Lloyds Banking, Legal & General Take Minority Stake in Open Data Innovator Moneyhub

Lloyds Banking, Legal & General Take Minority Stake in Open Data Innovator Moneyhub
  • Legal & General and Lloyds Banking Group have invested $40 million (£35 million) in open data and payments platform Moneyhub.
  • Along with the equity capital, Moneyhub received an additional $5.7 million (£5 million) debt facility courtesy of Shawbrook.
  • Moneyhub made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2015 in London. Samantha Seaton is CEO.

The $40 million (£35 million) in funding raised by open finance and payments platform Moneyhub will give minority stakes to investors Legal & General and Lloyds Banking Group. The two backers will leverage their relationship with Moneyhub to enhance their own offerings with Moneyhub’s open data technology. At the same time, the capital, along with an additional $5.7 million (£5 million) debt facility courtesy of Shawbrook, will enable Moneyhub to speed development of its products in areas ranging from pensions and payments to affordability and Data-as-a-Service. The funding will also support Moneyhub’s plans to further international expansion.

“(The) new investment helps us signal a step change in the way the financial services industry thinks about Open Data and the possibilities it presents,” Moneyhub CEO Samantha Seaton said. “Understanding and utilizing customer transaction data for the benefit of the customer’s financial wellbeing not only helps businesses fulfill their Consumer Duty regulatory obligations, but also empowers them to create further opportunities.”

Moneyhub enables companies to transform data into personalized digital experiences and initiate payments. Offering both APIs and its customizable Open Data Platform, Moneyhub serves businesses in industries from pension companies and wealth managers to banks, lenders, and insurance companies. Moneyhub boasts seamless, single source connectivity to thousands of financial institutions in 37 countries, helping ensure its clients can build a comprehensive portrait of their customers’ financial needs, habits, and goals.

Moneyhub’s largest funding round to date, this week’s capital infusion is part of a larger fundraising effort and follows a 2021 investment of $18 million led by Peter Wood, founder of Direct Line and Esure. At the time, the funding was the largest secured by a female fintech CEO in Europe that year. Moneyhub currently has more than $63 million in capital raised, according to Crunchbase.

Moneyhub made its Finovate debut in 2015 at FinovateEurope in London. Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Bristol, the company also announced this week that it was teaming up with SME health and wellness care provider MorganAsh. The support services provider will use Moneyhub’s technology to access customer financial data to enhance their ability to provide real-time consumer vulnerability assessments. The partnership will also help MorganAsh fulfill its obligations for Consumer Duty, a requirement issued by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority in July that governs implementation of open finance/open data products.

“Consumer Duty and Open Finance herald a new era of customer-focused firms and financial resilience,” Moneyhub Business Development Director Vaughan Jenkins said. “Smart, forward-looking businesses will seize this moment and benefit from it.”


Photo by Laura Tancredi

Cinchy Lands $14.5 Million in Funding

Cinchy Lands $14.5 Million in Funding
  • Data access and control firm Cinchy received $14.5 million in funding this week.
  • The series B round was led by Forgepoint Capital and brings Cinchy’s total funding to $24.2 million.
  • As part of the investment, Forgepoint Managing Director Leo Casusol and Senior Associate Reynaldo Kirton will join Cinchy’s Board of Directors.

Cinchy, a fintech that is focused on helping firms set their data free, announced this week it received $14.5 million in a Series B funding round. This brings the Canada-based company’s total funding to $24.2 million.

Led by Forgepoint Capital, the investment brings Forgepoint’s Managing Director Leo Casusol will join Cinchy’s Board of Directors. The firm’s Senior Associate Reynaldo Kirton joins the board as an advisor. 

Cinchy was founded in 2017 to leverage data fabric to help banks access data from apps and other silos and assemble it within an easy-to-access data network. Today’s investment will help the company seize a recent spike in demand for data fabric and data mesh solutions.

“Our mission is to liberate and harness the power of data, giving it back to teams and organizations to accelerate digital transformation and growth,” said Cinchy CEO and Co-Founder Dan DeMers. “This latest round of funding helps us expand our team and release new offerings that include pre-built dataware solutions designed to help organizations instantly liberate both trapped data and siloed SaaS applications.”

Cinchy– whose clients include TD bank, Colliers International, AIS, and Natixis– has been named a Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Company to Watch and a Top Growing Canadian Company by The Globe and Mail. The company most recently demoed at FinovateFall 2021 and won best of show for its demo at FinovateFall 2019.


Photo by Neale LaSalle

SKU Data Network Company Banyan Secures $43 Million in Series A Funding

SKU Data Network Company Banyan Secures $43 Million in Series A Funding
  • SKU data network company Banyan raised $43 million in Series A funding.
  • The round consisted of $28 million in equity and $15 million in venture debt, and gives the company a total of $53 million in equity funding.
  • Banyan made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2021 in New York, and returned to the Finovate stage this year for FinovateSpring in San Francisco.

In a round led by Fin Capital and M13, SKU data network company Banyan has raised $43 million in funding. The Series A round includes $28 million in equity and $15 million in venture debt, taking the total equity capital raised by Banyan to $53 million. In addition to Fin Capital and M13, the round featured participation from FIS Impact Ventures, Bridge Bank, Interplay, and TTV Capital.

The financing will be used to help accelerate Banyan’s technology and infrastructure growth. Banyan enables retailers and financial institutions to leverage enriched, item-level data capabilities to boost consumer engagement and financial wellness, as well as improve business expense management. The company offers the world’s largest SKU data network, which helps “unlock a new world of valuable information in the form of item-level receipt data,” according to Banyan founder and CEO Jehan Luth. Luth added that the funding was “evidence of market validation for Banyan as the first to deliver the next level of Precise Commerce applications to merchants and financial services.”

Banyan’s network is used by both Fortune 150 corporations as well as convenience stores. The company’s solution suite enables dramatic reductions in the time spent on expense reports by integrating item-level purchase data into banking and expense management apps. Banyan’s technology also provides shopping and loyalty offers that help merchants and their partners better target the offering of incentives, keying on the specific item, category, and aisle-level categories they want to reward. Fin Capital founder and managing partner Logan Allin said that Banyan’s solutions help businesses “re-imagine the experiences they can bring to consumers.”

Banyan demonstrated its Enrich solution at FinovateSpring earlier this year. At the conference, Banyan showed how its technology enables banks, fintechs, and their retail partners to use item level data to drive both everyday spending and top of wallet behavior. Relying on both API calls for individual transactions and batch calls for unlimited records, Banyan’s at-scale network lets retailers share receipt data with banks and fintechs to make financial apps more impactful for the digitally-oriented financial services customer.

Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Holmdel, New Jersey, Banyan has processed more than $400 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV), more than 10.3 billion in bank and fintech partner transactions, and more than 10.4 billion in purchase receipts from network retailers. The company also has more than four million UPCs catalogued in its network.

Earlier this year, Banyan introduced new Chief Marketing Officer Andrea Gilman, formerly SVP with Mastercard. This spring, Banyan announced a rebrand – including a new logo and a website refresh – to reflect what Luth called the company’s “defined path to disrupt and change the retail landscape while bringing new benefits to consumers.”


Photo by Karolina Grabowska

Digital Bank Nerve’s New Strategic Partnership Comes with Up to $7 Million in New Funds

Digital Bank Nerve’s New Strategic Partnership Comes with Up to $7 Million in New Funds
  • Digital bank for creatives, Nerve, is partnering with London-based Talenthouse, a firm that helps artists find work with global brands.
  • Talenthouse’s money management platform, TalentPlus, will leverage Nerve’s embedded banking technology to expand into the U.S.
  • To facilitate TalentPlus’ U.S. launch, Talenthouse will invest up to $7 million in cash and shares in Nerve.

Digital bank Nerve is furthering its reach this month via a partnership with Talenthouse, a London-based firm that helps creatives find work with global brands. Under the agreement, Talenthouse will leverage Nerve to launch a business banking solution for TalentPlus, its in-house financial app built for creators.

As part of the deal, Talenthouse will invest up to $7 million in cash and shares in Nerve. This partnership and investment will help Talenthouse launch TalentPlus in the U.S. next month and expand into the U.K. and Latin America in 2023.

“This is a significant step into the U.S. market for Talenthouse,” said Talenthouse CEO Clare McKeeve. “We plan to recreate this financial services model across several markets in the near future including the UK and Latin America. We have been incredibly impressed by and have huge confidence in the Nerve team, underlined by our significant strategic investment.”

Money management platform TalentPlus was launched in 2021 from a pilot program called ElloU. The platform seeks to offer participants in the creator economy banking tools that support their needs in ways that banks fall short. The company’s partnership with Nerve will enable it to add personal banking tools to its product lineup.

This aligns closely with Nerve’s offerings. The digital bank was launched in 2020 to serve the unique financial needs of musicians, artists, and other creatives. The Texas-based company’s mission is to help creators build sustainable businesses by lowering the cost for organizations to pay creators. Nerve’s partnership with Talenthouse marks the first time its embedded banking tools will be used on a private-label basis.

“We are super excited about collaborating with Talenthouse and the TalentPlus team to drive innovation for creative businesses and delivering financial services to an underserved community,” said Nerve CEO John Waupsh. “This partnership will expand our payments and banking services to Talenthouse’s U.S.-based creators, dramatically improving the financial services available to the creator economy.”


Photo by Brett Sayles

NorthOne Raises $67 Million to Become the Digital Finance Department for Small Businesses

NorthOne Raises $67 Million to Become the Digital Finance Department for Small Businesses
  • Small business banking tools company NorthOne pulled in $67 million in funding this week.
  • The Series B round increases the company’s total raised to more than $90 million.
  • NorthOne has big ambitions, and is seeking to be “the digital finance department powering every small business in America.”

Small business banking tools company NorthOne landed $67 million in a Series B funding round this week. The investment boosts the New York-based company’s total funds to more than $90 million.

New and existing investors, including Battery Ventures, Don Griffith, Drew Brees, Ferst Capital Partners, FinTLV, Next Play Capital, Operator Stack, Redpoint Ventures, Tencent, and Tom Williams, participated in the round.

NorthOne was founded in 2016 to offer small businesses an approachable digital banking experience. The company said that the funds will enable it to raise the standard of products and services that business owners should expect from their banking partners.

“Through an obsessive focus on our customers’ needs, we’ve been able to predictably build a business banking experience that unlocks an incredibly strong product-market fit,” said NorthOne CoFounder and CEO Eytan Bensoussan. “As our customers grow, their problems evolve beyond the bank account. By connecting the data layer between accounting, receivables, payables, lending, payroll—all the financial operations—and the bank account ledger, we can provide a transformative offering that’s always felt out of reach for our customers: a world-class finance department built for their business.”

NorthOne, whose services are powered by The Bancorp Bank, has big ambitions. The fintech is aiming to be “the digital finance department powering every small business in America.” To reach this goal, the company is currently working on building new capital and credit products, faster payment solutions, and more integrations.


Photo by RODNAE Productions

Airwallex Raises $100 Million at $5.5 Billion Valuation

Airwallex Raises $100 Million at $5.5 Billion Valuation
  • Cross border payments company Airwallex raised $100 million on a valuation of $5.5 billion.
  • The funding round was an extension of the company’s Series E round. Airwallex has raised a total of $900 million in funding.
  • Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, Airwallex was founded in 2015. Co-founder Jack Zhang is CEO.

Cross-border payments company Airwallex has emerged from its extension Series E round with an additional $100 million in capital and its $5.5 billion valuation intact.

“The valuation underscores investors’ confidence in Airwallex’s core business value and fundamentals,” Airwallex CEO and co-founder Jack Zhang said. He added that the market environment going forward remained “challenging in the foreseeable future,” but said the investment would help fuel the company’s objectives with regards to growth, product expansion, and talent acquisition. “By strengthening the breadth of our global reach and product offering, we can better empower our customers to unlock new market opportunities,” Zhang said.

The investment takes Airwallex’s total capital to $900 million. Participating in this week’s funding were existing investors Square Peg, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, Lone Pine Capital, Hermitage Capital, 1835i Ventures, and Tencent. Other investors included Australian superannuation fund, HostPlus, and a pension fund based in North America.

Airwallex’s payments and banking platform helps businesses accept payments, move money around the world, and enhance their financial operations. The company also offers a business account that features global accounts, borderless cards, transfers and foreign exchange, payment links, business expense reconciliation, and integration with accounting platform Xero. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, Airwallex has enjoyed revenue growth of 184% in the past year and is currently processing nearly $50 billion in annualized transactions.

Named Startup of the Year in the U.S. FinTech Awards and FinTech of the Year at the Asia FinTech Awards, Airwallex announced in August that it was committing an additional HK$2.25 million ($286,650 USD) into its Hong Kong SMEs Initiative. Launched in April, the effort is designed to help small businesses recover from the economic fallout from the COVID pandemic. This latest commitment brings Airwallex’s total support of the initiative to HK$4.5 million ($573,300 USD).


Photo by Harry Shum

Eight Alums Raise More Than $1 Billion in Q3 of 2022

Eight Alums Raise More Than $1 Billion in Q3 of 2022

2022 marks the fourth year in a row in which Finovate alums have raised $1 billion or more in equity funding in the third quarter. The number of alums reporting investments in Q3 this year was lower than in previous years, and much of the quarter’s lofty fundraising total comes from a single, sizable investment of $800 million in Klarna.

Also continuing a trend we’ve seen for the past few years is the relatively strong performance of August compared to other months in the third quarter. While more capital was invested our alums in July (again, credit to Klarna), August featured more alums receiving funding than any other month in Q3 this year.

Previous Quarterly Comparisons

  • Q3 2021: More than $1.1 billion raised by 14 alums
  • Q3 2020: More than $1.2 billion raised by 14 alums
  • Q3 2019: More than $1 billion raised by 21 alums
  • Q3 2018: More than $400 million raised by 19 alums
  • Q3 2017: More than $1 billion raised by 31 alums

Top Equity Investments for Q3 2022

The top equity investment of the quarter for Finovate alums this year was Klarna’s $800 million fundraising in July. In fact, at nearly 80% of the quarter’s total alum funding haul, Klarna’s investment was significantly larger than combined amount of the other six known alum investments in Q3.

While impressive in this context, the capital infusion did come with a reduction in Klarna’s valuation. According to Reuters, the Swedish e-commerce and payments innovator was valued at $6.7 billion in its July transaction, an 85% drop from its 2021 valuation of $46 billion.

Here is our detailed alum funding report for Q3 2022.

July 2022: $839 million raised by three alums

August 2022: More than $118 million raised by four alums

September 2022: $52 million raised by one alum

If you are a Finovate alum that raised money in the third quarter of 2022 and do not see your company listed, please drop us a note at [email protected]. We would love to share the good news! Funding received prior to becoming an alum not included.


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Citi Dips Toe into Crypto Waters, Leading $6 Million Round in xalts

Citi Dips Toe into Crypto Waters, Leading $6 Million Round in xalts
  • Hong Kong-based digital asset investment startup xalts received $6 million in funding.
  • The round was co-led by Citi Ventures and Accel.
  • The investment marks a first for Citi; it is the first digital asset manager in which the bank-owned venture firm has invested.

Digital asset investing company xalts landed $6 million in funding in a Seed round co-led by Citi Ventures and Accel.

The investment, which is xalts’ first round of capital, also marks a first for Citi Ventures. xalts is the first digital asset manager in which the bank-owned venture firm has invested. “xalts is our first investment in a digital asset manager, and we support its vision of creating innovative products to meet the growing appetite of institutional investors for more efficient and robust crypto-access investments,” said Citi Ventures Managing Director Luis Valdich.

While the investment is a first for Citi, however, the move into crypto is not uncommon for traditional financial firms. In fact, just a few weeks ago, Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, and Fidelity Investments announced the launch of a new cryptocurrency exchange, EDX markets, to serve both individual and institutional investors.

Headquartered in Hong Kong, xalts is a global digital investment firm that helps financial institutions across the globe access digital assets while remaining compliant. The company was founded earlier this year by Goel Ashutosh and Supreet Kaur.

“With xalts, we are building innovative, institutional-grade investment products and solutions which focus on high compliance and control standards – things institutional investors care about,” said Goel, xalts’ Chief Investment Officer. “The next leg of growth in digital assets will be driven by institutional participation in the asset class. We are starting to see the early signs of that with a lot of new initiatives coming from banks and asset managers.”


Photo by Tom Fisk

Jiko Secures $40 Million in Series B Funding, Unveils New Money Storage Solution

Jiko Secures $40 Million in Series B Funding, Unveils New Money Storage Solution
  • Cash management innovator Jiko raised $40 million in Series B funding today.
  • The company’s technology enables businesses of all sizes to store their cash in higher yielding “spendable T-bills.”
  • Jiko also announced the launch of its Jiko Money Storage solution, which will soon enable 34/7 money movement on the Jiko Network.

Among the more interesting fintechs innovating in the cash management space, Jiko raised $40 million in Series B funding today. Jiko enables companies of all sizes to move cash into and out of short-term U.S. Treasury bills (known as T-bills).

Jiko “spendable T-bills” provide transparent pricing and near instant liquidity, blending the safety and yield of T-bills with the flexibility of cash. The Oakland, California-based fintech leverages its status as a broker-dealer, as well as its technology stack and bank charter, to operate more cost-efficiently than other cash storage options.

“Today’s CEOs, CFOs, and corporate treasurers must be increasingly nimble in the face of factors such as inflation, supply chain disruption, and geopolitical conflict, while still managing their company’s risk exposure – making it paramount that cash deliver yield through safe and secure strategies,” CEO and co-founder of Jiko Stephane Lintner said.

“That need is at the heart of why we created Jiko, and with this additional funding, we look forward to continuing our work to transform how money can be moved and stored – exemplified by our milestone launch of Jiko Money Storage.”

Jiko Money Storage, also announced today, enables businesses to store cash securely in the form of T-bills with on-demand liquidity at leading custody bank BNY Mellon. Jiko will soon make the holdings movable 24/7 on the Jiko network.

The company’s Series B round was led by Red River West. Trousdale Ventures, Owen Van Natta, Temaris & Associates, La Maison Partners, BPI France, Airbus Ventures, Anthem Ventures, Upfront Ventures, and Radicle Impact also participated. The investment adds to the $47.7 million the company has raised to date via its Series A and seed funding rounds.

“It’s rare to come across a fintech team quite as ambitious as Jiko’s,” Airbus Ventures Partner Claas Kohl said. “Jiko’s network presents uncompromised safety combined with the efficiency of a modern tech stack and is equipped to soon support multi-currency financial activity.” Former U.S. Treasury Secretary and Jiko advisor Larry Summers said, “In today’s macro environment, cash should be put to work – not sit idly in bank accounts. I don’t endorse any products or platforms, but I am excited by the innovation that Stephane and his team are delivering for money storage and look forward to continuing to advise them.”


Photo by Pixabay

Railsr Reels in $46 Million

Railsr Reels in $46 Million
  • Embedded finance player Railsr closed a $46 million Series C round comprised of $26 million in equity and $20 million in debt.
  • Company CEO and Co-founder Nigel Verdon is calling the investment “a significant step” in the company’s route to profitability.
  • The new capital brings Railsr’s total funding to $187 million.

Four months after rebranding from Railsbank, embedded finance platform Railsr closed $46 million in funding today. Company CEO and Co-founder Nigel Verdon is calling the investment “a significant step” in the company’s route to profitability.

The Series C round consists of $26 million of equity, which was led by Anthos Capita and included existing investors Ventura, Outrun Ventures, CreditEase, and Moneta. The rest of the round was comprised of $20 million in debt, which was led by Mars Capital.

Railsr said that the new capital, which brings its total funding to $187 million, will empower the company to continue to invest in its platform and help it enable its customers to offer embedded finance experiences to their end users.

“We set out to challenge old finance and this is what we will continue to do. Our strategy and success to date has come from the way we prioritize customers, invest in technology, empower teams and execute relentlessly to continue our journey,” said Verdon.

With more than 300 customers– including HelloCash, Sodexo, and Payine– Railsr offers a range of embedded finance offerings. The company believes that customers want to focus on frictionless and fun experiences, not finance. Railsr offers banking-as-a-service, along with embedded payment cards, mobile wallets, credit tools, and rewards tools.

Railsr has been keeping busy as of late. Along with its rebrand, the company recently appointed Rick Haythornthwaite as its first Chairman, promoted Chief Product Officer Stuart Gregory to Chief Operating Officer, and promoted Jane Thorburn to serve as Chief of Staff.

Headquartered in the U.K. and founded in 2016, Railsr declined to disclose its current valuation but referred to it as a “fair value.”


Photo by Mike Enerio on Unsplash

Nova Credit Lands $10 Million from HSBC to Build Borderless, Consumer-Permissioned Credit Data

Nova Credit Lands $10 Million from HSBC to Build Borderless, Consumer-Permissioned Credit Data
  • HSBC has tapped Nova Credit to integrate the company’s Credit Passport, a cross-border credit data product.
  • As part of the partnership, Nova Credit received a $10 million investment, bringing its total funding to more than $79 million.
  • HSBC deployed Nova Credit’s Credit Passport at HSBC Singapore in May and plans to expand its use of the solution later this year to cover more country bureaus.

Consumer-permissioned credit bureau Nova Credit received $10 million in funding this week. The investment, which boosts the California-based company’s total funds to over $79 million, came from HSBC Ventures.

Under the strategic partnership, Nova Credit will provide HSBC with access to Credit Passport, its cross-border credit data product. Credit Passport essentially translates consumer credit across geographical borders, providing residents who are new to a country with access to financial products that require credit, such as loans or mortgages.

By leveraging Credit Passport, HSBC will have access to a customer’s translated credit history, after receiving permission from the customer. This not only increases HSBC’s potential client base, but it also increases the speed of the bank’s decisions.

“Accessing credit in a new market can be a challenge and is something we’ve been helping customers with for years,” said HSBC Group Head of Retail Banking and Strategy, Wealth and Personal Banking Taylan Turan. “We’re excited to be partnering with Nova Credit, to improve our ability to do this even more, with its innovative digital Credit Passport. We’re proud to be the first organization to offer this to customers in Singapore.”

HSBC Singapore integrated Credit Passport in May, enabling its applicants to offer the bank permission to access their global credit record and credit score. HSBC Singapore’s implementation of the tool also marked the first use of Credit Passport outside of the U.S.

HSBC elected to launch the use of the product in Singapore because thousands of its Singapore-based clients have recently moved to the country from India, where they have credit history. The bank plans to expand its use of the solution later this year to include customers with a credit history in Australia, the U.K., and the Philippines, and plans to cover more country bureaus in 2023.

Nova Credit launched in 2016 and has since built relationships with credit bureaus in more than 20 countries. Partnering with the credit bureaus has given the company consumer-permissioned access to over one billion credit profiles. Nova Credit also has partnerships with lenders including American Express, SoFi, Yardi, and Verizon.


Photo by Engin Akyurt

Agora Data Receives $100 Million Credit Facility

Agora Data Receives $100 Million Credit Facility
  • Agora Data received a $100 million revolving credit facility from Credit Suisse.
  • The company anticipates the funds will help it expand how it delivers capital to loan originators who offer in-house financing.
  • The news comes just under a year after Agora Data unveiled its reducing rate line of credit.

Auto lending technology company Agora Data announced today it received $100 million in financing. The funds come in the form of a revolving credit facility from Credit Suisse.

Agora Data, which helps non-prime borrowers obtain credit, anticipates the funds will help it expand how it delivers capital to loan originators who offer in-house financing solutions. The company offers auto dealers competitive financing and tools such as AI and machine learning modeling. Ultimately, Agora Data helps lenders build loan portfolios with high predictability and improved performance when lending to non-prime customers.

The company also offers AgoraInsights, a product that helps dealers maximize portfolio performance, reduce risk, and manage cashflow.

“This $100 million credit facility adds to Agora’s other capital strategies and is the latest of many strategic steps that support the expansion of our core mission to provide highly accurate loan performance data and low-cost capital to auto dealers who serve the non-prime buyer,” said Agora Data CEO Steve Burke.

Since the company was founded in 2017, Agora Data has closed multiple crowdsourced securitizations using its AI and machine learning algorithms. Last year, the company launched a reducing rate line of credit offering. The interest rate on this credit offering reduces over time, provides the borrower with the flexibility to draw cash as they need it, and does not charge origination or unused line fees.


Photo by Sarmad Mughal