Funding Archives - Page 80 of 89

Fintech Fundings: 17 Companies Raise $250 million Week Ending June 19

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 18, 2015
Categories: Funding

After a slow start, the week finished strong, thanks largely to the $140 million raised by marketplace lenders Bond Street and LendInvest. Finovate alum, Azimo landed the fourth biggest round, $20 million at a $100 million valuation.

All told, 17 fintech companies raised $253 million ($153 million equity, $100 million debt) this week. Year-to-date, $7.7 billion has been invested in the sector.

Here are the fundraisings from 13-through-18 June, ranked by size:

Bond Street
Marketplace lender for small businesses
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $110 million Series A (includes $100 million debt)
Total raised: $120.8 million (includes $100 million debt)
Tags: P2P lending, SMB, lending marketplace, investing, alt-lending, small business underwriting, credit
Source: Crunchbase

Namely
Payroll and benefits platform
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $45 million Series C
Total raised: $77.8 million
Tags: Payroll, insurance, HR, benefits, SMB, enterprise
Source: Crunchbase

LendInvest
P2P mortgage lending
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Latest round: $34.2 million Series A
Total raised: $34.2 million
Tags: P2P, mortgage, peer-to-peer, investing, crowdfunding, lending, underwriting, credit
Source: FT Partners

Azimo
Payment processor
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Latest round: $20 million (at $100 million valuation)
Total raised: $31 million
Tags: Payments, SMB, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Lavu
Restaurant point-of-sale system
HQ: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Latest round: $15 million Series A
Total raised: $15 million
Tags: Payments, merchants, SMB, POS, iPad, acquiring
Source: Crunchbase

FundsIndia
Indian investment portal
HQ: Chennai, India
Latest round: $11 million Series C
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Investing, insurance, mutual funds
Source: Crunchbase

PolicyGenius
Consumer comparison site
HQ: Brooklyn, New York
Latest round: $5.3 million
Total raised: $6.1 million
Tags: Life insurance, renters, pet, long-term care, lead generation, AXA (investor), Transamerica (investor)
Source: FT Partners

Harvest Exchange
Investor network
HQ: Houston, Texas
Latest round: $5 million Series B
Total raised: $9.4 million
Tags: Investing, wealth management, network
Source: Crunchbase

Pier
Mobile alt-credit
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $2 million
Total raised: $2 million
Tags: China (market), underwriting, alternative underwriting, credit reporting, mobile
Source: FT Partners

Reveal
Social cryptocurrency
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $ 1.5 million
Total raised: $ 1.5 million
Tags: Bitcoin, mobile, social media, P2P payments
Source: Crunchbase

Case
Hardware wallet for cryptocurrency
HQ: Rochester, New York
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total raised: $1.5 million
Tags: Bitcoin, virtual currency, security
Source: Crunchbase

Corlytics
Compliance and risk-management technology
HQ: Dublin, Ireland
Latest round: $1.1 million
Total raised: $1.1 million
Tags: Risk management, security, regulation, compliance
Source: Crunchbase

Pumpkin
French mobile-payments app
HQ: Lille, France
Latest round: $800,000
Total raised: Unknown
Source: WhoGotFunded.com

FairCent
Marketplace lender
HQ: India
Latest round: $250,000
Total raised: $4.25 million
Tags: P2P lending, consumer, peer-to-peer, underwriting, credit, investing
Source: WhoGotFunded.com

Sequent
Mobile wallet APIs
HQ: Mountain View, California
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: More than $12 million
Tags: Mobile, payments, API
Source: FT Partners

GoFundMe
Crowdfunding site for nonprofit causes
San Diego, California
Latest round: Undisclosed ($500 million valuation)
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: P2P, peer-to-peer, fundraising, payments
Source: Crunchbase

Swave
Mobile personal finance manager
HQ: United Kingdom
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: PFM, savings accounts, mobile, Citibank (investor), Lloyds (investor)
Source: FT Partners

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Fintech Fundings: 18 Companies Raise $230 Million Week Ending June 12

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 11, 2015
Categories: Funding

Funding was up sharply this week with 18 companies raising a total of $232 million (includes $20 million in debt). The total included five Finovate alums:

Cachet Financial Solutions (public: CAFN) raised $4.4 million in a private placement, bringing their market cap to $8.6 million
Mobile POS provider SumUp added an undisclosed amount, bringing total funding to $45 million
Bright Funds raised a $1.8 million seed round for its charitable giving system that plugs right in to payroll and HR systems
BanktotheFuture raised $1 million for its about-to-launch equity crowdfunding platform
CashSentinel scored undisclosed seed funding to help expand its mobile payments and escrow service

So far this year, $7.5 billion has been invested in the sector, an average of $325 million per week.

Here are the deals from 5 to 12 June 2015, ranked by size:

PropertyGuru
Real estate platform
HQ: Singapore
Latest round: $129 million
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Home purchase, mortgage, real estate search
Source: Crunchbase

Moula
Alt-lending platform to SMBs
HQ: Melbourne, Australia
Latest round:$30 million
Total raised: $30.9 million
Tags: Small business, lending marketplace, underwriting, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer, P2P, investing
Source: Crunchbase

LoanHero
Point-of-sale financing platform
HQ: Carlsbad, California
Latest round: $21.7 million ($1.7 million Seed; $20 million Debt)
Total raised: $22.1 million (includes $20 million debt)
Tags: Lending, POS, underwriting, alt-lending
Source: Crunchbase

Miura Systems
Payments hardware
HQ: Stokenchurch, United Kingdom
Latest round: $16 million
Total raised: $16 million
Tags: POS, point of sale, SMB, security, cards, merchant acquiring
Source: Crunchbase

eFileCabinet
Paperless systems for accounting and other industries
HQ: Lehi, Utah
Latest round: $14 million
Total raised: $25 million
Tags: Storage, fee income, cloud services
Source: Crunchbase

Cachet Financial Solutions
Remote deposit and mobile money solutions
HQ: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Latest round: $4.4 million private placement
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Remote deposit, payments, funds transfer, mobile, check cashing, Finovate alum
Source: CNN Money

Clip
Mobile payments and rewards app for hospitality industry
HQ: Sydney, Australia
Latest round: $3.6 million (for 31%; $11.6 million valuation)
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Payments, POS, point-of-sale, restaurant, bar, merchants, SMB, card acquiring
Source: FT Partners

Mobi724 Global Solutions
Mobile payments
HQ: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Latest round: $3.0 million
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: PIN debit, cards
Source: FT Partners

Bright Funds
Charitable giving solution for enterprises
San Francisco, California
Latest round: $1.8 million Seed
Total raised: $3.0 million
Tags: Payments, enterprise, SMB, payroll, HR, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Control
Payments management platform
HQ: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Latest round: $1.5 million Seed
Total raised: $1.5 million
Tags: Payments, enterprise, analytics, business intelligence
Source: Crunchbase

Zane Benefits
Health insurance reimbursement system
HQ: Salt Lake City, Utah
Latest round: $1.5 million Seed
Total raised: $1.5 million
Tags: Healthcare, payments, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

Symbiont
Smart securities on the blockchain
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $1.25 million Seed
Total raised: $1.25 million
Tags: Blockchain, investing, securities
Source: FT Partners

Create
Real estate information and workflow platform
HQ: Washington D.C.
Latest round: $1.1 million
Total raised: $2.2 million
Tags: Mortgage, investing, analytics, collaboration
Source: Crunchbase

BanktotheFuture
Equity crowdfunding platform
HQ: London, United Kingdom
Latest round: $1 million
Total raised: $1 million
Tags: P2P, peer-to-peer lending, underwriting, investing, SMB, small biz, Finovate alum
Source: Crunchbase

Open Bazaar
Bitcoin-based ecommerce marketplace
Latest round: $1 million
Total raised: $1 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, ecommerce, payments, trading, barter, USV (investor), Andreessen Horowitz (investor)
Source: Coindesk

PrimaHealth Credit
Alt-lending for the elective surgery industry
HQ: Newport Beach, California
Latest round: $1 million Seed
Total raised: $1 million
Tags: Healthcare, payments, financing, credit, underwriting
Source: Crunchbase

SumUp
Mobile point-of-sale system
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Latest round: Undisclosed Series D
Total raised: $45 million
Tags: Payments, mPOS, point of sale, SMB, security, cards, merchant acquiring, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

CashSentinel
Mobile payments with escrow
HQ: Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland
Latest round: Undisclosed Seed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Payments, SMB, peer-to-peer, escrow, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

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SumUp Unveils New Financing

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 10, 2015
Categories: Funding, SumUp

U.K.-based payments startup SumUp announced a new round of funding today. While the amount remains undisclosed, SumUp CEO Daniel Klein confirmed that the company has now raised a total of $45 million in funding since it was founded in 2012.

According to TechCrunch, Klein estimates the company is now valued somewhere in the range of “healthy hundreds of million” euros.

The newest round comes from Venture Incubator AG, a firm that includes ABB, Bühler, Credit Suisse, Hilti, Nestlé, Novartis, Schindler, SUVA, Sulzer and ZKB. This list of heavy-hitters should come as no surprise, since SumUp’s earlier rounds were led by American Express, Groupon, BBVA and other renowned venture-capital firms.

SumUp’s mobile point-of-sale system includes Chip & PIN as well as EMV processing technology, available on Android and iOS mobile apps. The company will use the funding in two ways:

1) Focus on contactless payment hardware.
SumUp differentiates itself by being as vertically integrated as possible. That means that it designs all of its own hardware, and does not rely on third parties. The company sells its terminal for around $90, and considers the hardware to be one of its competitive advantages. Says CEO Klein, “We’ve reached a competitive point in this respect for us to be able to produce terminals at a cost that is lower when we sell it. We are already making a profit on our hardware and continue to do so.”

2) Expand its geographical reach.
SumUp currently operates in 13 countries, and will add two more this year, one of which will be Sweden.

SumUp reported 300,000 merchant customers as of last month. In the last six months, sales volume has doubled on the platform. The startup plans to be profitable by next year.

The company launched at FinovateEurope 2013 in London where it won Best of Show for its portable card reader and point-of-sale solution.

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Bright Funds Closes Seed Round with $1.8 Million Investment

By David Penn Posted on June 10, 2015
Categories: Bright Funds, Funding

Bright Funds has announced the successful closure of its Series Seed funding round. The financing was led by Aspiration Growth and featured participation from investors including 10K Investments, Bloomberg BETA, Mission & Market, and Wellspring Growth Partners. Individual investors Godfrey Sullivan and Frank Yeary were also involved.

Bright Funds CEO and co-founder Ty Walrod said that the funding would help the company “move enterprises large and small beyond the largely transactional employee giving programs in the marketplace today.” Bright Funds has developed technology, the Bright Funds Enterprise platform, that seamlessly integrates into payroll and human resource information systems (HRIS), making it easier to launch and manage charitable giving programs. From vetting potential charities and issuing payments to managing employee contributions and tracking volunteer time, the platform is designed to provide, in Walrod’s words, “a much more rewarding experience for employer and employee alike.”

The funding takes the total equity capital for Bright Funds to more than $3 million.

From left: Bright Funds co-founders Rutul Dave, chief of products and marketing, and CEO Ty Walrod demonstrated their charitable giving platform at FinovateSpring 2013 in San Francisco.

Bright Funds serves more than 30,000 charitable givers at more than 25 different companies and organizations. Charitable givers on the platform are provided a portfolio that allows them to concentrate all of their donations within a single theme, such as education or the environment, or to divide the contribution over multiple themes (70% Global Health; 30% Anti-Poverty). More than 1.5 million pre-screened nonprofits are represented on the platform. Donations through the platform are 100% tax deductible, and there is no charge to open an account with Bright Funds.

Bright Funds has been in the news recently with its commitment to help facilitate charitable donations to Nepal in the wake of the spring 2015 earthquakes that took the lives of thousands. The company was featured in a Forbes.com column on the relationship between technology and community, and profiled in a San Francisco Business Times article on how Bright Funds “mines tech companies and their employees for philanthropic dollars.”

Bright Funds made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2013. The company was founded in February 2012 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

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CashSentinel Closes Seed Round of Undisclosed Amount

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 9, 2015
Categories: CashSentinel, Funding

Earlier this year, CashSentinel launched its mobile payment escrow service to the public in Switzerland. The startup aims to create a safe environment for two private parties to buy and sell used vehicles (check out our in-depth review of the platform).

The startup announced today it closed a seed round of an undisclosed amount. Investors include Business Angels Switzerland (BAS), GoBeyond, and other angel investors. Since it was founded in 2012, CashSentinel has received a total of $650,000 in seed funding and grants. Today’s seed round brings the company’s total funding somewhere north of that figure.

Pictured: CashSentinel CEO, Sylvain Bertolus, with client

In January, the fintech company made its service available on the website AutoScout24, an online European marketplace for used vehicles. Since then, CashSentinel has seen a steady increase in transactions and recently exceeded $1 million (1 million CHF) processed on its platform.

CashSentinel expects its growth to burgeon in the future, as more than 500,000 used vehicles trade hands every year in Switzerland alone. The startup plans to expand into the greater European market later this year.

CashSentinel debuted at FinovateEurope 2015 in London. The company holds partnerships with Swissquote Bank and AutoScout24.

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Fintech Fundings: 10 Companies Raise $80 Million Week Ending June 4

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 5, 2015
Categories: Funding

The fintech sector scored its second consecutive under-$100 million week as the summertime slowdown hit the northern hemisphere. In total, 10 companies raised $83.3 million including one Finovate alum, mobile security specialist Tyfone ($6.6 million).

So far this year, more than $7.3 billion has flowed into the sector worldwide.

Here are the deals from 30 May to 5 June 2015, in order of money raised:

Nubank
Brazilian digital finance company
HQ: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Latest round: $30 million Series B
Total raised: $46.3 million
Tags: Mobile,
Source: Crunchbase

TabbedOut
Restaurant and bar payment system
HQ: Austin, Texas
Latest round: $21.5 million Series C
Total raised: $39 million
Tags: Payments, point of sale, POS, merchants, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

FinTech Group
Online brokerage and investment provider
HQ: Frankfurt, Germany
Latest round: $11.4 million ($230 million valuation)
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Banking, Safecharge (investor/partner)
Source: FT Partners

Mirror
Online bitcoin exchange
HQ: Palo Alto, California
Latest round: $8.8 million Series A
Total raised: $12.8 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, block chain, virtual currency, Ripple (investor)
Source: Crunchbase

Tyfone
Mobile security
HQ: Portland, Oregon
Latest round: $6.6 million Series C
Total raised: $11.9 million
Tags: Security, mobile, Finovate alum
Source: Geekwire

iFunding
Real estate investing platform
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $2 million
Total raised: $4 million
Tags: Crowdfunding, P2P lending, commercial real estate, mortgage, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Propel(x)
Online platform for investing in “deep technology” startups
HQ: Redwood City, California
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total raised: $1.5 million
Tags: Crowdfunding, P2P, peer-to-peer, equity investing
Source: Crunchbase

PennyOwl
Allowance system for youth banking
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $1.3 million Seed
Total raised: $1.3 million
Tags: Teen banking, parental controls, PFM, Silicon Valley Bank (investor)
Source: Crunchbase

Paygevity
Supply-chain payments
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $250,000 Convertible debt
Total raised: $250,000
Tags: Payments, SMB, accounting, accounts receivables
Source: Crunchbase

MyPoolin
Social payments
HQ: Dwarka, India
Latest round: Undisclosed Seed
Total raised: Undisclosed
Tags: Payments, mobile, group, mobile
Source: Crunchbase

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Fintech Fundings: 16 Companies Raise $68 Million Week Ending May 28

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 28, 2015
Categories: Funding

Perhaps due to the holiday-shortened week in the United States, it was a week of smaller rounds as 16 companies raised a total of $68 million (of which $8 million was debt), with only two above seven figures (Payfirma, Kantox). That compares to an average of $340 million per week so far this year.

And, like a fintech Noah’s Ark, everything was in pairs this week:

Two companies out of Istanbul (TravelersBox, Iyzico)
Two from Edinburgh (FreeAgent, Intelligent Point of Sale)
Two out of London (Kantox, Monese)
Two from Canada (Payfirma, Koho)
Two new neo-banks (Koho, Monese)
Two P2P lenders (Acquire, Fellow Finance)
Two investment managers (InvestView, Wealthminder)

And of course, two Finovate alums received major new rounds ($11 million to Kantox; $8 million credit line to LendKey), while one other alum raised $300,000 of what is expected to be a $1.6 million round (FreeAgent).

The total raised in May 2015 was $1.6 billion and the YTD total is $7.2 billion.

Here are the deals from 23 May to 28 May by size:

Payfirma
Multichannel payment processing
HQ: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Latest round: $13 million
Total raised: $23.5 million
Tags: Payments, merchants, acquiring, POS, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

Kantox
Foreign exchange and remittance platform
HQ: London, United Kingdom
Latest round: $11 million
Total raised: $21.2 million
Tags: FX, currency exchange, remittances, payments, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

LendKey
Cloud-based lending platform
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $8 million Debt
Total raised: $31.7 million
Tags: Lending, enterprise, loans, Finovate alum
Source: Crunchbase

Iyzico
Payment system management platform
HQ: Istanbul, Turkey
Latest round: $6.2 million Series B
Total raised: $9.0 million
Tags: Payments, enterprise
Source: FT Partners

Acquire Real Estate
Commercial real estate investing marketplace
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $6.0 million
Total raised: $6.0 million
Tags: P2P lending, peer-to-peer, investing, crowdfunding, commercial mortgage lending
Source: Crunchbase

InvestView
Investing information
HQ: Red Bank, New Jersey
Latest round: $5.0 million
Total raised: $5.0 million
Tags: Investment information, education tools
Source: FT Partners

TravelersBox
Solution for collecting leftover foreign currency
HQ: Istanbul, Turkey
Latest round: $4.0 million (two weeks ago we reported $500,000 of this $4.5 million round)
Total raised: $4.5 million
Tags: Cash, currency, gift cards, rewards
Source: Crunchbase

eGifter
Online consumer gift card platform
HQ: Huntington, New York
Latest round: $3.5 million
Total raised: $8.9 million
Tags: Cash, currency, gift cards, rewards, consumer, prepaid debit
Source: Crunchbase

EverCompliant
Fraud and compliance solutions for merchant acquirers
HQ: Tel Aviv, Israel
Latest round: $3.5 million Series A
Total raised: $3.5 million
Tags: Payments, card processing, merchants, POS, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

Fellow Finance
Finnish P2P lending marketplace
HQ: Helsinki, Finland
Latest round: $2.2 million
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: P2P lending, peer-to-peer, alt-finance, crowdfunding, investing
Source: P2P-Banking.com

Monese
U.K.-based neo-bank
HQ: London, United Kingdom
Latest round: $1.8 million
Total raised: $1.8 million
Tags: Prepaid debit card, personal finance, PFM, mobile, consumer
Source: EU Startups

Wealthminder
Personal investment manager
HQ: Reston, Virginia
Latest round: $1.45 million Seed
Total raised: $1.7 million
Tags: Investing, PFM, wealth management
Source: Fortune

Koho
New Canadian mobile neo-bank
HQ: Toronto, Canada
Latest round: $1.0 million Seed
Total raised: $1.0 million
Tags: Mobile banking, prepaid debit card, personal finance, PFM, consumer
Source: Crunchbase

Intelligent Point of Sale
iPad-based POS system
HQ: Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Latest round: $770,000 Angel
Total raised: $770,000
Tags: Acquiring, POS, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

FreeAgent
Online accounting service
HQ: Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Latest round: $300,000 Series B
Total raised: $5.3 million (includes $5 million debt)
Tags: Accounting, bookkeeping, accounts receivables, SMB, Finovate alum
Source: Crunchbase

Newgen Payments
Ecommerce & payments platform for online merchants
HQ: New Delhi, India
Latest round: Undisclosed Angel
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Ecommerce, payments, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

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$680 Million Raised by 29 Alums in Q1 2015

By David Penn Posted on May 22, 2015
Categories: Advanced Merchant Payments, AdviceGames, Aire, App Annie, Ayasdi, Betterment, Bill.com, BlueVine, Bolstr, Coinbase, CoverHound, Finsphere, Funding, Fundings, Global Debt Registry, Kofax, LendingRobot, Lendio, Linkable Networks, Micronotes, Motif Investing, peerTransfer, Pindrop Security, Q2, Ripple, SimplyTapp, Spreedly, Taulia, TransferWise, TrueLink Financial, Xero

The biggest surprise in our look at first-quarter funding is that the $677 million amassed by 29 Finovate alums was more than 20% of the $3.2 billion invested in the entire worldwide fintech sector.

The $677 million raised was $85 million (+14%) above the same quarter a year ago, and more than triple the first quarter of 2013.

Q1 2015 was also $133 million above the $544 million mark set in the fourth quarter of 2014.

It will be worth watching to see if this record-setting first quarter for Finovate alum fundraising will be a sign of more great things to come for capital-raising in 2015.

Top 10 Overall Investments

Xero: $111 million in February
Coinbase: $75 million in January
Betterment: $60 million in February
TransferWise: $58 million in January
App Annie: $55 million in January
Ayasdi: $55 million in March
Motif Investing: $40 million in January
Ripple Labs: $30 million in January
Bill.com: $50 million in February
Pindrop Security: $35 in February

Previous Quarterly Comparisons

Q1 2015: More than $676 million raised by 29 alums
Q4 2014: More than $544 million raised by 25 alums
Q1 2014: More than $600 million raised by 8 alums
Q1 2013: More than $155 million raised by 14 alums

January: More than $275 million raised by 14 alums

App Annie: $55 million – post
BlueVine: $18.5 million – post
Bolstr: $1.7 million – post
Coinbase: $75 million – post
Global Debt Registry: $7 million – post
Kofax: $1.9 million – post
LendingRobot: $3 million – post
Motif Investing: $40 million – post
PeerTransfer: $22 million – post
Ripple Labs: $30 million – post
Spreedly: $150,000 – post
Taulia: $15 million – post
TransferWise: $58 million – post
True Link: $3.4 million – post

February: More than $264 million raised by 8 alums

AdviceGames: $570,000 – post
Betterment: $60 million – post
Bill.com: $50 million – post
Finsphere: $1.8 million – post
Micronotes: $910,000 – post
Pindrop Security: $35 million – post
SimplyTapp: $2.5 million – post
Xero: $111 million – post

March: More than $136 million raised by 7 alums

Advanced Merchant Payments: undisclosed – post
Aire: $1.1 million – post
Ayasdi: $55 million – post
Coverhound: $14 million – post
Lendio: $20.5 million – post
Linkable Networks: $11.7 million – post
Q2 Holdings: $34.6 million – post

If you are an alum that raised money in the first quarter of 2015, and do not see your company listed, please drop us a note at research@finovate.com. We would love to share the good news! Funding received prior to becoming an alum not included.

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Fintech Fundings: 25 Companies Raise $450 Million Week Ending May 22

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 21, 2015
Categories: Funding

This money_tree week, 25 companies raised $447 million ($362 million equity; $85 million debt). That’s the highest weekly number of companies funded since we began tracking in August 2014. It was a broad mix of sub-sectors, from crypto (Ripple) to alt-lending (Argon, eProdigy, Bitbond), payments (Wepay, Face++), fraud protection (Feedzai), personal finance tools (Credit Sesame, Planwise) and more.

The nearly half-billion this week brings the May total to $1.6 billion. And so far this year, more than $7 billion has been invested in the fintech sector. You can see the weekly reports here.

It was also a record week for Finovate alumni fundings with 9 companies raising $161 million (look further down the page for full details):

WePay $40 million
Actiance $28 million
Ripple $28 million
EDO Interactive $20 million
Feedzai $17.5 million
Credit Sesame $16 million
PayItSimple $10 million (line of credit)
Planwise $750,000
Bitbond $670,000

eProdigy Finance
Tools and programs for alt-lending to businesses
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $100 million Private Equity
Total raised: $100 million
Tags: Lending, credit, underwriting, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

Argon Credit
Online consumer alt-credit
HQ: Chicago, Illinois
Latest round: $75 million debt
Total raised: $85.1 million ($5.1 million equity; $80 million debt)
Tags: Credit, underwriting, consumer, P2P, peer-to-peer, marketplace lending, personal loans
Source: Crunchbase

WePay
Payment services for online marketplaces
HQ: Palo Alto, California
Latest round: $40 million Series D
Total raised: $74.2 million
Tags: Payments, platforms, SMB, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Actiance
Enterprise communications platform
HQ: Redwood City, California
Latest round: $28 million
Total raised: $43.6 million
Tags: Analytics, enterprise, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Ripple Labs
Open source payment network
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $28 million
Total raised: $37 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, virtual currency, currency exchange, Open Coin, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Face++
Payments via facial recognition
HQ: Bejing, China
Latest round: $25 million
Total raised: $47 million
Tags: Mobile payments, security, biometrics, Alibaba (customer)
Source: NFC World

EDO Interactive
Card-linked rewards and offers
HQ: Nashville, Tennessee
Latest round: $20 million
Total raised: $93.5 million
Tags: Merchant-funded rewards, debit cards, credit cards, advertising, Finovate alum
Source: FT Partners

Feedzai
Fraud-protection solutions for the enterprise
HQ: San Mateo, California
Latest round: $17.5 million Series B
Total raised: $22 million
Tags: Security, fraud protection, big data, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Credit Sesame
Credit reports and debt management
HQ: Mountain View, California
Latest round: $16 million Series D
Total raised: $35.4 million
Tags: Credit, credit scores, debt management, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Stride Health
Health insurance selection
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $13 million Series A
Total raised: $15.4 million
Tags: Insurance, lead gen, cost comparison, marketplace
Source: Crunchbase

Justworks
Payroll and benefits platform
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $13 million
Total raised: $20 million
Tags: Payments, SMB, enterprise, HR, payroll
Source: FT Partners

PayItSimple
Financing at the point-of-sale
HQ: Herzliya, Israel
Latest round: $10 million Debt
Total raised:$10+ million
Tags: Credit, underwriting, POS, merchants, SMB, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Stox
Financial data for consumers
HQ: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Latest round: $8 million Series A
Total raised: $8 million
Tags: Investing, analytics, data
Source: Crunchbase

Palico
Online network for private equity community
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $7.3 million
Total raised: $7.3 million
Tags: Investing, social network, private equity, institutional investors
Source: Crunchbase

YCharts
Investment analytics
HQ: Chicago, Illinois
Latest round: $6 million
Total raised: $14.7 million
Tags: Investing, data analytics, charting
Source: Crunchbase

Zeek
Giftcard and retail voucher marketplace
HQ: Tel Aviv, Israel
Latest round: $3 million Series A
Total raised: $3 million
Tags: Prepaid cards, gift cards
Source: Crunchbase

digitalBTC
Virtual currency
HQ: Bentley, Australia
Latest round: $2.8 million
Total raised: $2.8 million
Tags: Bitcoin, cryptocurrency
Source: Crunchbase

Funding Options
Financing search & matching service for businesses
HQ: London, United Kingdom
Latest round: $1.9 million ($6.5 million valuation)
Total raised: $1.9 million
Tags: lending, lead gen, SMB
Source: FT Partners

Planwise
Home buying tools
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $750,000
Total raised: $1.6 million
Tags: Mortgage, real estate, debt management, refi, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Bitbond
Bitcoin-denominated P2P lending
HQ: Berlin, Germany
Latest round: $670,000
Total raised: $900,000
Tags: P2p, peer-to-peer lending, underwriting, Bitcoin, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Magick
Online financial and FX trading
HQ: Copenhagen, Denmark
Latest round: $300,000
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Trading, investing, FX, currency trading
Source: FT Partners

Public Fund Investing Tracking & Reporting (PFITR, LLC)
Public fund accounting and analytics
HQ: St. Louis, Missouri
Latest round: $50,000
Total raised: $800,000
Tags: Accounting, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Oradian
Microfinance solutions provider
HQ: Zagreb, Croatia
Latest round: Undisclosed Seed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: P2P, underbanked, financial inclusion
Source: FT Partners

Pro Securities LLC (no website)
Alt-stock exchange
Old Bridge, New Jersey
Latest round: Undisclosed sale of 25% of company to Overstock
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Investing, trading, Overstock (investor)
Source: FT Partners

Tilt (formerly CrowdTilt)
Money collection and management for groups
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: Undisclosed at $400 million valuation
Total raised: $37+ million
Tags: Crowdfunding, social money management, P2P, peer-to-peer
Source: FT Partners

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Bitcoin-based P2P Lending Platform Bitbond Raises $670,000

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 20, 2015
Categories: Bitbond, Funding

Global bitcoin-lending platform Bitbond today announced receipt of $670,000 (€600,000) in an angel funding round. Combined with its $220,000 (€200,000) seed round in August 2014, the startup’s funding now totals just under $900,000.

Early investor, Point Nine Capital, led the round, and a host of angel investors also contributed. Business angels include:

Florian Heinemann
Uwe Horstmann
Christian Vollmann
Felix Jahn

The Berlin-based company counts 10,000+ registered users from 120 countries. Bitbond’s goals for the new funding are to grow its user base and increase activity in emerging markets underserved by traditional lenders.

Since launching to the public in July 2013, Bitbond has originated more than 600 loans through its platform.

Bitbond’s mission is to make global borrowing and lending more accessible, and it does that by using bitcoin to create a global market for small business loans.

You can find an in-depth look at Bitbond’s platform in our Finovate Debuts series.

At FinovateEurope 2015 in London, Bitbond debuted its Autoinvest feature that uses an algorithm to allocate lenders’ funds automatically and according to their preferences.

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Ripple Labs Reels in $28 Million, Eyes Asia Expansion

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 19, 2015
Categories: Funding, Ripple

Back in January, we speculated about a funding round for Ripple Labs. Today, the organization behind the Ripple Protocol officially announced it closed the venture round, which totals $28 million. Added to the three rounds the company received in 2013, the San Francisco-based company’s total funding stands at $37 million.

Major investors in the new round include:

IDG Capital Partners
Venture arm of CME Group
Seagate Technology
AME Cloud Ventures
ChinaRock Capital Management
China Growth Capital
Wicklow Capital

This global mix of venture capital and strategic investors aligns with Ripple’s focus on banking in tandem with worldwide corporate treasury use-cases. Dave Morton, senior VP, finance and treasury at Seagate Technology says, “With its real-time settlement capabilities, we recognize the opportunity for Ripple to reduce money-transfer costs, create transparency, and increase working capital in corporate treasury use-cases.”

Larsen plans to use the funds to expand into Asia and facilitate customer onboarding by supporting more access to liquidity in the Ripple system. Also supporting the Asia expansion effort, IDG Capital partner’s Li Feng will join Ripple Labs’ board of directors. Feng was an early investor in Baidu, Tencent, Xiaomi and CreditEase.

According to Chris Larsen, CEO and co-founder of Ripple:

Our mission is to modernize decades-old payments infrastructure with IP-based technology so value moves around the world as freely, easily, securely and transparently as information on the web today. Financial institutions, market makers and corporations are laying the foundation for this internet of value, contributing and providing liquidity for global payments. With investors like CME Group and Seagate joining the fold, we’re well positioned to accelerate adoption amongst these key customers.

Ripple seeks to create another set of rails for international money-transfer by functioning as a distributed-payments technology that connects the world’s disparate financial networks to securely transfer funds in any currency in real time.

Ripple Labs debuted as OpenCoin at FinovateSpring 2013.

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PayItSimple Receives $10 Million Line of Credit

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 19, 2015
Categories: Funding, PayItSimple

Installment-based payment platform PayItSimple is off to a good start this week. The company announced today it received a $10 million line of credit from New York-based Simpel Management.

The funds will be used to enable merchants on the PayItSimple platform to offer their customers an interest-free way to purchase large ticket items in multiple installments using their existing credit cards. While customers pay over time, merchants receive the entire payment up front.

For an in-depth view of how it works, check out our previous coverage.

PayItSimple debuted at FinovateFall 2014 in New York.

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