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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Payoneer received its e-money license from the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority.
The license will enable the digital commerce company to continue serving its U.K.-based customers.
Having earned the license, Payoneer now plans to grow its footprint in the U.K. region.
Global digital commerce company Payoneerreceived its e-money license from the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) this week. The license will enable Payoneer to continue to provide its e-money services to U.K.-based businesses.
“The FCA traditionally sets the tone of financial regulation globally and therefore we are extremely proud to be receiving our e-money license in the U.K., said Payoneer Payment Services CEO and SVP of Payoneer Europe James Allum. “We’re excited to be able to continue serving our customers in the U.K. and with our relationship with the FCA. Our customers in the UK now have confidence in Payoneer’s consistent ability to provide regulated financial services of the highest standard.”
With the new U.K. money license, Payoneer will grow its footprint in the region, offering its digital money services to U.K.-based businesses.
Payoneer was founded in 2005 and offers multi-currency accounts to five million customers ranging from marketplaces, sellers, freelancers, gig workers, manufacturers, banks, suppliers, and buyers. With a mission to “democratize access to financial services and drive growth for digital businesses of all sizes from around the world,” Payoneer helps users pay, get paid, and manage funds on a global scale. The company also offers working capital– providing advances to Amazon and Walmart sellers, as well as to small businesses.
In 2021, Payoneer went public via a SPAC merger with FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp. The company listed on the NASDAQ in June 2021 under the ticker PAYO. Scott Galit is CEO.
QUODD has agreed to acquire fellow market data company Xignite.
Combined, the two companies will serve more than 2,200 firms, ranging from large banks and wealth management platforms to smaller digital investment tools.
QUODD said the purchase reinforces its commitment to become “the premier cloud-based global financial market data and content provider.” Company CEO Bob Ward added, “Xignite is well known for being an early adopter of delivering high-quality market data solutions via the cloud as well as for its extensive API-driven data catalog. I look forward to working with Stephane Dubois, CEO of Xignite, and his team to help us fuel our next chapter of growth delivering the most accessible and reliable data for our customers.”
Combined, Xignite and QUODD will serve more than 2,200 companies, ranging from large banks and wealth management platforms to smaller digital investment tools. QUODD will leverage Xignite’s technology to enhance its QUODD Fuel, which will integrate Xignite’s content catalog; and Universe+, which will leverage Xignite’s market data.
QUODD’s technology enables clients to stream, embed, look up, and download pricing data for global equities, fixed income, indices, options, futures, and end-of-day pricing for global mutual funds. The company is owned by NewSpring Holdings’ Financeware, a probability-analysis technology and marketing strategies provider, which acquired QUODD in 2019 for an undisclosed amount.
NewSpring Holdings has lofty ambitions for the Xignite buy. “Our goal for the combined organization is to create the industry’s leading provider in centralized market data augmented with superior customer service, anchored in the strength of long-standing relationships and supported by leading technologies, which is why this transaction was a perfect fit,” said NewSpring Holdings General Partner Jim Ashton. “2022 was another year of strong organic growth for QUODD and, combined with Xignite, we are continuing to raise the bar in transforming the digital adoption of financial data for market participants.”
Founded in 2000, Xignite offers market data APIs to its brokerage, wealth management, and fintech clients. The company’s APIs offer a range of market data– including real-time stock prices, historical stock prices, options prices, futures prices, mutual fund prices, ETF prices, foreign exchange rates, bond prices, and more. Combined, the company’s customers use Xignite’s APIs more than half a trillion times each month.
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.
The decision by digital asset platform Bakkt to pivot toward B2B technology solutions and away from consumer-based crypto products appears to be part of the greater re-evaluation that many fintechs are doing in the wake of the crypto crash of 2022. The company, which made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall last September, announced this week that it was turning the page on its consumer-facing app, launched in March 2021. Instead, the Alpharetta, Georgia-based fintech will focus on helping businesses provide crypto and loyalty experiences to its customers via SaaS and API solutions.
“As we continue to gain traction with our B2B2C strategy, we are laser focused on providing our partners and clients with seamless solutions that best serve their needs,” Bakkt President and CEP Gavin Michael said. “The discontinuation of the app ensures we are supporting the relationship our partners and clients have with their customers. With this move, we are focusing our investment on our core solutions that have product-market fit and are positioned to scale quickly.”
Bakkt’s decision to shutter its consumer-based crypto app comes in the wake of the company’s agreement to acquire crypto trading platform Apex Crypto from Apex Fintech Solutions back in November 2022. With more than 30 fintech partners and more than five million customers, Apex Crypto is expected to help support Bakkt’s B2B2C strategy of bringing more crypto-based solutions to clients in a range of verticals.
Bakkt’s consumer crypto app is set to sunset just over one month from now, on March 16. Current users of the app will continue to be able to access their crypto and cash on the platform courtesy of a new online, device-agnostic solution. The new experience will enable users to check crypto balances, as well as access transaction reports for tax purposes.
Founded in 2018, Bakkt demoed its Crypto Connect technology at FinovateFall last year. The solution helped consumers use their current financial services institution’s mobile app to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies in a secure, trusted environment. In December, Bakkt laid off 15% of its exempt employee base in a bid to better control costs as the cryptocurrency downturn and FTX scandal soured the much of the public – as well as investors – on the space.
A publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange since the fall of 2021, Bakkt is listed under the ticker “BKKT.” The firm has a market capitalization of $433 million.
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.
FISacquiredWorldpay 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.
Paytech HUMBL unveiled its new mobile wallet this week.
The new offering enables users to buy, sell, and hold digital assets, and includes a search engine and a social media platform.
Currently available for Apple users, an Android version of the wallet is expected “soon.”
California-based paytech HUMBL is the latest company to launch a mobile wallet with more than just money in mind. The company’s HUMBL Wallet offering not only enables users to buy, sell, and hold digital assets; it also serves as a search engine and a social media platform with independently verified user profiles and brands.
“The HUMBL Wallet allows global customers to quickly search, verify, and transact with each other in new ways in the digital economy,” HUMBL CEO Brian Foote explained. “As consumers move from Web 2 onto Web 3 via HUMBL, we believe that digital wallets, as well as verified people and products, will start to become a fundamental expectation of future customers.”
The iOS version of the wallet is now available in the Apple App store in more than 140 countries. For Android users, the Wallet and the company’s social media platform HUMBL Social are currently available as separate applications in the Google Play Store and will be merged together “soon.” The company noted that it will continue to bring new capabilities to the wallet, including the ability to accept SMB/merchant payments.
The addition of a search engine in the wallet makes it easy for users to find news, images, and videos online without having to leave the platform. But the technology also provides a blockchain-based search capacity to find verified NFTs across Ethereum, Polygon, BLOCKS, and more. The wallet can be used to store NFTs as well as connect to Web 3 social media platforms like Collab.Land. HUMBL Social, accessible via the wallet, offers a social media alternative that enables verified users to connect with other verified accounts.
The addition of HUMBL Social is designed to help users avoid the “fake profiles, ratings, reviews, and merchandise” of Web 2, according to Foote. Adding the problem of fake bots accounts and ad click fraud to the mix, Foote said that the HUMBL platform is designed to give online users an alternative. “The HUMBL platform is being built to help solve for those issues on Web3, using blockchain and other new technology solutions, such as KYC/KYB profile verification and decentralized blockchain registries for faster payments, goods, and services authentication,” Foote said.
Founded in 2019, HUMBL ended 2022 by raising $20 million in an equity financing agreement with GHS Investments. Also last year, the company entered into a strategic technology partnership with food delivery company Great Foods2Go, and acquired digital wallet BizSecure for an undisclosed sum.
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.
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 Tazapayclosed $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. FedNowService in a sandbox environment.
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 Finzlyreleased its new API that offers connection to the U.S. FedNowService 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
A new fintech called Fierce has emerged from stealth with $10 million in seed funding.
The company’s iOS-based app features a cash account with an APY of up to 4.25%; a Rewards Credit Card is planned for later this year.
Fierce is backed by investors including Pendrell, AP Capital, Wheelhouse Digital Studios, and Space Whale Capital.
Fierce, a fintech based in New York, emerged from stealth this week with an iOS-based app and $10 million in seed funding. The investment came from institutional investors including Pendrell, AP Capital, Wheelhouse Digital Studios, and Space Whale Capital, as well as angel investors. The funding will help Fierce add to its team, build up its customer base, and market its solution.
“Fierce is a customer focused, feel-good finance app,” Fierce founder and CEO Rob Cornish said. “We are truly mission-driven in our effort to bring the best of fintech to people, so we built an incredibly advanced platform with a simple UX to give as much yield as possible to our customers. Our goal is to help users increase their wealth while enjoying an empowering, positive experience on the app.”
Founded in 2021 by a team of financial services professionals with backgrounds in both challenger and traditional banking, as well as cryptocurrencies and U.S. stock exchanges, Fierce offers users an all-in-one financial app for savings, spending, investing, and more. Fierce features an FDIC-insured cash account with an APY of up to 4.25% and no monthly fees. The app also enables users to buy shares of both stocks and ETFs – including the purchase of fractional shares – as well as participate in Fully Paid Securities Lending (FPSL) through which investors can earn passive income by lending their stocks. Note that FPSL does not prevent investors from trading their shares at any time.
Fierce also said that it plans to introduce a Fierce Rewards Credit Card later this year. The card will offer 1.5% cash back on all spending, and all interest and rewards earned are automatically redeemed into the user’s portfolio. Additional functionality – such as access to personal loans, mortgages, insurance, and more – is planned, and Fierce expects to offer an Android version of its app later in 2023.
“Fierce is entering the market with a powerful solution that allows customers to take control of their finances while calming the financial anxiety that many people face today,” Fierce angel investor David Krell said. “We’re confident in the company’s ability to provide customers with the means to create financial stability for the long run.”
Bitcoin While Black: The impact of the cryptocurrency crisis on communities of color
One of the relatively underreported stories of 2022 – at least in the fintech press – was the impact of the cryptocurrency crisis on communities of color – especially African-American communities. At first glance, this might appear to be an odd take: why – and how – would a community that has historically been more un- and underbanked than the population at large end up being especially affected by a crisis in such a niche area of contemporary finance?
As Annie Lowrey wrote in a comprehensive article for The Atlantic back in November, it was years of “neglect” from the traditional financial system that made African Americans especially vulnerable to the appeal of cryptocurrencies as an alternative. Add to this the post-George Floyd “racial reckoning” and renewed emphasis on ethnic identity among many African Americans, and it is easy to see how many came to see investment in cryptocurrencies as a way of building the kind of generational wealth that has eluded black Americans for, well, generations.
And there was no lack of enthusiasts encouraging black Americans to pursue this path, either. For much of 2021 and into 2022, my inbox was filled with queries and requests for interviews from entrepreneurs eager to make the case that cryptocurrencies were the ticket to take black Americans to, if not wealth, then at least a greater sense of financial independence and empowerment. Books like Bitcoin & Black America and Bitcoin for Black People, as well as events like the Black Blockchain Summit all helped encourage African Americans to believe that they could do things with digital assets that too few had been able to accomplish via the world of traditional banking and fiat currencies.
I’ll leave it up to Lowrey to describe what went wrong – though the perennial problem of investors arriving late to a booming market helps explain a lot of it. Whether the cryptocurrency bust of 2022 sours African American investors on digital assets in an enduring way remains to be seen. But Bitcoin won’t be the last boom to come knocking on the doors of the African American community – after it has already visited every other neighborhood in town.
Revolut introduces crypto staking
Revolut announced this week that it is giving its customers in the U.K. and Europe the opportunity to earn cryptocurrency rewards if they allow financial institutions to “stake” their coins as part of a blockchain transaction verification process. Staking, as explained by Revolut’s Kirsty Daniel this week, involves participating in proof-of-stake blockchains which, like mining, help support the security of the overall network. Only certain coins are available for staking – Ethereum, Cardano, Polkadot, and Tezos, for example (not Bitcoin), and individuals who participate in staking can earn a significant percentage return for their (or the blockchain’s) efforts. Daniel noted that cryptocurrency stakers can earn up to 11.65% APY in crypto rewards by staking qualified crypto holdings.
Read more about staking in this extensive explainer provided by Coinbase. What is staking?
Among the risks to staking are the fact that there tends to be a “lockup” or “vesting” period during which the cryptocurrency cannot be transferred. This can be a challenge because holders are not able to trade staked coins during this period – even in the event of a major market disruption. Revolut’s decision was seen by analysts as an affirmation of the company’s commitment to supporting cryptocurrencies as the industry has been rocked by scandal in recent months.
Blockchain infrastructure platform Paxos opens R&D center in Israel
Blockchain and tokenization infrastructure platform Paxos announced last week that it was launching an engineering research and development center for security and cryptography in Israel. The center will house senior, staff, and principal engineers that have specialized skills in enterprise-grade security, applied cryptography, and blockchain technology. Paxos expects the R&D center to serve as an incubation hub for research into building security and cryptography solutions on top of the blockchain.
“We’re redefining financial markets and we believe our next generation of both software and hardware technical experts call Israel home,” Paxos Senior Director of Engineering Vitaliy Liptchinsky said. “As a safe, regulated platform that has continuously and steadily grown amidst all past digital asset market volatility, Paxos offers talented developers the opportunity to join a strong team uniquely positioned to serve some of the most sophisticated global enterprises.”
Paxos’ infrastructure reaches more than 400 million users. The largest issuer of regulated, transparent stablecoins, Paxos uses technology to tokenize, trade, settle, and maintain custody of digital assets. The company has developed blockchain solutions for institutions like fellow Finovate alums PayPal, Mastercard, and Nubank; and has raised more than $540 million in funding. Charles Cascarilla is co-founder and CEO.
Cointelegraph unveils its list of the Top 100 “crypto heroes and villains” for 2023
For the fourth year in a row, Cointelegraph has released its list of the Top 100 most influential people in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. The publication will reveal the list in its entirety over the next three weeks.
Starting with #100 through #91, some of the more interesting – and unexpected – entries so far include Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova at number 96 (“Sharapova has been involved in a series of investment ventures in recent years, including in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries, and is currently an investor in MoonPay, a blockchain payments company …”) and “Artificial Intelligence” at #93.
Writing on request about AI’s presence on the list, ChatGPT opined: “… it is expected that artificial intelligence will have a signifiant impact on the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry … one of the main ways that AI will impact the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry is through the use of smart contracts.”
The rise of AI-focused cryptocurrencies
Speaking of the relationship between cryptocurrencies and AI, CoinDesk published an interesting article this week on the way AI-focused cryptocurrencies have outperformed Bitcoin. “Vastly” in the words of author Shaurya Malwa.
What tokens are we talking about? In recent weeks, tokens for platform like Alethea’s artificial liquid intelligence (ALI) and Image Generation AI (IMGNAI) have turned in the kind of performances that have cryptocurrency investors and traders buzzing. Malwa noted that while Bitcoin and ether have returned a more-than-respectable 30% each over the past month or so, these AI-focused upstarts are producing returns that dwarf those – and in less time.
Malwa seems to suggest that much of what is driving these new assets is the same combination of novelty and opportunity that initially drove Bitcoin and ethereum. Malwa quotes Ravindra Kumar, founder of crypto wallet Frontier, who credited “early interest, potential, and hype” for the outperformance of AI-focused cryptocurrencies, but still observed that there are some “innovative and compelling use cases” emerging.
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 Intelligenceclosed 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.
