combinator Winter 2024 cohort, how much funding dropped in the primary quarter, and more!

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Big story

Y Combinator held demo days for its winter cohort this week. As usual, your entire TC team took care of it. One thing that struck me is that the representation of fintechs of their cohorts is decreasing. Of the 260 firms in the most recent cohort, almost 30 of them, or 8%, were classified as fintech. For comparison, in summer 2023 the proportion was 10%, in summer 2022 21% and in winter 2022 24%. So this 12 months, the proportion of fintech firms was up by one third in comparison with two years ago. Of the businesses chosen this 12 months, Christine noted that cross-border fintech is currently hot.

Weekly evaluation

Fintech financing decreased by 16% quarter-on-quarter in keeping with the CB Insights report on the state of the enterprise for the primary quarter of 2024 within the three-month period ended March 31. But much more disturbing than the double-digit decline was the incontrovertible fact that the $7.3 billion raised globally by fintech startups over the three-month period marked the bottom level the sector had seen since early 2017. The positive side was that the rise was 15%. in keeping with a CB Insights spokesperson, a rise within the number of capital transactions within the last quarter, which “means that investors continue to show interest in fintech solutions, in particular payment technologies.” There were 904 investments in fintech startups over the three-month period, up from 786 within the previous quarter, signaling smaller deal sizes.

Dollars and cents

Manish Singh reports that Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal is in talks to boost capital for his recent Indian fintech startup Navi. Bansal is talking to investors to boost about $2 billion in capital, three sources aware of the matter told TechCrunch. One source said it was seeking to raise between $200 million and $400 million. So far, Bansal has largely self-funded Navi, and this is able to be the primary major external fundraising for the Bengaluru-based startup since its founding in 2018.

What else can we write?

For years, banks have been financing large renewable energy projects, from industrial-scale solar farms to horizon-spanning wind farms. However, smaller projects, akin to installing a heat pump in someone’s home or upgrading a reasonable apartment, often get missed. They just weren’t profitable enough. However, there is demand and that is why supporters of this solution demand that the federal government support a so-called green bank that can guarantee this kind of projects.

This green bank has already develop into a reality. Last Thursday, the E.P.A announced that it has awarded $20 billion in Inflation Control Act grants to eight organizations that can use the cash to make loans to assist with these projects, Tim De Chant reports.