This week saw the US dominate the top FinTech deals, with six of the top ten deals coming from the region. CyberTech also stole the show this week.
The biggest deals this week came from Circle Internet Financial, an internet finance firm, and Critical Start, a CyberTech, raising $400m and $215m, respectively. Both firms are headquartered in the US.
The CyberTech sector also saw significant investment this week with CertiK, and Silverfort raking in $88m and $65, respectively, in addition to Critical Start’s impressive $215m.
Here are the 18 deals that took place this week.
Circle Internet Financial secures $400m
Circle Internet Financial an internet finance firm and the issue of the USD coin, has secured $400m from an investment round.
The investments came from BlackRock, Fidelity Management and Research, Fin Capital and Marshall Wace. The funding round is expected to conclude in the second quarter.
Established in 2013, Circle enables businesses to harness stablecoins and public blockchains for payments, commerce and financial applications worldwide.
Alongside the funding and its role as a primary asset manager for USDC cash reserves, BlackRock has entered into a broader strategic partnership with Circle, which will involve exploring capital market applications for USDC.
Circle previously secured $440m in funding back in June 2021.
Critical Start scores $215m
Critical Start, a provider of managed detection and response cybersecurity solutions, has scored $215m in strategic growth funding from Vista Equity Partners.
Critical Start’s MDR platform simplifies breach prevention by helping companies identify, assess and respond to cyber threats in real-time while analysing threat data to inform future responses.
According to Critical Start, its technology and security operation center analysts leverage a deep pool of behavioural data to automatically resolve over 99% of security alerts, reduce risk acceptance and improve team productivity.
The company claims it has experienced ‘rapid growth’ as enterprises cope with rising volumes of threats and a wide cybersecurity talent app, putting its services in high demand. The firm said it has grown ARR by more than 400% over the last three years and has diversified its channel network across 90 channel partners through its integrations with third-party cybersecurity software providers such as Microsoft and SentinelOne.
Voyager Innovations lands $210m
Voyager Innovations, the Philippines-based technology company behind the end-to-end money platform PayMaya and neobank Maya Bank, has raised $210m.
SIG Venture Capital, the Asian venture capital arm of SIG, led the round. Other new investors included Singapore-based global investor EDBI and investment holding company First Pacific Company. The funding propels Voyager to a $1.4bn valuation.
Also participating in the round was Voyager’s existing shareholders PLDT, the Philippines largest integrated telecommunications company; KKR, a global investment firm; Tencent, a leading technology company; International Finance Corporation, and IFC Emerging Asia Fund and IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund, two funds managed by the IFC Asset Management Company, a division of IFC.
Voyager said it will use the new funds to launch Maya Bank services, such as savings and credit, which will be offered across PayMaya’s platforms for consumers and enterprises, including micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises or MSMEs. It will also continue to expand PayMaya’s offering with new products like cryptocurrency, micro-investments, insurance, and more.
Newfront rakes in $200m
Newfront, a modern insurance brokerage platform, has raised $200m at a $2.2bn valuation.
The round was led by the Growth Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management and B Capital with participation from existing investors including Founders Fund and Meritech Capital.
Newfront said it is transforming the delivery of risk management, employee experience, insurance, and retirement solutions by building the modern insurance platform.
The company plans to grow its technology teams and focus in particular on harnessing data-driven insights for clients. It also plans to invest in specialised client resources and experts across a wide variety of industries and expand across the US.
Social impact FinTech Wagestream closes $175m round
Wagestream, a flexible pay and financial well-being app founded by charities and designed for frontline workers, has closed a $175m Series C round.
The round comprises $60m equity investment led by new investors Smash Capital, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, and $115m in debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank.
Wagestream said that historically, frontline workers have been excluded or forced to pay more for the financial services they need compared to those making a set salary or higher wages. With a social charter at its core, Wagestream was founded in 2018 by Peter Briffett (CEO), Portman Wills (CTO) and a group of leading financial charities to solve this problem by giving people access to a set of fairer financial services, delivered through their employer, and built around flexible pay (also known as earned wage access).
Originally launched in the UK, the Series C capital primarily will be used to scale up Wagestream’s presence in the US, the company’s fastest-growing market.
Workers access Wagestream through participating employers, who subsidise the service. The app syncs with payroll systems and allows employees to access and manage their income either directly through the app, or as an integration with workforce management technology partners such as OneSource Virtual.
Additionally, with financial inclusion in mind, the app provides users with a variety of financial services to help them build up their financial health over time. For example, people can choose how often they’re paid, track their shifts and pay each day, build savings and win prizes, access free financial coaching, and soon get fairer deals on financial products such as insurance and credit, than they would have access to elsewhere.
CertiK raises $88m
CertiK, a blockchain security startup, has raised $88m in a Series B3 funding round co-led by Advent International, Insight Partners and Tiger Global.
Also participating in the raise were Goldman Sachs, Sequoia and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Following this raise, CertiK has reached a valuation of $2bn.
Founded in 2018, CertiK claims to be a pioneer in blockchain security. Its AI technology is able to audit and monitor blockchain protocols and smart contracts.
Clients can use the technology to build applications with security and correctness at the heart. Its Skynet solution utilises on-chain and off-chain data to provide real-time insights into the security of DeFi applications.
The company claims it has already protected over $300bn in cryptocurrency and is well positioned to help firms prevent cryptocurrency losses which have already climbed over $1bn this year.
According to CertiK, it will use the new funding to build more security products as well as hiring new talent for its end-to-end product strategy.
Silverfort closes $65m round
Silverfort, an identity security platform, has closed a Greenfield Partners-led Series C funding round on $65m.
The round also saw participation from Acrew Capital, Vintage Investment Partners, Aspect Ventures, Citi Ventures, Maor Investments, StageOne Ventures, Singtel Innov8 and GM Ventures. Following this raise, Silverfort has raised just over $100m since inception.
Founded in 2016, Israel-based Silverfort is a provider of what it claims to be the first unified identity protection platform. This platform, the firm states, consolidates security controls across corporate networks and cloud environments to block identity-based attacks.
The company claims that the platform can stop the attacks without modifying the customer’s infrastructure or applications and can help protect previously unsupported resources such as legacy systems, service accounts and industrial OT systems.
Silverfort plans to use the influx of capital to help it scale its business, hire new talent globally and continue to expand its platform.
Lilt pulls in $55m
Lilt, a global experience platform, has raised $55m in Series C funding, bringing the company’s total raised to $92.5m.
The round was led by Four Rivers, joined by new investors Sorenson Capital, CLEAR Ventures and Wipro Ventures, and with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital, Intel Capital, Redpoint Ventures and XSeed Capital.
Headquartered in San Francisco, Lilt enables organisations to build and deliver multilingual experiences at scale across every step of the global customer journey through its translation technology and services.
The Lilt Platform uses AI and automation to make the localisation process faster, better, and simpler, bringing human-powered, technology-assisted translations to global enterprises. Lilt gives industry-leading organisations like Intel, ASICS, Emerson, UIPath, and Canva everything they need to scale their global experience programs and go-to-market faster.
Tive raises $54m
Tive, a provider of real-time supply chain visibility insights, has raised $54m in Series B funding led by AXA Venture Partners.
The round also saw participation from Sorenson Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Fifth Wall, SJF Ventures and Floating Point Ventures as well as the existing investors RRE Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, NextView Ventures, Hyperplane Ventures, Broom Ventures, and Supply Chain Ventures.
Tive said its supply chain visibility insights help logistics professionals actively manage their in-transit shipments’ location and condition.
With Tive, shippers, carriers and logistics service providers (LSPs) eliminate delays, damage and shipment failures. Tive’s solution provides data generated by its industry-leading trackers allowing clients to actively optimise their shipments, improve their customer’s experience, and unlock supply chain insights in an actionable real-time manner, the company said.
Stenn secures $50m
Stenn, a digital financing platform for global SMEs, has secured $50m from an equity funding round with US investor Centerbridge to hit a valuation of $900m.
Based in the UK, Stenn claims it provides fast, innovative financing to fill in the funding gaps that arise in international supply chains, solving the working capital needs of suppliers, intermediaries, and buyers of goods.
Since it was founded in 2015, Stenn has provided over 6bn of financing to SMEs across more than 70 countries over a wide range of different sectors. To date, the compnay’s platform – which uses big data and tailored algorithms to analyse credit, fraud and compliance risks – has financed over $1bn of transactions.
EvolutionIQ lands Series A
EvolutionIQ, a claims guidance platform for insurance carriers, has raised $21m in Series A funding.
The round was led by Brewer Lane Ventures, with participation from all major seed investors, including FirstRound Capital, FirstMark Capital and Foundation Capital, and new participation from Altai Ventures and Asymmetric Capital Partners. Industry-leading strategic investors including Reliance Standard Life, New York Life Ventures, Guardian Life and Sedgwick, a leading global risk, benefits, and integrated solutions company also joined the round.
EvolutionIQ actively monitors every open claim to guide frontline operators to those that require more attention, new actions, or complex decision-making.
The company said insurance carriers and third party administrators using EvolutionIQ report increased claim capacity and lower claim cost. Those using the software for over a year saw loss ratio reductions of up to 3.3% and claim flow-through reductions of up to 45% directly attributable to EvolutionIQ.
The funding will largely be used to expand the engineering, data science, product, and customer success teams who are responsible for the company’s growth, including the development of new AI modules.
Carmoola raises £27m
London-based Carmoola, which claims to turn car finance on its head, has raised £27m in seed funding.
The round was led by Jaguar Land Rover’s investment fund, InMotion Ventures, VentureFriends, BCI, Truesight Ventures and California-based Clocktower Ventures. The seed round also included a host of high-profile angels that have backed companies such as Revolut, Marshmallow, Clearscore and Monzo, including the former managing director of Google (UK and Ireland), Dan Cobley.
Founded by British and Ukrainian executives: Aidan Rushby, Amy McKechnie, Roman Sumnikov, and Igor Gordiichuk; Carmoola said it empowers consumers with a budget and finance decision in 60 seconds, giving them the freedom to buy a vehicle instantly with a virtual card online at places like Cazoo, cinch or at any car dealership.
Cutting out the middleman, saving buyers money with better value finance and discounts for choosing green cars, Carmoola aims to breaks the rigidity of traditional contracts, allowing motorists the flexibility to adjust terms and payments simply in-app.
Fundamental Labs backs Binance.US
Fundamental Labs, one of the most active Web3 and digital asset-focussed venture capital firms, has invested $20m in crypto currency exchange platform Binance.US.
The deal was part of Binance.US’s first seed fundraising round which netted the cryptocurrency exchange platform $200m at a pre-money valuation of $4.5bn.
Henry Love, managing partner, led the deal for Fundamental Labs and said, “We are thrilled to be a key contributor in Binance.US’s ongoing growth story. The potential for an innovative and reliable platform like Binance.US to be successful in this market was an attraction, however the steps the company has been taking to be a regulated and compliant platform factored significantly in our investment decision.”
Today, there are more than 85 tokens and 190 trading pairs available on Binance.US. Binance.US has been granted licenses to operate in 45 states and 8 territories.
re:cap extends seed round
Berlin-based FinTech re:cap has extended its seed financing round to $15m following support from Mudadala Capital.
The seed round also includes $100m of liquidity raised for its funding platform alongside the $15m raise.
re:cap claims the addition of Mubadala Capital further strengthens re:cap’s international network and access to a broad base of successful software companies.
re:cap’s funding platform enales reccuring revenue businesses to convert up to 50% of their ARR into instant, non-dilutive upfront cash. The platform also grants institutional investors access to an entirely new asset class as they are able to invest directly in the recurring revenues of software companies.
Coinpanion widens seed round
Coinpanion, a start-up for easy entry into the world of crypto investments, has widened its seed round from €1.8m to €5.5m.
Taking part in the seed extension were Wicklow Capital, Ledger, Blockchain.com, NYDIG and Crusoe Energy Systems. Angel investors included Andreas Kupke, Moritz Thiele and Michael Pötscher.
There was also support from existing investors such as Florian Gschwandtner, Hansi Hansmann and High-Tech Gründerfonds.
Austria-based Coinpanion enables anyone to profit from the cryptocurrency. The company accompanies the customer through the entire process from single market entry to ongoing optimisation of crypto investments and automated tax reporting.
Zevoy raises €15m
Zevoy, an expense management company, has raised 15m in a Series A funding round led by Blossom Capital.
The funding round also saw participation from new investors such as Maki.vc and Bright Ventures.
Founded in 2020, Zevoy is an expense management business that is looking to create a simple, seamless and efficient expense management solution for companies.
Since its launch, the company has secured FSA approvals and has gained Visa Principal Membership as well as launching an all-in-one Visa card running on Zevoy ecosystem. Zevoy is also expecting to secure a credit institution licence this year as well as expand its operation to multiple European markets.
Zevoy is looking to launch in eight new markets during the second quarter of this year with its new funding.
RentRedi rakes in $12m
RentRedi, a property management software for landlords, has raised $12m in Series A funding, led by KI Investment Management.
The round also saw participation from TIA Ventures, Tribeca Early Stage Partners and RiverPark Ventures. To date, RentRedi has raised $17m.
Co-founded by a father and son team, Ryan Barone (CEO and CTO) and Ed Barone (CMO), RentRedi said it has seen accelerated growth in the last two years, despite external challenges in the real estate industry.
With features like mobile and web apps, automated rent collection, free listing syndications, tenant screening, maintenance, credit boosting for on-time payments, lease signing, and accounting, RentRedi has created and scaled its platform to support its 10K+ landlords and has partnered with ProPay, Realtor.com, TransUnion, REI Hub, and Latchel to create a better user experience.
Since 2020, the platform has added more than 10,000 actively subscribed landlords who manage 85,000+ properties. With this funding round, the company will scale its mobile-first technology and ultimately streamline the renting process for both landlords and their tenants.
InsurTech Emma closes $6m round
Canadian InsurTech Emma has closed a $6m Series A funding round led by prominent Canadian investors Life Capital, Investissement Québec, and Tactico.
In its push to disrupt the insurance industry, Emma said it will use the funds to provide its insurance products in all Canadian provinces, double the size of its current team, and build new products.
Thanks to its strategic partnership with the insurance company Humania Assurance, Emma is able to build its own insurance products. While the startup currently offers life insurance in Canada, it is also looking to bringing more inclusivity and accessibility with a series of new products.
A year after taking part in the inaugural cohort of Intuit Prosperity Accelerator, Emma said it has grown by more than 500% and is now looking to help even more Canadian families get the right life insurance coverage.
Felix Deschatelets, Emma’s CEO and co-founder, said, “It’s no secret that the demand for truly modern life insurance products has skyrocketed in the past years. With seasoned investors, strong partners, and a talented team, we now have the means to fulfil our ambitions and become families’ most loved insurance solution.”
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