• 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.”

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• 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.

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• Neobank Oxygen has raised $20 million in Series B funding, taking its total capital to $45 million according to Crunchbase.
• The funding -“led largely by return investors” – will help Oxygen further develop its product, improve the user experience, and grow its workforce.
• San Francisco, California-based Oxygen won Best Digital Bank in the 2021 Finovate Awards.

San Francisco-based digital banking platform Oxygen has secured $20 million in Series B funding. The funding round was “led largely by return investors,” and will support product development and enhancements to Oxygen’s core offerings. The funding will also help Oxygen grow its team to help meet demand. The company’s total capital raised now stands at $45 million, according to Crunchbase.

Oxygen’s funding announcement comes at the same time that it is introducing a new CEO. David Rafalovsky, former Group CTO and Global Head of Operations & Technology for European digital banking ecosystem Sber, will take the helm, succeeding company founder Hussein Ahmed. Ahmed will remain with the company as Oxygen’s Chief Product Officer.

The new funding and new CEO “mark a new era” for Oxygen, Rafalovsky said in a statement. He underscored the size and importance of the small business community in the United States, and said that he believed Oxygen should play a role in helping these enterprises grow and thrive. “I look forward to charting the path forward for the company, building world class solutions for small businesses and gig economy participants,” Rafalovsky said. “Not only are small businesses driving the U.S. economy, but they also keep the American dream alive.”

A neobank designed from the start to serve both consumers and small businesses, Oxygen offers digital natives, creatives, and entrepreneurs an all-in-one digital banking platform that provides cashback rewards, early direct deposit, money transfers, and high-yield savings. Oxygen offers four tiers of membership – from the $0 annual fee “Earth” level to the $199.99 annual fee “Fire” level – which enable accountholders to choose their preferred debit card spending and payroll direct deposit limits – as well as the annual spending required in order to access these features. Banking services are provided by The Bancorp Bank, which also issues the Oxygen’s Visa debit card.

Founded in 2020, Oxygen was named Best Digital Bank in the 2021 Finovate Awards and Best Overall Mobile App in the Fintech Breakthrough Awards that same year. In December, the company launched its OTags functionality that makes it easier for Oxygen accountholders to send and request money, OGifts – which enable multiple Oxygen members to send money to a single Oxygen member – and more.

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• Moov landed $45 million to refine its API that creates a modern payment stack.
• Commerce Ventures led the round. Additional contributors include Andreessen Horowitz, Bain Capital Ventures, Visa, and Sorenson Ventures.
• Moov’s total funding now sits at $77.5 million.

Modern money movement innovator Moov is going places. The Iowa-based company landed $45 million in a Series B financing round, bringing its total raised to $77.5 million.

As far as the company’s plans for the new funds, Moov Founder and CEO Wade Arnold said, “This new round of capital will help us refine our platform, address new payments use cases, and scale everything we’ve built so far. We’re a small and mighty team, so we’re looking forward to onboarding even more talented people…”

Moov will also use today’s funding to fuel its conference that fosters collaboration in the developer community. The company’s fintech_devcon event takes place once a year to share fintech building deep dives, best practices, and new ideas.

Arnold founded Moov in 2017 to offer a simpler way to move money. The company creates a cloud-based API that creates a modern payment stack that includes acquiring, ledgering, issuing, and disbursements. Since launch, Moov has built integrations to all major card brands, The Clearing House, and the Fed. The company won the Visa Everywhere Initiative in 2021 and was recently ranked on Built In’s list of top 50 fully remote startups and Purpose Job’s Best Remote Places to Work in 2023.

Understanding the impact Moov’s money movement platform has had in the fintech community, doesn’t even require a visit to the company’s website. The list of investors in today’s round– which was led by Commerce Ventures– includes big names such as Andreessen Horowitz, Bain Capital Ventures, Visa, and Sorenson Ventures. What’s more, Moov closed this Series B round in the midst of a difficult funding environment. While many fintechs have been able to close Seed rounds and even some Series A rounds, VCs have typically holding back on later stage rounds.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

• Business spend and procurement management company PayEm raised $220 million this week.
• The round consists of $20 million in Series A equity funding and a $200 million warehouse debt facility.
• The equity portion brings PayEm’s total equity funds to $47 million.

Business spend automation and procurement management platform PayEm brought in $220 million in combined debt and equity this week.

PayEm will use the funds to fuel its card operations, serve larger customers, and improve the employee experience within the digital product.

The funding, which is comprised of $20 million in Series A equity and $200 million in warehouse debt, saw contributions from Viola Credit, Mitsubishi Financial Group, Collaborative Fund, Pitango First, NFX, LocalGlobe, and Glilot+.

“This is a significant milestone in the company’s growth. Our new warehouse credit facility allows us to scale our credit cards operation and support larger customers with our fast-growing payments platform. In addition, the new equity funding will enable us to continue building our  platform,” said PayEm CEO Itamar Jobani. “With the current macroeconomic conditions, it’s never been more important for companies to have an efficient and clear lens into their financial health. We’re pleased to be that single source of truth for them as they may navigate turbulent times and supply chain issues, and simply need to do more with less.”

Headquartered in Israel, PayEm helps its business clients bring transparency to business finances, automate tasks, and enhance control of processes. The company offers businesses tools for spend management, employee reimbursement, automating accounts payable, purchase order approvals, corporate cards, and more.

Today’s round brings PayEm’s total equity funding to $47 million and adds more competition to the fast-growing business spend management space. Companies such as Brex and Ramp have been rewarded in recent years with massive funding rounds and high valuations. PayPal even jumped on the trend, launching its first commercial credit card last June.

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• LendInvest received increased funding from Lloyds Bank this week, bringing its total warehouse investment to $367 million (£300 million).
• The boost in investment will help LendInvest enter the homeowner mortgage market, a $1.5 trillion (£1.2 trillion) opportunity.
• LendInvest now has more than $4.4 billion (£3.6 billion) in funds under management.

U.K.-based property finance asset manager LendInvest scored an increase in warehouse funding from Lloyds Bank totaling $367 million (£300 million) this week. The purpose of the investment is to facilitate LendInvest’s entry into the mortgage market, which the company estimates to be a $1.5 trillion (£1.2 trillion) opportunity.

LendInvest was founded in 2008 to serve as an online marketplace for property lending and investing, enabling everyday investors to access a wider variety of asset classes, including opportunities to gain exposure to the U.K. property market. The company launched its homeowner mortgage product in beta last month and plans to launch the product to a wider audience this year.

“There are a significant number of people in the U.K. with complex income streams – from barristers to actors to NHS contract workers – who find it harder to get a mortgage because of multiple income sources or less regular pay cheques,” explained LendInvest CEO Rod Lockhart. “Our offering is tailored to their needs, providing access to the finance they require to buy the home of their dreams, and without all the stress and hassle.”

The new homeowner mortgage product targets borrowers with multiple sources of income, those who are self-employed, and those who are small-business owners. The company’s technology simplifies complex mortgage cases to improve and streamline the process of closing on a home loan.

“The complexity of this part of the U.K. mortgage market makes it ripe for disruption by our purpose-built technology and is a natural evolution for us following our launch into buy-to-let mortgages in 2017,” added Lockhart.

With more than $4.4 billion (£3.6 billion) in funds under management, LendInvest is headquartered in London. The company’s funders and investors include pension funds, insurers, and global institutions including HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, and National Australia Bank. LendInvest went public in 2021 and is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker LSE. The company has a market capitalization of $141 million (£115 million).

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• Uplinq, a company that offers advanced bookkeeping solutions to SMEs, has raised $5.6 million in funding.
• Headquartered in Arizona, Uplinq will use the capital to scale its marketing efforts to better serve fintech’s “underserved bookkeeping” market.
• The funding was led by Arizona-based AZ-VC, and included a strategic investment from Live Oak Ventures.

Uplinq, a technology company that leverages automation and machine learning to provide businesses with advanced bookkeeping solutions, has secured an investment of $5.6 million. The funding, announced in early December, was led by Arizona venture capital fund AZ-VC and included a strategic investment from Live Oak Ventures. Live Oak Ventures is the fintech-oriented venture capital arm of Live Oak Bank. Also participating in the funding were Merus Capital and members of the Kuwaiti Royal Family.

“With continued economic uncertainty, new automated fintech like Uplinq helps businesses take advantage by keeping track of changing costs and financials more efficiently than ever before to make smart business decisions fast,” Uplinq CEO Alex Glenn said. “This funding round will accelerate the next phase of Uplinq’s growth plans and expand our reach across this lucrative $15 billion industry.”

The capital will be used to help scale Uplinq’s marketing efforts, sales power, engineering capabilities, and customer delivery departments in order to better serve what the company calls fintech’s “underserved bookkeeping” market.

Uplinq leverages its proprietary technology to gather, organize, and categorize business transactions to provide small businesses with review-ready, real-time analysis “at the touch of a button.” With seamless integrations with more than 10,000 financial institutions, Uplinq provides its customers with weekly updated financial data – instead of monthly or quarterly – and said that more solutions for SMEs are planned to go live in 2023.

“We offer businesses a better way to get professional help through our proprietary technology, that not only makes bookkeeping worry-free for the business owner, but also provides them with powerful data automation and machine learning to better understand their finances and how their business can improve,” Glenn said.

Founded in 2020, Uplinq is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona.

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