Promising, Promises, Promissary…the ‘magic’ ingredients list
While the names of startups and award amounts change weekly in this column, the transactional details remain the same: the tech looks promising, the start-up promises to pay back the award, and the VC drafts the promissory note.
According to several sources, including Jobera, Thompson Reuters, Exploding Topics, and Upsilon IT, around 75% of venture-backed fintech startups fail. There is also data about the average award depending on the series stage:
- Seed- $5.6M
- Series A- $15.7M
- Series B- $30.7M
- Series C- $55M
– Source: SPD Load
Regardless of how you slice or dice it, someone owes it, and someone else expects it to be paid back.
However, around 25% of fintech startups are considered successful; their funding may be the magic recipe—friends and family, accelerators, etc., know where to buy the ingredients and how to mix them so that their investment pays off.
Notable trends this week…
- Deal activity continues to slow
- Decentralized location is dominating (regulations?)
- U.S. startups fared ‘ok’ this week
Up next are this week’s top 5 VC deals…
1Blockstream
$210M, Capital | Equity | Canada | Blockchain | Fulger Ventures | https://blockstream.com/
LinkedIn Overview:
“Blockstream’s mission is to create the financial infrastructure of the future. We build crypto-financial infrastructure based on Bitcoin…“
2Imprint
$75M, Series C, Capital| Equity | NYC | Payments | Khosla Ventures, Thrive Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Ribbit Capital | https://imprint.co/
LinkedIn Overview:
“Come and build the easiest and most rewarding way to pay!”
3Azra Games
$42.7M, Series A, Capital | Equity| CA | Blockchain | Franklin BI, a16z crypto, a16Z games, NFX | https://azragames.com/
LinkedIn Description:
“Azra Games believes that the childhood experience of bashing, smashing, and storytelling with your favorite toys in unhinged and imaginative play is the purest form of gaming…“
4Vanilla
$35M, Series B, Capital| Equity | Salt Lake City, UT | Wealthtech | Insight Partners, Venrock, Vanguard | https://www.justvanilla.com/
LinkedIn Description:
“Vanilla is the world’s first Estate Advisory Platform, purpose-built by advisors and estate professionals to help wealth management firms…“
5Omnea
$20M, Series A, Capital | Equity | UK | Fintech | Accel, First Round Capital, Point Nine | https://www.omnea.co/
LinkedIn Description:
“Omnea’s platform handles the entire purchasing process: giving employees an easy place to make requests, automating the necessary approvals…”
