PhonePe Raises $100 Million at $12 Billion Valuation

PhonePe Raises $100 Million at $12 Billion Valuation
  • PhonePe raised $100 million in funding from Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, and TVS Capital Funds, bringing its total funding to $2.2 billion.
  • The investment values the company at $12 billion.
  • PhonePe will use the funds to scale its existing payments and insurance businesses and to enter new financial services sub-sectors.

Digital money app PhonePe just raised $100 million in funding from Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, and TVS Capital Funds. The investment follows a $350 million round PhonePe received last month and brings the India-based company’s total funding to $2.2 billion.

Today’s round, which values PhonePe at $12 billion, contributes to the company’s $1 billion capital raise target. Within six weeks of benchmarking the $1 billion goal, PhonePe is almost halfway there. The company has already raised $450 million and “expects further investments from leading global, as well as prominent high net worth Indian investors in due course.”

The mobile payments innovator will use the investment to scale its existing payments and insurance businesses. The funds will also fuel PhonePe’s entry into new businesses like lending, stockbroking, ecommerce, and account aggregators, which it plans to begin pursuing in the next few years.

“Our investment in PhonePe reinforces our conviction on backing best in class Founders while betting on the financial digitization of the next 450 million Indians,” said TCF Chairman and Managing Director Gopal Srinivasan. “We view this more as an opportunity in a population scale business for New India, driven by an outstanding management team with razor sharp focus, as driven by execution.”

PhonePe was founded in 2015 and now facilitates payments for its 440+ million registered users. The company’s end-to-end payments solution offers businesses a no-code payment gateway platform and provides consumers with a payment app where they can pay bills, send money, buy gold, invest, and shop online and in-person.

The company, which was acquired by Walmart-owned Flipkart in 2016, distanced itself from the Flipkart brand in 2020 via a financing round that dropped Flipkart’s ownership of PhonePe from 100% down to 87%. Earlier this month, the company began facilitating international transactions through Unified Payments Interface (UPI), enabling Indian travelers to make UPI transactions to foreign merchants using PhonePe platform.


Photo by Michael Skok on Unsplash

FIS Breaks Off Merchant Solutions, Plans to Restore Worldpay Brand

FIS Breaks Off Merchant Solutions, Plans to Restore Worldpay Brand
  • FIS is letting go of its Merchant Solutions business, along with the Worldpay brand, which it originally acquired for $34 billion in 2019.
  • The company states that Worldpay needs a different capital allocation strategy to enable the brand “to pursue more aggressive investment opportunities, including M&A.”
  • The spin-off is expected to take 12 months.

FIS acquired Worldpay for $34 billion in 2019, and after rumors of a break-up swirled last week, the Florida-based firm announced plans to let go of and restore the Worldpay brand. Specifically, FIS is spinning out the Merchant Solutions business it created from the Worldpay acquisition.

Jeffrey A. Goldstein, FIS Chairman of the Board, said that “… the spin-off of Worldpay will unlock shareholder value by improving both companies’ performance, enhancing client services, and simplifying operational management. We are confident that this is the right time for the separation of Worldpay.” Goldstein added that the Merchant Solutions business requires “increased investment in growth and a different capital allocation strategy” than FIS.

In its press release announcing the change, FIS explained that this different capital allocation strategy will enable Worldpay “to pursue more aggressive investment opportunities, including M&A.” The long-term goal of the spin-off is for Worldpay to expand geographic coverage of its eCommerce tools, strengthen its enterprise offerings, and shift toward software-led payments.

After the split, which is expected to be completed in the next 12 months, FIS and Worldpay will retain strong ties. As a result, FIS’ Merchant Solutions business will take on the Worldpay brand, which will be restored. Originally founded in 1971, Worldpay conducted $2 trillion in payments volume in 2022. Charles Drucker, who was Worldpay CEO from 2004 until the acquisition in 2019, will oversee the spin-off and will once again serve as the company’s CEO when the separation is finalized.

Founded in 1968, banking technology company FIS has acquired a total of 17 companies, two of which were purchased after the Worldpay acquisition in 2019. The company offers 450+ solutions and processes more than 110 million transactions each day. FIS is publicly listed on the NYSE and has a current market capitalization of almost $40 billion.


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Checking in on Fintech in Africa

Checking in on Fintech in Africa

Fintech in Africa has experienced a growth spurt in recent years. Last month, investment banking firm FT Partners took a deeper look into the state of fintech in Africa in a report titled Fintech In Africa: Momentum is Building and the World is Taking Notice. The report examines underlying drivers of recent growth, offers details of the fintech investment scene, and provides an update on the state of important trends such as challenger banking and open finance.

Below are a handful of highlights from the 207-page report, which you can check out in its entirety on FT Partners’ website.

Underlying drivers of growth

The report highlights the multiple factors currently creating the perfect storm for fintech growth in Africa at the moment. The continent’s young, underbanked, tech-savvy population has long-favored cash, but is showing increasing favor for mobile-first technologies as mobile adoption rises and governments seek to further financial inclusion.

Some of the supporting statistics include:

  • Almost half of the world’s mobile money customers reside in Africa
  • More than half of Africans are unbanked or underbanked
  • 65% of those in Sub-Saharan Africa are unbanked or underbanked
  • 90% of payments are still made using cash
  • Mobile penetration is 80%
  • 47% have access to internet
  • The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement went into effect in 2019, opening up cross-border payments and creating the potential for a single currency.

State of Open Banking

It is well known that open banking and open finance create a wealth of benefits to end consumers– including increased control over use of their data. In addition to this, Africa is poised to benefit from open banking, which is expected to extend banks’ reach to rural populations and lower costs and barriers to entry of banking services by facilitating innovation in the space.

Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa have each made inroads into creating formal regulation surrounding open banking:

  • Nigeria’s Central Bank issued its regulatory framework for open banking in 2021 and is currently working on operational, technical, and security guidelines
  • Kenya’s Central Bank emphasized open infrastructure as a strategic pillar for the financial services industry as part of its four-year-strategy announced in 2020
  • South Africa is home to six banks currently offering customers open banking services.

Challenger banking scene

Many fintechs have risen to serve the underbanked or unbanked populations in Africa, a group that makes up more than half of the country’s total population. FT Partners reports that many challenger banks are finding initial success in serving as alternative lenders to customers that lack access to traditional banking channels, and then building out a more robust set of services on top of their lending offering. Key to this, the report notes, is an efficient and reliable underwriting model.

Fintech investment scene

In 2022, African fintechs garnered $1.5 billion in funding across 135 deals. This is up significantly from 2019, when the continent’s fintechs brought in $340 million across 27 transactions.

In such a cash-heavy, underbanked society, it is no surprise to see that payments and banking technology was the most popular sub-sector for investors in 2022, having received more than $2 billion in funding volume. The report also notes that the payments and banking technology is responsible for more than half of the fintech financing deals over the course of the past six years.

New investors in the African fintech space over the past two years include:

  • Vitruvian
  • QED
  • Silver Lake AQD
  • CommerzVentures
  • Dragoneer
  • Fidelity
  • Insight

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Visa Partnership Fuels Wirex Crypto Card Issuance

Visa Partnership Fuels Wirex Crypto Card Issuance
  • Wirex deepened its partnership with Visa.
  • The new agreement enables Wirex to issue its crypto debit and prepaid cards to more than 40 countries.
  • The company is working on finalizing another partnership that will facilitate card issuance in Australia.

Cryptocurrency payments company Wirex unveiled a strategic partnership with Visa this week. The agreement makes Wirex a member of Visa in the U.K. and in the Asia Pacific region and will enable the fintech to issue its crypto debit and prepaid cards to more than 40 countries.

The two players began their partnership at Wirex’s launch in 2015, when the U.K.-based company unveiled its crypto-enabled Visa card. The payment card enables users to buy, hold, exchange, and sell 150 currencies– from traditional to cryptocurrencies. Additionally, Wirex customers can use their Visa card to spend their currency holdings at live rates at more than 80 million locations where Visa is accepted.

In addition to the live crypto-to-fiat conversion, Wirex offers free international ATM withdrawals, zero monthly fees, free fiat-to-fiat exchanges, and up to 8% back in crypto rewards on every purchase.

“It’s great to strengthen our partnership with Visa, who have played an important role in allowing us to bridge the gap between the traditional and digital economies,” said Wirex APAC Regional Managing Director Svyatoslav Garal. “Visa’s proven commitment to safety, security and innovation will help us to continue developing a next-generation app and card.”

The partnership aligns well for payments giant Visa, which is working to position its brand in the Web3 space. “Visa wants to bring more payment options to consumers by connecting digital currencies with our network of banks and merchants,” said Visa Head of Digital Partnerships, Asia Pacific Matt Wood. “We’re excited that Wirex is expanding their focus on Asia Pacific, making it easy and seamless for people to spend their crypto balance at the millions of merchants that accept Visa in the region.”

Wirex was founded 2014 by Pavel Matveev and Dmitry Lazarichev. Since then, the company has raised $27.8 million in funding and facilitated more than $20 billion in crypto transactions. Wirex, which expanded to the U.S. last year, said it plans to make a partnership announcement “in the coming weeks” that will facilitate card issuance in Australia.

Tazapay Raises $16.9 Million for Cross-Border Payments

Tazapay Raises $16.9 Million for Cross-Border Payments
  • Cross-border payments company Tazapay raised $16.9 million in Series A funding.
  • The investment, which brings the company’s total funding to $21.9 million, was led by Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia.
  • Tazapay processes “hundreds of  millions” of dollars each year in card and local, real-time payment methods.

Singapore-based cross-border payments company Tazapay closed $16.9 million in Series A funding for its cross-border payments technology today. Today’s round, when combined with the company’s Seed rounds, boosts Tazapay’s total funding to $21.9 million.

Investors include Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia, which led the round, along with new investors EscapeVelocity (escp.vc), PayPal Alumni Fund, and angel investor Gokul Rajaram; and existing investors Foundamental, January Capital, RTP Global, and Saison Capital.

Commenting on the investors, Tazapay CEO and co-founder Rahul Shinghal said, “These partners will help us realize our vision to be the foremost cross border infrastructure for global platforms as we double down on growing our market presence and consolidating every real-time banking network in the world under one API. We are grateful to both our new and existing investors for acknowledging the evolving needs of our ecosystem and supporting our aspirations.”

Tazapay will use today’s investment to scale across Asia, expand in the Middle East and Europe. enhance its core capabilities, and add more local payment methods for cross-border e-commerce, education technology, Software-as-a-Service, and travel.

Founded in 2020, Tazapay facilitates card and local, real-time payment methods for businesses and consumers. The company’s API offers access to a global network of 170+ markets for its card coverage and 85 markets and processes “hundreds of  millions” of dollars each year.

The investment comes at a time when both interest in and development of real-time payment technologies are on the rise across the globe. PhonePe, one of India’s largest fintechs, recently announced it will make its UPI payments available in the UAE, Singapore, Mauritius, Nepal and Bhutan. And in the U.S., the Federal Reserve’s FedNow payment scheme is nearing completion. In fact, banking-as-a-service provider Finzly just unveiled a new API yesterday that offers connection to the U.S. FedNow Service in a sandbox environment.


Photo by Tatiana Syrikova

Finzly’s New API Offers Access to FedNow Payment Rails

Finzly’s New API Offers Access to FedNow Payment Rails
  • Finzly has released an API connection to the U.S. FedNow Service.
  • The API enables developers to test out the new set of payment rails in a sandbox environment.
  • FedNow, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s real-time payment rails, is set to launch later this year.

Banking-as-a-service provider Finzly released its new API that offers connection to the U.S. FedNow Service in a sandbox environment.

Through its sandbox, Finzly enables fintech, bank, and third party developers to use its API to build real-time payment experiences via the FedNow’s pilot version.

“The future of the economy is connected and real-time. Insurance payouts, government benefits, healthcare payments, online commerce, subscriptions, point of sale, investment, lending, treasury, and several other platforms are expected to connect to the new FedNow Service for an integrated, cardless, bank-to-bank, instant payment experience,” said Finzly Founder and CEO Booshan Rengachari. “Finzly APIs and its direct connection to the FedNow service will accelerate the adoption of instant payments in several use cases. We are excited about being the world’s first player to offer access to FedNow service via an API.”

Launching later this year, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s FedNow Service is a set of new, real-time payment rails. The service will facilitate instant money transfers to and from any U.S. financial institution at any time of day, on any day of the week for both commercial and retail customers.

Today’s news comes a little over two years after Finzly announced it was among 110 other organizations participating in the FedNow pilot program, a beta test of the new rails. Other non-bank pilot participants include ACI Worldwide, Finastra, Jack Henry & Associates, and Q2 Software.

Founded in 2012, Finzly offers banking-as-a-service tools via Finzly OS— which it demoed at FinovateSpring last year– that enable users to launch a modern bank from scratch. The company offers an API that connects to all U.S. payment rails, including Fed ACH, Fedwire, RTP, SWIFT, and now FedNow. Formerly known as SwapsTech, the North Carolina-based company recently added a handful of clients, including Veritex Community Bank, Coastal Community Bank, First Internet Bank, and ICBA Bancard. Finzly recently


Photo by Benjamin Svobodny

Canoe Intelligence Raises $25 Million

Canoe Intelligence Raises $25 Million
  • Canoe received $25 million for its alternative investment intelligence platform.
  • The Series B round was led by F-Prime Capital with participation from Eight Roads Ventures and others. 
  • Canoe will use the funds to hire new employees, enhance its products, and expand into Europe.

Alternative investment intelligence company Canoe Intelligence closed out its Series B round today, announcing a $25 million round led by F-Prime Capital with participation from Eight Roads Ventures and others. 

“Following a year of significant growth and progress for Canoe, we are thrilled to partner with F-Prime and Eight Roads to advance Canoe’s capabilities for the alternative investment ecosystem,” said company CEO Jason Eiswerth. “As alternative investments continue to gain popularity amongst institutional and individual investors, the new injection of capital will allow us to further serve our customer base and streamline alternative investment data globally.”

Today’s round follows the company’s Series A rounds, which were announced in 2020 and 2021 and led by The Carlyle Group and Nasdaq Ventures. All previous investment amounts were undisclosed, so Canoe’s total funding is unknown.

Canoe will use the funding to hire new employees, enhance its offerings for enterprise customers, develop new data products, and work on its core platform. The company will also begin a push to expand into European markets. “The EMEA alternative investment industry is nearly the same size as North America and its data challenges are identical, yet today there is no comparable local solution,” said Eight Roads Partner Alston Zecha. “Canoe has a significant opportunity to deliver customer value in Europe first where it already has a presence, as well as other regions in [the] future.”

Canoe was founded in 2013 to help alternative investment firms streamline their data management processes. The company’s platform leverages AI and machine learning to automatically collect and categorize documents, extract and validate data, and deliver the sorted data investors need to make more informed investment decisions.

Each year, Canoe processes over six million documents and extracts more than 20 million data points. When compared to a manual approach, Canoe’s AI-based automation results in a 20x increase in the number of funds each employee can process. The New York-based company, which currently supports more than $5 trillion in assets under advisement, grew its client base over 200% in both 2021 and 2022.


Photo by Quentin Groome

Oracle Launches Cloud Banking Services

Oracle Launches Cloud Banking Services
  • Oracle launched Banking Cloud Services, a suite of six services to help banks modernize their offerings.
  • Banks can mix and match the services and use them as standalone capabilities or incorporate them within their existing infrastructure.
  • Oracle has financial services clients in 140 countries and manages risk for 24 of the 28 top systemically important financial institutions.

Cloud application services company Oracle unveiled Banking Cloud Services, a set of six composable cloud native services aimed to help banks modernize their capabilities.

“Banks must innovate to succeed in today’s hyper competitive environment,” said Oracle Financial Services Executive Vice President and General Manager Sonny Singh. “We have built one of the world’s most comprehensive suites of cloud-native SaaS solutions so that banks of all sizes can innovate with speed, security, and scale without compromising their existing environments.”

Banks can select any combination of the six services as standalone capabilities or to work within their existing infrastructure. The Banking Cloud Services include:

Banking Accounts Cloud Service
This service offers scalable demand deposit account processing that integrates with a bank’s existing process flows and technology.

Banking Payments Cloud Service
The payments tool facilitates real-time processing for payment types including for cross-border, high-value, bulk, retail, and 24×7 payments.

Banking Enterprise Limits and Collateral Management Cloud Service
This service offers banks a holistic view of their collateral management exposure and reduces risk by tracking exposure, credit underwriting, decisions, and approvals.

Banking Origination Cloud Service
This tool helps banks streamline the onboarding process and automate underwriting decisioning for retail and small business customers. The automation helps banks scale originations to increase deposit and credit volumes.

Banking Digital Experience Cloud Service
This digital banking solution serves as a customer acquisition tool that offers digital experiences supported by video, chatbot, AI, and natural language processing-based engagement tools.

Banking APIs Cloud Service
Oracle Banking APIs Cloud Service offers more than 1,800 banking APIs to help banks establish an open banking platform that boosts innovation while remaining compliant. Banks can leverage open banking to improve their customer experience and increase revenue by embedding their services among third party providers.

Oracle is a 46-year-old company based in San Francisco. The firm has financial services clients in 140 countries and manages risk for 24 of the 28 top systemically important financial institutions. Oracle is publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker ORCL and has a current market capitalization of $236 billion.


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Listerhill Credit Union Taps Glia for Digital Customer Service

Listerhill Credit Union Taps Glia for Digital Customer Service

When every year is declared the year of the customer, it means more firms are motivated to upgrade their customer service technology. That may be why Listerhill Credit Union selected digital customer service company Glia to overhaul its digital customer service technology.

“Glia has enabled us to provide online service that mirrors our personalized, in-branch experience, allowing members to feel connected as a part of the Listerhill community regardless of communication channels,” said Listerhill Digital Strategist Dustin Holland.

Listerhill is leveraging Glia’s Digital Customer Service (DCS) suite, which includes online collaboration tools such as co-browsing to support its 92,000 members across five U.S. states. The credit union has implemented DCS in its mortgage lending department to guide members through mortgage applications and help them if they have a question or need assistance completing the process.

Listerhill said that this application of Glia’s DCS has resulted in “significant” new growth for its mortgage business. In fact, the credit union’s mortgage application conversion rate is four times the industry average, which has added up to an additional $2 million in mortgage sales year-over-year.

“By seeing who is actively reviewing mortgage information on our site, I’m able to connect and offer assistance that can help move a member closer to applying for a mortgage with Listerhill, without bothering members who are looking for other services,” said Listerhill Mortgage Originator Specialist Angela Underwood. “It’s a high-touch sales process that aligns to Listerhills’ focus on great member experiences.”

New York-based Glia was founded in 2012 as SaleMove. The company offers digital communication environments, on-screen collaboration, and AI-enabled assistance tools for clients who need to support end customers online, over the phone, in home office environments, and via video. Glia has taken home 10 Finovate Best of Show awards for its live demos and most recently showcased its tools at FinovateSpring 2021. 

Last June, Glia acquired conversational AI creator Finn.ai for an undisclosed sum. Last month, Glia announced a major update to its call center platform that integrates Finn.ai’s conversational AI to automate phone interactions and facilitate banks’ migration from phone-centric to digital-first customer service.  

Since it was founded in 2012, Glia has raised $152 million. The company has partnered with more than 400 credit unions, banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions, and was recently named a Deloitte Technology Fast 500 company for a third year in a row. Daniel Michaeli is CEO.


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SEON Acquires Complytron to Further Fight Fraud

SEON Acquires Complytron to Further Fight Fraud
  • Fraud prevention fintech SEON has acquired anti-money laundering (AML) due diligence software company Complytron in a deal today.
  • SEON is leveraging Complytron’s expertise to launch a new AML API, which will help companies comply with the European Union’s Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (6AMLD).
  • Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Two Hungary-based fintechs have combined this week. Fraud prevention company SEON acquired due diligence software company Complytron for an undisclosed amount.

Complytron was founded in 2019 after the founders received Google DNI funding for Source Code Leak, a project that used digital fingerprinting software to form connections between seemingly unrelated companies. The group found a commercial use for the software in helping firms comply with AML requirements. The company has received a total of $275k (€257k) funding from a Seed round in 2020.

SEON is leveraging the purchase to launch its new anti-money laundering (AML) API, which incorporates Complytron’s AML expertise. The new API aims to help clients comply with the European Union’s Sixth Anti Money Laundering Directive (6AMLD) by enabling them to check customer names against politically exposed persons, relatives and close associates, and crimes and sanctions lists.

“Our goal at SEON has always been to deliver the best products to our customers with maximum efficiency,” said SEON CEO Tamas Kadar. “Rather than building an AML solution from the ground up, it made perfect sense for us to integrate Complytron’s proprietary algorithms and worldwide databases – as well as the expertise of its talented team.”

The new API offers continuous monitoring that makes it easy for users find and block suspicious customers, add them to monitoring lists, and export the data for Suspicious Activity Reports. The AML API is currently available for all SEON clients, including those using the free version, which the company released last year.

In combining its flagship fraud prevention tools with the new AML API, SEON aims to help companies reduce information silos, run more thorough onboarding checks, and centralize customer data. The company is calling the integration a “crucial first step” in the process of creating a complete risk management toolkit.

Since it was founded in 2017, SEON has raised a total of $108 million. Earlier this year, the company partnered with Bulgaria-based tbi bank, which will deploy SEON’s fraud detection tools.


Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko

Zopa Raises $92 Million for its Digital Bank

Zopa Raises $92 Million for its Digital Bank
  • U.K.-based digital bank Zopa landed $92 million from existing investors IAG Silverstripe, Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP and Augmentum.
  • The funding, which “cements and enhances” the company’s unicorn status, brings Zopa’s total raised to $880 million.
  • Since launching its digital bank in 2020, Zopa has attracted $3.69 billion (£3 billion) in deposits, added more than $2.46 billion (£2 billion) in loans on its balance sheet, and issued more than 400,000 credit cards. 

Zopa pulled in $92 million (£75 million) this week to bolster its digital banking capabilities, proving that the race is still going strong in the challenger banking arena. The funding brings the U.K.-based company’s total raised to more than $880 million.

While Zopa did not disclose an updated valuation, the company said it “cements and enhances” its unicorn status. Zopa originally became a unicorn in 2021 after its $304 million funding round.

Also undisclosed is the round’s lead investor. Interestingly, the lead investor in the company’s 2021 round, SoftBank, is not participating in today’s investment. Zopa CEO Jaidev Janardana told TechCrunch, however, that SoftBank is still an active board member. He also mentioned that today’s funding included investments from existing investors IAG Silverstripe, Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP, and Augmentum.

Founded in 2005, the former peer-to-peer lending platform launched its digital bank in 2020 and has since attracted $3.69 billion (£3 billion) in deposits, added more than $2.46 billion (£2 billion) in loans on its balance sheet, and issued more than 400,000 credit cards. 

“We are happy to have investors who share our excitement at the opportunity to serve more customers across more product categories,” said Janardana. “This has already led to several profitable months in 2022 and will very likely convert into full-year profitability in 2023 for the first time.”

Zopa said that it will use the funding received today to pay off its debts and fuel upcoming mergers and acquisitions, which could begin this quarter.


Photo by Samson Katt

70 Fintechs Founded by African Americans

70 Fintechs Founded by African Americans

It’s the first day of Black History Month, and this year’s theme is Resistance. We’ll be serving up related coverage all month, and today’s piece sets the scene.

In an effort to highlight Black founders in our industry, we gathered a list of 70 fintechs with Black founders. This is far from an exhaustive list of fintechs with African American founders, but it is a good representation of diverse, relevant* companies.

Esusu Financial

Helps users build credit through renting
Founders: Abbey Wemimo, Jeph Acheampong, Robert Henning, Samir Goel

Promise

Helps reduce delinquencies and increase revenue while helping people pay off debt sooner and with fewer penalties
Founders: Diana Frappier, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins

Juniper Square

Empowers general partners and limited partners to focus on building enduring relationships and investment opportunities
Founders: Adam Ginsburg, Alex Robinson, Yonas Fisseha

Flutterwave

Provides a payment infrastructure for global merchants and payment service providers
Founders: Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Olugbenga Agboola

Gig Wage

Offers a payroll company for gig workers and contractors
Founder: Craig Jamal Lewis

LISNR

Enables secure and seamless data transmission using the ultrasonic data technology
Founders: Chris Ostoich, Chris Ridenour, Josh Glick, Nikki Ridenour, Rodney Williams

Lendistry

Offers business loans, SBA loans, and commercial real estate loans for small business owners
Founder: Everett Sands

SmartAsset

Provides a financial advice platform that powers SmartAdvisor, a marketplace connecting consumers to financial advisors
Founders: Michael Carvin, Philip Camilleri

Goalsetter

Provides a next-generation, education-first banking experience for families
Founder: Tanya Van Court

Thinknum

Offers alternative data sets for data-driven investing
Founders: Gregory Ugwi, Justin Zhen

Cadre

Provides an online marketplace that connects investors and operators of real estate
Founders: Jared Kushner, Joshua Kushner, Ryan Williams

Poolit

Allows users to invest in private equity, venture capital, and hedge funds with no minimum. 
Founder: Dakotah Rice

Grain

Transforms your debit card into a credit card
Founders: Carl-Alain Memnon, Christian-Robert Joseph, Patrick De Suza

Atomic

Provides personalized investment management services that lets companies embed investment accounts into their services.
Founder: David Dindi

Finary

Offers a social investing platform where you can talk about investments with friends and make trades on the market.
Founders: Darian Bhathena, Jack Phifer, Michael Liu, Roger Cawdette

Bump

An all-in-one platform that offers financial tools to help creators grow their business
Founders: Arabian Prince, Chris Mendez, Chris Schwartz, James Jones Jr.

Lendtable

Provides income-constrained individuals with wealth-building cash advances
Founders: Mitchell Jones, Sheridan Clayborne

LeaseQuery

Helps accountants and finance professionals eliminate lease accounting errors through its CPA-approved lease accounting software
Founder: George Azih

ZMBIZI

Offers a payment acceptance tool called TAP AND PAY
Founders: Alpesh Patel, Benjamin Aubin Jr., Terell Canton

Agent IQ

Provides a personal, digital customer engagement platform for community banks and credit unions.
Founders: Craig Davis, Slaven Bilac

MoCaFi

Develops a personal financial platform that improves the financial behaviors of underbanked communities
Founder: Wole Coaxum

Bean

Provides a SaaS-enabled market network and workflow management platform for accounting services
Founders: Anees Pretorius, Cono Onorato

Toolbox

Provides a modern financial operating system for construction, maintenance, and repair contractors
Founders: Jose Pons Vega, Wil Eyi

Material Impact Fund

Builds deep tech companies powered by material science
Founders: Adam Sharkawy, Carmichael Roberts

SoLo Funds

Provides a community finance platform where members request and fund emergency needs
Founders: Jarrel Carter, Rodney Williams, Taylor Bruno, Travis Holoway

EMTECH

Modernizes central banks for financial inclusion and resilience
Founder: Carmelle Cadet

FilmHedge

Offers a lending platform that provides short-term financing to qualified TV and Film productions
Founders: Janelle Alexander, Jon Gosier, Josh Harris, Mickey Vetter

Sika Health

Provides payment solutions for the healthcare sector
Founder: Ami Kumordzie

Clerkie

Offers an AI Financial Planner for underserved Americans
Founders: Gray Hoffman, Guy Assad, Sebastian Wigstrom

Aella

Helps Africans get credit, invest, get health insurance, and make payments
Founders: Akin Jones, Wale Akanbi

Landed

Helps essential professionals buy homes and build financial security near the communities they serve
Founded: Alex Lofton, Jesse Vaughan, Jonathan Asmis

Captain

Helps homeowners rebuild faster after natural disasters by paying general contractors up front
Founder: Demetrius Gray

Now Account Network

Provides a B2B payment system designed to help small businesses to manage their payment transactions
Founders: Lara Hodgson, Stacey Abrams

Stoovo

Offers delivery workers digital banking tools and tools to improve their efficiency
Founders: Hantz Févry, Pierre Frederic Mombeleur, Semih Korkmaz

Pigeon

Provides a peer-to-peer lending platform that facilitates loans between family, friends, and loved ones
Founders: Anna Matilde Tanga, Brian Bristol

Zirtue

Offers a relationship-based lending application that simplifies and automates loans between friends, family, and trusted relationships.
Founders: Dennis Cail, Michael Seay

Qoins

Helps consumers achieve their financial goals by combining financial education and automation
Founders: Christian Zimmerman, Nate Washington

Guava

Provides a digital banking and networking platform designed by and for Black small business owners
Founder: Kelly Ifill

Sote

Provides embedded trade solutions for Africa
Founders: Felix Orwa, Meka Este-McDonald, Scott Yacko

Chipper Cash

Offers mobile, cross-border money transfer services
Founders: Ham Serunjogi, Maijid Moujaled

ThankUCash

Provides a rewards and loyalty infrastructure for banks and businesses in Africa
Founders: Harshal Gandole, Madonna Ononobi, Simeon Ononobi, Suraj Supekar

RoadSync

Offers a digital payment platform for the logistics industry
Founders: Akmann Van-Mary, Ryan Droege, Spencer Barkoff

Float

Offers small-dollar credit lines built on bank and alternative data
Founders: Andy Burke, Kevin Bass, Max Klein

ModernTax

Democratizes access to tax records for business services companies
Founder: Matthew Parker

Home Lending Pal

Offers an Automated Mortgage Advisor that simulates buying a home with multiple lenders to determine mortgage approval odds and affordability impact based on lifestyle
Founders: Bryan Young, Steven Better, Tim Roberson

Titan

Provides an operating system for active investment management, powering investment products, and experiences for retail investors
Founders: Clayton Gardner, Joe Percoco, Max Bernardy

CrowdForce

Offers an offline distribution network for market research and financial services
Founders: Damilola Ayorinde, Oluwatomi Ayorinde

Clockwork

Provides intelligent financial modeling tools leveraging transaction-level data
Founder: Fady Hawatmeh

PROFIT

Offers an online bank for small businesses with built-in accounting software 
Founders: Frantz Romain, Vin Montes

Scout

Provides an investing platform that allows users to build risk-managed investment portfolios aligned with their interests
Founder: Michael Haddix Jr.

Ysplit

Creates products that deliver a collaborative cash experience for group transactions
Founders: Boateng Opoku-Yeboah, Landon Vago-Hughes, Tunde Alao

Mozaic

Offers a global split payment platform built for co-creators on any project, anywhere
Founders: Adam Clabaugh, Mangesh Bhamkar, Marcus Cobb, Rachel Knepp

Ovamba Solutions

Help SMEs in Africa and other emerging markets grow by providing them with short term capital
Founders: Marvin R. R. Cole, Viola Llewellyn

Curu

Enables lenders to open more accounts by showing users the actions necessary to meet eligibility for their financial goals
Founders: Abb Kapoor, David Potter

Greenwood Bank

Offers  a digital banking platform for Black and Latinx people and business owners
Founders: Andrew Young, Michael Render, Ryan Glover

Nivelo

Offers modern technologies and solutions through digital banking and faster payments
Founders: Eli Polanco, Philippe Legault

AlgoPear

Provides an AI-powered 401K alternative stock investing platform helping everyday investors retire early
Founders: Ben Malena, Johnathon Albercrombie, Lakeisha Turner, Ronnie Green

Business Score

Connects online businesses with funding options
Founder: Rich Serunjogi

My Home Pathway

Develops new pathways to help traditionally risk-challenged U.S. consumers purchase their dream home
Founder: Castleigh Johnson

The Wealth Factory

Offers financial literacy education games, curriculum, and fintech products
Founders: Angel Rich, Courtney Keen, Harjeet Singh

EnrichHer

 Offers a lending platform that provides up to $250k to revenue-generating women-led businesses
Founders: Roshawnna Novellus, Tiara Zolnierz

NestReady

Partners with mortgage lenders to offer a seamless digital homebuying experience for their clients
Founders: Frederick Townes, Marcos Carvalho, Mauro Repacci

OneEleven

Provides a financial wellness platform that helps people to live happier lives while helping businesses increase profits
Founder: Dani Pascarella

Fleri

Offers a cross-border health marketplace for global migrants 
Founder: Samuel Baddoo

Fivvy

Creates a smart wallet that uses for payment processors and financial institutions
Founder: Hanoi Morillo

Sootchy

Helps reduce household student debt in the U.S.
Founder: David Adefeso

Altro

Helps users build credit with everyday payments and subscriptions
Founders: Ayush Jain, Michael Broughton

StoreCash

Gives users up to 15% cashback on their everyday shopping and provides banking services
Founders: Daricus Releford, Phani Mullapudi, Sheetal Ravi

WealthBlock

Helps people take control of their financial future
Founders: Deji Jimoh, Trilliam Jeong

*We determined relevancy using CB Insights’ CB Rank.


Photo by RODNAE Productions