Fintech Highlights - 10/12/2021

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Pinned to the Top

On Friday, NerdWallet made public its paperwork for a U.S. initial public offering. Which revealed a more than 32% jump in revenue YOY.

In the six months ended June 30, the company reached 21 million unique users per month and generated $181.6 million in revenue compared with $137.3 million a year earlier, according to the filing.

Providing financial guidance to users on credit cards, loans, mortgages and other financial products, it's founder Tim Chen was inspired to start NerdWallet after he failed to find a suitable answer on the internet to his sister's question about which credit card was the most suitable for an expatriate living in Australia.

Financial literacy and wellness resources, such as Credit Karma, Bankrate.com and others, have seen tremendous growth through the pandemic as consumers find more ways to grow their money and self-guide their investment activity. Which is driving massive changes within incumbent financial services firms

The BFD

CoinSwitch Kuber, an Indian crypto exchange, raised $260 million at a $1.9 billion valuation co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Coinbase Ventures.

Why it's the BFD: All crypto investments are done against the backdrop of regulatory uncertainty, but the situation is even more fraught in India, where there's been government talk of a total ban on both trading and holding. But the lure of India's giant population was apparently too much for Andreessen Horowitz, which had never before done a deal in the country, with CoinSwitch Kuber saying it will use proceeds to onboard 50 million new customers.

Other investors include Sequoia Capital India, Paradigm, Tiger Global and Ribbit Capital.

The bottom line: "The exchange's unicorn status follows the $1 billion valuation attained by rival crypto exchange CoinDCX in August in a $90 million funding round that also included contribution from Coinbase." — Jamie Crawley, CoinDesk

Fintechs

Anyfin, the Stockholm-based startup that enables consumers to refinance their existing loans, has raised $30 million in funding. Via Anyfin’s website or iOS and Android apps, consumers can select their current loan provider from a drop-down menu, snap a picture of their statement or upload it. Anyfin then gives feedback, including, where applicable, the option to refinance at a “fairer” price. More here ->

Commonstock, an SF-based social investing platform, raised $25 million. The platform enables users to share their real-time portfolios, and then amplifies the best performers. More here ->

Modern Treasury, an S.F.-based provider of payments operations software, raised $85 million. Its software replaces decades-old legacy systems. It makes it easy for growing companies to connect with banks over API. And, it enables rapidly growing Real-Time Payments, or RTP. More here ->

Otto, a fintech startup which aims to allow people to tap into their vehicle’s equity for access to credit, has raised $4.5 million. The Dallas-based company is building a mobile platform that will essentially let people borrow against their vehicles at the same interest rate as standard credit cards. But unlike other cards, Otto will not charge fees or overdraft charges, and will not require applicants to supply their FICO credit scores.  More here ->

Senso, a home financing startup, raised $4 million CDN. Senso, which was founded in 2017, has developed a platform that generates predictive intelligence for financial institutions. The service is meant to help financial institutions predict behavior and take “proactive steps” to strengthen client relationships, with the goal of improving retention and customer loyalty. More here ->

Perch, has raised $1 million CAD in seed funding to scale the development of its property financing solutions. Perch’s mission is to “help Canadians build wealth and make more informed decisions through its analytics platform.” Some of its available tools include a mortgage calculator; a qualifier, where users can evaluate if they can afford their target property; a mortgage penalty calculator; and a First-Time Home buyer Incentive benefit calculator. More here ->

Playbook, a San Francisco startup aiming to allow users to pay lower taxes on investments, has raised $5.6 million in seed funding. Playbook, which has about 10,000 users and 50,000 on the wait list, seeks to ensure that its customers take advantage of basic investment and retirement benefits. More here ->

Copper Banking, a digital banking service aimed at teens, announced today it has raised a total of $13.3 million. Copper Banking provides an FDIC-backed digital bank account linked to 50,000 ATMs. Teens also get a personalized Copper debit card, P2P payments, direct deposit and automatic savings options. Parents must sign up their teens for an account, and can link their traditional bank accounts to Copper Banking cards to provide an automatic “teen salary” allowance.  More here ->

Productfy, a San Jose, Calif.-based “DeFi for traditional finance” startup, raised $16 million. According to founder and CEO Duy Vo. From a product architecture standpoint, Productfy has been built “from the ground up,” he said, to operate with multiple banking partners. More here ->

Mono, an Africa-focused fintech that connects bank accounts to financial apps, raised $15 million. Open finance players in Africa like Mono — mirroring Plaid’s success in the U.S. market to theirs — thrives on the notion that access to a financial ecosystem via open APIs will improve access to financial information and lower entry costs for the underbanked.  More here ->

Swile, a French provider of payment cards for employee benefits, raised $200 million. Swile started as a payment card to hold your meal vouchers. With Swile, employees can optionally add their personal debit card to the Swile app. When you spend more than your daily limit, Swile automatically charges your personal card. It’s a better experience for the end user. More here ->

Insuretechs

Loop, an insurtech company focused on automotive sector, raised $21 million. A LOOP customer signs up, gets a good rate, utilizes the information given by LOOP, their driving is tracked and the data is analyzed, and the rate drops upon renewal after the policy expires. By repeating this, the customer “loops” around a cycle of better information leading to better rates. More here ->

Stable, an insurtech aiming to help minimize a businesses’ risk due to volatile commodity prices, raised $46.5 million. Stable's goal is to help “millions of businesses that are exposed to volatile commodity prices to manage the risk in a simple and effective way.” More here ->

Sure, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based insurance infrastructure startup, raised $100 million. Sure launched its first (enterprise SaaS) product in early 2016, and today counts traditional financial services and fintech companies alike among its customers. Customers include Farmers Insurance, Chubb, Intuit, Betterment, Revolut, Carvana, several automotive manufacturers and a leading global credit card network. All offer insurance programs built on Sure’s infrastructure. More here ->

Voom, a Palo Alto-based pay-per-mile motorcycle insurer, raised $15 million. Already the leading commercial drone insurance provider in North America, VOOM is expanding coverage to motorcycles, light aircraft, rideshare & delivery drivers. More here ->

Plume, which provides a SaaS platform for connected homes, raised $300 million. The company already manages more than 1.2 billion devices in homes and small businesses around the world. More here ->

From the Stash

Microsoft acquires Ally.io, OKR startup that raised $76 million — techcrunch.com Microsoft announced today that it has acquired Ally.io, a software service that helps companies measure their progress against OKRs (objectives and key results), a common way that management measures both individual and company progress. The two firms did not share the purchase price. Microsoft plans to incorporate Ally into its Viva family of employee experience […]

Roamly launches partnership with Spinnaker Insurance Company to introduce first of its kind insurance products for RV rentals — www.prnewswire.com

Outdoorsy, the most-trusted global online recreational vehicle rental and outdoor travel marketplace, today announced the partnership of its...

Insuretech, on the heels of a fintech boom, heats up in Africa — techcrunch.com Insurance in Kenya and Africa at large remains a marginal product, with levels of penetration across the continent half the world average as a percentage of GDP, and premiums per capita 11-fold lower than the world average, according to a recent report by McKinsey and Co. (and that’s including the outsized market of South Africa; […]

Target adds 'buy now pay later' options with Affirm and Sezzle ahead of holiday shopping season — www.usatoday.com Target is offering shoppers additional ways to pay for their holiday gift purchases with new installment plans from Affirm and Sezzle.

Reports / Webinars

Chime’s Chris Britt and Menlo Ventures’ Shawn Carolan to talk fintech — techcrunch.com In a world where fintech is so hot right now, and investors are being swept up by their excitement for the space, Chime has managed to ride the wave to near perfection. The company has raised upwards of $2.6 billion, including a fresh $750 million just this year. The startup, playing in the fee-free banking […]

Google Cloud Next ’21 - a global digital experience — cloud.withgoogle.com Explore Next '21 to find the tools and training you need to succeed in the cloud, get informed, and solve your biggest business challenges.

The Leadership In Insurance Podcast with Jeff Radke — preview.mailerlite.com This week Alex and Jeff talk about all things from the attraction of the MGA model as an entrepreneur and discussing whether the MGA market is sometimes a scapegoat to customer-centricity and the importance of clarity and ownership in a long term member relationship.

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