USA dominates on slow week for FinTech deals

October 20, 2023

FinTech funding fell dramatically this week to $364.9m, but despite the lack of big deals, the USA continued to rule the roost, producing two-thirds of the total deals.

This week’s funding rounds were much less plentiful than seven days prior, with only 18 major deals, down eight from the the 26 reported by FinTech Global a week ago. But it wasn’t just the scarcity of deals that caused this round to be much shallower than normal. In fact, it was the magnitude of them.

Ascend Money’s major coup of $150m from a week ago, was almost triple the top honours figure from this round. Nirvana Insurance claimed the slightly lacklustre honour of having the biggest deal – netting an impressive $57m in their Series B funding round – with backing from Lightspeed Venture Partners, General Catalyst and Valor Equity Partners.

Other top deals this week included $50m raised by Procurify in their bid to introduce innovative payment methodologies and gift customers an enriched procure-to-pay experience powered by AI, and $45m for data analytics firm, Nova Credit, who is looking to offer an even broader product spectrum, catering to the intricate demands of today’s lenders.

As touched upon earlier, the USA continued its monopolisation of the top spot in our funding round-up, this week, 12 of the 18 deals went Stateside, in a dominant showing that only further highlights the US investor strength. Reinforcing this point, New York City itself, produced more deals than any other country this week – with four, double that of best-of-the-rest nation, Canada (2).

Despite the one-sided nature of this week’s investments, there was input from many countries globally. Outside of the USA, the aforementioned Canadian companies landed two deals, while Spain, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, all landed one deal respectively.

In terms of sectors, there was a fairly large mixture of deal activity, albeit with FinTech deals taking the top spot with six. Behind that, RegTech (5) and WealthTech (4) jostled for the position of bridesmaid, while the InsurTech and PayTech sectors lagged behind with only two, and one deal, respectively. However, it must be reaffirmed, that this week’s top deal did take place throughout the InsurTech space.

Here are this week’s deals:

Nirvana lands $57m to expand its IoT-based commercial insurance platform

Nirvana Insurance, a provider of modern insurance solutions, has announced the successful closure of a $57m Series B funding round.

Lightspeed Venture Partners, a prominent investor in the firm, led this round, with significant contributions from General Catalyst and Valor Equity Partners.

This substantial funding injection positions Nirvana Insurance to continue its mission of empowering fleets to harness the full potential of IoT and sensor data, unlocking cost savings and tailored risk management solutions.

Procurify secures $50m series C for AI-driven spend management evolution

Procurify, dubbed as the foremost all-in-one spend management solution tailored for mid-market organisations, has successfully raised $50m in its recent Series C funding round.

Spearheaded by Ten Coves Capital, this funding also saw noteworthy contributions from Export Development Canada (EDC). Information Venture Partners, HarbourVest, among others, from the existing investor group, further bolstered the round.

Nova Credit bags $45m to supercharge cash flow underwriting in the credit sector

Nova Credit, the “data analytics firm enabling businesses to achieve sustainable growth by leveraging alternative credit data,” has announced a $45m Series C round.

The capital influx comes courtesy of lead investor Canapi Ventures, with notable contributions from the likes of General Catalyst, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Y Combinator, Avid Ventures, Geodesic Capital, Harmonic Capital, Radiate Capital, and Socium Ventures (Cox Enterprises).

This new wave of investment signifies growing confidence in Nova Credit’s unique blend of products that centre around cash flow underwriting and verification.

Stash Appoints Amy Butte as independent audit chair, secures $40m investment for expansion

Stash has announced the appointment of Amy Butte as its first independent audit chair, following a record-breaking year for the FinTech.

Simultaneously, the company has secured a substantial infusion of $40 million in funding, led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc., with participation from strategic and existing investors such as Goodwater Capital and Union Square Ventures.

With this fresh talent and financial backing, Stash is entering an exciting new phase, marked by a strong focus on profitability.

Prove Identity solidifies position in digital identity market with $40m backing

Prove Identity, a leading name in digital identity solutions, has proudly announced the receipt of a notable $40m funding round.

This significant investment round was spearheaded by the renowned MassMutual Ventures and Capital One Ventures.

In today’s digital landscape, Prove Identity stands out as a true trailblazer in the domain of digital identity verification and authentication. This $40m financial backing, which closely followed a 40% surge in new international customer acquisition this year, reaffirms Prove’s dominant position in the industry.

Fingerprint secures $33m in Series C, paving the way for advanced fraud detection

Fingerprint, the globally renowned device intelligence platform, has successfully procured $33m in a Series C funding round. The venture was spearheaded by Nexus Venture Partners and witnessed participation from Uncorrelated Ventures.

The exceptional platform assists developers in building device identification through adaptable APIs. These APIs excel in pinpointing fraudsters but concurrently provide seamless encounters for legitimate users.

Boasting unparalleled precision, Fingerprint identifies an impressive 99.5% of repeat users in under half a second.

Globacap secures $21m for private capital market digitisation

Globacap, a current front-runner in capital markets technology, has raised $21m in a recent investment haul.

The firm has recently finalised a substantial $21m Series B funding round. This latest financial injection came from renowned names in the capital market sphere, including Moore Strategic Ventures, LLC, Cboe Global Markets, Inc., the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), GABI Ventures, and the eminent Asia-focused investment outfit, QBN Capital.

Pantomath secures $14m Series A funding led by Sierra Ventures

Pantomath, a “data pipeline observability and traceability platform”, has successfully completed a Series A funding round, amassing $14m.

This funding initiative was spearheaded by the Silicon Valley mainstay Sierra Ventures. Notably, the roster of investors also included previous Series Seed contributors Bowery Capital and Epic Ventures.

Diving deeper into the workings of Pantomath, it serves as a platform that offers insights into data pipeline observability and traceability. The company’s origins trace back to 2022 and credit its inception to Somesh Saxena.

$13.5m poured into FinTechs by BankTech Ventures to aid community banking

BankTech Ventures has revealed its sustained dedication to forging brighter futures for community banks with recent investments.

In the latter half of 2023, BankTech Ventures has infused a total of $13.5m across six FinTech companies.

BankTech Ventures has a commendable history of investing, having allocated over $40m in firms chosen specifically for their collaboration with community banks. Their investments strategically target areas crucial to community banks, including revenue, deposit growth, security, compliance, data analysis, and customer marketing.

Enterprise cash flow platform Statement secures $12m in seed funding

Statement, a groundbreaking enterprise cash flow management platform, recently secured $12m as part of its seed funding initiative.

The recent funding round saw significant contributions from Glilot Capital Partners, according to a report from TechCrunch. Notable participants in the tranche included Citi, Mensch Capital Partners, Titan Capital, and Operator Partners.

Idan Vlodinger, co-founder and CEO of Statement, told TechCrunch that these funds would primarily be channelled towards bolstering Statement’s market presence and expediting their product development process.

Veruna bags $10m Series B to revolutionise InsurTech innovation

Veruna, the pioneering agency management system developed natively on Salesforce’s eminent CRM platform, has unveiled a triumphant Series B fundraising round.

The fundraising drive, amassing approximately $10m, attracted prestigious venture capitalists including Berkley Ventures, Guidewire Software, the Institutes, and CoVerica Insurance. Additionally, the injection of capital is bolstered by the continuous backing of seasoned stakeholders such as Keystone Insurers Group and EMC Insurance.

Payments leader Finzly raises $10m in a TZP Growth Equity-backed round

Finzly, a cutting-edge payments infrastructure provider for financial institutions, proudly reported the successful completion of its Series A funding round.

The recent $10m injection came primarily from TZP Growth Equity.

Leading the market in both domestic and international payments, Finzly simplifies operations for financial institutions by unifying all payment rails into one cohesive platform, termed the “payments core”.

Open Wealth Platform Flanks secures $8m in Series A round led by Earlybird

Flanks, an innovative API for automated wealth services, has successfully secured £8m a Series A funding round led by Earlybird Venture Capital.

This funding also featured additional investments from existing backers, JME Ventures and 4Founders Capital.

Notably, this round also gained support from prominent individuals, including Raffaele Terrone, co-founder of the Italian FinTech unicorn Scalapay, and Martin Kassing, Co-Founder and CEO of Upvest, who participated as angel investors.

Financial AI trailblazer Auquan bags $3.5m led by Neotribe Ventures

Auquan, an AI trailblazer in the financial sector, has recently revealed that it successfully closed a seed funding round amounting to $3.5m.

This investment round saw the prominent early-stage investor Neotribe Ventures taking the lead.

Alongside the funding news, Auquan has introduced its novel Auquan Intelligence Engine™, which is uniquely powered by retrieval augmented generation (RAG) AI.

Compliance Risk to rebrand following $3.5m boost from Bellini Capital

Compliance Risk, the sole Governance-as-a-Service solution crafted specifically by MSPs for MSPs, has shared significant updates about its direction in the industry.

Recently, Compliance Risk secured an investment of $3.5m from Bellini Capital, a significant step forward for the firm.

Operating at the forefront of its industry, Compliance Risk provides MSPs with policies and procedures designed to align with specific regulatory and industry compliance standards.

Decentralised biometrics pioneer Anonybit bags $3m investment

Anonybit, a decentralised biometric authentication and data protection firm, has successfully completed a funding round raising $3m.

The most recent fundraising round was spearheaded by JAM FINTOP, with valuable contributions coming from Connecticut Innovations and 4S Bay Partners, the family enterprise managed by Jessica Sarowitz and Steve Sarowitz. With this added injection of funds, Anonybit’s total investment pool has risen to an impressive $8m.

Kiwi FinTech leader Akahu nets $1.4m from Westpac NZ’s venture capital wing

Westpac NZ’s venture capital division, Red Bird Ventures, has taken the lead in a $1.4m funding round for Akahu. The Kiwi FinTech firm also saw participation from co-investors K1W1 and NZ7 Investments in this round.

Akahu is recognised as New Zealand’s foremost provider of open finance connectivity. Its primary objective is to simplify and enhance the bridge between banks and third-party entities. This optimisation allows consumers to explore new avenues for payments and exercise greater discretion over third-party access to their account data.