Finovate alums enjoyed their biggest Q2 fundraising to date. A total of 14 alums from both our Finovate and FinDEVr conferences raised in excess of $2.8 billion in equity funding over the course of April, May, and June of this year.
For those who wondered if the second quarter of 2021 would represent a continuation of the strong performance Finovate alums recorded in Q1 of 2021, the answer is an unqualified “yes.” In fact, Q2 2021 funding not only exceeded all previous second quarter tallies; the sum also rivaled all previous first quarter alumni funding totals, as well.
Previous quarterly comparisons
- Q2 2020: More than $975 million raised by 15 alums
- Q2 2019: More than $1.8 billion raised by 29 alums
- Q2 2018: More than $1.5 billion raised by 25 alums
- Q2 2017: More than $726 million raised by 25 alums
- Q2 2016: More than $510 million raised by 23 alums
Most of the funding in the second quarter came in the month of June, both in terms of the amounts raised and the number of alums involved. Modest second quarters are no surprise, and this year’s slow April – with only a pair of alums announcing funding – is reminiscent of last year’s slow May in which only three alums announced funding.
Top Equity Investments for Q2 2021
- NuBank: $750 million
- Plaid: $425 million
- Trulioo: $394 million
- Klarna: $369 million
- Scalable Capital: $180 million
- Paysend: $125 million
- SmartAsset: $110 million
- TipRanks: $77 million
- Arkose Labs: $70 million
- Credit Sesame: $51 million
Four big fundraisings dominated the second quarter for Finovate alums. NuBank’s $750 million was the clear standout, but impressive sums were raised by three other alums – Klarna, Plaid, and Trulioo – in Q2 also. Altogether, the top ten equity investments for Finovate alums in the second quarter represented $2.55 billion or more than 91% of the total raised by alums in Q2 2021.
Here is our detailed alum funding report for Q2 2021.
April: More than $440 million raised by two alums
May: More than $303 million raised by four alums
- Arkose Labs: $70 million – post
- Paysend: $125 million – post
- ThetaRay: $31 million – post
- TipRanks: $77 million – post
June: More than $2.1 billion raised by eight alums
- Credit Sesame: $51 million – post
- Illuma Labs: $2.5 million – post
- Klarna: $639 million – post
- NuBank: $750 million – post
- Scalable Capital: $180 million – post
- SmartAsset: $110 million – post
- Socure: undisclosed – post
- Trulioo: $394 million – post
If you are a Finovate alum that raised money in the second quarter of 2021 and do not see your company listed, please drop us a note at research@finovate.com. We would love to share the good news! Funding received prior to becoming an alum not included.