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Fintech Fundings: 28 Companies Raise $400 Million Week Ending May 20

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 16, 2016
Categories: Funding, Uncategorized

Total fundings in second quarter hit $8.4 billion as 28 companies raised $401 million the third week of May. Eight deals passed the $10-million mark, with one more at $9 million.

Along with the usual payment and lending startups, two insur-tech companies raised substantial rounds: Embroker ($12.2 million) and Jetty ($4 million).

Finovate alums accounted for 40% of the week’s dollar volume including:

Personal Capital raised $75 million for its digital wealth management service.
SigFig brought in $40 million from a blue-chip lineup of financial institutions including Comerica, Santandar, and New York Life
EZBob landed a $25 million debt commitment to increase its SMB lending
Tink raised $10.2 million to launch its virtual bank

The total number of deals YTD stands at 522, 80% more than last year’s 290. Total dollars raised YTD is now $15.1 billion, more than twice the $7.1 billion raised during the same period a year ago.

——-

Fintech deals by size from 14 May to 20 May 2016:

Clover Health
Health insurance provider
Latest round: $160 million Series C
Total raised: $295 million
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumer, insurance, healthcare, human resources, benefits, employees
Source: Crunchbase

Personal Capital
Digital wealth manager
Latest round: $75 million Series E ($500 million valuation)
Total raised: $175.3 million
HQ: Redwood City, California
Tags: Consumer, investing, wealth management, robo-adviser, trading, asset management, trading, Finvoate alum
Source: Finovate

SigFig
Digital investment adviser
Latest round: $40 million
Total raised: $56 million
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumer, investing, trading, portfolio management, wealth management, Comerica Bank (investor), Santander (investor), New York Life (investor), Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

EZBob
Small business alt-lender
Latest round: $35.5 million Debt
Total raised: $130.8 million ($83.1 million Equity, $47.7 million Debt)
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: SMB, credit, loans, underwriting, lending
Source: Crunchbase

Tally Technologies
Consumer credit-card management
Latest round: $15 million Series A
Total raised: $15 million
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumer, credit cards, personal finance, PFM, debt management, lead gen
Source: Crunchbase

Embroker
Business insurance
Latest round: $12.2 million Series A
Total raised: $14.4 million
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: SMB, insurance, claims management, broker, lead gen, price comparison
Source: Crunchbase

Tink
Personal finance app
Latest round: $10.2 million Series B
Total raised: $14.2 million
HQ: Stockholm, Sweden
Tags: Consumer, personal financial management, PFM, spending, budgeting, mobile, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Shift Technology
Fraud detection for ecommerece and financial services
Latest round: $10 million Series A
Total raised: $11.8 million
HQ: Paris, France
Tags: Enterprise, security, insurance, ecommerce, fraud protection
Source: Crunchbase

Chime
Neo bank
Latest round: $9 million
Total raised: $20.75 million
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumer, prepaid/debit card, savings account, deposits, payments, billpay
Source: Crunchbase

efileCabinet
Document management for accounting and financial firms
Latest round: $5 million
Total raised: $31.05 million
HQ: Lehi, Utah
Tags: Enterprise, SMB, , credit, loans, underwriting, lending
Source: Crunchbase

Ceterus
Accounting services for small businesses
Latest round: $4.2 million
Total raised: $4.2 million
HQ: Charlston, South Carolina
Tags: SMB, accoounting, bookkeeping, receivables/payables, financial reporting
Source: Crunchbase

Jetty
Digital property and casualty (P&C) insurance
Latest round: $4 million Seed
Total raised: $4 million Seed
HQ: New York City
Tags: Consumer, insurance, P&C, millennials
Source: Crunchbase

Tandem
Full-service digital bank
Latest round: $3.05 million Equity Crowdfunding
Total raised: $34.8 million
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Consumer, credit, deposits, banking, payments, credit/debit cards
Source: Crunchbase

Goodlord
Mobile rent payments
Latest round: $2.9 million
Total raised: $2.9 million
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: SMB, payments, property management, rentals
Source: Crunchbase

Mesitis
Data aggregation and visualization for wealth management
Latest round: $2.35 million
Total raised: $6.13 million
HQ: Singapore
Tags: Advisers, SMB, investing, wealth management, investing tools, investors
Source: Crunchbase

Fund That Flip
Real estate marketplace lending
Latest round: $2 million
Total raised: $2.04 million
HQ: New York City
Tags: Consumer, SMB, credit, loans, underwriting, investing, P2P, peer to peer, crowdfunding
Source: Crunchbase

Hey You
Mobile ordering and payment app
Latest round: $2 million Series B
Total raised: $7 million
HQ: Surry Hills, Australia
Tags: SMB, merchants, acquiring, credit/debt card processing, restaurants, payments
Source: Crunchbase

Properati
Latin America real estate portal
Latest round: $2 million
Total raised: $4.23 million
HQ: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Tags: Consumer, home buying, mortgage, lead gen
Source: Crunchbase

Capshare
Online cap-table management
Latest round: $1.99 million
Total raised: $2.99 million
HQ: Sandy, Utah
Tags: SMB, financial management, investors, investing, valuations
Source: Crunchbase

ET Index
Investor tools to evaluate carbon risk
Latest round: $1.6 million Equity Crowdfunding
Total raised: $1.6 million
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Investors, trading, valuations, analytics, eco, investing tools
Source: Crunchbase

Propellr
Alt-investments
Latest round: $1.6 million Convertible Note
Total raised: $1.6 million
HQ: New York City
Tags: Advisers, investors, wealth management, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Monetise
Consumer alt-lender
Latest round: $600,000 Seed
Total raised: $600,000
HQ: Stockholm, Sweden
Tags: Consumer, credit, loans, underwriting, lending
Source: Crunchbase

TableSafe
Mobile point-of-sale solution
Latest round: $513,000 Debt
Total raised: $18.96 million
HQ: Kirkland, Washington
Tags: SMB, merchants, acquiring, credit/debit card processing, hospitality, restaurants, underwriting, POS
Source: Crunchbase

Dvdendo
Automated financial advice
Latest round: $385,000 Seed
Total raised: $385,000
HQ: Miami, Florida
Tags: Consumer, investing, portfolio management, trading
Source: Crunchbase

i2iFunding
Consumer marketplace lender
Latest round: $300,000 Angel
Total raised: $300,000
HQ: Noida, India
Tags: Consumer, credit, loans, underwriting, lending, P2P, peer to peer, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Monotto
Funds-transfer service
Latest round: $50,000 Seed
Total raised: $60,000
Acclerator: VC Fintech
HQ: Charlston, South Carolina
Tags: Consumer, savings account, investing, ACH
Source: Crunchbase

Renew Financial
Renewable energy financing
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: $102.2 million
HQ: Oakland, California
Tags: Consumer, SMB, loans, credit, lending, underwriting, personal finance management, energy consumption management
Source: FT Partners

TwoWayPay
Peer-to-peer payments
Latest round: Undisclosed Angel
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Consumer, P2P payments, remittances, funds transfers
Source: Crunchbase

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Bento for Business Banks $7 Million in New Investment

By David Penn Posted on June 10, 2016
Categories: Bento for Business, Funding, Fundings

In a round led by Comcast Ventures, Bento for Business has raised $7 million in new funding. The Series A also featured the participation of existing investors from Anthemis Group, Blumberg Capital, and Lionbird, as well as new investor Dan Henry, former CEO of NetSpend. The investment takes Bento’s total capital to $9.5 million.

The company, which has seen 170% quarter-over-quarter growth since launching 13 months ago, says the funds will be used to add management talent, develop new features, and pave the way for expansion into new verticals. Dave Zilberman, managing director at Comcast Ventures, will join Bento’s board of directors as part of the deal.

Pictured (left to right): Bento for Business co-founders Farhan Ahmad, CEO, and Sean Anderson, CPO, demonstrated their technology at FinovateSpring 2015.

Bento for Business provides small businesses with solutions to help them manage expenses better. The company’s first offering was the Bento MasterCard, a prepaid card that employers can give to their employees to make qualified purchases. Business owners can easily set usage rules for the card based on spending amount and spending category, as well as set spending time limits. Owners also can turn the cards on or off with a single click. Bento provides a dashboard that enables the commercial card owner to see which cards are being used and how, as well as track expenses by location, employee, and type.

“Banks want to service small businesses, but it’s been profitable not to,” Ahman explained during a conversation at FinovateSpring last year. “We want to work with banks, with service providers … to curate and build beautiful, simple and most of all useful products that are built just for small businesses,” he said. Read more about the company in our Finovate Debut feature.

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Bento for Business demonstrated its platform at FinovateSpring 2015. The company was profiled by Newsfactor Business Report in its look at prepaid debit cards for businesses back in December, the same month Bankless Times featured the company and its employee-spending controls solution. PYMNTS.con also took a look at Bento last fall.

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Tradeshift Closes $75 Million Series D Round, Boosts Valuation to $500 Million

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 9, 2016
Categories: Funding, Tradeshift

Invoicing and cash flow management platform Tradeshift pulled in $75 million of new funding this week, bringing the total to north of $200 million since its 2010 launch.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Tradeshift’s valuation now stands at $500 million.

Data Collective led the round; additional contributors include HSBC, American Express Ventures, Notion Capital, CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund, and Pavilion Capital. Data Collective’s co-managing partner and co-founder Matt Ocko will join Tradeshift’s board. The San Francisco-based company will use the funds to “serve a wider range of global customers” by increasing user adoption by boosting growth of sales, product, and engineering operations.

Tradeshift is an open network that connects buyers and suppliers on a single platform to manage business processes. The company offers Tradeshift Buy for cloud-based procurement, Tradeshift Pay for accounts payable automation, and Tradeshift Risk for a lifecycle management solution. At FinovateEurope 2012, CEO Christian Lanng, co-founder, debuted Tradeshift Instant Payments, a solution that enables businesses to receive payments in real time for invoices.

In the past year, Tradeshift has seen 4X growth in supplier accounts, having added Fortune 1000 clients including Zurich Insurance Group, LinkedIn and SUEZ, one of the world’s largest fashion retailers. The company has also increased its focus on small- to medium-sized businesses, bringing its total user base to 800,000 end users; the number of businesses it serves is undisclosed.

Tradeshift saw 2.5X YOY growth in transacted value on its platform, which processes billions of dollars per month in supply-chain transactions in 190 countries. The company anticipates it will make $50 million in annual revenue this year.

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Buzz Points Lands $1.8 Million in Funding

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 8, 2016
Categories: Buzz Points, Funding

Community-focused rewards program Buzz Points pulled in $1.8 million from seven unnamed investors this week according to the company’s Form D filing with the SEC. This brings the Austin-based company’s total to $28.3 million since launching in 2009 as fisoc, Inc. Previous investors include Greycroft Partners and Discover Financial Services.

The company debuted the Buzz Points mobile app at FinovateFall 2015. The app offers targeted marketing campaigns that enable community bank customers to use their mobile device to purchase, manage, and redeem points and offers with local businesses across the country. Consumers receive discounts based on their personal spending habits and Buzz Points uses geolocation to determine nearby, relevant offers.

The company boasts partnerships with Discover and Malauzai and recently added Thrive Credit Union as a client. According to a 2014 article in the Wall Street Journal, Buzz Points had a valuation of $65 million at the time of its $19 million Series D round in 2014.

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CrowdFlower Closes on a $10 Million Round Led by Microsoft

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 7, 2016
Categories: CrowdFlower, Funding

Data collection and cleaning platform CrowdFlower closed on $10 million in funding led by Microsoft Ventures. Also participating in the Series D round are Canvas Ventures and Trinity Ventures.

CrowdFlower’s funding now totals $38 million. The company will use the funds to speed adoption of CrowdFlower AI.

The company gave a Best of Show-winning presentation at FinovateFall 2014 where it demonstrated how its on-demand workforce cleans and labels financial transaction data. Banks upload their data, define their task, and launch their job. CrowdFlower’s taskforce steps in to do what a computer can’t. The crowdsourced workforce completes micro-jobs to fill in holes in incorrect or incomplete data. The company leverages this effort in its recently launched CrowdFlower AI that combines human intelligence with machine learning to create what the company calls, Human-in-the-Loop, a product that uses active learning to make machine learning more viable.

In a blog post, company CEO and founder Lukas Biewald (pictured right) says, “There are always places where algorithms struggle … . We’ve made it easy to automatically identify where machine learning is struggling and send them back to CrowdFlower jobs for humans to label.”

Founded in 2009, the San Francisco-based company’s customers include LinkedIn, Intuit, Flickr, and eBay.

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Fintech Fundings: 30 Companies Raise $390 Million Week Ending May 13

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 6, 2016
Categories: Funding

Total fundings in second quarter hit $8 billion as 30 more companies raised $390 million the second week of May. Nearly half of that ($188 million) was debt earmarked for Avant’s U.K. subsidiary.

The deals were widely dispersed around the world, with only 4 of the 30 headquartered in California. London beat that this week with 5, followed by 3 in NYC, and 2 each from Chicago, Florida and Germany.

The total number of deals YTD stands at 494, nearly double last year’s 266. Total dollars raised YTD is now $14.7 billion, more than twice the $6.7 billion raised during the same period a year ago.

Notable raises included Finovate alum Tagit which brought in nearly $9 million to supercharge its mobile application development platform.

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Fintech deals by size from 7 May to 13 May, 2016:

Avant (AvantCredit U.K.)
Consumer alt-lender
Latest round: $188 million Debt (for AvantCredit U.K.)
Total raised: $1.92 billion ($654 million Equity, $1.26 billion Debt)
HQ: Chicago, Illinois
Tags: Consumer, credit, loans, underwriting, lending
Source: Crunchbase

Bridge2Solutions
Incentive & rewards systems for financial institutions
Latest round: $35 million Series A
Total raised: $35 million
HQ: Daytona Beach, Florida
Tags: Consumer, enterprise, rewards, payments gamification, employees, human resources, loyalty, retention
Source: Crunchbase

Capital Float
Working capital financing
Latest round: $25 million Series B
Total raised: $41 million
HQ: Bangalore, India
Tags: SMB, lending, financing, commercial loans, invoice financing, factoring
Source: Crunchbase

Wincor Nixdorf (AEVI subsidiary)
Payments technology
Latest round: $23 million Post-IPO Equity
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Germany
Tags: Enterprise, cashless payments
Source: FT Partners

orderbird
iPad POS system for the hospitality industry
Latest round: $22.8 million Series C
Total raised: $37 million
HQ: Berlin, Germany
Tags: SMB, payments, mobile, merchants, acquiring, security, credit/debit cards
Source: Crunchbase

Simplee
Healthcare finance platform
Latest round: $20 million
Total raised: $37.8 million
HQ: Palo Alto, California
Tags: SMB, patient finance, billing, payments, insurance, credit, underwriting, B2B2C
Source: Crunchbase

AutoFi
Auto financing platform
Latest round: $17 million
Total raised: $17 million
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: B2B2C, SMB, consumer, lending, auto loan, vehicle credit, underwriting, secured, captive financing, lead gen
Source: FT Partners

EuroCCP
Equities clearing
Latest round: $16 million (from Euronext)
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Tags: B2B, enterprise, trading software, investing services, back office
Source: FT Partners

Tagit
Mobile financial applications
Latest round: $8.75 million
Total raised: $8.75 million
HQ: Singapore
Tags: Enterprise, banking, mobile application development, developers, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

TechBureau
Blockchain technology
Latest round: $6.2 million
Total raised: $6.2 million
HQ: Osaka, Japan
Tags: SMB, blockchain, distributed database, payments, crypto-currency, bitcoin
Source: FT Partners

WealthBar
Online financial adviser
Latest round: $5.5 million
Total raised: $5.5 million
HQ: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Tags: Consumer, investing, robo-adviser, ETF, wealth management
Source: Crunchbase

Healthcare Interactive
Healthcare & insurance technology
Latest round: $3.4 million Series A
Total raised: $11.8 million
HQ: Glenwood, Maryland
Tags: Enterprise, healthcare, payments, insurance
Source: FT Partners

Tandem
Digital bank
Latest round: $3.4 million Equity Crowdfunding ($95 million valuation)
Total raised: $34.8 million
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Consumer, banking, payments, deposits, loans, debit card
Source: Crunchbase

AppZen
Expense report automation
Latest round: $2.9 million
Total raised: $3.0 million
HQ: Sunnyvale, California
Tags: SMB, accounting, bookkeeping, expense reporting, compliance, fraud protection
Source: Crunchbase

Sure
Mobile on-demand insurance
Latest round: $2.6 million Seed
Total raised: $2.6 million
HQ: New York City, New York
Tags: Consumer, travel insurance, mobile
Source: Crunchbase

Inkassogram
Debt collection platform
Latest round: $2.45 million
Total raised: $2.45 million
HQ: Sweden
Tags: SMB, accounting, payroll, bookkeeping, billing, payments, invoicing
Source: Crunchbase

Fluent
Blockchain B2B network
Latest round: $1.65 million Seed
Total raised: $2.5 million
HQ: New York City, New York
Tags: SMB, payments, blockchain, crypto-currency, bitcoin, payments
Source: Crunchbase

AccessPay
Online payments & cash management for small businesses
Latest round: $1.45 million Debt
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: SMB, payments, accounting, treasury management, commercial banking
Source: Crunchbase

FattMerchant
Payment processor
Latest round: $1.4 million
Total raised: $2.25 million
HQ: Orlando, Florida
Tags: SMB, payments, mobile, merchants, acquiring, security, credit/debit cards
Source: Crunchbase

StoreHub
Mobile point-of-sale solution
Latest round: $850,000 Seed
Total raised: $850,000
HQ: Petaling, Malaysia
Tags: SMB, payments, mobile, merchants, acquiring, credit/debit cards, mobile, POS
Source: Crunchbase

Bridge Financial Technology
Back-office platform for financial advisers
Latest round: $722,000
Total raised: $722,000
HQ: Chicago, Illinois
Tags: Advisors, B2B2C, investing, trading, wealth management
Source: Crunchbase

Selequity
Online commercial real estate investing platform
Latest round: $590,000 Seed
Total raised: $590,000
HQ: St. Louis, Missouri
Tags: SMB, investors, commercial mortgage, P2P lending, credit, underwriting, real estate
Source: Crunchbase

Cushion
Financial & time management service for freelancers
Latest round: $500,000
Total raised: $500,000
HQ: Brooklyn, New York
Tags: SMB, accounting, payroll, bookkeeping, billing, payments, invoicing, PFM
Source: Crunchbase

Olivia
AI-powered financial assistant
Latest round: $500,000 Seed
Total raised: $500,000
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumer, personal finance, mobile, artificial intelligence, customer service, chatbot
Source: Crunchbase

Shares.com
Asset crowdfunding platform
Latest round: $300,000 Angel
Total raised: $300,000
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Consumer, collectibiles, investing, asset-based lending, artwork
Source: Crunchbase

PaySur
Bitcoin exchange
Latest round: $275,000
Total raised: $275,000
HQ: Leon, Mexico
Tags: Consumer, payments, cryptocurrency, bitcoin, blockchain, remittances
Source: Crunchbase

DebitShield
Online debit card security
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Consumer, security, payments, direct debit, online billpay
Source: Crunchbase

FairCent
Marketplace lender
Latest round: Undisclosed Series A
Total raised: $4.25 million (before the Series A)
HQ: Haryana, India
Tags: Consumer, lending, P2P, person-to-person, credit, lending, investing
Source: Crunchbase

iBondis
Marketplace lender to small businesses
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unkown
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: SMB, P2P lending, crowdfunding, commercial loans, person-to-person, credit, underwriting, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Savesta
Stealth personal finance
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Bellevue, Washington
Tags: Consumer, personal finance, PFM
Source: Crunchbase

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Image licensed from Shutterstock

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NICE Funding! CallVU Raises $3 Million

By David Penn Posted on June 1, 2016
Categories: CallVU, Funding, Fundings, NICE Systems

In a round led by Liberty Global Ventures and featuring the participation of fellow Finovate alum NICE Systems, CallVU has raised $3 million in new funding. The investment is the second major capital infusion for the digital engagement platform developer since its undisclosed seed round in 2012.

Joining the round were AfterDox Angel Investment Group and 2B Angels. Tuval Lava, CallVU’s president and chairman of the board, said the funds would help the company improve its technology and grow internationally. “The fact that such a distinguished group of leading international investors have made such a commitment to CallVU illustrates the potential they see in the field of mobile digital engagement in general and in CallVU in particular,” Lava said.

Pictured (left to right): Amitai Ratzon, VP global sales, and Assaf Frenkel, VP, product & marketing, demonstrated the CallVU Mobile Digital Engagement platform at FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose.

In partnering with NICE Systems, CallVU plans to develop a “joint go-to-market approach” that will help the company expand. The plan includes new offices around the world and hiring sales, product management, software development, and marketing talent. To this end, NICE Systems EVP for Corporate Development Eran Liron highlighted the multiple use-cases for CallVU’s technology. “CallVU Mobile Digital Engagement platform helps financial service organizations and telecom operators, as well as health, travel, and retail companies, advance their digital transformation and contact centers’ optimization strategies a step further,” Liron said.

Lead investor, Liberty Global Ventures, is the investment arm of global cable-giant Liberty Global. The fund invests in both early- and late-stage companies, typically committing $2 million to $20 million, and operates in 14 countries. Liberty Global Ventures’ portfolio features 29 startups (as of December 31, 2015) working in wireless HD video delivery, virtual video technology, and interactive commerce and merchandising, among other fields.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, CallVu demoed its Mobile Digital Engagement solution at FinovateSpring 2016. The company was named a Cool Vendor in CRM Customer Service and Support in Gartner’s 2016 report. CallVU was featured in our look at fintech in Israel last week. Ori Faran is CEO.

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BRIDGEi2i Closes Series A Funding Round

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 1, 2016
Categories: BRIDGEi2i, Funding

Just a few days after celebrating its fifth birthday, BRIDGEi2i Analytics Solutions landed its first round of funding, pulling in an undisclosed amount of Series A growth capital from India-based Edelweiss Private Equity.

CEO Prithvijit Roy states the company will use the funds to, “accelerate the development of our machine-learning-based business applications along with significant expansion of our consulting teams across the United States and India.”

Pranav Parikh, head of private equity and VC funds at Edelweiss, says he is impressed with how BRIDGEi2i has “transform[ed] large enterprises through their impact-driven approach” since launching in 2011. Edelweiss now owns a minority stake in BRIDGEi2i and Parikh will join the Bangalore-based startup’s board of directors.

BRIDGEi2i was founded by former General Electric and Hewlett Packard executives who had a vision to offer data-driven insights to enterprises. Using big data, the company generates actionable insights about sales data and customer behavior to help manage risk and operations. The company’s customers include 10 of the Fortune 100, representing sectors in technology, manufacturing, financial services, insurance, and retail.

At FinovateAsia 2013, BRIDGEi2i launched Surveyi2i, a cloud-based platform to help easily view and analyze survey data. Surveyi2i offers quick insights into survey results without requiring help from a data scientist. Recently, BRIDGEi2i was featured in Dataquest for helping a Fortune 100 company save $300,000 on reporting costs. Late last year, the company was ranked 115 out of 500 AsiaPac businesses on the Deloitte Technology Fast500 for 2015.

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Featurespace Falls on a Fresh $9 Million in Funding

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 31, 2016
Categories: Featurespace, Funding

Behavioral analytics company Featurespace has raised $9 million in funding in a round led by U.S.-based TTV Capital.

The venture round, which elevates Featurespace’s funding to $16.4 million, was augmented by support from existing investors Imperial Innovations Group; Nesta; Cambridge Angels; and Cambridge Capital Group. The U.K.-based company plans to use the round to further expand into the U.S. market after striking recent deals with TSYS and an unnamed U.S. bank.

TTV Capital’s Managing Partner Gardiner Garrard says the funding round “is the first time we’ve invested in a mainland U.K. company, and reflects our support of Featurespace’s transformative fraud-detection capabilities.”

At FinovateEurope 2016 Featurespace launched its ARIC Engine which monitors user behavior and leverages machine learning to determine suspicious, inconsistent transactions.

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Fintech Fundings: 26 Companies Raised $270 Million Week Ending May 6

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 26, 2016
Categories: Funding

Second quarter’s funding pace remained strong with 26 companies raising $267 million—$55 million of that was Debt—the first week of May. The deals were widely dispersed around the world, with only 4 of the 26 companies hanging their shingles in California, although those four did account for half the dollar value.

The total number of deals YTD stands at 464, nearly double last year’s 252. Total dollars raised YTD is now $14.3 billion, more than twice the $6.6 billion raised during the same period a year ago.

Two Finovate alums scored big rounds:

Zooz raised $24 million for its payment technology
Azimo raised $15 million from Rakuten for its funds-transfer service
Passport raised $8 million for its mobile payments platform

——-

Fintech deals by size from 30 April to 6 May 2016:

VTS
Commercial real estate leasing and asset-management platform
Latest round: $55 million Series C
Total raised: $87.7 million
HQ: New York City
Tags: SMB, enterprise, commerical real estate, commerical mortgage, asset management
Source: Crunchbase

MobiKwik
Mobile wallet
Latest round: $50 million Series C
Total raised: $86.9 million
HQ: Gurgaon, India
Tags: Consumer, payments, banking, mobile, telecom top-ups, mobile
Source: Crunchbase

Intacct
Digital banking company
Latest round: $40 million Debt (Silcon Valley Bank)
Total raised: $125.8 million (includes $85 million Debt)
HQ: San Jose, California
Tags: SMB, accounting, payroll, bookkeeping, billing, payments, invoicing
Source: Crunchbase

Varo Money
Digital bank
Latest round: $27.4 million Private Equity
Total raised: $27.4 million
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumer, deposits, payments, debit card, banking, mobile
Source: Crunchbase, WSJ

Zooz
Payments technology
Latest round: $24 million
Total raised: $40.5 million
HQ: Kefar Sava, Israel
Tags: SMB, payments, mobile, merchants, acquiring, security, credit/debit cards, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Net Element
Mobile payments
Latest round: $20 million Post-IPO Equity ($5 mil) and Debt ($15 mil)
Total raised: Unknown (NASDAQ: NETE)
HQ: Miami, Florida
Tags: Consumer, payments, brands: TOT Group, Unified Payments, Aptito, TOT Money
Source: Crunchbase

Azimo
Digital banking company
Latest round: $15 million
Total raised: $46.6 million
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Consumer, payments, peer-to-peer P2P funds transfers, remittances, FX, Rakuten (invester), Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Bench
Online bookkeeping service
Latest round: $15 million
Total raised: $54.5 million
HQ: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Tags: SMB, accounting, payroll, bookkeeping, billing, payments, invoicing, omnichannel
Source: Crunchbase

Passport
Payments for transportation and parking
Latest round: $8 million Series B
Total raised: $17 million
HQ: Charlotte, North Carolina
Tags: Enterprise, SMB, payments, mobile, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

YieldStreet
Marketplace lender
Latest round: $3.7 million Seed
Total raised: $3.7 million
HQ: New York City
Tags: Consumer, advisers, SMB, lending, credit, underwriting, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer loan marketplace, investing, P2P
Source: Crunchbase

Love Will Inc.
Blockchain-based financial applications
Latest round: $2.51 million
Total raised: $2.61 million
HQ: St. Louis, Missouri
Tags: Consumer, payments, blockchain, crypto-currency, bitcoin, peer-to-peer funds transfers, remittances
Source: Crunchbase

Earny
Purchase protection tool for cardholders
Latest round: $1.2 million Seed
Total raised: $1.2 million
HQ: Santa Monica, California
Tags: Consumer, lending, credit, underwriting, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer loan marketplace, investing, P2P
Source: Crunchbase

BrightFlag
Invoice analytics
Latest round: $1.1 million
Total raised: $1.47 million
HQ: Dublin, Ireland
Tags: SMB, accounting, accounts receivables, billpay, analytics, machine learning
Source: Crunchbase

T2P (iBaht)
Prepaid debit card
Latest round: $1.1 million
Total raised: $1.1 million
HQ: Bangkok, Thailand
Tags: Consumer, payments, debit cards, prepaid
Source: Crunchbase

Monera
Personal finance portal
Latest round: $550,000
Total raised: $550,000
HQ: Copenhagen, Denmark
Tags: Consumer, price comparisons, insurance, mortgage, banking, lead gen, discovery, quotes
Source: Crunchbase

Dynamis Software
Sales tools for health insurance brokers
Latest round: $520,000
Total raised: $2.62 million
HQ: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Tags: SMB, enterprise, healthcare, health insurance, CDHC plans, sales, marketing
Source: FT Partners

Active.ai
Banking and wealth-management platform
Latest round: $500,000 Seed
Total raised: $500,000
HQ: India
Accelerator: Kstart
Tags: Banks, advisers, banking, wealth management, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Affordplan
Payments plan for emergency health services
Latest round: $500,000 Seed
Total raised: $500,000
HQ: New Delhi, India
Accelerator: Kstart
Tags: Healthcare providers, payments, credit, short-term loans, payments plans, underwriting
Source: Crunchbase

PoshBerry
Blockchain-based loyalty wallet
Latest round: $250,000 Seed
Total raised: $250,000
HQ: Glarus, Switzerland
Tags: Enterprise (B2B2C), payments, loyalty, debit/credit cards, rewards, blockchain, crypto-currency
Source: Crunchbase

PFITR (Public Funds Investment Tracking and Report)
Porftfolio management for institutional investors
Latest round: $200,000 Convertible Note
Total raised: $1.02 million
HQ: St. Louis, Missouri
Accelerator: VC Fintech Accelerator (Little Rock, Arkansas)
Tags: Investing
Source: Crunchbase

TruckPay
Payment services in the construction industry
Latest round: $200,000 Convertible Note
Total raised: $200,000
HQ: Tenafly, New Jersey
Tags: SMB, payments, logistics, merchants
Source: Crunchbase

Bonop
Micropayments
Latest round: $58,000 Seed
Total raised: $58,000
HQ: Marbella, Spain
Tags: Consumer, payments, content
Source: Crunchbase

Digitzs
Payments provider for digital services
Latest round: Not disclosed Seed
Total raised: $2.55 million
HQ: Santa Monica, California
Tags: SMB, merchants, payments, point-of-sale, mobile, credit/debit card aquiring
Source: Crunchbase

EPG (Easy Payment Gateway)
Payment management
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: $1.8 million
HQ: Gibraltar
Tags: SMB, merchants, payments, point-of-sale, mobile, credit/debit card aquiring
Source: Crunchbase

Hishab Ltd.
Voice-based mobile POS
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Tokyo, Japan
Tags: SMB, merchants, payments, point-of-sale, mobile, credit/debit card aquiring
Source: Crunchbase

Paylike
Payment platform
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unkonwn
HQ: Aarhus, Denmark
Tags: SMB, merchants, payments, point-of-sale, mobile, credit/debit card aquiring mobile, APIs, developers
Source: Crunchbase

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Dashlane’s $22.5 Million in New Funding Comes with a Strategic Partner

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 25, 2016
Categories: Dashlane, Funding

Password-management company Dashlane closed on $22.5 million in a round led by TransUnion, which has joined the company as a strategic partner. Bessemer Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital, and Rho Ventures also contributed to today’s round, which brings Dashlane’s total funding to $52.5 million since its 2009 launch.

CEO Emmanuel Schalit says of the milestone: “This new round of funding—combined with the strategic relationship with TransUnion—will strengthen our ability to achieve our vision by giving us the capital to accelerate our roadmap, as well as the ability to further integrate new and powerful services for our users.”

The strategic partnership with TransUnion comes at a time when consumers are at an increasingly high risk for account breaches. Together with TransUnion, Dashlane will create integrated services focused on credit monitoring, identity and fraud protection, credit information, and breaches. Additionally, Dashlane will use TransUnion as a channel partner to expand its distribution across the globe.

President of TransUnion Consumer Interactive, John Danaher, says, “We feel TransUnion, with its vast array of credit- and identity-protection services and its global consumer reach, can help accelerate Dashlane’s growth even further.” Danaher will join Dashlane’s advisory board along with Carl Pascarella, former CEO of Visa.

Dashlane, which presented at FinovateEurope 2013, has focused primarily on the direct-to-consumer market, helping more than 5 million consumers in 150 countries manage their identities. However, the company has recently broadened its focus to partner with banks. The New York-based company is currently working with the largest bank in Mexico, Banamex, and will announce more partnerships with large banks and payment networks this year.

TransUnion took the stage at FinovateSpring 2010 to demo ZenDough, an interactive tool that displays an organization’s finances and credit scores in an easy-to-read visual.

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TransferWise Lands $26 Million, Crossing into Unicorn Territory

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 25, 2016
Categories: Funding, TransferWise

Foreign Exchange platform TransferWise, which announced geographic expansions last month, today reports an expansion of a different nature. The London-based company pulled in $26 million, bringing its total funding to $117 million and burgeoning its valuation to $1.1 billion (according to TechCrunch), thereby making it a fintech unicorn.

The round, which the company plans to use to fuel future growth, was led by Baillie Gifford. Existing investors, which include Andreessen Horowitz and Sir Richard Branson, also participated.

At FinovateEurope 2013, TransferWise co-founders Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Kaarmann stood up in front of an audience of bankers with a decidedly non-bank-friendly message. There, the company announced its mission to reduce foreign exchange fees by circumventing financial institutions. Today, the company transfers $750 million each month on its platform.

TransferWise employs a workforce of more than 600 across its offices in United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States, where a separate money-transfer license is required for all 50 states. The company recently received heat after one of its U.S. banking partners was scrutinized by regulators for “unsafe and unsound banking practices,” though co-founder Hinrikus states that he is confident TransferWise is in compliance.

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Pictured (left to right): Bento for Business co-founders Farhan Ahmad, CEO, and Sean Anderson, CPO, demonstrated their technology at FinovateSpring 2015.

—– Image licensed from Shutterstock

Pictured (left to right): Amitai Ratzon, VP global sales, and Assaf Frenkel, VP, product & marketing, demonstrated the CallVU Mobile Digital Engagement platform at FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose.

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Image licensed from Shutterstock