Top 4 Fintech Funding Rounds: Tiger Brokers, Rockets of Awesome, Monese, Ripio
Another day, another dollar—only this is fintech, so it would be more accurate to say another day, another multi-million investment in blockchain, virtual currency, mobile banking, e-commerce, and/or all of the other technologies on the playground.
So far, 2017 fintech funding hasn’t veered far from the areas of interest in 2016, although to no one’s surprise at the moment, bitcoin and virtual currencies seem to be in the spotlight. That brings us to our top four fintech funding rounds of the week:
Beijing-based online broker service Tiger Brokers raised $29 million USD in a Series B right before the dawn of the New Year, with leading investors Citic Securities Goldstone Investment Fund and Huagai Capital. Through use of the company’s app— ‘Tiger for US Stocks’—Chinese investors can invest in overseas securities, complete “one-click short selling,” and see their personal profit and loss analysis within the app. This new funding brings the company’s total equity up to $44.6 million.
An e-commerce site geared towards shopping for children, this New York-based startup makes the list as much for its name as it does for its $12.5 million in new Series A funding. The startup is leveraging a similar subscription model that can be touch and go for e-commerce companies—it’s working well for Ipsy; not quite as well for competitor Birchbox—and sends curated boxes of children’s clothes to subscribed parents. The round was led by August Capital and included other investors such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Forerunner Ventures.
This London-based fintech has just raised $10 million in a Series A, with investors including previous backers for Simple such as Anthemis Exponential Ventures. Monese offers a mobile banking app specifically tailored for immigrants and expats who might have trouble finding traditional banking services and need to send money across borders. The company’s new capital should allow it to expand its services outside of its home U.K. market; using the new funding, the company plans to launch Euro account service for customers in Europe.
Bitcoin and digital payments service Ripio has just raised $1.9 million in a Series A, which it plans to use for expansion of its service in South America. Previously known as BitPagos (the company re-branded to Ripio after closing the new funding round), the service is based in Buenos Aires and is geared towards creating greater financial inclusion in Argentina and other South American countries through the use of digital cash and wallets.
