Fundings

Mortgagetech on the Move as Roostify Closes Series A Round Led by USAA

Mortgagetech on the Move as Roostify Closes Series A Round Led by USAA
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Roostify

Roostify_homepage_Oct2015

While deal-terms were not disclosed, we learned late Wednesday that mortgage-transaction technology innovator Roostify has wrapped up a Series A investment round led by USAA.

“Roostify is innovating the home-buying process for consumers and lenders through a platform that brings simplicity and efficiency to something that sorely needs it,” said Michael Smith, USAA executive director for corporate development.

Roostify CEO Rajesh Bhat asserts the solution “brings a user friendliness to the process that benefits lenders and applicants by streamlining the process. (It cuts) the time to close loans and lessens errors in the applications.”

Roostify_stage_FS2014

From left: Roostify Lead Engineer Jonathan Kirst and CEO Rajesh Bhat demonstrated at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose, California.

Also participating in the funding were Colchis Capital and “two tier-1 banks.” Bhat said the funding will help grow the technology and bring more lenders to the platform.

Roostify simplifies the challenging process of buying a home for all parties involved. Home-buyers using the platform benefit from 100% transparency and greater control over the process, resulting in greater accountability and lower costs. Lenders can approve and process more loans faster using Roostify, having processed thousands of applications through the platform since its launch in early 2014.

Founded in March 2013 and headquartered in Burlingame, California, Roostify made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose.

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Kabbage’s Fresh $135 Million to Help Grow Karrot Consumer Lending Platform

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

KabbageHomepage

Alternative-financing provider Kabbage pulled in $135 million in new funding today. We speculated about this round in July, when rumors first circulated.

It is the company’s largest round of equity financing, and brings the company’s total raised to just over $600 million. Perhaps more notably, some sources report that Kabbage is now valued at $1 billion (this has not been confirmed by Kabbage), making it a fintech unicorn.

Reverence Capital Partners led the round, and several global banks also participated, including ING Group, Santander InnoVentures, and Scotiabank.

With this list of globally diverse bank investors, Kabbage plans to use the funds to fuel international expansion. It also aims to grow Karrot, its consumer-lending platform, from 10% of its business to 30% by next year. Watch the video of Kabbage’s debut of Karrot at FinovateFall 2014:

Kabbage also announced it has expanded its credit facility to $900 million. According to the company, the list of investors includes a mix of banks and financial groups, but does not include any of the contributors to the equity round.

CEO Rob Frohwein states that the company is on track to generate $100 million in revenues this year.

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Fintech Fundings: 24 Companies Raise $1.3 Billion Week Ending 2 Oct 2015

Fintech Fundings: 24 Companies Raise $1.3 Billion Week Ending 2 Oct 2015
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Fundings

dollar_arrowFintech circles were abuzz this week as four massive fundings pushing several companies higher up the billion-dollar valuation ladder (yep, I can avoid the U-word if I really try).

SoFi’s $1 billion received wide coverage this week, but we’d already covered it a month ago, so it’s not included in this week’s total. But even without that massive inflow earmarked for U.S. student loans, the worldwide fintech total surpassed one billion ($1.265 billion to be precise) thanks to Paytm, $675 million; Avant, $325 million; and 22 others. And every known round, not including Blooom’s grant, was seven figures or more.

Finovate alum fundings included: Kreditech, $92 million; Cloud Lending, $8 million; InForcePRO, $4 million; MX, $4 million from CheckFree founder Pete Kight; Blooom, $50,000 grant; and Elevest, an alum-by-proxy given its co-founder’s (Charlie Kroll’s) CV as founder of charter alum Andera, as well as an acquirer of many Best of Show wins by oFLows.

So far this year, we’ve tracked $14.5 billion flowing to fintech companies worldwide including a whopping $6.3 billion this past quarter.

Funding rounds by size from 26 Sep to 1 Oct 2015:

Paytm
mCommerce and bill payment platform
HQ: Noida, India
Latest round: $675 million; $4 billion valuation
Total raised: $875 million
Tags: Mobile, commerce, payments, shopping, billpay, Alibaba (investor)
Source: Crunchbase, VentureBeat

Avant
Consumer alt-lender
HQ: Chicago, Illinois
Latest round: $325 million; $1+ billion valuation
Total raised: $1.73 billion, includes $1.05 billion in debt
Tags: Consumer, credit, loans, lending, underwriting, near-prime
Source: Crunchbase

Kreditech
Consumer alt-lender
HQ: Hamburg, Germany
Latest round: $92 million Series C
Total raised: $355 million; $140 million equity, $215 million debt
Tags: Credit scoring, lending, underwriting, lending, loans, consumer, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Elevate
Consumer alt-lender
HQ: Texas City, Texas
Latest round: $70 million debt
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Consumer, credit, underwriting, installment loans, line of credit
Source: Crunchbase

PushPay
Mobile payments platform
HQ: Auckland, New Zealand
Latest round: $18.7 million
Total raised: $35.5 million
Tags: Payments, consumer, acquiring, merchants, processing, SMB
Source: FT Partners

Ellevest
Investing platform for women
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $10 million
Total raised: $10 million
Tags: Investing, asset management, wealth management, Charlie Kroll (co-founder and Finovate alum)
Source: Finovate

Credible
Alt-student lender
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $10 million
Total raised: $12.7 million
Tags: Consumer, credit, lending, loans, students, youth, underwriting
Source: Crunchbase

Zameen
Pakiston real estate hub
HQ: Lahore, Pakistan
Latest round: $9 million Series A
Total raised: $9 million
Tags: Mortgage, home buying, properties
Source: Crunchbase

Cloud Lending Solutions
Enterprise lending platform
HQ: San Mateo, California
Latest round: $8 million Series A
Total raised: $10.25 million
Tags: Lending, enterprise, loans, credit, Finovate/FinDEVr alum
Source: Finovate

Qualpay
Payment processor
HQ: San Mateo, California
Latest round: $8 million Series A
Total raised: $8 million
Tags: Payments, merchants, SMB, acquiring, credit/debit cards
Source: FT Partners

QuanTemplate
Reinsurance platform
HQ: Gibraltar
Latest round: $7.6 million
Total raised: $9.8 million
Tags: Insurance, enterprise
Source: Crunchbase

Chillr
Mobile person-to-person payments
HQ: Cochin, India
Latest round: $6 million
Total raised: $6.5 million
Tags: Consumer, mobile payments, P2P
Source: Crunchbase

MMKT Exchange
Middle market loan-syndication platform
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $5.9 million
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Commercial lending, loans, secondary market, enterprise
Source: FT Partners

Coinplug
Bitcoin services
HQ: South Korea
Latest round: $5 million Series B
Total raised: $8.3 million
Tags: Virtual currency, cryptocurrency, blockchain, bitcoin
Source: Coindesk

InForcePRO
Insurance policy-holder analytics
HQ: Austin, Texas
Latest round: $4 million Series A
Total raised: $6.55 million
Tags: Insurance, enterprise, metrics, big data, analytics, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

MX (formerly MoneyDesktop)
Digital banking platform
HQ: Utah
Latest round: $4 million
Total raised: $54 million
Tags: Digital banking, mobile banking, B2B2C, consumer, Pete Kight (investor), Finovate/FinDEVr alum,
Meet them 6/7 Oct at FinDEVr San Francisco
Source: Finovate

AboutLife
Retirement planning
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $3 million Series A
Total raised: $3 million
Tags: Wealth management, investing, financial planning, consumer, PFM
Source: Crunchbase

Orb (formerly Coinpass)
Digital payments platform
HQ: Tokyo, Japan
Latest round: $2.3 million
Total raised: $2.8 million
Tags: Blockchain, payments, bitcoin, cryptocurrency, digital currency
Source: Crunchbase

Safe Cash Payment Technologies
Blockchain-based payments
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $1.2 million Seed
Total raised: $1.2 million
Tags: Payments, bitcoin, blockchain, consumer, Naveen Jain (investor)
Source: Coindesk

Blooom
401(k) management
HQ: Kansas City, Kansas
Latest round: $50,000 Grant
Total raised: $300,000
Tags: Retirement planning, consumer, 401(k), investing, LaunchKC Accelerator, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Adyen
International payments platform
HQ: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Latest round: Undisclosed; $2.3 billion valuation
Total raised: $266+ million
Tags: Payments, SMB, enterprise, remittances, payment processing
Source: Crunchbase

DwellExchange
Crowdfunding home-equity loans
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Lending, P2P loans, mortgage, real estate, consumer
Source: Crunchbase

WorldCover
P2P platform providing insurance for the unbanked
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Underbanked, insurance, investing, peer-to-peer
Source: Crunchbase

Transaction Mobility International
White-label payment processing
HQ: Singapore
Latest round: Undisclosed Series A; $33 million valuation
Total raised: $550,000+
Tags: Payments, mobile, acquiring, merchants, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

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InForcePRO Rakes in $4 Million Following Finovate Debut

InForcePRO Rakes in $4 Million Following Finovate Debut
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings, InforcePRO

InforcePRO_homepage_Sep2015

In a round led by LiveOak Venture Partners, insurance technology specialist InforcePRO has closed a $4 million venture capital round.

The investment takes InforcePRO’s total capital to more than $5 million. The company says the new funding will help with expansion both in the United States as well as internationally. InforcePro co-founder Cameron Jacox anticipated growth of 400% over the next two years, saying that such growth would enable the company to “help more than 600 million global policyholders.”

InforcePRO_stage_FF2015

InforcePRO co-founder Karan Kanodia demonstrated his technology’s real-time policy analysis at FinovateFall 2015 in New York City.

Fellow co-founder Karan Kanodia said that InforcePRO’s strategy to “put policyholders first” was a “tectonic shift for an industry which was traditionally built on a ‘gotcha’ mindset.” InforcePRO differentiates itself by providing “post-sale software solutions” that give insurance distributors new up-sell and cross-sell opportunities, as well as improving overall customer engagement. The technology makes it easy for insurance professionals to run instant policy reviews, enabling them to identify potential sale or service opportunities on insurance policies that are as many as three decades old.

Venu Shamapant, general partner at Live Oak Venture Partners, included InforcePRO among the companies it has invested in that are “focused on solving long-overlooked problems resulting in disruption of large and established industries.”

“LiveOak’s investment will help InforcePRO capitalize on the global demand for their solutions, and accelerate the company’s pace of product innovation,” said Shamapant.

Founded in November 2013 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, InforcePRO made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2015 in New York City. The company has more than 25 employees and its platform monitors more than 2 million life insurance policies.

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Kreditech Raises €82 Million in Series C Investment Led by J.C. Flowers

Kreditech Raises €82 Million in Series C Investment Led by J.C. Flowers
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Kreditech

Kreditech_homepage_Sep2015

German consumer-finance technology company Kreditech today announced that it has raised €82.5 million in a Series C round led by J.C. Flowers—and more funding could be on the way. The investment includes a bridge loan from Peter Thiel and Amadeus Capital Partners (Amadeus) from earlier this year that has been converted into equity, as well as word that Kreditech hopes the round ultimately will raise more than €100 million.

Also participating in the round were existing investors Värde Partners, HPE Growth Capital, and Blumberg Capital.

The more than €80 million raised so far boosts the company’s total funding to more than €300 million in debt and equity. Kreditech CFO Rene Griemens noted that more than half of the company’s total funding are unused debt facilities—a revolving credit arrangement—that can be loaned out to help fuel growth.

Kreditech_stage_FF2014

Kreditech CEO and co-founder Sebastian Diemer demonstrated Kredito24 at FinovateSpring 2014 in New York.

Loren Felsman, managing director at J.C. Flowers who will be joining the Kreditech board as part of the investment, praised the company’s “sophisticated approach to real-time consumer banking,” especially as it relates to the underbanked. “Most lenders, including those built on modern technology, may not crack these markets for years,” Felsman said.

Kreditech leverages big data to create better credit-scoring technology for consumer-borrowers with poor or no credit histories. Kreditech focuses on the current financial health of the borrower, analyzing more than 20,000 data-points to establish potential creditworthiness.

These data-points encompass a wide range of information typically overlooked when analyzing a borrower’s likelihood of repaying debt, and include everything from a borrower’s Facebook friends to semantic analysis, i.e., the writing tone in email messages or social media posts. The goal, as Deimer explained from the stage last year at FinovateFall 2014, was both a more accurate credit rating, better pricing and more personalized lending options for the borrower.

Kreditech has deployed its technology with subsidiaries operating in nine markets: Germany, Poland, Spain, Peru, Mexico, Australia, the Dominican Republic, the Russian Federation, and the Czech Republic. “These are markets with very low or no credit-bureau infrastructure at all,” Deimer pointed out. This was key to both maximizing margins and keeping customer-acquisition costs low.” The company is also “ramping up” operations in Brazil and Romania.

Deimer was named to the Hot Topic 100 list of the most influential people in fintech in August. In May, Inc.com added Kreditech to its roster of the “22 Financial Technology Startups You Need to Know.” This spring, Kreditech announced the hiring of Oliver Prill as its new COO. Prill was previously the CEO of a boutique small-business and consumer-debt-reconciliation firm, Optanus, and before that was the founder and CEO of C&A Bank in Germany.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, Kreditech demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2014 in New York.

 

 

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CoverHound Completes $33 Million Series C

CoverHound Completes $33 Million Series C
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: CoverHound, Funding, Fundings

Coverhound_homepage_Sep2015

Move over robo-advisers and alternative lenders, there’s a new destination for investment dollars in the fintech space.

Digital insurance-comparison and -shopping platform CoverHound announced today that it closed a $33.3 million Series C round. The investment takes the company’s total funding to more than $53 million, giving CoverHound a valuation of more than $100 million.

CoverHound_screen_FF2013_1The round was led by ACE Group and featured participation by existing investors, American Family Ventures, Blumberg Capital, Core Innovation Capital, Route 66 Ventures, and RRE Ventures.

CoverHound CEO Keith Moore emphasized his company’s commitment to the comparison-shopping model as the “fastest and smartest way” for consumers to buy property and casualty (P&C) insurance. The company plans to use the capital to invest in new talent, specifically in product management and engineering, as well as new products for SMEs and entrepreneurs. CoverHound also plans to emphasize adding insurance carriers to its platform and finding partnerships in new states.

2015 has been a banner year in funding for CoverHound. This spring, the company announced a successful $14 million Series B round that included news of its Google Compare partnership. CoverHound currently provides auto, homeowners, renters, and motorcycle insurance from more than 20 carriers including Progressive, Safeco, Travelers, and MetLife. The company says it has experienced new customer policy growth of more than 168% in 2015.

As part of the investment, James D. Robinson III, RRE Ventures’ co-founder and general partner, will join the CoverHound board. Robinson was CEO of American Express from 1977 to his retirement in 1993.

Founded in May 2010 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, CoverHound demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2013 in New York.

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Fintech Fundings: 24 Companies Raise $560 Million Week Ending 18 Sep 2015

Fintech Fundings: 24 Companies Raise $560 Million Week Ending 18 Sep 2015
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Fundings

39872916_sThe money-flow into fintech continued unabated this week with more than a half-billion ($557 million) raised by 24 companies. It was the eighth week this year that total fundings surpassed the $500-million mark. Year-to-date fintech firms have raised $13 billion.

The total included one new alum, Praesidio, which will be presenting its security and fraud-control integrations at next month’s FinDEVr. The Seattle-based startup raised $3 million to bring its total funding to $5.3 million. Also, long-time alum Alkami Technology picked up $11 million on Friday to further their e-banking solutions business.

Here are the fundings by size from 12 Sep to 18 Sep 2015:

AvidXchange
Automated billpay and accounts-payables solutions
HQ: Charlotte, North Carolina
Latest round: $225 million Series E
Total raised: $225+ million
Tags: Bill payment, accounting, SMB, payments, billing
Source: Crunchbase

Clover Health
Health insurance targeting seniors
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $100 million
Total raised: $100 million
Tags: Consumer, health insurance, seniors
Source: Crunchbase

LightSpeed
Point-of-sale system
HQ: Montreal, Canada
Latest round: $61 million
Total raised: $126 million
Tags: SMB, payments, POS, acquiring, merchants
Source: Crunchbase

Compass
Real estate marketplace
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $50 million
Total raised: $123 million
Tags: Consumer, home buying, mortgage
Source: Crunchbase

Oscar
Health insurance
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $32.5 million
Total raised: $327.5 million
Tags: Consumer, health insurance, SMB, Google (investor)
Source: Crunchbase

Aspiration
Online investment platform
HQ: Marina Del Rey, California
Latest round: $15.5 million
Total raised: $20 million
Tags: Consumer, investing, socially conscious, low-fee, wealth management
Source: FT Partners

Lumity
Health insurance selection for enterprises
HQ: San Mateo, California
Latest round: $14 million
Total raised: $14 million
Tags: Enterprise, SMB, insurance, benefits, human resources, HR
Source: Crunchbase

Fundera
Small-business loan marketplace
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $11.5 million Series B
Total raised: $14.9 million
Tags: SMB, lending, commercial loans, lead gen
Source: Crunchbase

Alkami Technology
Digital banking solutions
HQ: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Latest round: $11 million
Total raised: $54 million
Tags: Online banking, mobile, Finovate alum
Source: FT Partners

Compte Nickel
French neo-bank
HQ: France
Latest round: $11.5 million
Total raised: $11.5 million
Tags: Consumer, debit card, banking, transaction account
Source: FT Partners

MarketInvoice
Receivables financing marketplace lender
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Latest round: $7.7 million
Total raised: $28.1 million
Tags: SMB, lending, underwriting, P2P, peer-to-peer, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Mighty
Financing to plaintiffs awaiting legal settlments
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $5.3 million Series A
Total raised: $5.3 million
Tags: Consumer, legal, lending, loans, credit
Source: Crunchbase

Auger
Open-source predictions marketplace
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $4.7 million
Total raised: $4.7 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, blockchain, Ethereum, security, payments
Source: Crunchbase

Satispay
Mobile payments
HQ: Milan, Italy
Latest round: $3.5 million
Total raised: $11.2 million
Tags: Consumer, payments, mobile, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

Praesidio
Cloud-based security for financial institutions
HQ: Seattle, Washington
Latest round: $3 million
Total raised: $5.3 million
Tags: Enterprise, security, fraud, risk management, FinDevR 2015 presenter
Source: Crunchbase

CompareIt4Me
Financial services comparison site
HQ: Dubai
Latest round: $3 million
Total raised: $3.3 million
Tags: Consumer, personal finance, price comparison, lead generation
Source: Crunchbase

PeerIQ
Risk management for P2P lending
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $2.5 million
Total raised: $8.5 million
Tags: Enterprise, lending, credit, underwriting, peer-to-peer
Source: Crunchbase

AlphaClone
Stock trading strategies
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $2.3 million Series A
Total raised: $4.6 million
Tags: Consumer, advisers, investing, trading, wealth management
Source: Crunchbase

Bux
Simple mobile-trading app
HQ: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Latest round: $1.9 million
Total raised: $3.8 million
Tags: Consumer, trading, mobile, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Advizr
Financial planning software
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $1.7 million Seed
Total raised: $1.7 million
Tags: Advisers, wealth management, personal financial management
Source: Crunchbase

Besepa
Direct debit management services
HQ: Madrid, Spain
Latest round: $200,000
Total raised: $300,000
Tags: Payments, billpay, SMB, accounts receivables, invoicing, billing
Source: Crunchbase

EquityZen
Secondary market for private equity
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Investing, private companies, trading, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

Mubble
Automatic bill payment for prepaid cards
HQ: Bangalore, India
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Consumer, prepaid, debit cards, payments, billpay
Source: Crunchbase

RateGator
Mortgage marketplace
HQ: Saratoga Springs, New York
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Consumer, lead gen, lending, mortgage
Source: Crunchbase

—–

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Coinalytics Earns $1 Million in Seed Funding from The Hive

Coinalytics Earns $1 Million in Seed Funding from The Hive
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Coinalytics, Funding, Fundings

Coinalytics_homepage_Sep2015

Feeling sour on cybercurrencies? Coinalytics now has one million more reasons why you should be a blockchain—if not Bitcoin—believer.

The Palo Alto-based blockchain-analytics specialist has raised $1.1 million in seed funding from The Hive. The Hive is an incubator that specializes in working with companies that develop technologies for “data-intensive enterprises.” And these days, when you hear “data-intensive,” think blockchain. According to Fabio Federici, Coinalytics CEO, technologies like those built by his company will play a major role in “break(ing) down a significant barrier for mainstream adoption of the blockchain.”

Coinalytics has developed a platform that helps businesses gain valuable intelligence, analytics, and risk assessment from the blockchain. The platform relies on advanced machine learning, pattern recognition, and distributed systems, providing businesses in industries ranging from online payments to financial services with real-time transaction information that is both secure and private.

The investment takes the company’s total capital to $1.3 million raised in three rounds.

While blockchain is synonymous with Bitcoin for many, Federici pointed out that the virtues of the blockchain extend beyond Bitcoin, potentially to any instance where value is exchanged, including not only financial services, but also supply-chain management and the internet of things.

FinDEVr2015LogoV2DateFounded in 2014, Coinalytics will use the new capital to drive growth, including building out technology and sales teams. Coinalytics will make its FinDEVr debut next month in San Francisco.

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Reflections on the 8-year Bull Market in Fintech

Reflections on the 8-year Bull Market in Fintech
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Fundings, Metrics & Market Research

fintech_nycAs I fly to NYC for the ninth time to host FinovateFall (the biggest ever—Thanks!), I’m in awe of how much the industry has grown since 2007. Fintech wasn’t even a thing then, we were still stuck using the entire six syllables in “financial technology.” And in Sep 2007, we didn’t have a sense of the financial debacle of 2008 we were about to witness, which has shaken things up in many unanticipated ways.

The amount of money going into the sector was a fraction of where we are today. I don’t have good data for 2007, but my guess is that the $12.4 billion raised so far this year is 6x to 8x the amount raised in 2007 (YTD). Is that sustainable? Unlikely, but when you see a single Australian bank (Westpac) spending nearly US$1 billion per year, 80% of it earmarked for new technology, you get a sense of how much pent-up demand there is to modernize financial services.

In total, Celent estimates that worldwide IT spending by banks will be $200 billion this year:

  • North America = $64 billion
  • Europe = $64 billion
  • Asia/Pacific = $70 billion

And that’s banks only. Gartner, which includes securities firms along with banks in its total, says global IT spending will top $500 billion this year.

Similar amounts are spent in the insurance industry where Celent estimates $175 billion will be spent this year:

  • North America = $79 billion
  • Europe = $55 billion
  • Asia/Pacific = $31 billion
  • Other = $11 billion

Adding it all together amounts to nearly $700 billion annually, or more than $3 trillion in the next five years. I think that explains why $12 billion has been invested by VCs and Private Equity so far this year. Granted, much of the financial institution spend is currently directed internally, but that doesn’t mean it will stay that way. The entire API ecosystem is betting otherwise, and seems to be winning in many industries.

Based on those numbers, I’m not sure if we have a bubble. VC investing is high by historical standards, but given the opportunity, it may be relatively reasonable. It will depend a lot on how much the big spenders decide to outsource. And that’s almost impossible to predict.

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$680 Million Raised by 29 Alums in Q1 2015

$680 Million Raised by 29 Alums in Q1 2015
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Advanced Merchant Payments, AdviceGames, Aire, App Annie, Ayasdi, Betterment, Bill.com, BlueVine, Bolstr, Coinbase, CoverHound, Finsphere, Funding, Fundings, Global Debt Registry, Kofax, LendingRobot, Lendio, Linkable Networks, Micronotes, Motif Investing, peerTransfer, Pindrop Security, Q2, Ripple, SimplyTapp, Spreedly, Taulia, TransferWise, TrueLink Financial, Xero

cartoonmoneystackThe biggest surprise in our look at first-quarter funding is that the $677 million amassed by 29 Finovate alums was more than 20% of the $3.2 billion invested in the entire worldwide fintech sector.

The $677 million raised was $85 million (+14%) above the same quarter a year ago, and more than triple the first quarter of 2013.

Q1 2015 was also $133 million above the $544 million mark set in the fourth quarter of 2014.

It will be worth watching to see if this record-setting first quarter for Finovate alum fundraising will be a sign of more great things to come for capital-raising in 2015.

Top 10 Overall Investments

  1. Xero: $111 million in February
  2. Coinbase: $75 million in January
  3. Betterment: $60 million in February
  4. TransferWise: $58 million in January
  5. App Annie: $55 million in January
  6. Ayasdi: $55 million in March
  7. Motif Investing: $40 million in January
  8. Ripple Labs: $30 million in January
  9. Bill.com: $50 million in February
  10. Pindrop Security: $35 in February

Previous Quarterly Comparisons

  • Q1 2015: More than $676 million raised by 29 alums
  • Q4 2014: More than $544 million raised by 25 alums
  • Q1 2014: More than $600 million raised by 8 alums
  • Q1 2013: More than $155 million raised by 14 alums

January: More than $275 million raised by 14 alums

February: More than $264 million raised by 8 alums

March: More than $136 million raised by 7 alums

If you are an alum that raised money in the first quarter of 2015, and do not see your company listed, please drop us a note at [email protected]. We would love to share the good news! Funding received prior to becoming an alum not included.

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Finovate Alums Raise More than $2.2 Billion in 2014

Finovate Alums Raise More than $2.2 Billion in 2014
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings

ManwithMoney_clipart

Finovate alums raised more than $2.2 billion in financing in 2014.  More than three-quarters ($1.8 billion) was equity and a quarter ($400 million) was debt.  

The tally for 2014 shows that financiers continue to find fintech a worthwhile destination for their capital. After bringing in more than $825 million in 2013, Finovate alums increased their fundraising by more than 70% this year.

Here are a few highlights:

Most Raised in a Single Round: The biggest single raise of 2014 is best looked at three different ways. In terms of the best overall job of fundraising, Kabbage’s $270 million debt financing stands out. Lending Club’s $865 million IPO is tops in the “IPO Category” (with On Deck Capital’s $200 million IPO coming in second). Taking home top honors for best single venture round is Credit Karma ($85 million in March), with a $75 million raise from TradeShift and $70 million raise from Prosper close behind.

Biggest Quarter: The biggest quarter for fundraising was Q4, in which more than $1.4 billion was raised. The fourth quarter featured major fundings for Credit Karma ($75 million) and BlockChain ($30.5 million), as well as major IPO-related investments from Lending Club ($865 million), Yodlee ($75 million), Monitise ($77m), and On Deck ($200 million).

Biggest Month: The biggest non-IPO fundraising month was April, where more than $333 million was raised. The majority of the month’s fundraising gains came courtesy of the $270 million in debt financing secured by Kabbage. Including IPOs puts December at the top of the list, courtesy of the IPOs of Lending Club ($865 million) and On Deck.

Q1 – More than $233.4 million raised by eight companies

January

February

March

Q2 – More than $458 million raised by eight companies

April

May

June

  • None

Q3 – More than $194 million raised by 17 companies

July

August

September

Q4 – More than $1.4 billion raised by 26 companies

October

November

December

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Fintech Funding Bubble: April Fool’s Day Edition

Fintech Funding Bubble: April Fool’s Day Edition
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Fundings, Insurance
Bubbles

Photo credit: pedrosek

To prove that last week’s post where 10 fintech fundings were announced in a single day, I submit for evidence yesterday’s April Fool’s Day activity. 

 

Seems as if companies might want to avoid announcing new fundings on April 1, but that sometimes inauspicious date didn’t faze the pace yesterday as seven fintech players revealed total equity investments of $33.5 million. Adding to that figure is $22.5 mil in debt, for a total of $56 million in new capital. 

  • $22 million to BIMA Mobile to expand its mobile micro-insurance services in developing markets. The company says it already has 7 million customers. 
  • $20 mil in post-IPO debt to Identive Group to further its identity-management platform (NASDAQ: INVE)
  • $4 mil to Citizen.VC in advance of its April launch of an AngelList-like service for funding startups (link to temporary launch page)
  • $4 mil to OpenFin to expand its financial trading platform 
  • $2.5 mil Series A for WealthForge to build out its securities-issuing platform, currently used by Realty Mogul among others
  • $2.5 million in debt to ID.me to expand its digital identity network
  • $1 mil seed-round to PayStand, a Santa Cruz-based digital POS system that accepts credit cards and Bitcoin (of course)
Again, I’m not saying this is a bubble, but it certainly is a LOT of activity. Then again, if you count insurance (not including health), the financial sector is 8.4% of U.S. GDP in 2011, up from 4% in the 1970s. And it’s ripe for improvement in many, many areas. 

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