Maybe it’s passé to say another year was a “banner year” for investment in fintech. But there is no better way to describe the more than $3 billion in funding raised by Finovate alums in 2015.
We previewed our alum funding for 2015 a few weeks ago with a look at investment in European-based alums. Now we present the numbers for the entire world.
Finovate alums by year
- 2015: $3.1 billion, up 41%
- 2014: $2.2 billion, up 167%
- 2013: $825 million, up 83%
- 2012: $450 million
Highlights from 2015
- Worldwide, 116 Finovate alums raised $3.1 billion
- Credit Karma raised the largest amount of capital, pulling in $175 million in June. Kabbage came in second with $135 million in October.
- April may be poetry’s cruelest month, but for Finovate alums, it was the most lucrative with $400 million raised by 15 companies. January was a close second, with $340 million raised by 14 companies.
- April was also the biggest month for number of deals with 15. January, May, and July were a close second with 14 deals each.
Alum funding by month
December
- BankersLab closes on undisclosed amount in angel funding round
- CBANC Network garners $4 million in Series B funding
- Gusto, formerly ZenPayroll, closes on $50 million funding
- Onovative raises $1.2 million in new funding
- Rippleshot raises $1.2 million in round led by KGC Capital
- ThetaRay lands $5 million investment from Alibaba; partners with PwC
- Trizic raises $2 million to help advisors compete with algorithms
- Trulioo raises $15 million with help from American Express Ventures
- WorkFusion raises $14 million Series C Round Led by Nokia Growth Partners
November
- Figo announces new “seven-figure” financing round.
- iSignthis completes $10 million capital raise.
- Lighter Capital closes $9 million Series B funding round, raises $100 million to lend to tech startups
- Nous closes in on 350,000 fundraising goal [Update: Nous exceeds original goal, raises $750,000]
- Roostify garners $500,000 in funding from Wells Fargo Accelerator
- Tuition.io raises $5 million in Series A.
October
- Blooom announces $4 million Series A round led by QWDS Investors.
- CardFlight scores $4 million in Series A funding.
- Financeit closes undisclosed amount of funding from Goldman Sachs.
- IDology announces “significant,” strategic equity investment in Payfone.
- Kabbage’s fresh $135 million to help grow Karrot Consumer Lending Platform.
- Moven rounds up $12 million in funding for international expansion.
- *Praesidio raises $3.1 million.
- Ripple Labs makes waves: raises $4 million, rebrands & launches Interledger.
- MortgageTech is on the move as Roostify closes Series A round led by USAA.
- Spreedly raises $2.5 million in new funding.
- Stockpile hauls in $15 million in new investment.
- Xpenditure rakes in $5.7 million.
- WorldPay goes public; shares rally on trading debut.
September
- Alkami Technology earns $11 investment.
- Blooom wins grant from LaunchKC.
- Cloud Lending Solutions raises $8 million in Series A.
- Coinalytics earns $1 million in seed funding from The Hive.
- CoverHound completes $33 million Series C.
- Ellevest pulls in $10 million from Morningstar.
- InForcePro rakes in $4 million following Finovate debut.
- Kreditech raises €82 million in Series C investment led by J.C. Flowers.
- MX lands $4 million from CheckFree founder Pete Kight.
- Trading Ticket picks up $4 million in seed funding from Citi, Valar Ventures.
- Trunomi raises $3 million to solve KYC challenges.
Mergers & Acquisitions: Prosper signals Move into PFM with $30 Million Acquisition of BillGuard.
August
- AnchorID raises $800,000.
- CashStar raises capital: new investment boosts total to $50 million.
- Digital Retail Apps raises $1 million Canadian in round led by Texas Ventures.
- Artificial intelligence innovator, Kensho boosts total capital to $58 million.
- Mogl earns $8 million investment ahead of FinovateFall debut.
- Payoneer pulls in $50 million.
- Socure secures $2.3 million in debt financing.
- StockViews raises $16,000 in seed investment
- SumUp raises €10 million in round led by BBVA Ventures, Groupon, American Express.
- Tio Networks raises $1.7 million in private placement.
- New investment in Tyfone takes total capital to $12 million.
- VATBox locks up $24 million growth equity investment.
Mergers & Acquisitions: FutureAdvisor acquired by BlackRock.
July
- Platform-as-a-Service specialist Apprenda raises $24 million.
- BankBazaar scores $60 million in funding led by Amazon.
- Behalf closes $119 million Series B.
- New investment for Dealstruck boosts lending capital to more than $100 million.
- Expensify tallies up $17.5 million in funding to support its new fintech investment fund.
- Fastacash secures $15 million in Series B investment.
- Fenergo raises $75 million from Insight Venture Partners.
- The next fintech unicorn: rumored $150 million heading to Kabbage.
- A dash of good karma: Karmic Labs raises $5 million.
- Malauzai raises $11 million in venture funding.
- Nearex closes Series B funding.
- Radius raises $50 million in round led by Founders Fund.
- Realty Mogul builds $35 million in new funding.
- Revolut launches to public, announces $2.3 million in funding.
- ShopKeep rings up $60 million investment.
- Twilio raises $130 million in Series E round.
June
- Azimo lands $20 million Series B investment led by Frog Capital.
- Bright Funds closes seed round with $1.8 million investment.
- Cachet Financial Solutions completes $4.4 million private placement.
- CashSentinel closes seed round of undisclosed amount.
- New $175 million investment earns Credit Karma a $3.5 billion valuation.
- Currency Cloud cooks up $18 million in new funding round.
- Prairie Cloudware announces new round of investment.
- Signifyd raises $7 million in Series A investment.
- SumUp unveils new financing.
May
- Actiance picks up $28 million from new and existing investors.
- Bitcoin-based P2P lending platform Bitbond raises $670,000.
- Credit Sesame raises $16 million in new funding.
- EDO Interactive completes $20 million Series E round; names Badran CEO.
- Feedzai announces more than $17 million in new funding.
- FreeAgent to crowdfund $1.6 million funding round.
- ItBit raises $25 million, earns New York State Trust Charter ahead of Finovate debut.
- Kantox picks up $11 million in Series B, doubling total capital.
- LendKey adds $8 million in venture debt; reaches $800 million in loans
- PayItSimple receives $10 million line of credit.
- Planwise raises $750,000; nearly doubling total capital.
- Ripple Labs reels in $28 million, eyes Asia expansion.
- Trizic raises $3 million in seed funding from Operative Capital.
- Friction is good: Social network for credit innovator Vouch raises $6 million.
- WePay closes $40 million Series D round led by FTV Capital.
Honorable mention: Zenefits raises $500 million (company founded by serial entrepreneur Parker Conrad, founder of alums SigFig and Wikinvest).
April
- CurrencyFair springs $10.7 million more in funding.
- Dealstruck raises $8 million in funding, $50 million for new credit facility.
- Dream Payments raises $6 million in funding for mPOS technology.
- eToro secures $12 million investment from Commerzbank.
- EZBOB raises $45 million in new funding.
- Interactions raises more than $9 million in new funding.
- MoneyStream launches to public, receives $3.2 million in funding.
- MX raises $30 million in Series A investment.
- Patch of Land earns $23 million investment led by SF Capital Group.
- PayNearMe raises $14.7 million in new financing..
- Prosper pulls in $165 million in funding, boosting valuation to $1.9 billion.
- SigFig brings on new advisory board members and $1 million in funding.
- StockTwits earns $1.2 million investment.
- Britain’s second largest mobile wallet, Yoyo, pulls $10 million in funding.
- ZenPayroll raises $60 million in round led by Google Capital.
Mergers & Acquisitions: SaveUp purchased by Chicago-area entrepreneur, Paul J. Bart; Early Warning acquires Authentify
March
- Advanced Merchant Payments pulls in undisclosed amount of funding.
- Alt credit score startup, Aire, raises $1.1 million.
- Ayasdi raises $55 million in Series C funding.
- CoverHound raises $14 million in Series B.
- ID.me raises $3 million in new venture debt funding.
- Lendio raises $20 million in new funding to help finance small businesses.
- Linkable Networks rakes in $11.7 million.
- Q2 Holdings completes $116 million follow-on stock offering.
- Yapstone closes $60 million debt financing deal.
Mergers & Acquisitions: Multi-Factor Authentication Specialist Toopher Acquired by Salesforce; ReadyforZero Acquired by Avant in cash and stock deal; printer-giant Lexmark to acquire Kofax for $1 billion; LearnVest acquired by Northwestern Mutual for more than $250 million.
February
- AdviceGames raises $570,000 from Ibuildings.
- Betterment raises a fresh $60 million in round led by Francisco Partners.
- Bill.com raises $50 million, doubling total funding.
- Finsphere lands $1.8 million, partners with Visa.
- Micronotes receives $910k in funding.
- Pindrop Security raises $35 million.
- SecureKey raises $19 million in Series C.
- Payments platform Mozido adds $2.5 million to SimplyTapp’s Series B round.
- Xero raises $110 million from Accel Partners, Matrix Capital.
Mergers & Acquisitions: Samsung acquisition of LoopPay puts Apple Pay on notice.
January
- App Annie reels in $63 million.
- BlueVine grabs $18.5 million to increase small-business lending.
- Bolstr raises $1.7 million in seed funding.
- Coinbase raises $75 million from BBVA, USAA, NYSE, & others.
- Global Debt Registry raises $7 million in Series A round.
- Kofax raises $1.9 million in funding.
- Kreditech secures $200 million line of credit.
- LendingRobot pulls in $3 million to boost your Lending Club and Prosper portfolios.
- Renren leads $40 million funding round for Motif Investing.
- PeerTransfer secures $22 million in a round led by Bain Capital.
- Ripple Labs raises $30 million in Series A round.
- Spreedly raises $150,000 in new funding.
- Taulia’s fresh $15 million will fuel international growth.
- TransferWise raises $58 million in round led by Andreessen Horowitz.
- TrueLink raises $3 million in round led by Cambia Health Solutions.
Mergers & Acquisitions: Akimbo Financial acquired by Payment Data Systems.
*New alum; funds raised prior to Finovate appearance.
Funding that companies received before they first appeared at Finovate was not counted in overall totals.
Questions? Comments? Email us at research@finovate.com.
Binns joined HP in 2007 and served as VP of Software Field Operations and VP of Investor Relations before being named Vice President and CFO, HP Software in 2014. Binns won the Tech IR award from Institutional Investors Magazine in 2014 and 2015, and is a fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants in the UK.
A look at the companies demoing live to 1,500 fintech professionals. 
Antalio Ubalde, CEO, Founder
Brandon Harrell, Product Manager
Matt Mills, Commercial Director
Dave Excell, CTO, Co-founder
Pedro Almeida, Member, Board of Directors
Maria Domingues, Market Manager
Nikita Blinov, CEO
Alexander Fonarev, Chief Data Scientist
Anna Laskovaya, Project Manager
David Sosna, CEO, Co-founder
