Cryptocurrency Firm Circle to Acquire SeedInvest

Cryptocurrency Firm Circle to Acquire SeedInvest

Goldman Sachs-backed cryptocurrency start-up Circle will acquire SeedInvest, an equity crowdfunding platform and broker-dealer, reports Antony Peyton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

The firm said this acquisition will accelerate its plans for a token marketplace that enables businesses and individuals to raise capital and interact with investors using open crypto rails and infrastructure.

This acquisition and planned new offerings are subject to the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) approval. Financial details have not been disclosed.

Headquartered in New York City, SeedInvest has the “largest” equity crowdfunding platform in the country. To date, SeedInvest has helped hundreds of start-ups raise capital online and has a network of over 200,000 investors.

In addition, the company has generated triple-digit annual revenue growth while reaching profitability.

Circle said the SeedInvest product includes capabilities needed for executing regulated crowdfunding, such as start-up due diligence, securities issuance, investor accreditation, payments, and securities custody.

With the merger and approval from regulators, these capabilities will be expanded to support crypto-denominated investments including using fiat stablecoins such as USDC, as well as issuing and offering tokenised securities.

SeedInvest will add 30 team members to Circle’s New York location.

Founded in 2012 by Ryan Feit and James Han, SeedInvest demonstrated its equity-based, crowdfunding platform at FinovateSpring 2013. During the demo, Feit and Han highlighted a number of key features of the platform, including its due diligence dashboard, virtual boardroom, and its Simple Invest technology which provides an instant identity check, legal document execution, and streamlined funds transfer.

Prior to the company’s acquisition, SeedInvest had raised $11.4 million in capital. Avenue A Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Scout Ventures, and Jumpstart New Jersey Angel Network are among the firm’s previous investors.

Highlights of This Year’s Inc. 5000

Highlights of This Year’s Inc. 5000

Inc. has once again released its lists of the fastest-growing 5,000 private companies in the U.S. and Europe this week. A total of 13 Finovate alums made the U.S. list and 14 earned spots on the Europe list. To qualify*, companies were required to be privately-owned and independent.

Inc. 5,000 U.S.

The 5,000 companies on this year’s list collectively generated more than $206 billion in revenue. Here are the 13 Finovate alums that made the cut this year:

SeedInvest

  • Rank: 117
  • 2017 revenue: $4.7 million
  • 3-year growth: 33.8x
  • Founded: 2013
  • Employees: 30
  • Ranked number 4 in top financial services companies

SeedInvest demoed at FinovateSpring 2013.

Cardflight

  • Rank: 139
  • 2017 revenue: $5.1 million
  • 3-year growth: 29x
  • Founded: 2009
  • Employees: 192
  • Ranked number 5 in top financial services companies

CardFlight demoed at FinovateSpring 2013.

Alkami technology

  • Rank: 284
  • 2017 revenue: $26.8 million
  • 3-year growth: 17x
  • Founded: 2009
  • Employees: 299
  • Ranked number 10 in top Dallas companies

Alkami debuted under the name iThryv at FinovateSpring 2009.

Passport

  • Rank: 389
  • 2017 revenue: $12.3 million
  • 3-year growth: 12.6x
  • Founded: 2010
  • Employees: 96
  • Ranked number 4 in top Charlotte companies

Passport demoed at FinovateEurope 2016.

Emailage

  • Rank: 625
  • 2017 revenue: $16.6 million
  • 3-year growth: 8x
  • Founded: 2012
  • Employees: 79
  • Ranked number 6 in top security companies

Emailage demoed at FinovateSpring 2015.

Lighter Capital

  • Rank: 776
  • 2017 revenue: $11.9 million
  • 3-year growth: 6.5x
  • Founded: 2010
  • Employees: 39
  • Ranked number 11 in top Seattle companies

Lighter Capital demoed at FinovateFall 2013.

Tango Card

  • Rank: 912
  • 2017 revenue: $17 million
  • 3-year growth: 5.4x
  • Founded: 2009
  • Employees: 80
  • Ranked number 14 in top Seattle companies

Tango Card demoed at FinovateFall 2016.

WealthForge

  • Rank: 932
  • 2017 revenue: $8.9 million
  • 3-year growth: 5.3x
  • Founded: 2009
  • Employees: 29
  • Ranked number 6 in top Richmond, VA companies

WealthForge demoed at FinovateSpring 2016.

Unison

  • Rank: 1048
  • 2017 revenue: $2.3 million
  • 3-year growth: 4.7x
  • Founded: 2014
  • Employees: 10
  • Ranked number 4 in top Detroit companies

Unison demoed at FinovateFall 2017.

Acuity Systems

  • Rank: 1107
  • 2017 revenue: $12.6 million
  • 3-year growth: 4.5x
  • Founded: 2010
  • Employees: 26

Acuity Systems demoed at FinovateEurope 2013.

defi SOLUTIONS

  • Rank: 1176
  • 2017 revenue: $14.6 million
  • 3-year growth: 4.1x
  • Founded: 2012
  • Employees: 80

defi SOLUTIONS demoed at FinovateSpring 2014.

Interactions

  • Rank: 1550
  • 2017 revenue: $92.9 million
  • 3-year growth: 3x
  • Founded: 2004
  • Employees: 413

Interactions demoed at FinovateSpring 2014.

Cardlytics

  • Rank: 2886
  • 2017 revenue: $130.4 million
  • 3-year growth: 1.4x
  • Founded: 2008
  • Employees: 342

Cardlytics demoed at FinovateFall 2014. The company went public early this year.

Inc. 5,000 Europe

This is the fourth year in a row Inc. has ranked European countries. The rankings are based on three-year revenue growth. Here are the 14 Finovate alums that earned a spot on the list, including SumUp, which took the number one slot:

SumUp

  • Rank: 1
  • 2016 revenue: $63.7 million (€56 million)
  • 3-year growth: 143.7x
  • Founded 2011
  • Employees: 500

SumUp demoed at FinovateEurope 2013.

VATBox 

  • Rank: 91
  • 2016 revenue: $6.9 million (€6.1 million)
  • 3-year growth: 25x
  • Founded 2012
  • Employees: 140

VATBox demoed at FinovateEurope 2015.

Kantox 

  • Rank: 390
  • 2016 revenue: $4.9 million (€4.3 million)
  • 3-year growth: 12x
  • Founded 2011
  • Employees: 73

Kantox demoed at FinovateEurope 2013

HelpMyCash

  • Rank: 699
  • 2016 revenue: $2.96 million (€2.6 million)
  • 3-year growth: 8.3x
  • Founded 2007
  • Employees: 16

HelpMyCash demoed at FinovateEurope 2011.

Featurespace 

  • Rank: 901
  • 2016 revenue: $3.41 million (€3 million)
  • 3-year growth: 7x
  • Founded 2005
  • Employees: 62

Featurespace demoed at FinovateFall 2016.

Kalixa Payments 

  • Rank: 918
  • 2016 revenue: $42.3 million (€37.2 million)
  • 3-year growth: 7x
  • Founded 2008
  • Employees: 112

Kalixa demoed at FinovateEurope 2013.

Zopa

  • Rank: 1314
  • 2016 revenue: $46.3 million (€40.7 million)
  • 3-year growth: 5.4x
  • Founded 2004
  • Employees: 188

Zopa demoed at FinovateSpring 2008.

Feedzai

  • Rank: 1330
  • 2016 revenue: $13.8 million (€12.1 million)
  • 3-year growth: 5.4x
  • Founded 2008
  • Employees: 68

Feedzai demoed at FinovateEurope 2014.

Trustly

  • Rank: 1344
  • 2016 revenue: $36.7 million ( €32.3 million)
  • 3-year growth: 5.4x
  • Founded 2008
  • Employees: 83

Trustly demoed at FinovateEurope 2017.

Fenergo

  • Rank: 1882
  • 2016 revenue: $33.8 million ( €29.7 million)
  • 3-year growth: 3.8x
  • Founded 2012
  • Employees: 183

Fenergo demoed at FinovateEurope 2012.

Innofis

  • Rank: 2452
  • 2016 revenue: $8.2 million (€7.2 million)
  • 3-year growth: 2.6x
  • Founded 2012
  • Employees: 69

Innofis demoed at FinovateEurope 2016.

Quadient France 

  • Rank: 2966
  • 2016 revenue: $8.9 million (€7.8 million)
  • 3-year growth: 1.8x
  • Founded 2007
  • Employees: 21

Quadient demoed at FinovateEurope 2018.

True Potential

  • Rank: 3233
  • 2016 revenue: $88.5 million (€77.8 million)
  • 3-year growth: 1.5x
  • Founded 2007
  • Employees: 234

True Potential demoed at FinovateFall 2014.

Comarch

  • Rank: 4954
  • 2016 revenue: $35.6 million (€31.3 million)
  • 3-year growth: 59%
  • Founded 1978
  • Employees: 148

Comarch demoed at FinovateEurope 2017.


*Companies on the 2018 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2014 to 2017. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2014. They must be privately held, for-profit, and independent–not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies–as of December 31, 2017. (Since then, some on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2014 is $100,000; the minimum for 2017 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Yodlee Brings “Sense” to Forward-Looking Bank Balances
  • BancVue’s Kasasa Spreads to 1,800+ Client Branch Locations Across 46 U.S. States.

Around the web

  • NerdWallet lists Lendio as 1 of 7 great small-business loan options for women-owned businesses.
  • Credit Sesame wins Gold Stevie Award in 2015’s American Business Awards.
  • PayPal and Uber extend their partnership to additional 9 countries, now in 19 total.
  • Backbase adds Geezeo’s PFM to its Open Banking Marketplace.
  • Partnership between Feedzai and Azul Systems yields first deployment with “leading payment technology provider.”
  • Insuritas wins NAFCU 2015 Services Innovation Award.
  • DriveWealth helps trading software technology company, KnowVera, develop video course on pattern recognition.
  • e-SignLive by Silanis to develop joint, cloud-based solution for digital transactions in new partnership with Australia’s Nuvola.
  • Jim Cramer of CNBC’s Mad Money interviews SeedInvest CEO Ryan Feit.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Alumni News– February 23, 2015

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgNutmeg launches its first personal pension plan.
  • Misys wins award for “Best OMS Provider” at MENA Fund Manager Services Awards with its FusionInvest technology.
  • USA Today Technology interviews Loop CEO Will Graylin about his company’s acquisition by Samsung.
  • ACI Worldwide to deploy Self Service Business Banking, Mobile, and Billpay solutions at Apple Bank.
  • Mad Money’s Jim Cramer interviews SeedInvest CEO Ryan Feit.
  • LA Times features Green Dot and its efforts to engage the “unhappily banked” with its prepaid cards.
  • Bank of Ozarks implements Premier banking solution from Fiserv.
  • Taulia expands management team with 4 new members.
  • Recent partnership enables Synergy Resources clients to integrate Expensify with their Infor VISUAL back-end.
  • City of North Las Vegas partners with PayNearMe to enable residents to pay bills in cash at 17,000 retail stores.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Alumni News– October 17, 2014

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgPatch of Land turns to SeedInvest in public fundraising effort for its seed round.
  • Quantopian raises $15 million in Series B round; launches crowdsourced hedge fund.
  • MasterCard teams up with Zwipe to launch credit card with fingerprint-based authentication.
  • Arroweye Solutions increases payment card security against hacking threats.
  • Emida partners with Defense Mobile to distribute its mobile solutions through Emida’s network of distributors.
  • BlogTO looks inside the offices of Nymi during an open house.
  • Google Cloud Platform launches simpler billing.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alums Raise More than $600 Million for Second Quarter in a Row

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In the first quarter of 2014, 23 Finovate alums raised more than $592 million

And as the second quarter draws to a close, it’s clear that a comparable cohort of alums have kept the pace.

Over the course April, May, and June, 28 alums raised significant amounts of capital ranging from Gremln’s $100,000 to the $65 million raised by Lending Club. The quarterly total of $594 million is almost exactly the same as the previous quarter.

And given that some amounts are undisclosed (I’m talking about you, Holvi, RevolutionCredit, and Tuition.io), we’re confident that Finovate alums have notched their second $600 million fund-raising quarter in a row.
How does this compare with the less recent past? Very well, indeed. 
In the second quarter of 2013, 15 alums raised more than $200 million. This was a major improvement on the second quarter from 2012, which featured 14 companies raising more than $120 million. 
Total raised for Q2 2014 = $594 million
April — $217 million raised by 11 companies
May —  $226 million raised by 11 companies
June — $151 million raised by six companies

Note: Funding prior to becoming a Finovate alum not included. Questions? Comments? Email us at David@Finovate.com or Julie@Finovate.com

Alumni News– June 27, 2014

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgMatchi announces signing sponsorship agreement with Standard Bank Group.
  • Intuit’s PayByCoin integrates Quickbooks Online with Coinbase to allow merchants to accept bitcoin.
  • RevolutionCredit is among six startups presenting at the 2014 FinTech Innovation Lab in New York.
  • Trustly partners with PayPal to facilitate direct payments for online bank customers in Sweden and Denmark.
  • Acculynk joins with Navicure to offer payment platform for healthcare providers.
  • 500 Startups teams up with SeedInvest to raise money for $100 million Fund III.
  • A review of digital ID technology by the Economist includes a nod toward miiCard.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Where the Alums Are: A Remembrance of FinovateSpring Past

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It is hard to believe that it is almost time for FinovateSpring 2014.

There’s still plenty of time for you to get your tickets to our upcoming event in San Jose, California on April 29 and 30. Our final Sneak Peek preview post is up, all the companies who were prepping under the radar are now out of stealth, and we can’t wait for you to see what this year’s spring crop of fintech entrepreneurs and innovators has in store.

Before we do, however, let’s take a moment to take a look back at last year’s FinovateSpring alums. As we scrolled through blog archives, several themes jumped out: the appetite for startups remains as passionate as ever, with three of our Spring 2013 alums being acquired by such financial sector potentates as Intuit and PayPal. And venture capitalists continue to see innovation in this space as a more than worthwhile investment, with 20 separate fundings for Spring 2013 alums

We’ve grouped the achievements into four categories: Exits, Fundings, Awards, and Acquisitions. Enjoy!

EXITS
  • Jack Henry buys Banno for undisclosed sum
  • The rumors are true: eBay’s PayPal acquires Braintree for $800 million in cash
  • Intuit buys tax planning/preparation specialist GoodApril
  • TaxAct acquires Balance Financial
FUNDINGS
  • CardFlight secures $1.6 million in seed funding from ff Venture Capital
  • Encap earns seven-figure investment from ProVenture Seed
  • EyeVerify earns $2.3 million in Series A funding
  • Jemstep raises $4.5 million in Series A round
  • Kabbage brings in $270 million in debt financing to provide small businesses with funding of their own
  • Kabbage brings in $75 MIllion in debt financing
  • Leaf raises $20 million from Heartland Payment Systems
  • Alternative lender LendUp raises $14 million in new funding
  • D3 Banking creator Lodo Software Brings in $3 million
  • Narrative Science secures $11.5 million in Series C funding
  • OpenCoin wins investment from Google Ventures, IDG Capital Partners
  • P2BInvestor raises $1.2 million in Series A round
  • PayNearMe leverages Family Dollar Partnership; raises $20 million
  • PayNearMe raises $10 million in Series D funding, launches Express Merchant Onboarding Option
  • Prestadero raises 5 million pesos ($400,000 USD) in first round of funding
  • Quantopian raises $6.7 million in Series A round
  • Realty Mogul raises $9 million in round led by Canaan Partners
  • SeedInvest raises $2 million in crowdfunded investment campaign
  • SeedInvest Raises $1 million in round Led by Jumpstart New Jersey Angel Network
  • Zooz Closes $2 million Series A round Led by XSeed Capital
AWARDS
ACQUISITONS
  • OpenCoin acquires SimpleHoney
  • Kofax acquires data integration software provider Kapow Technologies
  • NICE to acquire Causata to enhance customer experience management

SeedInvest Raises $2 Million in Crowdfunded Investment Campaign

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Crowdfunder, fund thyself.

That’s the strategy of crowd funding specialist, SeedInvest, which announced today that it is seeking to raise the balance of its $3 million Series A round from its own community of investors.

SeedInvest co-founder and CEO Ryan Feit explained: “Given that SeedInvest allows individuals to invest alongside VCs, we decided to eat our own dog food and hold the last millions for our own investors.”

SeedInvest has $2 million already invested, courtesy of investors such as Archer Gray, Avenue A Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Krillion Ventures, and Scout Ventures. The company is gearing up to take advantage of a key feature of the JOBS Act that will allow non-accredited investors to participate in crowd funding platforms like SeedInvest later this year. Feit pointed specifically to the new funding as enabling the company to service what he expects to be a significant increase in the number of potential new investors.

An equity crowd funding platform, SeedInvest focuses on directing investors toward startups and small businesses that are seeking funding. Among the companies that have received investment via SeedInvest are Vengo, a POS kiosk for digital media, and CapLinked, a PayPayl-like platform for businesses. SeedInvest was founded in January 2012, and is based in New York City.
SeedInvest demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2013 in San Francisco. See their video here. And for more information about our upcoming FinovateSpring event, April 29 and 30 in San Jose, visit our FinovateSpring 2014 page.

Finovate Alumni News– April 14, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgPYMNTS looks at how Ripple hopes to build a global payments network.
  • Android Headlines reviews TradeHero.
  • FIS acquires CMSI, provider of consumer loan origination and portfolio management software.
  • CNBC’s Squawk on the Street interviews Dashlane CEO Emmanuel Schalit on Heartbleed.
  • SeedInvest raises $2 million in crowd funded investment campaign.
  • Ignite Sales wins 2014 Monarch Award for its Profitability Dashboard for OmniChannel Measurement.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News– January 30, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgArxan appoints Patrick Kehoe as Chief Marketing Officer.
  • GRANCO Federal Credit Union to offer Geezeo powered PFM.
  • Mitek’s Mobile Photo Payments now offered by a large, unnamed cable, telecomm and media companies.
  • Lighter Capital extends 40th loan.
  • Lodo Software changes its name to D3 Technology.
  • miiCard adds former SWIFT CEO Lázaro Campos, previous VP of SecureWorks Richard Lewis, and prior Clydesdale executive Kenny White to its Board of Directors.
  • Zopa secures £15 million from London-based Arrowgrass Capital Partners.
  • Crowdfund Insider looks at SeedInvest and its comment letters to the SEC on crowdfunding and the JOBS Act.
  • LendUp launches educational video series to help combat identity theft.
  • Flint Mobile announces start of partner program for ISOs, MSPs, and ISVs.
  • Financial Times column on online banking and the cloud features Fidor Bank.
  • Your Story features TransferWise and its co-founder Taavet Hinrikus.
  • InComm and H&R Block enable consumers to reload their H&R Block Emerald Card at more than 60k Vanilla Reload locations in the U.S.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni Raise $825 Million in 2013, Up 79%

FinovateFundingIMG.jpg

Cheers to a new year! After ringing in 2014, we wanted take a look back at the capital raised by Finovate alumni in 2013. It was quite a year, with alums pulling in $825 million, $365 million more than in 2012 for an increase of about 80%.
2013 funding summary:
    • 62 companies raised $825 million
    • Q4 had the most capital, with a total of $294 million raised by 17 companies (more than half by Xero, which landed $150 million). 
    • October was the busiest month, with $177 million raised (mostly Xero’s $150 million)
    • May was second highest with $91 million raised by 7 companies
2012 comparison
Last year Finovate alums took in almost twice as much as 2012, when 44 Finovate alums collectively raised $460 million. The chart below shows the quarter-by-quarter comparison for both years.
2013YearEndTable.jpg
Quarter 1 — blog post
More than $155 million raised by 14 companies
January — $57 million raised by 6 companies
February — $56 million raised by 5 companies

March — $42 million raised by 4 companies


Quarter 2 — blog post
More than $205 million raised by 15 companies
June — $81.7 million raised by 6 companies
May — $91.5 million raised by 7 companies
April — $32 million raised by 2 companies

Quarter 3 — blog post
More than $171 million raised by 22 companies

July — More than $63 million raised by 8 companies
August — More than $26 million raised by 6 companies
September — $82 million raised by 9 companies
Quarter 4
More than $294 million raised by 17 companies

October— $177 raised by 6 companies
November — More than $87 million raised by 7 companies
December — More than $30 million raised by 6 companies

Note: Funding that companies received before they first appeared at Finovate was not counted. Questions? Comments? Email us at julie@finovate.com or david@finovate.com.