Current State of M&A and IPO Windows

Welcome back to the Fintech Takes podcast. I’m Alex Johnson, joined by David Roos, Partner at Core Innovation Capital — an early-stage fintech investor (founded in 2010) that backs scalable businesses built to drive financial inclusion for low- and middle-income consumers.

We dig into how Core really sizes up founders and business models, what’s shifted since the 2021 boom-and-bust, and how open banking and AI are reshaping incentives.

Highlights include:

• How the venture market split after 2021 (mega-funds tossing out risky option bets vs. specialist funds focused on seed) while the IPO bar climbed to nearly $1B in revenue, keeping exits mostly to M&A
  

• Why JPMC’s push to charge for data access shows the tug-of-war over who controls customer information, and why over time, closed-door banks may end up losing to those that open up

• How AI is reshaping startups: small teams can now hit milestones that once took far more people and money, Series A investors expect closer to $3M in revenue, and how trust (earned through workflow integration and human oversight) still rules the day

This episode is a reality check on what it takes to build in fintech today. And it’s a friendly reminder that alignment between founders, investors, and customers is what separates lasting companies from cautionary tales. 

Enjoy! 

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