April CPI; Chime Files S-1; Klarna Reverses Course on AI
Cole Gottlieb, Research Analyst
April CPI better than expected. FlexPoint, Stash raise rounds. eToro and Chime get ready to go public. Robinhood acquires Canadian crypto co. Klarna reverses course on AI.
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Better Than Expected Inflation Numbers
Are concerns about tariffs driving inflation overblown? The answer isn’t yet clear, with the April CPI print coming in lower than expected. Core inflation, which excludes more volatile food and energy prices, increased +0.2% in April vs. March. Year over year, core CPI was up +2.8%. Overall CPI was up a more moderate +2.3% year over year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report showed a pullback in travel-related costs, like airfares and hotels, suggesting softening demand for discretionary spending. Automobile, grocery, and apparel prices fell modestly. Still, despite the Trump administrations 90-day reprieve on its most extreme tariffs, the measures are still widely expected to boost inflation as companies run through inventory they stockpiled ahead of “Liberation Day.”
Somewhat better than expected inflation doesn’t mean households aren’t feeling the squeeze, however. The gap between what lower-income households earn and the cost of living in the U.S. A new study found that the bottom 60% of households, or those earning on average $38,000 or less in 2023, fell about $29,000 below what would be needed to pay for essential living expenses and other needs for general well-being.
FlexPoint Announces Series A
Payments tech startup FlexPoint announced it has raised a $12Mn Series A. The round was led by Foundry Group, with participation from Garuda Ventures, Techstars, Far Out Ventures, Haymaker Ventures, and Cascade Seed Fund. FlexPoint provides a payment platform for managed service providers and the business they serve. Managed service providers typically provide mission-critical capabilities to SMBs. Victor Lopez, cofounder and CEO of FlexPoint, commented on the fundraise saying, “The MSP market is the gateway to the $2 trillion global SMB technology market. 80% of all SMB technology spend is delivered by partners. Our mission at FlexPoint is to build the B2B payments platform that powers SMB technology spend through our network of MSP partners.”
Stash Raises $146Mn
Stash, a consumer investing and banking startup, announced it has raised a $146Mn Series H. The round was led by Goodwater Capital, with participation from StepStone Group, Union Square Ventures, Serengeti, the University of Illinois Foundation, and T. Rowe Price, which led the company’s $40Mn funding round in 2023. In addition to its direct-to-consumer investing and banking offerings, Stash also offers “StashWorks,” an employer-distributed financial wellness offering that provides financial advice and short- and long-term savings solutions. Stash plans to use the proceeds of the fundraise to further develop AI advice capabilities and to drive subscriber growth.
eToro Set to IPO
Is the IPO window, which seemingly slammed shut after Liberation Day, now open again? Stock and crypto trading app eToro (and Chime, see below) seem to think so. Reports indicate the order book for eToro’s public offering has closed earlier than anticipated, with 10x more demand than shares available. The offering is expected to raise more than $500Mn and value the company at over $4Bn. eToro had initially hoped to go public in 2021, but shelved those plans, amid uncertainty over the regulatory landscape for crypto. Now, with the favorable outlook for lighter-touch regulation from the Trump administration, it’s all systems go for eToro.
Chime Finally Drops S-1
Speaking of IPOs, in something of a surprise move, neobank Chime filed its S-1 last week. Per its S-1, Chime reached 8.6Mn Active Members in 1Q25, with the average Active Member transacting 54x per month. The neobank reported $1.67Bn in revenue for 2024, representing a +31% increase from 2023. Chime earns a substantial majority (70%+) of its revenue through interchange-based fees paid by the card networks.
At the moment, it’s unknown how many shares the company is hoping to sell and at what price. Chime has raised a total of $2.65Bn in equity to date and was once valued at as much as $25Bn in 2021. Chime’s IPO performance is likely to be seen as a bellwether for other fintechs hoping to hit the public markets.
Robinhood Acquires WonderFi
Robinhood is making an acquisition up north. The no-fee stock trading and crypto app has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Canadian crypto firm WonderFi in a deal worth about $179.5Mn. WonderFi operates two regulated crypto businesses in Canada. Robinhood is paying $0.26 per share in an all-cash deal, which is about a 41% premium to WonderFi’s recent share price. The deal is expected to close in the second half of this year, pending customary legal and regulatory approvals.
Klarna Reverses Course on AI
BNPL provider Klarna is reversing course on AI, its CEO says. After leaning into the narrative of replacing employees, especially those delivering customer service with AI, now the company says it may have gone too far. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said Klarna is planning a recruitment drive to ensure users always have the option of speaking to a real human. Klarna has undertaken a pilot to test hiring remote employees to handle customer service inquiries, with the potential to expand the capability to replace outsourced customer service agents the company currently uses.
Of the decision to recalibrate use of AI vs. humans, especially for customer service, CEO Siemiatkowski said, “As cost unfortunately seems to have been a too predominant evaluation factor when organizing this, what you end up having is lower quality. Really investing in the quality of the human support is the way of the future for us.”
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