Last week saw 35 deals take place, coming from a range of sectors. The USA, however, dominated the highest value deals.
Out of the top ten deals, five came from US-based companies. Identity-driven cyber resilience platform based in New Jersey Semperis, raised an eye-watering $200m Series C funding round, which was led by private equity giant KKR.
Following closely behind, was New-York based Clear Street, which scored $165m Series B to accelerate the launch of its platform. The company claims to be building better access to capital markets. The round saw it soar to a valuation of $1.7bn.
The US also welcomed another unicorn. Caribou, which helps consumers save money on auto loans, closed an oversubscribed Series C round on $115m, propelling it to a valuation of $1.1bn.
The is not unusual for the US. The country continues to perform well, accounting for 44% of total seed deals in March, for example.
This cemented the country’s position as the leading FinTech innovation hub globally. Seed funding rounds are a good predictor of future growth in particular sector as companies look to scale up in the coming years. The higher the value of the seed round the higher market potential that venture capitalists (VCs) see in companies.
However, last week also saw strong performance in later stage rounds, with high-value deals taking pace at Series B and C stages.
Here are the 35 deals that took place.
Finance provider Bloom secures £300m Series A
Bloom, a company that specialises in providing capital to growth firms that operate predominantly online, has raised £300m in Series A funding.
The round was led by Credo Capital and Fortress. According to Bloom, this round makes it the highest-funded revenue-based lending business in Europe.
Bloom claims it is the next-generation of revenue-based lender, differentiating itself through its pricing model and range of product features that enable brands to only pay for what they use.
The Bloom product is based on a flexible pricing and deployment model that combines the best features of a revolving credit product, charging customers for only what they use with the predictability and transparency of cost that comes with fixed fee revenue-based lending.
Bloom claims the funding raised will drive its ambition to become Europe’s leading provider of capital to digital entrepreneurs.
Bloom CEO James Hickson said, “We are not another revenue-based lender. We estimate that eCommerce merchants have incurred £125-£200 million in excess fees based on the current pricing status quo. That’s money that could have been used for more stock, increased ad spend, or customer incentives. We saw an opportunity to innovate rather than simply join the herd. So we did.”
Semperis scores Series C
Identity-driven cyber resilience platform Semperis has collected a $200m Series C funding round, which was led by private equity giant KKR.
Other commitments came from Ten Eleven Ventures, Paladin Capital Group, Atrium Health Strategic Fund and Tech Pioneers Fund. Insight Partners, which is an existing investor in Semperis, also joined the round.
With the capital, the company plans to hire staff globally, with a focus on its identity-focused incident response team. The company also plans to bolster its research and development efforts.
Semperis protects hybrid active directory environments and currently safeguards 50 million identities from cyberattacks, data breaches and operational errors. Its technology is used by companies in the financial services, insurance, healthcare, retail and transportation sectors.
The company claims the active directory is the “Achilles heel†for enterprise security. If exposed, criminals can have easy access to the whole system. Semperis enables teams to bolster the defence with threat mitigation and cyber resilience.
Features include exposure identification, cyber preparedness testing, bolstered defences, sensitive account protection, advanced attack detection, incident response, forensic data investigation and disaster recovery.
Clear Street hits $1.7bn valuation
Clear Street, which claims to be building better access to capital markets, has scored a $165m Series B to accelerate the launch of its platform.
This investment, which values the business at $1.7bn, is the first venture capital fundraise since its inception.
Growth equity firm Prysm Capital served as the lead backer, with additional contributions coming from NextGen Venture Partners, Walleye Capital, Belvedere, NEAR Foundation, McLaren Strategic Ventures and Validus Growth Investors.
Several angel investors also joined the round, including NEAR founder Illia Polosukhin, Xendit founder Moses Lo and Event Horizon Ventures general partner Alastair Trueger.
With the capital, Clear Street hopes to expand its team and form new partnerships,
The FinTech company aims to build infrastructure that improves market access for all participants. Its cloud-native infrastructure support execution, real-time reporting, clearing and custody, capital introduction and client services.
In the future, the company hopes to expand across geographies, asset classes and become available to all market participants, including FinTechs, market makers and professional traders.
Since the start of 2021, Clear Street has seen a 220% increase to financing balances and a 510% growth in equity transactional volume. It claims to process over $3bn in daily trading volume.
Additionally, in the past 12 months, Clear Street has expanded its leadership team and built a team of around 100 engineers to support the product development.
Auto loan refinancer Caribou joins unicorn club
Caribou, which helps consumers save money on auto loans, has joined the unicorn club after the close of an oversubscribed Series C round, which closed on $115m.
The funding round, which values Caribou at $1.1bn, was led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Other participants include Innovius Capital and Harmonic, as well as existing backers Accomplice, CMFG Ventures, Curql Fund, Firebolt Ventures, Gaingels, Moderne Ventures and Motley Fool Ventures.
With the capital, the company hopes to invest into its platform and new products, as well expand its team.
Caribou, which was formerly known as MotoRefi, aims to make auto loan and insurance processes simple and transparent. Through partnerships with lenders, it offers lower monthly payments that save customers an average of $100 each month on their car payments through refinance.
During its lifetime, Caribou has refinanced over $1.5bn in loans, which it claims has saved customers over $100m in total interest over.
In addition to auto loan refinancing, the company helps users compare car insurance policies from a range of carriers.
The company previously raised $50m in its Series B funding round in 2021, split across to tranches. The first was a $45m investment in June, followed by a $5m extension in August.
Caribou has raised a total of $190m since it was founded in 2016.
Crypto unicorn Babel Finance raises $80m
Wholesale crypto financial services provider Babel Finance has scored $80m in its Series B funding round, just four months after its former round.
The fresh capital injection brings Babel Finance’s valuation to $2bn.
Investment in the round include Jeneration Capital, 10T Holdings, Circle Ventures and several unnamed family offices in the Asia-Pacific region. Existing backers also participating were Dragonfly Capital and BAI Capital.
Babel Finance claims to be one of the largest service providers to institutions in the crypto financial markets. It restricts its operations to bitcoin, Ethereum and stablecoins and serves a select group of 500 customers, it said.
As of the end of 2021, Babel Finance had an outstanding loan balance of over $3bn, an average monthly trading volume of $800m in derivatives and had structured and traded over $20bn in options products.
Founded in 2018, the company focuses on crypto lending and trading to institutional clients, including crypto-native institutions and traditional financial institutions, as well as ultra-high-net-worth accredited investors and family offices.
The company has a team of 170 and recently opened an office in Singapore. Â It has aliso applied for relevant licenses in Hong Kong, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, and other countries and regions around the world.
Belong raises $80m
Belong, a California-based startup looking to empower residents to become homeowners, has raised $80m in Series C funding.
The round was led by Dan Wenhold at Fifth Wall. The company also said its major investors (Battery Ventures, GGV Capital, and a16z) are “doubling, tripling, and quadrupling down on our dream.”
Belong said its mission is to create authentic belonging experiences, empowering residents to become homeowners and homeowners to become financially free.
In a post on the company’s website, Ale Resnik (CEO) Owen Savir (president) and Tyler Infelise (head of product), said, “In simple words, we are on a mission to make the terms landlords and tenants obsolete. Replacing them with a more caring, empowering, and human-centric system. Putting people first.”
The company said it has made owning a rental home easy and stress-free enabling more individuals to build equity in, and generate cash flow from, their homes, ultimately building towards financial freedom.
Belong offers a one-stop-shop home management platform for homeowners so they never have to be a landlord, get financial tools to manage their investment, guaranteed rent, and have their home be taken care of by high-quality residents and its in-home maintenance team. As a result, the platform’s homeowners can become small-scale investors.
TransferMate joins unicorn club
B2B payments infrastructure-as-a-service TransferMate has reached a $1bn valuation after closing a $70m funding round.
The round was backed by UK pension fund Railpen, no other investors were named.
TransferMate will use this capital to expand its global teams and further its investment into technology and its product suite.
The FinTech company offers global payment structure that supports 201 countries and 141 currencies.
This funding round was managed by Barclays Bank.
With the close of the round, the company has raised a total of $130m. It previously raised €21m in a funding round in 2018.
Agricultural hedging firm Stable closes Series B
Stable, which stylises itself as the home of hedging for the agricultural commodity industry, has scored $60m in its Series B funding round.
Acrew led the round, with commitments also coming from Greycroft, Notion Capital, Syngenta and Continental Grain Company.
Stable will use the fresh funds to help clients better understand and manage their price risk. New initiatives will see the aggregation of financial news, and enhancements to Stable Data, a product suite that visualises and assesses markets. It will also support the development of Stable Risk from its current focus on options to offering clients swaps and collars.
The FinTech company was founded in 2017 by Rich Counsell whilst in an old cow shed on his family farm in Somerset, UK. He wished to make hedging simple and accessible. Since its launch, it now lists 500 untraded commodities that can be hedged on the platform.
Counsell said “Hedging is seen as complex and risky to most business owners, yet the benefits of bringing stability and predictability to an income statement shouldn’t be reserved for giant multinationals and sophisticated traders. Businesses of every size, sector and location should have the ability to understand and manage their price risk so they can invest in the future with confidence.”
The company operates across the US, Europe and Asia and employs over 60 commodity experts, quants and data scientists. It claims to be on track to transfer $1bn of risk by 2025.
Acrew Capital general partner and co-founder Vishal Lugani said, “Over the last two years, no business has been spared from the uncertainty that stems from volatile commodity prices. Any savvy business leader that is affected by commodity price fluctuation should be using Stable’s cutting edge offering to manage this volatility.”
Private market investing app ADDX raises $58m
Singapore-based ADDX, a mobile app for private market investing, has closed its pre-Series B funding round on $58m.
The capital injection received investments from SET Venture Holding, a subsidiary of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, UOB, Hamilton Lane and Krungsri Finnovate.
With the capital, ADDX hopes to scale its operations as it solidifies its position in Asia. Funds will also help ADDX expand into new business areas, geographies and market segments.
Some of the strategic initiatives the fresh funds will support include the recent launch of private market services for wealth managers, dubbed ADDX Advantage.
Founded in 2017, ADDX is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore as a digital securities exchange. It leverages blockchain and smart contract technology to tokenise and fractionalise private market opportunities such as pre-IPO equity, private equity, hedge funds and bonds.
Minimum investment sizes into these assets have been reduced from $1m to $10,000, providing access to more individuals.
With the close of the round, the company has raised a total of $120m in funding. Its existing shareholders include Singapore Exchange, Heliconia Capital, Development Bank of Japan, Japan Investment Corporation, Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings, Kiatnakin Phatra Financial Group and Hanwha Asset Management.
Mastercard backs HyperPay in $40m funding round
Saudi Arabian FinTech HyperPay has received funding from Mastercard following a strategic partnership between the two companies.
As part of the deal, Mastercard will make a strategic investment in HyperPay to continue enhancing the delivery of its proven capabilities and identify new technologies that can be applied to practical use cases.
Mastercard’s multi-rail approach is about leading payment innovation across multiple payment rails, adding value and connecting information, while enabling people and organisations to transact across any channel and to any end point.
Mastercard highlighted the collaboration will offer advanced new technologies so companies, governments and SMEs can move from cash-based payments to an improved, frictionless and seamless ecosystem utilising the innovative capabilities of both Mastercard and HyperPay.
Humi pulls in C$31m
Canadian human resources startup Humi has raised C$31m in a Series B funding round led by Kensington Capital Partners.
In a post on the company’s LinkedIn, Simon Bourgeois, CEO of Humi, said, “Since the beginning, Humi’s mission has been to make the lives of businesses and their employees easier.”
The round also saw participation from Tribe Capital and Struck, as well as new investors Telus Ventures, Flex Capital, and Mike Dinsdale, former CFO of Gusto, and Rodney Dobson, former president of ADP Canada & UK.
According to a report from betakit, the Series B round included C$25m in equity and C$6 million in debt, bringing Humi’s total funding to date to C$51m.
Humi describes itself as an all-in-one solution, combining human resources, payroll, insurance and benefits into one platform.
The company has recently added new product offerings as interest in its cloud-based HR platform, including business insurance, a marketplace of employee benefits, and a broader set of tools to support digital recruiting and onboarding of new employees.
Humi said the funding will be used to continue developing products and features that directly impact employee well-being and enable companies to be better employers.
Tidelift bags $27m
TideLift, a company on a mission to deal with open-source supply chain health and security, has snared $27m from a Series C funding round.
The round was headed by Dorilton Ventures and also saw participation from Kaiser Permanente, Atlassian Ventures, Foundry Group and General Catalyst.
As a part of the investment, Daniel Freeman of Dorilton Ventures will join the Tidelife board of directors.
According to Security Week, Tidelift’s goal is to connect the needs of enterprise application development teams and open-source maintainers to improve the security of open source code.
InsurTech startup Urban Jungle scores $23m
UK-based InsurTech startup Urban Jungle has raised $23m in a Series A funding round led by North American venture capital investor Intact Ventures.
The round also saw participation from Ingka group.
Founded by CEO Jimmy Williams and former Google developer Greg Smyth, the London-based company aims to change the insurance industry by putting fairness and transparency at its core. This Series A round brings the total amount raised by the business to $40m.
Urban Jungle recently reached the milestone of helping over 100,000 customers get home insurance. It plans to double its customer base by the end of the year and create 100 new jobs in the UK.
Urban Jungle said it plans on using the latest technology to help keep insurance affordable for its customer, whether that is by offering 100% online services with no need to call or through its use of AI and machine learning to catch fraud.
The InsurTech will use the funding to scale its UK home insurance business as well as add new markets.
Homethrive secures $20m Series B
Homethrive, which describes itself as a “caregiving benefit innovator”, has raised $20m in Series B funding in a round led by Human Capital.
The round also saw participation from Allianz and existing investors 7wireVentures and Pitango HealthTech.
Homethrive’s mission is to revolutionise support for unpaid family caregivers and their loved one. The company said the round will support its expansion with self-insured employers and insurance plans, as well as fuel its investment in its technology stack to create a more personalised experience enhanced by AI and machine learning.
Explaining the motivation behind its mission, Homethrive said this is a pivotal time as the US grapples with a crisis that was amplified by the Covid-19 pandemic but has been brewing for years taking better care of families, particularly the elderly and those with special needs.
Homethrive is offered nationally to employers, insurers, and affinity groups.
Through its family caregiving platform, Dari, Homethrive blends self-service digital caregiving and health support with human interaction to effectively and efficiently right-size care to large populations.
Tencent backs FinTech Previse in $18m Series B
FinTech firm Previse has raised $18m in Series B financing round headed by global technology company Tencent.
The round also saw participation from existing investors including Augmentum FinTech and Reefknot.
Previse’s AI-based analytical tools mine the vast amount of B2B network data to accurately predict future revenues and price risk. As an enabler for its industry, Previse claims its solutions connect SMEs with billions of cost-effective working capital embedded within the existing B2B platforms which businesses use to transact.
The company claims it has added a range of new partners, solutions and increased its geographic reach in 2022 and this funding will further support the expansion.
According to Previse, over $24trn of trade is carried out each year between 20 million SMEs and the largest 5,000 corporate buyers globally.
Previse will use the new capital to expand the availability of its innovative data-driven working capital finance solutions, designed for SMEs.
Amex backs Trellis’ insurance vision
Digital insurer Trellis has received an investment from Amex Ventures, bringing its total funding to $17m since inception.
Trellis aims to help its partners integrate insurance as part of their holistic suite of financial offerings by creating an easier, more integrated insurance shopping experience for consumers.
The company’s platform Savvy, is an end-to-end API solution enabling consumers to instantly compare and purchase car insurance within a partner’s app or website. Using their insurance login, consumers can compare their existing policy to prospective alternatives in a transparent, side-by-side manner. Consumers also have the ability to purchase a different plan and cancel their old one on the same platform.
Trellis said that on average, consumers save over $700 per year on their car insurance using Savvy.
Margaret Lim, managing director, Amex Ventures, said, “We’re excited to back Trellis in their mission to simplify the insurance buying process and help consumers make important financial decisions. Trellis’ strong user growth momentum and partnership traction demonstrates that their value proposition is resonating.”
Nisos closes Series B
Managed intelligence company Nisos has scored $15m in its Series B funding round, which was led by global cyber investment firm Paladin Capital Group.
Other contributions came from existing investors Columbia Capital and Skylab Capital.
Funds from this round will help Nisos accelerate the growth of its managed intelligence services and the Nisos Intelligence Platform, such as improving analyst and client experiences. As part of this, it will expedite product management and development, drive market awareness and elevate customer services and success.
Capital will also be used to meet new client demands.
US-based Nisos provides security intelligence, and trust and safety teams with the tools to secure their systems from cyberattacks, disinformation and abuse.
Nisos has secured over $33m in funding to data and seen a 140% increase in Q1 bookings year-over-year. In the past year, it has expanded internationally with its first European office and grown its team by 60%.
ZenLedger picks up $15m
Cryptocurrency data analyses and tax platform ZenLedger, has pulled in $15m for its Series B funding round.
ParaFi Capital served as the lead investor, with contributions also coming from Bloccelerate VC (which led the Series A), King River Capital, G1 Ventures, Main Street Investment, Three Point Capital, Shorooq Partners, VaynerFund, Blizzard the Avalanche Fund, and AngelList Quant Fund.
This Series B will help ZenLedger expand its global services, further innovation with crypto finance products and bolster its retail and government market share.
It is already looking to release new products to support its customers, including Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) and Certified Public Accountants (CPAs).
Founded in 2017, ZenLedger collects, analyses and accounts for transaction information across thousands of exchanges, NFTs, DeFi wallets and tokens in one dashboard. It has integration support on over 500 exchanges, 50 blockchains and 40 DeFi protocols.
Gridwise lands $12.7m
Gridwise, an app that helps drivers and couriers manage their earnings, has raised $12.7m in a funding round.
According to a report by Bloomberg, the funding was led by Crosslink Capital with participation from Autotech Ventures, Switch Ventures and Massive VC, among others.
Founded in 2016, the Gridwise app helps gig workers on platforms such as Uber track earnings and expenses and offers tips on how to boost their take-home pay.
The app, which is free to download, also connects drivers and couriers to benefits such as dental, vision and car insurance products.
Gridwise said it will use the funding to build more features for its gig-worker user base and expand its enterprise business.
Swedish pet insurer Lassie gets paws on €11m
Sweden-based pet insurance platform Lassie has reportedly collected €11m in its Series A, which was led by Felix Capital.
Other contributions came from Inventure, Passion Capital and several unnamed angel investors, according to a report from Coverager.
Founded in 2020, Lassie is a digital pet insurance platform, which offers coverage for cats and dogs.
The company claims to be the first insurance platform that rewards policyholders for giving pets the conditions for a healthy life.
It also promotes education around pet ownership, with articles and quizzes of how-to best care for four legged friends. Users earn points when completing quizzes, which can be exchanged for a discount on future policies.
PayEngine pulls in $10m
PayEngine, a white-label payments-facilitation platform for vertical SaaS companies, has raised $10m in Series A funding led by Point72 Ventures.
Leading capital equity firms Mucker Capital, BAM Ventures and K5 Global also participated in the investment.
PayEngine’s platform aims to help SaaS companies across a range of verticals including home services, automotive, construction, healthcare and transportation improve their payments monetization strategies while mitigating Merchant of Record (MOR) liabilities and data security and compliance issues.
Since it allows businesses to set their own merchant rates, PayEngine said its platform can increase annual recurring revenue (ARR) by an average of 30%.
Additionally, as a custom label offering, the platform can be branded for client use and can be integrated alongside a company’s other core software products in a matter of days.
PayEngine said it will use the funding to grow its team, expand access to clientele, develop more financial product offerings within its platform and shore up its international support.
Amaryllis lands Series B
Amaryllis Payment Solutions, which provides a payment facilitation platform, has raised $10m in Series B funding.
The round saw participation from FINTOP Capital and partner, JAM FINTOP, an investment fund designed to help develop and accelerate technology adoption at community banks across the United States.
Amaryllis provides a payment facilitation platform for financial institutions, software & SaaS companies, so they can better monetize the payments flowing through their service and boost their revenue and business valuation.
According to Amaryllis, its solution means clients can get payment facilitation tools in one platform, so they don’t need to hire an expensive tech team, or patch multiple vendors together, which means they can go to market faster.
The company said the funds will be used to accelerate product development and expand its marketing and sales efforts.
Xona Systems lands $7.2m
Xona Systems, a frictionless user access platform purpose-built for critical infrastructure, has scored $7.2m in Series A funding.
The round was led by DataTribe Opportunities Fund and saw participation from TFX Capital and other unnamed individual investors. To date, the company has raised a total of $9.4m since inception.
Founded in 2017, Xona was created with the purpose of creating a better solution for providing frictionless and secure user access for operational technology and other critical infrastructure systems.
Xona’s protocol isolation and zero-trust architecture which is tech-agnostic and configured in minutes, supposedly immediately eliminates common attack vectors while providing authorised users seamless and secure control of operational technology from any location or device.
Through integrated multi-factor authentication, user-to-user asset access controls, automatic video recording and user session analytics, the company claims it is the “single, secure portal that connects the cyber-physical world and enables critical operations to happen from anywhere with complete trust.
Xona has more than doubled its workforce over the past half-year and will use the funding to continue to build its global presence in more than 25 countries, fuel product innovation and expand its footprint for providing secure remote access to critical systems in energy, oil and gas, transportation, manufacturing, government and other new markets.
4-month-old NAKAD closes $7m investment
India-based NAKAD, a FinTech founded earlier this year, has reportedly collected $7m in seed funding.
Accel and Matrix Partners led the round, according to a report from Inc42. Several angel investors also joined the round, including Razorpay founders Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, Zetwerk founders Amrit Acharya and Rahul Sharma, Uni Cards founder Nitin Gupta and many more.
NAKAD has earmarked the capital for product development, enhance its infrastructure and expand its operations across India. Funds will also be used to hire new staff, with it planning to reach a team of 70 by the end of the year.
The FinTech company helps unlock the cash flow burden of small businesses. It claims to be transforming supply chain finance through its tokenisation mechanism.
CyberTech Red Access scores $6m seed financing
Israel-based CyberTech startup Red Access has secured $6m in a seed funding round led by Elron Ventures and Ten Eleven Ventures.
According to Security Week, the Tel Aviv firm is promising technology ‘to secure every web session across any browser, app and device’ for corporate customers.
The company claims its session-based security product works across any browser, combining multi-layered analysis, agentless design and single-click management.
It added that its platform offers comprehensive coverage and control against the latest file, identity and data-driven attacks – including phishing and ransomware.
According to Red, the new funding will be used to expand operations and build out its Tel Aviv staff.
LimaCharlie lands $5.45m
LimaCharlie, a firm providing tools to run an MSSP or SOC on a pay-as-you-go use model, has bagged $5.45m in seed financing.
The round was led by Susa Ventures and saw participation from Xerox Ventures, Long Journey Ventures, Sands Capital, StoneMill Ventures, Lytical Ventures, CoFound Partners and SNR-4 dB.
Following this round, the company has raised a total of $6.35m since inception and has a current valuation of $24m.
California-based LimaCharlie claims it gives security teams full control over how they manage their security infrastructure. It offers cloud-native tools and infrastructure for use cases such as log aggregation, detection, automation and response, to file and integrity monitoring and Yara scanning.
LimaCharlie plans to use the new funding to widen its engineering team and speed up the rollout of new technologies.
Moves scores $5m
Moves, an all-in-one banking app for gig workers, has closed its seed funding round on $5m.
OMERS Ventures served as the lead investor, with commitments also coming from Panache Ventures and N49P Ventures.
The FinTech company launched its mobile app in 2021 after spending hundreds of hours in cars, on bikes, on foot, in parking lots and burrito lines listening to gig workers, it said.
Moves CEO Matthew Spoke said, “The gig economy is surging, yet its workers continue to be left behind.
“Recent studies have shown that 80% of gig workers report an unexpected expense of $1,000 would be difficult to pay. Our commitment to helping our members starts with reducing day-to-day financial challenges and then grows to give them a seat at the table as shareholders. As we move forward in our journey, we are grateful to those investors who are joining us in our support for gig workers.”
The platform currently has over 10,000 members, which are on track to earn over $56m by year’s end 2022. Its mobile app provides users with a spending account with no monthly fees or minimum balances, and the ability to take out a $1,000 cash advance.
Moves also helps gig workers become owners of the companies they work with, with members able to earn share rewards in Uber, Lyft, Doordash, Grubhub, Target and Amazon through the Moves Collective.
The Moves Collective has over 4,5000 shares across the supported public gig companies. Additionally, Moves helps elevate the voice of its members through shareholder proposals. It recently made its first one with Uber, advocating for an independent board member with first-hand experience earning in the gig economy.
Speaking on the investment, OMERS Ventures partner Laura Lenz said, “Moves is uniquely positioned to solve many of the challenges gig workers are encountering.
Canaan makes its biggest investment in Latin America with Marvin
Marvin, a Brazilian B2B payments platform has raised $15m in a Series A funding round led by early-stage venture capital firm Canaan.
Existing investors Canary and Maúa Capital also participated in the round, as well as a number of angel investors including Carlos Selonke, Juan Pablo Ortega, Israel Salmen, Lucas Amoroso Lima and Doug Scherrer. The funding marks Canaan’s largest investment in Latin America to date.
According to Canaan, Marvin is “reimagining credit card receivables” in Brazil. The platform enables merchants to use credit card receivables as a financial asset with which to pay their suppliers, thus unlocking credit for merchants and increasing sales for suppliers.
This investment comes off the back of the Brazilian Central Bank implementing a new framework for receivables last June, which “turned the world of Brazilian FinTech on its head” according to Canaan.
Data management startup Fulcrum scores $5m
Fulcrum, which empowers customers to take control of their data, has secured a $5m investment.
This capital injection will help Fulcrum accelerate its customer data platform technology roadmap, scale its business operations and better serve its customers.
Denver-based Fulcrum simplifies and automates customer personalisation for modern digital engagement. Through its AI technology, it helps digital agencies, marketing teams, sales departments and others better identify and respond in real-time to known and anonymous customers to increase engagement and conversion.
It claims to have achieved a 230% growth in sales over the past year and expanded its team by 250%.
The company has raised a total of $7m in funding.
Tax credit FinTech app Adsum collects $5m
Adsum, a tax-based financing company, has collected $5m in funding from Episode 1 and Digital Horizon.
The investment was also backed by D2 and unnamed angel investors from New York and London.
Founded in 2020, the company claims 25% of UK businesses are owed a tax credit. Its platform identifies the value of the tax credit owed and delivers it within 24 hours. Companies simply sync their accounts to the mobile app, explain current and upcoming business plans and the app will handle the rest.
By leveraging its in-house technological solution, Adsum can auto calculate VAT, R&D and creative industries tax credits and refunds.
BNPL Tranch raises £3.5m in pre-seed equity and debt financing
UK-based buy now, pay later company Tranch has bagged £3.5m in pre-seed equity and debt funding.
The funding round was led by Flash Ventures and Global Founders Capital and included a debt facility from Columbia Lake Partners.
According to AltFi, Tranch is a BNPL platform for SaaS sellers and professional services providers.
The company uses credit risk modelling and open banking data to allow B2B customers to acquire SaaS contracts upfront at a cheaper annual rate while still paying in instalments.
Tranch intends to use the finance to bring payment flexibility to a wider pool of B2B customers.
Asian InsurTech startup anycover secures pre-seed
Singapore-based InsurTech startup anycover has raised $450,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by Powerhouse Ventures.
The round also saw participation from 1337 Ventures, with backing from angel investors Walter de Oude (the founder and former CEO of Singlife) and Khairil Abdullah (Veon Ventures’ CEO and the former chairman of Axiata Boost).
Founded in 2021 by BharadwAj and co-founder Jan Rothkegel, anycover strives to transform the traditional extended warranties game by providing small and medium-sized online merchants with a plug-and-play API solution that enables them to easily launch and manage their own extended warranty programmes without having to create them from scratch.
While many large retailers have already implemented successful digital extended warranty programs, anycover said that small and medium-sized merchants face significant roadblocks in setting up their own due to long commercial onboarding times and minimum premium requirements by insurers.
“This is a missed opportunity as these programs help merchants generate incremental revenue, boost conversion, and increase customer loyalty,” the company said.
anycover explained it addresses these challenges by streamlining the onboarding process and pre-negotiating terms with leading insurers.
The startup is looking to launch its product by the third quarter of this year in Singapore, with future plans to expand into Malaysia and Indonesia towards the end of the year.
British cross-border payment startup Kapaga bags £1.5m
UK-based cross-border payment platform Kapaga has raised £1.5m in a funding round led by Tiger Global.
Contributions also came from angel investors, including Chris Adelsbach, Andreas Mihalovits, and Mark Ransford.
The FinTech company, which has a team of over 20 employees, will use the funds to expand its operations across the EU later this year. It plans to release mass global payment services and virtual cards in the coming months.
Launched in 2021 by Katya Dorofejeva, the company offers a variety of B2B payment services aimed at SMEs and startups. It claims the cloud architecture gives companies transparency and efficiency in streamlining cross-border payments so they can easily send and bill money to 190 countries, in multiple currencies. It currently has over 150 clients.
Kapaga claims many SMEs lack access to a modern payment infrastructure or a rejected by traditional financial services.
Its cross-border platform can automate customer onboarding and streamline international payments.
PayPal and Experian back Jetty
Jetty, a financial service company on a mission to make renting a home more affordable, has received an investment from PayPal Ventures and Experian Ventures.
Jetty said it aims to support renter and properties at every stage of the rental journey. Among its current product offerings are Jetty Deposit, a security deposit alternative, Jetty Rent, a flexible rent payment programme, and Jetty Protect, a modern renter insurance product.
The PayPal Ventures and Experian Ventures investment follows another investment from Wilshire Lane Capital and Morgan Properties announced by Jetty in February 2022.
The funding will enable Jetty to accelerate the growth of its existing suite of products and invest in product expansion. For example, Jetty plans to launch Jetty Credit, a credit building service that will facilitate the reporting of rent payments to credit bureaus to provide additional data that could help renters boost their credit scores.
Mike Rudoy, co-founder and CEO at Jetty, said, “We believe that working with the most respected names in financial services is the fastest and most effective way to help us achieve our vision.”
Tred exceeds crowdfund target with £600,000
UK-based green neobank Tred has reached the £600,000 target for its crowdfunding campaign, with 28 days still left on the sale.
At the time of writing, the company has raised £690,712, with contributions coming from 851 investors.
Shares were priced at £13.51 apiece and a total of 3.69& of its equity has been offered in the sale, so far. Tred’s pre-money valuation is £18m.
The FinTech company hopes to become the UK’s leading green neobank. In its Crowdcube campaign, it says over half of people would switch to a greener bank, but greenwashing scandals cast doubt over financial institutions and if they are really helping the plant.
This is what led to the creation of Tred. The aim is for type of neobank that is built on sustainable values and helps users do this as well. Its first product is a green debit card that lets users track, reduce and offset their carbon footprint and plant trees as they spend.
Over the past year, the company has onboarded over 1,000 beta consumers, reach a 30,000 waitlist, integrate 70 brand partners and commit to plant 18,000 trees.
Its existing investors include one of Nutmeg’s co-founder, a past board observer of FreeTrade, angels from Bridgepoint Capital and more.
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