The Startups: Who’s shaking things up (Week ending November 14th, 2015)

fintech companies making news this week

[alert type=white ]Every week, Tradestreaming highlights fintech startups in the news, making things happen. The following is this week’s news roundup. You can get these updates delivered direct to your inbox by signing up for the Tradestreaming weekly newsletter.[/alert]

Funding Circle’s Sam Hodges explains how tech gives SMBs access to much-needed cash (Tradestreaming)
Funding Circle is becoming a massive, global business. And it’s doing so by helping the little guys. Sam Hodges gives Tradestreaming an exclusive interview after his firm’s acquisition in Germany.

PayPal and Lending Club Prove Fintech Is Ready to Sit With Banks at the Grown-Ups’ Table (TheStreet)
Banks are feeling the pinch from fintech and that may be an opportunity for investors.

Mighty Is A Funding Platform For Personal Injury Lawsuits (TechCrunch)
As anyone who has ever been in court knows, lawsuits are often a long, tedious process. This is especially true with lengthy personal injury cases. Mighty is bringing crowdfunding to the rescue.

Openfolio is building a social trading network that works (Tradestreaming)
Openfolio is building a new kind of social trading network built upon transparency and collaboration. Here’s how.

P2P Lending Is Profitable, Even In A Recession (TechCrunch)
A surprising career change finds a battle-hardened entrepreneur turning to peer to peer investing for the next stage in his career. Surprisingly for him, the market has held up in spite of a challenging economic climate.

I (Shall Happily) Accept the 2016 Nobel Prize in Economics on Behalf of Bitcoin creator, Satoshi Nakamoto (HuffPo)
“I am completely serious in suggesting Satoshi Nakamoto for the Prize. The invention of bitcoin – a digital currency – is nothing short of revolutionary.”

Startups raising + investors investing

Fintech investor, Pascal Bouvier on where there’s big money to be made in fintech (Tradestreaming)
Interesting view from fintech investor, Pascal Bouvier on where he thinks current opportunities lie for fintech investors and entrepreneurs and the overcrowded spaces he’s avoiding.

The 2015 Fintech Finance 35: The Financiers Who Place the Bets (Institutional Investor)
For the bankers, venture capitalists and others financing and facilitating the fintech explosion, it’s not just a money game. Strategic vision and networking are just as critical.

CircleUp Banks $30 Million to Help Investors Find Top Food Startups (WSJ)
CircleUp raises a $30 million Series C round led by Collaborative Fund to grow its equity crowdfunding platform for consumer goods.

Peer-to-Peer Marketplace Peerspace Secures $5M Series A (Crowdfund Insider)
PeerSpace, a peer-to-peer marketplace dedicated to uncovering unique short-term commercial spaces for events, announced a $5 million Series A led by Foundation Capital.

Bessemer Backs Consumer Lending Startup, Bread (WSJ)
Bessemer Venture Partners has made its first investment in a new alternative lending startup in about 10 years, leading a $14.3 million Series A round in Bread, the investment firm told VentureWire.

Rakuten establishes $100 million fintech fund (Finextra)
Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten has established a $100 million fintech fund to invest in disruptive early to mid-stage startups in Europe and North America.

Roostify Garners $500,000 in Funding from Wells Fargo Accelerator (Finovate)
Roostify accelerates and streamlines the home loan and closing experience. The startup joins the Wells Fargo Accelerator Class with the investment.

Anthemis Group Announces North American Expansion (Anthemis)
The new location is an obvious next step for early stage, fintech-focused firm, which counts a significant number of U.S. companies in its portfolio, including Betterment (New York), Trov and Automatic (San Francisco), Payoff (LA), Blueleaf (Boston) and Simple Bank (Portland).

Robo-advisor MoneyFarm raises EUR16M for UK launch (Finextra)
Italian digital wealth management startup MoneyFarm is preparing to enter the UK market after raising EUR16 million from Cabot Square Capital and United Ventures.

NCR Gets $820M from Blackstone to Accelerate Transformation (American Banker)
The investment accelerates NCR’s overall plan to transform itself from a reliance on ATM and other hardware, into a software and services provider.

Who are the best investors in fintech startups?

Been talking a lot to entrepreneurs in the space. I get a chance to hear their perspectives on their financial backers, investors with an eye to the future of financial services.

Here’s the beginning of a list of some of the best VCs in fintech. Who do you think belongs on there?