The bankruptcy of Synapse, which is backed by a16z, may affect tens of millions of users and more than 100 fintech companies

BaaS fintech company Synapse raised more than $50 million in funding when it was founded, including a $33 million Series B led by Angela Strange of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) in 2019. The startup struggled with layoffs in 2023 and filed for bankruptcy protection in April this year, seeking to sell its assets to another fintech company, TabaPay, for $9.7 million but was rejected. It is not entirely clear why. Synapse reportedly operates a service that allows other companies (mainly fintech companies) to embed banking services into their products. The company is now almost forced to liquidate completely under Chapter 7, and many other fintech companies and their customers are being implicated by Synapse's closure. Jason Mikula, an industry observer and author of Fintech Business Weekly, estimated in a statement that up to 100 fintech companies and 10 million end customers could be affected by the company's closure, according to documents filed by Synapse. According to CNBC, the funds of the crypto app Juno were also affected by the Synapse bankruptcy. A Maryland teacher named Chris Buckler stated in a May 21 filing that he was unable to access the funds he held in Juno due to issues related to the Synapse bankruptcy. (TechCrunch)