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MoneyGram CEO Anthony Soohoo is teaching an old fintech new tricks

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Good morning, everyone, it’s finance editor Jeff John Roberts pinch-hitting for Allie. In my day job, I talk to a lot of folks in the fintech and crypto space who are actively disrupting the legacy financial stack. So when MoneyGram reached out to tell me how they are staying competitive in this fast-evolving market, I was skeptical, to say the least. But after speaking with new CEO Anthony Soohoo—who cut his teeth at Apple and led digital transformation initiatives at Walmart and CBS—I came away with a different impression.

MoneyGram, if you’re unfamiliar, is a textbook case of the innovator’s dilemma. The company started out in 1940 as Travelers Express, which specialized in money orders, and was acquired by Greyhound to be part of the bus company’s suite of services. In 1988, that firm bought a smaller slinger of paper-based money services called MoneyGram, and a few years later adopted its name.

You can probably guess how MoneyGram, with a distribution model that relied heavily on bus stations and other walk-in locations, fared when the era of Venmo and blockchain came along. By 2023, it looked like the end of the road as the company was drowning in debt and limping along with its share price in single digits. That year, though, it got a lifeline when PE firm Madison Dearborn Partners took MoneyGram private and appointed Soohoo as CEO last fall.

Since his appointment, Soohoo has wasted little time accelerating MoneyGram’s transition into a competitive force. Over lunch, the new CEO told me that digital transactions accounted for only about 20% of total transactions in 2019, but had climbed to 50% when he took over. During his tenure, he has already boosted that to 70% and, in another impressive feat, integrated a stablecoin tool into MoneyGram’s app. The company rolled out the stablecoin offering last week in Colombia, which Soohoo says is an ideal test market given that the country has a large remittance economy and MoneyGram has over 6,000 retail locations there. MoneyGram doesn’t share its financials, but a spokesperson described it as “consistently profitable” with positive and growing free cash flow.

I asked Soohoo how he went about the daunting task of retooling a legacy company to compete in the ferociously competitive fintech sector. He says the job has been a three-part challenge, the first of which has been transforming the organizational culture by putting in place the right teams and leaders. That has included hiring a former Klarna VP, Luke Tuttle, to serve as MoneyGram’s Chief Technology Officer.

The second challenge, Soohoo says, relates to product building. On this front, he says, his time at Apple—where he interned and worked for four years—served him well. Soohoo recalled working on the company’s famous clamshell laptops and how he learned from Steve Jobs’ relentless focus on the customer experience. “Watching the way a user uses the product tells you what they need. You compete where you can be different,” he said.

Finally, Soohoo said he has had to introduce a culture of growth. On this front, he says, the task has been all about patience and recognizing that “no one gets to 3.0 right away.” More broadly, Soohoo says that communication is a critical tool for achieving all of this—from a growth mindset to product excellence—and that he views his ability to use plain language as his executive superpower.

But what about the name? I point out that MoneyGram sounds like the old-fashioned word telegram, and that this must be an obstacle to modernizing the brand. Not at all, says Soohoo, who is quick to point out that the company’s name also sounds like Instagram. “Having ‘gram’ in our name is a huge advantage … It suggests people sending love to family and community,” he smiles.

It’s too soon to say if MoneyGram will be able to pull off the daunting task of competing with both the legacy giant Western Union as well as newer titans of money transfer like Wise and PayPal. But I did come away from our lunch thinking those competitors better not sleep on this Soohoo guy.

Jeff John Roberts
X:
@jeffjohnroberts
Email: jeff.roberts@fortune.com

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VENTURE DEALS

Cardless, a San Francisco-based credit card platform, raised $60 million in Series C funding. Spark Capital led the round and was joined by Activant, Pear, and others.

ATEC, a Victoria, Australia-based developer of smart electric cookstoves, raised $15.5 million in funding. Lightrock and TRIREC led the round and were joined by Schneider Electric Energy Access Asia Fund.

Sunhat, a Cologne, Germany-based AI-powered reporting platform, raised €9.2 million ($10.8 million) in Series A funding. CommerzVentures led the round and was joined by existing investors Capnamic, EnBW New Ventures, xdeck, and WEPA Ventures.

Tilt, a Miami, Fla.-based AI-powered direct indexing platform, raised $7.1 million in seed funding. Portage and Lerer Hippeau led the round and were joined by Golden Ventures, Real Ventures, Cumberland Investments, and FJ Labs.

Forgent, a Berlin, Germany-based AI platform designed to help businesses win public sector contracts, raised €4.3 million ($5.1 million) in pre-seed funding. Cherry Ventures led the round and was joined by angel investors.

Prosper AI, a New York City-based developer of AI voice agents for health care operations, raised $5 million in seed funding. Emergence Capital led the round and was joined by Y Combinator, CRV, and Company Ventures.

Helios AI, a Tysons, Va.-based developer of an AI co-pilot for food supply chains, raised $4.7 million in seed funding. Collide Capital led the round and was joined by S&P Global Ventures, Stray Dog Capital, Angeles VC, Equity Alliance, and Supply Change Capital.

Mycroft, a Toronto, Canada-based AI platform designed to serve as a security and compliance officer, raised $3.5 million in funding. Luge Capital led the round and was joined by Brightspark Ventures, Graphite Ventures, and existing investors.

PRIVATE EQUITY

Allwyn International agreed to acquire a majority stake in PrizePicks, an Atlanta, Ga.-based sports gambling platform, for an expected initial cash consideration of $1.6 billion.

Carrick Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in Intelligo, a New York City-based risk intelligence platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

E Source, a portfolio company of Align Capital Partners, acquired CF Power, a Wilmington, Del.-based power systems engineering firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.

IPOS

Neptune Insurance Holdings, a St. Petersburg, Fla.-based flood insurance company, now plans to raise up to $368 million in an offering of 18.4 million shares priced between $18 and $20. New York Stock Exchange. The company posted $137 million in revenue for the year ended June 30. Bregal Sagemount, FTV Capital, Trevor Burgess, James D. Albert, and Wilbur L. Martin back the company.

Commercial Bancgroup, a Harrogate, Tenn.-based community bank company, plans to raise up to $104 million in an offering of 3.7 million shares priced between $25.75 to $27.75. The company posted $89 million in revenue for the year ended June 30.

PEOPLE

Greenfield Partners, a New York City and Tel Aviv, Israel-based growth equity firm, promoted Ortal Sasson-Hendin, Meir Cohen, and Josh Trup to principal.



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SpaceX to offer insider shares at record-setting $800 billion valuation

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SpaceX is preparing to sell insider shares in a transaction that would value Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite maker at as much as $800 billion, people familiar with the matter said, reclaiming the title of the world’s most valuable private company. 

The details, discussed by SpaceX’s board of directors on Thursday at its Starbase hub in Texas, could change based on interest from insider sellers and buyers or other factors, said some of the people, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public. SpaceX is also exploring a possible initial public offering as soon as late next year, one of the people said. 

Another person briefed on the matter said that the price under discussion for the sale of some employees and investors’ shares is higher than $400 apiece, which would value SpaceX at between $750 billion and $800 billion. The company wouldn’t raise any funds though this planned sale, though a successful offering at such levels would catapult it past the record of $500 billion valuation achieved by OpenAI in October.

Elon Musk on Saturday denied that SpaceX is raising money at a $800 billion valuation without addressing Bloomberg’s reporting on the planned offering of insiders’ shares. 

“SpaceX has been cash flow positive for many years and does periodic stock buybacks twice a year to provide liquidity for employees and investors,” Musk said in a post on his social media platform X. 

The share sale price under discussion would be a substantial increase from the $212 a share set in July, when the company raised money and sold shares at a valuation of $400 billion. The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times earlier reported the $800 billion valuation target.

News of SpaceX’s valuation sent shares of EchoStar Corp., a satellite TV and wireless company, up as much as 18%. Last month, EchoStar had agreed to sell spectrum licenses to SpaceX for $2.6 billion, adding to an earlier agreement to sell about $17 billion in wireless spectrum to Musk’s company.

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The world’s most prolific rocket launcher, SpaceX dominates the space industry with its Falcon 9 rocket that lifts satellites and people to orbit.

SpaceX is also the industry leader in providing internet services from low-Earth orbit through Starlink, a system of more than 9,000 satellites that is far ahead of competitors including Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Leo.

Elite Group

SpaceX is among an elite group of companies that have the ability to raise funds at $100 billion-plus valuations while delaying or denying they have any plan to go public. 

An IPO of the company at an $800 billion value would vault SpaceX into another rarefied group — the 20 largest public companies, a few notches below Musk’s Tesla Inc. 

If SpaceX sold 5% of the company at that valuation, it would have to sell $40 billion of stock — making it the biggest IPO of all time, well above Saudi Aramco’s $29 billion listing in 2019. The firm sold just 1.5% of the company in that offering, a much smaller slice than the majority of publicly traded firms make available.

A listing would also subject SpaceX to the volatility of being a public company, versus private firms whose valuations are closely guarded secrets. Space and defense company IPOs have had a mixed reception in 2025. Karman Holdings Inc.’s stock has nearly tripled since its debut, while Firefly Aerospace Inc. and Voyager Technologies Inc. have plunged by double-digit percentages since their debuts.

SpaceX executives have repeatedly floated the idea of spinning off SpaceX’s Starlink business into a separate, publicly traded company — a concept President Gwynne Shotwell first suggested in 2020. 

However, Musk cast doubt on the prospect publicly over the years and Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen said in 2024 that a Starlink IPO would be something that would take place more likely “in the years to come.”

The Information, citing people familiar with the discussions, separately reported on Friday that SpaceX has told investors and financial institution representatives that it’s aiming for an IPO of the entire company in the second half of next year.

Read More: How to Buy SpaceX: A Guide for the Eager, Pre-IPO

A so-called tender or secondary offering, through which employees and some early shareholders can sell shares, provides investors in closely held companies such as SpaceX a way to generate liquidity.

SpaceX is working to develop its new Starship vehicle, advertised as the most powerful rocket ever developed to loft huge numbers of Starlink satellites as well as carry cargo and people to moon and, eventually, Mars.



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National Park Service drops free admission on MLK Day and Juneteenth while adding Trump’s birthday

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The National Park Service will offer free admission to U.S. residents on President Donald Trump’s birthday next year — which also happens to be Flag Day — but is eliminating the benefit for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth.

The new list of free admission days for Americans is the latest example of the Trump administration downplaying America’s civil rights history while also promoting the president’s image, name and legacy.

Last year, the list of free days included Martin Luther King Jr Day and Juneteenth — which is June 19 — but not June 14, Trump’s birthday.

The new free-admission policy takes effect Jan. 1 and was one of several changes announced by the Park Service late last month, including higher admission fees for international visitors.

The other days of free park admission in 2026 are Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Constitution Day, Veterans Day, President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday (Oct. 27) and the anniversary of the creation of the Park Service (Aug. 25).

Eliminating Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, which commemorates the day in 1865 when the last enslaved Americans were emancipated, removes two of the nation’s most prominent civil rights holidays.

Some civil rights leaders voiced opposition to the change after news about it began spreading over the weekend.

“The raw & rank racism here stinks to high heaven,” Harvard Kennedy School professor Cornell William Brooks, a former president of the NAACP, wrote on social media about the new policy.

Kristen Brengel, a spokesperson for the National Parks Conservation Association, said that while presidential administrations have tweaked the free days in the past, the elimination of Martin Luther King Jr. Day is particularly concerning. For one, the day has become a popular day of service for community groups that use the free day to perform volunteer projects at parks.

That will now be much more expensive, said Brengel, whose organization is a nonprofit that advocates for the park system.

“Not only does it recognize an American hero, it’s also a day when people go into parks to clean them up,” Brengel said. “Martin Luther King Jr. deserves a day of recognition … For some reason, Black history has repeatedly been targeted by this administration, and it shouldn’t be.”

Some Democratic lawmakers also weighed in to object to the new policy.

“The President didn’t just add his own birthday to the list, he removed both of these holidays that mark Black Americans’ struggle for civil rights and freedom,” said Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. “Our country deserves better.”

A spokesperson for the National Park Service did not immediately respond to questions on Saturday seeking information about the reasons behind the changes.

Since taking office, Trump has sought to eliminate programs seen as promoting diversity across the federal government, actions that have erased or downplayed America’s history of racism as well as the civil rights victories of Black Americans.

Self-promotion is an old habit of the president’s and one he has continued in his second term. He unsuccessfully put himself forwardfor the Nobel Peace Prize, renamed the U.S. Institute of Peace after himself, sought to put his name on the planned NFL stadium in the nation’s capital and had a new children’s savings program named after him.

Some Republican lawmakers have suggested putting his visage on Mount Rushmore and the $100 bill.



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JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says Europe has a ‘real problem’

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon called out slow bureaucracy in Europe in a warning that a “weak” continent poses a major economic risk to the US.

“Europe has a real problem,” Dimon said Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum. “They do some wonderful things on their safety nets. But they’ve driven business out, they’ve driven investment out, they’ve driven innovation out. It’s kind of coming back.”

While he praised some European leaders who he said were aware of the issues, he cautioned politics is “really hard.” 

Dimon, leader of the biggest US bank, has long said that the risk of a fragmented Europe is among the major challenges facing the world. In his letter to shareholders released earlier this year, he said that Europe has “some serious issues to fix.”

On Saturday, he praised the creation of the euro and Europe’s push for peace. But he warned that a reduction in military efforts and challenges trying to reach agreement within the European Union are threatening the continent.

“If they fragment, then you can say that America first will not be around anymore,” Dimon said. “It will hurt us more than anybody else because they are a major ally in every single way, including common values, which are really important.”

He said the US should help.

“We need a long-term strategy to help them become strong,” Dimon said. “A weak Europe is bad for us.”

The administration of President Donald Trump issued a new national security strategy that directed US interests toward the Western Hemisphere and protection of the homeland while dismissing Europe as a continent headed toward “civilizational erasure.”

Read More: Trump’s National Security Strategy Veers Inward in Telling Shift

JPMorgan has been ramping up its push to spur more investments in the national defense sector. In October, the bank announced that it would funnel $1.5 trillion into industries that bolster US economic security and resiliency over the next 10 years — as much as $500 billion more than what it would’ve provided anyway. 

Dimon said in the statement that it’s “painfully clear that the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing.”

Investment banker Jay Horine oversees the effort, which Dimon called “100% commercial.” It will focus on four areas: supply chain and advanced manufacturing; defense and aerospace; energy independence and resilience; and frontier and strategic technologies. 

The bank will also invest as much as $10 billion of its own capital to help certain companies expand, innovate or accelerate strategic manufacturing.

Separately on Saturday, Dimon praised Trump for finding ways to roll back bureaucracy in the government.

“There is no question that this administration is trying to bring an axe to some of the bureaucracy that held back America,” Dimon said. “That is a good thing and we can do it and still keep the world safe, for safe food and safe banks and all the stuff like that.”



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