Funding

Finsphere Lands $1.8 Million, Partners with Visa

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Finsphere, Funding

finsphere.jpg

Finsphere, a company that uses mobile phone location data to authenticate a consumer’s identity, announced $1.8 million in new funding last week. The new round is internal, with an additional contribution from an unnamed investor. Its funding now totals $33 million.

More notably, the Bellevue-based company partnered with Visa to offer what the credit card company is calling Mobile Location Confirmation. Visa will use Finsphere to ensure the GPS location of the customer’s smartphone matches the location their credit card is swiped. This helps eliminate unnecessary purchase declines, while ensuring the purchase isn’t fraudulent.

FinsphereHomepage.jpg

In a dovetail announcement this week, Finsphere also reported that it will bring retail banking executive Deanna Oppenheimer on board as a strategic advisor.

Finsphere demonstrated its identity security service at FinovateEurope 2012.

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Fintech Fundings: 13 Companies Raise $700 Million Week Ending Feb 13

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

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It was another blockbuster week with 13 companies raising a total of $695 million. However, $500 million of that was not a pure fintech play, as China’s Ant Financial (which runs Alipay) took at 25% stake in Indian mobile payments and ecommerce hub, One97, which runs Paytm. Even without that gargantuan deal, there was still $200 million invested into the sector, with $125 million of that (63%) put into the lending sector and $61 million (31%) earmarked for billing and payments.

The total included one Finovate alum, AdviceGames ($570,000), which demoed at last week’s FinovateEurope (demo videos will be available at Finovate.com by the end of the month).

Here are deals by size announced between 7 Feb and 13 Feb 2015 (in order of magnitude):

One97
Indian mobile payments and commerce hub
Latest round: $500 million
Total raised: $534 million
Tags: Paytm (brand), mobile payments, bill payment, ecommerce, Ant Financial/Alipay (investor), Noida, India
Source: FT Partners

Oportun (formerly Progreso Financiero)
Online lender
Latest round: $90 million
Total raised: $213 million ($30 million is debt)
Tags: Credit, lending, unsecured, underbanked, Menlo Park, California
Source: Crunchbase

Bill.com
SMB invoicing and payments platform
Latest round: $50 million
Total raised: $122.6 million
Tags: Billing, invoicing, accounts payables, bill payment, SMB, Palo Alto, California, Finovate alum
Source: Crunchbase

Borro
Online loans secured by luxury assets
Latest round: $19 million
Total raised: $171.6 million
Tags: Secured lending, underwriting, credit, pawn, London, UK
Source: Crunchbase

CapitalFloat
Online lender to SMBs in India
Latest round: $13 million
Total raised: $16 million
Tags: Lending, credit, underwriting, SMB, India
Source: Crunchbase

MineralTree
SMB billpay and invoicing tools
Latest round: $11.1 million
Total raised: $18.9 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, SMB, accounts receivables, bill payment, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Source: Crunchbase

ComparaGuru
Financial price comparison site
Latest round: $4 million
Total raised: $4 million
Tags: Lead generation, personal finance, price comparison, Mexico City
Source: FT Partners

Bento
Small banking business platform
Latest round: $2.5 million
Total raised: $2.5 million
Tags: Crowdfunding, SMB, San Francisco, California
Source: Crunchbase

InvestiQuant (formerly Master the Gap)
Specialized investing platform
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total raised: $1.5 million
Tags: Investing, fx, ETF, indices, arbitrage, quants, Morrisville, North Carolina
Source: Crunchbase

BitPesa
Nigerian digital currency exchange
Latest round: $1.1 million
Total raised: $1.7 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, payments, bitcoin, remittances, Nairobi, Nigeria
Source: Crunchbase

Money360
Online marketplace for commercial real estate loans
Latest round: $1 million (debt)
Total raised: $3 million ($1 million is debt)
Tags: Crowdfunding, real estate, commercial lending, P2P, investing, Ladera Ranch, California
Source: Crunchbase

CoAssets
Real estate crowdfunding platform
Latest round: $800,000
Total raised: $800,000
Tags: Crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending, credit, P2P, SMB, Singapore
Source: Crunchbase

AdviceGames
Financial gamification software
Latest round: $570,000
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Gamification, personal finance, youth banking, Hilversum, Netherlands, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

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AdviceGames Raises $570,000 from Ibuildings

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: AdviceGames, Funding

AdviceGamesLogo.jpg

AdviceGames, the Netherlands-based company that gamifies personal financial management, announced last week it raised $570,000.

The investment comes from Ibuildings, a creator of software that facilitates online communication between businesses and customers. The funding will be used to increase the speed of its machine learning technology and build a solid foundation for international growth.

Since launching in 2013, AdviceGames has invested over $1.1 million to develop and build its machine learning platform.

AdviceGamesHomepage.jpg

Tom Schenkenberg, founder of Ibuildings, will join AdviceGames as CTO.

AdviceGames will debut its newest technology this week at FinovateEurope 2015.

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Fintech Fundings: $530 Million Raised First Week of February

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

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It was a big week for marketplace lenders with SoFi landing $200 million; CommonBond, $150 million (an undisclosed portion of that was commitment to purchase loans); Fundera, $12 million (debt). In addition, Chinese online lender U51 pulled in $50 million.
In total, 13 companies—including Finovate alum, SimplyTapp‘s $2.5 million—raised $533 million, which includes at least $12 million in debt.
Here are the deals from 31 January to 6 Feb 2015, in order of size:
Marketplace for student loan refinancing and other loans
Latest round: $200 million
Total raised: $766 million; $365 million equity, $401 million debt
Tags: lending, student loan, personal loan, underwriting, P2P, peer-to-peer, San Francisco, California
Source: Crunchbase
Student loan marketplace lender
Latest round: $150 million; an undisclosed portion of the round is a guarantee to fund loans originated on the platform
Total raised: $253.5 million
Tags: lending, education, student loan, refinance, investing, P2P, person-to-person, New York City
Source: Crunchbase
Indian mobile bill-pay and commerce platform 
Latest round: $80 million
Total raised: $116.5 million
Tags: mobile, bill payment, billing, rewards, offers, coupons, prepaid, wireless, topup, Mumbai, India
Source: FT Partners
Chinese alternative lender
Latest round: $50 million
Total raised: $50 million
Tags: lending, personal loans, underwriting, credit, China
Source: FT Partners
Mobile banking and payments platform for Latin America
Latest round: $19 million
Total raised: $39 million
Tags: mobile, online banking, payments, Miami, Florida
Source: Crunchbase
Archer (a.k.a. Market Street Advisors)
Investment management technology 
Latest round: $12.5 million
Total raised: $12.5 million
Tags: investing, enterprise, Edison, New Jersey
Source: FT Partners
Loan marketplace for small business loans
Latest round: $12 million (debt)
Total raised: $15.3 million; $3.3 million equity, $12 million debt
Tags: lending, small business, SMB, investing, debt crowdfunding, loans, New York City
Source: Crunchbase
Mobile receipt capture app
Latest round: $2.6 million
Total raised: $3.1 million
Tags: expense management, PFM, receipts, SMB, Barcelona, Spain
Source: Crunchbase
Cloud-based mobile payments
Latest round: $2.5 million
Total raised: $10.1 million
Tags: payments, mobile, SMB, POS, Austin, Texas, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate
Digital currency
Latest round: $2.3 million
Total raised: $2.3 million
Tags: cryptocurrency, payments, bitcoin, Paris, France
Source: FT Partners
Bitcoin security and authentication
Latest round: $850,000
Total raised: $950,000
Tags: security, bitcoin, authentication, cryptocurrency, Rochester, New York
Source: Crunchbase
ziftrCOIN digital currency
Latest round: $850,000
Total raised: $850,000
Tags: cyrptocurrency, digital currency, bitcoin, ecommerce, Milford, New Hampshire
Source: Crunchbase
Indian mobile wallet
Latest round: $240,000
Total raised: $240,000
Tags: mobile, payments, Bengaluru, India
Source: Crunchbase

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Funding for E.U.-based Finovate Alums Totals $377 Million in 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding

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With FinovateEurope less than a week away, it’s a good time to review the results of 2014. In total, European-based alumni of Finovate raised $377 million. And 2015 is looking even better with two major fundings in January:

Here are the 2014 fundings by quarter:

Q1, 2014
Total: $180 Million
Q2, 2014
Total: $107 Million
Q3, 2014

Total: $21 Million

Q4, 2014
Total: $69 Million

Note: This total does not reflect funding raised by the 44 new-to-Finovate companies that will demo next week at FinovateEurope 2015.

** We used $1 million for Red Zebra’s “seven figure amount”

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Payments Platform Mozido Adds $2.5 Million to SimplyTapp’s Series B Round

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, SimplyTapp

SimplyTappLogo.jpg

Host Card Emulation company, SimplyTapp, announced a $2.5 million addition to this week’s most recent round, bringing its Series B total to $8.5 million and total cumulative funding to $10.1 million.

The Austin-based company announced the first round, which was furnished by Blue Sky Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners, last November.

SimplyTappHomepage.jpg

The funding comes from mobile payments and rewards company, Mozido, which is also based in Texas.

SimplyTapp demonstrated at FinDEVr San Francisco 2014.

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Fintech Accounted for 10% of Companies Funded Online via Angel List in 2014

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

angellist-logo.pngIt’s no secret that the fintech sector is hot. We have tracked $6 billion in new investments during the past 6 months alone (see note 1). Most of those dollars are from big VC deals, such as last week’s $58 million to Transferwise and $30 million to Ripple Labs.

But what about smaller fintech seed rounds? While it’s hard to get solid data across all industries, online fundraising through Angel List’s platform provides a few clues.
In 2014, Angel List reported that 243 startups across all tech sectors raised $104 million through its online platform. While the size of the deals aren’t known, we can see that 23 of the companies fit into a broad definition of “financial technology.” That’s just under 10% of the startups funded through Angel List’s new online funding option.
Here’s a listing of the startups funded, including close date of the angel round:
Q1, 2014
—-
RealCrowd (19 Feb)
LedgerX (22 Feb)
Estimize (14 March)
Q2, 2014
—-
Equidate (24 April)
Abacus (30 April)
PayByGroup (13 May)
RealtyShares (21 May)
ZipZap (22 May)
Q3, 2014
—-
True Link Financial (22 July)
Lenda (22 Aug)
MakeLeaps (26 Aug)
Splitwise (11 Sep)
Blockstream (18 Sep)
Cleartax (18 Sep)
OneName (26 Sep)
Q4, 2014
—-
Coinsetter (1 Oct)
Koinfy (2 Oct)
ChartIQ (4 Nov)
Neighbor.ly (4 Dec)
Elsen (22 Dec)
ExpenseBot (26 Dec)
Close date unknown
—————————
OpenDoor
Vouch Financial
——
Note:
1. Includes more than $1 billion raised in IPOs from Lending Club, OnDeck and Yodlee.

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Micronotes Receives $910k in Funding

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Micronotes

MicronotesLogo4.jpgCross-selling is an effective tool in financial services, helping banks market everything from mortgages to new savings accounts. Micronotes‘ Cross-Sell helps banks take the sales conversation from the branch to the online channel.

According to an SEC filing, this week, the Massachusetts-based company announced it pulled in $910,000 in funding, bringing its total to $4.8 million. It plans to use the funding to drive the business to profitability.
MicronotesHomepage.jpg
Micronotes’ Cross-Sell technology enables consumers to lead themselves through the sales process by answering questions about their status and interests. Aside from helping banks generate leads and learn more about customers, it also offers the opportunity to educate customers about products and services.

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Bolstr Raises $1.7 Million in Seed Funding

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Bolstr, Funding

BolstrLogo.jpg

Since its launch in 2011 Bolstr has been on a mission to offer a simple way for small businesses to get financing quickly. It began lending in 2013 and since then, the 1,000+ investors on its platform have delivered $1 million to more than 12 companies.

The Chicago-based startup pulled in its first round of funding yesterday. The $1.7 million comes from Montage Ventures, Kapor Capital, DRW Trading Group, Merrick Ventures, and Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati.

BolstrHomepage.jpg

Bolstr will use the funding to add to its six-person team and scale the platform. It aims to host 15 to 20 deals per month by the end of this year (it did not disclose its current volume).

On the Bolstr platform, accredited investors contribute to small business’ funding campaigns, which range from $25,000 to $500,000. The businesses have 30 days to reach their target amount, but since launch, every campaign has reached its goal within five days.

Businesses retain full ownership and pay investors back over 12 to 36 months, depending on the agreed-upon revenue share. So far, there have been zero defaults.

Bolstr debuted its platform at FinovateFall 2012 in New York.

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Fintech Fundings: 16 Companies Raise $150 Million Last Week of January

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

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January went out with a bang, with another $150 million invested into 16 fintech companies. Finovate alums secured two-thirds of the cash with four companies taking in $90 million: Transferwise ($58 million), Ripple Labs ($30 million), Bolstr ($1.7 million) and Spreedly ($150,000).

In January, a total of $772 million was raised, $565 million in equity and $200 million in debt. That’s an annual run rate of more than $9 billion, or about $7 billion only considering the equity investments. 
The deals from Jan 24 through Jan 30 in order of size:

International money transfers
Latest round: $58 million
Total raised: $90.4 million
Tags: Remittance, international transfers, FX, payments, SMB, London, UK, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate
Open source payment network 
Latest round: $30 million
Total raised: $39 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, virtual payments, San Francisco, California, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate
Digital lender
Latest round: $17 million
Total raised: $32 million
Tags: Credit, lending, personal loans, student loans, refi, San Francisco, California 
Source: Crunchbase
Builds trust between business & trading partners
Latest round: $12.5 million
Total raised: $12.5 million
Tags: B2B, SMB, enterprise, payments, identification, security, McLean, Virginia 
Source: Crunchbase
High-tech and high-touch bookkeeping services
Latest round: $7.0 million
Total raised: $10 million
Tags: Accounting, SMB, bookkeeping, Techstars, Vancouver, Canada
Source: Crunchbase
Solutions to automate accounts payables
Latest round: $6.0 million
Total raised: $10.2 million
Tags: Invoicing, billing, SMB, B2B, accounts payables, billpay, payments, Beaverton, Oregon
Source: Crunchbase
Helping consumers manage health care savings accounts 
Latest round: $5.1 million
Total raised: $5.1 million
Tags: Healthcare, payments, HSA, FSA, health insurance, Hunt Valley, Maryland 
Source: Crunchbase

Personal financial mangagement
Latest round: $3.7 million
Total raised: $7.8 million
Tags: Personal finance, money management, consumer, aggregation, PFM, online, mobile banking, Edinburg, Scotland, UK
Source: Crunchbase
Remittances that directly pay for goods & services
Latest round: $2.8 million
Total raised: $3.6 million
Tags: Remittances, payments, P2P transfers, Africa, Paris, France
Source: Crunchbase
Blockchain technology
Latest round: $2.5 million
Total raised: $2.5 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, payments, blockchain, bitcoin
Source: Crunchbase
Crowdlending for small businesses
Latest round: $1.7 million
Total raised: $1.7 million
Tags: Lending, underwriting, SMB, investing, Carthage, Illinois, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate
Japanese Bitcoin exchange
Latest round: $1.1 million
Total raised: $2.9 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, payments, Japan
Source: Crunchbase
Social lending platform
Latest round: $1.0 million
Total raised: $1.0 million
Tags: Lending, underwriting, social networks, P2P, peer-to-peer, New York City
Source: Crunchbase
Credit card with highly customizable controls
Latest round: $1.0 million
Total raised: $1.0 million
Tags: Credit, debit cards, customization, YC, security 
Source: Crunchbase
Netherlands Bitcoin exchange
Latest round: $570,000
Total raised: $570,000
Tags: Cryptocurrency, payments, Netherlands
Source: Coindesk
Secure card tokenization technology
Latest round: $150,000
Total raised: $2.2 million
Tags: Credit/debit cards, security, payments, Durham, North Carolina
Source: Crunchbase

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Fintech Fundings: 13 Companies Raise Nearly $400 Million This Week

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

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The new year finally blasted off this week with nearly $400 million in new money headed to the hot sector ($194 million equity, $200 million debt). The majority of the cash ($322 million or 82%) went to Finovate alums including Kreditech ($200 million), Coinbase ($75 million including money from two retail banks, USAA and BBVA), Motif Investing ($40 million from China), True Link ($3.4 million), and Kofax ($1.9 million). In addition, one Finovate alum, prepaid card white-label specialist Akimbo was acquired by Payment Data Systems.
This brings total funding for the month to more than $630 million ($430 million equity, $200 million debt), a healthy $10 billion annual run rate (see recaps from 1st week, 2nd week of January). 
The deals from Jan 17-23 in order of size: 
Alternative banking & lending products 
Latest round: $200 million (debt)
Total raised: $263 million (includes $215 mil debt)
Tags: Mobile, lending, underwriting, online banking, Hamburg, Germany, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate
Cryptocurrency wallet and exchange
Latest round: $75 million
Total raised: $106.7 million
Tags: Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, Investors: USAA, BBVA, NYSE, San Francisco, California, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate
Giftcard marketplace for buying and selling
Latest round: $56 million
Total raised: $82.2 million
Tags: Prepaid, gift card, merchant, POS, fee income, Chicago, Illinois
Source: Crunchbase
Automated investment advice for consumers
Latest round: $40 million
Total raised: $126 million
Tags: Consumer, investing, robo-advisor, wealth management, ETFs, Renren (investor), San Mateo, California, Finovate Best of Show alum
Source: Finovate
Mobile-first payments platform
Latest round: $9.1 million
Total raised: $14.1 million
Tags: Payments, apps, mobile, SMB, London, UK
Source: FT Partners
Italian payment network
Latest round: $6.4 million
Total raised: $6.4 million
Tags: Mobile payments, micropayments, P2P, peer-to-peer, Milan, Italy
Source: Crunchbase
Prepaid card with advanced controls for seniors
Latest round: $3.4 million
Total raised: $3.4 million
Tags: Prepaid card, credit, debit, controls, security, seniors, YC, California
Source: Finovate
Document and image capture technology
Latest round: $1.9 million
Total raised: $11.5 million (public KOFX)
Tags: Remote capture, enterprise, mobile, Irvine, California
Source: Crunchbase
Social trading network
Latest round: $1.0 million
Total raised: $1.0 million
Tags: Investing, consumer, social networks, Mountain View, California
Source: Crunchbase
Securities market technology
Latest round: $800,000
Total raised: $800,000
Tags: Trading, investment management, enterprise, Bangkok, Thailand
Source: Crunchbase
Secure mobile payments with your signature
Latest round: $700,000
Total raised: $700,000
Tags: Security, mobile payments, Antwerp, Belgium
Source: Crunchbase
Online and mobile payments
Latest round: $500,000
Total funding: $9.0 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, Palo Alto, California
Source: FT Partners
Canadian provider of blockchain-powered smart contracts
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, legal, identity, security, Vancouver, Canada
Source: FT Partners
—————
Exits
White-label prepaid card solutions
Price: $3 million
Buyer: Payment Data Systems
Tags: Prepaid card, gift card, debit, San Antonio, Texas, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

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Kreditech Secures $200 Million Line of Credit

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Kreditech

KreditechLogo.jpg

Germany-based Kreditech said, “hallo” to a $200 million line of credit yesterday. Victory Park Capital supplied the debt.

The company has served 2 million customers in 9 countries since launching in 2012. It will use this debt to “address the growing demand for loans of longer durations at fair prices.”

KreditechLocales.jpg

Kreditech CFO, Rene Griemens says, “Setting the stage for our upcoming Series C financing round, the credit facility will reaccelerate our growth well beyond the 500 percent per year mark.” According to TechCrunch, the impending Series C round will bring Kreditech to a $750 million pre-money valuation before its anticipated IPO in two to three years.

Kreditech uses its big data credit-scoring technology to better serve the world’s un and underbanked population, which accounts for four billion people. Earlier this month it acquired Kontomierz for its KYC technology and ability to get unique data in real-time.

Check out its live demo from FinovateSpring 2014.

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