Funding Archives - Page 73 of 92

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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Fintech Fundings: 114 Companies Raised $7.3 Billion in April

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 19, 2016
Categories: Funding

The month of April ended on busy note as 29 companies raised $427 million in the final week (ending April 29). That brought the total raised in April to $7.3 billion, which would have been a record year anytime before 2014.

The previous weekly totals in April:

The total number of deals YTD stands at 438, almost double last year’s 238. Total dollars raised YTD stands at $14.0 billion, 2.5x the $5.6 billion raised during the same period a year ago.

This week, seven deals did not reveal the amount raised including Finovate alum BlueVine which added Citigroup to the $40 million round originally closed last year.

——-

Fintech deals by size from 23 April to 29 April 2016:

Mosaic
Marketplace lender for residential solor projects
Latest round: $200 million Private Equity
Total raised: $224.9 million
HQ: Oakland, California
Tags: Consumer, lending, credit, underwriting, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer loan marketplace, clean energy, investing, P2P
Source: Crunchbase

Nubank
Digital banking company
Latest round: $56 million Debt (from Goldman Sachs)
Total raised: $154.3 million ($98.3 million Equity, $56 million Debt)
HQ: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Tags: Consumer, deposits, payments, prepaid, debit card, banking, mobile
Source: Crunchbase

Remitly
International payments service
Latest round: $38.5 million Series C
Total raised: $61.5 million
HQ: Seattle, Washington
Tags: Consumer, SMB, remittances, payments, FX, international funds transfers
Source: Crunchbase

bitFlyer
Japanese Bitcoin exchange
Latest round: $27 million Series C
Total raised: $34.4 million
HQ: Tokyo, Japan
Tags: Consumer, payments, bitcoin, blockchain, cyrpto-currency
Source: Crunchbase

Trov
On-demand insurance
Latest round: $25.5 million Series C
Total raised: $37.8 million
HQ: Danville, California
Tags: Consumer, insurance, object insurance, mobile, risk management
Source: FT Partners

SunFunder
Crowdfunding platform for investing in solar projects
Latest round: $17 million Debt
Total raised: $22.82 million ($5.82 milllion Equity, $17 million Debt)
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumer, investors, advisers, crowdfunding, equity, clean energy
Source: Crunchbase

E la Carte
Mobile ordering & payments for restuarants
Latest round: $15 million Debt
Total raised: $67.5 million ($52.5 million Equity, $15 million Debt)
HQ: Palo Alto, California
Tags: SMB, B2B2C, payments, point of sale, acquiring, credit/debit cards, merchants
Source: Crunchbase

TranServ
SmartPay payments platform for enterprises
Latest round: $15 million Series C
Total raised: $15+ million
HQ: Mumbai, India
Tags: Enterprise, B2B2C, payments, merchants, APIs, developers
Source: Crunchbase

Lendix
Marketplace small business lending platform
Latest round: $13.5 million Series B
Total raised: $27.1 million
HQ: Paris, France
Tags: SMB, lending, credit, underwriting, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer loan marketplace, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Savedo
Deposit price comparison site
Latest round: $5.6 million Series A
Total raised: $5.6 million
HQ: Berlin, Germany
Tags: Consumer, deposits, investments, price comparison, discovery, investing, lead gen
Source: Crunchbase

GoHenry
Prepaid debit for youth (18 and under)
Latest round: $3.58 million Equity Crowdfunding (Crowdcube)
Total raised: $3.58 million
HQ: Lymigton, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Consumer, youth, debit card, mobile, spending, controls, mobile
Source: Crunchbase

Bitso
Mexican Bitcoin exchange
Latest round: $1.85 million
Total raised: $1.85 million
HQ: Mexico City, Mexico
Tags: Consumer, payments, blockchain, virtual currency, crypto-currency, remittances
Source: Crunchbase

ID Global Solutions
Payment security technology
Latest round: $1.55 million
Total raised: $1.55 million
HQ: Longwood, Florida
Tags: SMB, merchants, security, payments, POS, credit/debit cards, authorization
Source: Crunchbase

ClearTax
Income tax service
Latest round: $1.3 million Seed
Total raised: $1.42 million
HQ: New Delhi, India
Tags: Consumer, SMB, accounting, bookkeeping,, tax returns, tax prep
Source: Crunchbase

Impact Health
Health insurance comparison site
Latest round: $1.3 million Seed
Total raised: $1.51 million
HQ: Los Angeles, California
Accelerator: TechStars
Tags: Consumer, insurance, healthcare, discover, price comparison, lead gen
Source: Crunchbase

Rooam
Payment system for bars and nightlife services
Latest round: $1.2 million Seed
Total raised: $1.2 million
HQ: Washington D.C.
Tags: Consumer, SMB, payments, merchants, point of sale, mobile, POS, restaurants, bars
Source: Crunchbase

DreamFunded
Private tech stock market to sell pre-IPO shares
Latest round: $1 million Equity Crowdfunding
Total raised: $1.2 million
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumer, investors, employees, HR benefits, stock exchange, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Kasisto
Virtual assistant banking services
Latest round: $1 million
Total raised: $ million
HQ: Burlingame, California
Tags: Enterprise, B2B2C, service, AI, DBS Bank (investor), mobile
Source: FT Partners

Impact Guru
Crowdfunding solution for nonprofits
Latest round: $500,000 Seed
Total raised: $500,000
HQ: Mumbai, India
Accelerator/Incubator: Harvard iLab
Tags: Consumer, payments, crowdfunding, nonprofit, fundraising
Source: Crunchbase

Tramonex
International payment service for small businesses
Latest round: $365,000 Grant
Total raised: $ million
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: SMB, payments, cross border, FX, remittances
Source: Crunchbase

CallforLoans
Personal loan comparison site
Latest round: $105,000 Seed
Total raised: $105,000
HQ: India
Tags: Consumer, lending, credit, underwriting, discovery, quotes, lead gen
Source: Crunchbase

Fundwise
Equity crowdfunding platform
Latest round: $34,000 Convertible Note
Total raised: $143,000
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Tags: SMB, equity, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer marketplace, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Almax Analytics
AI for capital markets news
Latest round: Undisclosed Seed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Investors, advisers, traders, investing, data analytics, information, news
Source: FT Partners

BlueVine
Invoice factoring
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: $64 million
HQ: California
Tags: SMB, factoring, accounts receivables, trade finance, lending, credit, underwriting, Citibank (investor), Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Deposit Rates Exchange
Deposit rates information site
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Australia
Tags: Consumer, deposits, savings accounts, investing
Source: FT Partners

HireAthena
Accounting, payroll and HR platform for small businesses
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unkown
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: SMB, human resoures, accounting, billing, payroll, invoicing, bookkeeping, insurance
Source: FT Partners

Nvstr
Social platform for investors
Latest round: Undisclosed Seed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: New York City
Tags: Consumer, investors, social, mobile
Source: Crunchbase

Parasail
Alt-lender for medical expenses
Latest round: Undisclosed Seed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumer, lending, credit, underwriting, healthcare, payments, insurance
Source: Crunchbase

Pariti Technologies
Mobile spending app
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Consumer, mobile, spending, budgeting, PFM, personal finance
Source: FT Partners

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New Investment in Personal Capital Takes Valuation to $500 Million

By David Penn Posted on May 19, 2016
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Personal Capital

Courtesy of a Series E round led by IGM Financial, digital wealth management giant Personal Capital picked up an investment of $50 million now, with another $25 million coming in 2017. The new capital takes the company’s valuation to $500 million.

Calling IGM Financial “the ideal investor,” Personal Capital CEO Bill Harris said his company would benefit from IGM Financial’s “expertise in financial advice and asset management.” Harris added that the partnership with IGM Financial would help his company meet the growing demand for Personal Capital’s digital wealth-management services.

Pictured (left to right): Personal Capital’s Jim Del Favero, chief product officer, and CFO Bill Harris demonstrated their platform’s One Click Investment Proposals at FinovateSpring 2014.

In the same statement, IGM President and CEO Jeff Carney praised Personal Capital’s veteran management. “We believe the financial advisory landscape will be enhanced by the type of service that Personal Capital provides,” Carney said. “We’re delighted to be backing the leader in digital wealth management.”

Personal Capital uses a hybrid approach of online technical tools and personalized advice to give average investors the same kind of service historically enjoyed by the high-net-worth clients. “Our approach allows people not only to manage their entire financial life through the mobile devices they carry in their pockets, but also to receive a level of personalized advice previously available only to the ultra-wealthy,” Harris explained. Personal Capital manages $2.4 billion in investments for more than a million investors.

In addition to management, Personal Capital offers investors free resources to help them manage their investments better. These solutions include a dashboard that lets investors see all their investment accounts in one place, as well as a Fee Analyzer and Investment Checkup. For fund management, Personal Capital charges a flat fee based on the percentage of assets managed, starting at 0.89% for the first million.

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Redwood City, California, Personal Capital demonstrated its technology at FinovateSpring 2014 and presented at FinDEVr San Francisco 2015. The company surpassed $2 billion in assets under management in March, and lowered its investment minimum from $100,000 to $25,000 back in November.

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Tink Pulls in $10 Million to Launch Virtual Bank

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 19, 2016
Categories: Funding, Tink

The creators of Swedish PFM app Tink, Daniel Kjellén and Fredrik Hedberg (pictured below), have just closed on $10 million to launch a virtual bank. The Series B round was led by Creades and SEB; ABN AMRO and Sunstone Capital also contributed. Combined with its Series A round in 2014, the company’s total funding is $14 million.

Tink will use the funds to expand internationally and launch a virtual bank, Tink 2.0. The virtual bank will allow users to transfer money, make payments, scan and approve bills, and manage their money across any account directly from within the Tink app. These new capabilities are made possible by Europe’s new Payment Service Directive (PSD2), approved in January, that opens Europe’s banking infrastructure by making their APIs available to third parties.

Fredrik Hedberg, founder and CTO of Tink, comments on the coming launch: “Ultimately, it’s about building a virtual bank, helping people with banking without being a bank. The consumer will not only get a better understanding, tips and advice on her finances, but also the ability to take action on it.” Founder and CEO Daniel Kjellén chimes says, “We think it should be easy to make smart financial decisions, and we want to contribute to a greater transparency in the industry, which will benefit both the consumer and the best banks. To get investors with such solid experience and the ability to develop partnerships with traditional banks is of course a huge asset for a company like Tink.”

Tink differentiates itself in the PFM space by collecting two years of historical account data across all of a user’s bank accounts and payment cards. The company uses hands-off spending categorization and simplifies the user’s view of their income and expenses. The app suggests budget options, sends alerts, and offers a feed of the user’s own personal finance highlights.

Since launching the app in Sweden at FinovateEurope 2014, Tink now boasts more than 300,000 users and is currently running beta tests in 10 different European markets to prepare for the international launch later this year.

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Tagit Locks in More than $8 Million in New Funding

By David Penn Posted on May 16, 2016
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Tagit

Mobile technology solutions provider Tagit has raised $8.75 million (S$12 million) in funding from Japanese IT specialist, SRA Group. The investment will help both companies grow their market exposure in Asia. Tagit is headquartered in Singapore and was founded in 2004.

Tagit CEO Sandeep Bagaria said the investment would help speed growth in sectors like digital banking and “Smart City” technology. In addition to leveraging the partnership to pursue opportunities in Japan and North Asia, Tagit plans to use the financing to add to its staff in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Pictured (left to right): CIO Parikshit Paspulati and CPO Neelima Subramanyam demonstrated Mobeix Open Platform at FinovateAsia 2012 in Singapore.

Tagit builds open-architecture, mobile banking and ecommerce platforms for FIs and other businesses. The company’s signature solution, Mobeix is a mobile middleware platform that helps migrate web-based services to the mobile environment. With customers including Axis Bank, Citibank India, Maybank Singapore, and the Royal Bank of Canada, Tagit demoed its technology at FinovateAsia 2012 in Singapore. Tagit was recognized as a “leader” by Forrester in their Q4 2015 Mobile Banking Solutions report, and was one of the first companies to be accredited by the Accreditation@IDA programme sponsored by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA).

Deal Street Asia’s analysis of the deal suggested that SRA Group’s investment in Tagit was part of a trend of Japanese companies preferring investment in Southeast Asia over China. The article cited a 2014 report that cited Japan as the second biggest investor in the 10 ASEAN nations for the previous three years, a sum that was triple the amount invested in China over the same time. The investment was made via SRA Group’s Singapore subsidiary, SRA IP Solutions (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd.

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Vera Reels in Strategic Investment; Adds Former Veritas CEO & Founder to Board

By David Penn Posted on May 11, 2016
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Vera

What a week for Vera! Within hours of the data security startup’s Finovate debut, the company announced that it had landed a strategic investment from Capital One Growth Ventures. The investment adds to Vera Security’s oversubscribed Series B round, taking the company’s total funding to $35 million.

The Series B was led by Sutter Hill Ventures, with existing investors Amplify Partners and Battery Ventures also participating.

The funding news comes with word that former Veritas Software founder, chairman, and CEO, Mark Leslie (pictured right) will join Vera’s board of directors. A 30-year veteran of the Silicon Valley technology scene who served as president and CEO of Synapse Computer and Rugged Digital Systems in the 1980s, Leslie called Vera a leader among a “new class of security startups working globally to secure data in a completely new way.”

Speaking for Capital One Growth Ventures, Adam Boutin praised Vera’s “elegant solution for securing data through its entire lifecycle” that avoids compromising access, control, or transparency. “We are thrilled to invest in Vera and have been impressed with their team and their ability to build a solution that balances complex functionality with ease-of-use,” Boutin said.

With more than a quarter-of-a-million users at Fortune 500 companies in verticals ranging from finance to manufacturing to entertainment, Vera specializes in providing data protection and encryption that both tracks and secures digital content across apps, devices, users, and platforms in real-time. Emerging from stealth just over a year ago, Vera was a finalist in the RSA Conference Innovation Sandbox Contest in February, the same month the company was named one of the 20 coolest cloud security vendors of the 2016 Cloud 100 by CRN. Also in February, Vera teamed up with Richard Fleischman and Associates (RFA) to provide U.S. hedge funds, private equity firms, and asset managers with its advanced data security technology. Vera unveiled its cloud-based IRM-as-a-Service (Information Rights Management-as-a-Service) platform in March, enabling businesses to “protect and manage access to any data generated by custom-built business applications.”

Led by CEO Ajay Arora, Vera demonstrated its data security technology at FinovateSpring 2016. The video of the company’s demo will be available soon.

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Money Transfer Company Azimo Pulls in $15 Million in Strategic Funds from Rakuten

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 5, 2016
Categories: Azimo, Funding

Digital money-transfer network Azimo added $15 million to its $25 million in VC funds today, bringing the London-based company’s total to around $40 million.

The strategic investment was led by Japanese fintech services company Rakuten, the organization that owns messaging service Viber. Existing investors—eVentures, Frog Capital, Greycroft, Accion and MCI Capital—also participated in the round.

The funds will be used to integrate Azimo’s money-transfer services into messaging apps and fuel the company’s expansion into Asia, which is home to seven of the top 10 remittance-receiving countries. Azimo already offers its services in a small portion of Asia. While 30% of its total transfers are sent to the region, the expansion efforts will enable more outbound remittances from Asia.

Michael Kent, CEO and founder of Azimo, explains:

While we weren’t actively looking for additional capital, the approach from Rakuten really appealed because of their presence in markets core to our long-term ambitions. They have a huge presence in Asia, they really understand consumer financial services, and, as owners of Viber, are a significant player in the social messaging market. The partnership will accelerate our Asian expansion and assist in our aim of developing ever deeper social network integrations.

Azimo is not disclosing its valuation but TechCrunch estimates it to be $100 million with the prospect of raising a bigger round of funding next year. Founded in 2012, the company operates in 190+ countries and 80+ currencies. Its network connects half a million people and has the potential to reach up to 5 billion people across the globe.

Founder and CEO Michael Kent and CTO Marek Wawro, co-founder, debuted Azimo’s social remittance network at FinovateEurope 2013.

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Zooz Raises $24 Million in its Largest Funding

By David Penn Posted on May 3, 2016
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Zooz

In a round led by Target Global Ventures, Israeli payments technology innovator Zooz just raised $24 million in new capital. The investment takes the company’s total funding to more than $40 million and will enable Zooz to accelerate growth, build and develop new products, and expand in both existing and new markets.

In thanking both new and current investors, Zooz CEO Oren Levy said that the growing interest on the part of merchants is playing a key role in driving adoption of new payment technologies. “Retailers now understand the need for smart payment platforms that can help them expand into new markets quickly and cost-effectively,” he said, “and that is where we excel.”

Pictured (left to right): Peter Donarski, senior executive, First Data, and Noam Inbar, VP business development at Zooz, demonstrated Zooz Transforming Checkout at FinovateFall 2013.

Saying that Zooz is in the right place at the right time to take advantage of the growth in the global payments market, Target Global Ventures’ general partner Shmuel Chafets praised the way the Zooz platform “optimizes and simplifies the payments process, meeting a crucial industry need that will only increase.” The round also featured participation from new investors Fang Fund, iAngels, and Kreos Capital, as well as existing investors Blumberg Capital, lool ventures, Rhodium, Claltech, XSeed Capital, and CampOne Ventures, as well as angel investor Eilon Tirosh.

Since the company’s last funding round in the summer of 2014, Zooz added offices in London, Berlin, and San Francisco and increased headcount by 50%. In April, Zooz integrated eCommerce, CRM, ERP and other technologies from Nodus Technologies into its platform, one month after announcing support for Android Pay. The company added Chester Ritchie, formerly of Worldpay, as its new EVP of sales and development in February. Ritchie spoke about Zooz’s payment technology in a company profile for The Green Sheet in April.

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Raanana, Israel, Zooz demonstrated its Transforming Checkout solution at FinovateFall 2013.

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