Many more deals and transactions from fintech this week! This week’s prominent fundings are shared by multiple sectors, including fintech, payments, NFT, credit cards, banking and more. Enjoy reading!
US savings app Acorns raises $300m in funding after abandoning SPAC plans
Acorns (Irvine, California, US), a savings and investing app has raised $300m in a Series F funding round that values it at almost $2bn after scrapping SPAC plans earlier this year. Acorns, a US fintech startup, has managed to raise $300m in a Series F funding round that values the company at almost $2bn. This comes after the savings and investing app scrapped plans for a $2.2bn SPAC merger with Pioneer Merger Corp. (Pioneer) earlier this year. The app had said in May last year that it had plans to go public through a merger with the blank cheque company, but changed its mind six weeks ago. Read more.
Lendable Announces GBP 210M Funding Round Led by Ontario Teachers Pension Fund
Lendable (London, UK), an AI-powered consumer finance platform, has announced a GBP 210m funding round at a valuation in excess of GBP 3.5bn. The round was led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers’), through its Teachers’ Innovation Platform (TIP). TIP focuses on late-stage venture and growth equity investments in cutting-edge technology companies led by mission-driven entrepreneurs. Read more.
FinTech Stax Reaches Unicorn Status Following $245M Funding
Stax (Orlando, Florida, US), a Minority-led, all-in-one payments platform reached unicorn status with a valuation of just over $1 billion after raising $245 million from Greater Sum Ventures, HarbourVest Partners and Blue Star Innovation Partners, according to a press release on Tuesday (March 8). The investors will serve as strategic partners to Stax. Rob Wechsler, founder and CEO of Blue Star, will join Stax’s board of directors. Read more.
Indian fintech CredAvenue turns unicorn with fresh $137 million funding
CredAvenue (Chennai, India), a debt marketplace, which helps businesses and enterprises secure debt from lenders, has become the fastest Indian fintech startup to join the unicorn club. The two-year-old startup has raised a $137 million Series B financing round led by Insight Partners, B Capital Group and Dragoneer, it said. The round values CredAvenue, which was founded by Vivriti Capital co-founder Gaurav Kumar, at $1.3 billion, up from about $410 million in September last year. Read more.
Zeller Bank Becomes Unicorn with Latest $100M Funding
Zeller (Sydney, Australian) digital business bank raised $100 million in a Series B funding round that gave the startup a $1 billion valuation and brought its investment total to more than $181 million since June 2020. The two-year-old FinTech is co-founded by two former Square executives: Ben Pfisterer, who serves as CEO, and Dominic Yap as COO. It operates an out-of-the-box payments platform for businesses and is developing a fully integrated financial operating system for business owners. Read more.
Nordic Fintech Lunar Raises $77M, Builds Crypto Trading Platform
Lunar (Aarhus, Denmark), a neobank, raised $77 million at a $2 billion valuation and unveiled a crypto trading platform. The $77 million funding round is an extension of Lunar’s $232 million Series D from July last year, which gave the company unicorn status. The firm last month unveiled actor Will Ferrell as an investor. Lunar also developed a promotional video featuring the Anchorman and Elf star. Read more.
Fintech startup Money View raises $75 million in series D funding
Money View (Bengaluru, India), a fintech platform has raised $75 million in their series D funding from Tiger Global, Winter Capital, Evolvence India, Accel along with other investors including South Park Commons, Trusted Insight and Dream Incubator. The company is now valued at $625 million. Co-founded by Puneet Agarwal and Sanjay Aggarwal, Money View is a leading online credit platform that offers a full suite of personalized credit products like instant personal loans, cards, BNPL and personal financial management solutions. The company has partnered with over 15 financial institutions to offer credit/financial products on its platform. Read more.
Fintech startup Perfios turns unicorn; raises $68M from Bessemer Venture Partners, Warburg Pincus
Perfios Software Solutions (Bengaluru, India), raised around $68 million (Rs 525 crore according to current exchange rates) from returning investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Warburg Pincus as part of its ongoing Series C round, according to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). According to VCCircle, Perfios is at nearly $4.05 billion valuation after this round, catapulting it to the coveted unicorn club. The documents also showed the startup is in the process of acquiring Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for financial institutions, Karza Technologies, for nearly $78 million (Rs 597 crore). Read more.
Payroll API fintech Atomic secures $40m Series B funding
Atomic , a payroll API fintech has raised $40 million in a pre-emptive Series B funding round. The round was co-led by Mercato Partners and Greylock and saw participation from Core Innovation Capital, Portage and ATX Venture Partners. It comes just five months after a $22 million Series A in October 2021 and takes the company’s total capital raised to date to around $78.6 million. The fintech will spend the cash on expanding its workforce and developing new products. Read more.
Banking Tech Company Zeta secures US$30 million funding from Mastercard
Zeta (Mumbai, India), a banking tech platform has secured US$30 million funding as a part of strategic investment from Mastercard and other investors, taking the company’s valuation to US$1.5 billion. The funding is in continuation of the US$240 million fundraise that Zeta secured in May 2021 from SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The funding valued company at US$1.45 billion, marking its entry into the unicorn category. The investment made by Mastercard in Zeta is a part of a strategic 5-year partnership in which both companies will offer their credit management offerings and card-processing product stack. Read more.
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