The Startups: Who’s shaking things up (Week ending February 21, 2016)

fintech startups shaking things up

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

Startups raising/Investors investing

East Coast credit fund puts $250m to work on Patch of Land platform (Finovate)
An East Coast credit fund will invest $250 million across the Patch of Land platform.

Dallas-based StoneEagle raises $76m for payments system (Xconomy)
StoneEagle Services sells virtual “credit cards” for business-to-business payments to the healthcare and automotive industries, among others, digitizing traditional B2B payment processes.

Financial wellness firm, PayActiv raises $9m (Finovate)
Financial wellness specialist, PayActiv raised $9.2 million (lead by SoftBank). Read more.

Modo Payments closes on $2m in funding (Finovate)
Modo is a “shipping container for intermodal payments”. Read more.

Victory Park Capital taps Goldman exec for CIO role (FINalternatives)
Behind many of the $100m+ investment rounds sits Victory Park Capital (VPC), a provider of lending facilities for many of today’s top online lending startups. Former Goldman Sachs managing director Upacala Mapatuna has joined Victory Park as chief investment officer.

Visa reveals major stake in Square (Finextra)
Shares in Jack Dorsey’s Square received a much needed boost on Friday on news that Visa has a 9.99% stake of shares in the payments firm.

The Startups: Who’s shaking things up

$1 Billion Served: Venmo circa 2016 (Venmo)
Big milestone: In the month of January, over $1 billion in mobile payments were made via Venmo (2.5x year over year). Paypal’s P2P mobile/social payment provider has its sights set on B2C payments, too.

Citibank: Google should buy AIG and turn it into a fintech lab (BusinessInsider)
So why exactly does Citi think Google should buy this basket case? Could be really interesting, actually.

New app will help you manage all your credit cards (and plans to manage more of your financial life) (TechCrunch)
Curve, which has some notable investors, combines all your credit cards onto one physical card (similar to Coin). Curve’s been designed to plug into any payments system under the hood (today this is cards, but could be bank accounts or an online payment provider like PayPal) and has big plans for the future.

B of A’s Head of Tech Strategy joins tech startup (AmericanBanker)
Thomas had been B of A’s head of architecture and technology strategy and last week apparently joined Apprenda.

Insurance Disrupted: An insider guide to who’s doing the disrupting and how (Insurance Thought Leadership)
An inside look at the visions, culture and disruptive innovation accelerating the digital tipping point for insurance and the opportunities that creates for companies bold enough to become part of it.

5 trends we’re watching this week

5 trends in finance this week

[alert type=yellow ]Every week at Tradestreaming, we’re tracking and analyzing the top trends impacting the finance industry. The following is a list of important things going on we think are worth paying attention to. For more in depth trendfollowing, subscribe to Tradestreaming’s newsletters .[/alert]

  1. BDCs: An untapped tool for local investing? (Locavesting): In fact, business development corporations (BDCs) may be the only solution for a growing problem that is starting to hit communities across the country—the increasing number of baby boomer small business owners who are ready to retire. They’re flooding the market with businesses for sale, resulting in many just being shut down for lack of a buyer. But through a BDC, the community can essentially become the buyer and keep those businesses up and running, retaining the jobs they generate.
  2. The Economist plans to double circulation profits in 5 years (Digiday)
    The British magazine has an ambitious goal: to double circulation profits in the next five years. Here’s how the magazine plans to do it…
  3. Victory Park Capital taps Goldman exec for CIO role (FINalternatives)
    Behind many of the $100m+ investment rounds sits Victory Park Capital (VPC), a provider of lending facilities for many of today’s top online lending startups. Former Goldman Sachs managing director Upacala Mapatuna has joined Victory Park as chief investment officer.
  4. Citibank: Google should buy AIG and turn it into a fintech lab (BusinessInsider): So why exactly does Citi think Google should pair up with one of the largest insurers? Could be really interesting, actually.
  5. How Murano helps hedge funds identify better, close more investors (Tradestreaming)
    The world of third party marketing has enabled the hedge fund industry to massively ramp its AUM over the past 15 years. With >10k funds and 30k allocators, it’s time that someone emerge to be a better matchmaker. Check out what one company is doing to improve the outcomes in institutional fundraising.