This year's list is focused on fintech's most powerful dealmakers from the past year, with extra emphasis on partnerships that act not just as funders but also strategic advisors; the fintech sector in particular has taken the term partnership to a new level as these startups need the investment and advisory relationship more than other sectors; Vanessa Colella of Citi Ventures explains, "We are beginning to observe much more of a push toward collaboration - a shift from complete independence to an interest in building tools with established players that happened really quickly in this sector." Source
Roofstock, an online marketplace in the single-family rental sector, raised $20 million in Series B funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Nyca Partners, QED Investors and SV Angel; they plan to use the proceeds to ramp up national expansion, invest in product development and roll out an asset management platform as they intend to reach domestic and global investors. Source
Investment funding deals for fintech businesses were lower in 2016, according to data from CB Insights; the firm reports that the number of deals remained steady with a 1% decrease to 836 however the total amount funded decreased by 13% to $12.7 billion in 2016; global instability and industry challenges in P2P lending were among the factors contributing to the lower investment. Source
CB Insights reports on first quarter 2017 venture capital deals in their "MoneyTree Report" published in collaboration with PwC; globally, venture capitalists invested $27.1 billion in the first quarter with 2,228 deals; deals and investments increased from the fourth quarter of 2016 and were below the first quarter of 2016. Source
Singapore-based Dymon Asia Ventures has received investment of $20 million and plans to meet its target fundraising of $50 million over the next 12 months; firm plans to invest in 12 to 15 companies and has already begun investing in five companies which include: blockchain startup Otonomos, financing firm Capital Match, forex-focused 4XLabs, trading platform Spark Systems and marketing service WeConvene; the firm's investment focus will be on business to business companies targeting the growing Southeast Asia internet market; it says it will invest in seed stage funding through Series B funding with investments ranging from $300,000 to $3 million and reserves available for continued investment in follow-on rounds. Source
Fintech companies around the world are receiving huge funding rounds at sky high valuations; Goldman Sachs’ Principal Strategic Investments Group...
Andy Stewart, managing partner at Motive Partners, says fintechs are overvalued in the current market environment; speaking at the UK International Fintech event in London, Stewart says the over valuations are a result of success in the market and confidence from venture capital investors; Stewart cautions investors to watch for buzzwords including machine learning or blockchain that can enhance the value proposition of the solution but may be overvaluing a company's value overall; Stewart's Motive Partners launched in 2017 and is seeking to raise $1 billion. Source
Most well-known for his music career, Jay Z has also been investing in startups since 2012; the rapper has now reported he will launch a venture capital firm with partner Jay Brown of Roc Nation; Sherpa Capital will also help to launch the fund which will focus on seed-stage companies. Source
The European Investment Fund (EIF) supports venture capitalists across Europe. Its publication, "The European venture capital landscape: an EIF perspective Volume III: Liquidity events and returns of EIF-backed VC investments," studies the investment performance of over 3,600 EIF-backed venture capital investments made from 1996 to 2015. Its primary goal is to identify the effects of the EIF's venture capital activity.
Results across venture capital investments are wide ranging with 4% of exits returning more than five times the investment and generating 50% of the total aggregated proceeds. Among these successful exits are 152 company IPOs of EIF-backed start-ups from 1996 to 2015 on 20 different stock exchanges around the world.
Investment from the European Investment Fund could be an important factor for the UK to manage as it exits from the European Union. Approximately 20% of the EIF's investment has been in the UK and over the past four years the EIF has invested EUR2.8 billion in the UK directly. If funding ceases many venture capital firms may consider moving their headquarters to provide for continued EIF investment in EU locations. Source
Southeast Asia reported 71 fintech deals in 2016, an increase of 29% from 2015; total deal value was down from $177 million at $158 million; angel and seed investments led for the year with 62% of total financings; in 2016, Singapore continued to be the region's most active fintech innovator with 52% of the year's total deals; the top three venture capital investors since 2012 are East Ventures, 500 Startups and Golden Gate Ventures. Source