Fintech Fundings: 16 Companies Raise $270 Million this Week

Late summer has proven to be red-hot in the fintech sector. This week, 16 companies received new funds, with 15 equity investments totaling $67 million and one massive debt placement of $200 million to AvantCredit. Combined with the $102 million of equity raised in the first half of August, the sector has attracted $170 million so far this month (not counting the $200 million in debt).  
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New equity rounds this week:
Listed by size of deal (Aug 16 through Aug 22, 2014)

Discount real estate agency in UK
Latest round: $11.7 million
Total raised: $11.7 million
Tags: Real estate, rent, mortgage, UK
Source: Crunchbase
Digital bill presentment and payments
Latest round: $11 million
Total funding: $36.7 million
Tags: Electronic bill presentment, billpay, payments, North Carolina
Source: Crunchbase 

Continuity Control
Compliance as a service (CaaS)
Latest round: $10 million
Total funding: $12 million
Tags: Compliance, legal, regulations, Finovate alum, Connecticut
Source: Finovate
Provides fast access to the block chain for bitcoin developers 
Latest round: $9.5 million
Total funding: $13.7 million
Tags: Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, California
Source: Crunchbase
Helps identify and reduce hidden financial fees in investment accounts
Latest round: $6.5 million
Total funding: $9.5 million
Tags: Investing, fees, disclosures, 401(k), IRA, New York
Mobile biometric security
Latest round: $6 million
Total raised: $10.4 million
Tags: Security, biometrics, Wells Fargo accelerator, Finovate alum, Kansas
Source: Finovate
Mobile security
Latest round: $6 million
Total funding: $9.4 million
Tags: Security, Wells Fargo accelerator, Finovate alum, California
Source: Finovate 
Virtual agent technology
Latest round: $2.3 million
Total funding: $2.3 million
Tags: Customer service, mobile, BBVA (investor), SRI (spin-out), California
Source: Crunchbase
Crowdfunded real estate projects
Latest round: $1 million
Total funding: $1 million
Tags: P2P, investing, debt crowdfunding, rehab, mortgage, lending, North Carolina
Source: Crunchbase
Cryptocurrency distribution platform
Latest round: $800,000
Total funding: $800,000
Tags: Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, India
Source: Crunchbase 

Toopher (see them demo at FinovateFall 2014)
Two-factor authentication
Latest round: $791,000
Total funding: $2.8 million
Tags: Security, Finovate alum, Texas
Source: Crunchbase 
Platform for bitcoin/cryptocurrency intelligence & research
Latest round: $500,000
Total funding: $500,000
Tags: Cryptocurrency, payments, Amsterdam
Source: Crunchbase
Social lending for technical talent development
Latest round: $400,000
Total funding: $400,000
Tags: P2P, crowdfunding, student lending, California
Source: Crunchbase
Payments gateway in Bangkok
Latest round: $300,000
Total raised: $300,000
Tags: Payments, mobile, Thailand
Source: Crunchbase
Weeleo 
Crowdsourced cash currency exchange
Latest round: $20,000
Total funding: Unknown
Tags: Fx, P2P, currency, transfers, Paris
Source: Crunchbase
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Debt Funding:
AvantCredit
Near-prime lender
Latest debt funding: $200 million
Total debt raised: $425 million
Total equity raised: $104 million
Tags: Subprime, credit, lending, Chicago
Source: Crunchbase 

BlueVine Brings in $1.5 Million in Funding

BlueVine Brings in $1.5 Million in Funding
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Last week, in an extension of its latest seed round, BlueVine raised an additional $1.5 million. This, along with the $4 million round in March, brings its total funding to $5.5 million.

While the specific investor was not stated, investors in previous installments include:

    • Greylock Partners Israel
    • Lightspeed Venture Partners
    • Kreos Capital
    • Correlation Ventures
    • Kima Ventures
BlueVineHomepage

BlueVine’s platform frees up cash flow for small businesses by providing expedited payment to bridge the gap between outstanding invoice payments and working capital for business operations. After the small business connects their invoicing software to BlueVine, here’s what happens:

    • They select the invoices for which they want immediate funding
    • BlueVine funds 85% of the invoice amount up front
    • When the invoice is due, the customer pays and the small business receives a rebate

BlueVine will demo live on stage at FinovateFall this September 23 and 24 in NYC.

Fintech Fundings: 24 Startups Land $102 Million in First Half August

It’s mid-August. Who is even working now? Evidently, the folks cranking out new fintech (and their investors) are not letting up. So far this month, 24 startups have received a total of $102 million in new capital. 

Here are the newly funded, in order of deal size (fundings reported from Aug 1 through Aug 15, 2014). 

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Pollen (no URL)
Working capital exchange
Latest round: $27 million
Total funding: $27 million
Tags: Working capital, treasury, marketplace, Kansas
Source: Crunchbase
SumUp (Finovate alum)
mPOS (point-of-sale) technology
Latest round: $13 million (per Crunchbase)
Total funding: $33 million
Tags: mobile, point of sale, payments, Ireland
Source: Finovate 
Online platform for private company financings
Latest round: $11 million
Total funding: $19.5 million
Tags: Investing, financing, New York
Source: Crunchbase
8 Securities
Social trading and wealth management platform
Latest round: $9 million
Total funding: $21.5 million
Tags: Investing, wealth management, Hong Kong
Source: Crunchbase
Online and mobile payments
Latest round: $8.5 million
Total funding: $8.5 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, Canada
Source: Crunchbase
NextCapital
Automated 401(k) management tools and portfolio analytics
Latest round: $6.1 million
Total funding: $6.1 million
Tags: Investing, 401(k), analytics, Chicago
Source: Crunchbase
Find the best real estate agent for your house
Latest round: $6 million
Total funding: $6 million
Tags: Real estate, mortgage, California
Source: Crunchbase
Helps underbanked access accrued wages through payroll cards
Latest round: $3.5 million
Total funding: $3.5 million
Tags: Underbanked, payday lending, California
Source: Crunchbase 
Mobile payment system for vending machines
Latest round: $2.8 million
Total funding: $3.2 million
Tags: Mobile payments, Oregon
Source: Crunchbase
Ecommerce technology enabling easy checkout and payment
Latest round: $2.7 million
Total funding: $2.7 million
Tags: Ecommerce, checkout, wallet, payments, Y Combinator, California
Source: Crunchbase
BlueVIne (debuting at FinovateFall 2014)
Working capital to small businesses
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total funding: $5.5 million
Tags: SMB, lending, credit, California
Source: Crunchbase
Portfolia
Equity crowdfunding platform
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total funding: $1.5 million
Tags: crowdfunding, California
Source: Crunchbase
Restaurant ordering and payment technology
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total funding: $1.5 million
Tags: Payments, order ahead, restaurants, Ukraine
Source: FT Partners from TechCrunch
Moneysoft 
Financial management software for small biz and individuals
Latest round: $1.4 million
Total funding: Unknown
Tags: PFM, accounting, payroll, SMB, Australia, UK
Source: Crunchbase 
Gift cards integrated with credit cards
Latest round: $1.4 million
Total funding: $1.4 million
Tags: Gift cards, prepaid cards, credit cards, California
Source: Crunchbase
Capital Float
Online platform providing small business financing in India
Latest round: $1 million
Total funding: $3 milllion
Tags: SMB, lending, financing, India
Source: Crunchbase
Real estate crowdfunding platform
Latest round: $1 million

Total funding: $34 million
Tags: Crowdfunding, real estate, investing, Washington D.C.
Source: Crunchbase
Lending technology for the SMB market
Latest round: $1 million
Total funding: $1 million
Tags: SMB, lending, B2Bank, Oregon
Source: Crunchbase
Geolocation technology for location-based services and payment solutions
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total funding: $920,000
Tags: Mobile payments, geolocation, Australia
Source: Crunchbase
Real estate discovery
Latest round: $550,000
Total funding: $550,000
Tags: Real estate, Philippines
Source: Crunchbase
Bitcoin peer-to-peer lending
Latest round: $270,000
Total funding: $270,000
Tags: P2P lending, Bitcoin, Germany
Source: Crunchbase
Coinmonk (Unocoin)
Bitcoin processor 
Latest round: $250,000
Total funding: Unknown
Tags: Bitcoin, India
Source: FT Partners from TechCrunch
Cash Sentinel
Facilitating payments for person-to-person vehicle sales

Latest round: $170,000
Total funding: $650,000
Tags: Escrow, vehicle lending, Switzerland
Source: Crunchbase
Payfont 
Identity theft protection
Latest round: $170,000
Total funding: Unknown
Tags: Security, identity, Scotland
Source: FT Partners from Finextra

Taulia Raises $27 Million in Series D Funding

Taulia Raises $27 Million in Series D Funding

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Taulia, a company that aims to ease cash flow issues faced by small and medium sized businesses, announced today it raised $27 million in Series D funding.

This newest installment, which brings Taulia’s total funding to $67.2 million, comes from QuestMark Partners, which led the round, and existing investors Trinity Ventures, Matrix Partners, Lakestar and DAG Ventures.

TauliaHomepage2014

When Taulia launched in 2009, its primary service was Dynamic Discounting, a product that helps suppliers receive faster cash flow, and gives buyers more flexibility and discounts if they pay early. Now Taulia offers seven products, including einvoicing and supplier management tools that help small businesses interact with their suppliers.

Of the 225,000 suppliers on Taulia’s platform, 55 rank among the largest corporate companies. The San Francisco-based company plans to use the funding to sign more large corporate clients and expand into Asia.

Taulia is now valued at $200 million.

To learn more about Taulia, check out its FinovateSpring 2012 demo where it debuted its Early Payment Network.

DemystData Brings in $5 Million for its Big Data API for Financial Institutions

DemystData Brings in $5 Million for its Big Data API for Financial Institutions
DemystDataLogo

For DemystData, big data is more than just a buzz word. The New York-based company focuses on improving financial institutions’ access to information to optimize interaction with customers.

The company announced today it raised $5 million in a Series A investment. Investors include:

    • Notion Capital
    • SingTel Innov8
    • Arbor Ventures
    • P2P Equity Partners
    • Errol Damelin (UK-based Wonga founder)

DemystData previously received two investments of undisclosed amounts.

DemystDatahomepage

The company’s software aggregates data from multiple sources in real time to build customer profiles. Institutions use these profiles to make better decisions. DemystData is processing more than 30 million profiles for financial clients, which include some of the largest, global P2P lenders in the U.S. and U.K., as well as leading banks in AsiaPacific.

Using this new investment, DemystData plans to continue its global growth while expanding its team. Additionally, it hopes to further enhance its API.

To learn more about DemystData, check out its FinovateAsia 2012 demo video, where it debuted Credit-in-a-Box. Interested in this and other back-end systems for FIs? Pick up your ticket to FinDEVr to check out more.

Alternative Lending Pays Up: Kabbage Raises $50 Million, Prosper Pulls in $70 Million

Alternative Lending Pays Up: Kabbage Raises $50 Million, Prosper Pulls in $70 Million

At FinovateSpring last week, we witnessed the popularity of alternative lending platforms as shown through Dealstruck, LendingRobot, and Venovate.

Further underlining this trend, two players in the alternative lending space, Kabbage and Prosper, both announced funding today.

KabbageLogo.jpg

Kabbage, an Atlanta-based company that provides working capital to small businesses.
    • Funding: $50 million in Series D
    • Previous funding totaled $465 million in combined debt and equity
    • Contributing investors include:
      • SoftBank Capital 
      • TCW/Craton
      • Lumia Capital
      • David Bonderman
      • Warren Stephens
      • UPS’ Strategic Enterprise Fund
      • Peter Thomson’s Thomvest
      • BlueRun Ventures
      • MDV
    • Founded: 2009 
    • Last demoed at FinovateSpring 2013

Kabbage plans to use the funding to boost its marketing efforts, build out its partnerships, and expand further internationally. It also has plans to better leverage big data for underwriting purposes.

ProsperLogo

Prosper, a P2P funding platform based in San Francisco.

  • Funding: $70 million.
    $50 million of this will be allocated to Prosper’s balance sheet. The remaining $20 million is a secondary round in which some shareholders are cashing out.
  • Previous funding totals $190 million
  • Contributing investors include: 
    • Francisco Partners
    • Institutional Venture Partners
    • Phenomen Ventures
  • Founded: 2006
  • Demoed at Finovate 2007

Last month, Prosper announced $1 billion in total loans originated on its platform and it plans to reach $2 billion in total loans this year.

It is speculated that this new round places Prosper at a $600 million valuation, up from a $100 million valuation around eight months ago.

ShopKeep POS Snags a Spot in the iPad POS Spotlight with $25 Million in Funding

ShopKeep POS Snags a Spot in the iPad POS Spotlight with $25 Million in Funding

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On the heels of this week’s rumors of Square’s possible IPO or acquisition, ShopKeep POS is taking its place in the in the iPad-based POS system spotlight.

Today, the New York-based company announced it raised $25 million in Series C funding.

Contributing investors include:

    • Thayer Street Partners
    • Tribeca Venture Partners
    • TTV Capital
    • Contour Venture Partners
    • Canaan Partners
    • Tom Glocer
    • Matt Coffin
ShopKeepPOSHomepage

ShopKeep, which is proud of its New York roots and already has an international office in Belfast, is looking to open an office on the west coast. It will also use the funding to expand on its product with analytics can be accessed anywhere.

The funding will also help with the growth spirt ShopKeep is expecting from all of the POS systems currently running Windows XP. Since Microsoft is no longer providing support for that operating system, merchants using it will need to seek out a different option.

To see a live demo of ShopKeep POS in action, check it out at FinovateFall 2012.

Tuition.io Brings in Funding, Surpasses $1 Billion in Loans Under Management

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It’s been no secret lately that the student loan system is broken. Student loan management platform Tuition.io, who we saw on stage at FinovateFall two years ago, is seeking to help out borrowers and has quickly gained traction.

As proof, the company announced today it received an undisclosed amount of funding from Raj Date through advisory and investment firm, Fenway Summer. Contributors to the California-based startup’s 2013 seed round include:

    • Mohr Davidow Ventures
    • MESA+
    • Rob Glaser
    • Richard Wolpert
    • Neu Venture Capital
    • Launchpad LA
    • Rothenberg Ventures
    • Atom Factory
    • AF Square, LLC
TuitionNewHomepage.jpg

In addition to this news, it also announced it’s managing $1 billion in loans on its platform. This is up two-fold from just one year ago. When we interviewed CEO Brendon McQueen in April of last year, he reported the platform had $500 million under management.

Check out the live demo of Tuition.io’s platform from FinovateFall 2012.

Tax Day Turns to Funding Day for Some: LearnVest Raises $28 Million, The Currency Cloud Pulls in $10 Million

Most of us know April 15 as Tax Day, but for three Finovate alums, today is about a different flow of money than a tax return. Aside from Betterment’s announcement of its $32 million round (see our post from this morning), LearnVest pulled in $28 million in Series D funding, while The Currency Cloud garnered $10 million in Series B.

LearnVEstlogo.jpg

LearnVest, a personal financial management and planning platform and service
    • New funding: $28 million Series D
    • Investors: Northwestern Mutual Capital, Accel Partners, and American Express Ventures
    • Total Funding: $69 million
    • Founded: 2007
    • Headquarters: New York, NY

LearnVest will use the funding to boost hiring efforts at its Arizona-based Expert Hub and to scale its LearnVest at Work channel, which won Best of Show at FinovateFall 2013.

Check out its Best of Show-winning FinovateFall 2013 demo video:

LearnVest.jpg

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The Currency Cloud, a company that powers international payments with its API that enables secure, global payments
    • New funding: $10 million
    • Investors: Atlas Venture, Anthem Venture Partners, Notion Capital, XAnge Private Equity, Silicon Valley Bank
    • Total funding: $17 million
    • Founded: 2012
    • Headquarters: London

The Currency Cloud will use the funding to expand its focus on the UK and Europe to a more international realm, specifically into the the U.S.

Check out The Currency Cloud’s demo from FinovateEurope 2014, where it debuted its new e-wallet functionality and user interface.

Kabbage Brings in $270 Million in Debt Financing to Provide Small Businesses with Funding of Their Own

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Further highlighting Forbes’ point that the traditional banker is dead, small business financing company Kabbage announced today it received a revolving, 3-year line of debt financing, totaling $270 million.

The funds, which were provided by Guggenheim Securities, will be used to supply small businesses with working capital, both in the U.S. and internationally.

This new installment comes a year after the Atlanta-based company received $75 million in debt financing from Victory Park Capital and Thomvest Ventures.

Kabbage has seen an increasing demand for small business financing, both for web-based businesses and brick-and-mortar stores. The Wall Street Journal commented on its growth, reporting:

“In the last 15 or so months, default rates have dropped by more than 50%…. while Kabbage’s business has grown five-fold. The company aims to provide $1 billion in credit to businesses next year.”

Rob Frohwein, CEO, hinted that growth has been so dramatic that the company expects to pull in more financing soon. In an interview with TechCrunch, Frohwein comments on the funding, stating:

“Yes, this is a large facility, but looking at our growth rate, it’s something that we will need to look at again in a reasonably short period of time, believe it or not.”

To learn more about Kabbage, check out its live demo from FinovateSpring 2013 where it debuted its QuickBooks Financing Platform.

SmartAsset Brings in $5.2 Million in Series A Financing Round

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The team at SmartAsset, a company that aims to answer consumers’ complex financial questions, has been busy lately. Not only are they preparing their 7-minute demo for FinovateSpring next month, they also recently launched a retirement planning tool, and this week announced they just closed on $5.2 million.

The Series A financing round was led by Javelin Venture Partners. Denis Grosz, SV Angel and Brendan Wallace, founder of Identified, also contributed.

SmartAsset plans to use the round to grow its New York-based team by around a dozen new employees and expand its platform’s capability to give users more control of their financial future.

To see SmartAsset’s newest tech and meet the innovators behind the platform, don’t miss its live demo at FinovateSpring.

Credit Karma Brings in $85 Million in Financing Led by Google Capital

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What do Lending Club, Survey Monkey, and Credit Karma have in common? Answer: they’ve all received financing from Google Capital.

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That’s exactly who led Credit Karma’s most recent $85 million financing round. Other investors include:

    • Tiger Capital 
    • Susquehanna Growth Equity
    • Ribbit Capital

TechCrunch reports that, of the $85 million in total funding, $60 million is going directly to Credit Karma, while the remaining $25 million is going to provide liquidity to shareholders and employees.

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This round brings Credit Karma’s total funding to $118.5 million for its B2C-play credit score reporting and management platform. In the future, it seeks to be the Kayak for financial services and is looking to partner with banks to be a recommendation engine to help consumers better manage their debt.

Credit Karma last demonstrated at FinovateStartup 2009, where it debuted its Debt Manager.