Prosper Pulls in $165 Million in Funding, Boosting Valuation to $1.9 Billion

Prosper Pulls in $165 Million in Funding, Boosting Valuation to $1.9 Billion

ProsperHomepage

P2P lending company Prosper brought in $165 million in Series D financing yesterday. This doubles the company’s valuation to $1.9 billion, and classifies it as a fintech unicorn—a private company worth more than $1 billion.

The investment was led by Credit Suisse NEXT. Investors also include financial institutions and venture capital firms:

  • USAA
  • SunTrust Bank
  • J.P. Morgan Asset Management
  • BBVA
  • Neuberger Berman Private Equity Funds
  • Passport Capital
  • Breyer Capital

Founded in 2006, Prosper raised its first round of funding in 2005 to the tune of $7.5 million. Prior to this week’s installment, the company’s funding totaled $190 million; the San Francisco-based company’s funding now totals $355 million.

Three of the financial institutions that furnished the financing, USAA, BBVA, and SunTrust, are in talks with Prosper to co-brand loans for their customers. The company’s competitor, Lending Club, has been co-branding loans with Union Bank since May 2014 and with Bank Alliance community bank members since February 2015.

Prosper facilitated $1.6 billion in loan origination in 2014. This is four times what it did the year prior and more than half of its total $3 billion since launching in 2006.

Prosper plans to use the funding to expand beyond debt consolidation loans into healthcare lending.

ProsperListings

Competitor Lending Club went public last December with an IPO that initially valued it around $8 billion. Its current market cap is $6.9 billion. Lending Club has issued $7.6 billion in consumer loans since launching in 2006.

While both companies are similar, Prosper is working hard to differentiate itself. The company, which offers unsecured consumer loans ranging from $2,000 to $35,000, states it has no intent to enter small-business lending. Meanwhile, competitor Lending Club launched its small-business segment, which enables companies to borrow up to $300,000, in March of 2014. According to American Banker, instead of extending financing to small businesses, Prosper plans to focus on finding a partner to help it expand into South America or Asia.

LendingClubSMB

Prosper last demonstrated at FinovateSpring 2009 in San Francisco.

Fintech Fundings: 16 Companies Raise $470 Million Week Ending April 10

Fintech Fundings: 16 Companies Raise $470 Million Week Ending April 10

patchoflandhome

The second quarter is off to a big start as charter Finovate alum Prosper raised $165 million at a valuation near $2 billion. In comparison, recently public competitor Lending Club is currently trading at a $6.8 billion valuation. Finovate alums Zen Payroll ($60 million), PayNearMe ($14.7 million) and Patch of Land ($23.6 million) also brought in 8-figure rounds. In addition, two Finovate alums were acquired: Authentify by Early Warning and SaveUp by a single investor. All told, Finovate alums attracted more than $260 million in VC funding, our alumni’s best week ever (excluding IPOs).

In total, 16 fintech companies raised $467 million. That’s the fourth biggest week (excluding IPOs) since we began tracking in August.

Here are the fundings from 5 April through 10 April 2015 in order of size:

Prosper
Consumer marketplace lender
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $165 million Series D; $1.9 billion valuation
Total raised: $355 million
Tags: Lending, credit, peer-to-peer consumer loans, investing, Finovate charter alum
Source: Finovate

Qufenqi
Chinese marketplace with purchases made on installment plan
HQ: Bejing, China
Latest round: $100 million Series D
Total raised: $125 million
Tags: Installment lending, credit, underwriting, ecommerce, payments
Source: Crunchbase

ZenPayroll
Online payroll management
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $60 million Series B; $550 million valuation
Total raised: $86.1 million
Tags: SMB, human resources management, payroll, payments, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

DIY wealth management using ETFs
HQ: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Latest round: $30 million
Total raised: $31.9 million
Tags: Wealth management, investing, roboadviser, Toronto, Canada
Source: Crunchbase

MobiQwik

Indian mobile wallet
HQ: New Delhi, India
Latest round: $25 million Series B
Total raised: $30 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, wallet
Source: TechCrunch

Patch of Land
Crowdfunding real estate
HQ: Los Angeles, California
Latest round: $23.6 million Series A
Total raised: $24.9 million
Tags: P2P lending, peer-to-peer credit, real estate, investing, mortgage, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

PayNearMe
Risk management for P2P lending
HQ: Sunnyvale, California
Latest round: $14.7 million Series F
Total raised: $71.2 million
Tags: Payments, underbanked, cash, Finovate alum
Source: Crunchbase

AssetAvenue
Commercial real estate marketplace lender
HQ: Los Angeles, California
Latest round: $11 million Series A
Total raised: $14 million
Tags: Commercial property, mortgage, lending, credit, underwriting, investing
Source: FT Partners

RealtyShares
Real estate marketplace lender
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $10 million Series A
Total raised: $11.9 million
Tags: Lending, real estate, mortgage, credit, crowdfunding, P2P, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Dealstruck
Lending marketplace for small business
HQ: Carlsbad, California
Latest round: $8.3 million Series A
Total raised: $9.5 million
Tags: Lending, SMB, underwriting, credit, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

ApplePie Capital
Crowdfunding for the franchise industry
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $6 million Series A
Total raised: $11.8 million
Tags: P2P lending, SMB, peer-to-peer, underwriting, credit, investing
Source: FT Partners

PeerIQ
Risk management for P2P lending
HQ: New York City
Latest round: $6 million Seed
Total raised: $6 million
Tags: Marketplace lending, enterprise, peer-to-peer lending, underwriting, risk management
Source: Crunchbase

Estimize
Aggregates stock analyst forecasts
HQ: New York City
Latest round: $3 million Series B
Total raised: $5.6 million
Tags: Investing, research, analysts, Wall Street
Source: Crunchbase

Crowd2Fund
Small business marketplace lender
HQ: California
Latest round: $3 million Series A
Total raised: $3 million
Tags: P2P, SMB, lending, debt, equity, underwriting, investing
Source: The Paypers

Praesidio
Cybersecurity for the banking industry
HQ: Seattle, Washington
Latest round: $1.7 million Seed
Total raised: $1.7 million
Tags: Security, fraud protection
Source: Crunchbase

Elorus
Greek online invoicing platform
HQ: Greece
Latest round: $55,000 Seed
Total raised: $55,000
Tags: Accounting, billing, accounts receivables
Source: Crunchbase

Fintech Fundings: 13 Companies Raise $120 Million Week Ending April 3, 2015

Fintech Fundings: 13 Companies Raise $120 Million Week Ending April 3, 2015

ratesetter home

The first quarter ended with a flourish of funding as 13 companies raised new funds ranging from $810,000 to $60 million. The total intake was $123 million, of which about half was the $60 million in debt raised by FinovateSpring15 presenter Yapstone. In addition, two Finovate crowd favorites were acquired this week: Toopher by SalesForce and ReadyForZero by Avant.

All told, about $770 million poured into the sector in March, a heady $9 billion run-rate (see previous weekly funding reports).

Here are the deals from 28 March through 2 April 2015 ranked by deal size:

Yapstone
Online and mobile payments
HQ: Walnut Creek, California
Latest round: $60 million (debt)
Total raised: $113.4 million ($53.4 million equity, $60 million debt)
Tags: Payments, mobile, Comerica Bank (investor/lender), FinovateSpring 2015 presenter
Source: Finovate

RateSetter
Consumer marketplace lender
HQ: London, United Kingdom
Latest round: $30 million
Total raised: $45 million
Tags: P2P, peer-to-peer lending, credit, underwriting, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Companisto
German equity crowdfunding platform for startups
HQ: Berlin, Germany
Latest round: $8 million
Total raised: $13 million
Tags: Crowdfunding, investing, SMB, startups
Source: Crunchbase

MyCheck
Automatic payment system catering to restaurant customers
HQ: Tel Aviv, Israel
Latest round: $5 million
Total raised: $11.1 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, SMB, restaurants
Source: Crunchbase

PeerNova
Blockchain technology
HQ: San Jose, California
Latest round: $5 million
Total raised: $19 million (includes unspecified amount of debt)
Tags: Bitcoin, virtual currency, cryptocurrencies, Overstock.com (investor)
Source: FT Partners

EZBOB
Online small business lender
HQ: London, United Kingdom
Latest round: $4.5 million
Total raised: $26 million
Tags: Loans, credit, SMB, underwriting, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Lendix
French marketplace lender for business loans
HQ: Paris, France
Latest round: $3.5 million
Total raised: $3.5 million
Tags: SMB, peer-to-peer lending, underwriting, credit, investing
Source: FT Partners

Bitt
Caribbean cryptocurrency exchange
HQ: Christ Church, Barbados
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total raised: $1.5 million
Tags: Bitcoin, blockchain, virtual currency
Source: Crunchbase

Scutify
Social network for investors
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total raised: $2.5 million
Tags: Investing, information, traders, advice
Source: Crunchbase

Ittavi
Automates child-care payments with its SupportPay service
HQ: Santa Clara, California
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total raised: $2.6 million
Tags: Payments, automation, billpay, legal
Source: FT Partners

Gem
Bitcoin API provider
HQ: Venice, California
Latest round: $1.3 million
Total raised: $3.6 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, developers, bitcoin
Source: Coinbase

PayNova
Swedish online payments provider
HQ: Stockholm, Sweden
Latest round: $810,000
Total raised: $810,000
Tags: Payments, mobile, online
Source: FT Partners

PPDai
Chinese-consumer marketplace-lender
HQ: Shanghai, China
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: At least $70 million
Tags: Loans, consumer, lending, underwriting, P2P, peer-to-peer, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Fintech Fundings: 19 Companies Raised $180 Million Week Ending March 27

Fintech Fundings: 19 Companies Raised $180 Million Week Ending March 27

kofax_lexmark

It was a busy week as both Barclay’s Accelerator and YC announced their newly funded companies. In total, 19 companies announced new fundings bringing in a total of $181 million. Two of the top-3 deals involved Finovate alums with Ayadsi pulling in $55 million, Lendio $20.5 million, and Advanced Merchant Payments (undisclosed).

In addition, two Finovate alums were acquired at what appears to be profitable outcomes:

  • Kofax was acquired by printing giant Lexmark for $1 billion (post)
  • Learnvest was bought by mega-insurer Northwestern Mutual for a reported $250+ million (post)

Here are the fundings from March 21 to 27, in order of deal size:

LendingHome
Platform for investing in rental real estate
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $78 million
Total raised: $98 million
Tags: Home lending, mortgage, real estate
Source: Crunchbase

Ayadsi
Data analytics
HQ: Menlo Park, California
Latest round: $55 million
Total raised: $106.3 million
Tags: Big data, analytics, machine learning, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Lendio
Online small business lender
HQ: South Jordan, Utah
Latest round: $20.5 million
Total raised: $33 million (includes $2 million in debt)
Tags: SMB, lending, underwriting, credit, loans, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Property Partner
Platform for investing in rental real estate
HQ: London, UK
Latest round: $7.7 million
Total raised: $9.8 million
Tags: Real estate investing, marketplace lending, crowdfunding, P2P
Source: Crunchbase

Dream Payments
Canadian mobile payments startup
HQ: Toronto, Canada
Latest round: $6 million
Total raised: $6 million
Tags: Mobile payments, SMB, merchants
Source: FT Partners

SpotCap
Spanish small business online lender
Latest round: $5.4 million
Total raised: $21.9 million
Tags: SMB, lending, credit lines, underwriting
Source: Crunchbase

iAngels
Platform for startup capital fundraising
HQ: Tel Aviv, Israel
Latest round: $2.25 million
Total raised: $2.25 million
Tags: Investing, raising capital, equity investing, SMB
Source: FT Partners

Sensibill
Digital receipt platform
HQ: Toronto, Canada
Latest round: $2 million
Total raised: $2 million
Tags: Purchases, document management, mobile, SMB, PFM, accounting, expense management
Source: FT Partners

Fxkart
Foreign currency dealer aggregation
HQ: Bengaluru, India
Latest round: $2 million
Total raised: $2 million
Tags: Foreign exchange, remittances
Source: FT Partners

OpenGamma
Open platform for financial services risk management
HQ: London, UK
Latest round: $1.25 million
Total raised: $28.25 million
Tags: Compliance, risk, regulations, open source
Source: FT Partners

CityFalcon
News & information for traders
HQ: London, UK
Latest round: $300,000
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Investing, information services
Source: Crunchbase

RazorPay
Stripe for India
HQ: Jaipur, India
Latest round: $120,000
Total raised: $120,000
Tags: Online payments, API, YC, acquiring, merchant, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

Stockfuse
Gaming platform to find trading & banking talent
Latest round: $118,000
Total raised: $118,000
Tags: Bitcoin, investing, virtual currency, cryptocurrency, Barclays accelerator
Source: Crunchbase

Origin (no URL)
Direct platform for issuing corporate bonds
Latest round: $118,000
Total raised: $118,000
Tags: Barclays accelerator, commercial banking, enterprise, debt
Source: Crunchbase

Safello
European bitcoin exchange
Latest round: $118,000
Total raised: $1.1 million
Tags: Bitcoin, investing, virtual currency, cryptocurrency, Barclays accelerator
Source: Crunchbase

LiquidLandscape
Data visualization for traders
Latest round: $118,000
Total raised: $118,000
Tags: Barclays accelerator, trading, analytics, big data
Source: Crunchbase

BlockTrace
Certifies ownership & transaction history of diamonds
HQ: London, UK
Latest round: $118,000
Total raised: $118,000
Tags: Blockchain, crypto, precious gems, alternative assets, Barclays accelerator
Source: Crunchbase

Self Lender
Helps consumers establish credit via small loans
HQ: Denver, Colorado
Latest round: $118,000
Total raised: $118,000
Tags: Lending, payday alternatives, underwriting, underbanked, sub-prime, credit score, TechStars
Source: Crunchbase

Advanced Merchant Payments
Technology solutions for small business lending
HQ: Hong Kong, China
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: More than $5 million
Tags: SMB, underwriting, lending, Route 66 (investor), Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Advanced Merchant Payments Pulls in Undisclosed Amount of Funding

Advanced Merchant Payments Pulls in Undisclosed Amount of Funding

AMPHomepage2

Advanced Merchant Payments (AMP), a company that provides banks technology to offer loans to their small business customers, pulled in an undisclosed amount of funding today from Route 66 Ventures.

The new installment is a follow-on round to the $5 million Series A round received in November 2014 from SBT Venture Capital.

Hong Kong-based AMP enables banks and merchant acquirers to originate and manage small business loans. The loans are  made to serve small businesses that are too large for a consumer loan and too small for a traditional small business loan.

AMP will use the new funds to accelerate the development of its lending platform.

AMP, which operates in Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom, debuted its small business lending solution for banks at FinovateEurope 2014. Check out the live demo:

Alt Credit Score Startup, Aire, Raises $1.1 Million

Alt Credit Score Startup, Aire, Raises $1.1 Million

AireTeamSmall

London-based Aire.io, the startup that is democratizing credit scores for people with thin or no credit files announced a $1.1 million round of funding today.

While Aire received the new installment in January, it has not been made public until now. The funding comes from existing investor SparkLabs Global Ventures, with additional contributions from:

  • Andrew Mullinger
  • Peter Jackson
  • Tom Glocer

AireHomepage

Aire pulled in its initial Seed round of $300k in the summer of 2014. When added to the second Seed round in today’s announcement, the startup’s funding totals just under $1.5 million.

Aire’s recently launched Credit API enables lenders to perform a credit check on people who do not have financial history on file with traditional credit bureaus. Its predictive algorithms assign a score to consumers based on self-declared data and other reliable sources, such as LinkedIn.

The startup is a TechStars company, and has received multiple other accolades. Here are the latest:

  • Fintech City: Hottest Ten Fintech of Europe
  • Business Insider: Top 15 Start-ups in Europe
  • DataMonitor Financial: FinTracker Award

Aire launched its Credit API at FinovateEurope 2015 in London. Check out the live demo video.

Fintech Fundings: $237 Million Raised Week Ending March 20

Fintech Fundings: $237 Million Raised Week Ending March 20

Fundbox homepage
Fintech investors poured $237 million into the sector this week, with nine companies picking up new funding. The majority of the funds, $208 million, went to three enterprise plays: Dataminr ($130 million), FundBox ($40 million) and Collective Health ($38 million).

Here are the nine deals ranked by size (March 14 to March 20):

Dataminr
Stock market sentiment analysis
HQ: New York City
Latest round: $130 million
Total raised: More than $179.6 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, merchant, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

FundBox
Invoicing & factoring platform
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $40 million
Total raised: $57.5 million
Tags: Invoicing, accounts receivables, SMB, merchant advance, credit, factoring
Source: Crunchbase

Collective Health
Self-funded health insurance
HQ: San Mateo, California
Latest round: $38 million
Total raised: More than $38 million
Tags: Insurance, risk, underwriting
Source: FT Partners

Remitly
Online remittances
HQ: Seattle, Washington
Latest round: $12.5 million
Total raised: More than $23 million
Tags: Payments, international remittances
Source: Crunchbase

Unilend
French debt crowdfunding platform
HQ: Paris, France
Latest round: $8.6 million
Total raised: More than $8.6 million
Tags: P2P lending, marketplace lending, credit, investing, peer-to-peer
Source: Crunchbase

TableSafe
Payment system (Rail) for restaurants and bars 
HQ: Kirkland, Washington
Latest round: $5 million
Total raised: $18.96 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, merchant, SMB, Seattle
Source: Geekwire

HonestDollar
Stealthy retirement service provider

HQ: Austin, Texas
Latest round: $3 million
Total raised: $3 million
Tags: 401(k), IRA, retirement planning, employer plans, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

Coinigy
Professional tools for cyroptcurrency traders
HQ: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Latest round: $100,000
Total raised: $100,000
Tags: Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, p2p payments
Source: FT Partners

YeePay
Chinese online/offline payment system
HQ: Bejing, China
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: More than $8.4 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, merchant, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

Fintech Fundings: $300 Million Raised Week Ending Mar 13

Fintech Fundings: $300 Million Raised Week Ending Mar 13

money_scrabble

The number of fundings has slowed, but the flow of dollars is still massive, thanks to a pair of $100+ million rounds to stealth bitcoin startup 21 Inc ($116 million) and recurring billing-solution provider Zuora ($115 million).

Also of note:

  • The rare insurance play and Finovate alum, CoverHound, added $14 million this week
  • Recently public Finovate alum Q2 Holdings raised $35 million in new capital in a $116 million offering (the remainder went to existing shareholders)

In total, the 11 companies raised $303 million. In order of deal size (from 7 through 13 Mar 2015):

21 Inc
Stealth bitcoin startup
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $116 million
Total raised: $121 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, virtual currency, blockchain
Source: Crunchbase

Zuora
Cloud-based subscription-billing services
HQ: Foster City, California
Latest round: $115 million
Total raised: $$242.5 million
Tags: Billing, payments, subscription, invoicing
Source: Crunchbase

Q2 Holdings
Digital banking solution-provider (Q2Ebanking)
HQ: Austin, Texas
Latest round: $34.6 million (new capital in $116 million follow-on public offering)
Total raised: $165 million
Tags: Online banking, mobile
Source: Finovate

Coverhound
Online car-insurance-shopping site
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $14 million
Total raised: $23.4 million
Tags: Insurance, lead generation, price comparison, automobiles
Source: Finovate

London-based P2P lending marketplace
HQ: London, United Kingdom
Latest round: $7.7 million
Total raised: $14.8 million
Tags: P2P lending, peer-to-peer, credit, loans, automobile lending, Australia
Source: P2P-Banking

ChargeBee
Cloud-based, recurring billing solutions
HQ: Walnut, California
Latest round: $5 million
Total raised: $6.1 million
Tags: SMB, accounting, billing, invoicing, billpay, payments
Source: FT Partners

Big data & analytics for financial institutions
HQ: Skolkovo, Russia
Latest round: $3 million
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Banking enterprise software, analytics, big data
Source: VentureBeat

Profile Financial Solutions

UK-based financial advisory
HQ: Preston, United Kingdom
Latest round: $2 million
Total raised: $2 million
Tags: Wealth management, investing, advisers, financial planning
Source: Crunchbase

Marketplace lending services
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $2.8 million
Total raised: $2.8 million
Tags: Credit, lending, peer-to-peer, P2P, investing
Source: Xconomy

Webgility

Accounting automation software
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $2.5 million
Total raised: $2.5 million
Source: Crunchbase

ShapeShift

Swiss-based bitcoin & alt-coin exchange
HQ: Switzerland
Latest round: $525,000
Total raised: Unknown
Source: Coinbase

Fintech Fundings: 10 Companies Raise $50 Million Week Ending March 5

Fintech Fundings: 10 Companies Raise $50 Million Week Ending March 5

pig_in_sunglasses

It had to happen, fintech finally had a relatively quiet week. While 10 companies received new money, just two deals reached eight figures: Finovate alum Linkable Networks ($11.7 million) and cloud payroll/HR provider Namely (which is not exactly a pure fintech play). In total, $50 million was invested into the sector this week.

Here are the deals by size from 28 Feb through 5 Mar 2015:

Linkable Networks
Card-linked rewards and rewards platform
HQ: Boston, Massachusetts
Latest round: $11.7 million
Total raised: $40.4 million
Tags: Advertising, rewards, merchant-funded, offers, value adds, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate
Namely
Cloud payroll, benefits, HR platform
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $11 million
Total raised: $32.8 million
Tags: Outsourced, SMB, payments, payroll
Source: Crunchbase
Simplesurance
Simple solution for easily purchasing product insurance
HQ: Berlin, Germany
Latest round: $8 million
Total raised: $8 million
Tags: Insurance, payments
Source: Crunchbase
BookKeeping Express
High-tech and high-touch SMB bookkeeping
HQ: Virginia
Latest round: $5.8 million
Total raised: $5.8 million
Tags: SMB, accounting, financial management, invoicing, billpay
Source: Crunchbase
MoBeam
Digital wallet
HQ: Virginia
Latest round: $5.2 million
Total raised: $14.4 million
Tags: Payments, mobile
Source: Crunchbase
Bondora
Peer-to-peer lending marketplace
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Latest round: $5 million
Total raised: $5 million
Tags: Lending, credit, investing, crowdfunding, P2P
Source: FT PartnersCrowdCredit
Japanese debt crowdfunding marketplace
HQ: Tokyo, Japan
Latest round: $1.7 million
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Lending, credit, investings, P2P lending
Source: FT PartnersMomoe Technologies
Mobile payments
HQ: Bengaluru, India
Latest round: $1.2 million
Total raised: $1.2 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, merchants, acquiring, point-of-sale
Source: Crunchbase
Buckley & Brown
High-tech and high-touch SMB bookkeeping
HQ: Sydney, Australia
Latest round: $200,000
Total raised: $200,000
Tags: SMB, accounting, financial management, invoicing, billpay
Source: Crunchbase
Compare88
Southeast Asian financial services comparison sites: cekaja.com and eCompareMo.com
HQ: Philippines
Latest round: Undisclosed (series A)
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Personal finance advice, lead generation, comparison
Source: Crunchbase

Linkable Networks Rakes in $11.7 Million

LinkableNetworksLogo.jpg

Card-linked offers company, Linkable Networks, welcomed some extra cash today. The Boston-based company pulled in $11.7 million in Series E funding from existing investors BlueChip Ventures, CommonAngels, and Kepha Partners.

Since its first seed round of $1.5 million in 2010, Linkable Networks has brought in a total of $40.4 million to date.

LinkablesScreenshot2015.jpg

The company is also welcoming three new executives to its leadership team:

    • Mike DiFranza joins Linkable as its president. DiFranza is the founder and former president and CEO of Captivate Networks.
    • John Caron joins as CMO
    • Jeff Jensen joins as executive vice president and general manager of Linkable’s new affiliate network for retailers, Omnyverse.

Tom Burgess founded Linkable Networks in 2010 under the name Clovr Media. The startup changed its name to Linkable Networks in 2011.

Linkable Networks demonstrated its MasterCard solution at FinovateFall 2012.

Fintech Fundings: 11 Companies Raise $230 Million Week Ended Feb. 27

pig_in_sunglasses

Eleven companies raised $232 million this week, with the all but one (disclosed) round coming in at $2 million or more. Finovate alums accounted for more than half the total with Xero taking in $111 million and SecureKey $29 million.

The deals from Feb 20 to 27 by size:

Xero
Cloud accounting
HQ: Wellington, New Zealand (public)
Latest round: $111 million
Total raised: $355 million
Tags: SMB, accounts receivable, payable, bookkeeping, financial management, invoicing, Finovate & FinDEVR alums
Source: Finovate

DriverUp
Marketplace lender for automobile financing
HQ: Dallas, Texas
Latest round: $50 million
Total raised: $50 million
Tags: Auto lending, underwriting, P2P, investing, installment credit, secured credit, title lending, Sierra Auto Finance (parent)
Source: Crunchbase

nCino
Cloud-based banking solutions
HQ: Wilmington, North Carolina
Latest round: $29 million
Total raised: $49 million
Tags: Banking, operating system, regulatory compliance
Source: Crunchbase

SecureKey
Payment security & authentication
HQ: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Latest round: $19 million
Total raised: $70.5 million
Tags: Security, payments, identity, digital, mobile, hardware, Finovate alum
Source: Crunchbase

Visio Financial Services
Online residential real estate loans for investors
HQ: Austin, Texas
Latest round: $6.7 million
Total raised: $13.2 million (includes $4.7 million debt)
Tags: Mortgage, investing, real estate
Source: Crunchbase

Trov
Values household goods for insurance purposes
HQ: Danville, California
Latest round: $6.5 million
Total raised: $13.3 million
Source: Pando

easySYS
SMB cloud-based accounting
HQ: Zurich, Switzerland
Latest round: $4.8 million
Total raised: $4.8 million
Tags: SMB, accounting, invoicing, financial management
Source: Crunchbase

Linked Finance
Person-to-person lending to SMBs
HQ: Dublin, Ireland
Latest round: $2.8 million
Total raised: $2.8 million
Tags: SMB, debt crowdfunding, lending, underwriting, P2P, peer-to-peer, loans
Source: Crunchbase

FundThrough

Online lending platform for Canadian SMBs
HQ: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Latest round: $2.2 million
Total raised: $2.2 million
Tags: SMB, lending, underwriting, credit, loans, credit lines
Source: FT Partners

CloudMargin
Collateral and risk management platform
HQ: London, UK
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Investing, enterprise, analytics
Source: FT Partners

Squirrel
Financial wellness as an employee benefit
HQ: London, UK
Latest round: $565,000
Total raised: $1.3 million
Tags: Investing, enterprise, analytics, money management, PFM
Source: Crunchbase

Betterment Raises a Fresh $60 Million in Round Led by Francisco Partners

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In what amounts to almost double its previous funding round, Betterment has pulled in $60 million in VC investment. The series D round was led by Francisco Partners, a technology-focused private equity firm. Existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures and Northwestern Mutual also contributed.

The new installment boosts Betterment’s total funds to $105 million and will be used to speed transactions and rollovers for its 65,000 customers, as well as enhance branding for advisor apps and services.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Betterment is now valued at $400 to $500 million. In comparison, competitors Personal Capital and Wealthfront are valued at $250 million and $700 million, respectively.

In a conversation with Investment News, Betterment CEO, Jon Stein, stated, “We didn’t need to raise the money today,” He says it still has $20 million in the bank from its last funding round. However, he goes on, “We’re getting a lot of interest from investors.”

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Betterment, which manages about $1.4 billion in assets, fits in the “robo-advisor” category; it seeks to disrupt the wealth management space with specialized algorithms and tools that use automation to lower the cost of a personal advisor service. CB Insights reports that robo-advisors raised a cumulative $290 million in funding last year, double the amount raised in 2013.

Betterment demonstrated its Multiple Goals Feature at FinovateFall 2011.