GDP Shrinks in Q1; Aspiration Becomes GreenFi; Prosper’s $500Mn Forward Flow
Cole Gottlieb, Research Analyst
U.S. economy shrinks. Private payroll growth slows. German card startup plans to enter the U.S. Thunes and Salsa announce fundraises. Aspiration becomes GreenFi. Klarna expands eBay deal. Mastercard announces “agentic” capabilities. Increase founder wants to buy a bank. Prosper secures $500Mn forward flow.
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U.S. Economy Shrank in Q1
President Trump’s abrupt reorientation of the American economy is beginning to show upin the data. Data released last week show that, in the first quarter, GDP shrank at an annualized 0.3% rate, a significant change vs. prior forecasts. A large surge of imports, as business and consumers sought to stock up in advance of Trump’s promised tariffs, and slowing consumer spending contributed to the contraction. Other data points in the Commerce Department’s Q1 report show that business investment remained steady. Another worrying data point: private payroll growth seems to be slowing. ADP’s report for April showed just 62,000 new roles, which was well below estimates for the month.
German Card Startup Looks to Compete with Brex, Ramp
German B2B credit card startup Pliant announced it has raised a $40Mn Series B. The round was led by Speedinvest and Illuminate Financial, with participation from Motive Ventures and PayPal Ventures. Pliant offers an expense management platform and corporate credit card, generally comparable to U.S. homegrown firms like Brex and Ramp. Plaint plans to use the funding to power an expansion into the mammoth American market, though it faces plenty of competition. As part of its strategy, Pliant says it plans to grow its partner network to power distribution. Pliant cofounder and CEO Malte Rau emphasized the company has a strong base in Europe and said, “We are ready to bring our solution to the US market.”
Thunes Wants to “Supercharge” U.S. Expansion
Thunes, a B2B payments infrastructure company, announced it has raised a fresh $150Mn in funding. The Series D round was led by Vitruvian Partners and Apis Partners. While the company declined to disclose the terms of the investment, it did say it market a “substantial valuation increase over its last round.” At the time Thunes raised its $72Mn Series C in 2023, TechCrunch reported it had achieved a $900Mn valuation. The company plans to use the new funding to “supercharge” its expansion into the U.S., building on its acquisition last April of paytech firm Tilia.
Salsa Announces $20Mn Series A
Embedded Payroll startup Salsa announced it has raised a $20Mn Series A, bringing its total capital raised to date to $30Mn. The funding round was led by Altos Ventures, with participation from Greycroft, Definition, and SemperVirens. Salsa plans to use the funding to continue its growth, supporting software developers across the U.S. and Canada in embedding payroll capabilities into their platforms. Salsa’s offering includes employee onboarding, tax filings, tracking, reporting and compliance for tips and overtime, all without the need to hire in-house payroll staff. Of the news, Salsa CEO John Kramer said, “This funding lets us double down on automation, flexibility, and deep support in industries where payroll is hardest to get right.”
GreenFi Rises from Ashes of Aspiration
Climate-focused neobank GreenFi has announced its launch alongside a $17Mn round of seed funding. If the idea of a climate-focused neobank sounds familiar, it’s probably because GreenFi is launching out of the ashes, so to speak, of once high-flying Aspiration. The company boasted a roster of celebrity investors, including Leonardo DiCapro, and was once slated to go public via a SPAC (remember those?) that would have valued the company at $2.3Bn. Aspiration sold the consumer neobank to Mission Financial Partners in 2024 to focus on its carbon credit and consulting business. The re-launched GreenFi continues to partner with Coastal Community Bank to offer “climate conscious” checking and savings accounts, investing, and mobile banking.
Klarna Inks Deal with eBay
Despite the setback of pulling its IPO, Klarna is charging full steam ahead. Klarna’s latestdistribution deal is an expansion of its partnership with web 1.0 auction site eBay. eBay will now offer Klarna pay-in-four and longer-term financing in the United States, in additionto the U.K., Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain. The new addition of eBay’s U.S. business should be material, as it accounts for just over half of the company’s $75Bn in gross merchandise volume.
MasterCard Announces “Agentic” Capabilities
Last week, Mastercard announced the launch of its “Agentic Payments Program,” which, the card network said, will “revolutionize” commerce. The term “agentic” refers to AI that is empowered to take actions on behalf of human users. Mastercard said its Agent Pay will deliver “smarter, more secure, more personal” payment experiences” to consumers, merchants, and issuers. The company is collaborating with Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI, to develop new use cases and scale its agentic commerce capabilities. Mastercard is also working with acquirers, including PayPal’s Braintree and Checkout.com, to enhance existing tokenization functionality to support agentic use cases.
Increase Founder Seeks Permission for Controlling Stake in Washington Bank
The founder of banking-as-a-service platform Increase has filed an application to take a controlling stake in Twin City Bancorp, a bank holding company that controls Twin City Bank. Darragh Buckley, the Increase founder and CEO, was an early hire at Stripe and spent six years at the company. Buckley also sits on the board of Olympia, Washington-headquartered Washington Business Bank. Given Buckley is seeking permission to personally acquire the stake in Twin City, it’s not clear how, if at all, the bank would work with Increase.
Prosper Lands $500Mn Forward Flow Facility
Prosper, a “fintech 1.0” peer-to-peer lender, announced it has secured a new $500Mn forward flow facility. The lender reached an agreement with Fortress and Edge Focus to purchase a fixed portion of unsecured personal loans originated through Prosper’s platform, up to a max of $500Mn. Usama Ashraf, Prosper’s President and CFO, commented on the deal, saying, “Since 2005, Prosper has helped more than 2 million Americans achieve their dreams with access to personal loans*, credit cards, home equity lines of credit, and home equity loans. Our partnership with Fortress and Edge Focus furthers our ability to pursue our mission and vision.”
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