Fundings

Finovate’s European Alums Raised More Than $350 Million in 2015

Finovate’s European Alums Raised More Than $350 Million in 2015
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: AdviceGames, Aire, Azimo, Bitbond, CashSentinel, Currency Cloud, CurrencyFair, eToro, EZBOB, Fenergo, Figo, FreeAgent, Funding, Fundings, Kantox, Kreditech, Revolut, StockViews, SumUp, TransferWise, Xpenditure

Euros_purple

Nineteen Finovate alums headquartered in Europe raised $350 million in 2015.

From the $16,000 in seed money raised by U.K. startup, StockViews, to the €82 million investment received by Germany’s Kreditech, we’ve counted every euro, pound, and dollar that investors poured into our European alums. And whether the funding represented an initial infusion of capital or was part of a multi-stage Series E round, it is clear that investors are very interested in the fintech innovations of Europe.

Take a look for yourself at the “European Portfolio” from 2015 below, featuring Finovate alums from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

GermanFlagGermany

 

Ireland_FlagIreland

 

Netherlands_FlagThe Netherlands

 

 

Switzerland_Flag

 

Switzerland

 

 

UK_FlagUnited Kingdom

There’s still time to join us in London for FinovateEurope! Our two-day conference returns to Old Billingsgate Market Hall, February 9 and 10. Get your tickets today and save your spot.

 

 

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BlueVine Raises $40 Million in Round Led by Menlo Ventures

BlueVine Raises $40 Million in Round Led by Menlo Ventures
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BlueVine, Funding, Fundings

BlueVine_homepage_Jan2016

BlueVine, a startup that provides financing for small businesses, has raked in $40 million in new funding. The Series C round, led by Menlo Ventures, featured participation from new investor, Rakuten, and boosts BlueVine’s total capital to more than $64 million.

In a post at the company blog, BlueVine founder, CEO Eyal Lifshitz, said the investment would help “bolster its management ranks” as well as drive new feature development and exploration of new verticals. “With this capital infusion,” Lifshitz said, “our team is excited to work with more SMB owners to solve their cash-flow challenges on a greater scale.” BlueVine also announced an expansion of its maximum credit line from $150,000 to $250,000.

BlueVine_stage_FF2014

From left: BlueVine VP of Operations Edward Castano and CEO Eyal Lifshitz demonstrated their platform at FinovateFall 2014 in New York.

BlueVine specializes in cloud-based “invoice financing,” also called “factoring.” The practice helps small- and medium-sized businesses manage cash flow and payment cycles by advancing cash against outstanding invoices via a simple, online solution. BlueVine enables SMEs to get paid on “day one” for invoices due in 15-90 days with credit lines starting at $5,000. BlueVine reported a 12-fold increase in funded invoices in 2015 and expects to fund more than $200 million in working capital in 2016. Tyler Sosin of Menlo Ventures praised the company for “bringing automation and a modern web experience to factoring, a massive market that has yet to be optimized by technology.”

Founded in July 2013 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, BlueVine demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2014. BlueVine’s approach to factoring was profiled by PYMNTS.com in September and, in February, the company was highlighted by Fast Company as one of “The World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies of 2015 in Money.”

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Taulia Raises $46 Millon in Series E; Names New CFO

Taulia Raises $46 Millon in Series E; Names New CFO
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Taulia

Taulia_homepage_Jan2016

In a round led by Zouk Capital, financial supply-chain specialist Taulia has raised $46 million in new funding.

A number of unnamed, new strategic and institutional investors participated in the round, as well as all of Taulia’s existing institutional investors. The new infusion of capital takes the company’s total to more than $130 million.

Taulia CEO Cedric Bru said the investment would help “further accelerate (Taulia’s) rapid expansion,” and praised the “global experience” of his company’s investors. “We are in the best position to fuel the next stage of Taulia’s explosive growth,” he said.

Taulia_stage_FEU2015

Pictured (left to right): Taulia Director of European Marketing Matthew Stammers and Director of European Solutions Consulting Christophe Juvanon demonstrating Taulia Enhanced Discounting at FinovateEurope 2015.

Zouk Capital CEO Samer Salty praised Taulia’s ability to “streamline and strengthen” the financial supply chain. Salty called the company a “clear match” with his firm’s strategy of “backing high-growth companies that use technology to create efficiency.”

Taulia uses advanced e-invoicing, supplier management, and supplier financing to help connect companies like Coca-Cola Bottling, Hallmark, John Deere, and other Fortune 500 firms to their suppliers. Since inception, Taulia has processed more than $150 billion in transactions for 700,000 suppliers in more than 100 countries.

Recent headlines for the company include its partnership with KPMG, announced in December, and joining the OFS Portal community in November. In July, Taulia earned a spot in CIO Review’s 20 Most Promising Procurement Solution Providers for 2015.

Taulia also announced today that John Varughese had joined the company as its new Chief Financial Officer. Formerly of Perella Weinberg Partners, Varughese will be responsible for all finance, legal, and human resource operations at Taulia. Bru, who joined Taulia as CEO last April, praised Varughese’s “strategic leadership and significant entrepreneurial experience.”

“(Varughese) helped some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley succeed,” Bru added, “and we can’t wait to put his skills to work as an integral part of our leadership team.”

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in San Francisco, Taulia demonstrated Taulia Enhanced Discounting (TED) at FinovateEurope 2015. The company also has offices in London, Dusseldorf, and Sofia.

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Gem Raises $7 Million in Series A

Gem Raises $7 Million in Series A
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Gem

Gem_homepage_FinDEVr2015

In a round led by Pelion Venture Partners, blockchain technology specialist and FinDEVr alum Gem raised $7.1 million in funding. Also participating in the Series A were:

  • Amplify.LA
  • Blockchain Capital
  • Danmar Capital
  • Digital Currency Group
  • Drummond Road Capital
  • KEC Ventures
  • RRE Ventures
  • Tamarisk Global
  • Tekton Ventures

Angel investor James Joaquin also participated in the financing, which takes Gem’s total capital to $12 million, according to Crunchbase. Ben Dahl of Pelion Venture Partners and Bitium CEO Scott Kriz will join Gem’s board of directors.

Gem_stage_FinDEVr2015

Gem CEO and founder Micah Winkelspecht spoke on “Redefining Banking from the Ground Up” at FinDEVr 2015 in San Francisco.

In a statement at the Gem blog, the company highlighted its vision for distributed ledger technology as part of a “‘blockchain economy’ that forms the underlying architecture of our daily lives: from capital markets to patient care, supply chains to logistics, property rights to digital rights management.”

Gem makes it easier for companies to use blockchain technology by turning complex processes into modular, bitcoin APIs and then leveraging its platform to scale and automatically deploy. Gem recently developed a multi-signature bitcoin API for developers, and is currently building a “modular platform for blockchain applications” that has broad-use cases for many different industries.

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Venice, California, Gem debuted at FinDEVr 2015.

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2015: A Year in Finovate Alumni Mergers and Acquisitions

2015: A Year in Finovate Alumni Mergers and Acquisitions
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Akimbo Financial, Aurora Financial Systems, Authentify, Blockstack.io, eMoney Advisor, Finicity, FIS, Funding, Fundings, FutureAdvisor, GoNow, Guide Financial, Kofax, Kontomatik, Kreditech, LearnVest, Mergers & Acquisitions, Q2, ReadyForZero, Red Zebra, Social Money, Stratos, Toopher, Urban FT, Wipit, Yodlee

Handshake_graphic

2015 was another big year for mergers and acquisitions in the fintech industry. And whether they were the acquirer or the acquired, Finovate alums were very much a part of the M&A action.

Because terms of many deals were undisclosed, it is difficult to get a precise number on how much money was spent acquiring some of fintech’s most promising startups this year. But looking just at those acquisitions for which figures were available, we can see that 2015 was a banner year in M&A (more than $7 billion) — and that’s just counting alums.

So from the $5 billion deal between FIS and Sungard to the “alum-acquires-alum” mergers of September 2015, let’s take a closer look at some of the major unions of the year that featured Finovate alums.

December

October

September

August

July

May

April

March

February

January

If you’re a Finovate alum whose merger we’ve missed or acquisition we’ve overlooked, let us know. Send us an email at research@finovate.com.

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Trulioo Raises $15 Million with Help from American Express Ventures

Trulioo Raises $15 Million with Help from American Express Ventures
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Trulioo

Trulioo_homepage_Dec2016

Identity-verification specialist Trulioo picked up $15 million in new funding to help fuel growth. The round featured participation from American Express Ventures, along with existing investors BDC Capital, Blumberg Capital, and Tenfore Holdings. Trulioo’s total capital now stands at more than $23 million.

Trulioo CEO Stephen Ufford called the investment a vote of confidence in the company’s ability to help FIs deal with the complexity of cross-border compliance. Specializing in AML (anti-money laundering) and KYC (know your customer) verification, Trulioo’s technology enables businesses to provide frictionless ID verification in more than 40 countries around the world.

Trulioo_stage_FinovateFall 2015

Anatoly Kvitnitsky, director of corporate development for Trulioo, demonstrated GlobalGateway at FinovateFall 2015.

Rohit Bodas of American Express Ventures highlighted Trulioo’s global reach as one of the reasons for backing the company, and called cross-border compliance “a complex problem and an important issue for the financial industry.” GlobalGateway, Trulioo’s identity-verification platform, leverages 145 different data sources, including alternative sources such as mobile apps, social media, and ad networks to verify online identities. The technology is effective in developing markets such as China, Brazil and India, and developers can integrate the technology via Trulioo’s web portal, XML Direct, or through a Normalized API.

Trulioo recently partnered with fellow Finovate alum Avoka and integrated GlobalGateway with the latter’s Transact technology. Trulioo expanded its coverage to India in October, taking its total reach to four billion worldwide.

American Express Ventures focuses on startups with technologies that can help it expand its core capabilities as well as grow in digital commerce and financial inclusion. The firm includes Finovate alums Bill.com, LearnVest, and Radius among its investments.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Trulioo demonstrated its GlobalGateway platform at FinovateFall 2015. The company also presented at the inaugural FinDEVr developers conference in 2014.

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Rippleshot Raises $1.2 Million in Round Led by KGC Capital

Rippleshot Raises $1.2 Million in Round Led by KGC Capital
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Rippleshot

Rippleshot_homepage_Dec2015

Chicago-area cybersecurity specialist Rippleshot has raised $1.2 million in new funding. The investment round was led by KGC Capital and featured participation from UMB Bank; Wintrust; and SixThirty, the fintech accelerator based out of St. Louis.

Rippleshot says the new financing will help grow its team from eight to more than 30 in 2016. Developers, account managers, and sales staff are among the kinds of talent the company is looking for.

Rippleshot_stage_FF2014

Rippleshot Chief Scientist Randal Cox, co-founder, demonstrated the Rippleshot platform at FinovateFall 2014.

The company also announced that the co-founder of PerkStreet Financial, Jason Henrichs, will be joining the Rippleshot board of directors. Henrichs was also an early investor in anti-fraud analytics firm, Memento.

Rippleshot leverages big-data analytics and machine learning to detect and track down bankcard data-breaches. The company’s cloud-based technology focuses on the merchant side rather than the customer side, analyzing millions of daily credit card transactions for suspicious patterns. This approach provides a granular level of detail, enabling investigators to zero in on the specific stores, specific days, and even the specific POS terminals from which data has been stolen.

Founded in June 2013 and headquartered in Chicago, Rippleshot demonstrated its platform at FinovateFall 2014. In November 2015, Rippleshot joined the fall cohort of the SixThirty accelerator program; in August, was a finalist in the BBVA Open Talent Competition; and this spring, earned a finalist spot in the MRC METAwards along with fellow Finovate alum, BioCatch. Canh Tran is CEO.

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Q2 Acquires Social Money in $10 Million Deal

Q2 Acquires Social Money in $10 Million Deal
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Q2, Q2ebanking, Social Money

Q2_homepage_SocialMoney_Dec2015

Q2 Holdings just got social.

The virtual banking solution provider today announced it will acquire fellow Finvoate alum Social Money for $10.6 million. Q2’s President and CEO Matt Flake said the “strategic” acquisition will help its customers “expand their reach, grow market share, and engage account holders.”

Formerly known as Smarty Pig, Social Money helps financial services companies better engage their customers by offering them savings solutions such as GoalSaver, a customized, goal-directed and bank-audited saving system. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa, Social Money is geared toward millennials and gen-Y consumers, a point underscored by Flake. “The digital banking experience matters when it comes to reaching millennials and retaining existing account holders,” he said, adding that Q2 is committed to serving the “increasingly digital modern consumer.”

SocialMoney_stage_FS2012b
Social Money CEO Scott McCormack demonstrated GoalSaver at FinovateSpring 2012.

The Social Money acquisition is the second for Q2 in 2015. In July, Q2 Holdings acquired anti-fraud, risk-management specialist Centrix Solutions for $20 million. Q2 is still studying how it will integrate Social Money’s portfolio into its offerings, saying it plans to provide a “rebranded suite of Social Money technologies” in 2016. For its part, Social Money sees the acquisition as an opportunity to continue helping community banks and credit unions “establish direct-to-digital capabilities in the future,” according to CTO Adam Anderson.

Q2’s solutions are used in more than 275 community banks and credit unions. At their Finovate debut, FinovateSpring 2011, Q2 demoed its risk and fraud analytics technology. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Q2 Holdings was founded in 2005.

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More than $1 Billion Raised by Alums in Q3 2015

More than $1 Billion Raised by Alums in Q3 2015
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Quarterly Funding

sackofmoneyFinovate alums raised about $1.1 billion in the third quarter of 2015.

The fundraising in Q3 of this year is more than 5x last year’s Q3 tally of $194 million, and 6x the 2013 total of $171 million. The number of deals was up as well: 40 last quarter compared to 17 in Q3 a year ago, and 23 in Q3 2013.

There were also four acquisitions:

Top 1o Fundings in Q3:

  • Twilio: $130 million
  • Kabbage: $120 million
  • Behalf: $119 million
  • Kreditech: $92 million
  • Fenergo: $75 million
  • ShopKeep: $60 million
  • BankBazaar: $60 million
  • Radius: $50 million
  • Payoneer: $50 million
  • RealtyMogul: $35 million

Total: $1.07 billion raised by 40 alums

July: $748 million raised by 16 alums

August: $153 million raised by 12 alums

September: $173 million raised by 12 alums

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

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Tuition.io Raises $5 Million in Series A

Tuition.io Raises $5 Million in Series A
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Tuition.io

Tuitionio_homepage_Nov2015

Student-loan management specialist Tuition.io has raised $5 million in Series A funding. Participating in the round were MassMutual Ventures, Mohr Davidow Ventures, and Wildcat Venture Partners.

The funding takes Tuition.io’s total capital to more than $8 million. Tuition.io plans to use the capital to help acquire more enterprise customers, as well as to grow its customer service, engineering, and sales teams.

Tuitionio_stage_FF2012

Tuition.io founder and CEO Brendon McQueen demonstrated his company’s platform at FinovateFall 2012 in New York.

Calling the investment a “testament to the headway” the company has made, Tuition.io founder and CEO Brendon McQueen pointed to his company’s status as a first-mover in the field as key. “We are proud to have been the first to market at scale with an innovative financial wellness platform that enables employers to offer student-loan payments as a benefit for hiring and retention,” McQueen said. He credited Tuition.io for “helping global companies attract and engage competitive talent while simultaneously addressing the $1.3 trillion student loan crisis in the U.S.”

Bryan Stolle, a general partner with Mohr Davidow Ventures, referred to Tuition.io as a “real game-changer for recruiting millennials.” He credited the company’s enterprise platform for “empowering employers to recruit and retain employees with student-loan contributions as a benefit.”

Tuition.io helps student-loan borrowers manage their debts. The platform uses graphical visualization to make it easier for borrowers to see how much they owe, to whom, and how to pay it off sooner. In April, Tuition.io launched a new student loan benefit solution, Flex395 that lets employers directly contribute to employees’ student-loan repayments to accelerate the payoff.

Announcing the new Flex395 initiative this spring, McQueen suggested that for many young professionals entering the workforce, retiring student loan debt is a higher priority than investing in their 401(k)s. “Young people neither willingly adopt nor care about 401(k) products,” McQueen said. “However, 70% of college graduates are finishing school with student loan balances averaging nearly $30,000.”

“The question is not whether 401(k)s are beneficial—of course, they are—but rather what benefits employers can offer that are most relevant and attractive to young, talented employees,” McQueen explained.

Founded in October 2011 and headquartered in Los Angeles, Tuition.io demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2012. Since inception, the company has helped thousands of borrowers manage more than $2 billion in outstanding student loans.

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Xpenditure Raises $5.7 Million in Series A

Xpenditure Raises $5.7 Million in Series A
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Xpenditure

Xpenditure_homepage_Oct2015

FinovateEurope 2014 alum Xpenditure has just raised $5.7 million in new funding. The investment takes the Belgium-based expense management solution provider’s total capital to more than $9 million.

The Series A round was led by a variety of private investors, including current shareholder Bart Swanson, along with Lorenz Bogaert, Toon Coppens, and Jonas Dhaenens.

Writing about the investment at the Xpenditure blog, company CEO and co-founder Boris Bogaert said the investment comes as the company is poised for growth in Europe and beyond. Bogaert added that Xpenditure plans on “doubling the team in the next four months” as well as making additional investments in technology.

CardWise_Xpenditure_stage_FEU2014

From left: Co-founder and COO Wim Derkinderen and Head of Product Koen Christiaens demonstrated Xpenditure at FinovateEurope 2014.

Xpenditure specializes in providing alternatives to traditional, often manual, expense report management. Or, as Bogaert is quoted in TechCrunch, “We want to kill the monthly expense report.” He pointed out that creating worthwhile solutions requires more than simply recreating manual processes in digital form, as some software companies have tried to do.

Instead, Xpenditure provides businesses with a solution that handles the entire expense management process from receipt to accounting. Xpenditure’s mobile app allows users to scan and upload receipt data directly to their online account. A dashboard enables transparency and easy expense management. Businesses can generate PDF reports or create them within their accounting and ERP software such as Intuit’s QuickBooks and Xero.

Founded in 2011 and officially launched in March 2013, Xpenditure demonstrated its platform at FinovateEurope 2014 in London. The company has offices in New York, Brazil, Germany, and Belgium, and serves customers in more than 22 countries around the world.

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Blooom Announces $4 Million Series A Round Led by QED Investors

Blooom Announces $4 Million Series A Round Led by QED Investors
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: blooom, Funding, Fundings

blooom_homepage_Oct2015

In its first outside-capital raise, personal investment-management platform Blooom has hauled in $4 million. The Series A round was led by QED Investors, a firm that has invested in a variety of fintech startups—and Finovate alums—in recent years, ranging from Braintree and Credit Karma to Prosper and LendUp.

Also participating in the round were DST Systems Inc., Commerce Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, and UMB.

Blooom_stage_FF2014

Blooom Co-Founders Chris Costello and Randy AufDerHeide demonstrated at FinovateFall 2014.

Blooom operates in one of the more interesting niches in personal investment management, 401(k) accounts. Unlike other investors, many 401(k) account holders never asked for them—they were simply a job benefit. As such, 401(k) investors represent a potentially huge market of investors who need help managing these accounts wisely.

The company’s leadership team includes former investment banker Greg Smith who penned the notorious “Why I am Leaving Goldman Sachs” piece for the New York Times in 2012. Now president of Blooom, Smith feels he is finally with an organization that “aligns with his values” and the issues of customer service and putting clients first he wrote about in his critical NYT op-ed.

Blooom works by giving investors a short questionnaire about their current financial status, risk tolerance, and investment preferences. Consumers can take advantage of the free 401(k) comparative analysis or sign up for ongoing account management, including rebalancing and allocation adjustments. Price is either $1 a month for clients with account values below $20,000, or $15 a month for larger accounts.

Read more about Blooom in its Finovate debut feature from last fall.

Recent headlines for Blooom include winning a grant last month from LaunchKC. The company has been profiled in Forbes, highlighted as a member of the “Silicon Prairie” in Inc, and referred to as “the future of retail savings” by COOConnect.

Founded in February 2013 and headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, Blooom demonstrated its platform at FinovateFall 2014 in New York .

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