Middle Class Vibe Shift; Revolut Hits $75Bn Valuation; Gemini Preps IPO

The job market is softening. Middle class vibes are shifting. Revolut hits a $75Bn valuation (sort of). ModernFi raises a Series B. Gemini and Figure prepare to IPO. Klarna launches European debit card. Airwallex acquires Openpay.

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Job Market Softening

In a sign that the labor market is softening, job openings hit their lowest level in nearly a year, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The report shows that open positions in July dropped to 7.18Mn from a downwardly revised June reading of 7.36Mn. The pullback in hiring was driven by the leisure and hospitality, retail trade, and healthcare sectors. The Fed has telegraphed its paying close attention to jobs data for signs of weakness in the employment market, with Fed Chair Powell remarking last month that “downside risks to employment are rising.” Investors widely expect the Fed to cut rates by a quarter point at the next FOMC meeting, which takes place later this month.

Perhaps, then, it shouldn’t be surprising that a “vibe shift” among the middle class seems to be afoot. While upper-income households have been enjoying the wealth effects of a stock market near all-time highs, middle-income households are feeling increasingly downbeat, according to recent consumer sentiment survey data. Retailers across the dining, hospitality, and retail sector report that middle- and lower-income consumers are increasingly tightening their belts, for example by trading down to cheaper private-label brands or choosing to eat at home rather than out. Overall consumer sentiment dropped 6% in August, according to University of Michigan’s survey. And it’s not just a one-off survey that shows some Americans are feeling this way. A recent Wall Street Journal-NORC poll found that just 25% of Americans expect that their quality of living is likely to improve, a record low. Nearly 70%, according to that poll, said they believe the “American dream” no longer holds true or never did.

Revolut Hits $75Bn Valuation in Secondary Sale

Some lucky Revolut employees are set to cash out in a secondary share sale that values the company at a whopping $75Bn. The transaction will allow employees to sell up to 20% of their personal holdings to existing and new investors at a per share price of $1,381.06. The deal increases Revolut’s valuation substantially from a separate transaction last summer that valued the company at $45Bn. Revolut has seen its profits surge significantly since last year on the back of growing subscription revenue and investing and crypto activity.

ModernFi Raises $30Mn Series B

ModernFi, a deposit management platform, announced it has raised a $30Mn Series B. The round was led by Canapi Ventures, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Curql, Intercontinental Exchange, and Remarkable Ventures. The new investment brings ModernFi’s total funding raised to date to $60Mn. ModernFi provides depositories, both banks and credit unions, infrastructure to help source funds, manage their balance sheet, and provide additional security to depositors. Cofounder and CEO of ModernFi Paolo Bertolotti said of the news, “Community and regional financial institutions are the engine of the American economy, providing businesses with credit to grow and individuals with a safe place to keep their life savings. Our job at ModernFi is to support the scale and diversity of the American banking landscape so that institutions of all sizes can continue to grow and compete.”

Gemini, Figure Plot Public Offerings

The IPO window seems to be flung wide open, and companies are looking to take advantage of it. Especially crypto-related firms, given the renaissance in the sector. Gemini, the crypto exchange backed by the Winklevoss twins, is hoping to notch a valuation as high as $2.2Bn in its prospective public offering. The company plans to sell 16.67Mn shares at a target price of $17 to $19 each, which would raise as much as $317Mn in new funding. Gemini plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker “GEMI.”

Figure, which also has a blockchain-related angle, is also looking to go public. The Mike Cagney-led company, which recently recombined its more traditional financial services and blockchain units, is hoping to be valued at as much as $4.13Bn in its IPO, recent filings reveal. Figure is looking to sell 26.3Mn shares at a target price of $18 to $20, which could raise as much as $526.3Mn. Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, and BofA Securities are serving as lead underwriters for the deal. Figure would trade under the ticker “FIGR.”

Klarna Launches Debit Card in Europe

In other IPO-related news, Klarna, which tabled its offering earlier this year, is barreling back towards the public markets. The BNPL lender paused its IPO after President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcements sent markets into a tailspin earlier this year. But stock markets bounced back more quickly than many anticipated, and numerous firms, including fellow fintech Chime, have made public debuts since then. Klarna and some of its existing backers are looking to offer 34.3Mn shares at a target price range of $35 to $37 per share. The offering could raise as much as $1.27Bn in new funding for the company and, at the top of the range, would value Klarna at $14Bn. That would be a steep comedown from the company’s one-time peak valuation of more than $45Bn reached during the COVID pandemic, but is surely nothing to sneeze at.

In other Klarna news, the company is set to launch a debit card in Europe. Klarna, which is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, and owns a bank that can operate across the EU, will launch its Klarna Card in Europe, which will allow consumers to use it for BNPL purchases at nearly any merchant, online or in store. Klarna launched its card offering in the U.S. in July and says that it has already signed up some 685,000 users.

Airwallex Acquires OpenPay

Airwallex, an international payments and banking fintech, is acquiring OpenPay, a payment orchestration, subscription management, and revenue analytics company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Airwallex, valued at $6.2Bn in a funding round earlier this year, explicitly positioned the deal as enabling it to better compete with Stripe. Airwallex CEO Jack Zhang said of the acquisition, “Most billing systems are locked in the past, they were never designed for a global, multi-currency world. That’s the gap we’re closing. By bringing OpenPay’s subscription management, orchestration, and analytics capabilities into Airwallex, we’re creating the first truly global billing platform.”