While the world is only one week into 2022, FinTech companies are already raising capital as they prepare for another year.
Despite many industries seeing 2021 as another year of survival, the FinTech industry was one of the lucky few to excel. While the exact figures have not been calculated, the FinTech sector is likely to have exceeded $1trn in total investment volume. A report from Forbes claims $91.5bn was invested into FinTech companies during the first three quarters of 2021. Making this impressive milestone even more so is that this figure is nearly twice as much as what the sector amassed in 2020.
As more people become vaccinated there is hope 2022 will be the year everything goes back to normal. With this comes the prospect of more capital being invested into the FinTech sector.
If the first week of 2021 is anything to go by, 2022 could be another strong year for the global FinTech sector. A number of companies managed to close $100m+ funding rounds this year, including challenger bank giant Monzo. The company went through a tough 2020, including the loss of staff, a devaluation and its founder stepping down, but 2021 was much stronger. It finished the year at a $4.5bn valuation and has now raised more capital to continue its growth efforts.
Funding rounds are not the only growth opportunities on the minds of FinTech companies. Last year saw several FinTech companies go public, including retail investing giant Robinhood, and many more could follow in 2022.
One hopeful is Justworks, which decided to kickstart the year with an updated initial public offering filing, as it looks to launch on the Nasdaq Global Select Market later this year. The company, which is a cloud-based software platform that gives small and medium-sized businesses access to benefits, payroll, human resources, and compliance support, could be valued at $2bn through the sale.
Here are the 28 FinTech companies to raise capital last week.
Fractal scores $360m
The biggest investment round of last week was raised by Fractal, a global provider of AI and advanced analytics solutions. It raised $360m from private equity firm TPG, which leveraged its Asia-focused division TPG Capital Asia for the deal.
This deal saw TPG purchase a combination of primary and secondary shares from Funds advised Apax, who will remain a major shareholder of Fractal following the deal’s close.
Fractal’s mission is to develop AI technology for companies across the financial services, insurance, retail, healthcare and telecoms industries. For financial services, its technology has been used to prevent fraud, enable continuous monitoring of business operations, optimise online customer experiences and provide insights to support business growth.
PayFit becomes first French FinTech unicorn of 2022
Last year saw 457 companies earn their unicorn status; however, it was the FinTech sector that led the way making up 151 of these new titleholders. While there are bound to be many more this year, PayFit was one of the first FinTech companies to exceed a $1bn valuation in 2022.
The payroll and HR management platform managed to hit a €1.82bn valuation after it closed its Series E funding round on €254m. The investment round was led by global growth equity investor General Atlantic, with commitments also coming from Eurazeo, Accel Ventures and Bpifrance.
PayFit, which is based in France, offers an integrated payroll and HR management solution that offers tools for reporting, pension submission, expenses, onboarding, leaves and absences, and more.
Its previous investment was a €90m Series D round, which it closed in March 2021.
Indian commerce FinTech bags $250m
Udaan, which connects small retailers with wholesalers and traders via a B2B marketplace, raised $200m through a convertible note financing and $50m through a debt funding round.
The details were revealed by TechCrunch, but the names of the investors were not disclosed. It did state the round had been oversubscribed twice and there were five new investors into the company through the deal.
While the valuation of Udaan was not given, the FinTech company was previously valued at $1.9bn in 2019, which came after it closed a $585m Series D round.
Colombian FinTech Addi raises $200m
The buy now, pay later sector continues to become increasingly popular, despite the concerns it raises around customer protection. Colombia-based Addi is another BNPL service that continues to rapidly grow, raising $200m in a mixture of debt and equity to support its expansion plans. This funding round puts its valuation at around $700m.
This capital was raised to help the FinTech company bolster its presence in the Latin American region.
While the investors of this round were not revealed, Addi’s previous funding round, which closed on $75m last year, was supported by Greycroft, GGV Capital, Intersection Growth Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Citius VC, Endeavor Catalyst, Foundation Capital, Monashees and Quona Capital.
Credit card company scored $140m
Petal, which helps more people access credit cards, collected $140m in its Series D round last week.
The investment was led by Californian investment firm Tarsadia Investments, with commitments also coming from Valar Ventures, CUNA Mutual, Encore Bank, Volery Capital Partners, Gopher Asset Management, RiverPark Ventures, Afore Capital, Gaingels, as well as many others.
The FinTech company leverages a potential customer’s banking history and assesses creditworthiness based on income, spending and savings. With this method, it hopes to give consumers that have never used credit before, with an easy way to get a credit card.
UK challenger bank giant Monzo gets Tencent support
Monzo received a $100m top-up funding round that involved Chinese tech company, and major investor, Tencent. The details were not disclosed, but it is believed Tencent only invested a minority of the total capital injection.
This investment round comes hot off the heels of Monzo’s $500m investment round in December 2021. The round, which valued it at $4.5bn, was led by Abu Dhabi Growth Fund and garnered support from Coatue, Alpha Wave Ventures, Accel and Goodwater.
The company is currently under an investigation from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority for potential breaches of financial crime and money laundering. The bank said it had been notified by the regulator about the investigation, which is still in its early stages.
Human Security scores $100m investment
Anti-bot and fraud detection company Human Security raked in $100m in a round led by WestCap. The deal was also backed by NightDragon and comes a year after it was acquired by Goldman Sachs’ merchant banking division.
Founded in 2012, the company helps enterprises protect themselves from bot attacks. Its Human Verification Engine protects applications, APIs and digital media from bot attacks, preventing losses and improving the digital experience for humans.
The capital injection will be used by Human Security to expand its product categories.
Digital asset technology firm Sygnum collects $90m
Sygnum hit an $800m valuation following the close of its Series B round on $90m. The deal was led by Sun Hung Kai & Co. and also received commitments from existing strategic investors, including Meta Investments, Animoca Brans, and Wemade.
The FinTech company, which has a Swiss banking license and Singapore asset management license, will use the capital injection to accelerate the development of new institutional-grade Web 3.0 offerings. It also plans to enter new global markets and create new products with strategic investors.
Sygnum offers a fully-regulated suite of integrated digital asset financial products and services, including bank-grade digital asset custody and fiat rails, spot and options trading, cryptocurrency-backed fiat loans, innovative digital asset-focused asset management products, asset tokenisation solutions and more.
Sygnum co-founder and group CEO Mathias Imbach said, “The digital asset economy is rapidly crossing the chasm to mainstream adoption, where investors will demand fully-regulated solutions as they accelerate their exposure.
“This financing round is a key milestone in our global expansion and in our mission to empower everyone everywhere to own digital assets with complete trust.”
Authentication company iProov lands $70m
iProov collected $70m in a growth investment from Silicon Valley-based Sumeru Equity Partners. The deal came after a strong year of growth for the RegTech company, culminating in it tripling its revenues.
With the fresh equity, the company plans to bolster its position in the US market, expand its global partner network and grow its international customer base.
The RegTech company ensures that online users are genuinely present in uncontrolled environments, combining face biometrics and anti-spoofing. It claims its technology can detect and prevent all known types of identity spoofing.
Alto Solutions nabs $40m round
Self-directed IRA platform Alto Solutions bagged $40m in its Series B funding round. The deal was led by Advance Venture Partners, with contributions also coming from Unusual Ventures, Acrew Capital, Alpha Edison, Foundation Capital, Gaingels and Coinbase Ventures.
With the funds, Alto Solutions hopes it can broaden its capabilities, as well as hire new staff and release new tools.
Alto Solutions streamlines the process for investors, investment funding portals and investment sponsors. Consumers can select their IRA type and then start investing with a network of 75 partners.
The company previously raised $17m in its Series A round back in April 2021.
PayTech company Tribal Credit pulls in $34.4m
Tribal Credit, a payment FinTech company aimed at small and medium-sized businesses in emerging markets, received $34.3m in funding comprised of both Series A funding and debt.
Technology-focused venture capital firms QED Investors and Partners for Growth (PFG) led the round. Existing Tribal Credit backers BECO Capital, Global Ventures, OTG Ventures and Endure Capital, as well as new investor Endeavor Catalyst, also committed capital to the round. Furthermore, non-profit organisation Stellar Development Foundation invested $3m to Tribal Credit.
The provider of the debt was not revealed.
This capital injection will help the company enhance its blockchain products and integrate onto the Stellar Network.
PE firm Insight Partners leads Spenmo’s funding round
Business payment management solution Spenmo raised $34m in its Series A funding round, which was led by private equity firm insight Partners.
Other commitments to the round, which was oversubscribed by a multiple of five, came from Addition, Salesforce Ventures, Alpha JWC, Global Founders’ Capital, Broadhaven, Operator Partners and Commerce Ventures. The round also secured support from a series of angel investors.
With the capital injection, the FinTech company is looking to boost its market share and reach more SMEs across the Southeast Asia region. Spenmo claims this is one of the largest Series A rounds raised by a Y Combinator-backed company in Southeast Asia.
The Singaporean FinTech company offers smart corporate cards and automated bill payments enable businesses to pay bills, track and categorise spend and automate the majority of their books.
CyberTech company Xage closes Series B
Zero-trust security company Xage picked up $30m in its Series B funding round. The investment was led by San Francisco-based venture firm Piva, and was also backed by Momenta, Valor Equity Partners and OurCrowd, as well as several existing backers.
The company plans to use the funds to expand its reach and bolster its protection efforts.
Its flagship solution accelerates and simplifies the way enterprises secure, manage and transform digital operations across OT, IT and cloud.
Goldfinch swoops up $25m
Decentralised credit protocol Goldfinch received a $25m investment round, which was led by Andreessen Horowitz. The round was backed by Bill Ackman, Blocktower, Kingsway Capital, Helicap, YC Alumni Fund, Jinglan Wang, MSA Capital, as well as all of Goldfinch’s existing investors.
The FinTech company, which enjoyed a strong 2021, hopes to use the capital to deepen its protocol and boost financial inclusion.
Goldfinch is a decentralised credit protocol that leverages cryptocurrency to empower financial inclusion around the world. Its goal is to build a global network that enables anyone to lend someone money. Last year, active loans on the protocol doubled every two months, increasing from $250k at the start of the year to $39m by the end.
CellPoint Digital bags $25m
Founded in 2007, CellPoint Digital provides digital payment platforms that enable airlines, travel companies and any other merchants. The company kicked off 2021 with a $25m equity financing round from Toscafund and its private equity arm Penta Capital.
Pine Labs gets support from State Bank of India
The Indian buy now, pay later company received $20m from India’s largest commercial bank, State Bank of India.
Pine Labs, which was founded back in 1998, helps connect financial institutions and consumer brands through offline and online retail transactions. Its services are used by one million merchants in India and other Asian countries.
The FinTech unicorn previously raised $285m in a funding round back in May 2021, which had valued the business at $3bn.
Rupifi bags funds to support small businesses in India
Tiger Global and Bessemer Venture Partners co-led the $25m investment round into B2B payments FinTech Rupifi.
The round, which also received support from Quona Capital and Ankur Capital, came just months after Rupifi raised $1m.
Founded in 2020, India-based Rupifi has designed software to streamline buy now, pay later services on digital B2B platforms. The platform also provides the user with credit line statements, upcoming payment reminders and more.
Vietnamese FinTech raises $20m
Vietnam’s first digital bank Timo collected $20m in a fresh investment round, which was led by venture capital firm Square Peg. Phoenix Holdings, FinAccel, Granite Oak and Jungle Ventures, also contributed to the equity infusion.
Timo was founded in 2015 and provides consumers with access to a variety of online banking services.
Timo CEO Henry Nguyen said, “This funding round is not only a signal that digital banking is the future in Vietnam, but It also demonstrates investors’ confidence that Timo is leading this important sector.”
Connected ecosystem platform Ockam nets $12.5m
Ockam received a $12.5m investment from backers including Craft Ventures, Future Ventures, SineWave Ventures, OCV and Okta Ventures.
The investment was raised to help Ockam triple its engineering and product teams, as it gears up for its next growth phase. As part of this, the company is looking to hire a head of engineering, head of developer experience and a senior level applied cryptographer.
California-based Ockam, which claims to be one of the growing open source projects on GitHub, helps development teams ensure their data is encrypted and secure.
World’s first SaaS blockchain orchestration platform raises funds
Cion Digital, which claims to be the first SaaS blockchain orchestration platform, closed its seed round on $12m.
Green Visor Capital and 645 Ventures served as the lead backers, with Cota Capital, Epic Ventures, Hourglass Capital Partners, Greycroft, Ulu Ventures and BAT Ventures, also joining the round.
The company, which was founded in 2021, has created a blockchain orchestration platform that allows institutions to build innovative finance solutions by quickly and seamlessly connecting their systems with decentralised finance systems.
This seed capital will help Cion expand its R&D efforts and accelerate the release of crypto financing and payment solutions aimed at financial services companies and big-ticket retailers.
Finexio reels in $10m funding
Payments-as-a-service company Finexio raised $10m in an oversubscribed round. The investment was led by Patriot Financial Partners, with newly launched FinTech Fund Mendon Ventures BankTech Fund also contributing.
Finexio, which was founded in 2015, simplifies accounts payable payments for medium and large-sized corporations through digitised paper checks.
Finexio CEO and founder Ernest Rolfson said, “Our ‘Payments as a Service’ platform allows banks to facilitate rich, personalised buyers and supplier interactions, more meaningful virtual card spend take rates, and more payment methods like international and supply chain finance than anything else out there.”
Trading Technologies International invests into KRM22
KRM22, a software investment company aimed at risk management in capital markets, was provided $6.35m in an investment from professional trading software company Trading Technologies International.
As part of the agreement, TT has entered a distribution agreement to market and distribute KRM22 risk management products. These products will leverage TT’s software-as-a-service platform ecosystem and significantly expand the firm’s risk management offering.
Indonesian FinTech raises pre-seed
UpBanx, which helps content creators, freelancers and brands manage their money, closed its pre-seed round on $5.2m. Y Combinator and Alpha JWC co-led the round, while Alto Partners Multi-Family Office and Number Capital also supplied funds. A number of angel investors also committed to the round.
This fresh equity will help the FinTech company accelerate the development of its products and bolster its business growth initiatives.
Denmark’s ComplyCloud nets €4.5m
ComplyCloud, which has built its own digital software lawyer, landed a €4.5m investment from SEED Capital. With the funds, the company plans to scale into new countries, refine its technology and hire more staff.
The company claims this is the largest seed investment in the legal tech sector to be raised by a company in Denmark and the Nordic region.
Its technology helps automate complex regulatory processes, including GDPR.
CyberTech platform TrojAI bags seed
Cybersecurity platform TrojAI closed its seed round on $2.3m. Seattle’s Flying Fish Ventures and Atlantic Canada’s largest venture capital fund, Build Ventures, served as the lead investors.
The company has earmarked the capital to expand its tool suite to better protect the entire AI pipeline from training through to deployment. This will include protecting training data from data poisoning, which can happen throughout the data supply chain, model evasion attacks which bad actors can use to fool deployed models, and tracking robustness of models to both naturally occurring and malicious long-tailed edge cases.
Furthermore, funds will help the CyberTech company to scale its team.
Supply chain traceability platform Verofax scores pre-Series A round
Verofax nabbed $1.5m in its pre-Series A funding round, which was led by Benson Oak Ventures. Other participants to the round include 500 Startups, Wami Capital and Vernalis Capital.
With the fresh funds, the FinTech company hopes to expand its sales and marketing activities on a global level. Verofax already has its eyes on a Series A round, which is scheduled for some time later this year.
The FinTech company leverages patented technology that incorporates blockchain, augmented reality and artificial intelligence to provide traceability as a service. With this, brands can transform their offline products into interactive ones and better monitor their supply chain to trace goods, fend off counterfeit activities and improve manufacturer’s productivity.
Sunrate bags funding from SoftBank Ventures-led Series C
Shanghai-based FinTech Sunrate raised its Series C funding round this week, however, the size of the investment was not revealed.
SoftBank Ventures Asia acted as the lead investor, with commitments also coming from Banyan Pacific Capital, TDF Impact Investment, Redpoint China, China Growth Capital, JAFCO Asia and K2VC.
The FinTech company, which was founded in 2016, will use the Series C funds to hire more staff, enhance its products and expand across Asia.
Car telematics developer Zubie receives undisclosed investment
Zubie raised a “significant investment” from Decathlon Capital Partners; however, the exact size of the deal was not disclosed.
The InsurTech will use the “multi-million-dollar” investment to expand its et-management platform, release new capabilities and address new markets. The company provides a connected car platform, GPS tracking and fleet-management software. The company has previously been awarded Best Insurance Telematics Product and Best OBDII Device with Software and Services.
Decathlon made the investment as a revenue-based financing solution, which allows Zubie to access capital without needing to sell equity or endure any governance changes.
While 2022 is already off to a flying start, click here to see what the biggest deals of 2021 were.
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