WeWork adds crypto for rent; SEC may slow SPACs

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Office space

WeWork will accept cryptocurrency from clients to pay for membership and to make payments to building landlords and vendors when possible.

Coinbase will be the first WeWork member to use crypto to pay its membership, reports TheRealDeal. WeWork is using BitPay to process the transactions and will accept bitcoin, ethereum, USDC and others.

WeWork's announcement closely follows billionaire real estate manager Rick Caruso's decision to accept bitcoin for rent payments at residential and retail properties.

WeWork
Bloomberg

Green day

Numerous financial institutions have made carbon reduction goals over the past couple of months, with Visa this week saying it achieved carbon neutrality in 2020 and has set a goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2040. In another announcement tied to Earth Day, CPI Card Group said Unifi Money will offer cards with a core made from recovered plastic.

That follows Klarna, which this week integrated with a Mastercard-aided meter to measure emissions based on individual purchases. Mastercard earlier this year said it reached 100% renewable energy for 2020 and set a 2050 goal for net-zero emissions. Ripple this spring set a 2030 goal of reaching carbon neutrality.

Among other recent environmental pledges, Santander in late March said it would use all sustainable materials to construct cards by 2025 andUBSswitched to corn-based materials for its cards, which are less biodegradable.

Also this week, more than 40 banks have joined a UN effort called the Net-Zero Banking Alliance to align lending and investment portfolios with net-zero emissions by 2050. The banks include Barclays and Citigroup and cover 23 countries totalling $28 trillion in assets.

Speed bump

Special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, have grown quickly this year across all categories, including fintechs, as firms seek a faster route than a traditional IPO to go public.

But the Securities and Exchange Commission has issued accounting guidance that, if it becomes law, could require deals in the pipeline to recalculate financial information in disclosure documents, reports CNBC. The slowdown could remove some financial incentives, and there are a limited number of accounting firms that audit SPACs — creating a potential backlog.

The number of new SPAC deals in April is lower than March, though the year to date SPAC deals are still more than any other full year.

Payday

The YC Continuity Fund has led a $156 million series C round in Deel, a payroll company that offers single-click salary payments in more than 120 currencies.

The funding, which included Andreessen Horowitz and Spark Capital, values Deel at $1.25 billion. MIT alumni Alex Bouaziz and Shuo Wang founded Deel in 2018.

The company, which consolidates payments with hiring and HR onboarding, has found added demand during the pandemic as companies add staff remotely and migrate to digital salary payments.

Name change

Payment technology firm Fattmerchant is rebranding as Stax, corresponding with a redesign of its user interface for its desktop app and a new mobile app.

The new name is meant to position the Orlando-based company as a broader provider of embedded payments, with several Stax-branded products addressing different functions for small businesses, large businesses and a SaaS platform.

Fattmerchant launched in 2014, charging merchants on a subscription model, which differs from most processors and merchant services firms that charge transaction fees. The company recently made a majority investment in Fusebill to expand its ability to manage subscription revenue for merchants.

From the web

Walmart Is Pulling Plug on More Robots
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL | Wednesday, April 21, 2021
The retailer has been phasing out automated pickup towers for online orders as curbside services have become popular.

Tiger Global backs Indian crypto startup Coinswitch Kuber at over $500M valuation
TECHCRUNCH | Thursday, April 22, 2021
Coinswitch Kuber, a startup that allows young users in India to invest in cryptocurrencies, said on Thursday it has raised $25 million in a new financing round as it looks to expand its reach in India, the world’s second largest internet market and also the place where the future of private cryptocurrencies remains uncertain for now.

Batista brothers' fintech PicPay files for IPO on Nasdaq
REUTERS | Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Brazilian financial startup PicPay has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering on Nasdaq, according to a Wednesday filing.

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