Fintech Highlights - 6/18/2024
Here's what we've been watching this week 👇
Pinned to the Top
Investor demand has been so strong for shares of hot HR/fintech startup Rippling — over $2 billion worth of term sheets, it says — that it is allowing former employees to also participate in its giant tender offer sale, the company told TechCrunch venture desk editor Julie Bort.
But there is one big exception: It has banned former employees who work for a handful of competitors from selling their stock.
The news had people in a bit of an uproar on X, with some vehemently supporting — and some strongly denouncing — the move.
The BFD
Carta, a once-high-flying Silicon Valley startup that loudly backed away from one of its businesses earlier this year, is working on a secondary sale that would value the company at $2 billion, TechCrunch EIC Connie Loizos learned.
That’s a massive, if not entirely unexpected, drop in valuation for Carta, which originally focused on cap table management software but began over time to evolve into a “private stock market for companies.”
While Carta’s cap table business is still growing — a source familiar said Carta generated $380 million in revenue last year — it also lost $65 million in 2023, and there “aren’t a whole lot of other places for it to grow.” Conclusion: It’s becoming more and more rare to see companies hold on to their valuations, much less increase them.
Another BFD
JPMorgan has raised the prospect it could shortly sell its stake in Greek payments fintech Viva Wallet, following the resolution of a legal battle between the two firms about the fintech’s valuation.
In a judgment on Thursday, the UK High Court provided a path forward for JPMorgan, which paid $860 million for 49% of Viva Wallet in 2022, to come to an agreement with Viva on the company’s valuation ahead of a deadline next year where the U.S. bank has the option to either sell its stake or buy the outstanding shares so it would own the European fintech outright. A JP Morgan spokesperson said “the court has now provided a critical step to move forward with fair and transparent valuations – which could allow Viva to be sold soon, before the fintech M&A market further softens.”
JPMorgan had alleged Viva founder Haris Karonis had denied the bank’s rights as an investor, citing the founder’s “misconduct” and other “serious governance failings” at the company. Karonis countered by alleging JPMorgan prevented Viva’s expansion in the U.S. The High Court agreed with JPMorgan’s concerns that Viva’s U.S. expansion would be impossible under Federal Reserve regulations as Viva is considered a subsidiary of the bank. The court also ruled that JPMorgan was not seeking to depress Viva’s valuation. Karonis issued a statement outlining that the court ruling “holds that Viva should be valued according to its full market potential, which includes its lucrative U.S. expansion plans.”
M&A
Bakkt (NYSE: BKKT), a digital asset marketplace with around a $255m market cap, is weighing a sale, per Bloomberg. It was originally launched by NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) and later went public via SPAC. More here ->
Ardian agreed to buy a stake in French wealth management firm Groupe Orion. More here ->
National Bank of Canada (TSX: NA) agreed to buy Canadian Western Bank (TSX: CWB) for around C$5b in stock. More here ->
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE: LSEG) is in talks to buy parts of Primarybid, a London-based retail investing platform, per Sky News. Primarybid had raised over $180m from firms like LSEG, SoftBank, Molten Ventures, ABN VC, Lombard Odier, Pentech Ventures, OMERS, Fidelity International, and Hambrok Perks. More here ->
360 One WAM, an Indian wealth manager, bought Indian mutual fund investment app ET Money for around $44m. More here ->
Fintech
Kleiner Perkins led a $14.4 million seed round into YC alum Fizz, which offers a credit-building debit card aimed at Gen Z college students. . More here ->
Mad Mobile, a Tampa, Fla., provider of restaurant and retail payment SaaS, raised $50m from Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and Bridge Bank. More here ->
CleverCards, a Dublin-based digital payments startup, raised €8m led by Pluxee. More here ->
EnFi, a credit analysis and risk monitoring platform, raised $7.5m in seed funding, per Axios Pro. Unusual Ventures led, and was joined by Boston Seed, Argon Ventures, and Impellent Ventures. More here ->
Sahl, an Egyptian mobile billing startup, raised $6m in Series A funding led by Ayady for Investment and Development. More here ->
BayaniPay, a Philippines money transfer company, raised $3m in Series A extension funding from Wavemaker Partners,PTGB, and Talino Venture Studios. More here ->
☘️ Finbourne, a British financial data management startup, raised £55m in Series B funding co-led by Highland Europeand AXA Venture Partners at a £280m valuation. More here ->
Investtech
Linq, an AI agent for financial analysts, raised $6.6m. InterVest and Atinum co-led, and were joined by TechStars, Kakao Ventures, Smilegate Investment, and Yellowdog. More here ->
Danelfin, a Spanish stock selection and portfolio management startup, raised €2m led by Nauta Capital. More here ->
Sidekick, a British wealth management platform, raised £8.5m in seed funding co-led by Pact VC and TheVentureCity. More here ->
Jump, a provider of software for financial advisers, raised $4.6m led by Pelion Venture Partners. More here ->
Crypto
☘️ Nuffle Labs, a blockchain protocol spun out of the Near Foundation, raised $13m. Electric Capital led, and was joined by Canonical Crypto, Fabric Ventures, Robot Ventures, Caladan, and Lyrik Ventures. More here ->
Proptech
Parity, a Toronto provider of remotely managing for building heating and cooling, raised US$19m in Series B funding, per Axios Pro. Idealist Capital led, and was joined by ArcTern Ventures, Wyse Meter Solutions, and RET Ventures. More here ->
Findigs, a New York rental screening startup, raised $27m in Series B funding, per Axios Pro. Nyca Partners led, and was joined by RPM Ventures, Streamlined Ventures, Expa Ventures, Activant Capital, Colle Capital, and Frontier VC. More here ->
Nada, a Dallas-based a fintech and investment platform for homeownership, raised an undisclosed amount of seed extension funding led by LiveOak Ventures and 7BC Venture Capital with participation from Revolution, Sweater, LFG Ventures, and others. More here ->
Insuretech
Continuity, an insurtech using artificial intelligence and external data for professional and commercial P&C insurers, has announced a successful €10 million Series A funding round. More here ->
From the Stash
hyperexponential and Send Announce Partnership Insurtechs - hyperexponential and Send have announced a partnership seeking to streamline the pricing process for insurers. More here ->
Insurtech Funding Round-Up: Top 15 Investment Raises of Q2 2024 - Insurtech funding has seen a significant uptick in recent weeks with raises almost reminiscent in frequency of the 2021 digital transformation boom. More here ->
More from the stash:
PYMNTS
Ryan Browne
Ian Thomas
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