FinTech Global this week reported on 21 recorded deals in the FinTech sector, with a strong showing in the reinsurance space bringing the total value recorded over $1bn.
The leading round this week was from Martello Re, an asset-intensive reinsurer, who pulled in $935m in equity funding.
Here are all of this week’s deals.
Asset-intensive reinsurer Martello Re secures $935m
Martello Re Limited, an asset-intensive reinsurer, has successfully closed a second round of equity funding, raising $935m from both existing and new shareholders.
This figure exceeds the initial target of $800m set at the launch of the capital raise.
In addition, Martello Re has expanded its current credit facility by $360m, incorporating four new banks into its lender group. The combined capital commitments bring Martello Re’s total drawn and undrawn capital to approximately $3.6bn, establishing a solid foundation for the company’s continued growth.
Martello Re focuses on providing reinsurance solutions with industry-leading underwriting, risk management, and asset management capabilities
Vanta secures $150m in Series C funding to bolster internet security
Vanta, a leading trust management platform, has announced a substantial $150m Series C funding, marking a significant step in its journey to secure the internet and enhance consumer data protection.
Founded in 2018, Vanta has established itself as a pivotal player in the trust management sector, automating compliance and helping companies like Atlassian and ZoomInfo to strengthen their security frameworks.
Vanta’s platform automates the compliance with critical security frameworks like SOC 2, facilitating faster and more efficient security practices for over 8,000 companies globally.
IntelePeer bags $140m to advance AI automation
IntelePeer, a leading provider of AI-powered communications automation, has announced the successful completion of a $140m growth funding and debt financing round.
IntelePeer, a leading provider of AI-powered communications automation, has announced the successful completion of a $140m growth funding and debt financing round.
This strategic investment was co-led by Savant Growth LLC and VantagePoint Capital Partners, with additional backing from Savant’s limited partners, including Coller Capital, Hollyport Capital, Manulife Investment Management, and Achmea.
The debt financing was led by Vector Capital through its new direct credit strategy, Vector Velocity. Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Inc. acted as financial advisor to IntelePeer.
IntelePeer specialises in providing AI-driven solutions for automating communications across various channels.
Chainguard secures $140m in Series C
Chainguard has announced a boost in its financial standing by securing $140m in a Series C funding round, catapulting its valuation to $1.12bn.
Chainguard is at the forefront of software security, offering a range of minimal, secure container images designed to facilitate a security-first approach in software development. Led by CEO Dan Lorenc, the company’s innovative products are pivotal for organizations aiming to secure their software supply chains against vulnerabilities. These container images are trusted by top-tier technology and cybersecurity companies such as Anduril, Canva, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Snowflake, Checkmarx, Cyera, and Wiz.
The newly acquired funds are earmarked for expanding operations and furthering development efforts. This strategic financial boost will support Chainguard in enhancing its portfolio of security solutions, which are essential for tackling vulnerability remediation and securing software supply chains.
Slope secures $65m in strategic funding
Slope, a pioneering B2B payments platform, has recently secured a substantial $65m in a combined equity and debt funding round led by J.P. Morgan.
Other notable participants included Y Combinator, and the Altman brothers’ new fund, Saga. This investment follows a successful period of significant traction and demand, bringing Slope’s total funding to an impressive $252m, comprising $77m in equity and $175m in debt.
Slope stands out in the financial technology landscape by offering comprehensive order-to-cash automation for large enterprises. Utilizing advanced AI tools, the platform facilitates crucial processes such as checkout, customer and vendor risk assessment, embedded short-term financing, and payment reconciliation. This integration not only enhances efficiency but also streamlines the financial operations of its clients.
Digitt secures $50m from CoVenture
Digitt, a pioneering FinTech based in Mexico, has just secured a substantial $50m debt facility with New York’s CoVenture Management.
This strategic partnership aims to overhaul the way prime borrowers are treated in the credit card landscape.
CoVenture Management, a prominent private credit and alternative asset manager, is the sole investor in this significant financial boost. This investment marks CoVenture’s first direct foray into the Latin American market, signaling a robust confidence in Digitt’s mission and operations.
Dazz secures $50m to enhance AI-driven cloud security solutions
Dazz, a leader in unified security remediation, announced today that it has secured $50m in a funding round.
Dazz specialises in redefining risk prioritisation and remediation through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. This new round of funding will fuel the company’s mission to help security and engineering teams reduce exposure efficiently.
The funds are earmarked for the acceleration of Dazz’s mission. The company intends to continue its groundbreaking work in helping teams across various industries manage and reduce security risks through its innovative platform.
Lithuanian lender Finbee Verslui raises €35m
Finbee Verslui, an alternative lender based in Lithuania, has successfully closed a funding round, securing a €35m investment.
This significant capital infusion marks a pivotal expansion phase for the company, aimed at enhancing its loan services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Lithuania.
The company, which specialises in providing financial solutions to SMEs, will use the new funds to finance over 1,500 businesses. This will allow for quicker loan processing and more favourable terms than previously possible. Since its inception, Finbee Verslui has supported more than 3,000 customers, with 2,000 currently active, and has seen a consistent annual growth of 60% in loan originations over the last five years.
Linx Security secures $33m
Linx Security, a trailblazer in the field of identity security and governance, has officially come out of stealth mode, announcing a substantial $33m in funding.
This financial backing was led by Index Ventures and Cyberstarts, with contributions from seasoned entrepreneurs Mickey Boodaei and Rakesh Loonkar, alongside Cerca Partners and Knollwood Investment Advisory.
The company, founded in 2023 by Israel Duanis and Niv Goldenberg, is set to redefine the approach to securing and managing identities across increasingly complex digital environments. Duanis, the CEO, has a rich background in cybersecurity, including co-founding Fleetonomy, which was acquired by Via in 2020. Goldenberg, serving as CPO, brings experience from his time as VP Product at Transmit, a company known for doubling its ARR under his tenure.
Financial services firm Strive raises $30m in Series B round
Strive Enterprises, a financial services company with a focus on asset management, has successfully raised $30m in a Series B funding round.
The funds will support the launch of Strive Wealth Management, driven by the significant demand for expanded financial services following the early success of its asset management platform in the United States. Strive’s CEO, Matt Cole, highlighted the remarkable growth of their asset management business, noting that assets under management surpassed $1.6bn within two years of launching their first ETF.
Strive aims to leverage Cantor Fitzgerald’s institutional relationships and market expertise to enhance its product and service offerings.
GeoWealth secures $18m from BlackRock
GeoWealth, a Chicago-based turnkey asset management platform (TAMP) and financial technology provider, today announced a significant $18m growth investment.
This funding round was led by BlackRock, with notable contributions from Kayne Anderson Growth Capital and J.P. Morgan Asset Management, both of whom have previously invested in the firm.
GeoWealth specializes in offering a proprietary unified technology platform that supports a wide range of investment use cases for registered investment advisors (RIAs). The platform is designed to facilitate access to a diverse asset mix within a unified account framework, enhancing the flexibility and scalability of investment solutions.
The new funds will be directed towards advancing GeoWealth’s technology offerings. Specifically, the investment will support the development of new tools that enable RIAs to offer more customized and user-friendly investment solutions.
Lakera secures $20m Series A funding
Lakera, a trailblazer in real-time GenAI application security, has successfully raised $20 million in a Series A funding round.
This significant investment was led by Atomico, accompanied by contributions from Citi Ventures, Dropbox, and prior backers including redalpine. The closing of this round comes just a few months after Lakera closed its seed round.
Lakera stands at the forefront of addressing the intricate security challenges that companies encounter with LLMs and Generative AI technologies. Their advanced solutions are pivotal for corporations, including high-profile clients like Dropbox, to protect against emerging vulnerabilities.
Plum secures £16m in Series B funding to propel growth and profitability
Plum has raised £16m in its latest funding round, which comprises £13.4m from a mix of institutional investors and an additional £2.7m through a popular crowdfunding campaign.
According to Finextra Research, this Series B round saw participation from Greece’s Eurobank with a significant €10m minority equity investment in December.
New anchor investor iGrow Venture Capital along with existing backers Venture Friends and Ventura Capital also contributed, showcasing strong continued support from the investment community. The crowdfunding portion attracted over 5,500 investors from across the UK and EU, marking it as Crowdcube’s most notable campaign of the year.
Berlin FinTech startup bunch secures $15.5m
Berlin-based FinTech startup, bunch, has successfully secured a $15.5m Series A investment.
bunch, established in late 2021, offers an end-to-end platform designed to streamline operations, administration, and transactions within private markets. The company’s innovative approach uses advanced data analytics and AI-driven automation to simplify complex workflows and replace outdated systems.
The freshly acquired funds are earmarked for expanding bunch’s technological capabilities and geographical reach, with a strong focus on entering the UK market and engaging more Private Equity clients. This investment will also support bunch’s ongoing mission to overhaul the operational processes of alternative assets, which despite being the fastest-growing asset class, still rely heavily on antiquated methods.
Protexxa bags $10m Series A
Protexxa, a rapidly emerging name in cybersecurity, recently announced the successful closure of its Series A funding round.
The $10m raised highlights the company’s strong market traction and innovative approach to enhancing cyber resilience. The funding round is the largest raised by a sole Black woman founder in Canada.
The investors leading this round include Bell Ventures and Sandpiper Ventures, emphasizing strong support from major players in the industry. Notable contributions also came from existing shareholders such as Export Development Canada, BKR Capital, The Firehood Angels, and Graphite Ventures, among others.
Heeler Security clinches $8.5m in seed funding
Heeler Security, a pioneering startup in the application security space, today announced the successful closing of an $8.5m Seed Series funding round.
This significant financial injection was led by Norwest Venture Partners, with substantial contributions from Storm Ventures.
Heeler Security is dedicated to redefining the landscape of application security. Their innovative approach focuses on enhancing runtime visibility, which is crucial given the complex challenges modern applications face. These challenges have broadened the attack surfaces, leading to increased security risks and a pressing need for real-time, contextual solutions in securing applications.
Insurance broker District Cover secures $7m in funding round
District Cover, a small business insurance broker, has successfully raised over $7m in a funding round that featured participation from Andreessen Horowitz.
The funding will support the official launch of District Cover’s “District Covered” commercial package policy.
This new, proprietary, non-admitted product is issued by Vantage Risk Specialty Insurance Company and aims to bridge the gap between restrictive excess and surplus lines products and costly admitted business-owners policies.
Rift secures $5m in seed funding
Rift, a burgeoning sales platform, recently celebrated a significant milestone by securing $5m in seed funding.
This financial boost was led by Sequoia Capital, with additional contributions from Y Combinator and Soma Capital, alongside a cohort of angel investors. The funds are earmarked to refine and expand their innovative sales solutions.
The company is dedicated to simplifying the B2B sales process by automating routine and time-consuming tasks.
This allows sales teams to focus more on actual selling rather than being bogged down by manual data entry, prospect data scraping, and navigating various sales tools.
UAE FinTech firm Mamo secures $3.4m
Mamo, a UAE-based FinTech startup, has successfully completed a new funding round, raising $3.4m.
Specialising in streamlining financial operations for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Mamo offers a consolidated platform that integrates payment collection, corporate cards, and expense management. This innovative approach aims to simplify the financial intricacies faced by businesses daily.
The freshly secured funds are earmarked for the expansion of Mamo’s product line within the UAE and to facilitate their entry into new regional markets, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Fundabl secures $3.2m to bridge funding gaps
Fundabl, a dynamic Australian lender, announced today the successful completion of a $3.2m equity raise.
This funding milestone is accompanied by the establishment of an enhanced debt facility.
The company, which specializes in loans ranging from $500,000 to $5m, addresses a crucial need in the funding ecosystem by targeting businesses that are often bypassed by traditional financial institutions. This strategic focus comes at a time when funding options for early-stage startups and larger enterprises are abundant, yet there remains a conspicuous gap for mid-sized companies seeking substantial but flexible financing.
UK-based Jarvis raises £1.8m
Jarvis, a pioneering pension FinTech, has successfully completed a seed funding round, raising £1.8 million.
The investment round was co-led by Ascension VC and Cornerstone VC, and also saw participation from the Tokio Marine Future Fund.
The company, which is at the forefront of pension management innovation, focuses on empowering employees to actively plan for their ideal retirement. By integrating various aspects of pension management through its platform, Jarvis addresses the growing need for financial tools that cater to the modern workforce, which is increasingly moving towards self-employment and gig economy roles.
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