Avenue One, a PropTech service platform, was the only FinTech unicorn in May 2023 after raising $100m in their first venture funding round, led by WestCap. The latest funding put the company’s valuation at $1bn. The company, founded in 2020, helps single-family landlords purchase and sell rental properties. Avenue One doesn’t acquire properties on its own, which helped protect the company when rising interest rates led to a slowdown in the purchases of rental homes. “We’re pretty excited about where we find ourselves in the context of the market right now,” Co-founder Ryan Stroker said. “Most people are on their heels, trying to adjust to the big changes that are occurring. We’re really on the offense.” He said Avenue One aims to use the new funding to enhance its technology offering and expand an online marketplace to assist landlords in hiring service providers such as contractors and real estate agents.
Looking forward in 2023, Who are the FinTech Soonicorns to watch?
Based on current trends likely candidates for unicorn status will be utilising AI. In May 2023 two out of the three total new unicorns were AI companies.
Botkeeper, a bookkeeping automation platform, has raised a total of $89.5M in funding over four rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Nov 4, 2021 via a Series C round. Botkeeper has a post-money valuation in the range of $100m to $500m as of Jun 18, 2020, according to PrivCo. Based on this 2020 valuation their current valuation could be between $200m to $1bn. Botkeeper is a growing rapidly with three-year revenue growth of 213% and will be a continued target for capital injection.
Zest AI, a financial service company that makes software for credit underwriting, is another likely candidate for unicorn status. Zest AI has raised a total of $157.7M in funding over 8 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Nov 2, 2022 from a Series F round. Zest AI has a post-money valuation in the range of $100m to $500m as of Oct 20, 2020, according to PrivCo. Based on this valuation, Zest AI’s current valuation could be between $200m to $1bn. The company nearly doubled its customer base in 2022 after tripling it in 2021. As of Nov 2022 the company has built over 250 AI-underwriting models.
