Fintech Highlights - 11/9/2021

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Pinned to the Top

Brazilian fintech Nubank is shooting for the stars with a US IPO and a $50bn valuation target. The move would see the online lender eclipse the country’s largest traditional lender Itau Unibanco Holding SA in terms of value.

It’s no wonder the numbers are so eye-poppingly large. Nubank counts 48 million as customers - 28% of Brazilian adults. They’re an absolute juggernaut.

It’s all the more impressive when you consider that 10% of the country’s population don’t even have a bank account. But it can’t make for good reading for the established banks…

Surely becoming a bank themselves is pretty close behind on the agenda. Frankly, it’s quite impossible to see any alternative with numbers that large.

The BFD

Zillow is receiving takeover interest in its multibillion-dollar homes portfolio, just days after abandoning its digital home buying-and-selling program.

Why it's the BFD: This could swell America's home rental stock and depress its number of homes for sale, as the reported suitors are large institutional landlords.

Interested suitors, per WSJ, include American Homes 4 Rent Invitation Homes and Pretium Partners. It's unclear if the portfolio, including homes under contract but not yet purchased by Zillow, will be sold in one transaction or piecemeal.

The bottom line: "The same rush on the suburbs that helped boost home prices 20% nationally in the year ending in August has trickled down to the rental market. With home prices hovering near highs, many families have determined the most realistic option for living in a coveted suburban neighborhood with good schools is to rent from one of the big investment firms." — Will Parker, WSJ

Fintechs

Honeybook, an S.F.-based client and financial management platform for freelancers and solo entrepreneurs, raised $250 million. HoneyBook’s software enables business owners to organize their workflow, streamline their client list and manage cash flow. Tools include embedded financial services, like payments and the company’s recently launched capital product, which gives eligible members access to the funds for business growth.  More here ->

H2O.ai, a Mountain View, Calif.-based open-source ML automation platform, raised $100 million. H2O.ai has developed an open-source framework as well as proprietary apps that make it easier for any kind of enterprise to build and operate artificial intelligence-based services. More here ->

Prepaid Technologies, a Birmingham, Ala.-based provider of prepaid digital payment solutions, raised $96 million. Led by Stephen Faust, CEO, Prepaid Technologies is a fintech solution and payments program manager, providing innovative digital payment solutions including payroll, expense, gift, reward and incentive card products to employers, financial institutions, and government agencies. More here ->

Valon Technologies, a New York-based digital mortgage serving platform, raised $44 million at a $590 million valuation. "Valon is building a platform that offers a safe, intuitive way for consumers to be better informed about their mortgage,” Leander McCormick-Goodhart, a vice president at Starwood Capital Group, said. "Automating the process helps keep borrowers current and drives down servicing costs," he added. More here ->

Jumo, a South African platform for building fintech products, raised $120 million. The fintech, which refers to itself as a banking-as-a-service platform, says it uses AI to power financial services, particularly lending in emerging markets where over 1.7 billion people do not have basic access to financial services. More here ->

Chipper Cash, an Africa-focused cross-border payments startup, raised $150 million. The investment comes barely six months after Chipper Cash closed its first Series C round of $100 million. The company, founded in 2018, offers a no-fee peer-to-peer cross-border payment service in Africa via its app. Its services are used across seven African countries — Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa and Kenya. More here ->

Laika, a New York-based compliance-as-a-service startup, raised $35 million in Series B funding. Founded in 2019, Laika essentially helps smaller software companies pass security audits, which puts them in a stronger position to attract larger enterprise customers.  More here ->

Neuro-ID, a Whitefish, Mont.-based provider of real-time behavioral analytics for fraud prevention, raised $35 million in Series B funding. The company's analytics platform captures real-time customer behavior at scale for digital organizations so that they can see and understand the intent of their digital customer and identify the root cause of customer friction. More here ->

GeoWealth, a Chicago-based asset management program for advisers, raised $19 million in Series B funding. The firm is currently made up of 70 employees, with effectively 30 on the product and engineering side and the other 40 spread across middle- and back-office support. More here ->

Fyllo, a Chicago-based provider of compliance SaaS for highly-regulated industries, raised $40 million. The company’s Compliance Cloud is a suite of software and services that enable organizations to navigate today’s regulatory landscape, streamline compliance, and scale with speed.  More here ->

Insuretechs

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From the Stash

Would you rather be a fintech Super App or a bank? — content.11fs.com Fintechs are too quick to apply for bank charters when other options are available. Let’s weigh them up.

Britain's Mid-sized Metro Bank Gets Carlyle Bid Approach — axios.link Metro Bank said it has received a takeover approach from U.S. private equity firm Carlyle, sending its battered shares by as much as 31% higher, in a sign of growing interest in Britain's mid-sized banks.

PayPal And Pinterest Isn’t Happening. What Could Be PayPal’s Next Acquisition? — news.crunchbase.com

Although a rumored PayPal acquisition of Pinterest isn’t happening, the potential deal indicates the fintech giant could be more heavily focused going forward on the social commerce space, which involves consumer purchases made on social media platforms.

The Briefing: NerdWallet Prices IPO, Papa Picks Up $150M At Unicorn Valuation, And More – Crunchbase News — news.crunchbase.com Crunchbase News' top picks of the news to stay current in the VC and startup world.

Reports / Podcasts

The 2021 US Mobile Banking Benchmark Report — minnatechnologies.com

In this benchmark, Minna discovers what mobile banking features the top 24 retail banks in the US have to offer.

Azur Group: Smart Home Case Study - Salesforce.com — www.salesforce.com See how Azur Group built a digital platform that connects its existing solution architecture into third- party data to improve the customer/broker experience and underwriting decisions.

The Leadership In Insurance Podcast with Adam Blumencranz — preview.mailerlite.com This week Alex and Adam talk about how they view talent, teams and culture. They discuss the importance of having differentiation as an investor and the need to know your investment strategy and to be thesis-driven as well as discussing what Adam specifically looks for in a good pitch.

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