Fintech funding round-up: 10 May 2017
Whether it’s blockchain, lending or core banking – everyone likes a bit of cash. Our latest funding round-up – featuring Coinsilium Group, Coindash, Kreditech, PayU and Finxact.
Blockchain accelerator Coinsilium Group has completed its investment of $75,000 in Coindash, which is developing a social trading platform for cryptocurrency investors. Coinsilium will also receive an entitlement to an undisclosed number of Coindash crypto tokens to be issued in the next few months.
According to Coinsilium, in 2016, over $200 million of crypto tokens were issued by various blockchain enterprises. This market is “growing rapidly” and the global value of all cryptocurrencies has recently passed the $50 billion mark.
German online lender Kreditech has closed a €110 million investment from online payment service provider PayU – citing it as the “largest ever equity investment in a German fintech company”. The announcement follows a pilot programme managed by the pair, offering Polish consumers access to credit in a real-time online process. The programme issued more than €10 million in credit.
As part of the deal, Kreditech and PayU agree to deliver point of sale finance. Kreditech says it can expand its Lending-as-a-Service offering and deliver its artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning credit underwriting and loan management technology to PayU’s 300,000-strong network of merchants.
Finally, it’s Finxact, a core banking software provider. It has raised $12 million in seed funding from investors and angels that includes Live Oak Ventures. The money will be used to complete development of the Finxact Core, which is targeted for its first live customers in 2017 and general availability in 2018. Finxact cites a recent KPMG study, where 39% of banks have already begun replacing their entire core system and an additional 21% are in the planning stages of a complete replacement. It reckons it can tap into this juicy market by creating an open API, cloud-based Core-as-a-Service platform.
Finxact is co-founded by Frank and Mike Sanchez, who built the Sanchez core banking system (claimed to be the first real-time core processing solution) back in the 1990s. Their company was known as Sanchez Computer Associates and was later sold to FIS. The system exists today and is known as Profile.
