Synctera has filed a notice with the SEC for an exempt offering of securities to raise $20 million in new equity and debt financing. This filing is required under federal securities law for offerings made under Rule 504 or 506 of Regulation D or Section 4(a)(5) of the Securities Act of 1933. The notice must be filed within 15 days after the first sale of securities.

For the banking as a service (BaaS) firms, the Synapse bankruptcy, the cease-and-desist order against Evolve, and the wait for regulatory clarity are all proving to be headwinds for the burgeoning business model. This week, BaaS embedded finance company Unit, which serves tech companies, banks and brands, said it was laying off 15% of its staff. That move comes amid “slower than expected revenue growth.”. In a Monday (June 17) blog post detailing the layoffs, company co-founders Itai Damti and Doron Somech said that “banks in the fintech ecosystem have slowed down in the last year due to increased regulatory scrutiny.”

Banking-as-a-service startup (BaaS) Synctera has conducted a restructuring that has resulted in a staff reduction, the company confirmed to TechCrunch.While Synctera did not share how many employees were impacted, a report in Fintech Business Weekly pegs the number to be about 17 people, or about 15% of the company. Doing the math, that means the company had about 113 employees prior to the cuts, and about 96 now.Synctera built a platform designed to bring together fintech companies and sponsor banks. It recently announced an $18.6 million extension round to its $15 million Series A, which was announced in March of 2023. At that time, it also announced the hiring of Leigh Gross as its new Chief Revenue Officer and BTG Pactual and Flutterwave as customers.Investors include NAventures, the corporate venture arm of National Bank of Canada; Lightspeed Venture Partners; Fin Capital; Banco Popular; and Mana Ventures.When asked about the job cuts, a company spokesperson wrote via email: “Synctera has conducted a restructuring of the company that resulted in a reduction in staff and we are dedicated to assisting those who are impacted. We are committed to our current line of business along with the addition of SaaS offerings for banks and companies.”The startup is not the only VC-backed BaaS company to have resorted to layoffs to preserve cash recently. Treasury Prime slashed half its 100-person staff in February, a year after it announced a $40 million Series C raise