Hello, and welcome to today's edition of Founders International, your daily newsletter where we cover the stories, trends, and companies in tech and startups from outside of the US.

Here's what we're covering today:1. The state of global VC funding in 20222. A digital Nigerian bank is permitted to work in Pakistan3. How international entrepreneurs are forming US businesses for access to Stripe

Read time: 2 minutes and 59 seconds

The state of venture capital

CB Insights recently released their report on the State of Venture in 2022, and man did it have some nuggets. And you know what we do here, I got all up in that report so you don't have to.

So here are some of the main takeaways:

• Venture funding dropped by 35% from 2021 to 2022

2021 was a record year for global venture funding. The markets were ripping, interest rates were low, and money was being thrown around to anyone that had a pulse it seemed like. VCs thought they were Oprah for a second...

But the music had to stop eventually, and Q4 was actually down 64% YoY, dropping it to below pre-covid funding levels.

• US based companies accounted for 48% of all funding, and 34% of all deals

This is why I started this newsletter. If I had asked you how much venture dollars is deployed outside of the US, I bet most would guess a very small percentage. All we hear about is US based funding and US based companies. But internationally based companies account for more than half of all funding, and 66% of all venture deals. Bullish.

• African companies raised $991M in Q4’22, a 164% jump QoQ(!!!)

In a time where the rest of the market was down as I just stated in the first takeaway, Africa went full on Dikembe Mutombo, said "no no no, not today!" and increased in total funding dollars in the region.

Must I repeat? Bullish.

Other nuggets:

• Digital health funding saw the sharpest YoY drop when looking at all the sectors analyzed

• Fintech funding also decreased pretty dramatically (lowest in terms of total $$ in the last 16 quarters)

• The total number of unicorns (companies valued worth $1b) dropped 86% YoY when comparing Q4

Man, Q4 was just an absolute massacre. A trend that likely continued into this year, but that will probably be a story for another day...

A-Company-a-Day

Today's company is tackling a major issue in many countries: banking

While many international entrepreneurs are wanting US businesses, a trend we started covering yesterday that is spilling into today's issue, not all can take advantage equally.

One of those countries is Pakistan. Pakistan took a large hit last year when many banks started rejecting any applications from businesses where their owners were from Pakistan. Pakistan is a largely unbanked area, with the country only deeming 21% of its residents as "financially included."

Kuda is trying to change that.

Kuda was granted a license from the State Bank of Pakistan to operate as a digital bank in the country. What is a digital bank, you may ask? Great question. A digital bank is a bank where you can apply and get an account without having to go into a physical branch.

This is commonplace in the US now, as there are many digital banks and neo-banks trying to disrupt even the US market and its major players in personal banking and business banking (WF, BoA, Chase, etc). But, this is not the luxury many countries such as Pakistan have, and Kuda just took a big step towards changing that.

Kuda is a Nigerian company that is now expanding, and has established itself in the UK as well. Nigeria is also a place where banking is not as well established as much of the world, but that is rapidly changing thanks to Kuda and many other banks like it. While they are not focused on businesses, this does help take a step towards getting Pakistan on an equal level as the rest of the world in terms of financial inclusion.

All this to say, watch out for Pakistan, and watch out for Kuda. For the residents of Pakistan that are connected to the internet and have access to banking, many are very entrepreneurial and I come across a lot trying to form US businesses and start companies.

Nigeria is also a rapidly growing country in terms of number of people, and in terms of how it's developing. I think this just adds some fuel to the fire for Kuda AND Pakistan to grow.

How international entrepreneurs form US businesses

This is part two of a trend we focused on in yesterday's issue, and that is the trend of international entrepreneurs and businesses coming to form entities in the US.

Yesterday, we focused on WHY they were actually forming US businesses in the first place, and that reason is Stripe. Stripe is a payment processor that allows people and businesses to safely and securely send/receive money in exchange for their goods/services.

Today, we'll focus on how they are actually doing this, meaning how they actually come to get an established US business.

It really is pretty simple, and is something you can take advantage of yourself. There is a whole ecosystem blooming that is supporting entrepreneurs by making the entity formation and task of maintaining your business super easy. (All of the following links are non-affiliate, I truly recommend all of them, each for different reasons)

Stripe Atlas, a product of Stripe, the company we talked about earlier and why people are actually forming US businesses from around the world, has their own formation service where they will form you a Delaware C-corp and get your access to Stripe all in one go.

Firstbase.io, another company dedicated to international entrepreneurs helping form LLCs and C-corps in a multitude of states, and partnering with many companies to give you benefits and discounts to necessary tools you may want as a business owner. Also developing some of their own products to offer to their customers.

Jumpstart, typically seen in the category as the low cost option. They are laid out very simply, and make the process very hands off for you and just get the job done. $399 (or $349 with code "50OFF" as I was able to find online) and you can get your business formed in Delaware or Wyoming, along with a bank account, all within a few weeks, no SSN or connection to the US needed.

Lastly, Doola. Very similar to the other but playing at the other end of Jumpstart. They have an all in package of a couple grand a year and you will literally never have to touch anything when it comes to maintaining your business. They handle everything for you at the state and federal level, and even have their own banking product in house for you to take advantage of.

It's never been easier to form a business, and there are so many other companies just like these doing it with their own twist. While this is focused on non-residents, all of these companies can help residents form businesses too.

And that is it. Two days, one big trend of international people and businesses forming US entities.

And sadly, that's all for today. If you want to get more follow us @Founders_Intl, or respond to this email. Yes, we respond to all emails, including yours. Try us.

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💯 Freaking sick dude🤷‍♂️ Meh, do better next time😑 Bruh, I might unsubscribe after reading that