After racking up more than $1 billion in funding last summer, Finovate alums secured more than $400 million in funding over July, August, and September of 2018. This year marked the second time in the past four years that a billion-dollar third quarter was followed the next year by a significantly less bountiful Q3 in terms of equity financing.
Interestingly, eight of our 19 fundraising alums in the third quarter did not disclose the amounts of their investments. And while this does not provide any specific clues to the exact amounts of equity financing involved, it is noteworthy that undisclosed investments in AdviceRobo and Personetics both represented minority stakes taken by KPMG and United Overseas Bank, respectively.
Previous Quarterly Comparisons
- Q3 2017: More than $1 billion raised by 31 alums
- Q3 2016: More than $500 million raised by 30 alums
- Q3 2015: More than $1 billion raised by 40 alums
- Q3 2014: More than $194 million raised by 17 alums
If Q3 represented a small step in the funding growth for our alums overall, it was a giant leap for the quarter’s top fundraiser, Gusto. The $140 million in funding picked up by the payroll, benefits, and HR platform in July nearly doubled the firm’s total funding, and boosted the company’s valuation to almost $2 billion.
And you’ve got to hand it to Bambu. The three million raised by the Singapore-based robo advisor pales in comparison to the capital raised by its fellow top ten alums in Q3. But Bambu is the only company in the quarter’s top ten to have won not one, but two Best of Show awards, once at FinovateAsia 2017 and again last month at FinovateAfrica 2018.
Top Ten Equity Investments for Q3 2018
- Gusto: $140 million
- Flywire: $100 million
- Zopa: $57 million
- ThetaRay: $30 million
- Deserve: $17 million
- SynapseFI: $17 million
- Wonga: $13 million
- BlueVine: $12 million
- Cortera: $10 million
- Bambu: $3 million
Here is our detailed alum funding report for Q3 2018.
July 2018: More than $285 million raised by nine alums
- Algomi: undisclosed – post
- Bambu: $3 million – post
- BlueVine: $12 million – post
- ezbob: undisclosed – post
- Flywire: $100 million – post
- Gusto: $140 million – post
- Personetics: undisclosed – post
- StockViews: undisclosed – post
- ThetaRay: $30 million – post
August 2018: More than $87 million raised by six alums
- Behalf: undisclosed – post
- Deserve: $17 million – post
- Leveris: undisclosed – post
- Modo Payments: undisclosed – post
- Wonga: $13 million – post
- Zopa: $57 million – post
September 2018: More than $28 million raised by four alums
- AdviceRobo: undisclosed – post
- Cortera: $10 million – post
- Nordigen: $800,000 – post
- SynapseFI: $17 million – post
If you are a Finovate alum that raised money in the third quarter of 2018, and do not see your company listed, please drop us a note at research@finovate.com. We would love to share the good news! Funding received prior to becoming an alum not included.