FinTech companies, RegTech ventures, InsurTech startups and challenger banks raised money in the last week. This is what you can learn from the 20 FinTech rounds we reported on.
The Wirecard scandal has been dominating the news cycle for the past two weeks. The German FinTech giant filed for insolvency on Thursday after a massive €1.9bn ($2.1bn) hole was found in its finances. Moreover, the former CEO Markus Braun has been arrested and released on bail suspected of having inflated the assets. On Friday morning, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ordered Wirecard’s UK-based subsidiary to freeze all of its regulated activities. As a consequence, several of the FinTechs in the UK – such as Curve, ANNA Money, Holvi and Pockit – have been caught in the shock waves of Wirecard’s collapse.
With all that’s been going on around the implosion of Wirecard, it can be easy to forget that other companies in the industry are still doing alright and have even managed to raise some impressive funding rounds. For instance, Checkout.com raised $150m in a huge Series B round that landed it a $5.5bn valuation, meaning it could now compete with both the Swedish unicorn Klarna and the British challenger bank Revolut for the coveted title of being Europe’s most valuable private FinTech startup.
Another interesting raise from last week was cryptocurrency startup Ziglu. While it’s not unheard of that blockchain companies raise a lot of money, what makes this startup particularly interesting is the pedigree of the founder. Mark Hipperson was part of Starling Bank’s founding team and clocked up time as the challenger bank’s CTO before he left the business in 2016, citing differences in opinion of the way forward for the business. He stepped in as CTO for the neobank after his predecessor Tom Blomfield left the role to launch Monzo. Given the success Monzo has had, it could be worth to keep an eye on Ziglu too.
Speaking of challenger banks, last week also saw Memo Bank bag €20m in a Series A round led by BlackFin Capital. Founded in May 2017 as Margo Bank, Memo Bank is a bank with its own core banking system specialising in helping SMEs kind of like how OakNorth is doing the same in the UK. It seems that neobanks are still interesting for investors.
As we have reported in the past, cybersecurity companies are expected to be able to leverage the Covid-19 crisis to their advantage. So it’s hardly surprising to see SecurityGate.io closing its Series A funding round with Houston Ventures leading the investment. Although, new research has warned cybersecurity companies to not get to comfortable as businesses are set to tighten their IT budgets.
With that all in mind, let’s take a closer look at the rounds we reported on last week.
Checkout.com bags new $5.5bn valuation after $150m Series B round
Last week, London-headquartered Checkout.com announced that it had bagged $150m in a Series B funding round that saw it triple its valuation to $5.5bn. This means that it could be in the running of being Europe’s most valuable FinTech startups, with both payment tech venture Klarna and UK challenger bank Revolut having achieved the exact same valuation of $5.5bn over the past year.
Both Revolut and Klarna are among the over 500 enterprise customers Checkout.com has added to its books over the past 12 months. Other new enterprise customers include Grab, Careem, Glovo, Robinhood, Farfetch and Remitly.
Technology focused hedge fund Coatue led the Series B round, which also saw participation from existing investors, including Insight Partners, DST Global, Blossom Capital and Singapore’s Sovereign Wealth Fund GIC.
Checkout.com will use the new money to further strengthen its balance sheet, bringing available cash to over $300m. Checkout.com will also invest in the development of new innovative products, including its upcoming advanced payouts solution and the capability to accelerate settlement times.
Healthcare payments app Cedar collected $102m in its Series C round
Cedar, a FinTech helping to simplify the financial experience for patients, revealed last week that it had bagged $102m in its Series C round. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, which was comprised of $77m in venture capital and $25m in venture debt supplied by J.P.Morgan.
Other contributions to the funding round came from Kaiser Permanente, Kinnevik, Thrive Capital, Lakestar and Founders Fund. A number of angel investors also participated, including Jerod Mayo, linebacker coach for the New England Patriots and Jeff Vacirca, MD, FACP and CEO of New York Cancer & Blood Specialists
Cedar will use its new financial muscles to expand its reach and accelerate product innovation and expansion.
SYNQA closed $80m Series C
Thailand-based online payment company SYNQA has reportedly raised $80m in its Series C round. SCB 10X, an investment division of Siam Commercial Bank, led the round alongside SPARX Group. Toyota Financial Services Corporation, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, SMBC Venture Capital, Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Corporation and other investors also backed the company.
With the capital injection, the company will enhance its enterprise solutions and products. The company is also looking to deepen its footprint in Asia.
Immuta netted $40m in a funding round led by Intel Capital
Immuta, an automated data governance platform, has closed its latest funding round on $40m led by Intel Capital. Other investors participating in the raise included Ten Eleven Ventures, DFJ Growth, Dell Technologies Capital, Greycroft, Drive Capital and Citi Ventures.
Over the past year, the RegTech has invested heavily into its platform by adding new privacy and security automation capabilities, which will boost users’ data analytics and data sharing capabilities. With the fresh equity boost, Immuta will expand its footprint and increase the development of its technology.
SQream bags $39.4m in Series B+ funding round
Data analytics platform SQream has closed its Series B+ round on $39.4m, with Mangrove Capital Partners and Schusterman Family Investments leading the round. Hanaco Venture Capital, Sistema VC, World Trade Center Ventures, Blumberg Capital, Silvertech Ventures and Alibaba Group, also contributed to the round.
With the fresh equity, the company will look to hire more staff to help with the development of its technology and cloud capabilities. The FinTech platform will also look to enhance its customer delivery.
Celsius secures $30m in new investment round led by cryptocurrency company Tether International
Blockchain-powered income and lending app Celsius Network has bagged $30m in a new equity round with Tether, the stablecoin issuer with a 90% market share, as its lead investor. The round was raised at a$120m pre-money valuation and Celsius plans to use the cash injection to grow its community and expand the institutional services it provides worldwide.
FinTech Capital Markets Gateway receives strategic investment worth $25m from Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and more
Capital Markets Gateway (CMG), a FinTech specialising in equity capital markets, has secured a strategic investment of $25m from several financial firms. The list of investors include Barclays, Citi, Fidelity Investments, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Canaccord Genuity, Franklin Templeton, StageDotO and Shea Ventures.
CMG will use the money grow and expand its solution, aiming to be the first platform of its kind in the US. The platform is developed to provide digital connectivity between the buy-side and sell-side.
French digital startup Memo Bank raises €20m
FinTech Memo Bank has raised €20m in a Series A round led by BlackFin Capital. Bpifrance, Daphni, Founders Future and 60 French entrepreneurs also participated in the raise. Founded in May 2017 as Margo Bank, Memo Bank is a bank with its own core banking system specialising in helping SMEs. It will supply deposit, payment and credit services to businesses that exceed €2m in annual turnover and have more than ten employees.
Openly closes its Series A investment on $15m
Home insurance provider Openly has closed its Series A investment on $15m, with Obvious Ventures leading the round. Commitments to the round also came from Gradient Ventures, Point Judith Capital Ventures and more.
The platform, which launched in 2019, is looking to enter ten US states by the end of the year. Openly will use the new money to help it enter Massachusetts, Indiana, Ohio, Georgia and South Carolina.
Swedish InsurTech Insurello bags $8.04m
Insurello has secured $8.04m in a new investment round led by Inventure and Schibsted with the participation of existing investor Luminar Ventures. The Swedish InsurTech startups will use the money to expand internationally.
Privitar extends its Series C round by an additional $7m coming from HSBC
Data privacy platform Privitar has raised an additional $7m for its Series C round, having initially closed the round on $80m in April. The fresh capital burst was supplied by HSBC. This investment will also expand the existing relationship between the two businesses, which has seen HSBC been a customer of Privitar for four years.
Home loans platform RenoFi said to secure $6.4m in its Series A round
RenoFi, which helps consumers to find home renovation loans, has reportedly secured $6.4m in its Series A funding round. The investment round was led by Canaan Partners, with contributions also coming from Comcast Ventures and First Round Capital, according to a report from Housing Wire. With the close of the round, the FinTech has raised a total of $7.15m in funding.
Authomize closes its $6m seed round as it launches new product
Authomize, a cloud-based authorisation management platform, has closed a $6m seed round, with Blumberg Capital, M12 Microsoft’s venture fund and Entrée Capital supplying the capital.
slice bags $6m in pre-Series B financing round
Bangalore-based FinTech slice has raised $6m in a new funding round led by Gunosy. Other investors participating in the round included EMVC, Kunal Shah of CRED, Better Capital and Das Capital, according to TechCrunch. slice plans to use the money to reach 500,000 customers in the next year. So far, 250,000 customers reportedly use slice’s prepaid card.
Starling Bank’s co-founder’s new cryptocurrency startup Ziglu secures £5.25m in seed funding
Having left Starling Bank back in 2016, Mark Hipperson is now back with his new venture Ziglu, which has just bagged £5.25m in seed capital. A number of specialist UK FinTech investors and entrepreneurs backed this new round, although Ziglu didn’t name any of them. The cryptocurrency exchange will use the seed money to deliver a product roadmap, build and engage with the Ziglu user community, and to expand Ziglu’s in-house technology team and capabilities.
Trading platform Sparrow brings $3.5m back to its nest
Sparrow, an options trading platform, has bagged $3.5m in its Series A round as it looks to increase its product development. HDR Group led the investment, with additional contributions coming from Signum Capital, Du Capital and FinLab EOS VC.
Risk management platform for decentralised finance systems Opyn secures $2.16m in its funding round
Opyn, a decentralised finance (DeFi) protection and risk management platform, has closed a $2.16m funding round. The investment was led by Dragonfly Capital managing partner Haseeb Qureshi and partner Tom Schmidt. Additional support came from Version One Ventures, Uncorrelated Ventures, 1kx, A. Capital, DTC Capital and CoinFund. Several angel investors also contributed to the round.
GoldenPi said to raise $459,785 in a seed round
GoldenPi, a robo-advisory platform, has reportedly raised around Rs 3.5 Crore ($459,785) in a funding round led by Rainmatter Capital. With the close of the round, the company will look to entice more retail investors to its platform, according to a report from VC Circle.
Cybersecurity startup SecurityGate.io closes Series A
Cybersecurity startup SecurityGate.io has closed its Series A funding round, with Houston Ventures leading the investment. The amount of capital deployed in the series round was not disclosed.
Even closes second funding round in less than a year
Even, which integrates with attendance, payroll and banking systems, has closed an investment round, less than a year after adding $25m to its war chest in September 2019. The fresh capital was supplied by PayPal Ventures, Valar Ventures, Founders Fund and Marc Benioff.
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