Fintech Highlights - 2/1/2022
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Pinned to the Top
Acorns, the Irvine, Calif.-based savings and investing app, and Pioneer Merger Corp. have scrapped the $2.2 billion merger they announced last May.
Acorns will receive a $17.5m termination fee and plans to return to the private fundraising market, with an aim to go public sometime after.
To date, it's raised over $330 million from firms like Greycroft, e.ventures, NBC Universal and Rakuten Ventures.
Launched in 2014, Acorns provides a platform that lets customers set aside and invest spare change in exchange-traded funds offered by asset managers such as Vanguard and BlackRock . Acorns has 4.6 million subscribers, which it hopes to increase to 10 million.
The BFD
Kin Insurance, the Chicago-based insuretech, canceled its deal to go public at an implied billion $1 billion valuation via Omnichannel Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: OCA), due to "unfavorable market conditions."
Kin has raised over $160 million from firms like Commerce Ventures, Senator Investment Group, Hudson Structured Capital and August Capital and golfer Rory McIlroy.
Why it's the BFD: Over the past few months SPAC driven public "offerings" for fintech have performed poorly. And companies are listening to the markets and making decisions to delay or end the plans to push to the public markets via an SPAC option.
The big picture: Ultimately VC's / investors are starting pull back on SPAC options for their portfolio companies and return to a more patient stance for exit / return.
Fintechs
UBS agreed to buy Wealthfront, the Palo Alto-based robo-advisor, for $1.4b in cash. Wealthfront had raised around $200m from Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Launch Fund, Social Capital, Tiger Global, Spark Capital, Dragoneer, DAG Ventures and Greylock. Big banks continue to buy fintech companies in order to expand their client offerings, although robo-advising has almost become table stakes at this point. More here ->
JPMorgan Chase agreed to buy a 49% stake in Greek payments fintech Viva Wallet at a reported valuation north of $2b. Viva had raised around $750m from firms like Tencent, Breyer Capital, EBRD and DECA Investments. Cloud-based Viva Wallet, which operates in 23 countries across Europe, provides card acceptance services through its POS application, add-on Google play devices and advanced payment systems in online stores. More here ->
Chargebee, a Walnut, Calif.-based subscription management and recurring billing platform, raised $250m at a $3.5b valuation. The company’s core subscription management smarts help software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies identify new revenue channels through experimenting with pricing models; upselling through pitching additional features or bundles; and gleaning a unified view of all subscription and customer data. More here ->
First Dollar a healthcare savings and finance platform, announced a $14M Series A round. Tax-advantaged accounts and supplemental benefits have the power to be transformative for everyday Americans. These programs save money, fill gaps, and help keep folks out of the clinic. Yet, few eligible members take advantage of HSAs, FSAs, HRAs, and more. The company intends to fix that. More here ->
Qlub, a European payment solution for restaurant customers, raised $17m in seed funding. Similar to the Sunday startup, Qlub enables customers to pay their bills in restaurants quickly by scanning a QR code with their phone. No app or registration is required. Customers can split the bill with their friends and pay the bill with Apple Pay, credit card or in installments in a similar manner to BNPL. More here ->
Bamboo, a Nigerian investment app, raised $15m in Series A funding. There are many Robinhood-esque platforms globally because of a growing need to invest in U.S. stocks in different parts of the world. Bamboo, launched in January 2020, is one such platform in Nigeria. More here ->
Esusu, a New York-based credit building startup, raised $130m in Series B funding at a $1b valuation. Esusu targets immigrant and minority groups and provides rent reporting and data solutions for credit building. More here ->
BasicBlock, a Lincoln, Neb.-based fintech focused on the trucking industry, raised $78m in equity and debt funding. The company sees a market in which an ecosystem of banks, insurance companies and other providers of services are trying to capitalize on the trucking market with a variety of product offerings. BasicBlock is a conduit through which those services can be provided to the trucking customer. More here ->
Creditas, a Brazilian lending fintech, raised $260m in Series F funding at a $4.8b valuation. Creditas is one of those rare and refreshing startups that gives us a glimpse into their financials. Such transparency is not common and has the benefit of preparing the company well for its eventual path to the public markets. More here ->
Instant DAO creator Syndicate has launched a tool to establish online investing clubs with nothing but an Ethereum wallet and some gas. More here ->
FTX, the Bahamas-based crypto giant, raised $400m in Series C funding at a $32b valuation. The funding round highlights the ravenous investor appetite for crypto assets and it solidifies FTX's ability to stay private for longer. More here ->
Superdao, an all-in-one DAO creation and operation software, is valued at $160 million after new funding. The 25-person team is building a member directory with tools for NFT and token airdrops, treasury dashboard, open ecosystem for third-party DAO apps, one-click DAO creation, and more. This is in contrast to how DAOs are started and operated currently, which require heavy engineering infrastructure. More here ->
CoinTracker, a crypto portfolio tracker and tax calculator, raised $100m in Series A funding. CoinTracker’s partnership wheels are churning, too. On Monday, the company announced an exclusive deal with Coinbase’s expanded “tax center” that assists exchange users in preparing their crypto taxes. More here ->
Domain Money, a stock and crypto investment app founded by Adam Dell, raised $33m Bessemer Venture Partners, Maveron, RRE Ventures and Marc Benioff. The new platform, developed by members of the team behind Marcus, gives serious investors more control and access to trading of both stocks and crypto, along with actively managed investment strategies, real-time market intelligence, a proprietary social sentiment tool, and live customer agents. More here ->
Insuretechs
Tint, an SF-based embedded insurance startup, raised $25m in Series A funding. Tiny provides the infrastructure and easy-to-use technology that allows tech platforms to create unique ways to protect their customers. The technology provides everything from software to risk capital to compliance, with flexibility to cover unique risks. More here ->
First Dollar, a digital health wallet for insurance members with tax-advantaged plans, raised $14m in Series A funding. The company intends to use the funds for the expansion of its Wallet platform into additional benefit types and further addition to existing APIs, embeddable UX widgets, and member workflows. More here ->
Betterfly, a Chilean insure-tech startup, raised $125m in Series C funding at a $1b valuation. Betterfly provides a digital benefits platform through which employers can incentivize healthy habits -- such as walking or meditation. The idea is that employees will get perks such as growing life insurance or the option to direct funds to charitable causes, while the company sees fewer sick days and lower medical costs for healthier workers. More here ->
Sana Benefits, a health insurance provider for small/medium businesses and individuals, raised $44.6M through a combination of Series A venture funding. And on January 24th, Sana will launch Sana MD, a first-of-its-kind advanced primary care health center that will be available at no cost to employees on most Sana plans. More here ->
Ascend, a BNPL commercial insurer tool, raised $30m in Series A funding. Its technology revolves around payments APIs that automate end-to-end insurance payments. The company offers a buy now, pay later financing option for distribution of commissions and carrier payables. More here ->
🚲 Laka, a London-based collective insurer for bike and e-bike owners, raised $12m in Series A funding. The insurtech plans to expand its product offering to e-scooters, e-mopeds and, eventually, e-cars, to better serve Europe-wide partnerships with manufacturers, retailers and leasing businesses. More here ->
Proptech
Polly, an S.F.-based mortgage capital markets SaaS, raised $37m in Series B funding. Menlo Ventures led, and was joined by Movement Mortgage, First American Financial, FinVC and insiders 8VC, Khosla Ventures and Fifth Wall. More here ->
Vesta, an SF-based mortgage infrastructure startup, raised $30m in Series A funding. In an effort to make it simpler, faster and cheaper, a pair of former Blend employees have teamed up to build mortgage loan origination software that will connect banks, credit unions, mortgage bankers and brokers. Or in other words, they want to make it easier for financial institutions to make the whole lending process easier and more transparent for customers. More here ->
Luke, an AI personal assistant developed by RealFriends, is helping to make buying a home simple for first timers. Luke, in essence, is a mobile app where you can ask questions, backed by real estate experts and AI that is available for you 24/7. Even when your real life Uncle Luke or cousin Vinny may not be. More here ->
Pretto, a French online mortgage broker, raised €30m. Founded in 2017 by Pierre Chapon and Renaud Pestre, the startup is on a mission to make the search for a mortgage efficient, simple and fair for everyone. With its technology, users can simulate their loan in less than three minutes and browse for the best rates in the market, all for free. More here ->
Arcapita agreed to buy Nationwide, a Voorhees, N.J.-based real estate appraisal management company, from Corridor Capital. Nationwide Property and Appraisal Services is the second largest independent appraisal management company in the US. More here ->
From the Stash
Digital Transformation in Financial Services: The Need for Contextual Platforms - FinLedger — finledger.com The contextual, contingent nature of business requires us to take a flexible platforms-based approach to financial services and its adoption.
Reports / Webinars
11:FS Pulse Report 2022 — info.11fs.com
The best product experiences and hottest trends in fintech, revealed.
The Leadership In Insurance Podcast With Geoff Keast — preview.mailerlite.com In this week's episode of The Leadership In Insurance Podcast we are lucky enough to be joined by Geoff Keast, CEO of Montoux.
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