FinTech IPO Index Up 5.2%; Expensify and Sezzle Lead Earnings Season Gainers

The earnings avalanche continues.

The FinTech 100 Index gained 5.2% in a week that saw most names rocket higher.

Expensify surged 30% higher. The company said this past week that fourth-quarter revenues came in at $35.2 million, average paid members numbered 719,000 and net interchange stood at a bit more than $3 million. Interchange derived from the Expensify card grew 63% to $11.1 million year over year.

Sezzle’s also notched a 22% gain. The company’s earnings report detailed that in its latest quarter, Underlying Merchant Sales (UMS) increased by 33.1% YoY to set a new quarterly high of $601.9 million. Total income reached $48.9 million in the quarter, also a new quarterly high, and rose 27.8% YoY. When measured against underlying merchant sales, total income reached 8.1%.

Marqeta’s TPV Surges

Marqeta earnings showed that total processing volume was up 33% year over year in the fourth quarter to $62 billion. CEO Simon Khalaf said that on the call with analysts that the past year marked a period of adding credit program management capabilities, through the acquisition of Power Finance.

Deals with existing customers came in at about 60% of total bookings. Although most bookings came from North America, he said, 20% of the deals came from Europe and predominantly from net new customers.

The company expects to be adjusted EBITDA-positive in three of the four quarters of the current year, which is better than had been previously expected. Khalaf said, too, that in the current quarter there remains slower growth from a few customers, and margins may be pressured in the near term.

The company’s shares were up 0.6%.

Nubank’s results showed that the company added 4.8 million customers in the fourth quarter of last year and 19.3 million YoY, reaching a total of 93.9 million customers globally by the end of December. The company noted that in Brazil, its customer base reached 87.8 million by Dec. 31, representing 53% of the country’s adult population. Monthly average revenue per active customer (ARPAC) grew to $10.60 in the quarter, up 23% year on year.

Nubank’s stock was up nearly 7% through the past five sessions.

Lemonade’s stock lost 8.2%.

According to PYMNTS coverage of earnings this past week, the company said artificial intelligence helped the company improve its loss ratio — the ratio of losses to premiums earned — by 12 points year over year. Lemonade added in the letter that its loss ratio will likely continue to trend downward but warned that “seasonal headwinds” could persist in the next few quarters. IFP, defined as the aggregate annualized premium for customer, increased by 20% in the fourth quarter to $747 million.

Customer count increased by 12% to more than 2 million vs. a year ago.

Payoneer’s stock was down 8.8%.

The company said that B2B volume rose 13% in the latest quarter and its merchant services volume leapt 400% in the fourth quarter compared to the same period a year earlier, according to company executives during the analyst call.

“We’re very encouraged with the overall momentum of the business,” Payoneer Chief Financial Officer Bea Ordonez said during the call. “We’re seeing increased penetration into that large B2B market, strong and improving take rate dynamics from that B2B growth, and stable growth and stable economics in our marketplace business.”

The growth in the company’s B2B volume was especially strong among outsourcing and services businesses in Asia-Pacific, South Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, according to company materials. There, Payoneer’s B2B volume increased 27%.

Looking ahead, Payoneer expects its B2B volume to rise 25% and its merchant services volume to grow more than 100% in 2024, executives said during the call. So far this year, the B2B volume growth is over 30%.