Token Lands $16.5 Million

Token Lands $16.5 Million

Open banking expert Token received $16.5 million in a round of funding led by Opera Tech Ventures, the venture arm of BNP Paribas. The investment brings the company’s total funding to $35 million.

Also participating in today’s round are two banks headquartered in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, as well as existing investors Octopus Ventures and EQT Ventures. California-based Token will use the funds to build on its TokenOS open banking platform and develop new payment solutions with digital money and identity technology.

“As the emerging category leader in open banking infrastructure, Token gives banks a fast track to deliver great open banking customer experiences,” said Token Founder and CEO Steve Kirsch. “For banks, establishing an early position in this new hyper-connected market is a competitive advantage; a new wave of independent financial apps and services will soon be available to their customers, so banks need to be clear about their future roles. By solving the infrastructure problem, Token enables them to focus on service innovation and delivery earlier than the competition.”

Founded in 2015, Token was built on the mission to create the next generation of payment capabilities. The company has 4,000 bank clients in its ecosystem in which participating online merchants to connect to the bank to allow the customer to make purchases directly from their bank accounts. Among Token’s clients are Tandem Bank, Think Money Group, An Post, Sberbank Croatia and Slovenia, and Khaleeji Commercial Bank.

Token showcased its PSD2 compliant solution at FinovateEurope 2017 in London. Last month, the company partnered with Omni Group to provide open banking and PSD2 compliance solutions to the group’s bank partners. This year, Token won Best Payments Newcomer in the 2019 Card and Payments Awards as well as Fintech Start Up of the Year in the 2019 FStech Awards.

Cybercrime Fighter ThetaRay Announces Strategic Investment from ABN AMRO

Cybercrime Fighter ThetaRay Announces Strategic Investment from ABN AMRO

A new strategic investment from ABN AMRO Digital Impact Fund “strengthens the current operational relationship” between the bank and Israel-based cybersecurity innovator ThetaRay, fund director Hugo Bongers said today. The investment, amount undisclosed, adds to the company’s reported $66.5 million in funding.

ThetaRay leverages its big data analytics platform and solutions to provide advanced cybersecurity and risk mitigation for financial services companies. The company, founded in 2013, demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2015, and showed how its approach to anomaly detection provides protection against unknown, next generation cyberattacks while delivering low-false positives. ThetaRay’s IntuitiveAI platform helps spot money laundering activity, fraud, and dangerously risky loans, as well as helps firms become more efficient operationally and identify new potential growth areas.

“We’re very proud that ABN AMRO, a customer that benefits from ThetaRay’s intuitive artificial intelligence technology to combat financial cybercrime and operational failures, has now also become an investor,” ThetaRay CEO Mark Gazit said. He praised the company as a “visionary” that recognizes the role of AI-enabled technologies to help financial services companies better serve their customers. “We see ABN AMRO Digital Impact Fund as a true partner for creating a safer world,” Gazit said.

ThetaRay is not the first Finovate alum to receive funding from ABN AMRO Digital Impact Fund. The €50 million corporate venture entity has also invested in Tink, BehavioSec, and Cloud Lending Solutions. The strategic nature of the firm’s investment in ThetaRay, however, brings with it specific dividends, according to Bongers. “ABN AMRO stands to benefit from access to the Israeli ecosystem of cybersecurity and financial crime detection firms, as well as the leading venture capital investors operating in this business, such as JVP (Jerusalem Venture Partners) and OurCrowd,” he said.

Named one of 10 Security Startups to Watch by Network World earlier this year, ThetaRay was honored by the 2019 Fortress Cyber Security Awards last month, earning recognition in the Software & Applications category. The company added veteran marketing talent in May, hiring former Arachnys and Axioma executive Steve Mann as its new CMO.

Digital Banking Platform Alkami Lands New $55 Million Investment

Digital Banking Platform Alkami Lands New $55 Million Investment

In a Series E round led by MissionOG and General Atlantic, cloud-based digital banking platform provider Alkami Technology has raised $55 million in new funding. The investment takes the company’s total capital to more than $225 million, and will be used to help expand operations and fuel innovation at the Plano, Texas-based fintech.

Also participating in the round were existing investors including S3 Ventures and Argonaut Private Equity.

Company CEO Mike Hansen put the funding in the context of Alkami’s tenth anniversary, which the company will celebrate later this year. “We are very honored and excited about the support our existing investors evidenced again by this round,” Hansen said. “Their long-term commitment and support has allowed us to continue to boldly invest in innovation, people, and best-in-class service.” Hansen referred to the firm’s investors as “one of Alkami’s most potent sources of strength and results.”

Alkami Technology demonstrated its money management and financial awareness technology at FinovateSpring 2009 as iThryv – making the company one of Finovate’s oldest alums. Since then, the company has grown into a digital banking platform provider with more than 130 financial institution clients and more than six million registered users in the U.S.

General Atlantic Vice President Raph Osnoss credited Alkami’s “user experience, product features, platform architecture, and data security” for the company’s growth in the digital banking space. Alkami was featured in the 2018 Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies roster, as well as in Deloitte’s 2018 Technology Fast 500 in North America. Recent partnerships for the company include a platform deployment with Alliance Catholic CU of Michigan ($40 million in assets), and a deal with Green Bay, Wisconsin-based Nicolat National Bank ($3 billion in assets).

Named one of the Best FinTechs to Work For by SourceMedia (publishers of American Banker), Alkami also has made two C-suite moves in recent months. The company appointed former Authentix CMO Holly Tsourides as Chief Marketing Officer in February and named former RealPage executive Bryan Hill as Chief Financial Officer in April.

Paysend Reaches Crowdfunding Goal of $5.3M

Paysend Reaches Crowdfunding Goal of $5.3M

London-based fintech Paysend announced late last week that it had reached its fundraising goal of $5.3 million (£4.2 million) after a three-day campaign on Seedrs. The company noted that more than 200 investors have participated in funding round, which was led by VC’s Plug & Play, Digital Space Ventures, and Marcorp Fintech. The funding puts Paysend’s total capital at more than $25 million and gives the company a valuation of more than $158 million (£1.25 million).

“We believe that (transferring money) should be as easy and immediate as sending an email, and finally the digital age is being able to facilitate this,” Paysend CEO Ronald Millar explained. He blamed the banking and payments industry for “conditioning” customers into believing that the difficulty of transferring money justified the complex process that most bank customers endure. “I have always been a firm believer that earning money can be tough but spending shouldn’t be,” Millar said.

The company said the funds will be used to fuel Paysend’s international expansion goals, including new partnerships with FIs. Paysend is currently active in 70 countries around the world, and Millar noted that the company is adding new customers at a pace of 2,000 a day. In fact, Paysend’s funding announcement comes as the company reports adding another six countries to its money transfer network. India, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, and Turkey are all slated to be brought onboard this year.

“We are on a major expansion path,” Millar told The Courier UK. “We’ve just launched the global account and we want to continue to grow the business and establish the operational team and launch more marketing.”

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in London, U.K., Paysend demonstrated its Global Account at FinovateSpring 2018. The solution enables users to store both fiat and crypto currencies in their wallet, exchange funds between currencies, send funds to other Global Accounts, and make payments from their account both online and in-person. The account comes with a prepaid card (both physical and virtual) that can be linked to the currencies in the user’s wallet, enabling them to make everyday transactions in the currency of their choice as easily as spending with a debit card. Users can also use their Global Account card to withdraw cash in 125 currencies.

Paysend has more than 750,000 users of its technology, and facilitates more than two million transactions a month. In May, the company announced the launch of its new payments app, Paysend Link, which enables users to send money to anyone, anywhere using only the recipient’s mobile phone number. Also in May, Paysend reported that its new stablecoin would be available on the Stellar Network this summer.

Synapse Receives $33 Million for Backend Fintech

Synapse Receives $33 Million for Backend Fintech

Synapse, a San Francisco-based fintech startup, has raised $33 million in a series B round led by a16z, with participation from existing investors Trinity and Core and unnamed individual investors, including 9Yards Capital, reports Henry Vilar of Fintech Futures, Finovate’s sister publication.

This brings the start-up’s total raised to $50 million, following a $17 million series A round in September 2018. Synapse says it has over three million clients using its cloud-based tools, with 10,000 new signups and five million API requests every day.

In total, Synapse says it has facilitated more than $10 billion in transactions to date. The company reports facilitating more than $2 billion as automated clearing house (ACH) and $40 million in payment card transactions for over 100 companies so far this year.

Synapse provides payment, deposit, lending, and investment products as APIs to financial technology companies, which in turn launch consumer-facing financial services.

The fintech plans to build direct processor integrations with both Mastercard and Visa, which it expects will speed up API calls around card issuance and open up features like just-in-time funding and dynamic spending controls.

The company also intends to launch a brokerage account product and to enhance its loan origination and servicing API. This will make it easier for developers to apply for a warehouse line of credit and add automated text and phone loan collection support.

Toward the end of this year, the goal is to launch services in Europe and Canada, starting with payments, deposits, and debit card issuance. Lending and investment products will follow.

The firm plans a chatbot platform to answer customer questions, along with self-servicing tools for developers, a seed investing program. Synapse will also improve its security tools, including its ID verification and video authentication stack, add-ons around duplicate profile detection, and fraud and transaction monitoring.

“After 2019, our goal is to add support for two key markets each year, plus one underserved market, where we will build consumer-facing products until developer ecosystems are built,” said cofounder and CEO, Sankaet Pathak.

As a part of the series B, a16z’s Angela Strange and Michael Hoffmeyer, director at the Crews Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Memphis, have joined Synapse’s board of directors.

Founded in 2015, Synapse demoed its white label loan issuance at FinovateSpring last year. The tool originates and services unsecured consumer and business loans while providing customizable decisioning, automated compliance, smart notifications, and an origination and servicing UI.

BanQu Closes Extension on Series A Round

BanQu Closes Extension on Series A Round

Blockchain-based identity startup BanQu announced it closed an extension of its Series A round today. The funds come from Anheuser-Busch InBev’s venture arm ZX Ventures. The amount of the funding was undisclosed but adds to the company’s previous funding total of $2.6 million.

“After BanQu’s outstanding pilot performance in our 100+ Accelerator, we are pleased to solidify the partnership with Ashish, Jeff, and the entire team at BanQu through an equity investment,” said Tony Milikin, Chief Sustainability and Procurement Officer at AB InBev. “Together, we are working to improve access to modern banking for thousands of farmers in underserved rural markets, driving inclusive growth and contributing to our own 2025 Sustainability Goal as well as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.”

Minnesota-based BanQu won Best of Show at FinovateSpring 2016 for its blockchain-as-a-service company that aims to lift people out of extreme poverty by connecting them with global supply chains, brands, organizations, and governments. The company connects the unbanked population to the global economy via a distributed ledger of financial and personal records using blockchain technology. Once users create a transaction history on the BanQu blockchain, they create a trackable personal history that serves as a form of identity, providing a baseline for them to participate in the global economy.

BanQu originally launched its partnership with AB InBev in August of last year after piloting its identity technology with 2,000+ cassava farmers in Zambia. Since then, the company has rolled out programs in Uganda and India, and is planning efforts in Brazil.

“ABInBev has been an incredible partner to BanQu over the past year, and together we have innovated and scaled the BanQu platform across multiple countries and thousands of farmers. Farmers at the world’s “last mile,” traditionally excluded from the global economy and lacking a verifiable economic identity, are now visible, financially empowered, and connected in the global supply chain of AB InBev,” said BanQu Co-Founder and CEO Ashish Gadnis. “The ZX investment takes this partnership to a whole new level of commitment on both sides. It cements our core shared vision of making the world a better place while being good business stewards.”

BanQu currently has operations across 12 countries including Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malawi, Somalia, South Africa, Syria, Uganda, United States, and Zambia. The company has plans for additional rollouts in China and Mexico later this year.

$468 Million Raised by 20 Alums in Q1 of 2019

$468 Million Raised by 20 Alums in Q1 of 2019

One of the big questions about first quarter funding for Finovate alums over the past few years asked: which is the truer barometer of the fintech funding environment: the post-election parsimony of Q1 2017 or the billion+ investment rebound of Q1 2018?

We now have our answer: Alums in the first quarter of 2019 racked in more than $468 million in funding. This figure more than doubles the Q1 2017 total, and represents financings from 20 companies that have demoed at our conferences in the past (both Finovate and FinDEVr). Q1 2019 totals are less than that of the previous two first quarters in 2016 and 2015, but on a “per alum funded” basis this year’s first quarter is comparable to all but 2018’s historic start.

Previous Quarterly Comparisons

  • Q1 2018: $1.32 billion raised by 26 alums
  • Q1 2017: $230 million raised by 20 alums
  • Q1 2016: $656 million raised by 32 alums
  • Q1 2015: $680 million raised by 29 alums

Unlike some quarters in which overall totals are boosted by a single outsized investment (Credit Karma’s $500 million fundraising in Q1 of last year comes to mind), the first quarter investments for alums this year were in the moderate range. That said, adding up to $428 million, this quarter’s top 10 equity investments make up a sizable 91.5% of the quarter’s total funding.

Top 10 Equity Investments

  1. Stash: $65 million
  2. Tink: $63 million
  3. Coverhound: $58 million
  4. Nutmeg: $58 million
  5. Personal Capital: $50 million
  6. Mambu: $34 million
  7. Featurespace: $32.2 million
  8. Socure: $30 million
  9. SpyCloud: $21 million
  10. Zafin: $17.2 million

Here is our detailed alum funding report for Q1 2019.

January: More than $111 million raised by five alums

February: More than $276 million raised by nine alums

March: More than $81 million raised by six alums


If you are a Finovate alum that raised money in the first quarter of 2019 and do not see your company listed, please drop us a note at research@finovate.com. We would love to share the good news! Funding received prior to becoming an alum not included.

Top image designed by Freepik

Tink Secures Strategic Investment from PayPal

Tink Secures Strategic Investment from PayPal

PayPal has joined Team Tink.

Swedish open banking solution provider Tink announced today that PayPal is its latest investor and customer. In a blog post sharing the news, the Swedish company called the investment and partnership a “major vote of confidence in our tech and an indicator of the strength of the open banking movement in Europe.”

Today’s investment from PayPal adds $11.2 million (€10 million) to Tink’s capital, boosting the fintech’s funding total to more than $105 million. As Tink’s newest partner, the payments giant plans to leverage Tink’s account aggregation technology to enable its European customers to connect their bank accounts to their PayPal accounts.

“It’s a testament to the versatility of our technology,” the company wrote on its blog on Tuesday, “it can be implemented to improve a range of use cases for businesses big and small.”

Offering account aggregation and payment initiation services via a single, API integration – as well as data enrichment and categorization and PFM services – Tink empowers fintechs to maximize the opportunities of open banking. More than 1,400 developers are using Tink’s API platform to access financial data from hundreds of banks and financial institutions in markets across Europe. This access is paving the way for what the company called “the next generation of financial services.”

VP of global markets and partnerships for PayPal, Jennifer Marriner echoed Tink’s enthusiasm for the transformative potential of open banking. “Tink has developed the infrastructure and data services for this new financial world – and we’re excited to work together to continue to democratize financial services,” she said.

Today’s funding will help drive Tink’s continued expansion across Europe. In recent months, the fintech has partnered with NatWest in the U.K., Mash in Finland, and Lunar Way in Denmark. The company began the year with both a big funding – picking up $63 million (€56 million) in a round led by Insight Venture Partners – and a big expansion, going live in five new European markets. Tink demonstrated its API platform at FinovateEurope earlier this year. Founded in 2012, the company has 150 employees and 500,000 users of its PFM app.

PayPal and Braintree presented Making Payments Fun at our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley, in 2014. PayPal also demonstrated its Instant Account Creation solution at FinovateEurope 2012. Trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol PYPL, PayPal has a market capitalization of $127 billion. The San Jose, California-based company was founded in 1998.

Dashlane Raises $110 Million for Password Security

Dashlane Raises $110 Million for Password Security

Password management platform Dashlane is riding the momentum of the $30 million it raised last month. Today, the New York-based company more than tripled its last investment, pulling in a $110 million Series D round.

The investment also more than doubles Dashlane’s previous funding total, boosting it to $211 million. Sequoia Capital led the round, with existing investors Rho Ventures, FirstMark Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners also participating.

However, as CEO Emmanuel Schalit made clear in a blog post, “Dashlane’s ultimate success will not be measured by how much money we raise, but by our ability to empower people and businesses around the world to take control of their digital lives.” Dashlane is best known for its B2C offering that autogenerates secure passwords, as well as its form auto-filling function and digital wallet that securely stores users’ credit card information for fast online purchases. The company will use today’s investment to enhance its core product, add new capabilities, and build its brand to become synonymous with password security.

Schalit said that Dashlane is only “scratching the surface” of securing digital identities. “Billions of people and millions of businesses around the world feel the pain of digital identity – from breaches to stolen identities and the nuisance of remembering passwords. Few are even aware that there is a better way, and we are going to change that,” he said.

In addition to its B2C offerings, Dashlane also provides solutions that help businesses seamlessly onboard staff with new accounts, and has a partner program to allow brands to co-brand Dashlane’s identity manager as a service. The company’s partners include Visa, Intel, and yubico.

“While most people are not aware of the magnitude of these issues, an entire economy is booming and growing in sophistication around harvesting and weaponizing stolen credentials, with participation from nation-states and cybercriminals,” said Sequoia Partner Jim Goetz, who will join the company’s board of directors. “We believe this category has the potential to one day surpass anti-virus in size, and we are excited to partner with the emerging market leader as they create and grow the category.”

Dashlane also announced it has recruited Joy Howard (pictured), former CMO at Lyft, as its Chief Marketing Officer. Howard, who is slated to begin her role at Dashlane in August, will oversee the company’s global marketing initiatives. She brings to Dashlane her experience gained from leadership positions at Sonos, Patagonia, Nike, and Coca-Cola.

Since it was founded in 2009, Dashlane has amassed 11+ million users from 180 countries across the globe. The company demoed its password manager and keyboard-less ecommerce transaction technology at FinovateEurope 2013.

SoFi Announces $500 Million Investment Led by Qatar

SoFi Announces $500 Million Investment Led by Qatar

In a round led by Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), personal finance solution provider SoFi has raised more than $500 million in equity funding. The new capital gives the San Francisco, California-based company a valuation of $4.3 billion, and will drive investment, the company said in its press release, in continued innovation and growth. SoFi’s total capital now stands at $2.3 billion.

QIA CEO Mansoor Al-Mahmoud highlighted SoFi’s long-term vision, which has enabled the company to evolve into a major personal finance platform for both lending and wealth management. “We strongly believe in SoFi’s approach, and their dedication to build a transformational financial platform that is rapidly disrupting consumer finance,” he said.

In his statement, SoFi CEO Anthony Noto underscored the company’s transformation, as well. “Over the last year, we’ve worked aggressively to grow SoFi from a desktop lending business to a broad-based, mobile-first financial platform enabling members to borrow, save, spend, invest, and protect their money,” Noto said.

With more than 700,000 members and 7.5+ million registered users, SoFi offers a variety of personal finance solutions in lending and wealth management. These include the company’s student loan refinancing and mortgages offerings, as well as newer products like SoFi Invest and SofiMoney.

SoFi Invest, launched at the beginning of the year, is a stock and ETF trading and investing platform that also allows for automated investing. SoFi Money combines the best of checking and savings accounts into a single account with a 2.25% APY and an app to facilitate mobile spending, saving, and payment.

Earlier this month, SoFi announced that it was introducing an exchange-traded fund based on the gig economy, GIGE. The actively managed fund – run by Toroso Investments – enables investors to participate in the stock market gains of companies like eBay, Lyft, Square, and Twitter. In April, the company teamed up with Lemonade and Root to add to its insurance offerings.

SoFi, in partnership with Quovo, participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr New York 2017. At the event, the two companies led a presentation, How Quovo and SoFi Perfected Bank Authentication, which won the duo a Favorite FinDEVr Alum award. SoFi was founded in 2011.

TransferWise Doubles Valuation with $292 Million Funding

TransferWise Doubles Valuation with $292 Million Funding

UK-based international payments fintech TransferWise has doubled its value to $3.5 billion after raising $292 million in secondary funding, reports Jane Connolly of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

The Telegraph reports that the round was led by investors including Lead Edge Capital, Lone Pine Capital and Vitruvian Partners. The Sir Richard Branson-backed firm also received investment from BlackRock and existing investors Andressen Horowitz and Baillie Gifford.T

TransferWise’s strategy of providing cheap exchange rates by using two local transfers for each transaction, instead of more expensive single international payments, has attracted more than five million customers since the fintech was founded in 2011.

According to The Telegraph, TransferWise will use the funds to take on 750 more staff over the next year.

“TransferWise is experiencing phenomenal growth and this investment is testament to that,” said Kristo Käärman, chief executive and co-founder. “We don’t need to raise funds on this trajectory, but we’re humbled by the persistent level of interest.”

TransferWise handles a transaction volume of $5.1 billion across its 12 global offices every month. The company demonstrated its technology at FinovateEurope 2013.

Marqeta Secures $260 Million in Series E Funding

Marqeta Secures $260 Million in Series E Funding

Global card issuing platform Marqeta, which demonstrated its Payment Gateways technology at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016, announced today that it has secured $260 million in new funding in a round led by Coatue Management. The capital will be used to further develop the company’s payment card platform and to fuel global expansion, according to company founder and CEO Jason Gardner.

The investment boosts Marqeta’s valuation to “nearly $2 billion” and featured the participation of new investors Vitruvian Partners, Spark Capital, Lone Pine Capital, and Geodesic. The company’s existing investors include Visa, ICONIQ, Goldman Sachs, 83North, Granite Ventures, CommerzVentures, and CreditEase.

In a statement, Gardner positioned Marqeta at the center of a worldwide transformation in card issuance. “When today’s innovators are in need of modern payment solutions, they aren’t turning to banks as their primary issuers any more and want a platform built for their needs,” he said. “We’ve been proud to power this transformation as the most advanced card issuing platform built in over two decades.”

With more than 300 employees around the world, Marqeta leverages its platform and open APIs to enable fintechs to build and offer a wide variety of payment-based solutions for customers. The growth in the company’s business has been connected increasingly to the rise of new technology-savvy companies entering the financial services space who seek to offer payment, lending, and other solutions without relying on traditional banks.

“Marqeta is attacking a multi-trillion dollar opportunity in this market,” Gardner said. “This investment puts us in prime position to round out our product vision, bring Marqeta to new geographies, build even more groundbreaking features for our customers and double down on our already aggressive growth trajectory.”

Founded in 2010, Marqeta is based in Oakland, California. With partners including Square, Affirm, and Kabbage, the company has doubled revenues for the past three years and opened a new office in London last fall to kick off its European expansion. TechCrunch reported that Marqeta is considering an initial public offering within the next year and a half.

Marqeta presented Democratizing Issuer Payment Processing with Just-In-Time (JIT) Funding at our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016. The discussion, led by Marqeta CTO Tony Ford, introduced the company’s open payment APIs, which democratize issuer payment processing by making e-commerce innovators a part of the authorization stream.