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Fintech Fundings: 23 Companies Raise $2.7 Billion Week Ending Jan 22

By Jim Bruene Posted on January 22, 2016
Categories: Funding

Last week, we set the record for most fintech deals in a single week with 28. This week, we established a new mark (by a large margin) for the highest weekly dollar total with $2.7 billion. The previous record was $1.6 billion the third week of August 2015. These are mind-boggling numbers. Imagine this: Your company, JD.com, raises $1 billion, and you are not even the biggest deal, as Chinese rival Lufax brings in $1.2 billion the very same week.

All told, 23 fintech companies worldwide brought in $2.733 billion. That included four Finovate alums who raised a total of more than $190 million:

LendUp brought in $150 million in equity and debt to fund its alternative to traditional payday loans
BlueVine added $40 million for its SMB accounts-receivables financing service
Linxo raised $2.2 million for its French bank account-aggregation app
Eight-year-old IP Commerce raised its first round (undisclosed amount) for its SMB accounting technology

Year-to-date, fintech companies have raised $3.5 billion in equity and debt worldwide, almost six times the $680 million raised during the first three weeks of 2015. And the number of deals is up 67% (75 compared to 45 in 2015).

Here are the fintech deals by size from 16 Jan to 22 Jan 2016:

Lufax
Chinese P2P lender
Latest round: $1.22 billion Series B (at $18.5 billion valuation)
Total raised: $1.7 billion
HQ: Shanghai, China
Tags: Consumer, credit, person-to-person, marketplace lender, underwriting, investing, Ping Am (investor)
Source: Crunchbase, Crowdfund Insider

JD Finance
Financial subsidiary of JD.com (direct sales company)
Latest round: $1 billion at $7.1 billion valuation
Total raised: $1 billion
HQ: Chaoyang, China
Tags: Consumer, SMB, credit, deposits, mobile, banking
Source: Crunchbase

WeLab
Consumer alt-credit provider
Latest round: $160 million Series B
Total raised: $180 million
HQ: Hong Kong, China
Tags: Consumer, credit, mobile, underwriting, lending, ING Bank (investor)
Source: Crunchbase

LendUp
Payday loan alternative
Latest round: $150 million Series B (mix of equity/debt)
Total raised: $164 million (mix of equity/debt)
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumer, credit, lending, underwriting, mobile, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Digital Asset
Distributed ledger technology for financial services
Latest round: $50 million
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: New York City, New York
Tags: Enterprise, blockchain, bitcoin, cryptocurrency, database, securities trading, custody
FI investors: JP Morgan, BNP Paribas, ABN AMRO, Santander, PNC, Citigroup
Source: FT Partners

BlueVine
Small-business invoice factoring
Latest round: $40 million Series C
Total raised: $64 million
HQ: Palo Alto, California
Tags: SMB, credit, factoring, accounts receivables financing, underwriting, commercial credit, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Blend Labs
Mortgage processing platform
Latest round: $40 million Series C
Total raised: $65 million
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Enterprise, mortgage banking/brokers, credit, home loans, process automation
Source: FT Partners

Zameen.com
Pakistani residential real estate portal
Latest round: $2o million Series C
Total raised: $29 million
HQ: Lahore, Pakistan
Tags: Consumer, real estate, lead gen, mortgage, home buying, agents
Source: Crunchbase

Housing.com (aka Locon Solutions)
Indian residential real estate portal
Latest round: $14.7 million Series
Total raised: $154.2 million
HQ: Mumbai, India
Tags: Consumer, real estate, lead gen, mortgage, home buying, agents
Source: Crunchbase

Travelers Box
Kiosk to convert foreign coins and currency into gift cards
Latest round: $10 million Series
Total raised: $14.5 million
HQ: Istanbul, Turkey
Tags: Consumer, FX, hardware, gift cards
Source: Crunchbase

Neyber
Platform for employers to lend to employees
Latest round: $8.56 million Series
Total raised: $8.56 million
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Consumer, B2B2C, credit, underwriting, HR, employee benefits, loans
Source: Crunchbase

PayIt
Government mobile payment processor
Latest round: $4.5 million Series A
Total raised: $4.5 million
HQ: Kansas City, Missouri
Tags: Consumer, payments, tickets, B2G2C, merchants, acquiring, debit/credit cards
Source: Crunchbase

CapLinked
Cloud-based platform for coordinating asset sales, financings and M&A
Latest round: $3.5 million
Total raised: $9.4 million
HQ: Manhattan Beach, California
Tags: SMB, deals, investing, investment banking, advisers, Peter Thiel (investor)
Source: Crunchbase, American Banker

Solovis
Investment management platform for advisers
Latest round: $3.25 million
Total raised: $3.5 million
HQ: Birmingham, Alabama
Tags: Investment managers, wealth management, investing, insurance, family office
Source: Crunchbase

LoanHero
Point-of-sale financing
Latest round: $2.5 million Seed
Total raised: $4.6 million
HQ: La Jolla, California
Tags: Consumer, credit, POS, underwriting, loans, purchase financing, tablet
Source: Crunchbase

EasyPolicy
Indian insurance portal
Latest round: $2.2 million Seed
Total raised: $2.2 million
HQ: Uttar Pradesh, India
Tags: Consumer, insurance, lead gen, price comparison, car/auto, life
Source: Crunchbase

Linxo
Personal financial manager
Latest round: $2.18 million Seed
Total raised: $2.18 million
HQ: Aix-en-Provence, France
Tags: Consumer, personal finance management, PFM, spending, budgeting, mobile, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Cashforce
Enterprise cash management
Latest round: $1.1 million
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Herentals, Belgium
Tags: Enterprise, SMB, accounting, cash management, treasury, commercial banking
Source: Let’s Talk Payments

Fisdom
Mobile personal investing
Latest round: $500,000 Seed
Total raised: $500,000
HQ: Bangalore, India
Tags: Consumer, investing, savings, personal finance
Source: Crunchbase

IP Commerce
SMB accounting technology (CommerceSync)
Latest round: Undisclosed Series A
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Denver, Colorado
Tags: SMB, accounting, developers, ecommerce, financial management, payments, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Central Technology Services
Software and IT financing
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Tags: SMB, enterprise, commercial credit, asset financing
Source: FT Partners

EPS
Retail banking and ATM technology
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: $10 million (previously)
HQ: Mumbai, India
Tags: Financial institutions, B2B2C, deposits, banking, payments
Source: FT Partners

Precidian
Investment management
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Bedminster, New Jersey
Tags: Enterprise, mutual funds, ETFs, trading, advisers, wealth management, Legg Mason (investor)
Source: FT Partners

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Image licensed from 123rf.com

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Linxo Raises €2 Million from Crédit Agricole

By David Penn Posted on January 22, 2016
Categories: Funding, Fundings, linxo

French PFM innovator Linxo (a FinovateEurope 2011 alum) has raised €2 million in funding from new investor Crédit Agricole, and existing investor Crédit Mutuel Arkéa. Having raised €500,000 in 2013, the company’s total capital now stands at more than $2.6 million.

The investment will help strenghten Linxo’s position in France, as well as fund the company’s expansion into other European markets. Linxo also plans to add talent to both its technical and communications teams.

From left: Co-founders Hugues Pisapia, managing director, and CEO Bruno Van Haetsdaele demonstrated the Linxo platform at FinovateEurope 2011.

Bruno Van Haetsdaele and Hugues Pisapia, Linxo co-founders, said the investment was a show of confidence in their platform. “These investors confirm our development while leaving us the independence and autonomy to continue to grow rapidly,” said Van Haetsdaele. The pair says the trust of leading banking players showed a strong signal of confidence in the security of Linxo’s solution and the sustainability of their business model.

Linxo specializes in personal finance management and savings-optimization solutions for consumers. It’s the first account-aggregation service supported by French FIs. More than simply aggregating accounts, Linxo has opened up its platform to application developers looking to build features such as partner dashboards, rewards and offers programs, and more.

Linxo demonstrated its platform at FinovateEurope 2011 in London. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Aix-en-Provence, France, Linxo employs seven and says its platform has been used by more than 850,000 businesses and individuals.

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IP Commerce Closes Series A Round

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 22, 2016
Categories: Funding, IP Commerce

This week, small business software company IP Commerce landed its first round of funding since it was founded in 2007. The amount was undisclosed.

Top-name investors contributed to the round:

First Data Ventures
Intel Capital
Meritage Funds
Camp One Ventures
Augury Capital Partners
Service Provider Capital

The company’s flagship product, Commerce Sync, helps its 7,000+ small business clients eliminate manual data entry by syncing sales information with their accounting platform. IP Commerce holds partnerships with Clover, Stripe, Square, Quickbooks, and Xero.

IP Commerce company will use the funds to expand its workforce and enhance the functionality of Commerce Sync.

First Data’s Peter Karpas, global head of SMB Solutions, has been appointed to IP Commerce’s board of directors.

IP Commerce is based in Denver. The company debuted its Multi-party Payments Commerce Playlist at FinovateSpring 2012.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on January 22, 2016
Categories: BehavioSec, Betterment, Currency Cloud, IP Commerce, linxo, MasterCard, On Deck Capital, Tradeshift, TransferWise, Vouch

On Finovate.com

“IP Commerce Closes Series A Round”

“Linxo Raises €2 Million from Crédit Agricole”

Around the web

MasterCard and TransferWise talk about the “future of money and credit” with TechCruch at Davos 2016.

Let’s Talk Payments features Betterment in a roundup of fintech startups focused on reducing fees for retirement savers.

OnDeck enters referral agreement with Opus Bank to power SMB lending.

Forbes features Currency Cloud.

BehavioSec to power behavioral biometrics for TeleSign.

American Banker profiles Vouch.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Capital Preferences

By David Penn Posted on January 21, 2016
Categories: Capital Preferences, FinovateEurope 2016, FinovateEurope 2016 Sneak Peek

A look at the companies demoing live to 1,500 fintech professionals. Register today.

Capital Preferences takes the pain out of client profiling. We use game theory to create each client’s Economic Fingerprint—letting you customize advice and prove suitability.

Features

We lower risk and raise customization potential
We provide statistical confidence that you are providing suitable advice
We sell to the right clients based upon their preferences

Why it’s great
Firms that know their clients best will win. Your client’s Economic Fingerprint is the key to serve them better, grow revenue, stay compliant, and lower the regulatory risk profile of your business.

Presenter

Bernard Del Rey, CEO

Del Rey is an experienced chief marketing officer, a leader at JP Morgan Asset Management and Morgan Stanley Investment Management, who then founded Capital Position, a global strategy and marketing firm.
LinkedIn

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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: additiv

By David Penn Posted on January 21, 2016
Categories: additiv, FinovateEurope 2016, FinovateEurope 2016 Sneak Peek

A look at the companies demoing live to 1,500 fintech professionals. Register today.

additiv will present Descartes, based on the platform additiv Digital Finance Suite (DFS).

Features

Additiv DFS: digitization realized fast and efficiently
Full self-service hybrid, or personal adviser-focused solutions including robo-adviser technology
For the banking and insurance markets

Why it’s great
Descartes is a high-end, multi-algorithmic robo-adviser for demanding, self-directed investors offering a holistic advisory and portfolio-management approach.

Presenters

Michael Stemmle, Owner and CEO

Stemmle has long-term consulting experience with a focus on the development and implementation of business, sales, and distribution strategies for the finance and insurance industries.
LinkedIn

Adriano B. Lucatelli, Entrepreneur, Founder of Descartes AG

Lucatelli is a Swiss entrepreneur, investor, and member of the board of directors of various companies (one of them additiv). He has lectured at the University of Zurich on international finance since 2012.
LinkedIn

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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: AdviceRobo

By David Penn Posted on January 21, 2016
Categories: AdviceGames, FinovateEurope 2016, FinovateEurope 2016 Sneak Peek

A look at the companies demoing live to 1,500 fintech professionals. Register today.

CreditRobo from AdviceRobo provides behavior-based predictive and preventive solutions, instant credit scoring, and a gamified user interface by applying the latest technologies such as machine learning.

Features

Reduces risk in your customer base
Gives actionable insights for highly effective campaigns
Offers personalized services, such as a personal online dashboard
Improves your ROI

Why it’s great
AdviceRobo helps you to predict and prevent, on an individual level, the credit risk in your base.

Presenters

Diederick van Thiel, CEO

Founder and CEO Thiel previously founded and sold eyeOpen, the world’s first online mortgage robo-advisor. He is enrolled in a Ph.D. program on behavioral finance and big-data-driven customer experiences.
LinkedIn

Rosali Steenkamer, CCO

Founder and CCO Steenbakmer previously founded and sold eyeOpen, the world’s first online mortgage robo-advisor. She has in-depth expertise and experience in the field of marketing, communication, and sales.
LinkedIn

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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: eWise

By David Penn Posted on January 21, 2016
Categories: eWise, FinovateEurope 2016, FinovateEurope 2016 Sneak Peek

A look at the companies demoing live to 1,500 fintech professionals. Register today.

eWise is a leading international provider of private and secure personal finance management (PFM) and account-aggregation solutions. eWise will present its new data privacy feature.

Features

Responsibility and security in Personal Money Management since 2000.

Money Manager
Personal Data Vault
Data Privacy Settings

Why it’s great
Having our financial data in one place and sharing it in return for better services will revolutionize the relationship we have with our money.

Presenters

Alex Grinberg, Head of Business Development and Founder

Grinberg started his career in law and technology, as senior legal counsel at IBM and Oracle. He founded eWise in 2000 and is now driving business development.
LinkedIn

Dean Young, Head of Product Management

Young is based in Singapore and has more than 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry.
LinkedIn

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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Valuto

By David Penn Posted on January 21, 2016
Categories: FinovateEurope 2016, FinovateEurope 2016 Sneak Peek, Valuto

A look at the companies demoing live to 1,500 fintech professionals. Register today.

Valuto offers a corporate level, multi-currency account for SMEs, a centralized location to facilitate everything from foreign exchange to sending and receiving cross-border payments.

Features

Domestic payouts and collections via our network of European bank accounts.
Free and instant payments between Valuto users.
Integrates seamlessly with other technology via Valuto open API

Why it’s great
Via the Valuto API, users will be able to connect their Valuto payment account to third-party systems in a safe and secure way.

Presenters

Lukasz Olek, Chief Product Officer and Founder

Olek balances his time between getting key deliverables out the door in the short term, while simultaneously inspiring people around him to find ways to improve the core product.
LinkedIn

Michal Czekalski, CEO and Founder

Czekalski at age 25 started his first company, Internetowykantor.pl, leveraging the internet to help individuals and companies exchange currencies at a fraction of the cost of the incumbents.
LinkedIn

Matthew Harris, International Business Developments and Partnerships

Not content with just offering Valuto to users in Poland and the Czech Republic, Harris has taken the role of expanding the brand’s reach across Europe and beyond.
LinkedIn

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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: TaxFree4U

By David Penn Posted on January 21, 2016
Categories: B4U Tax Free Limited, FinovateEurope 2016, FinovateEurope 2016 Sneak Peek

A look at the companies demoing live to 1,500 fintech professionals. Register today.

TaxFree4U is an innovative service that utilizes IT solutions to provide customers with the simplest and most efficient way in the market to get the VAT refunds on purchases made in the EU.

Features

48-hour refund
Purchases available within any store in EU
Website and mobile apps make process almost fully-automated

Why it’s great
The main strategic course is to be present in every EU country and be fully integrated with existing customs and revenue systems in order to provide our clients with a unified VAT-refund solution.

Presenter

Andrii Lebedynets, Co-Founder

Lebedynets has over a decade of experience in IT, with more than five years of successful work on startups specializing in marketing, advertising, and SEO. He has been with the project since its inception.
LinkedIn

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Fiserv Buys ACI Worldwide’s Community Financial Services Division for $200 Million

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 21, 2016
Categories: Fiserv

Financial services solutions provider Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV) has agreed to purchase the Community Financial Services (CFS) arm of ebanking and payment solutions provider ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW).

Fiserv, which reported 2013 revenues of $4.8 billion, will pay $200 million cash for CFS.

Included in the transaction are CFS clients as well as the company’s employees, who will join Fiserv’s workforce of 21,000.

The highlight of the deal, however, seems to be the technology. Jeffery Yabuki, Fiserv President and CEO states, “We are pleased to add these strong digital banking capabilities which will further enable financial institutions to serve their customers in today’s dynamic world.”

CFS solutions include:

ACI’s Architect Banking
SSB Internet Banking
WebFederal Internet Banking and Advantage Internet Banking solutions
Advantage Consolidated Bank Bill Pay
ACI Defense Services

The deal is expected to close sometime this quarter, subject to regulatory approval.

Wisconsin-based Fiserv recently debuted its Mobiliti Enterprise at FinovateFall 2015. In the demo, the company showed how a user can withdraw cash from an ATM without a card by using wearable devices connected with iBeacons inside the ATM.

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LendUp Raises $150 Million in Series B, Expanded Credit Facility

By David Penn Posted on January 21, 2016
Categories: Funding, Fundings, LendUp

San Francisco-based alternative lender LendUp has raised $150 million in a combined Series B funding round and expanded credit facility.

The Series B, which involved participation from “almost all” of LendUp’s existing investors, was led by Susa Ventures and Data Collective. Victory Park Capital participated in the investment, as well as providing LendUp with a second credit facility. According to LendUp CEO Sasha Orloff, the expanded credit facility will help the company provide new “national products” and reach more customers.

From left: LendUp Co-founder Sasha Orloff and CTO Jacob Rosenberg demonstrated their platform at FinovateSpring 2014.

Founded in 2011 and launched the following year, LendUp specializes in providing credit products to the millions of U.S. consumers who aren’t able to borrow from traditional banks. These products include the LendUp Ladder, an alternative to payday loans that helps borrowers rebuild their credit, and a new credit card business, the L Card, launched last year.

Named one of “30 Hot Fintech Startups to Watch” by Fox Business in June 2015, and earning a spot on AlwaysOn’s On Finance Top 100 in April 2015, LendUp demonstrated its platform at FinovateSpring 2014. The company has more than 130 employees and anticipates doubling staff by the end of the year.

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