Welcome to ’s weekly fintech-focused column –

It has spun out the software side of its business, including a pricing tool for accommodation that it had built, and that spinout — Wheelhouse — raised $16 million in funding led by NEA, I reported last week. They salvaged the software side of their business and made its own standalone company — Wheelhouse, which Kitchell describes as a “fintech platform for the $500 billion-plus flex rental space” that includes pricing and financing. With the new product, Plaid says it “aims to simplify the income and employment verification process for lenders, and in turn, consumers.” Aaannnd, speaking of multibillion-dollar companies, I exclusively covered spend management startup Brex’s second major acquisition last week. Last week, Ingrid gave us another example of that when she reported that Netherlands-based PayU, a fintech business controlled by Prosus with operations in 50+ countries, announced a double-deal to expand its presence in the region. It previously raised a seed round of undisclosed size from its own founders, but the $19 million Series A marks its first institutional fundraise, according to Perez, who worked as a banker in Venezuela for two decades prior to launching NovoPayment.