Michael Roddan

1 month ago | theinformation.com | Michael Roddan

Until this week, I didn’t know Keith O’Brien existed. The payroll compliance manager—and now accused corporate spy—was suddenly very interested in me. O’Brien’s curiosity was piqued last month when I was writing a story about a bitter feud between his company, Rippling, and its archrival, Deel. O’Brien allegedly searched for my name in Rippling’s Slack channels 15 times. He searched for the name of this publication, The Information, 31 times. O’Brien appeared in an Irish courtroom Wednesday.

1 month ago | theinformation.com | Michael Roddan

Source: The InformationKlarna eked out a slim $21 million profit last year after a series of annual losses following an international expansion into the U.S., according to the the Swedish buy-now, pay-later company’s prospectus filed on FridayKlarna, which is preparing to IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, also revealed revenue grew 24% to $2.8 billion last year–faster than the 20% growth rate a year earlier.

1 month ago | theinformation.com | Michael Roddan

The sudden rise of DeepSeek represents an opportunity for banks and financial firms to access a low-cost but still sophisticated artificial intelligence model—if only it wasn’t from China. Geopolitical tensions between Washington and Beijing, along with perceived security risks posed by the Chinese-made AI tool, have kept U.S. banks from even experimenting with DeepSeek. Banks on the other side of the Atlantic appear to be less worried about such matters.

2 months ago | theinformation.com | Michael Roddan

Two big fintechs, banking app Chime and “buy now, pay later” firm Klarna, are getting ready to go public. While they were primping and polishing, they got a pleasant surprise from Washington this week: The Donald Trump administration effectively shut down the top consumer finance regulator.

2 months ago | theinformation.com | Michael Roddan

Source: The InformationFintech startup Plaid has hired Goldman Sachs to arrange a sale of shares held by employees and early investors, according to a person close to the company. The share sale, of $300 million to $400 million, will help offset taxes associated with employees’ expiring restricted stock units, according to the person. The San Francisco-based company, whose software connects consumer data between banks and financial firms, was last valued at $13.4 billion in 2021.