Squid Game and the Consumer Fintech Revolution

Embedded financial products open up entirely new revenue streams to productivity software companies that were previously only accessible by financial institutions. Fintech APIs (like payments from Stripe) allow companies to monetize not with expensive subscriptions but through financial instruments that were previously the purview of banks.

Since registering, Twitch streamers who have been rejected for business cards twice have accessed lines of credit. A Vlogger with more than 8M followers can now purchase a car and receive financing. And a festival headlining musician who previously needed a parental co-sign is now building their own Karat credit file. Overtime, Karat will become th... See more

New technologies and business models have made investing accessible. Anyone with a smartphone, for instance, can use Robinhood. Robinhood also popularized zero-fee trading, which forced the hands of brokerages like E*Trade and Charles Schwab. Commission-free trading is now the norm.

Embedded finance frees the former from the latter. In the process, products with existing customer bases may benefit.