US fintech funding round-up: Bridge Money, Involio and Amplify
This week’s handy Friday funding round-up includes three US-based fintech start-ups — Bridge Money, Involio and Amplify.
Chicago-based fintech firm Bridge Money has raised $5.8 million in seed funding led by TMV.
Founder Collective, Kapor Capital, Acumen America, Bread and Butter Ventures, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Plug and Play Ventures, Basecamp Fund (Alumni Ventures) and Ulu Ventures, among others, also participated in the funding round.
Bridge aims to use the money for its development and expansion, including adding more features to its platform, forging partnerships and hiring talent.
Founded in 2019, Bridge enables middle and low-income American workers to generate supplemental income through its app, which provides money-making activities such as cashback, surveys, ad viewing, referrals, raffles and more.
Bridge’s partners include financial services platforms Plaid, Unit and Visa.
New York-based investor platform Involio has secured $1.4 million in a new round of funding, which it says is its largest.
Involio raises $1.4m
The new funds will go towards building its social marketplace for investors where users can share their investment portfolios, investment strategies and learn from other investors’ content on the platform.
Involio says it will also allow verified users to monetise their content and sell their investment strategy as courses tied to their investment portfolio.
CEO Ryan Pace describes Involio as an “all-in-one platform where traders of varying experience levels can become content creators to monetise their investment knowledge. Aspiring traders can then use the platform as the ultimate source to kickstart their investments.”
San Francisco-based digital life insurance platform Amplify has received an undisclosed investment in a round led by Munich Re Ventures.
Other investors participating in the round were Crosslink Capital, Greycroft and Conversion Capital. The investment brings Amplify’s total capital raised to $25.1 million.
Founded in 2019, Amplify claims to be the first digital platform to offer Americans the ability to invest in public markets with their life insurance premiums and access “tax-efficient returns throughout their lifetime via a product that has been historically available primarily to affluent and more mature demographics”.
Amplify uses artificial intelligence (AI) to provide users with a customised policy based on their financial goals, risk tolerance and underwriting risk profile. Users can also choose how much of their premiums are invested in tax-efficient, high-growth investments and how much goes towards their life insurance coverage.
The start-up plans to use the money to improve its services and accelerate growth. The investment also comes with a partnership whereby Munich Re will help Amplify implement a fully automated underwriting process through alitheia, Munich Re Life US’ risk assessment and instant decisioning platform.
