❄️ Noteworthy Bits
AI Announcement from Klarna
This was a 🤯 moment from Klarna which announced that its AI assistant, powered by OpenAI, was handling 2.3m customer service chats or 2/3 of their total volume.
The Great Bank Unbundling from Contrary Capital
The team at Contrary unpacks the history of fintech and the creation of embedded finance as a category. Fintech has played out in three acts to become what it is today: (1) digitization, (2) disintermediation, and (3) embedded infrastructure.
I particularly love their point on how vertical software companies have layered financial services into their products. “Nearly every successful verticalized software product, from Toast to Shopify, has attempted to embed financial services into its core product offering. For example, 83% of Toast’s 2021 revenue came from financial services alone, with the majority derived from its payments products. Put simply, embedded financial services presented an opportunity for software companies to unlock new revenue streams via interchange, improve retention, and create a more comprehensive user experience.”
Efficient, “Unhinged” and More Personalized Than Ever: The State of Marketplaces 2024 from Battery Ventures
This is a fantastic analysis from the team at Battery Ventures on marketplace businesses. According to the team, 2023 was a watershed year for marketplace businesses. Here are a few of their key learnings:
Efficiency Drives Superior Returns
Layer on High-Margin, Recurring Software Products
Lean Into Viral / Product-led Growth Loops
Be Prepared For (and Leverage) the Power of Gen AI