Here’s an example of when ‘making a list’ isn’t a good thing. According to Crunchbase news, more than 139,690 workers at U.S.-based tech companies have been laid off in mass job cuts so far in 2023, according to their latest tally. Repeat offenders are starting to surface, such as Shopify, which slashed 20% of its workforce (2300 people) last week. Was that before or after funding this week’s #2?
Many have been laid off in fintech, payments, and wealthtech that haven’t made the news. To our friends and colleagues impacted by a layoff, we encourage you to look ahead to better days.
Some quotes for this week:
- “The only way to success is through failure.” -Tom Brady
- “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” -Warren Buffet, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman
- “Stay hungry. And bootstrap.” -Rob Kalin, Etsy Co-founder
- “Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you.” – Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO
Good advice from those who know how hard it can be to fuel your soul while funding your dream.
Some notable trends this week:
Specialization in industries may be the golden ticket for niche disruptors such as this week’s #1 (Duetti); a strategy we see repeating in the payments sector.
Blockchain was this week’s category winner, but the payments category is clearly taking the $, in the deals we’re tracking.
This week we tracked more deals than in previous weeks, but award amounts were less than in previous weeks.
Drum roll please, here are this week’s Top 5 VC Deals…
1Duetti
$32M, Capital | Equity| NYC | FinTech |Viola Ventures, Viola Capital, Roc Nation, Untitled, Presight Capital | https://duetti.co/
LinkedIn Overview:
“Duetti was founded with the mission of getting a wide range of artists quick and easy access to catalog sales and unlocking new investment opportunities. Duetti’s music financing platform has helped over 60 artists receive up to $400,000 for their catalog and single-track masters…”
2Nomba
$30M, pre-Series B, Capital | Equity | Nigeria | Payments | Base10 Partners, Helios Digital Ventures, Shopify, Khosla Ventures, Partech| https://nomba.com/
LinkedIn Overview:
“Nomba (formerly Kudi), provides access to everyday tools that simplify payments and drive business growth.”
3Liquido
$26M, Capital | Equity | Brazil| Payments| Index Ventures, Base Partners, Restive Ventures, Mantis VC, UpHonest Capital | https://www.liquido.com/
Website Overview:
“Liquido builds financial infrastructures that ambitious companies use to continually launch their boldest products. Our clients range from startups just hours old to mammoth global enterprises…”
4Inbox Health
$22.5M, Series B | Equity | CT | Payments | Ten Coves Capital, Commerce Ventures, CT Innovations, Vertical Venture Partners, Healthy Ventures, Fairview Capital | https://inboxhealth.com/
LinkedIn Overview:
“Inbox Health directly addresses one of the fastest-growing problems in healthcare—the challenge of patient A/R. Built for medical billers, Inbox Health automates patient billing and patient payments and modernizes the patient support experience…”
5Fedi
$17M, Series A | Equity | TX | FinTech | Ego Death Capital, TBD, Kingsway, Trammell Venture Partners, Timechain | https://www.fedi.xyz/
Website Overview:
“Fedi creates a new way for communities and organisations to secure and use their money and data with a Federated OS. We connect the most fundamental human technology — community — with freedom technologies, like Bitcoin, to level up humanity…”
