PayPal Ventures’ first AI investment, credit-based dating app and Robinhood have a good week

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Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech (formerly Interchange)! This week, we’re taking a look at the earnings results of Robinhood, a new finance-based dating app and the startup in which PayPal Ventures made its first investment. Let’s dive in!

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big story

A new dating app was released just in time for Valentine’s Day, but there’s a catch: You need to have at least a 675 credit score to use it. Score is launched by financial platform Neon Money Club A dating app for people with good to excellent credit, and it wants to help raise awareness about the importance of finances in relationships. TC’s Dominic-Madory Davis tells us what the startup aims to do and how it came to be. Reading all the comments on X&LI was also quite entertaining!

analysis of the week

Robinhood’s stock got a big boost last week when the company reported a surprise fourth-quarter profit “led by higher interest income from customers paying back loans and a surge in trading,” according to the company. reuters, It also revealed whether it could be loss-making or profitable. by next year, Shares climbed to their highest price in nearly two years last week and closed Friday at $14, up 17% from the Feb. 13 closing level of $11.94. When public fintechs perform well, it usually means good things for privately held fintechs. CEO and co-founder Vlad Tenev spoke at TechCrunch Disrupt last year — read all about him Here,

dollars and cents

Phenom, a European challenger bank aimed at SMEs and freelancers, has Raised €50 million in the Series B equity round of funding ($54 million).

FlowFi, a startup that created a marketplace of finance experts for entrepreneurs, shuts down $9 million in seed funding, Bloomberg Capital led the investment.

Bold, a financial technology company that is building electronic payments infrastructure in Colombia, Raised $50 million in Series C funding In a round led by existing investor General Atlantic.

Rasa is an enterprise-focused conversational generative AI platform with financial services companies as customers. raised 30 million dollars The Series C round was co-led by Stepstone Capital and PayPal Ventures. Notably, this is PayPal’s first AI investment.

What else are we writing about

India is facing a dilemma In implementing long-delayed rules to curb the dominance of PhonePe and Google Pay in the country’s ubiquitous UPI payments network, which processes more than 10 billion transactions monthly.

Following its recent launch in the UK and Ireland, workforce management platform Rippling is continuing its ambitious international expansion Inaugurates its Asia-Pacific headquarters In Sydney, Australia. company also poached Eisner Lipkowitz from JPMorgan will serve as its new chief product officer.

Apple’s recent move increase interest rates The 4.5% for its Apple Card savings account is now prompting a competitor to do the same. Cash App announced that it will now offer “up to 4.5% APY (Annual Percentage Yield) for its Cash App savings customers.With some caveats.