Signs of success despite funding squeeze

The funding rounds that took place this week were modest in size and frequency, indicative of the overall funding slowdown in FinTech. Yet some companies and sectors continue to perform well.

This week saw a total of 28 deals take place from a range of sectors.

The biggest deal of the week was a post-IPO round for cryptocurrency brokerage Genesis following the downfall of FTX that has hit the headlines this week.

Genesis is reportedly set to received a $140m equity infusion from its parent company, Digital Currency Group, to support its balance sheet.

This equity is being deployed, after Genesis announced its derivatives business has $175m locked in a trading account of FTX, which has recently filed for bankruptcy.

An email from Genesis to clients, said, “While the operation of our lending and trading businesses has not been impacted by recent market events, Genesis has taken steps to strengthen its balance sheet.”

With the exception of Genesis, the other funding rounds this week were relatively modest in size, with the second biggest deal coming from CyberTech Akeyless, which raised $65m in Series B funding.

One sector that seems to be somewhat resistant to the over slowdown in FinTech funding is WealthTech.

This week saw two WealthTech deals make the top 10 biggest rounds of the week. Singapore’s ADDX scored $20m in pre-Series B funding, and UAE-based baraka also raised $20m.

Research from FinTech Global recently reported that global WealthTech deal activity is projected to have a record-breaking year, reaching 908 deals in 2022 based on investment pace in the first nine months of the year.

That’s a 41% increase from the previous year and in contrast to the overall FinTech funding slowdown.

Total capital invested however has been affected and is expected to fall considerably to $12.9bn, a 49% decrease from 2021 levels and average deal size is expected to change from $38m to $14m. Investment in Q3 2022 only reached $0.9bn, an 83% drop from Q1 2022.

FNZ, a wealth management platform, was the largest WealthTech deal in the first three quarters of 2022 raising $1.4bn in their latest Private Equity round led by CPP Investments and Motive Partners.

Here are the 28 deals that took place this week.

Cryptocurrency brokerage Genesis receives $140m after FTX downfall

Genesis, a cryptocurrency brokerage, is reportedly set to receive a $140m equity infusion from its parent company, Digital Currency Group, to support its balance sheet.

This equity is being deployed, after Genesis announced its derivatives business has $175m locked in a trading account of FTX, according to a report from Bloomberg. Last week, FTX filed for bankruptcy protection.

Another report announcing the equity infusion came from CoinDesk, which is an independent subsidiary of Digital Currency Group.

It reported an email from Genesis to clients. It said, “While the operation of our lending and trading businesses has not been impacted by recent market events, Genesis has taken steps to strengthen its balance sheet with an additional equity infusion of $140m from our parent company, Digital Currency Group,” the email said, per the report.

“The additional capital will bolster our position as a global leader in crypto capital markets and allow us to support our clients and the growing demand for our services.”

Genesis connects institutional investors to digital asset markets, with tools to trade, borrow, hedge, generate yield and more. Its technology helps institutions access a sell-side trading desk, lend over 25 digital assets, stablecoins and fiat currencies, connect with a liquidity provider for cryptoassets, and more.

Akeyless nets $65m as it helps protect company secrets

Akeyless, which claims to be fighting secret sprawl in DevOps and hybrid cloud environments, has raised $65m in its Series B funding round.

NGP Capital served as the lead investor, with commitments also coming from existing backers Team8 Capital and Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP).

Alongside the investment, Akeyless announced that Mike Christenson, former COO & President of New Relic and CA Technologies, will join the company as an investor and board member.

The CyberTech company stated that since the adoption of cloud services and modern DevOps processes, firms have needed to change how they manage their company secrets, such as credentials, certificates and keys. A recent report found that the number of secrets leaked by organisations doubled last year, reaching an all-time high of more than six million.

This is where Akeyless comes in. It claims to be the only platform that offers a true zero-knowledge secrets management as-a-Service solution. The platform centralises the management and security of secrets across multi-cloud and DevOps environments.

The solution, which is maintenance free and has out-of-the-box plugins for existing IT, Dev, and Security tools, supports enterprise-grade capabilities like disaster recovery, high availability, and global scale.

Akeyless stores customer secrets and makes them easy to access in all their environments. At the same time, its patented Distributed Fragments Cryptography technology makes the secrets inaccessible to anyone besides the customer.

AI-powered lending company Lentra hits $400m valuation

India-based Lentra, which offers AI-powered lending services, has reportedly collected $60m for its Series B funding round, which values the business at $400m.

The investment round was led by existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Susquehanna International Group according to a report from TechCrunch. Other commitments came from Citi Ventures, which has made its first investment into an Indian FinTech company.

Capital from the round will help Lentra update its platform, release new features and make improvements to its services. It is also planning to expand internationally, and establish operations in three new markets, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. Once it has launched in these markets, it will look to enter the US.

The company is already present in Singapore, having acquired AI startup, TheDataTeam, earlier in the year. Its office in Singapore will be the base for its growth across the ASEAN region.

In addition to international growth, Lentra is looking to acquire more businesses. It is looking to buy companies that will expand its capabilities with robotic process automation and payment systems. It is also looking for solutions that are not regulated entities and teams that are working on statistical modelling or building heuristics models with statistics.

Privy raises $48m for digital trust in Indonesia

Privy, a provider of digital trust in Indonesia, has bagged $48m for its Series C funding round, which was led by private equity giant KKR.

Other commitments came from existing backers MDI Ventures, GGV Capital and Telkomsel Mitra Inovasi, as well as first-time investor Singtel Innov8.

With the funds, the RegTech company plans to bolster its position in Indonesia. It will also build new consumer and enterprise products that enable users to access a wider range of services securely. Funds will also be used to help Privy expand internationally.

Privy believes this investment is a testament to the rising digital economy in Indonesia. It stated the country’s digital economy is expected to reach $146bn by 2025 and to become Southeast Asia’s largest digital economy valued at over $300bn by 2030.

Founded in 2016, Privy is a digital trust platform in Indonesia that provides trusted digital identities and legally binding signatures. Its products include digital identity, digital verification and document management products and services. Its technology is used within finance, healthcare and education.

In 2018, the RegTech company became the first non-government institution to be licensed as a Certificate Authority by Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. A year later, it also became the first electronic Know-Your-Customer service provider to be registered under Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority.

The company boasts over 30 million verified users and 1,800 enterprise consumers on its digital signature, digital verification, and subscription products. It processes over 40 million digital signatures each year.

CyberTech Bishop Fox bags $46m

Bishop Fox, a provider of a “forward defence” to cybersecurity, has collected $46m in growth funding, adding to the $75m it raised earlier in the year.

The latest investment was backed by WestCap, NextEquity Partners and Rockpool Capital. Carrick Capital invested $75m into Bishop Fox earlier in the year as part of its Series B round. With the fresh burst of capital, Bishop Fox is looking to fuel its go-to-market activities in North America, Europe and Latin America. It has also earmarked capital to help build additional internal training programs designed to develop a new generation of cyber talent. Its flagship solution, Cosmos, was built out of nearly two decades of offensive security engagements. The solution is an attack surface protection and offensive-security-as-a-service. Backed by a team of security experts, Bishop Fox believes it offers the most comprehensive, continuous protection in the industry and offers customers dramatic reductions in cost, time, and resources without sacrificing security. Its customers include over 25% of the Fortune 100, eight of the top 10 tech companies, and all of the top global media companies.

Digital payouts FinTech WeGift raises £26m

WeGift, which claims to be an industry leader in digital payouts, has closed its Series B funding round on £26m.

The investment was led by Element Ventures, with commitments also coming from Clocktower Ventures and Volution Capital. Existing WeGift investors CommerzVentures, AlbionVC and SAP also joined the Series B.

These funds will enable WeGift to expand its digital currency network, support growth in new geographies, hire more staff and release new features. For its international growth, WeGift is particularly focused on North America.

WeGift is on a mission to allow anyone to transfer any digital currency more freely around the world.

The digital payouts FinTech enables companies to disburse funds to customers for  rewards, refunds, rebates, remittances and more. The network connects merchants, individuals and organisations to instantly send digital currencies around the globe.

The company, which was founded in 2016, claims to have doubled its revenue each year.

Singapore’s ADDX bags $20m for private market investing app

Singapore-based private market investing app ADDX has reportedly raised an additional $20m for its pre-Series B investment round.

The capital was supplied by both new and existing investors, according to a report from Crowdfund Insider. The lead investor was KB Financial Group, a South Korean financial holding company. ADDX has earmarked this fresh capital to grow its wealth management platform, which launched earlier in the year for private banks, brokerages and family offices. Funds will also be used to expand globally and get more licences. Founded in 2017, ADDX aims to give individual investors greater access to private market deals. Through its app, investors can access hedge funds, unicorns and pre-IPO companies at lower minimum investments. Its services allow people to back these asset types from as low as $10,000. The private market investing company leverages blockchain and smart contract technology to tokenise and fractionalise private market opportunities. Speaking on the investment, ADDX CEO Oi-Yee Choo said, “ADDX has become the focal point for Asian financial institutions that believe in building a new technology-driven infrastructure for private markets, to overcome inefficiencies in the traditional model.”

Investing platform baraka snares $20m Series A

baraka, a Middle East-located platform for commission-free investing, has closed a $20m Series A round led by Valar Ventures.

Also taking part in the round were Knollwood. Other investors in baraka include Class 5 Global, Global Founders Capital and VentureSouq. Launched in 2021, baraka claims it is empowering investors across the region with access to commission-free investing and access to over 6,000 US stocks and ETFs. Starting from $1, investors on baraka can build diversified portfolios and long-term wealth by benefiting from global equity markets to achieve financial independence. baraka said it is working with local stock exchanges and regulators to enable access to local market trading on its app. Users of the company’s app are provided with daily financial news in English and Arabic, to help them make informed and independent investment decisions. baraka’s focus on driving financial inclusion is underpinned by a commitment to raise financial literacy standards across the region. With this new investment, baraka will double down on its presence across the GCC and Egypt, and drive customer acquisition. The company will continue to evolve its app with new services anticipated to launch over the next 12 months including access to features like dividend reinvestment plans, extended hours trading and much more.

PayZen raises $20m for healthcare buy now pay later

San Francisco-based PayZen, which offers buy now, pay later services to the healthcare industry, has reportedly raised $20m in equity.

The funding round was led by 7wireVentures and brings the company’s total equity raised to $40m, according to a report from Silicon Valley Journals. In addition to the equity, the payments company has received $200m in a warehouse credit facility from Viola Credit. With the fresh funds, the FinTech company plans to expand its credit lines. It will also seek to accelerate its mission by enhancing and expanding its technology. PayZen aims to make healthcare more affordable. Its platform leverages data and AI to create individualised patient payment plans that families can afford. It then supplies them with the funds, regardless of their credit score. The platform provides individualised patient payment options with plans up to 60 months and no interest or fees. It also offers the Care Card, which it says is perfect for pre-service payment, pharmacy and recurring care scenarios. 

GovInvest nets $18.6m in strategic funding

GovInvest, a company that develops financial forecasting software for government, has bagged $18.6m in strategic funding.

Bolstered by a recent round led by Level Equity, a growth capital firm specializing in supporting thriving technology companies, GovInvest plans to expand its team to support its accelerating client base and enhance products to meet customer demand. GovInvest claims it is focused on helping municipalities and their finance and human resources leaders streamline annual forecasting processes by automating complex analysis, enabling real-time scenarios, and increasing transparency in decision-making. During the era of, “The Great Resignation.” managing escalating labor costs and compensation data has become increasingly complex and time-consuming. In 2022, GovInvest responded by launching its new Compensation Benchmarking software to enable public agencies to analyze how competitive they are with neighboring and comparable agencies, as well as ensure employees are appropriately compensated. 

Virgil bags €15m to help more young workers become homeowners

Virgil, the financial solution look to restore equality in the property market, has raised €15m.

Participating in the round was Alven, LocalGlobe, Evolem and a new entrant Global Founders Capital.

According to Virgil, the current period of high inflation and rising mortgage rates means access to real estate credit is becoming more complex. This results in the vast majority of young workers remaining tenants, despite the fact that 85% of them are convinced that owning their main resident is more economical.

For the buyer, Virgil is a dormant partner: in exchange for an investment of 10% of the price, Virgil buys 15% of the apartment and pays itself at the time of resale, no later than 10 years after purchase.

In this way, Virgil said it allows young workers to become owners on average 7 years earlier than the average of first-time buyers. By helping young workers break the stone ceiling, Virgil said it avoids the intergenerational transmission of inequalities.

This new fundraising will also strengthen the team and scale to meet the “enormous need of the market: home ownership, the first lever for creating savings and wealth,” the company said.

Virgil said the funding will allows it to accelerate its deployment in favour of the financial independence of young workers.

Global payment network Banked raises $15m

London-based FinTech startup Banked, which is building a next-gen global payment network, has closed its Series A funding round on $15m.

Insight Partners served as the lead investor, with commitments also coming from Citi and National Australia Bank Ventures. Banked’s newly announced commercial partner and global payments firm Rapyd also participated in the round. With the funds, the global payment network hopes to expand internationally, with a focus on the US. To support this move, the company recently opened an office in California. The FinTech company is on a mission to become the leading provider of alternatives to card payment methods. Users do not need to create an account or pass any login information to Banked, instead they can simply choose their existing bank at checkout and are securely connected to their mobile banking app to biometrically authenticate the purchase. It claims that the total checkout time for a first-time user is under 30 seconds.

ArmorCode lands $14m in Series A financing haul

ArmorCode, a leader in AppSecOps, has raised $14m in a Series A funding round headed by Ballistic Ventures.

The round also saw participation from Sierra Ventures, Cervin and industry investors such as the former CEO of AT&T Communications John Donovan. According to the Purple Book Community’s recent survey, 60% of organisations prioritise speed over security when releasing software. This is a problem, as there are 100 or more developers for every application security engineer, making it hard for them to keep pace with the speed of software releases. With businesses prioritising shipping applications fast, it leads many applications to launch without the necessary security checks and leaves organisations vulnerable. ArmorCode claims its platform is able to solve this problem by delivering a unified view into customers AppSec posture, vulnerability, and compliance management as well as into their development, security, and operations workflow automation. 

DevSecOps automation platform BoostSecurity emerges from stealth

BoostSecurity, a developer-first DevSecOps automation platform, has secured $12m for its seed round, as it emerges from stealth.

Sorenson Capital, a multi-stage investor focused on B2B SaaS, served as the lead backer. Other commitments came from Hoxton Ventures, Golden Ventures, Firebolt Ventures and Transform VC. With the capital, BoostSecurity hopes to accelerate its go-to-market and engineering initiatives. The DevSecOps automation platform claims to solve problems organisations have been plagued with building software fast, while doing it securely. It stated that security tooling is needed at various stages in the develop, build, test, and release processes. However, these security measures come at the expense of friction to development, velocity slowdown, and security noise for development teams. Additionally, the tools and environments where software is being built, have become the target of cyberattacks themselves, it claims. BoostSecurity disrupts DevSecOps through automation. Its technology means clients can secure CI/CD pipelines, ship code fast, run all the necessary security checks on every commit, and fix issues as they build code.

UK pet InsurTech Napo lands £15m

Napo, a UK-based pet insurance startup, has raised £15m in Series A funding in a round led by DN Capital.

According to a report from Tech EU, the round was also backed by the pet care-focussed Companion Fund, as well as Insurtech VC MTech Capital and Munich-based early0stage VC Picus Capital. Founded in 2021, Napo’s InsurTech offers pet owners policy quotes in minutes. Typically, a £75 flat-fee is payable when an animal requires treatment, but Napo claims the rest of the cost is usually covered, up to its £16,000 threshold. Napo said High excesses make claiming difficult and stressful. Insurers set them high to avoid paying up. “We want to make claiming as stress-free as possible. We know claiming always comes at tough times and believe our free pet services will help prevent the need to claim in the first place. That way, we don’t need to wriggle out of paying when you need us the most. The low £75 excess is our proof to you that we mean it.”

ZSuite Tech secures $11m

ZSuite Tech, a FinTech firm that powers financial institutions with unbound digital accounts, has bagged $11m in its Series A.

The company covers unbound digital accounts that encompass escrow, subaccounting, sub-ledgering, FBO and trust accounts for commercial customers. The raise was completed by the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) and BankTech Ventures. ZSuite offers a digital commercial escrow and subaccounting platform to help financial institutions improve efficiency and expand business relationships. This funding comes on the heels of a year of unprecedented growth for the company. Currently more than 40 banks nationwide rely on the company’s digital tools for commercial banking. ZSuite’s digital platform now supports approximately 41,000 accounts. ZSuite will use the capital to scale operations and product development to meet the growing market demand for advanced, digital cash and treasury management tools. Sometimes referred to as Virtual Account Management (VAM), this service offering has typically only been offered by large international institutions. ZSuite aims to make this technology available to every commercial banker, regardless of size. 

UK InsurTech Send bags $10m Series A

Send Technology Solutions, a UK-based InsurTech aiming to transform commercial insurance with its SaaS platform, has raised $10m in Series A funding.

The round was led by Venture Capital firm Breega with participation from Mercia. Send’s core product is a SaaS underwriting workbench designed to streamline operations, automate admin-heavy tasks and free up underwriters to focus on core work. It is a one-stop desktop for underwriters providing a single place for managing new business, renewals, and endorsements. The InsurTech said the capital will enable it to accelerate growth both in the US and UK. It will also be used to strengthen Send’s product development and expand the wider team beyond the existing staff of 60. According to Send, its platform, build for the commercial and specialty markets, processes over $4bn in Gross Written Product (GWP) annually. 

Wagepay nets $10m

Australia-based Wagepay, which gives employees real-time access to a portion of their earned wages, has reportedly collected $10m in funding.

The investment capital was supplied by FC Capital, an Australian asset manager, according to a report from Australian FinTech. Other unnamed institutional investors supported the round. With the capital, Wagepay plans to increase its capabilities and help more people get early access to wages. Prior to this investment, Wagepay was completely bootstrapped. Founded in 2020, Wagepay helps employees get real-time access to a portion of their earned wages. A user can sign up within three minutes and can get up to 25% of their pay early, up to a maximum of $2,000. It claims that it was the first company to launch risk-tiered pricing in 2021 to make its services available to more. Its tiered pricing means that selected customers are offered lower rates. In addition to early wages, Wagepay also offers credit scoring services, as well as a bank score. In the coming months, the FinTech company plans to release budgeting tools that help people better monitor their spending. In the first 12 months of its app being available, it has registered 240,000 downloads across iOS and Android devices.

Private AI to better protect PII with its Series A

Private AI, which leverages AI to better protect personally identifiable information (PII), has secured $8m for its Series A round.

BDC Capital led the round, with commitments also coming from GIT1K and Panda Angel Partners. Existing Private AI investors, Microsoft’s Venture Fund (M12), Differential Ventures, Forum Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Parliament Angels, also joined the round.

This capital will enable Private AI to develop a new self-service platform and enable the detection of PII within documents, such as PDFs and word docs. The PII protection company recently launched in France and will use the Series A funds to bolster its European expansion.

Private AI offers AI that can detect, redact and replace over 50 types of PII in over 47 languages. The software can integrate into any environment with just three lines of code.

Mexico-based PropTech platform Yave raises $7.5m

Mexico-based PropTech platform Yave has reportedly raised $7.5m in its seed II funding round, which was co-led by Better Tomorrow Ventures and Metaprop.

Other commitments came from Goodwater, Activant, Moore Capital, Fintech Fund, Cross River, Vinte, Magma Partners, DILA Capital and Wollef, according to a report from LatAm List.

With this capital, the company plans to expand its offering and will be able to originate mortgages for US-based buyers looking to buy a home in Mexico.

Yave, which was previously named Smart Lending, is an online lending platform. Users can access mortgages entirely online and at a quicker pace than traditional lenders. Users can get pre-approval within three minutes.

The company has 30 partners using its platform and it has helped execute $80m in mortgages since its launch in 2018.

Zenlytic bags $5.4m from seed financing haul

Zenlytic, an enterprise-grade business intelligence tool for commerce, has raised $5.4m in seed financing.

The round was led by Bain Capital Ventures. Additional participants in the round include Primary Venture Partners, Correlation Ventures, Company Ventures, Habitat Partners and the Sequoia Scout Fund.

Zenlytic is a tool for commerce brands that unifies business intelligence and product analytics into a simple natural-language interface. Non-technical users use Zenlytic to discover what drives their acquisition, conversion, and retention, all in a single tool, without relying on data teams.

Fennel bags funding and launches ESG-driven investment platform

Fennel, an ESG-focused platform that gives retail investors access to tools to better engage with companies, has launched its mobile investing app.

According to Fennel, the key feature of its app is its in-app ESG data and rankings, which the firm says provides unprecedented information to retail investors on public firms’ ESG practices.

With Fennel, users can invest in publicly listed stocks and ETFs as they analyse detailed ESG data and further understand how the companies they invest in impact the world they live in.

The platform allows retail investors to easily invest in aligment with their values and the ESG-related issues they care about, such as carbon emissions, climate change and gender and cultural identity wage gaps.

Fennel provides information about past and upcoming shareholder votes in order to show investors how they can play a part in guiding a company’s decisions. It also allows investors to follow specific ballots to track their outcomes.

Alongside the launch, the company also raised $5m in a round of seed funding. Participating in the funding was founding partner of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Larry Sonsini, former managing director of Trading at Blue River Asset Management Paul Sinsar and John Rundle, distinguished Professor of Physics and Applied Mathematics at UC Davis.

KLAIM plans to raise $5m for its seed round

KLAIM has raised $5m in its seed funding round, which will help it scale receivable purchase operations in the UAE.

The capital was supplied by venture capital firm Knuru Capital. The firm plans to increase the investment to $30m by way of a pool of Sharia-compliant investors.

With the fresh funds, KLAIM plans to bolster its medical claims receivable purchasing solution, which allows healthcare providers to quickly access working capital by selling their insurance claims that are pending payment and typically settled between 60 and 112 days.

KLAIM is already eyeing more funding. It is seeking institutional debt and a Series A round in the coming months.

Based in UAE, KLAIM provides working capital to small and mid-size healthcare providers to ease their cash flow burden.

The company previously announced it is working on an alternative Sharia-compliant fund provided by Al-Khair Capital which is currently under regulatory approval by CMA in Saudi.

EMTECH secures $4m for its financial inclusion mission

EMTECH, which is on a mission to drive financial inclusion around the world, has reportedly raised $4m in funding.

The seed round was supported by Noemis Venture, Octerra Capital, Consonance Invest, XFactor Ventures, 500 Global, Canaan Partners, and Andrew Lundsten, according to a report from TechCrunch.

EMTECH is a central bank digital infrastructure provider. It is aimed at emerging markets where payments infrastructure needs alignment with digital innovations. Through this, it hopes to help introduce new products, promote financial inclusion and improve security.

The firm launched with one central bank in 2021 and has already extended this with five regulators signing up for pilots and onboarding, it said. The company is working with regulators in Africa and the Caribbean.

Its technology helps to modernise central banks and regulatory environments. Its 360 supervisory technology digitises the application review process, regulatory sandboxes, licensing, compliance and supervision. Through this, central banks can de-risk FinTech with real-time consumer protection, cyber risk and AML/KYC data.

It also enables regulation by providing evidence-based input for regulatory changes and regulatory frameworks. Other benefits include accelerating FinTech development and financial inclusion and boosting communication with players.

Estonian startup Mifundo scores €1.2m pre-seed

Mifundo, an Estonian FinTech startup, has landed €1.2m in a pre-seed funding round led by Opus11 VC.

Angel investors who took part in the round include Jüri Laur from LHV Bank and Kaido Kepp from Iizi Kindlustusmaakler.

According to Finextra, the project has also been supported by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund and EAS.

Mifundo is a pan-European cross-border platform that connects people with banks regardless of their location. The firm said its AI will find the credit offers based on client data and will find the best loan terms from banks over the Europe.

The company claims it is creating an AI-based platform that treats the European Union as a single credit market.

Open banking app Boodil nets £525k in pre-seed haul

Boodil, a Manchester-based provider of an open banking payments and consumer engagement app, has scored £525k in a pre-seed raise.

The round was headed by Louis and Reg Rix, Anthony Morrow, Gary Corbett, 3B4 Investments and Ben Luscombe. Boodil claims its mission is to transform customers everyday spend with its cardless payment solution. The company offers merchants a more secure, cost effective payment proposition with instant access to funds. Whilst rewarding customers for every purchase they make, with redeemable points, rewards and entries into our exclusive prize draws. Boodil is an end-to-end solution for any merchant looking to offer frictionless account to account payments powered by open banking API’s. The firm also provides data driven insights to improve customers experiences. According to the firm, it intends to use the new influx of capital to scale its payment and open banking solution. The cardless payment method is set to launch in the fourth quarter of this year, the company has claimed. 

FinTech FIDx nets growth funding

FIDx, an integrated technology platform that connects financial professionals to leading insurance firms, has raised an undisclosed amount of growth funding.

The round was led by Prudential Financial, and Global Atlantic, with participation from Envestnet.

Founded in 2017, FIDx is a technology-empowered network that integrates the brokerage, insurance and advisory ecosystems to offer best-in-class annuities and insurance solutions from the industry’s leading carriers.

Motivated by its mission to expand the frontiers of the wealth management space and provide holistic solutions to address investor’s changing needs, FIDx enables advisors to offer guaranteed income and downside protection as core components of their clients portfolios integrated within the same wealth management platforms they already use every day.

FIDx claims it is providing a modern solution to bridge advisory firms to insurance carriers so advisors can truly deliver comprehensive advice, enabling their clients to achieve retirement security.

FIDx currently has relationships with 17 insurance companies, and $24 billion in assets on its platform.

Insurance “soonicorn” Vouch backs Capsule

Capsule, a specialist insurance provider to high-growth companies in the UK, has partnered with insurance platform Vouch.

Vouch, founded by CEO Sam Hodges and CRO Travis Hedge, describes itself as a “new kind of insurance platform”.

Specifically tailored to startups, Vouch offers fully digital, tailored coverage that takes minutes to activate.

With over $160m raised to date from the likes of Y Combinator, Ribbit Capital, Silicon Valley Bank and Index Ventures, as well as a recent valuation of over $550m, Vouch has called itself a “soonicorn”, with its sights firmly set on the next stage of business growth.

Launched in 2021, Capsule is a specialist insurance provider that helps startups and scale-ups in sectors such as Web3, Fintech, Enterprise (SaaS) and Consumer Tech navigate the risks of rapid expansion by ensuring they have the proper protection in place.

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