DriveWealth

DriveWealth Raises $450 Million at $2.85 Billion Valuation

DriveWealth Raises $450 Million at $2.85 Billion Valuation
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, DriveWealth, Funding

After recently receiving $450 million in funding, digital trading and brokerage company DriveWealth is now worth $2.85 billion. The investment brings the company’s total funding to $551 million.

The Series D round was co-led by Insight Partners and Accel and included a follow-on investment from Fidelity International Strategic Ventures, Base 10, FTX, and FlightDeck. Greyhound Capital, Softbank Vision Fund, and Point72 Ventures also participated.

The New Jersey-based company will use the new funds to become the forefront of embedded investing technology for global digital wallets and brokerages. Specifically, the investment will help DriveWealth hire new employees, make acquisitions, and form partnerships. The funds will also be crucial for the company as it seeks to expand its products and services, including launching a self-clearing product.

“We are in the early innings of a worldwide retail investing revolution,” said company Founder and CEO Bob Cortright. “Our goal is for DriveWealth to be the partner of choice to deliver the embedded investing experience of the future. This new capital and investor engagement will accelerate our global expansion plans in order to become the world-class, exchange-like technology company that powers tomorrow’s investing products.”

Julie Coin and Robert Cortright founded DriveWealth in 2012 with the goal to democratize investing across the globe. Via its API, the fintech helps companies make investing friendly for inexperienced investors with fractional trading, enabling users to begin investing with as little as $1. DriveWealth’s API also allows clients to provide non-U.S. citizens with access to U.S. markets.

DriveWealth’s clients include Revolut, Hatch, MoneyLion, and Sharesies. Through partnerships like these, the company’s technology reaches investors in 153 countries.

Photo by M. B. M. on Unsplash

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DriveWealth Forges Partnership with Plaid

DriveWealth Forges Partnership with Plaid
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, DriveWealth, Plaid

It’s getting hard not to wonder if Plaid is better off as a bachelor …

Last week, we highlighted how the financial data connectivity platform rebounded from its failed union with Visa to launch a range of new initiatives including new offerings (new income verification solution Plaid Income), new partners, and a diversity-oriented accelerator program, FinRise.

Today brings news that Plaid has teamed up with global brokerage infrastructure platform – and fellow Finovate alum – DriveWealth. Courtesy of a single API integration, customers of both firms will be able to streamline and simplify the online investment account funding process for their clients.

“The combination of DriveWealth and Plaid to enable anyone from fintechs and banks to investment advisors and RIAs to quickly and securely add investment capabilities to their current offerings, via a simple API, will give more consumers equal access to investing in the U.S. markets,” DriveWealth CEO Bob Cortright said.

The integration will enable customers of both DriveWealth and Plaid to authenticate end user bank accounts using Plaid’s technology, and leverage tokenization to provide fast and secure verification of bank funding sources using DriveWealth’s API. The combination not only improves the ACH success rate, it also boosts transparency into the fund transfer process while safeguarding client data.

Plaid Head of Revenue Paul Williamson credited the wealth management industry for its advances in technology in recent years. But he pointed out that there is still more friction in the process than there needs to be. “Companies like DriveWealth are changing that and this partnership combines to power of Plaid with DriveWealth to make digital investing experiences even easier,” Williamson said.

In addition to this week’s partnership with DriveWealth, Plaid also announced that it is working with Dun & Bradstreet to bring the benefits of alternative data to small business credit risk analysis. The new integration will enable small business owners to safely share financial account information and potentially improve their credit profile with the commercial credit reporting agency.

“Small businesses need all the support they can get, and this integration makes the process of creating and building a business credit profile secure and simple, which can lead to better access to financing and more business opportunities,” Global Head of Policy at Plaid John Pitts said.

And by the way, Plaid is not the only fintech in today’s partnership announcement that is populating the headlines of late. DriveWealth began 2021 with the acquisition of institutional broker dealer Cuttone & Company. The deal will bring additional market and regulatory expertise to the Chatham, New Jersey-based brokerage infrastructure API provider – as well as a network of institutional trading partners.

More recently, DriveWealth teamed up with Aghaz to support the Seattle-based roboadvisor’s investment app for Muslim customers, partnered with cross-border roboadvisor Hemista to bring fractional share investing in both U.S. and Indian stocks to Indian ex-pats, and collaborated with GenZ-focused investment app Alinea.

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DriveWealth Acquires Institutional Broker Dealer

DriveWealth Acquires Institutional Broker Dealer
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, DriveWealth, Mergers & Acquisitions

Brokerage infrastructure API provider DriveWealth announced this week it acquired Cuttone & Company, a New York-based institutional broker dealer. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

DriveWealth has purchased Cuttone & Company specifically for its market and regulatory expertise and network of institutional trading partners. The New Jersey-based company will leverage this expertise to offer its own partners access to price discovery on its scalable, configurable, and redundant electronic trading infrastructure.

Ultimately, the acquisition will offer retail investors who trade fractional shares of U.S. equities via DriveWealth’s partners direct access to the point of sale for NYSE securities.

“These added resources, unprecedented transparency, and the ability to trade directly on the NYSE or across all U.S. equity destinations will open up greater opportunities for the retail investors we serve on our platform,” said DriveWealth Founder and CEO Bob Cortright. “Having notional trading technology connected to a flexible brokerage infrastructure allows investors to start small by investing in brands they know and care about. We’re proud to bring this new combination of Cuttone & Company’s institutional knowledge with our retail trading technology to become the most complete brokerage stack available to retail investors today.”

DriveWealth was founded in 2012 by Cortright and his co-founder Julie Coin. The company has raised a total of $100.8 million, including a $56.7 million DriveWealth closed last October.

Photo by Savvas Stavrinos from Pexels

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DriveWealth Brings Home $56.7 Million

DriveWealth Brings Home $56.7 Million
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, DriveWealth, Funding

Brokerage infrastructure API provider DriveWealth brought in $56.7 million in Series C funding today. The investment is more than double the Series B round of $21 million the company received in 2018. Today’s investment brings the company’s total to $100.8 million.

The round saw participation from existing investors Point72 Ventures– which led the round– as well as Raptor Group, SBI Holdings, and Route 66 Ventures. New investors Mouro Capital and Fidelity International Strategic Ventures also participated.

DriveWealth will use the funds to strengthen its technology, make strategic acquisitions, and grow the organization to scale its business.

The New York-based company offers a suite of APIs that allows its partners to embed investment experiences of U.S. securities within their own apps. Among DriveWealth’s products are tools for advisors, fractional share investing, and purchase round-up investment capabilities.

“DriveWealth saw its partners open more accounts in 2Q than E*Trade, Schwab and TD Ameritrade combined, and 3Q saw a 33% increase over 2Q,” said DriveWealth Founder and CEO Bob Cortright. “This type of activity speaks to the power of making it simple for consumers to start investing immediately. The new funding from our great investors will only help us improve our technology capabilities to democratize investing.”

Since it was founded in 2012, DriveWealth has already scaled its business to serve a range of geographies and now reaches investors in 153 countries. The company has formed partnerships with firms on six continents, including Asia, where it collaborated with Singapore-based Bambu on the launch of a white-label roboadvisory platform for U.S. wealth managers; and Africa, where the company teamed up with Sigma Securities and Trove Technologies to launch a digital U.S. equities trading product for retail investors in Nigeria.

Among DriveWealth’s clients are Hatch, Revolut, Stake, and Moneylion. The company recently partnered with Access Softek to help community banks and credit unions offer their members access to investing tools.

Photo by Samuele Errico Piccarini on Unsplash

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Global Fintech and the COVID-19 Crisis

Global Fintech and the COVID-19 Crisis
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news, DriveWealth, Finovate Global, Ripple, TransferWise

The fight against the coronavirus pandemic has captured the attention of people all over the world. From medical professionals on the front lines of caring for the sick to small businesses making hard decisions about how to keep their workforces intact during lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, everyone has been touched by the current crisis.

Earlier this week, we took a look at how fintechs and financial services firms are rising to the challenge of the COVID-19 outbreak. Looking at three different areas – safety, digitalization, and service – we saw how companies in countries ranging from Russia and India to the U.K. and the U.S. are lending their insights, talents, and generosity to the cause.

Companies like London-based Aire, a Finovate alum that is offering lenders three months of free access to its credit insight service, are an example of what is happening across the fintech space. “We’re seeing an unprecedented level of change in the market for consumers right now,” company founder and CEO Aneesh Varma said. “Lenders are understandably stretched and struggling to build accurate pictures of their customers in real-time.”

CoinDCX Cashes In: Two weeks ago we interviewed Neeraj Khandelwal, co-founder of Indian cryptocurrency trading platform CoinDCX, on cryptocurrencies and cashlessness. This week, we learned that the company has raised $3 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Polychain Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, and HDR Group. The capital will help the company launch new products, boost R&D efforts and marketing, and build the CoinDCX team.

“As the country’s largest exchange, we are in a position to drive national crypto adoption forward responsibly,” CEO and co-founder Sumit Gupta said. “This successful investment round will go a long way in funding our vision of accelerating India’s growth into a $5 trillion economy.”

Here is our weekly look at fintech around the world.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Kenya-based telecom Safaricom to waive fees for its M-Pesa mobile money service to help customers avoid cash during the COVID-19 outbreak.
  • Somalia’s MyBank to deploy Sharia-compliant, core banking technology from Path Solutions.
  • Ghana goes live with its Universal Quick Response (QR) Code and Proxy Pay system.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • SME Finance, a factoring services provider for businesses in the Baltics and Poland, picks up 10 million euro investment from new partner, Citadele Bank of Latvia.
  • Berlin, Germany-based, digital business bank Penta raises 18.5 million euros in new funding.
  • The COVID crisis has authorities in Russia decontaminating cash and urging citizens to use digital payments.
  • Erste Bank Hungary deploys mobile security technology from OneSpan.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • DriveWealth announces its first MENA region partnership: a collaboration with UAE-based wealth management firm, Wealthface.
  • Al Ansari Exchange taps Pelican for financial crime compliance.
  • Emirates’ World Investments commits to investment of $255 million in Australian challenger bank Xinja.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Mobile payments company HUMBL forges new partnership with Digital India Payments.
  • Singapore-based anti-fraud solutions provider Advance.AI opens offices in Bengaluru and Delhi.
  • Indian alt lender Vivriti Capital secures $50 million in Series B funding.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Mexican SME lender Creditjusto raises $100 million in debt financing from Credit Suisse Group.
  • Brazilian fintech Creditas announces plans to boost staff by 500 by the end of the year.
  • Wirecard teams up with Mexico’s Banca Afirme as the German digital payments solutions provider extends further into the Mexican market.

Asia-Pacific

  • TransferWise teams up with Alipay to enable fund transfers to China.
  • Bank of China launches its AI-based FX trading signal app via Eikon.
  • Thai remittance company DeeMoney goes live on RippleNet.

Top image designed by Freepik

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SoftBank Showers Latin American Fintechs with Millions in New Capital

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avaloq, DriveWealth, Finovate Global, PaySend, SumUp, Temenos, Tinkoff Bank, Vymo

SoftBank Backs Latin America

Last week, the international fintech buzz was all about the booming investment in African startups. As you can see in our sub-Saharan Africa section below, that buzz continues as analysts wonder how African fintechs can best leverage their good financial fortunes of late.

But this week, it’s all about Latin America as fintechs from Mexico to Argentina lock in triple digit investments. What’s especially interesting is that two of the week’s biggest beneficiaries – Konfio and Uala – have the same participating benefactor in SoftBank.

The investment in Argentina’s Uala was the first time the Japanese-based firm had funded a company from Argentina, but not SoftBank’s first funding in the region. The firm invested $1 billion in Colombian delivery app Rappi in April of this year. SoftBank has a deeper history investing in Mexican startups, having funded payments startup Clip and used car buying platform Kavak. SoftBank is also especially active in Brazil; the firm led a $140 million round for the country’s e-commerce solution provider VTEX in November.

FinovateEurope Goes to Berlin!

It’s not too early to start thinking and planning for 2020 – especially with our first conference right around the corner in February.

After six years of basing our annual European fintech conference in London, Finovate is crossing the channel and setting up our stage in Berlin, Germany next year. Our new FinovateEurope location will also feature a new event format designed to ensure attendees maximize their time at the conference. Take a look at our developing agenda to see what we have in store February 11th through the 13th.

Here’s our weekly look at fintech around the world.

Asia-Pacific

  • Singapore’s FinAccel, maker of Kredivo, raises $90 million in round led by Asia Growth Fund and Square Peg.
  • Maybank Group, the fourth largest bank by assets in Southeast Asia, goes livewith Avaloq’s banking suite.
  • South Korea announces plans to launch opening banking system before year’s end.
  • Vymo brings AI-powered sales coaching to insurance giant Sompo.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Can Africa’s fintech startups learn from the experience of M-Pesa? TechCrunch considers the opportunities now available thanks to recent positive funding trends.
  • A partnership between Smartstream and Union Systems will help African FIs digitize their post-trade environments.
  • QuartzAfrica takes a look at the “niche ecosystems” that are developing amid Africa’s rapidly expanding fintech industry.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Berlin, Germany-based SME digital banking platform Penta teams up with SumUp.
  • First Investment Bank (Fibank) goes live with the first, PSD2-compliant, open banking platform in Bulgaria.
  • Tinkoff GDRs will be included in MOEX Russia indices next month.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Sudan’s Nile Bank is the latest FI to choose Oracle’s Flexcube core banking solution.
  • Temenos teams up with Egyptian National Post Organization.
  • Dubai Financial Services Authority inks fintech pact with Luxembourg’s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier.

Central and Southern Asia

  • DriveWealth helps Indian investors access U.S. stocks via new partnership.
  • Indian banking technology provider TCS Financial Solutions migrates three credit unions to a cloud-version of its TCS Bancs system.
  • Paysend introduces worldwide money transfers to Uzbekistan.
  • Sri Lanka’s central bank examines the possibility of applying blockchain technology to streamline KYC processes for FIs.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Uala, a money management app from Argentina, raises $150 million in Series C round led by Tencent and SoftBank.
  • Mexican SME credit assessment specialist Konfio closes $100 million investment from SoftBank.
  • MercadoLibre picks up $125 million loan from Goldman Sachs.

As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Top image designed by Freepik

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Artivest, DriveWealth, Envestnet, Finastra, PaySend, Revolut, RightCapital, Temenos, Tink, Yodlee

On Finovate.com

  • RightCapital Inks Strategic Partnership with Financial Advisor Association

Around the web

  • Envestnet | Yodlee forges data sharing agreement with JP Morgan Chase.
  • Temenos partners with CWB Financial Group.
  • DriveWealth teams up with SBI Thai Online Securities, bringing access to U.S. stocks to Thai investors.
  • Open banking platform Tink announces expansion to Portugal and Italy.
  • New partnership with Smart Pension will enable Revolut to offer its business customers the ability to automate monthly pension contributions.
  • Artivest announces new partnership with Wellington Management.
  • Paysend introduces worldwide money transfers to Uzbekistan.
  • Jumio takes home top honors in the “Software Security Enterprise Product of the Year” category at the 2019 Best in Biz Awards.
  • Finastra inks deal with Pancreta Bank of Greece to deploy its Fusion Risk solution to help automate regulatory reporting.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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DriveWealth Helps Indian Investors Access U.S. Stocks via New Partnership

DriveWealth Helps Indian Investors Access U.S. Stocks via New Partnership
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: DriveWealth

A partnership between digital trading technology company DriveWealth and India’s SV Capital will allow two of India’s largest stock brokers – Stockal and HDFC Securities – to offer their investors greater access to the U.S. stock market. The brokerage firms will leverage DriveWealth’s technology and brokerage execution, including its fractional share offering, to make it easier for investors in India to diversify their portfolios with investments in U.S. stocks.

“India is a very important market for us,” DriveWealth CEO Robert Cortright explained, “and this relationship has the potential to have a real impact on expanding opportunities for individuals to have straightforward, affordable online investing experiences related to brands they know and products they use on a daily basis.”

DriveWealth enables banks, wealth management firms, fintechs, consumer brands, and global businesses to build or add to their existing investment offerings. The company’s cloud-based technology powers real-time, dollar-based fractional share investing, digital roboadvisory portfolios, and features such as card-linked, round-up investing and stock-back, loyalty and rewards programs.

Importantly, for international partners, DriveWealth offers the ability for brokerages and other financial firms around the world to give their customers access to stocks, exchange-traded funds, and other assets that trade on U.S. exchanges. HDFC Securities Head of Digital Strategy and Analytics Nandkishore Purohit said that the partnership will able its Indian customers to participate in “global growth stories” and take advantage of investment opportunities outside India’s borders. Purohit also praised DriveWealth’s technology for its ease-of-use. “Being a completely digital platform,” Purohit said, “we strongly believe that customers will easily warm up to its user-friendly interfaces and will appreciate the simplicity of the investing process.”

DriveWealth has spent the year at a furious, partner-making pace. Leading up to this week’s announcement, DriveWealth has collaborated with Nigerian investment platforms, Bamboo and Chaka; partnered with Asia digital trading platform FastWealth, and teamed up with fellow Finovate alum Revolut to enable the U.K.-based fintech to offer its users commission-free trading in NYSE and NASDAQ-listed stocks. DriveWealth said that the partnership enabled it to acquire 20,000 customers in 36 hours.

DriveWealth demonstrated its technology at FinovateAsia 2016. The company, which won Best of Show, earlier that year, was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Chatham, New Jersey. Since inception, DriveWealth has raised more than $29 million in funding from investors including Route 66 Ventures, Point72 Ventures, Raptor Group, and SBI Group.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Diebold, DriveWealth, Finicity, Hydrogen, Jack Henry

On Finovate.com

  • DriveWealth Helps Indian Investors Access U.S. Stocks via New Partnership
  • Hydrogen Wins Spot in MasterCard Start Path’s Incoming Cohort

Around the web

  • Finicity announces that its Verification of Assets (VoA) solution is now live within Ellie Mae’s Encompass Consumer Connect.
  • Jack Henry’s Payment Solutions group launches an enhancement to its consumer billpay solution, iPay CardPay.
  • Diebold Nixdorf joins Utimaco’s U-Trust Partner Program.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Circlys, Coinbase, DriveWealth, Eigen Technologies, fcase, Finastra, Insuritas, Ledger, MasterCard, nCino, Okanii, On Deck Capital, Salt Edge, Spreedly

On Finovate.com

  • Spreedly Raises $75 Million in Growth Funding.
  • NLP Innovator Eigen Technologies Closes $37 Million Series B.
  • nCino Brings AI to its Bank Operating System with nIQ.
  • Lloyd’s Syndicate to Insure Ledger’s Vault.

Around the web

  • DriveWealth partners with Bamboo to give Nigerians real-time access to trade 3,500+ stocks listed on the U.S. stock market.
  • OnDeck builds liquidity with new $125 million securitization.
  • Salt Edge teams up with Exprivia to expand access to open banking solutions.
  • Insuritas partners with Security Federal Savings Bank to launch digital insurance agency platform.
  • Coinbase adds five new currencies to its Coinbase Card – XRP, BAT, REP, ZRX, and XLM – as it brings its card to ten new countries.
  • Mastercard launches Mastercard Accelerate, a worldwide initiative that gives fintechs access to the company’s suite of digital solutions to help differentiate their offerings.
  • Finastra inks partnership with UAE-based United Arab Bank, which will deploy the company’s Fusion Corporate Channels and Fusion Cash Management solutions.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: DriveWealth, Interxion, Lendio, Minna Technologies, Signicat, Stratifyd

On Finovate.com

  • SME Challenger Bank Recognise Signs on Mambu.
  • Digital Realty to Buy Interxion for $8.4 Billion.

Around the web

  • Stratifyd expands workforce by 200 people, moves to a new 30,000 square-foot office.
  • Lendio named to MountainWest Capital Network’s 2019 Utah 100 List.
  • Square leverages DriveWealth’s trading API to compete with the likes of Robinhood.
  • Signicat now offers identity verification in 208 countries through identity document scanning, web-based video interviews, and NFC scanning of passports.
  • SpareBank1 to leverage Minna Technologies to help customers cancel their unwanted subscriptions.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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DriveWealth Teams with Nigerian Trading Platform

DriveWealth Teams with Nigerian Trading Platform
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: DriveWealth

Wealthtech company DriveWealth is making further inroads into Africa this week with the news that it has partnered with Chaka, a Nigeria-based trading platform.

Chaka will leverage DriveWealth’s API to offer its clients access to U.S. stocks. Citi Investment Capital Limited is a licensed Nigerian stockbroking firm and will facilitate the brokerage transactions for Chaka clients.

“Chaka has developed outstanding technology that we’ve integrated with our customizable APIs to make it easy for clients in Nigeria to participate in the U.S. stock market,” said DriveWealth CEO Robert Cortright. “At a time when many Nigerians are seeking foreign investment opportunities for diversification purposes, this partnership fulfills an important component of Chaka’s global offering with access to the largest and most liquid stock markets in the world.”

Chaka CEO Tosin Osibodu called international investing a “daunting task” for most Nigerians and praised DriveWealth for its “best-in-class” technology, highlighting how the company’s fractional share investment technology makes higher-priced stocks more affordable. “Integration of our technologies has gone very smoothly, and we see this as an important long-term partnership for Chaka,” Osibodu added.

Today’s partnership isn’t DriveWealth’s first connection to Nigeria. In July the company teamed up with Sigma Securities and Trove Technologies to launch a digital U.S. equities trading product for retail investors in Nigeria.

Since it was founded in 2012, the company has set up partnerships with firms on six continents, including Asia, where DriveWealth collaborated with Singapore-based Bambu on the launch of a white-label roboadvisory platform for U.S. wealth managers.

At FinovateAsia 2016, DriveWealth released a new API to enable partners to offer a roboadvisory product suite and a self-directed equity investing platform.

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