Hello Fintech Friends,

The last week of October is always a banner season for fintech fundraises. This year is no exception, with Valon raising $100 million, Finix taking in $75, and MoneyBox's secondary sale for £70 – all below.

I wanted to highlight one in particular: MoneyStack* is building something important (full disclosure, we invested in them) – a HIPAA-compliant platform that mental health treatment providers can use to meet and collaborate virtually with financial counselors to support clients struggling. Approximately 9 million adults in the US deal with gambling addiction, and that number is growing with the proliferation of online gambling and sportsbetting. Gambling money often replaces investments and savings, not entertainment budgets.

MoneyStack partners with state gaming commissions, state departments and agencies, non-profits, private clinics, and other behavioral health organizations to combat gambling addiction. Check the app out here.

Elsewhere, Ryan Zauk had a great sit-down this week with Adyen NA President Davi Strazza,

🎧 Adyen President of North America Davi Strazza: Thinking in Decades, The Power of the Adyen Platform, and Engineering a Winning Culture

Welcome to October’s episode of This Month in Fintech, just ahead of Money2020. Our guest today is Davi Strazza, President of North America at Adyen. Adyen is a global financial technology platform helping the world’s leading businesses achieve their ambitions faster. Since its founding in 2006, Adyen has built

This Week in FintechRyan Zauk

And Dennis officially announced his new role as our COO!

Dennis Owusu-Sem on LinkedIn: I’m thrilled to share that I’ve stepped into the role of Chief Operating… | 106 comments

I’m thrilled to share that I’ve stepped into the role of Chief Operating Officer at This Week in Fintech! I’m joining TWIF at a pivotal moment in the… | 106 comments on LinkedIn

LinkedInDennis Owusu-Sem

Please find another week of fintech financing events below.

(PS: Have feedback for us? 👍👎 Let us know!)

Public launches the Bond Account, offering a 6.9%* yield

You may know Public as the all-in-one investing platform where you can build a multi-asset portfolio of stocks, options, bonds, and more. Now, Public has taken another step in making fixed-income investing more accessible with the launch of its Bond Account.

At a time when bond yields are at their highest levels in years, the Bond Account allows you to lock in a 6.9%* yield. In just a few clicks, you can now invest in a diversified portfolio of ten investment-grade and high-yield bonds that generate 20 interest payments annually.

With the Fed preparing for what many expect to be a series of rate cuts, the Bond Account offers a timely opportunity to lock in today’s historically high bond yields.

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📊 Stat of the Week

Even though European startup financing dropped in Q3, fintech funding was up on the year by 45% year-over-year, reaching $1.6 billion.

Authorised push payment fraud in the UK dropped 1.5% from a year before, but card-not-present cases grew by 26%.

💸 Venture Financing

1. Valon Raises $100 Million: Valon, a New York City-based mortgage servicing platform, secured $100 million in Series C funding to enhance its technology and expand its market presence.
2. Finix Raises $75 Million: Finix, a payments technology company, announced a $75 million Series C round aimed at improving its platform and scaling operations.
3. Moneybox Secures £70 Million: Moneybox, a savings and investment app, completed a secondary share sale that raised £70 million, boosting its valuation to £550 million.
4. Agrolend's $53 Million Series C: Agrolend, focused on agrifintech, raised $53 million in Series C funding, reflecting strong market confidence in its business model.
5. Obligo Raises $35 Million: Obliglo, a fintech startup, successfully raised $35 million to enhance its services related to security deposits and tenant screening.
6. Interface.ai Raises $30 Million: Interface.ai, a California-based AI solutions provider for banks and credit unions, raised $30 million to further develop its customer service technologies.
7. Najar's $15 Million Series A: Najar, a financial technology startup, raised $15 million in its Series A round to expand its product offerings.
8. Variational's $10.3 Million Raise: Variational, a trading protocol for derivatives, raised $10.3 million to enhance its platform.
9. Authologic's $8.2 Million Series A: Authologic, an e-ID firm, raised $8.2 million in its Series A funding to advance its identity verification solutions.
10. Azura's $6.9 Million Fundraising: The DeFi platform Azura launched after raising $6.9 million.
11. Karpatkey Secures $7 Million: Karpatkey closed a $7 million funding round to expand its treasury services for DAOs.
12. Shuttle Labs Raises $6 Million: Shuttle Labs, a self-custodial digital asset exchange, raised $6 million to further develop its trading platform.
13. Synply Raises $4.8 Million: Synply a spinoff from Live Oak Bank, raised $4.8 million in funding. The startup focuses on providing technology solutions for community banks, helping them improve customer experiences and streamline operations.
14. Akua's $4.3 Million Seed Funding: Akua, a payment processing platform based in Bogotá, raised $4.3 million in seed funding to support its growth in the LATAM market.
15. Ned's $4.2 Million Seed Funding: Ned, a cash flow lending platform in NYC, secured $4.2 million in seed funding to enhance its lending technology.
16. Drop Protocol Raises $4 Million: Drop Protocol, focused on decentralized finance solutions, raised $4 million in seed funding.
17. Uprise's $3.3 Million: Uprise aims to assist small businesses in making better financial decisions by providing insights and tools that enhance financial literacy and management. The company raised a $3.3 million seed round.
18. Monark's $2.2 Million Seed Funding: Monark, an embedded pre-IPO trading startup, secured $2.2 million in seed funding to develop its platform.
19. FinOpsly's $1.92 Million Fundraising Success: FinOpsly, a financial operations platform, raised $1.92 million; The investment aims to bolster the company’s growth and enhance its financial management solutions for businesses.
20. MoneyStack's* Funding for Gambling Addiction: MoneyStack raised a $250,000 pre-seed aimed at helping individuals and families facing financial distress due to sports betting addiction.
21. Westview's Investment in CardFlight: Westview Capital Partners invested in CardFlight, a payment technology firm, to enhance its offerings and expand its market reach.
22. One Zero's Potential $100 Million Raise: One Zero, an AI fintech founded by the creator of Mobileye, is reportedly raising $100 million to develop its financial products.

💵 Debt Financing

• YouLend, an embedded business lender, secured a $1 billion three-year financing facility with Castlelake.
• DailyPay, an earned wage access provider, secured an additional $100 million commitment to its credit facility from Citi, bringing total debt to $200 million.

💰 Venture Funds

• Fintech venture fund Infinity Ventures, formed by former PayPal investors, raised their $184 million Fund II.

Public launches the Bond Account, offering a 6.9%* yield

You may know Public as the all-in-one investing platform where you can build a multi-asset portfolio of stocks, options, bonds, and more. Now, Public has taken another step in making fixed-income investing more accessible with the launch of its Bond Account.

At a time when bond yields are at their highest levels in years, the Bond Account allows you to lock in a 6.9%* yield. In just a few clicks, you can now invest in a diversified portfolio of ten investment-grade and high-yield bonds that generate 20 interest payments annually.

With the Fed preparing for what many expect to be a series of rate cuts, the Bond Account offers a timely opportunity to lock in today’s historically high bond yields.

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All investing involves risk. Brokerage services for US listed securities, options and bonds in a self-directed brokerage account are offered by Public Investing, member FINRA & SIPC. Not investment advice. 

*This yield is the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across all ten bonds in the Bond Account, before fees, as of 10/24/2024. Because the YTW of each bond is a function of that bond’s market price, which can fluctuate, your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here and your YTW is not “locked in” until the time of purchase. A bond’s YTW is not guaranteed; you can earn less than that YTW if you do not hold the bonds to maturity or the issuer defaults.

A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. The 6.6% yield is the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across all ten bonds in the Bond Account, before fees, as of 10/24/2024. A bond’s yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore a bond’s YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule.  

Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. You should evaluate each bond before investing in a Bond Account.  The bonds in your Bond Account will not be rebalanced and allocations will not be updated, except for Corporate Actions.

Fractional Bonds also carry additional risks including that they are only available on Public and cannot be transferred to other brokerages. Read more about the risks associated with fixed income and fractional bonds. See Bond Account Disclosures to learn more

While corporate bond yields should fall in reaction to a Federal Reserve rate cut, we cannot know whether that will be true of the bonds in the Bond Account, how quickly bond yields will respond, or how much they will decline.