Can BNPL Survive Rising Interest Rates?
The buy now, pay later space has faced a lot of challenges in recent months, following a years-long run where it was the golden child
Charles Laughlin
July 5, 2022
Charles Laughlin
Charles Laughlin, senior analyst with Localogy, is a seasoned journalist with more than 20 years experience covering the industry.
BNPL Zilch Adds $50M to $110M Series C with No Loss in Valuation
Klarna, the OG giant of the buy now, pay later space is seeking a new round of funding at a dramatic reduction in its admittedly
Charles Laughlin
June 30, 2022
Thryv Taps Wisetack to Add Consumer Lending to Its Toolbox
Thryv has partnered with alternative credit provider Wisetack to add a consumer lending component to its ThryvPay solution. Adding this option opens a lot of
Charles Laughlin
June 30, 2022
Who Will Benefit from the Small Business Brex-it?
The fintech platform Brex made waves recently when it decided to walk away from tens of thousands of small business customers. The company announced that
Charles Laughlin
June 29, 2022
Study Says Small Businesses Are Flocking to TikTok
By now, anyone who spends much time scrolling through TikTok knows the platform has long since moved beyond being a platform for viral dance videos.
Charles Laughlin
June 28, 2022
Small Business POS Player SumUp Raises $624M
We’ve been seeing no shortage of big VC funding rounds for SMB-facing tech companies despite all the talk about a long cold winter ahead for
Charles Laughlin
June 27, 2022
Should Consumers Choose Kasheesh Over BNPL?
A San Francisco startup called Kasheesh has raised $5.5 million to launch a “new era for online payments.” The payments service, according to the company,
Charles Laughlin
June 24, 2022
B2B BNPL Takes Center Stage with Playter’s $55M Raise
At this point, we’ve all read and heard a lot about consumer buy now pay later. Firms with names like Affirm, Klarna, and Afterpay have
Charles Laughlin
June 23, 2022
What VC Downturn? HR Tech Personio Bags $200 Million Series E
There is considerable angst out there among startups, especially those running short on runway. Will they be able to raise the next round? Well, if
Charles Laughlin
June 22, 2022
Son, I’ve Got Two Words for You. Food. Trucks.
In the opening scene of the 1960s classic “The Graduate,” Mr. McGuire accosts recently minted college graduate Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) at a party and
Charles Laughlin
June 21, 2022
Fintech Brex Is Dropping SMBs — Will Others Follow?
We’ve spent years watching one company after another attack the small business market. Only to retreat, bloodied from unsustainable acquisition costs and churn. So it’s
Charles Laughlin
June 20, 2022
Scorpion Survey Highlights Generation Gap on Privacy, Media Choices
A new study from the digital marketing platform Scorpion tells us a lot about how different generations view privacy. It also reveals a great deal
Charles Laughlin
June 16, 2022
Should Meta Be Sweating Amazon’s Local Ads Initiative?
We’ve written pretty extensively about Amazon’s growing ad business, which now generates roughly $31 billion a year in revenue for the eCommerce giant. That’s a
Charles Laughlin
June 15, 2022
Is Dining in the Metaverse Real? Brands Seem to Think So
I was recently moderating a talk in Cape Town by Thabang Sebata, Uber Eats head of strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa. As the session Q&A was
Charles Laughlin
June 14, 2022
Irish SMB Fintech Swooping into U.S. with New Funding
An Irish small business-focused fintech called Swoop has raised a $6.6 million Series A round designed to help the company expand into the U.S. market.
Charles Laughlin
June 13, 2022
Why Apple Pay Later Will Shake Up the BNPL Space
It was almost a year ago when we first wrote about Apple Pay Later. At the time we predicted that it might be a disruptive
Charles Laughlin
June 10, 2022
Just Move In Makes Moving as a Service a Thing
Moving sucks. Anyone who thinks otherwise is insane. There, I said it. So it’s not hard to see a startup that applies the “there must
Charles Laughlin
June 9, 2022
New MSFT Study Shows How GenZ SMBs Do Things Differently
A new internal survey from Microsoft Stores of 1,000 small business owners shows how GenZ entrepreneurs’ attitudes towards work, mission, technology, and education differ from
Charles Laughlin
June 8, 2022
A Changing of the Guard at Drift
David Cancel, one of the legends of B2B software, has announced he is stepping down as CEO of Drift. The co-founder is now Executive Chairman.
Charles Laughlin
June 7, 2022
Super App-ish HitPay Raises $15.75M
We’ve talked on and off here about the notion of a super app. That’s loosely defined as an app that helps consumers or businesses do
Charles Laughlin
June 6, 2022