It’s been a long time since we’ve seen such positive signals in fintech

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Hello, and welcome back to Equity, the podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.

This is our Wednesday show, where we sit down with a key topic and dive deep into it. Mary Ann and Alex today looked at nascent but encouraging signs from the fintech startup market. Here’s what they got into:

• Solid results from Klarna are on top of Alex’s mind. The company’s ability to continue growing while staying profitable is a reminder that one down-round does not a company kill.
• Fintech fundraising results were on Mary Ann’s mind as we wait for venture capitalists to re-accelerate their investments in the space. Sure, no one wants to return to 2021-era insanity, but after so long in the valuation doghouse, perhaps fintech has reached its nadir?
• And we leaned on data. Here’s the American consumer debt information Alex referenced, Affirm results will drop here, and the CB Insights venture data we cited is here.

More to come in our Friday news roundup! Talk to you then!