• Apple is using CNote’s platform to invest $25 million in underserved communities.
• Oakland-based CNote facilitates investments in economic equality, racial justice, gender equity and climate change initiatives.
• Apple joins other companies using CNote to invest, including Mastercard, Patagonia, PayPal, and Netflix.

CNote, a company that facilitates investments in fixed income and time deposit products that advance the social good, revealed its newest investor today. Apple is using the California-based company’s platform to invest $25 million in underserved communities.

“We’re committed to helping ensure that everyone has access to the opportunity to pursue their dreams and create our shared future,” said Apple VP of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives Lisa Jackson. “By working with CNote to get funds directly to historically under-resourced communities through their local financial institutions, we can support equity, entrepreneurship and access.”

Apple’s $25 million contribution is part of the company’s Racial Equity and Justice initiative, an effort to address systemic racism and expand opportunities for people of color.

CNote has already deployed some of the funds to an initial round of financial institutions, including:

• ANECA Federal Credit Union in Louisiana
• Bank of Cherokee County in Oklahoma
• Carver State Bank in Georgia
• Education Credit Union in Texas
• First Southwest Bank in Colorado
• Hope Credit Union, which serves Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee
• Kaua‘i Federal Credit Union in Hawai‘i
• Latino Community Credit Union in North Carolina
• Legacy Bank in Missouri
• Optus Bank in South Carolina
• Self-Help Federal Credit Union, with locations in California, Illinois, Washington, and Wisconsin
• VCC Bank in Virginia

As Bank of Cherokee County EVP Susannah Plumb Scott explained, the funds invested via the CNote platform can make a real difference in underserved communities. “Partnerships like the one we have with CNote and Apple are essential to our efforts to expand access to capital, as well as to financial products and services, in a historically underserved market,” said Scott, whose institution invests 95% of deposits back into Cherokee County.

Echoing those thoughts is Education Credit Union President and CEO Eric Jenkins, who said deposits like Apple’s “allow ECU to serve more consumers and meet a broader range of needs.”

Founded in 2016, CNote’s platform provides insured deposits to a group of vetted, mission-driven financial institutions, including community development financial institutions (CDFIs), low-income designated (LID) credit unions, and minority depository institutions (MDIs). These financial institutions use the deposits to help promote economic equality, racial justice, gender equity, and climate change initiatives.

CNote investors, a list that includes Mastercard, Patagonia, PayPal, Netflix, and now Apple, receive quarterly impact reports with details on which institutions received deposits and the populations that are benefiting.

CNote was a B Lab “Best for the World” honoree in 2019 and was named “Best Women-Owned Business” by the U.N. Women’s Empowerment Principles program in 2020. The company has raised $43 million.

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• Cryptocurrency accounting firm Tactic raised $2.6 million in funding.
• Leading the investment round were Founders Fund and finance automation company Ramp.
• The new capital will help the company add talent and continue to build out its platform.

With more and more companies seeking to diversify their finances with cryptocurrencies, a new U.S.-based startup has arrived to help these businesses better manage their cryptocurrency holdings.

The company, Tactic, announced today that it has raised $2.3 million in seed funding. The investment was co-led by Founders Fund and Ramp, a finance automation company. Also participating in the funding were individual investors Elad Gil and Dylan Field, co-founder of Figma. Tactic said that, among other needs, the new capital will help the company hire additional talent.

Tactic helps businesses account for their cryptocurrency holdings by aggregating data across disparate sources – often multiple wallets across multiple blockchains – to provide a full treasury view of all balances and account activity. Tactic enables companies to automatically categorize their transactions and apply basic accounting logic and rules to calculate gain/loss and identify taxable events. Accounting teams can also use the platform to reconcile the cryptocurrency subledger to traditional accounting systems such as QuickBooks.

“Tactic solves a real pain point for businesses managing cryptocurrency finances and the product is already saving crypto accounting teams days each month,” Founders Fund Principal Leigh Marie Braswell said. “We believe Tactic has the potential to become a massive player as more companies move into web3.”

Founded by CEO Ann Jaskiw and launched in 2021, Tactic has since reeled in “dozens” of customers, from early stage startup companies to billion-dollar businesses. Jaskiw started Tactic after learning that many companies involved in web3 were using spreadsheets for their accounting because there were no other solutions available for them. By contrast, Tactic has developed its solution in part by teaming up with leading accounting firms to help them apply accounting guidelines to activities common in the DeFi world such as staking, NFT, minting, and airdrops.

Tactic VP of Strategy and Ops John Dempsey put Tactic’s platform in the context of other fintech solutions that leverage automation and other enabling technologies to make operations more efficient. “Businesses have come to expect back-office solutions that help them get started quickly and automate their manual tasks,” Dempsey said. “Tactic makes it easy for businesses to transact in cryptocurrency, knowing they can manage their financial activity in a clean, compliant way.”

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• Canada’s Neo Financial closed $145 million ($185 million CAD) in funding.
• The round brings the three-year-old company’s total funding to almost $240 million ($299 CAD) and boosts its valuation past $785 million ($1 billion CAD).
• Neo is now one of only a few Alberta-based tech companies to become a unicorn.

Canada-based Neo Financial’s newest funding round has boosted the company up to unicorn status in Canadian dollars. The $145 million ($185 million CAD) investment was led by Valar Ventures and saw participation from Tribe Capital, Altos Ventures, Blank Ventures, Gaingels, Maple VC, and Knollwood Advisory.

Today’s investment boosts Alberta-based Neo Financial’s total funding to almost $240 million ($299 CAD). It also marks the company as one of just a few tech companies in the region to become a unicorn.

Founded in 2019, Neo Financial differentiates itself with its user-friendly banking technology. The company boasts one million users of its four main products, which include a credit card, high-interest savings account, and investment tools. Additionally, Neo Financial is slated to launch a mortgage offering by the end of this year.

“We’re constantly challenging the status quo,” the company said in a blog post, “and asking the questions that should be asked: What if you only needed one loyalty card instead of 20? What if your financial services experience was as seamless as Netflix or Spotify? What if getting a mortgage could be a fully digital experience? What if the future of banking wasn’t a bank?”

With 650 employees under its roof, a number that has doubled in the past year, Neo Financial is growing. The company has added more than 11 products and features in the past year alone. To fuel this growth, the company adding 100 people to its workforce in Calgary and Winnipeg.

“The pace at which this team releases new products and grows its customer base is among the fastest we have seen in our careers,” said Valar Ventures Founding Partner Andrew McCormack.

Maple VC’s Andre Charoo echoed those thoughts. In an interview with TechCrunch, he said, “Neo is the fastest growing company I have seen in Canada… I believe Neo has a shot at owning at least 10% of the aggregated $550 billion banking sector in Canada (ie. $50 billion) due to the network effects it has created with its unique merchant loyalty program.”

Photo by Andre Furtado

• Women-focused roboadvisor Ellevest received a $53 million Series B investment, bringing its total funding to $153 million.
• The company will use the funds to deepen its offerings and to help fulfill its goal of getting more money into the hands of women.
• Ninety percent of the investors in the Series B round are women and underrepresented investors.

Women-focused wealthtech startup Ellevest just raised $53 million in Series B funding to fulfill its mission to get more money into the hands of women.

BMO and Contour Venture Partners co-led the round, which brings the company’s total funding to $153 million. Contributions also came from new investors Halogen Ventures, Cleo Capital, Stardust Equity, The Venture Collective, Envestnet, as well as the LGBTQIA+ investment syndicate Gaingels. Existing investors Pivotal Ventures, Venture Fund, Khosla, AME Cloud Ventures, Rethink Impact SPV, Salesforce Ventures, PayPal Ventures, and Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America also contributed.

Ninety percent of the investors in today’s Series B round are women and underrepresented investors. “What we’ve got here is women investing, women investing in women, and women investing to help women invest,” the company stated in the press release.

“Ellevest was built by women, for women. It is also funded by women, with 360 women and underrepresented investors participating in this funding round. This group recognizes that women have been disproportionately losing financial ground, and that’s bad news for all of us. Ellevest has a key role to play in addressing this issue: to help women — and their families — rewrite their financial narratives and thrive,” said Ellevest CEO Sallie Krawcheck.

Founded in 2014 by Krawcheck, Ellevest has grown to $1.44 billion in assets under management. The company will use today’s investment to deepen its offerings, which currently consists of a roboadvisor, financial and career coaching, insurance, and a digital bank with a debit card that offers a savings roundup tool and cashback rewards.

In addition to its financial products and services, Ellevest also serves financial content to its community of three million members, a number that includes Sallie Krawcheck’s connections on LinkedIn and Ellevest’s followers on Instagram.

Photo by Anastasia Shuraeva

• Swedish B2B financing company Qred launched a B2B payments platform for its business users.
• The new tool enables users to pay invoices using their Qred Visa credit card from within the Qred mobile app.
• Helping to fuel this new tool is $11 million (€10 million) in funding from existing investor Nordic Capital. The investment brings Qred’s total funding to $70.7 million.

Small business financing company Qred is making its platform a bit more powerful for its small business clients this week. The Sweden-based company unveiled a new B2B payments platform that will enable business users to pay any invoice using their Qred Visa card from within the Qred app, benefitting from Qred’s 45-day interest-free liquidity.

Founded in 2015, Qred offers an alternative lending platform for small businesses that makes the funding process simple, digital, and fast. The company helps businesses receive the working capital they need within 24 hours of applying.

The Qred Visa credit card is free for small business users and offers 1% cash back with every purchase. Businesses can use the Qred card and mobile app to pay invoices from billers that use Sweden’s clearing system, Bankgiro, even if the biller doesn’t accept card payments. And users can postpone their payment, interest-free for up to 45 days.

For now, Qred’s invoice payment tool is free for businesses when they use their Qred Visa card. However, starting in August of this year, there will be a 2.5% transaction fee.

“Tens of billions of dollars worth of invoices are issued each year and for most businesses the only way to pay them is to use cash directly from their account since most suppliers or vendors don’t accept card payments,” said Qred CEO Emil Sunvisson. “With our new payment platform, small businesses can use their Qred Visa to pay any invoice they have with much more flexible payment terms. This frees up much needed, short-term cash which is the life blood of most entrepreneurs.”

Qred also announced today it has received $11 million (€10 million) from existing investor Nordic Capital. This brings the company’s total funding to $70.7 million. The company will use the investment to “continue to deliver innovative products and services to small businesses throughout Northern Europe.”

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• ClearBank raised $230 million (£175 million).
• The investment was led by private equity advisory firm Apax Digital and brings ClearBank’s total funding to $627 million.
• ClearBank will use the funds to expand internationally, first in Europe, then into North America and Asia Pacific.

Clearing and embedded banking technology company ClearBank raised $230 million (£175 million) this week. The investment brings the U.K.-based company’s total funding to $627 million.

Funds advised by private equity advisory firm Apax Digital led the round. Existing investors CFFI UK Ventures and PPF Financial Holdings, also participated. ClearBank plans to use the investment to expand its client base in Europe and eventually into North America and Asia Pacific.

Launched in 2017, ClearBank is a regulated bank that manages transactions from beginning to end, starting with order transmission and including settlement, liquidity management, and clearing activities. The company counts 200 bank and fintech clients– including Tide, Coinbase, Chip, and Oaknorth Bank– that leverage its tools to power faster payments, clearing, and payments activities. In all, ClearBank facilitates 13 million accounts totaling almost $4 billion in assets.

One of the company’s primary offerings is embedded banking tools. ClearBank enables businesses and financial services companies to offer bank accounts with FSCS deposit protection, FX tools, and multi-currency accounts to their own clients. All of the company’s regulated services can be accessed via a single API.

“ClearBank is the first proven and fully regulated cloud-native clearing bank in the U.K. for over 250 years,” said ClearBank CEO Charles McManus. “Over the last five years we have demonstrated the success of our business model and through our work with leading financial service providers, helped to both unlock their potential and bring about positive and meaningful change for U.K. businesses and consumers.”

As for what’s next, McManus points to a more global future for his company. “The next challenge is delivering this innovation globally. To achieve this, we needed a strategic partner with the right cultural fit, sector expertise and geographic experience, something we found in Apax Digital.” Additionally, ClearBank plans to add products and services that will help its clients scale internationally. To do this, the company will add direct API-based access to interbank payment schemes, enhanced multi-currency accounts, and additional FX services.

ClearBank is at the center of the flourishing banking-as-a-service trend that has both fintech and non-fintech companies adding banking services to their existing offerings. The company has experienced burgeoning growth and was recognized by Deloitte as the fastest-growing tech company in its 2021 U.K. Technology Fast 50 awards. In other accolades, ClearBank received the Best Service Award at the 2021 Card & Payments Awards.

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• Financial crime compliance firm Silent Eight raised $40 million in Series B funding.
• The investment gives the Singapore-based company $55 million in total capital.
• Led by TYH Ventures, the Series B round featured participation from HSBC Ventures, Silent Eight’s latest customer.

Silent Eight, an AI-based financial crime compliance company, has secured $40 million in Series B funding. The round was led by TYH Ventures and included top-up investments from OTB Ventures, Wavemaker Partners, Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures, Aglaia, as well as chairman and general partner of Altara Ventures, Koh Boon Hwee. Also participating in the round was HSBC Ventures, Silent Eight’s most recent customer.

“HSBC has been pleased with the progress made by Silent Eight’s AI platform,” HSBC Ventures’ Ore Adeyemi said. “We look forward to continuing to strengthen our partnership through this investment, and we are excited that my colleague Tom Caine is also joining as a Board Observer to help drive this investment partnership.”

Announced in January of last year, the multi-year partnership between Silent Eight and HSBC will enable the bank to enhance its compliance operations. HSBC will integrate Silent Eight Alert Resolution which investigates and resolves compliance issues as well as a human analyst, but with greater speed, precision, and accuracy.

The Series B investment gives Silent Eight $55 million in total capital and quadruples the company’s previous valuation reported in October 2020. Over the same time period, Silent Eight has realized revenue growth of 6x and tripled its workforce.

“We are here to support our customers and the policy makers of the world by ensuring that the benefits of the most advanced Artificial Intelligence systems are available on the frontlines of crime fighting,” Silent Eight CEO and founder Martin Markiewicz said.

Silent Eight builds compliance platforms for many of the world’s leading financial institutions. Deployed in more than 150 markets, the company’s AI-powered platform enforces economic sanctions and investigates all other financial crime risks – including suspicious transactions, beneficiaries, and customers – in real time. Silent Eight helps businesses understand the risks that may be present in both new and existing customer relationships, identify the payment stakeholder in every transaction, and monitor all transactions for potentially fraudulent behavior.

Silent Eight plans to use the capital to expand technology functions in order to support rapid growth in its customer base. The company also plans to hire additional talent, including more than 150 data scientists, developers, and engineers this year. Headquartered in Singapore, Silent Eight maintains global hubs in New York, London, and Warsaw.

Silent Eight co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Julia Markiewicz was recognized by The Financial Technology Report as one of its Top 25 Women Leaders in Financial Technology of Europe for 2022. She was also named to TechNode Global’s roster of top emerging women-led startups in Southeast Asia.

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