943. News: Inside Taktile's Series B, Brex bounces back, and closing the female funding gap

About this episode: Host Laura Watkins is joined by an expert panel of guests as we dive into some of the biggest stories from the worlds of fintech, banking, and wider financial services. Stories covered on the podcast this week include: The AI-powered risk decision platform Taktile has just raised $54 million in Series B funding. Brex’s enterprise segment saw 80% net revenue growth in 2024, positioning the company for future stability and a potential IPO. Banking apps, including Lloyds Bank and Halifax, were significantly impacted by outages over February payday. UK asset manager Abrdn has rebranded itself back to “Aberdeen” after being widely ridiculed for removing most of the vowels from its name in 2021. Meanwhile, Ramp's valuation has nearly doubled to $13 billion. This week's guests: Sophie Winwood - Co-Founder and CEO at unlock VC, and Operating Partner - Foxe Capital   Art Levy - Chief Business Officer at Brex  Maik Taro Wehmeyer - Co-Founder and CEO of Taktile Timestamps/stories Intro - (00:00) Risk decisioning fintech Taktile raises $54 million Series B funding - (05:22) Fintech Brex eyes $500 million in revenue as IPO mulled - (17:26) Banking outages shake confidence in UK financial system: What can be done? - (33:16) ABRDN to become Aberdeen in undoing of ridiculed 2021 rebrand - (44:34) Ramp, a 6-year old fintech startup, has more than doubled its annualised revenue to $700M - (54:47) A call to the industry on funding women this International Women’s Day - (56:59) Links to check out: After Dark tickets Join our WhatsApp community, where you can get the inside track on all all things 11:FS, as well as having your say on the things we should be paying attention to. https://chat.whatsapp.com/KpA4gFbbWDlLFm7kx39raf About Fintech Insider: Fintech Insider by 11:FS is a bi-weekly podcast that covers everything from finance and banking to technology and the latest trends in financial services. Our expert hosts, with hands-on industry experience, are joined by key decision-makers, VCs, and top reporters from across the financial landscape, including guests from companies like Stripe, Revolut, Plaid, PayPal, and Monzo. Together, they break down the biggest news and innovations shaping the space. Our weekly news show drops every Monday, covering major stories like mergers, new product launches, regulatory shifts, and emerging tech trends. On Thursdays, our Insights show goes deeper into the hottest topics driving the future of finance, including AI in banking, decentralised finance, and the evolving landscape of embedded finance. Whether you're already in the fintech game or just starting to explore, this is the #1 podcast for you. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review! Got a question for us? Email [email protected]! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices