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Pipe, an alternative financing startup, is partnering with Compass Mining in a deal that will enable the bitcoin mining firm to offer a new type of "buy now, pay later" financing to crypto customers.

How it works: The so-called "mine now, pay later" offering lets Compass — or really, any company selling cryptocurrency mining hardware — to provide more flexible payment terms to customers.

Bitcoin mining equipment isn't cheap.  Now customers who purchase hardware from Compass Mining can pay for managed hosting services in monthly installments. 

Compass can then trade those contracts on Pipe's marketplace and get paid upfront.

"This democratizes access for anyone that can afford a smaller down payment and make flexible monthly payments to be able to access their offering," Pipe co-founder and co-CEO Harry Hurst tells Ryan. 

The big picture: The key to this partnership is how it allows the company to extend its financing marketplace to new industries and verticals via API.

The API hooks into Pipe's broader platform that connects recurring revenue businesses with pension funds, hedge funds, and family offices — basically anyone who wants access to an alternative type of fixed-income yielding asset.

"What we're really building is a global trading platform for recurring revenue as an asset class," Hurst says.

Context: Pipe got its start offering financing to SaaS companies with predictable revenues.

Today, SaaS businesses make up less than 50% of Pipe's business. Other sectors it serves include insurance companies, property management companies, and direct-to-consumer subscription businesses, according to Hurst.

1 big thing: Bitcoin mining, BNPL style  

Illustration of a pipe opened up with cash spewing out 

Corporate card and spend management startup Jeeves announced it raised $180 million in Series C funding led by China's Tencent at a valuation of $2.1 billion.

Other investors in the round include GIC, Stanford University, a16z, CRV, Silicon Valley Bank, FT Partners, Clocktower Ventures, Urban Innovation Fund, Haven Ventures, Gaingels, and Spike Ventures.

Why it matters: Jeeves believes its international reach will set it apart for customers with multinational operations, differentiating it from its more provincial peers. 

"We can offer [customers] a clearing mechanism for [multiple] cards, local payments, and working capital loans in multiple currencies," CEO Dileep Thazhmon tells Ryan.

"That becomes very appealing," he says, "because they don't have to move money back and forth, and they don't have to pay FX fees."

How it works: Jeeves has built a proprietary infrastructure that lets customers make cross-border payments and pay vendors with corporate cards — all without foreign exchange fees or relying on different banks or financial institutions across multiple regions.

The company has four core products today: a corporate card, B2B payments,  working capital loans — which are 30- to 90-day loans in the local currency — and Jeeves Growth, the company's venture debt/revenue financing product.

"One of the biggest things we sell is this consolidation of all your payments out all your B2B stack into one single platform — versus having four or five different vendors and then having a team to manage all that," Thazhmon says.

Context: Jeeves is hardly alone in this space. Just yesterday, corporate card startup Ramp raised $200 million at an $8.1 billion valuation.

What's next: Today, Jeeves serves companies across 24 countries and 3 continents — North America, Latin America, and Europe. But with the new funding, Jeeves plans to expand its operations to cover more than 40 countries in the next 3 years.

2. The BFD: Jeeves at your service, now worldwide

Illustration of a credit card with a world map on it.

Robinhood’s debit card will automatically invest in stocks and crypto (The Verge)

The company will round up transactions made with the card to the nearest dollar, and use the extra cash to buy assets chosen by the user.

Goldman Sachs conducts first OTC crypto options trade (Bloomberg)

The transaction was facilitated by Galaxy Digital, a crypto financial-services firm started by former Goldman partner Michael Novogratz. 

Grayscale’s new fund focuses on smart contract platforms (Blockworks)

The fund’s top holdings were Cardano and Solana, but it also has allocations of Avalanche, Polkadot, Polygon, Algorand, and Stellar.

Circle, BlockFi and other crypto firms say they were hacked (Protocol)

The data breach occurred through the marketing platform HubSpot after an attacker hacked into an employee's account and accessed crypto companies' customer information.

3. Credit score

Illustration of a credit score meter with emoji faces showing sad, neutral, and happy emotions.

• Capitolis, an Israeli SaaS startup helping banks pool trading resources, raised $110m in Series D funding at a $1.6b valuation co-led by Canapi Ventures, 9Yards Capital and SVB Capital. http://axios.link/bCYX 

• FTX Ventures invested $100m into publicly traded banking app Dave (Nasdaq: DAVE). The companies also struck a strategic partnership to make FTX US the exclusive crypto trading partner on Dave's platform. http://axios.link/CiAQ

• ChargeAfter, a New York-based BNPL provider, raised a $44m Series B. round led by The Phoenix, with participation from Citi Ventures, Banco Bradesco, MUFG, and existing investors. http://axios.link/BNjo

• Tomo, a mortgage fintech, raised $40m at a $640m valuation in a round led by SVB Capital, with participation from Ribbit Capital, NFX, Zigg Capital, Parker89, and Telesoft Partners. http://axios.link/Kd8M

• Lucky, an Egyptian fintech startup, raised $25m in funding led by Nclude, with participation from Naspers unit PayU, Global Ventures, National Bank of Egypt, Venture Souq, Banque Misr, Banque du Caire, Endeavor Catalyst, OTF, Arzan Capital, and Disruptech. http://axios.link/PZ4q

• Upshot, an NFT appraisal startup, raised $22m led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Framework Ventures, CoinFund, Blockchain Capital, Slow Ventures, Mechanism Capital, and Delphi Digital. upshot.xyz

• nocnoc, an Uruguay-based e-commerce marketplace startup, raised a $7m seed round led by Mouro Capital and Quona Capital, who were joined by Caravela, Olist, Broadhaven, and angels. http://axios.link/KWcn

• The London Stock Exchange agreed to divest its BETA+ wealth management tech operations to Clearlake Capital and Motive Partners for $1.1b. http://axios.link/xzQM

• Citi Singapore agreed to sell its business loan portfolio to Validus, a Singapore-based lending platform that’s raised over $30m from firms like K3 Ventures, FMO, Cathay Financial, Space Ventures, VinaCapital Ventures, Openspace Ventures and Vertex Ventures. http://axios.link/LfiM 

• Cryptocurrency exchange Blockchain.com acquired the OTC trading business of Singapore-based Altonomy. http://axios.link/61he 

• Forge Global, an investment marketplace for pre-IPO companies, went public through its SPAC merger with Motive Capital Corp. It will trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "FRGE." forgeglobal.com

• Coincheck, a Japanese crypto marketplace and digital asset exchange owned by Monex Group (Tokyo: 8698), agreed to go public at an implied $1.25b valuation via Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV (Nasdaq: THCP), a fintech SPAC led by Gary Simanson. www.coincheck.com 

• Finleap founders Ramin Niroumand and Michael Hock have raised a €100m fund called embedded/capital to invest in fintech startups. http://axios.link/A1ck

• Digital asset platform AEX plans to open an office and launch a $100m crypto fund in Vietnam. http://axios.link/KiqM

4. Deals of the day

Jon Bois writes, "does anyone have an nft of a baseball card  they want to sell me? i’m trying to become the most wack person in history"

5. Memes and mumbles

Good morning, Fintech Deals readers! Happy Tuesday.

Situational awareness: The SEC has proposed its first climate disclosure rules for public companies, Axios' Andrew Freedman writes.

Related: Axios Pro Climate Deals launched yesterday, with Alan Neuhauser and Megan Hernbroth breaking down all the latest news about carbon, solar, wind, batteries, and more. Sign up here.

 Tell your fintech friends, family, crypto pals, and others about this newsletter. They can sign up here.

March 22, 2022

1 big thing: Bitcoin mining, BNPL style