For the past several weeks, we’ve been seeing a reduced highwater level for VC investments in fintech – topping out at $250M. We realize this is no small change, but last year, the numbers were OFTEN in the billions, so this does signal a pullback in the sector. Indeed, CB Insights recently posted that investment numbers were off in the sector. They have the research to back it up – I am going on intuition (or “proprietary” information, if you must) from writing this column for 1.5 years – but we both arrived at the same realization. Venture is pulling back in fintech in 2022. EVEN SO….this week, we had two deals top off at $300M. Some trends to contemplate for this week’s fresh crop of VC winners….
- This week, as mentioned above, two deals came in at $300M – so we’re seeing a slight uptick in larger revenue fundings;
- Once again – we’re seeing a very unusual trend. For the past 3 weeks in a row(!), exactly three of the top five deals are coming “offshore” with two out of the US. It may just be coincidence, but it is certainly noteworthy inasmuch as it seems to be pointing to a trend of more funding happening outside America;
- Payments and banking comprise 4 of the top 5 winning deals this week;
- Our final winning deal comes from TIFIN – a firm we’ve watched “grow up” for several years now, which initially was founded as a VC in the wealthtech sector. After several acquisitions and launches, the firm is now moving toward positioning its full-range wealthtech offerings squarely against Envestnet. Taking it one step further, they have also launched a financial media division – very smart.
Anyhoo, wiithout further ado, here are this week’s top 5 fintech VC deals for the week below, in order from highest to lowest funding levels.
1SpotOn Labs
$300M, Series F | SF | Point-of-Service Payments Provider | Dragoneer Investment Group, Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, Franklin Templeton, Mubadala Investment Company, G Squared |
LinkedIn Overview:
“Helping restaurants and small businesses to compete and win with intuitive software, point-of-sale systems, and payment solutions.” (Editor’s note: That’s a pretty short overview, isn’t it? Their marketing team needs to expound a bit on their biz on LinkedIn!)
2Xendit
$300M | Indonesia | Payments Infrastructure Platform| Coatue, Insight Partners, Accel, Tiger Global, Kleiner Perkins, EV Growth, Amasia, Intudo, Goat Capital |
LinkedIn Firm Overview:
“Xendit is a financial technology company that provides payment solutions and simplifies the payment process for businesses in Indonesia, the Philippines and Southeast Asia, from SMEs and e-commerce startups to large enterprises. Xendit enables businesses to accept payments, disburse payroll, run marketplaces and more. The platform is known for its speed (fast integration, builds), simplicity (easy integrations, pricing), and world-class 24/7 customer support. Amidst the fragmented payment landscape in Southeast Asia, Xendit enables businesses to accept payments from direct debit, virtual accounts, credit and debit cards, eWallets, retail outlets, and online installments. Building the region’s digital payments infrastructure, Xendit is shaping the next generation of scalable businesses across Southeast Asia. Xendit is propelling the region’s digital transformation by addressing access, reliability, and regulatory needs enabling more businesses to scale and thrive. As the first-ever Indonesian startup to graduate from YCombinator and backed by investors from Silicon Valley and Asia, including Kleiner and GGV Capital, Xendit powers some of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing brands including Traveloka, Transferwise, Wish, and Grab.“
3Thought Machine
$160M, Series D | UK | Cloud Banking Infrastructure | Temasek, Intesa Sanpaolo, Morgan Stanley, Eurazeo, ING, JPMorgan Chase, Lloyds Banking Group, SEB |
LinkedIn Overview:
“Thought Machine is one of the UK’s leading fintech companies and is undergoing a period of rapid expansion. Our team’s mission is a bold one – to create technology that can run the world’s banks according to the best designs and software practices of the modern age. In doing so, we will properly and permanently rid the world’s banks of the problems generated by poor technology running on legacy infrastructure. Our solution to this is Vault Core: a complete core banking platform that is capable of being configured easily to suit the needs of any bank. We have built Vault Core from the ground up as a cloud-native, microservices and API-based platform. Thought Machine has a deep culture of engineering excellence, and our approach has engendered a seismic shift in the banking industry.“
4Dock
$110M | Brazil | Payments & digital banking system | Lightrock, Silver Lake Waterman, Riverwood Capital, Viking Global Investors, Sunley House Capital |
Firm Website Overview:
VIA Google Translate from Portuguese to English: “Dock is one of the leaders in technology for means of payment and banking as a service in Latin America. The company adds value, innovation and scalability to its customers’ businesses by bringing together card issuance, digital banking and acquiring in a single and comprehensive platform.
Dock’s modular solutions power essential processes that accelerate the ability of companies to create digital banking and payment services. The result is a wider range of innovative products, greater consumer access to financial services and a better customer journey…”
5Tifin
$109M, Series D | Colorado | Wealthtech, VC & Media Platform | Franklin Templeton, Motive Partners, Hamilton Lane, J.P. Morgan, Morningstar, Broadridge, Rob Heyvaert |
LinkedIn Overview:
“TIFIN creates engaging wealth experiences to improve financial lives through AI and investment intelligence (II) driven personalization for the Advisor and Self-directed Investor, recognizing the uniqueness of each investor. We deliver these personalization capabilities through our our investment marketplace Magnifi and TIFIN WealthTech, a collection of advice and planning products. Magnifi assists both financial advisors and self-directed investors with a Google-like search and discovery portal that answers investment questions and allows for investment discovery, trading, and portfolio enhancement. TIFIN WealthTech combines several advice, planning and investment capabilities for advisors that includes risk, planning, profiling, investments, insights, charitable giving and alternative investments.”
We’ll be back next week with more news on fintech VC funding.
