We are only two months in to 2019 and it has been a fast start for investments in fintech companies both in the US and abroad. We came into 2019 after a strong year of fintech investments with about $40 billion invested globally according to CB Insights. All signs point to a strong interest in investments in financial services. While there have been dozens of rounds announced, there are 10 that stand out to us which are listed below.
Featured Fintech Rounds
- Acorns
- $105 million round led by NBCUniversal and venture arm of its parent company Comcast. NBCUniversal is now their largest shareholder.
- Better
- $70 million Series C from American Express Ventures and the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP). The company originated $1.3B in mortgages in 2018.
- Figure
- The $65 million Series B round was led by RPM Ventures as CEO Mike Cagney continues to show his fundraising prowess. Their valuation is said to be $365 million today about double the valuation from last year. Read our coverage here.
- MarketInvoice
- $72 million round was split between debt and equity. The funding round was led by Barclays and the venture capital arm of Santander. The debt facility came from Viola credit.
- N26
- The $300 million Series D round was led by Insight Venture Partners. N26 last raised $160 million around 11 months ago and has ambitions to enter the US.
- OakNorth
- The $440 million commitment comes from SoftBank’s vision fund and is Europe’s largest fintech fundraising. The company is valued at around $2.8 billion.
- Raisin
- Backers in the $114 million round include Index Ventures and PayPal.
- Starling
- The £75 million Series C round was led by Merian Global Investors, including the Merian Chrysalis Investment Company. The round included £15 million from an existing unnamed investor.
- Stripe
- Stripe raised $100 million from Tiger Global Management and is now estimated to be worth $22.5 billion. The round follows a $245 million round last fall.
- Uplift
- The relatively unknown company raised $123 million to provide point of sale financing to travelers. The company hopes to originate $1 billion in 2019. See our coverage here.
Noteworthy mentions:
- Akulaku
- Bud
- Climb Credit
- dv01
- Nav
- Nutmeg
- Personal Capital
- Petal
- Tink
- Yieldstreet
A New Resource From LendIt Fintech News
There are so many funding rounds and we wanted a place to keep track of them all. So we have created a spreadsheet and a dedicated page to fintech fundraising as we track rounds over $10 million that been announced starting January 2019. We include round size and source links so those interested can learn more about these fundraising rounds.
Conclusion
The trend we are seeing bodes well for fintech companies in 2019 and it will be interesting to see whether the industry can surpass the 2018 high water mark. The rounds included in this list and in our research point towards a maturing fintech industry as rounds are much larger than before and are mostly going to the more established fintech players. This is something we also saw in 2017 as a few rounds made up a significant amount of the volume.
