As the year draws to a close, most people will be happy to see the back of it. However, these 29 FinTechs managed to end 2020 on a high by raising funding last week.
When the full scale of the pandemic was realised in March and governments began locking down, there was a wave of fear. While the general public rushed to the stores to buy toilet paper and pasta for their emergency kits, businesses began shifting their focus from growth to surviving. Businesses had to shift their annual goals to be about making it through the pandemic and adapting to the new normal.
Once the dust settled on the initial shock, some businesses could see things might not be as bad as expected. FinTech has been one of the industries to have done fairly well during the pandemic. With people being forced online, businesses have accelerated their digitalisation efforts and FinTech companies have been ready to help firms with their increased demand.
The amount of capital being raised by FinTech companies has shown how appetite has not dropped. This week saw BigID become the latest FinTech company to reach the unicorn status. BigID is in a long list of other FinTech companies to achieve the same status this year. Some have even gone further. Digital challenger bank Chime and retail investing platform Robinhood both reached the decacorn status this year, making them some of the highest-valued private FinTech companies in the world. Payments giant Stripe reached a $36bn valuation earlier this year and is reportedly in the process of raising a round that would see the valuation reach between $70bn and $100bn.
This week’s largest deal was a $120m raised by China-based Snowball Finance. The Series E capital was supplied entirely by Orchid Asia and will enable Snowball to upgrade its wealth management services. The WealthTech sector has seen a lot of capital raised by companies. While funding in the first three quarters is down by 5.1% compared with the same time last year, there has still been $6.1bn deployed across 296 investments.
Here are the 29 FinTechs ending 2020 on a high.
China-based Snowball Finance said to close its Series E on $120m
Snowball Finance reportedly collected $120m in its Series E funding, which was entirely supplied by China-based investment fund Orchid Asia. The funds will be used to upgrade its services and deepen its wealth management services. Capital will also be used to hire more staff, according to a report from Deal Street Asia. Founded in 2010, the company’s Xueqiu platform delivers real-time cross-border market information, data and analysis of the investment market. Its services cover the Hong Kong and US stock markets.
GoCardless edges closer to unicorn status after close of $95m round
GoCardless, a UK-based payments company, allegedly hit a valuation of $970m, after the close of a $95m Series F round. The round puts the FinTech within touching distance of becoming the latest UK FinTech unicorn. The Series F was backed by Bain Capital Ventures, according to a report from TechCrunch. Funds from the round will help the FinTech improve its open banking strategy, which combines open banking account-to-account payments with a global bank debit payments network. Capital will also help it expand into adjacent e-commerce markets and will launch more tools. The FinTech, which has witnessed a 46% year-on-year growth, offers invoice, subscription, membership and instalment payments.
France-based Lydia extends its Series B to hit $131m
Lydia, a mobile payments app, collected an additional $83m for its Series B. The round extension, which was led by global venture capital firm Accel, brings the total round funding to $131m. With the equity infusion, the company hopes to accelerate its product roadmap, grow its global footprint and continue its European expansion. Its platform enables users to receive, send and manage their money through a single app. Features include contactless payments, sending money to friends, instant loans, shared accounts, debit cards and more.
BigID hits unicorn status after the close of latest funding round
Data discovery and data intelligence platform BigID has become one of the last RegTech companies to reach unicorn status in 2020. The RegTech company surpassed the $1bn valuation mark after the close of a $70m funding round. Salesforce and Tiger Global led the round, with capital also coming from Glynn Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Scale Venture Partners and Boldstart Ventures. BigID offers a data intelligence platform which helps organizations get detailed insight into what or whose data they collect and process. Clients of BigID can find, classify, inventory and map their sensitive data and automate critical data privacy, protection, and governance tasks such as data rights and sharing.
HR platform Hibob collects $70m in its Series B round
Hibob a HR platform, bagged a $70m Series B funding round, which was led by SEEL and Israel Growth Partners. A number of the FinTech’s previous investors also joined the round, These included Bessemer Venture Partners, Battery Ventures, Eight Roads Ventures, Arbor Ventures, Presidio Ventures, Entrée Capital, Cerca Partners and Perpetual Investors. Having closed the round, the company is increasing its global expansion efforts. Hibob offers a HR platform that helps dynamic teams of in-office and remote workers. Its tools include payroll, onboarding, time and attendance, compensation, and more.
InsurTech company Bestow closes its second funding this year
Bestow, a full-stack digital life insurance platform, closed its Series C round on $70m, coming just months after it closed its Series B. Breyer Capital, Valar Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Core Innovation Ventures, Morpheus Ventures and Sammons Financial supported the fresh round. With the capital, Bestow is looking to launch new products, scale the platform services and accelerate the establishment of new distribution channels and partnerships. The InsurTech helps consumers buy a policy on their mobile device within five minutes.
Solactive secures €50m to support its international expansion
Solactive, a technology-powered supplier of indices and index solutions, scored €50m in funding to help it with international expansion. Summit Partners, a global growth equity firm, supplied the capital through a minority investment. In addition to international expansion, Solactive hopes to grow its technology and infrastructure teams and increase its product offerings. Solactive delivers tailor-made index solutions for ETFs and other index-linked investments across equity, fixed income and multi-asset class strategies.
Immedis nets fresh funding to bring its business valuation to $575m
Global payroll solution developer Immedis reached a $575m valuation following the close of a $50m strategic investment. Growth-stage investment firm Lead Edge Capital led the round, with support also coming from Scottish Equity Partners. Immedis has earmarked the capital to open an office on the US west coast and in Singapore to support its growth in the US and APAC regions. The FinTech processes payroll in more than 150 countries, offering a unified view of global payroll operations, real-time data analytics and advanced reporting.
Vise AI closes $45m in its Series B round led by Sequoia Capital
Investment management platform Vise AI has closed $45m in its Series B funding round. The funding was led by Sequoia Capital, with capital also coming from Allen & Company, Founders Fund, Greenoaks Capital, Michael Ovitz and Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora. This capital will help the company will deepen an enhance its product and functionalities, as well as expand its team. Founded in 2019, the Vise platform supports the entire lifecycle of the advisor-client relationship via AI-powered automation. This includes determining different investment options and creating customised portfolios tailored to clients’ needs, values and goals.
Self Financial closes Series D round on $40m
Self Financial, which helps consumers build credit and savings, held the final close of its Series D on $40m. Meritech Capital led the investment, with participation also coming from existing Self Financial backers Altos Ventures, Conductive Ventures and Silverton Partners. The investment comes just months after the close of its $20m Series C in February. The FinTech will use this funding to improve its capabilities to better help customers build credit and savings during the pandemic. Self Financial offers tools for its customers geared toward building positive behaviours, such as paying on time and responsibly using credit card.
Neo Financial raises one of the largest Series A round in Western Canada
Canada-based Neo Financial netted CAD 50m ($39.3m) in a funding round comprised of both debt and equity. The FinTech claims this is one of the largest Series A funding rounds to be closed in Western Canada. The equity investment was a CAD 25m ($19.6m) Series A round, which was led by New York-based venture capital firm Valar Ventures. Other backers included Shopify CEO and founder Tobi Lutke, Golden Ventures, Inovia Capital, Thomvest, Afore Capital, Maple VC, FJ Labs and District Ventures. In addition the equity injection, the FinTech received a CAD 25m ($19.6m) debt facility from financial partner ATB Financial. Capital from the Series A will be used to support the rising demand of financial innovation and optionality in Canada. Founded in 2019, the Canadian FinTech offers a mobile app to help consumers get easier access to spending, saving and rewards. The mobile banking app earns users discounts at brands after spending, and offers a savings account with 1.55% interest.
Lendeavor rebrands to Provide after the close of its latest funding round
Lendeavor, which offers finance options for healthcare practices, rebranded to Provide alongside the close of a $34m Series A and B round. QED Investors served as the lead investor, with capital also coming from Fifth Bank, Montage Ventures and Clocktower Technology Ventures. This fresh capital will help the FinTech is going to scale its business bank accounts and insurance products. Provide offers a practice lending service, which enables providers to start, buy or expand healthcare practices. The rebrand came as the company hopes to reflect its aim of simplifying finance for healthcare practices.
Klarna rival Zilch raises $30m to support its continued growth
Zilch, which is a London-based FinTech pegged to be the rival to Klarna, closed an additional $30m in funding to close an oversubscribed pre-Series B in under three weeks. Zilch, which recently became the first UK-based BNPL FinTech to receive a consumer credit authorisation with the Financial Conduct Authority, received the capital from Gauss Ventures and Money Supermarket co-founder Simon Nixon. The buy now, pay later (BNPL) solution provider only came out of stealth mode in September 2020 and has seen transaction volume has grown by over 100% month-on-month.
Indico secures $22m in its Series B round as it looks to bolster its position in the market
Intelligent process automation company Indico secured $22m in its Series B as it looks to broaden its footprint in industry. The round was co-led by Jump Capital and Sandbox Ventures, with previous Indico investors 406 Ventures, Osage Venture Partners, Hyperplane Venture Capital, Boston Seed Capital and Nationwide, also joining the round. Capital will used to enhance its automation technology and double its team size in 2021. Key hires will be made in it sales, partnerships, marketing, finance and solution engineering teams. The FinTech enables clients to automate the intake and understanding of document and image-based workflows across the insurance, financial services and healthcare industries.
Taxdoo secures $21m in Series A led by Accel
Taxdoo, automated financial compliance platform, closed its Series A round on $21m. The lead investor was London-based investor Accel, while supporting investors including Visionaries Club, 20VC and existing shareholder High-Tech Gründerfonds. The funds will help Taxdoo continue its development roadmap and make key hires to its team. Taxdoo has developed a sales-tax automation software that can manage sales tax in online retail. The platform collects relevant data from marketplaces, online shops and ERP systems on a daily basis.
PhonePe bags investment from Flipkart just days after its partial spinout
PhonePe, a digital payments app, reportedly collected a $20m investment from e-commerce giant Flipkart. This funding is separate from the $700m raised by PhonePe earlier in the month, according to a report from Deal Street Asia. Last week, Flipkart also announced it was making a partial spinout from PhonePe. The e-commerce giant had reduced its ownership in the FinTech from 100% down to 87%. PhonePe offers a mobile payments app that lets users transfer money instantly to anyone through their mobile number.
GDPR compliance platform Usercentrics nets €17m in its Series B
Consent management solution provider Usercentrics has netted €17m in its Series B funding round. Full In Partners, a growth equity firm, led the round. Other contributions came from Alstin Capital, Reimann Investors, and Cavalry Ventures. This funding will help the FinTech increase its footprint in North America. The RegTech company’s solution enables companies and website operators to obtain, manage and document the valid consent of their visitors for the event of an audit. Its platform helps firms to ensure they maintain compliance with GDPR.
Privacy compliance platform Sourcepoint scores $17m in funding
Privacy compliance platform for digital marketing Sourcepoint netted $17m in its fresh equity round. Arrowroot Capital served as the lead investor. Funds will help the company’s global expansion plans of the company, as well as increase its market share across North America and Europe. Funds will also help to increase its research and development efforts to monitor changes in regulations.
PlainID closes off strong year with an $11m funding round
PlainID, a developer of authorisation solutions, scored $11m in a funding round. The investment was supported by a mixture of new and existing investors, including Viola Ventures, INcapital Ventures, Capri Ventures, iAngels, Springtide Ventures and Vintage Investment Partners. The company helps firms govern, administer and control those accessing assets on a digital landscape.
GRC platform LogicGate collects $8.75m in its latest funding round
Automated governance, risk and compliance (GRC) platform LogicGate secured $8.75m in a growth capital round from Greenspring Associates and Silicon Valley Bank. This funding will help the company continue its growth trajectory. The RegTech has witnessed strong growth this year, with revenue growing by over 100%. LogicGate, which is headquartered in Chicago, designs workflow automation software for GRC, enabling businesses to automate and operationalise compliance programmes through pre-built process templates.
Online investment platform Neufund snags €4m in new funding round
Digital investment platform Neufund collected €4m in a funding round. The investment was led by Atlantic Labs and Factory Berlin founder Udo Schloemer. Other backers included Freigeist Capital and DCM founder and managing director Dario Suter. With the round closed, the FinTech hopes to obtain a financial license, increase the development of new products and hire more staff. Founded in 2016, Neufund connects companies seeking capital with more than 11,000 investors, including individuals, venture firms, business angels and non-professionals.
Polish FinTech SMEO nets €4m to support development of its factoring solution
Poland-based SMEO raked in a €4m investment to support the development of its online factoring solution for small and medium-sized businesses. Finch Capital and Precapital supplied the capital for the round. With the equity, the company plans to grow its factoring capabilities to address a broader customer base, as well as support its international expansion. The platform utilises an automated scoring system built through machine learning, which combines credit databases with alternative scoring techniques and PSD2-enabled bank account analysis. The automated processes empowers SMEO to factor invoices of up to €125,000, with a low default rate.
CNote raises $3m to develop its investing technology aimed at boosting economic inclusion
CNote, which helps individuals to invest into economic inclusion, secured $3m in an oversubscribed private funding round. ManchesterStory led the round, with support also coming from Artemis Fund, SixThirty Ventures, H/L Ventures, Clearstone Capital and Lateral Capital. This equity will enable the company to extend its reach in the fast-growing investing space. Founded in 2016, CNote has been developing technology to unlock access to investments in racial equity, economic justice and gender equity to help close the wealth gap in communities across the US.
Mozper nails $3.55m seed round to expand across Latin America
Mozper, which helps children manage their pocket money secured $3.55m in seed capital to expand across Latin America. The seed round was led by Hetz Ventures, with support also coming from F-Prime Capital, Foundation Capital and Secocha Ventures, Dux Capital and John Farrell. The startup’s mobile app and physical debit card are designed to help teenagers build better money management habits, monitor balances, make payments and receive money top-ups from parents.
RegTech platform eXate collects £2.3m in its seed funding round
UK-based data privacy startup eXate collected £2.3m in its seed funding round, which was led by Outward VC. Other backers included ING Ventures and Triple Point Ventures. Funds from the investment will be used to accelerate the growth of the platform, growing the size of its team and expanding into new geographies and verticals. eXate claims to be democratising data privacy for organisations by providing a simple embedded platform that automates the technical enforcement of data policies, solving the large-scale challenges created by the changing data privacy requirements.
Pro skater Tony Hawk and The Chainsmokers join the Series B round of Public.com
Public.com, a social network for investing, has scored $65m in its Series C round. Accel marked its third time as lead investor to a Public.com funding round. Other backers to the series investment included Lakestar, Greycroft and Advancit Capital. A number of angel investors also contributed, including professional skateboarder and entrepreneur Tony Hawk, business executive and The Chainsmokers’ MANTIS VC. Public.com is an investing social network where members can own fractional shares of stocks and ETFs, follow popular creators and share ideas with the community.
Qupital said to extend its Series A round to support growth in China
Hong Kong-headquartered Qupital has reportedly bagged a Series A extension round to grow its services internationally. The fresh equity was supplied by Decacorn Capital, Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, MindWorks Ventures and CreditEase, according to a report from E27. This fresh batch of equity was raised to extend its reach beyond Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen, to other areas in China, including Beijing, Guangzhou and Hangzhou. Qupital’s B2B platform aims to provide customers with quality financing services and solutions through a digitised financing process employing big data and credit assessment models.
Funding Societies scores investment from Samsung Ventures
Southeast Asia SME lending platform Funding Societies has received an investment from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation. In addition to this investment, Funding Societies has scored credit lines from Asian and European financial institutions to help it support more small and medium-sized enterprises. This investment from Samsung will also start a strategic alliance between the two and introduce prospective partnerships and collaboration. With the capital, the FinTech plans to expand its technology team across the Southeast Asia region. Funds will also be used to support the development of the firm’s strategic and new business models. Funding Societies is a P2P lending platform which helps connect SMEs with retail and institutional investors.
Lukka closes its Series C round to expand its product suite
Crypto asset software and data provider Lukka closed its Series C funding round to deepen its product suite. State Street Corporation led the round, with S&P Global and CPA.com also contributing. Funds will help Lukka to expand its institutional grade software and data products to traditional businesses and funds as they adopt crypto assets into their businesses and portfolios. Founded in 2014, the company claims to transform blockchain and crypto asset data into easy-to-use information so businesses can support traditional middle and back-office operations.
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