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1/ For my first official post on @fintechtoday_ , I thought it would be fun to look back on 2020 in fintech. So much happened that I ended up breaking it out into two parts, so here are some highlights for Jan -> Jun
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2/ Jan started with a bang, with Visa announcing their acquisition of Plaid for $5.3B - setting a new watermark for fintech exits (here comes the DOJ though...)
@astrange also published one of the definitive fintech thesis of 2020 - https://a16z.com/2020/01/21/every-company-will-be-a-fintech-company/
@astrange also published one of the definitive fintech thesis of 2020 - https://a16z.com/2020/01/21/every-company-will-be-a-fintech-company/
3/ Feb - Moar exits and consolidating in fintech
ETrade -> Morgan Stanley for $13B
Credit Karma -> Intuit for $7.1B
Radius Bank -> LendingClub for $185M
ETrade -> Morgan Stanley for $13BCredit Karma -> Intuit for $7.1BRadius Bank -> LendingClub for $185M
4/ All of the banks!
Different paths towards bank licensing emerged in 2020:
Mar - Square approved for an industrial loan charter
July - Varo getting their bank charter
Sept - Jiku acquiring Mid Central National Bank
Oct - SoFi preliminary approval
Figure + Oportun interest
Different paths towards bank licensing emerged in 2020:
Mar - Square approved for an industrial loan charter
July - Varo getting their bank charter
Sept - Jiku acquiring Mid Central National Bank
Oct - SoFi preliminary approval
Figure + Oportun interest
5/ March - Coronavirus, the black swan of 2020.
Massive stimulus billed passed for $500B in direct payments and $669B in PPP funding.
Enter fintech, stage right!
Chime, Current, etc-> cash in bank faster
Square, Kabbage, Cross River Bank, etc spun up PPP facilities
Massive stimulus billed passed for $500B in direct payments and $669B in PPP funding.
Enter fintech, stage right!
Chime, Current, etc-> cash in bank faster
Square, Kabbage, Cross River Bank, etc spun up PPP facilities
6/ April - Covid tailwinds -> megarounds + more exits for infrastructure
Stripe raises $500M at $36B valuation behind huge growth of companies needing to go online.
Galileo -> SoFi for $1.2B
Stripe raises $500M at $36B valuation behind huge growth of companies needing to go online. Galileo -> SoFi for $1.2B
7/ May - Savings + investing explodes + Shopify just keeps
'ing
Robinhood raises $280M at $8.3B
Shopify announces updates to Capital, Shop Pay, installment payments w/ Affirm, Shopify Balance, and Shop App.
'ing Robinhood raises $280M at $8.3BShopify announces updates to Capital, Shop Pay, installment payments w/ Affirm, Shopify Balance, and Shop App.
8/ Early stage VC over the summer also started to pick up!
Particular interest in ACH fraud / ecosystem space (Flannel, @nivelo_payments , Orum, etc) as well as the Plaid for Payroll market (Argyle, Atomic, Pinwheel for consumer, @tryfinch for admin/business).
Particular interest in ACH fraud / ecosystem space (Flannel, @nivelo_payments , Orum, etc) as well as the Plaid for Payroll market (Argyle, Atomic, Pinwheel for consumer, @tryfinch for admin/business).
9/ SME financial tools and data was also quite hot - it seemed like there were a ton of companies focused on the CFO suite that were out fundraising, and the corporate card market also continued to expand.
10/ June - more acquisitions and the craziest story around Wirecard's collapse
Finicity -> Mastercard for $1B in reaction to Visa/Plaid
Personal Capital -> Empower retirement for $1B
Wirecard goes to basically $0 https://www.ft.com/content/284fb1ad-ddc0-45df-a075-0709b36868db
Finicity -> Mastercard for $1B in reaction to Visa/PlaidPersonal Capital -> Empower retirement for $1BWirecard goes to basically $0 https://www.ft.com/content/284fb1ad-ddc0-45df-a075-0709b36868db
11/ For a more detailed analysis and to read my next post for July -> December, subscribe to Fintech Today :)
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