2020 review: Top 10 fintech funding rounds
Despite a global pandemic temporarily drying up capital reserves, this year has still enjoyed a handful of hefty fintech deals.
Fintech funding dipped in Q1, before rebounding in Q2. But, despite deal amounts recovering, the number of fintech deals has fallen throughout the year, accord to CB Insights.
Some start-up’s valuations have soared this year
A series of major raises have hit headlines this quarter but are yet to close. These include San Francisco’s Fast, chasing a $1 billion valuation, reports that Stripe is chasing ten times the valuation at $100 billion, and three UK fintech – Starling Bank, Curve and GoCardless – raising rounds in excess of $100 million.
FinTech Futures brings you a list of the top ten funding rounds which have closed so far this year, descending in order of most recent:
US neobank Chime set to more than double in value to $15bn
With a whopping $485 million Series F, Chime jumped from a $1.5 billion valuation in early 2019, to a $14.5 billion valuation in the second half of 2020. Founded in 2013, Chime is hailed as one of the challenger market’s fastest growing players.
JP Morgan-backed Greenlight joins unicorn club with $215m Series C
Greenlight Financial Technology, a children’s debit card start-up, now sits at a $1.2 billion valuation. The fintech serves more than two million parents and children. Greenlight last raised funds in September 2019, when major US banks JP Morgan and Wells Fargo bought in. Back then, the fintech had half a million users.
Robinhood’s valuation continues climb with $460m funding
In September, just one month after it landed a $200 million Series G led by D1 Capital Partners, trading app Robinhood announced a further funding round. The fresh capital put Robinhood’s valuation at $11.7 billion, an increase of $700 million since August.
Klarna raises $650m funding at $10.6bn valuation
The Swedish-based buy now, pay later (BNPL) firm doubled its value from $5.5 billion in just over a year. At the time, its new valuation ranked Klarna as the highest-valued private fintech in Europe, and the fourth highest worldwide.
Marqeta lands $4.3bn valuation thanks to mystery investor
Marqeta, the California-based card-issuing platform, landed $150 million from an undisclosed investor in May. It marked a rapid rise in value since its $260 million round of Series E funding in March 2019, when the company’s value stood at less than half of that – $2 billion.
Trade Republic lands $62m in Series B funding
This round marked one of the largest Series B funding rounds Germany has ever seen. The stock trading app, which works a lot like Robinhood, claims to have more than 150,000 customers and collectively manages more than €1 billion.
Aussie challenger Xinja lands $255m from Emirates’ World Investments
With an immediate initial investment of $94 million in March, Xinja will receive the remaining $161 million over a period of 24 months as it grows. Emirates’ World Investments (WI), an investment group based in Dubai, is making the entire investment.
South African fintech Jumo raises $55m to fuel geographic expansion
Founded in London but now based in Cape Town, Jumo has originated more than $1.8 billion in loans and accrued more than 15 million customers across Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia. This marks its ninth round, and is $3 million more than Goldman Sachs invested back in 2018.
Crypto start-up Bakkt lands $300m Series B from Microsoft and PayU
The cryptocurrency convertor service won banking from big names such as Microsoft’s venture capital arm M12 and Netherlands-headquartered fintech PayU. The same day as its mega funding round, bitcoin experienced a multi-month low of $3,916.
Revolut bags $500m from TCV to drive daily account usage
Thanks to its leading investor Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), the early backer of Airbnb, Spotify and Netflix, Revolut’s valuation soared to $5.5 billion at the beginning of 2020. The fintech topped this up in July with another $80 million.
