PayPal Ventures shutters as company restructuring continues

PayPal Ventures is no more. Five sources told Fortune that the corporate venture arm, which was founded in 2016, would be winding down operations. A company spokesperson confirmed the news to TechCrunch, albeit with a nuanced statement. “As part of our continued efforts to sharpen our focus, we are exploring strategic options for our corporate venture arm,” the spokesperson said in an email. PayPal Ventures has made more than 80 investments, including the crypto trading platform Talos Global, fintech infrastructure company Plaid, and the crypto bank Anchorage Digital. It has raised $850 million across three funds . The decision to close the venture fund follows the departure of PayPal CEO Alex Chriss, who was replaced by Enrique Lores in February. The board said Chriss had failed to keep pace with industry changes and did not meet its expectations. Ironically, the end of PayPal Ventures could mean the company falls further behind. The venture arm gave PayPal a front-row seat to emerging fintech innovation; without it, the company risks losing visibility into startups shaping the future of financial services and falling behind competitors that maintain strategic venture arms. Lores took the helm with the mission to restructure things, and he has done so, with more cuts and layoffs expected to continue throughout the next few years, Fortune reported. …