Daily news

Stripe Launches Tax Tool for Businesses

Stripe Launches Tax Tool for Businesses
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news

Stripe is building out its tools for small businesses this week. The ecommerce technology company launched Stripe Tax, after completing a six month long pilot.

The new tool helps businesses automatically calculate and collect sales tax, VAT, and GST on the merchant’s behalf. Not only this, the new offering also generates reports and helps businesses navigate complicated regional requirements. The capabilities will lift a burden off small businesses, especially in the U.S., where there are over 11,000 different tax jurisdictions.

“No one leaps out of bed in the morning excited to deal with taxes,” said Stripe Co-founder and President John Collison. “For most businesses, managing tax compliance is a painful distraction. We simplify everything about calculating and collecting sales taxes, VAT, and GST, so our users can focus on building their businesses.”

Stripe Tax features include:

  • Real time tax calculation, which leverages the customer’s location to calculate and collect the right amount of tax and keeps up-to-date with rate and rule changes
  • Frictionless checkout, which reduces checkout friction by using location information to calculate and show taxes to customers.
  • Tax ID management, which helps B2B businesses collect the tax ID number from customers and validate VAT IDs for European customers
  • Reconciliation, which creates comprehensive reports for each market in which a business is registered to collect tax

The tax calculation and collection capabilities will be available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.S., and the U.K.

The launch follows Stripe’s acquisition of tax tool startup TaxJar in May. “With TaxJar, we will help millions of internet businesses running on Stripe with their sales tax and make it easier for them to sell internationally,” commented Stripe CFO Dhivya Suryadevara. “And as a CFO, I’m delighted to welcome so many new colleagues who care deeply about taxes!”

It also comes after a rather sizable funding round the company announced in March, when Stripe raised $600 million in funding. The Series H round brought the company’s total funding to $2.2 billion and boosted its valuation to $95 billion.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

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Klarna Locks in $639 Million in New Funding; Earns $46 Billion Valuation

Klarna Locks in $639 Million in New Funding; Earns $46 Billion Valuation
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Klarna

In a round led by SoftBank – and featuring participation from Adit Ventures, Honeycomb Asset Management, and WestCap Group – consumer payments pioneer Klarna has raised $639 million in funding. The investment brings the company a valuation of $46 billion at a time when the buy now pay later trend is reshaping consumer financing

“Consumers continue to reject interest- and fee-laden revolving credit and are moving toward debit while simultaneously seeking retail experiences that better meet their needs,” Klarna founder and CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said. “More transparent and convenient alternatives align with evolving global consumer preferences and drive worldwide growth.”

A Finovate alum since 2012, Stockholm, Sweden-based Klarna was among the innovators in “after-delivery payment” which enabled buyers to receive products before payment was due, with the facilitating company taking on all credit and fraud risk for online merchants. To state the obvious, Klarna’s approach to consumer financing has caught on in the years since with a wave of companies across the globe launching their own “buy now pay later” options – especially of late. Today, with this investment, Klarna is Europe’s biggest fintech unicorn, with more than $1.2 billion in 2020 revenues, and more than 18 million customers in the U.S. alone. The company’s payment options are available at nearly a quarter of the top U.S. retailers, and can be found in 17 markets around the world. Klarna’s most recent offering, Pay in 4, is a full embrace of the buy now pay later format, giving consumers the opportunity to pay for purchases over time in four, interest-free payments.

In addition to being the highest-valued private fintech in Europe, Klarna is now the #2 fintech in terms of valuation in the world – behind Stripe. And as part of the GiveOne initiative launched by Klarna earlier this year, the company will direct 1% of this week’s investment to “initiatives supporting planet health.”

“Klarna is really transforming and disrupting corporate giving by not only implementing a long-term commitment but also by enabling others to do the same,” explained Nina Siemiatkowski, founder and CEO of Milkywire, a social impact platform that serves as Klarna’s strategic partner in the GiveOne project. “We hope that many more companies follow their lead and support our planet by funding those who are on the frontlines making impactful change on a daily basis.”

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SumUp Partners with Google Pay to Facilitate Business Payments

SumUp Partners with Google Pay to Facilitate Business Payments
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, SumUp

Global payments company SumUp announced this week that it is collaborating with Google Pay. The two have partnered to help merchants make business transactions safer and easier using their SumUp card, which was launched in February of last year.

The partnership will enable SumUp’s 125,000 business cardholders in the U.K., France, Italy, and DACH to add their SumUp payment card to their Google Pay mobile wallet. Google Pay will also support virtual cards, which will allow merchants to make purchases from suppliers without having their physical card. It will also allow new cardholders to start using their SumUp card immediately after it is issued, instead of waiting for the card in the mail.

“At SumUp, we’re always looking to help our merchants find new ways to improve their businesses, particularly as we move out of this pandemic and hopefully towards a more economically positive future,” said SumUp VP of Banking Dimitri Gugunava. “Collaborating with Google Pay is a really important development for us, because it means we can remove layers of friction for small businesses who need to make quick (but safe) payments on the go.”

SumUp was founded in 2012 and helps three million merchants accept card payments using a mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) device and a Mastercard-branded small business payment card. The U.K.-based company also offers small business tools including invoice-creation software, inventory management, customer loyalty features, employee time roll, and reporting technology.

The collaboration announcement comes after SumUp pulled in $895 million in debt funding from Goldman Sachs, Temasek, Bain Capital Credit, Crestline, and others. SumUp Co-founder Marc-Alexander Christ said that the cash will help the company grow its customer base and drive the development of new services for its small business clients across the globe.

Coinciding with today’s news, SumUp released a new TV ad today that promotes the company’s mPOS device for small and micro merchants. Check it out below:

Photo by Oli Dale on Unsplash

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Roboadvisor Scalable Capital Secures $180 Million in New Funding

Roboadvisor Scalable Capital Secures $180 Million in New Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Scalable Capital

In a round led by Tencent, digital wealth management platform Scalable Capital has locked in more than $183 million (€150 million) in Series E funding. The new capital brings the company’s total funding to more than $317 million (€260 million) and gives the Munich, Germany-based firm a valuation of $1.4 billion – making the firm Germany’s, and fintech’s, latest unicorn. Scalable Capital said that the financing will help the company add to its workforce, as well as help support expansion into European markets like France, Italy, and Spain.

“We see huge demand to invest money in the capital markets instead of leaving it in bank accounts,” Scalable Capital co-CEO and co-founder Florian Prucker said. “Our clients can access fully managed globally diversified ETF portfolios and – in the same app – self directed trading in shares, ETFs, crypto currencies, and funds. We also provide a market-leading offering of ETF, stocks, and crypto monthly savings plans. We are planning to launch derivatives trading next.”

Having Tencent as an investor, according to Scalable Capital co-CEO and co-founder Erik Podzuweit, will also help the company improve its appeal to millennial customers who have become increasingly comfortable investing via their smartphones.

A Finovate alum since 2016, Scalable Capital offers banks, insurers, and corporate clients a digital wealth management platform that support automated investing and rebalancing. With customers ranging from ING to Openbank (Santander’s digital bank) to Siemans Financial Services, Scalable Capital provides globally diversified, cost-efficient ETF portfolios that are personalized to the investor’s risk profile.

Scalable Capital currently has more than $5 billion in assets under management. In the wake of this week’s funding, the company plans to add cryptocurrencies to its product portfolio, open a new office in Berlin, and double its workforce this year to 400.

Scalable Capital began the year with a pivot: the company announced in January that it would continue its direct to consumer business in Germany and Austria, but will limit its operations in the U.K. to its B2B business. The cost of customer acquisition was cited as one of the challenges to the company’s retail ambitions in the U.K. and, as such, Scalable Capital decided to focus on expansion and development with its German platform and its B2C and wealth businesses.

Also this year, Scalable Capital announced the appointment of new Chief Strategy Officer Dirk Urmoneit. Urmoneit comes to the company after holding senior positions at index provider Solactive AG and investment banks J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs.

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Credit Sesame Scores $51 Million; Completes Zingo Acquisition

Credit Sesame Scores $51 Million; Completes Zingo Acquisition
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Credit Sesame, Daily news, Funding

On the consumption side of personal finance, managing credit is one of the most important aspects of financial wellness. And for more than a decade, Credit Sesame has been among the more innovative companies in this space. From its origins as a hub for financial planning tools, insights into credit scoring, and advice on smart borrowing, Credit Sesame has grown into a leader in the financial wellness industry with new solutions like its Sesame Cash debit account, which topped one million customers less than a year after emerging from its beta launch.

“With Sesame Cash and features like real-time cash back rewards and rewards for improving their credit score,” Credit Sesame GM and Head of Global Banking Miro Pavletic explained when the solution was introduced last September, “we are helping customers put more money back in their pocket than any other digital banking service. Whether you’re looking to buy groceries or debating where to grab takeout, we can connect you with the brands you love and give you cash back instantly,” Pavletic said.

The $51 million in new funding the company raised this week is a testament both to the journey Credit Sesame has been on since its launch in 2010, as well as the potential the firm has to continue to play a leading role in helping millions of consumers better understand and manage their finances.

“Creating access to better credit and finance is critical for financial prosperity for consumers in our country, and it’s enlightening to see major banks and the federal government also taking action,” Credit Sesame CEO Adrian Nazari said. “The impacts of the past year have only made those needs greater, and through our recent acquisition and fundraising, we are proud to be expanding our platform offerings and leading the charge in opening more doors to financial inclusion and wellness for all.” 

The company sees its current mission as closing the “credit chasm,” which it believes limits economic opportunities for more than 44 million “credit invisible” Americans. Part of this effort includes Credit Sesame’s decision to acquire Zingo, a transaction that was completed recently. A fintech company headquartered in Portland, Oregon, Zingo helps renters improve their credit scores via timely rent payments. With almost 80% of its 15 million members renting, rather than owning, a home, Credit Sesame expects the acquisition to represent a “significant growth opportunity for the company” while enhancing “financial inclusion for its customers.” Credit Sesame anticipates integrating Zingo’s rent reporting technology into its financial wellness platform over the summer.

Looking out over the balance of 2021, Credit Sesame appears to be taking a page from Zingo’s book by launching a new feature that will enable consumers to use their cash to help them improve their credit rating. Requiring no credit check, the new solution will allow Credit Sesame customers to leverage their cash and credit together to help build a strong financial foundation and create a path toward better financial health.

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NuBank’s $750 Million Funding Round Proves Digital Challengers Are Still in the Game

NuBank’s $750 Million Funding Round Proves Digital Challengers Are Still in the Game
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Nubank

Digital banking giant NuBank is about to become even more gigantic. That’s because the Brazil-based pulled in $750 million in Series G funding. When added to the $400 million it raised in January, the funds bring the Series G round to $1.15 billion.

Today’s round was led by Berkshire Hathaway, which contributed $500 million. Additional investors include Sands Capital, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, MSA Capital, Advent’s Sunley House Capital, Brazilian asset managers Verde Asset Management, as well as Absoluto Partners.

With the new investment comes a new valuation. NuBank is now valued at $30 billion, a figure that rivals the valuation of Brazil’s number three bank, Banco Santander Brasil.

NuBank was founded in 2013 to serve the underbanked population across Brazil, a group that adds up to 30% of the country’s population. Today, the digital challenger has 40 million customers and offers a robust range of banking services including a debit card, insurance, loans, small business accounts, and P2P payment tools.

Today’s news comes after the company brought on two C-level hires, Matt Swann as Chief Technology Officer and Arturo Nunez as Chief Marketing Officer.

NuBank will use the funds from today’s investment to fuel further expansion into Mexico and Colombia, launch new products, and hire more employees. While the company has been in Mexico since 2018 and Colombia since last October, NuBank’s banking tools are currently limited to credit cards in both nations.

The massive size of this round and the notoriety of the lead investor offer a hint that digital-only banks are not just a fad limited to 2020. These newcomers have the ability and willingness to serve populations that banks have consistently ignored. Because of this, existing digital banks have increased their customer numbers in the past year, and there has been a massive onslaught of new digital banking players vying for a niche subset of the population.

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Glia and Posh Partner to Bring Digital Member Service to TwinStar Credit Union

Glia and Posh Partner to Bring Digital Member Service to TwinStar Credit Union
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Glia

Multiple-time Finovate Best of Show winner Glia and Conversational AI specialist Posh Technologies have teamed up to bring new customer engagement options to TwinStar Credit Union.

“The financial institutions that provide customers and members with a strategic blend of human touch and AI will have high retention and acquisition rates,” Glia co-founder and CEO Dan Michaeli said. “By partnering with Glia and Posh, TwinStar offers members a seamless support network where no duplication is required. It’s a faster, better member experience that alleviates the frustrations associated with typical support lines. Easy communication with financial support is a cornerstone to service and long-lasting relationships.” 

Courtesy of this partnership, TwinStar CU will offer a seamless digital chat experience available directly from its website and mobile app that features both automated and live member support. The automated chatbot solution will be able to respond to basic queries regarding branch hours, ATM locations, routing numbers, and similar information. More complex inquiries will be transferred to human contact center agents via Glia’s live chat feature, creating a more efficient experience for both members and support teams.

Member service will not be limited to live chat, either. Once live agents are engaged, members will be able choose the communication channel of their choice – messaging, video banking, or voice – as well as toggle between communication options and take advantage of support tools like co-browsing. The result is “faster and better service to our members in a multitude of ways” according to Scott Daukas, TwinStar Chief Strategy Officer. “We are thrilled to offer this great service to our members,” he said.

Headquartered in Washington State, TwinStar CU serves more than 135,000 members in Washington and Oregon, and manages $1.8 billion in assets. The institution traces its origins back to 1937, when teachers at Olympia High School who were struggling to secure loans on their meager salaries joined together to form the Thurston County Teacher Credit Union. The institution’s first branch, a classroom at the high school made available four days a week, was opened in 1950. The credit union became TwinStar in 2006.

Boston, Massachusetts-based Posh Technologies was spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2018. The company specializes in creating intelligent chatbots and interactive voice response (“conversational IVR”) phonebots and includes financial institutions like the State Department FCU and Finovate alum Mr. Cooper among its customers. Posh has picked up non-equity backing from MassChallenge and FinTech Sandbox.

Most recently winning Best of Show honors at FinovateSpring last month, Glia announced a partnership with credit union service organization, Members Access Processing (MAP) in May, as well. In March, the company announced a collaboration with AI-powered virtual assistant solution provider Abe.ai. With more than 200 banks, credit unions, insurance companies, and other financial institutions as its partners, Glia began the year with news that BCU, a $4.2 billion credit union based in Illinois, had selected its Digital Member Service platform to better engage its 294,000 members.

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Ixaris Joins Global Payments Platform Nium

Ixaris Joins Global Payments Platform Nium
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Ixaris, Mergers & Acquisitions

London-based payments optimization company Ixaris has agreed to be acquired by Nium, a global payments platform based in Singapore. Terms of the purchase were not immediately available. The acquisition is expected to be finalized in Q3 of this year.

Founded in 2002 by Alex Mifsud, Ixaris made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall in 2010. In the years since, Ixaris has focused its technology on optimizing payments for the travel sector, offering flexible payment and funding options to help airlines and online travel agents lower fees, earn rebates, and streamline the reconciliation process. Ixaris issued more than 10 million virtual cards in 2019 and, since inception, has processed 24 million transactions for a total payment volume of $7 billion (£5 billion). The issuer of Europe’s first virtual prepaid card in 2003, Ixaris has served more than 200 customers in more than 40 countries to date.

Ixaris Group CEO Mark Anthony Spiteri underscored the importance of – and opportunity in – payment optimization in the travel industry. “As part of the Nium family, we can offer the broadest portfolio of virtual card offerings to travel businesses across the globe,” Spiteri said. “All aspects of our company, from our technologies to our people, perfectly complement Nium and we look forward to increasing our geographic footprint to new regions, including the United States.”

Spiteri took over as CEO of Ixaris in May 2020. He wrote in a blog post at the company’s website that the combination of Ixaris’ virtual card issuance capabilities with Nium’s single API connection to the world’s payment infrastructure will provide “an even broader suite of payment services” for customers of both companies.

To this end, the timing of the acquisition could turn out to be especially auspicious. Spiteri noted that the post-COVID resumption of international travel, a sector he valued at $326 billion (£230 billion), should create major opportunities for his company. “As international travel takes off again in 2021, and the industry ramps up investment in solutions to improve front-end travel experiences and back-end processes,” he said, “we are ready to continue to drive its revolution.”

With more than 130 million customers, Singapore’s Nium is an international B2B payments platform that enables banks, payment providers, travel companies, and other businesses to collect and disburse funds in local currencies in 100+ countries, as well as issue virtual and physical cards globally. A member of the CB Insights Fintech 250, Nium was founded in 2015 by Michael Bermingham and Prajit Nanu.

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Trulioo Bags $394 Million in Funding, $1.75 Billion Valuation

Trulioo Bags $394 Million in Funding, $1.75 Billion Valuation
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Trulioo

Identity verification company Trulioo just closed a $394 million funding round. Investors include TCV, which led the round, with participation from existing investors Amex Ventures, Citi Ventures, Blumberg Capital and Mouro Capital.

Today’s investment brings Trulioo’s total funding to almost $475 million and boosts its valuation to $1.75 billion, bringing it into unicorn status.

The funds come at a time of rapid growth for not only Trulioo, but the online security sector in general. That’s in major thanks to the pandemic, which accelerated digital transformation and in turn created more opportunities for fraudsters. In fact, One World Identity estimates that the U.S. digital identity market will increase to over $30 billion by 2023. This spike has prompted Trulioo to expand into new verticals, bolster its leadership team, and add offices in Dublin, Austin, and San Diego over the course of the past year.

Trulioo’s large fundraise follows in the footsteps of competitors. Jumio pulled in $150 million earlier this year and Socure landed two investments– a $100 million round in March and an undisclosed amount last week from Capital One Ventures.

“The shift to online has brought digital identity to the forefront,” said Trulioo President and CEO Steve Munford. “This new round of funding will enable us to accelerate our goal to become an end-to-end identity platform. Our vision is to break down fragmented data silos caused by disparate identity networks, and we will work in partnership with TCV to expand our investments in product innovation, build out artificial intelligence/machine learning capabilities and accelerate our global go-to-market strategy.”

Canada-based Trulioo was founded in 2011 and offers identity verification, document authentication, business verification, and an AML watchlist tool. The company maintains a Digital Identity Network that provides developers access to an API that runs identity verification checks on five billion consumers and 330 million businesses worldwide.

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Temenos Ties Up with Huawei

Temenos Ties Up with Huawei
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Temenos

Banking technology provider Temenos has teamed up with telecommunications equipment and consumer electronic giant Huawei this week. Through the partnership, Temenos will make its cloud-native core banking solution available on the Huawei Public Cloud.

The agreement makes Temenos the first core banking software certified with Huawei infrastructure and Huawei Public Cloud.

Specifically, banks will be able to use Huawei Public Cloud to modernize their core banking systems, an action that is critical in today’s digital-first, partnership-forward banking environment. Ultimately, modernizing their core will help banks scale, reduce cost, and gain operational efficiencies by increasing agility and opening up new business models.

“Together, we can help digital-first banks as well as large banks in need of core modernization accelerate their move to the cloud,” said Temenos President of Strategic Growth Philip Barnett. “Our API-first, cloud-native core banking solution based on Huawei Cloud will provide flexibility, agility, elasticity, and accelerate time to market for banks.”

The two will focus on marketing in China, which represents a six billion dollar addressable market. Temenos’ solution will also be available to the broader APAC region and include Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Temenos serves 3,000+ banking and financial institutions worldwide representing 1.2 billion people with its cloud-native, API-first technology. Huawei counts more than 2,000 financial institution clients worldwide, including 47 of the world’s top 100 banks.

Photo by Jake Oates on Unsplash

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Socure Secures Strategic Investment from Capital One Ventures

Socure Secures Strategic Investment from Capital One Ventures
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Socure

Digital trust and identity verification innovator Socure announced today that it has received a strategic investment from Capital One Ventures, Capital One Financial Corporation’s venture capital division. The amount of the investment was not disclosed, but it adds to the $196 million the company has raised to date. This sum includes a $100 million Series D round in March, which gave Socure more than a billion dollar valuation.

The company plans to use the additional financing to fuel its expansion across a range of verticals including financial services, healthcare, e-commerce, on-demand services and online gaming. Named one of America’s Best Startup Employers by Forbes for the past two years in a row, Socure will also use the funding to help add to its workforce.

“We are thrilled to add Capital One to our expanding roster of strategic investors. We were fortunate to have met the venture as well as fraud and identity teams early on in Socure’s journey,” Socure co-founder and CEO Johnny Ayers said. “We admired their focus and discipline as a data science and analytics-driven company and channeled that as we built Socure.”

A Finovate alum since 2013, Socure offers a real-time predictive analytics platform that applies artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques with trusted online/offline data intelligence from email, phone, address, IP, device, velocity, and the broader internet to verify identities in real time. Socure’s ID+ product suite offers passive identity verification and fraud detection solutions in addition to a physical document verification solution, DocV, which provides enterprises with the ability to verify the authenticity of government-issued IDs while accurately associating that ID document with other, relevant PII. The addition of DocV gave the platform the ability to provide a wider range of identity verification methods all in a single, integrated solution and API. Socure notes that it achieves fraud capture rates of 90%, increases in auto enrollment by up to 94%, and an 8x to 10x reduction in false positives.

In April, digital wagering platform DraftKings enhanced its compliance technology with Socure’s Intelligent KYC and Global Watchlist with Monitoring solutions. Also in April, Socure announced that it would provide identity verification services as part of Microsoft Azure Active Director verifiable credentials. We profiled Socure co-founder Ayers last fall shortly after he took over as CEO.

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YieldStreet Raises $100 Million to Offer Investors Returns Beyond the Stock Market

YieldStreet Raises $100 Million to Offer Investors Returns Beyond the Stock Market
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding

Alternative investment platform YieldStreet announced a Series C funding round this week totaling $100 million. The investment brings the New York-based company’s total funding to $279 million.

Contributors to the round include Mitch Caplan, Alex Brown, Kingfisher Capital, Top Tier Capital Partners, Gaingels, Edison Partners, Soros Fund Management, Greenspring Associates, Raine Ventures, Greycroft, and Expansion Capital. YieldStreet will use the funds to attract new users and create new investment products. The company will also use the investment to fuel more acquisitions in addition to the two companies– WealthFlex and Athena Art Finance– it acquired in 2019.

YieldStreet connects investors with asset-based alternative investments that have traditionally been difficult for non-institutional investors to access, such as art, marine, legal, and real estate. Since it was founded in 2015, the company has paid out more than $950 million in principal and interest to its investors.

“These are investments that generate passive income. For example, we do a bunch of things in real estate such as financing warehouses, multifamily and distribution centers,” company founder and CEO Milind Mehere told TechCrunch. “We also do art, auto loans, or equipment finance. These are typically investments done by institutions and what we’re trying to do is really fractionalize them and get them to real estate investors. A lot of this stuff is asset-backed and it’s generating cash flow.”

The funding comes at a time when the public’s interest in investing is growing, and YieldStreet is benefitting as a part of that trend. The number of investment requests the company has seen grew by 250% from January to April of this year when compared to the same time frame last year. And YieldStreet has acquired more users so far this year than it had for the entirety of 2020. Today, the company has 300,000 consumers.

As for what’s next, YieldStreet is considering going public via a SPAC merger in the next couple of years. The company said it has been approached by a few special purpose acquisition companies and that the public markets would offer more visibility to potential users.

Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash

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