Fintech funding round-up: 12 February 2018
US, Egypt, India. The riches rule the world – and are all rounded-up in our latest fintech funding summary. Featuring YapStone, Stash, Moneyfellows and Lendingkart.
US-based payments firm YapStone has raised $71 million in Series C financing led by Premji Invest. Other investors included Mastercard and existing ones, Accel and Meritech Capital Partners. In total, the firm has raised over $180 million.
YapStone offers online and mobile payment solutions, and says it processes over $18 billion in volume annually. The money will be used for unspecified expansion plans, and mergers and acquisitions.
Over in New York, mobile-first investment platform Stash has raised $37.5 million in Series D funding for product expansion. The round was led by Union Square Ventures, and included existing investors Breyer Capital, Coatue Management, Entree Capital, Goodwater Capital and Valar Ventures.
The start-up plans to offer a variety of banking services for mobile-centric customers. The services, bundled as Stash Banking, include common banking solutions such as billpay, direct deposit, and debit cards. This week it will roll out Custodial Accounts, which allows its customers to open new investing accounts for minors.
Egyptian digital lending start-up Moneyfellows has got $600,000 in an investment round led by Dubai Angel Investors and 500 Startups. The web and mobile-based platform offers lending to private circles and public circles. The former is within a user’s social network, according to the platforms the person is connected to. The latter is not within social connections, but identified as “trusted and secure” for users to join.
The firm, which was founded in 2014, doesn’t charge interest on loans, but a fixed fee deducted before the payout is received. Moneyfellows also has a UK office in London.
India’s Lendingkart has raised over $87 million of equity funding in its Series C round led by Singapore’s Fullerton Financial Holdings (FFH), along with participation from existing investors. This takes its total funding to $173 million. There are no specifics, but the company says the money will be used to improve its technological and analytics capabilities, and expand its credit product offerings.
Lendingkart targets working capital finance for the entrepreneurs’ market. It uses big data analysis to evaluate borrower’s creditworthiness. It also signed a memorandum of understanding with Fullerton India Capital Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of FFH, for unspecified initiatives.
