Trov, the world’s first on-demand insurance platform, closes A$59m Series D funding round
Trov, the technology company revolutionising insurance for the tech-empowered consumer, today announced that it has closed AU$59.44 million (US$45 million) in Series D funding led by Munich Re / HSB Ventures, bringing its total funding to just over AU$112.28 million (US$85 million). All of Trov’s Series C investors participated in the round (Oak HC/FT, Suncorp Group (ASX:SUN), Guidewire (NYSE: GWRE), and Anthemis). Also participating in the financing is one of Japan’s leading insurers, Sompo Holdings (SOMPO), who will bring Trov to Japan. The new capital will be used to bring Trov’s on-demand insurance capability to more people around the world, expand the categories of items it covers, and accelerate the […]
Fintech startup Quantexa raises $3.3Mn to support international expansion
Quantexa Limited, a FinTech startup, has managed to rake in $3.3 million in a Series A round led by Albion Ventures and HSBC. The company, based in London, uses big data analytics to go head to head against complex financial crime. Its Entity Resolution and Network Analytics software makes use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to gather information from disparate data sets and create insights. Its applications include the following features: – Protection against financial losses and reputational damage with data analytics and entity and network based techniques. – Creation of an integrated, networked view of customers across disparate data sources, in order to support all areas of your […]
Skandiabanken makes robo-advisory push with stake in Quantfolio
Norwegian digital bank Skandiabanken has acquired a 39.9% stake in local AI and machine learning outfit Quantfolio as part of a push into the provision of robo advisory services for customers of its private savings division. “We believe the next fintech revolution will take place in the digital savings and asset management market, and we wish to strengthen our position in this market with this move,” says Christoffer Hernæs CDO Skandiabanken. “The acquisition of the shares is the first step towards providing our customers with simple and automated saving advice tailor made for each individual, through a user-friendly robo-advisory service.” Quantfolio operates an algorithmic engine to explore historical market data […]
Fintech deals in South East Asia hit record numbers in 2016
The total number of venture-backed deals to fintech companies in South East Asia (i.e. Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) reached record highs in 2016 according to data released by CB Insights recently. Deals Up, Dollars Down 2016 saw 71 total deals in the region as compared to 55 the previous year, a 29% increase. However, the dollar amount raised fell from $177M in 2015 to $158M in 2016 suggesting the increase in the number of deals was spurred more by smaller early stage funding (e.g. seed and angel rounds). In fact, early stage funding as a percentage of the total number of deals increased from 55% […]
Funding Circle close further funding round, valued at $1 billion
Investor interest in the peer-to-peer lending industry shows no sign of slowing; British site Funding Circle have just closed another round of funding, taking their total raise to $380 million. Funding Circle recently closed another round of venture capital funding to the tune of $100 million, valuing the company at $1 billion. The new round was led by DST Global, BlackRock, and Temasek, a fund backed by the Singaporean government. Since its conception in 2010, Funding Circle have become ones of the world’s leading marketplaces exclusively focused on small businesses. The platform has raised approximately £300 million in equity capital, lending more than £2.5 billion to 25,000 businesses in the […]
Vista to acquire D+H for fintech merger with Misys
The US buyout firm wants to create a ‘global fintech powerhouse’ by merging an existing portfolio company with its new acquisition Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners has struck a deal to acquire D+H, a Canadian financial technology provider, with an eye to merging it with UK-based Misys to create a financial software company with $2.2 billion in revenues. US-based Vista said in a statement today that it will pay C$25.50 per share in cash for D+H, including the assumption of debt, in a deal that values the Toronto-listed firm at 4.8 billion Canadian dollars. The buyout firm acquired software provider Misys in 2012. The combined company will be privately […]
Dublin startup Touchtech Payments makes plans for international expansion
One of the first financial technology companies in Europe to develop a solution which uses fingerprinting and retinal scanning to authenticate online payments, Dublin startup Touchtech Payments is making plans for international expansion. Operating in a market where an EU directive will require all banks to improve security by introducing a two-factor authentication by the end of 2018, Touchtech co-founder and head of products, Niall Hogan sees an opportunity to make the most of the early mover advantage. Up until now, the market has been dominated by major players offering payment authentication solutions using passwords and text messages. “There was very little innovation in this space until the fintech revolution […]
South Korea’s Viva Republica taps PayPal to fund Fintech
South Korea-based financial technology services company Viva Republica announced last week that it had closed a KRW 55 billion ($47 million) Series C round of funding. Among the investors in this latest round were venture capital firm Goodwater Capital and US-based payment service PayPal. Viva Republica has found success in its home market with its peer-to-peer (P2P) mobile payment app Toss, which claims to have 6 million users in South Korea. The Nikkei Asian Review reported that Toss users transfer money via the app an average of 6.7 times per month—almost triple the average for similar services. According to data from Wiseapp, Toss was the second most used mobile payment […]
