Funding

Spreedly Secures $3 Million Financing Round

Spreedly Secures $3 Million Financing Round
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Spreedly

SpreedlyHomepage

Payments software startup Spreedly closed a $3 million round of funding this week.

Contributors to the round include existing investors, along with Belgian venture fund Emerge, and Harold Mechelynck, a new investor.

The North Carolina-based company, which prides itself on concentrating solely on software for payments, now boasts a total of $5.5 million in funding since it was founded in 2008. The company plans to use the new funds to expand operations, accelerate product development, and introduce new features.

Along with the increase in its venture capital investments, Spreedly has grown as well. On an annualized basis, the company handles a total of $3 billion in transactions, up from $1 billion in June 2015. Spreedly CEO Justin Benson comments on the company’s growth:

Since focusing our business on creating new opportunities for merchants, platforms and payment providers to work together, we’ve substantially increased our customer base, the number of transactions we conduct, and our future potential.

Originally focused on subscription-based payments, Spreedly pivoted in 2013 to launch a credit card vault in the cloud. The new platform enables businesses to securely tokenize client credit card information for repeat transactions across any of the 100+ payment gateways it supports, all while remaining PCI compliant. The company handles 1+ million transactions every month for its 300 clients.

At FinovateSpring 2014, Spreedly’s CEO Justin Benson and Business Development Brendon Prebble showed off the company’s new payment-distribution method and card-on-file updater.

Most recently, at FinDEVr San Francisco 2015, Spreedly CTO Nathaniel Talbott explains how Spreedly’s APIs help navigate the payments ecosystem.

https://finovate.wistia.com/medias/6bzxyw48uo

For more developer-focused presentations, check out our FinDEVr developer showcase in New York on March 29 & 30, 2016. Register by Friday to save on early bird price and lock in your spot.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Fintech Fundings: 21 Companies Raise $215 Million Week Ending Feb 19

Fintech Fundings: 21 Companies Raise $215 Million Week Ending Feb 19
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

money_keyAlthough we saw one high-flying fintech unicorn crash to earth this week, the fintech sector continued to attract significant capital with 21 companies raising $214.8 million, for an $11 billion annual run rate. The total included at least $15 million in debt.

Three Finovate and FinDEVr alums raised new cash and one exited:

Seven weeks into the new year, fintech companies have raised $4.7 billion in equity and debt worldwide, more than double the $2.2 billion in the same period last year. And the number of deals is up 70% (167 compared to 98 in 2015).

Here are the fintech deals by size from 13 Feb to 19 Feb 2016:

StoneEagle Services (VPay)
B2B payments platform
Latest round: $76 million
Total raised: $76 million
HQ: Richardson, Texas
Tags: SMB, B2B, ACH, electronic payments, virtual card, insurance claims
Source: FT Partners

Aria Systems
Billing platform
Latest round: $50 million Series E
Total raised: $132.3 million
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: SMB, billing, payments, invoicing, recurring payments
Source: Crunchbase

EQIS
Wealth management platform
Latest round: $15 million Private Equity
Total raised: $21.2 million
HQ: San Rafael, California
Tags: Consumer, SMB, advisors, investing, wealth management
Source: Crunchbase

UniRush (RushCard)
Prepaid card issuer
Latest round: $15 million Debt
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Houston, Texas
Tags: Consumer, SMB, loans, credit, lending, underwriting, personal finance management, energy-consumption management
Source: FT Partners

Marvelstone Tech
Infrastructure for financial services companies
Latest round: $12.4 million Seed
Total raised: $ million
HQ: Seoul, South Korea
Tags: Enterprise, B2B, banks, wealth managers, investment firms, core technology
Source: FT Partners

PayActiv
Real-time payroll solution
Latest round: $9.2 million
Total raised: $13 million
HQ: San Jose, California
Tags: Consumer, SMB, employers, HR, employee benefits, payments, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Harmoney
P2P lending marketplace
Latest round: $8.5 million Series B
Total raised: $16.2 million
HQ: Auckland, New Zealand
Tags: Consumer, lending, loans, crowdfunding, underwriting, credit, investing
Source: FT Partners

Mondo
Digital bank
Latest round: $7.25 million
Total raised: $10.4 million
HQ: London, England, U.K.
Tags: Consumer, bank, mobile, challenger, neo-bank
Source: Crunchbase

BUX
Simple stock trading platform
Latest round: $6.9 million Series
Total raised: $10.7 million
HQ: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tags: Consumer, investing, stock trading, equities, gamification
Source: Crunchbase

AQ Metrics
Risk management and compliance software
Latest round: $3.25 million
Total raised: $3.25 million
HQ: Maynooth, Ireland
Tags: Consumer, insurance, automobile lending, cars
Source: FT Partners

StudentLoan Genius
Student loan repayment as a benefit for employers
Latest round: $3 million Seed
Total raised: $3 million
HQ: Austin, Texas
Tags: Consumer, SMB, student loans, payments, HR, employee benefit
Source: Crunchbase

ModoPayments
Digital payments plaform
Latest round: $2 million Angel
Total raised: $4 million
HQ: Richardson, Texas
Tags: Consumer, SMB, payments, merchants, funds transfer, FinDEVr alum
Source: Finovate

Chainalysis
Compliance layer for value exchange
Latest round: $1.6 million Seed
Total raised: $3.2 million
HQ: New York City
Tags: SMB, enterprise, security, privacy, blockchain, cryptocurrency, database, bitcoin
Source: Crunchbase

Covercy Technological Trading
International remittances
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total raised: $1.5 million
HQ: Tel Aviv, Israel
Tags: Consumer, SMB, payments, FX, funds transfers
Source: FT Partners

SnoopWall
Security solutions for mobile apps and online services
Latest round: $1 million
Total raised: $1.85 million
HQ: California
Tags: Consumer, SMB, security, privacy, cybersecurity, FinDEVr alum
Source: Crunchbase

HomeSpotter
Real estate discover mobile app
Latest round: $925,000 Convertible Note
Total raised: $3.95 million including above note
HQ: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Tags: Consumer, mortgage, home buying, chatbot, real estate, mobile
Source: Crunchbase

Droplet
Mobile loyalty and payments
Latest round: $640,000
Total raised: $2.73 million
HQ: London, England, UK
Tags: Consumer, SMB, rewards, payments, merchants, location-based
Source: FT Partners

Buddy
Point-of-purchase financing 
Latest round: $500,000 Seed
Total raised: $500,000
HQ: Bengaluru, India
Tags: Consumer, SMB, loans, credit, lending, underwriting
Source: Crunchbase

RealKey
Home buying & mortgage process management
Latest round: $100,000 Seed ($7 million valuation)
Total raised: $100,000
HQ: California
Tags: Consumer, real estate agents, home buying, mortgage, discovery, search
Source: Crunchbase

Metromile
Pay-per-mile automobile insurance
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: $14 million previously
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumer, insurance, automobile lending, cars
Source: FT Partners

Verb
Mobile trading app
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Consumer, investing, trading, equities
Source: Crunchbase

—–
Image licensed from 123rf.com

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Modo Payments Closes $2 Million in Funding

Modo Payments Closes $2 Million in Funding
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Modo Payments

ModoHomepage

Payments connection startup Modo Payments closed on a fresh $2 million in funding this week.

Notable contributors to the round include:

  • Tim Keith: CEO of Central Texas Partners
  • John Beletic: partner at Oak Investment Partners
  • Jay Kassing: owner of fintech company Marquis

ModoCOINToday’s round, when added to the Texas-based company’s 2014 Seed round of $2 million, brings its total funding to $4 million.

The Dallas Business Journal discussed Modo’s growth with the startup’s CEO Bruce Parker, who stated, “Over the course of the year, we’re looking to double on almost every dimension*…. Last year, we did $1.7 million in bookings.”

Additionally, Parker noted that Modo will partner with a PayPal competitor this spring, connecting it to U.S. retailers.

Modo’s new initiative, dubbed COIN, works as the “plumbing” in the payments industry. COIN sends money from just about any source, whether it’s a legacy system or new, cloud-based system, and delivers it to any destination. Modo describes COIN as a “shipping container” for intermodal payments.

Modo CEO Bruce Parker describes COIN in his FinDEVr San Francisco presentation titled, Mobile Payments are Dead . . . Long Live Digital Payments.

ModoDEVr15Demo

Modo CEO Bruce Parker at FinDEVr San Francisco 2015.

*Meaning everything from bookings to employees.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

PayActiv Raises $9 Million in Series A

PayActiv Raises $9 Million in Series A
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings, PayActiv

PayActiv_homepage_Feb2016

In a round led by SoftBank Capital, financial wellness specialist PayActiv has raised $9.2 million in new funding. The investment will help the company grow its suite of turnkey, workplace-based, financial wellness solutions.

Combined with a $4.35 million seed round from the summer of 2014, the Series A brings PayActiv’s total capital to more than $13 million.

PayActiv CEO and Founder Safwan Shah emphasized the potential for expansion when discussing both his company’s 2015 as well as the recent investment. “With this funding, we will continue to expand and enhance our innovative wellness programs that help all workers lead a better life with security, dignity, and savings,” Shah said.

PayActiv_stage_FS2015

Pictured: PayActiv CEO and founder Safwan Shah demonstrating the MyMo intelligent cash flow management app at FinovateSpring 2015.

PayActiv’s MyMo app is an intelligent, cash-flow management tool that gives workers the ability to get advances on future paychecks, as well as pay bills, transfer money, and top up prepaid mobile phones. PayActiv refers to this as helping close the “timing gap” between earning and spending, freeing earned income that is – from a cash-flow perspective – “stuck in traffic.” The app is available in both iOS and Android, and requires no changes in either incumbent IT or payroll systems. In addition to helping keep employees away from often predatory payday lenders, PayActiv’s MyMo can help workers build or rebuild credit, as well as help them manage their finances more efficiently.

Founded in January 2013 and headquartered in San Jose, California, PayActiv demonstrated MyMo at FinovateSpring 2015. The company was featured in an American Banker column on budgeting apps last November, the same month founder and CEO Shah was interviewed by TechnologyAdvice on the subject of income smoothing and real-time income access.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Fintech Fundings: 21 Companies Raise $260 Million Week Ending 12 Feb

Fintech Fundings: 21 Companies Raise $260 Million Week Ending 12 Feb
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

pig_sunglasses_money_croppedDespite turmoil in global equity markets, the fintech sector continued its 3-year bull market with 21 companies raising $259.1 million, for a $12 billion annual run rate. The total included at $46 million in debt. And demonstrating the global nature of financial services, only three deals were out of California (Xignite, Renew Financial, and Vast).

Three Finovate alums raised new cash:

Six weeks into the new year, fintech companies have raised $4.5 billion in equity and debt worldwide, 2.5 times the $1.9 billion in the same period last year. And the number of deals is up 70% (146 compared to 86 in 2015).

Here are the fintech deals by size from 6 Feb to 12 Feb 2016:

Renew Financial
Financing for renewable energy and conservation projects
Latest round: $70 million Series D
Total raised: $102.2 million
HQ: Oakland, California
Tags: Consumer, SMB, loans, credit, lending, underwriting, personal finance management, energy consumption management
Source: Crunchbase

Maestro Health
Employee benefits and health insurance services
Latest round: $53 million
Total raised: $53 million
HQ: Chicago, Illinois
Tags: Employers, benefits, HR, payments, healthcare, insurance, health savings accounts
Source: Crunchbase

WorldRemit
Worldwide remittances
Latest round: $45 million Debt
Total raised: $147.7 million (includes $45 million debt)
HQ: London, England, U.K.
Tags: Consumer, SMB, payments, remittances, P2P transfers, person-to-person
Source: Crunchbase

Riskified
Underwrites and guarantees high-risk credit card transactions
Latest round: $25 million Series B
Total raised: $30.7 million
HQ: Tel Aviv, Israel
Tags: SMB, merchants, underwriting, credit/debit cards, acquiring, fraud, security, risk management
Source: Crunchbase

Xignite
APIs powering financial services
Latest round: $20.5 million Series C
Total raised: $36.2 million
HQ: San Mateo, California
Tags: Enterprise, SMB, API, developers, integration, back-end, investing, wealth management, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Payleven
Mobile point of sale
Latest round: $10 million Series D
Total raised: $25.2 million
HQ: Berlin, Germany
Tags: SMB, payments, mPOS, acquiring, merchants, credit/debit cards
Source: Crunchbase

SwervePay
Healthcare and automobile payment solutions
Latest round: $10 million Series B
Total raised: $11.6 million
HQ: Chicago, Illinois
Tags: Consumer, SMB, payments, mobile, insurance, healthcare, automobile dealers, merchants
Source: Crunchbase

RKSV
Online stock brokerage
Latest round: $4 million Series A
Total raised: $4 million
HQ: Mumbai, India
Tags: Consumer, investing, trading, stocks, equity
Source: Crunchbase

Qapital
Digital banking app
Latest round: $3.5 million
Total raised: $5.3 million
HQ: New York City; Stockholm, Sweden
Tags: Consumer, systematic savings, deposit, PFM, personal finance management, Finovate alum
Source: Crunchbase

Stash
Digital investment advisor
Latest round: $3 million Seed
Total raised: $4.5 million
HQ: New York City, New York
Tags: Consumer, investing, trading, mobile
Source: Crunchbase

Qvinci
Accounting add-on for financial reporting
Latest round: $2.4 million
Total raised: $5.8 million
HQ: Austin, Texas
Tags: SMB,Quickbooks, accounting, financial management
Source: Crunchbase

Shopbox
Point-of-sale technology for food businesses
Latest round: $2.2 million
Total raised: $2.2 million
HQ: Copenhagen, Denmark
Tags: SMB, POS, payments, credit/debit cards, restaurant merchants, acquiring
Source: Crunchbase

Trussle
Online mortgage advisor
Latest round: $1.6 million
Total raised: $1.6 million
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Consumer, mortgage, refi, lead gen, price comparison
Source: FT Partners

Agreement Express
Automates client onboarding in financial services
Latest round: $1 million Debt
Total raised: $1 million Debt
HQ: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Tags: B2B, consumer, compliance, sales, onboarding, UX, Silicon Valley Bank (lender)
Source: Crunchbase

Vast
Home and auto purchase decision-making tools
Latest round: $1 million
Total raised: $1 million
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumer, B2B, lending, mortgages, auto loans, home purchasing, real estate, automobile buying
Source: Crunchbase

Homie
P2P marketplace for home selling
Latest round: $700,000
Total raised: $700,000
HQ: Salt Lake, Utah
Tags: Consumer, mortgage, home purchase, real estate, peer-to-peer
Source: FT Partners

OFF3R
Crowd-funding aggregator
Latest round: $690,000 Seed
Total raised: $690,000
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Consumer, SMB, investing, peer-to-peer, equity, loans, lending
Source: Crunchbase

SurBTC
Chilean bitcoin exchange
Latest round: $300,000 Seed
Total raised: $300,000
HQ: Santiago, Chile
Tags: Consumer, payments, cryptocurrency, bitcoin, blockchain, virtual currency
Source: FT Partners

Capzest
Digital lender
Latest round: $200,000
Total raised: $200,000
HQ: Mumbai, India
Tags: Consumer, SMB, loans, credit, lending, underwriting
Source: FT Partners

SwipeStox (Naga Group AG)
Social investing application
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Hamburg, Germany
Tags: Consumer, investing, mobile, trading, social, Hauck & Aufhäuser (investor), Finovate alum
Source: FT Partners

Turtlemint
Insurance price-comparison site
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Mumbai, India
Tags: Consumer, insurance, lead gen, discovery, price comparison, automobile, health, motorcycle
Source: Crunchbase

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Xignite Raises $20 Million in New Partnership with Tokyo’s QUICK Corporation

Xignite Raises $20 Million in New Partnership with Tokyo’s QUICK Corporation
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Xignite

Xignite_homepage_Feb2016

Go east, young provider of cloud-based market data solutions.

A $20.5 million Series C investment led by Tokyo’s QUICK Corporation has boosted Xignite’s total funding to more than $37 million, and signaled the company’s intention to expand into the Asian market.

Pointing to the “hyper-growth” in Asia and calling the region “the world’s largest fintech frontier,” QUICK president and CEO Noboru Yoshioka said the partnership between his company and Xignite will yield a “unique opportunity to capture growth in this market.” Xignite CEO and founder Stephane Dubois, whose company is demonstrating its latest technologies at FinovateEurope this week, referred to both the flexibility and the openness of his company’s solution as key to providing financial services customers with the data they need.

Xignite_stage_FF2015

Pictured: Stephane Dubois, Xignite CEO and founder, demonstrated Xignite Cloud Streaming at FinovateFall 2015 in New York.

“Financial institutions can no longer afford to operate rigid and proprietary data infrastructures,” Dubois said in a statement. “These legacy institutions must innovate and simultaneously cut costs if they want to survive and thrive in this new paradigm.”

Also participating in the funding round were Altos Ventures, Startup Capital Ventures, and StarVest Partners.

The investment will enable Xignite to increase its sales, marketing, and production capacities in order to keep up with the company’s growth. As part of the deal, QUICK managing director, Atsuyuki Nakajima will join Xignite’s board of directors. QUICK Corporation is a part of the Nikkei Group, and is the largest financial information provider in Japan.

Founded in 2006 and headquartered in San Mateo, California, Xignite demonstrated its Cloud Streaming technology at FinovateFall 2015. The company’s solution is scalable, based on open standards, and has “zero footprint” for clients. Helping power some of fintech’s most innovative companies, e.g., Betterment and Currency Cloud, Xignite has more than 1,000 customers in fields ranging from investing and trading to wealth management. Xignite grew its bookings by more than 50% in 2015, serving more than 455 billion API calls.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Fintech Fundings: 21 Companies Raise $260 Million Week Ending Feb 5

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

money_treePrivate capital continued to flow into the fintech sector this week with 21 companies raising $257 million. The total included at least $85 million in debt. One Finovate alum raised new cash: London’s Revolut brought in $4.8 million for its global funds-transfer app.

Just five weeks into the new year, fintech companies have raised $4.25 billion in equity and debt worldwide, more than three times the $1.3 billion in the same period last year. And the number of deals is up 70% (125 compared to 74 in 2015).

Here are the fintech deals by size from 30 Jan to 5 Feb 2016:

Credibly 
Small business alt-lender 
Latest round: $70 million Debt
Total raised: $70 million
HQ: Troy, Michigan
Tags: SMB, small biz loans, credit, lending, commercial lending, capital
Source: Crunchbase

Blockstream
Sidechain technology
Latest round: $55 million Series A
Total raised: $76 million
HQ: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Tags: SMB, consumer, enterprise, blockchain, cryptocurrency, security, ledger, bitcoin
Source: Crunchbase

Spotcap
Alt-lender for small businesses (Rocket Internet)
Latest round: $35 million Series B
Total raised: $56.1 million
HQ: Berlin, Germany
Tags: SMB, credit, underwriting, loans, lending, peer-to-peer, marketplace
Source: Crunchbase

Lamudi
Real estate platform for emerging markets
Latest round: $31.4 million
Total raised: $56.4 million
HQ: Berlin, Germany
Tags: Consumer, mortgage, home buying, property search, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Sonovate
Contract financing and management services for professional recruitment firms
Latest round: $16.5 million Debt
Total raised: $22 million (includes $16.5 million debt)
HQ: London, England, UK
Tags: SMB, credit, receivables financing, management
Source: Crunchbase

Digital Asset
Distributed ledger technology for financial services
Latest round: $10 million
Total raised: $60 million
HQ: New York City
Tags: Enterprise, blockchain, bitcoin, crypto-currency, database, securities trading, custody
FI investors: JP Morgan, BNP Paribas, ABN AMRO, Santander, PNC, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs
Source: Crunchbase

Receipt Bank
Receipt extraction technology
Latest round: $10 million
Total raised: $10 million
HQ: London, England, UK
Tags: Consumer, SMB, accounting, personal financial management, PFM, spending, payments
Source: Crunchbase

Simplex
Credit card acquiring for bitcoin exchanges & wallets
Latest round: $7 million Series A
Total raised: $8 million
HQ: Israel
Tags: B2B, SMB, payments, security, acquiring, credit/debit cards
Source: Coindesk, Crunchbase

Bitcoin Group
Blockchain technology
Latest round: $4.9 million IPO
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Victoria, Australia
Tags: Consumer, SMB, blockchain, bitcoin, crypto-currency, mining
Source: FT Partners

Revolut
Global person-to-person payments app
Latest round: $4.8 million
Total raised: $7.6 million
HQ: London, England, UK
Tags: Consumer, payments, P2P, remittances, fx, peer-to-peer, mobile, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

OOO Fit (PayQR)
Mobile payments
Latest round: $3.9 million Seed
Total raised: $5.4 million
HQ: Moscow, Russia
Tags: Consumer, payments, mobile, QR codes
Source: Crunchbase

Quantescent
Trading tools
Latest round: $3.5 million Angel
Total raised: $3.5 million
HQ: Saint Helena, California
Tags: Consumer, traders, advisors, investing, stock trading
Source: Crunchbase

Thumzap
Mobile payments for teens
Latest round: $3 million Seed
Total raised: $3 million
HQ: Wilmington, Deleware
Tags: Consumer, parental controls, payments, mobile, youth market
Source: Crunchbase

Instant Financial
Real-time payroll platform 
Latest round: $1.2 million Seed
Total raised: $1.2 million
HQ: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Tags: Consumer, employer, SMB, human resources, payments, benefits
Source: Crunchbase

Property Moose
Real estate crowdfunding platform
Latest round: $630,000
Total raised: $1.5 million
HQ: London, England, UK
Tags: Consumer, credit, mortgage, underwriting, loans, lending, peer-to-peer, marketplace, crowdfunding, property
Source: Crunchbase

DisputeBills
Consumer healthcare bill & debt management
Latest round: $400,000 Seed
Total raised: $400,000
HQ: Chicago, Illinois
Tags: Consumer, credit, healthcare, debt management, bills, billpay, health insurance
Source: Crunchbase

Birch
Personal finance tool for maximizing credit card rewards
Latest round: $100,000 Seed
Total raised: $100,000
HQ: Gainesville, Florida
Tags: Consumer, spending, personal financial management, PFM, rewards, loyalty
Source: Crunchbase

Moneytis
Money transfer comparison site
Latest round: $55,000
Total raised: $55,000
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumer, remittances, P2P transfers, fx, person-to-person
Source: Crunchbase

Invertions Plus
Investment tools
Latest round: $10,000 Seed
Total raised: $10,000
HQ: Spain
Tags: Consumer, advisors, investing, trading
Source: Crunchbase

Kraken
Bitcoin exchange
Latest round: Undisclosed Series B
Total raised: $5 million (prior to the Series B)
HQ: Emeryville, California
Tags: Consumer, SMB, blockchain, bitcoin, crypto-currency, payments
Source: FT Partners

Skuchain
Distributed ledger technology
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Mountain View, California
Tags: SMB, consumer, enterprise, blockchain, cryptocurrency, security, ledger, trade finance
Source: Crunchbase

—–
Image licensed from 123rf.com

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Revolut Pulls in $4.8 Million

Revolut Pulls in $4.8 Million
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Revolut

Screen Shot 2016-02-05 at 6.06.43 PM

London-based Revolut launched in 2014 under the premise that people should not be charged for spending and transferring their own money in a different currency. This week, the startup closed a $4.8 million round of funding.

The round was led by Balderton Capital. Additional contributors include: Index Ventures, Point Nine Capital, Seedcamp, and Venrex Investment Management.

Combined with the startup’s previous investments, this round brings its total funding to $7.6 million.

In January, Revolut launched version 2.0 of its personal money cloud. Its redesigned app is focused on offering transparency while maintaining an intuitive user experience.

The company’s CEO and Founder Nikolay Storonsky, and CTO Vlad Yatsenko debuted Revolut at FinovateEurope 2015 in London.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Fintech Fundings: 29 Companies Raise $350 Million Week Ending Jan 29; Full Month Tops $4 Billion

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding, Uncategorized

Money_circuitFor the third time in that past four weeks a fintech funding record has fallen. This week it was number of companies, beating the total funded two weeks ago by one. As you may recall, last week we set the new mark (by a large margin) for the highest weekly dollar total with $2.7 billion.

All told, last week 29 fintech companies worldwide brought in $352 million, including Finovate alum PinDrop Security, which added $75 million for its voice biometrics tools to fight fraud.

In January, fintech companies raised $4 billion in equity and debt worldwide, almost four times the $780 million raised during January 2015. And the number of deals is up 70% (104 compared to 61 in 2015).

Here are the fintech deals by size from 23 Jan to 29 Jan 2016:

Nexara Holdings
Mortgage startup with two brands: NewFI & Bluestream Lending
Latest round: $100 million Series
Total raised: $100 million
HQ: Emeryville, California
Tags: Consumer, credit, mortgage, underwriting
Source: Crunchbase

Pindrop Security
Anti-fraud technology for financial institutions and others
Latest round: $75 million Series C
Total raised: $122 million
HQ: Atlanta, Georgia
Tags: Enterprise, SMB, fraud, voice biometrics, security, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Cadre
Real estate investing platform
Latest round: $50 million Series B
Total raised: $68.3 million
HQ: New York City
Tags: Consumer, advisors, real estate, mortgage, investing, wealth management
Source: FT Partners

Bayut
UAE real estate portal
Latest round: $20 million Series C
Total raised: $29 Million
HQ: Dubai, UAE
Tags: Consumer, home buying, renting, mortgage, real estate
Source: Crunchbase

College Ave Student Loans
Student loan lender
Latest round: $20 million
Total raised: $40 million
HQ: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Tags: Consumer, credit, youth market, underwriting, lending, loans, FirstTrust Bank (loan originator)
Source: Crunchbase

The Zebra
Car insurance price comparison
Latest round: $17 million Series A
Total raised: $23.03 million
HQ: Austin, Texas
Tags: Consumer, insurance, automobile insurance, price comparison, lead gen, discovery, quotes
Source: Crunchbase

PitchBook
Investment information
Latest round: $10 million Series B
Total raised: Unkown
HQ: Seattle, Washington
Tags: SMB, advisors, enterprise, investing, trading, wealth management
Source: FT Partners

Sprinklebit
Social investing platform
Latest round: $10 million Series A
Total raised: $13.7 million
HQ: New York City
Tags: Consumer, investing, trading, social media
Source: Crunchbase

Sonovate
Contract financing and management services for professional recruitment firms
Latest round: $7.1 Million Series
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: London, England, UK
Tags: SMB, credit, receivables financing, management
Source: FT Partners

Bench
Online bookkeeping service
Latest round: $6.75 million Series
Total raised: $23.5 Million
HQ: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Tags: SMB, bookkeeping, accounting, invoicing
Source: Crunchbase

Wave Accounting
Online accounting & invoicing
Latest round: $6.3 million
Total raised: $6.3 million
HQ: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Tags: SMB, bookkeeping, accounting, invoicing
Source: Crunchbase

Cumulus Funding
Consumer alt-lender
Latest round: $5.9 million Series
Total raised: $6.75 million
HQ: Chicago, Illinois
Tags: Consumer, credit, underwriting, loans, lending
Source: FT Partners

Kurtosys
Client reporting and information management for financial services
Latest round: $5.2 million Series
Total raised: $25.6 million
HQ: London, England, UK
Tags: Enterprise, advisors, wealth management, hosting
Source: FT Partners

Smartika
Social lending platform
Latest round: $4.9 million
Total raised: $4.9 million
HQ: Milan, Italy
Tags: Consumer, credit, person-to-person, marketplace lender, underwriting, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Vestorly
Content management for financial services
Latest round: $4.1 million Series A
Total raised: $4.1 million
HQ: New York City
Tags: Enterprise, content, investing
Source: FT Partners

Dopay
Electronic payroll system 
Latest round: $2.4 million Series A
Total raised: $8.0 million
HQ: London, England, UK
Tags: B2B2C, SMB, payments, payroll, human resources, underbanked, unbanked, Barclays Accelerator
Source: Crunchbase

Insurify
Car insurance comparison site
Latest round: $2 million Seed
Total raised: $2 million
HQ: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Tags: Consumer, insurance, automobile, car insurance, lead gen, price comparison, discovery
Source: Crunchbase

ClaimKit
Insurance claim management
Latest round: $1.8 million
Total raised: $2.36 million
HQ: Overland Park, Kansas
Tags: Enterprise, insurance claim processing
Source: FT Partners

AlgoMerchant
Investment portal
Latest round: $1.3 million Seed
Total raised: $1.3 million
HQ: Singapore
Tags: Consumer, investing, lead gen, wealth management, discovery, advisors
Source: Crunchbase

Jewel Paymentech 
Risk management for payment acquirers 
Latest round: $1 million
Total raised: $1 million
HQ: Singapore
Tags: SMB, enterprise, security, fraud management, acquirers, merchants, payments
Source: Crunchbase

YoPay
Digital payments
Latest round: $550,000 Seed
Total raised: 550,000
HQ: New York City
Tags: SMB, merchants, credit/debit card acquiring, payments
Source: Crunchbase

bitFlyer
Japanese bitcoin exchange
Latest round: $420,000
Total raised: $7.36 million
HQ: Japan
Tags: Consumer, SMB, bitcoin, cryptocurrency, virtual currency, blockchain
Source: Crunchbase

SatoshiPay
Bitcoin nanopayments
Latest round: $390,000
Total raised: $630,000
HQ: London, England, UK
Tags: Consumer, payments, micro-payments, content, virtual currency
Source: Crunchbase

Billecta
Online invoicing 
Latest round: $140,000
Total raised: $140,000
HQ: Sweden
Tags:SMB, bookkeeping, accounting, invoicing
Source: Crunchbase

Finova Financial
Online vehicle-secured lending
Latest round: $125,000 Seed
Total raised: $125,000
HQ: Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Tags: Consumer, credit, automobile lending, alt-lender, underwriting
Source: Crunchbase

C2FO
Working capital finance
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: $85 million in prior rounds
HQ: Fairway, Kansas
Tags: SMB, enterprise, credit, receivables financing, trade finance, factoring, underwriting, Citibank (investor)
Source: FT Partners

CreditNation
Loan comparison site
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Delhi, India
Tags: Consumer, credit, lead gen, price comparison, loans, discovery, lending
Source: Crunchbase

Truebill
Recurring payments management
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumer, payments, personal financial management, billpay, recurring bills, PFM, Ycombinator
Source: Crunchbase

True Potential
Wealth management technology
Latest round: Undisclosed Private Equity
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: London, England, UK
Tags: Advisors, consumer, wealth management, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alums Are Top Tech Startup Fundraisers in Four States

Finovate Alums Are Top Tech Startup Fundraisers in Four States
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avalara, CashStar, edo Interactive, Funding, Fundings, Kabbage

TheUSofStartups_infographic

An interesting infographic from CB Insights reveals four Finovate/FinDEVr alums to be the most well-funded tech startups in their respective states.

“Using CB Insights data, we analyzed the most well-funded startups by state, based on disclosed equity funding,” read the CB Insights blog accompanying the map. The survey did not include debt funding and companies that had to have raised at least $5 million. The survey also excluded Alaska or Hawaii, which had no qualifying startups.

Avalara_FinDEVr2015_logoAvalara (Washington State)

CashStar_Grayscale_Logo_No_TagCashStar (Maine)

edo_Interactive_logoedo Interactive (Tennessee)

 

Kabbage_logoKabbage (Georgia)

For more on funding for Finovate alums, check out our funding year-in-review, Finovate Alums Raise More than $3 Billion in 2015.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alums Raise More Than $3 Billion in 2015

Finovate Alums Raise More Than $3 Billion in 2015
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings

moneybag_goldcoinsMaybe it’s passé to say another year was a “banner year” for investment in fintech. But there is no better way to describe the more than $3 billion in funding raised by Finovate alums in 2015.

We previewed our alum funding for 2015 a few weeks ago with a look at investment in European-based alums. Now we present the numbers for the entire world.

Finovate alums by year

Highlights from 2015

  • Worldwide, 116 Finovate alums raised $3.1 billion
  • Credit Karma raised the largest amount of capital, pulling in $175 million in June. Kabbage came in second with $135 million in October.
  • April may be poetry’s cruelest month, but for Finovate alums, it was the most lucrative with $400 million raised by 15 companies. January was a close second, with $340 million raised by 14 companies.
  • April was also the biggest month for number of deals with 15. January, May, and July were a close second with 14 deals each.

Alum funding by month

December

November

October

September

Mergers & Acquisitions: Prosper signals Move into PFM with $30 Million Acquisition of BillGuard.

August

Mergers & Acquisitions: FutureAdvisor acquired by BlackRock.

July

June

May

Honorable mention: Zenefits raises $500 million (company founded by serial entrepreneur Parker Conrad, founder of alums SigFig and Wikinvest).

April

Mergers & Acquisitions: SaveUp purchased by Chicago-area entrepreneur, Paul J. Bart; Early Warning acquires Authentify

March

Mergers & Acquisitions: Multi-Factor Authentication Specialist Toopher Acquired by Salesforce; ReadyforZero Acquired by Avant in cash and stock deal; printer-giant Lexmark to acquire Kofax for $1 billion; LearnVest acquired by Northwestern Mutual for more than $250 million.

February

Mergers & Acquisitions: Samsung acquisition of LoopPay puts Apple Pay on notice.

January

Mergers & Acquisitions: Akimbo Financial acquired by Payment Data Systems.

*New alum; funds raised prior to Finovate appearance.

Funding that companies received before they first appeared at Finovate was not counted in overall totals.

Questions? Comments? Email us at research@finovate.com.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Pindrop Raises $75 Million for Phone-printing Authentication

Pindrop Raises $75 Million for Phone-printing Authentication
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Pindrop Security

PindropHomepage

Voice-fraud prevention and authentication startup Pindrop closed a $75 million funding round. This installment brings the company’s total funding to $122 million since its founding in 2011.

Google Capital, a new investor to the Georgia-based company, led the Series C round. Additional contributors include GV, another new backer, and existing financiers Andreessen Horowitz, IVP, Citi Ventures and Felicis Ventures.

Pindrop works with three of the top-four largest U.S. banks to authenticate their calls using phone-printing technology that analyzes and assigns risk to the caller. The technology helps a bank’s call center answer key questions:

  • Where does the call originate?
  • Is it a trusted number?
  • Does the caller’s voice sound as it should?
  • What device is the caller using?
  • Should the person’s attempt be blocked?

Pindrop will use the new funds to fuel international expansion. The company already has a small office in the United Kingdom, an area in which, according to Fortune, phone-fraud rates are fourfold higher than those in the United States. Pindrop is also in the midst of expanding to Latin America and plans to extend operations into Asia Pacific later this year.

PindropCEOIn a release today, the company notes highlights from 2105:

  • Saved tens of millions of dollars for enterprise customers
  • Tripled revenue in the last year
  • Doubled its customer base in the last year, including adding two of the top-three U.S. banks
  • Protected 360+ million calls

Pindrop CEO Vijay Balasubramaniyan (pictured) debuted the company’s Fraud Detection System at FinovateFall 2012.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook