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If I had a penny for every tell-tale Claude artefact I spotted over the last three days while meandering through the noticeably quieter and fewer halls of Money20/20, I wouldn’t quite eclipse Tabby’s new valuation but I probably wouldn’t be all that far off unicorn territory either.
In lieu of regular programming this week, and following an unexpected bout of writer’s block of the kind I haven’t had to grapple with for quite some time, I’ve instead elected to subject you to a different sort of piece, a collection of field notes, thoughts, musings and interesting things overheard over the last few days at the region’s pre-eminent fintech conference, in the heart of the desert. And that’s not tacit Orientalism, Malham really is that far out.
What this is explicitly not going to be is an exhaustive recap of every announcement, MoU, partnership, collaboration or ceremonial handshake that has taken place over the past few days. There are, after all, plenty of other platforms better suited to regurgitating press releases verbatim.
So, for a semi-unfiltered take on the conference’s most interesting announcements and developments, the kinds of conversations founders and investors are actually having, plus a healthy dose of exhausted complaining, buckle up and join me.
More mega-rounds
The staggered drip-feed of mega funding announcements across each day of Money20/20 is a well-established tradition at this point, so there were few surprises as far as precedent was concerned.
Taking the two mega equity rounds in situ, and starting with Tabby’s $233 million Series F, the round catapulted the green giant to a $6.5 billion valuation, eclipsing that of the Swedish BNPL OG that started it all. Klarna’s market cap peaked at $17.5 billion when it made its NYSE bow last September, but has since fallen nearly 70%, languishing around the $5.4 billion mark.
I was actually fortunate enough to sit down with Tabby CCO Zarik Nabi…
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