A daily newsletter summarizing recent activity & interesting start-ups globally
RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – INVESTMENT TECH
- Quantopian, a Boston-based algorithmic trading platform & crowd-sourced hedge fund, raised a $25M Series C funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Point72 Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and Spark Capital. Link
- Roofstock, an Oakland-based online marketplace for single-family rentals, raised $20M in Series B funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, along with Khosla Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Nyca Partners, QED Investors and SV Angel. Link
- AdvisorEngine, an NYC-based wealth management platform for financial advisors FKA Vanare, raised a $20M Series A financing round from WisdomTree Investments. Link
- Droit, an NYC-based trade management system for OTC markets, raised $16M in Series A funding from Goldman Sachs Group, Wells Fargo & Co and trading firm DRW Holdings. Link
- Conifer, an SF-based asset services firm, was acquired by SS&C Technologies, a provider of cloud-based investment and financial software for the financial services industry, for $88.5M. Link
- FactSet, a Norwalk-based provider of financial data-as-a-service to asset managers, acquired Vermilion, a London-based provider of client-reporting & communications software to investment managers, for $67M. Link
SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS FOUND
Impact Labs (2015, SF,) – Software solutions to financial advisors for offering tax-smart & socially-selective investing to their clients.
Finalyze (2015, SF) – Machine learning platform for analysts to explore, visualize, and analyze multiple alternative datasets.
LEADER BOARD – INVESTMENT TECH
Retail Investments – Trading Platforms
Motif Investing (2010, San Mateo, $126M) – Online flat-fee brokerage offering theme-based investing. Backed by Renren, JPMorgan Chase, Foundation Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Goldman Sachs, Ignition Partners and Balderton Capital.
Oanda (1995, SF, $117M) – Internet-based forex trading and currency information services. Backed by Index Ventures, Next Generation Finance Invest, Cascade Investment Group, Legg Mason Group, New Enterprise Associates, Armada Investment and T. Rowe Price Associates.
eToro (2007, Tel Aviv, $73M) – Social trading and investment marketplace. Backed by Spark Capital, Silicon Valley Bank, Social Leverage, SBT Venture Capital, Venture 51, BRM Capital, Anthemis Group, iAngels, Social Leverage, Ping An Ventures, and Commerz Ventures.
Retail Investments – Investment Firms
Madai Licai (2015, Shanghai, $65M) – Provider of online wealth management products. Backed by Citic Capital.
Tongbanjie (2012, Hangzhou, $60M) – Investing platform that offers financial products such as mutual funds. Backed by IDG Capital Partners.
Retail Investments – Financial Planning
Jupai Holdings (2010, Shanghai, IPO) – Wealth management platform. Went public in July 2015.
Siyinjia (2014, Shanghai, $10M) – Provider of wealth management platforms for HNIs. Backed by IDG Capital Partners and Yunqi Partners.
Institutional Investments – Trading Platforms
M-DAQ (2010, Singapore, $112M) – Cross-border multi-currency trading platform. Backed by Citi, Alipay, EDBI, GSR Ventures, Murano Corp, Vickers Venture Partners and Aetius Capital.
Vela Trading Technologies (2007, NYC, $53M) – High-frequency trading technology and market data provider. Backed by Insight Venture Partners.
Quadriserv (2001, Jersey City, $51M) – Financial services provider to the securities market. Backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, SunGard, Interactive Brokers, Parkview Ventures, ISE Holdings and Renaissance Technologies.
Institutional Investments – Mid and Back Office Solutions
Envestnet (1999, Chicago, IPO) – Technology-enabled wealth management solutions provider. Went public in July 2010.
MetricStream (1999, Palo Alto, $150M) – Business governance and compliance software provider. Backed by Goldman Sachs, KPCB, Integral Capital Partners, Gold Hill Capital, Sageview Capital, Saints Capital, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Blade Ventures, Montage Capital and The Camelot Group.
VTS (2011, NYC, $88M) – Leasing and asset management software for brokers, investors & owners. Backed by OpenView, Blackstone, 500 Startups, Trinity Ventures, Graycliff Partners, Insight Venture Partners and Work-Bench.
Fenergo (2009, Dublin, $80M) – Client onboarding lifecycle management software. Backed by Aquiline Capital Partners, Investec and Insight Venture Partners.
Private Market Investing – Investment Platforms
OurCrowd (2012, Jerusalem, $112.5M) – Equity crowdfunding platform for Israeli startups. Backed by United Overseas Bank.
Fantex (2012, SF, $110M) – Platform to buy and sell investments tied to the cash flows of professional athletes. Backed by Benchmark Capital and Kita Capital.
Cadre (2014, NYC, $68M) – Real estate investment platform. Backed by Founders Fund, General Catalyst Partners, Khosla Ventures, Ford Foundation, S L Realty, Goldman Sachs and Thrive Capital.
CircleUp (2011, SF, $53M) – Equity crowdfunding platform for consumer product companies. Backed by Canaan Partners, Union Square Ventures, QED Investors, Google Ventures, Rose Park Advisors, Silas Capital, Rose Tech Ventures, NFX Guild, Collaborative Fund, TriplePoint Ventures and Maveron.
Financial Data & Research – Securities & Trading Data
Bloomberg (1981, NYC) – Privately held financial software, data and media company. Offers a terminal to its clients to perform various analytical queries.
FactSet (1978, Norwalk, Public) – Financial information and analytical applications provider to global buy-side and sell-side professionals. Aggregates content from various third-party content providers. Went public in 2014.
Thomson Reuters (1800, NYC, Public) – A multinational media, information (financial, legal etc.) and analytical solutions provider.
Financial Data & Research – Research Platforms
Dataminr (2009, NYC, $175M) – Financial research platform, employing AI to analyze social media. Backed by Fidelity Investments, WorldQuant, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Institutional Venture Partners, Venrock, GSV Capital, Glynn Capital, Expansion Venture Capital, Deep Fork Capital, Adorable Foxie, Conversion Capital, Wellington Management, Wharton Equity, BoxGroup.
Kensho (2010, Cambridge, $73M) – An AI-based news analysis and market research platform which combines cloud computing with graphical user interfaces and natural language querying capabilities. Backed by Accel Partners, NEA, Goldman Sachs, General Catalyst Partners, Google Ventures, Promus Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Breyer Capital, Work-Bench, Xfund, Social Leverage, F-Prime Capital Partners.
Nvest (2013, Toronto, $63M) – Crowdsourced stock recommendation platform.
Financial Data & Research – Private Companies Data
Pitchbook (2008, Seattle, $14M) – M&A, private equity and venture capital transactions database. Acquired by Morningstar for $225M in Dec, 2016.
CB Insights (2009, NYC, $10M) – Data-as-a-service firm offering market intelligence on private companies. Backed by National Science Foundation, Rosemont Seneca Partners, FinTech Innovation Lab.
Tracxn (2013, Bangalore, $3.7M) – Market intelligence platform for Private Market Investing. Backed by Accel Partners, SAIF Partners, Beenext, Venture Highway and various Angel Investors.
Leaderboard includes all the top funded, IPO and successfully running bootstrapped companies along with their location, founding year and funding amount.
For latest update, visit Investment Tech feed.