It’s been a crazy week in fintech, and it’s only Wednesday morning. Because my brain can hold no more than four stories at a time (and that’s a stretch), it’s time to publish a “fintech four” mid-week. I don’t know which of these is more dramatic, so I’ll go in alphabetic order:
I’m not sure everyone considers Auction.com a fintech play, but as an online asset sales platform (which moved $7 billion last year), it’s close enough for me. It just raised a fresh $50 million from Google Ventures at a valuation of $1.2 billion. So I’ll be adding Auction.com to our “Fintech billion-dollar club.” 
While we don’t know the $$ number, given the traction Finovate alum Banno had in the market (375 bank clients), and the relatively high valuations in the fintech space these days ($1.75 billion for Stripe), this must have been a pretty nice payday for the owners and investors in Iowa-based Banno (formerly T8 Webware). Founder Wade Arnold is staying on at Jack Henry and is super excited about his future with the Kansas City-based technology vendor. 
3. Borro borrows $112 million
In one of the biggest fundraising rounds in fintech history, U.K.-based Borro landed $112 million to further its high-end online pawn brokerage business. I met founder Paul Aitken last fall and was impressed with the product, which allows consumers to borrow against non-liquid assets, say, a Jacob Lawrence in the hall, at pretty high rates (3% to 4% per month). Until then, I had no idea there was a large, underserved (near prime?) market holding high-end assets (outside Downton Abbey anyway). Even so, I was shocked to see a $112 million round. While terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, I have to believe all or part of the money is debt, not equity. So I’m not going to add Borro to the billion-dollar club, yet. Apparently online lending is back!
>>> TechCrunch breaks down the Borro loan process and metrics here
At this week’s great Bank Innovation event in Seattle, I finally had a chance to meet face-to-face with Personetics, the Sequoia-backed “predictive financial services engine.” I’ve been impressed with what I’ve read about the company, and loved the Fiserv demo at FinovateEurope last month (demo here) featuring a forward-looking PFM piece powered by Personetics. But I had no idea how much traction the company was gaining in less than three years since its A-round. While I can’t name names, if even one of these deals moves into production, it has the potential to change the face of online banking.