All Access

Fintech Deals

Standard

Fintech Deals Alerts

Alert

Fintech Deals Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble

mustard

BFD Expert Voices - Private Credit

BFD Expert Voices

Monnai, a startup providing consumer data insights for fintechs, raised a $6.5 million Series A, the company tells Axios exclusively.

Why it matters: Financial institutions are increasingly turning to alternative data sources to guide their decision-making, particularly in regions where financial data is scant.

Details: Tiger Global led the round and was joined by Better Tomorrow Ventures, which led the company’s seed round, and by 500 Global and Emphasis Ventures.

The company has raised $10 million since its founding in August 2021.

How it works: Through a single API, Monnai gives customers access to more than 350 contextual insights from various alternative data sources.

That includes data like social activity, employment, email, IP, payments, and e-commerce, says founder and CEO Pierre Demarche.

The company seeks to be a "single source of truth" for data that can be used for KYC/AML, trust and fraud risk, credit decisioning and collections optimization.

State of play: Monnai's business is global, as it hopes to provide data insights in regions where financial data is particularly hard to come by.

"Especially in emerging markets, the coverage of [credit] bureaus is very limited, let's say around 50% of the population," Demarche says.

"That coverage is actually decreasing over time, because new generations — like Gen Z and millennials — are all going online first, and they don't necessarily open bank accounts."

Between the lines: The company has customers in seven markets across Southeast Asia, India, Latin America and the U.S., which is one reason it decided to take investment from Tiger Global.

"Tiger is one of the largest investors in fintech, and when it comes to markets like India, Southeast Asia and LatAm they are a very large investor, [so] we can definitely benefit from that," Demarche says.

1 big thing: Tiger Global backs data startup Monnai

Illustration of a hand holding a cell phone displaying a $100 bill on the screen surrounded by social media icons.

Silvergate Capital's winddown of its bank happened fast, and questions linger as to why the firm couldn't right the ship before it sank. 

Why it's the BFD: The shutdown is another black eye for crypto and another exhibit for regulators amid their industry crackdown. 

Flashback: When customers pulled more than $8 billion from Silvergate's platform late last year, the bank got a $4.3 billion assist in advances from the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB).

Between having to pay those loans back right away and other investment losses, its outlook was grim, even before the company filed a registration statement saying so.

Our thought bubble, via Axios' Felix Salmon: The overwhelming majority of bank liquidations are announced on a Friday afternoon, to give the FDIC a full weekend to shore up the institution and reassure depositors before the next business day. That this happened on a Wednesday is an indication of just how quickly Silvergate imploded.

The intrigue: "Crypto exchanges, platforms and stablecoin issuers at least have the excuse that they don’t have direct access to central bank liquidity," Frances Coppola, an economist and writer of blog Coppola Comment, said in a recent post about the bank. "But Silvergate does — and yet it didn’t use it."

2. The BFD: A wobble, then the floodgates opened

Illustration of a rolling steel door partially covering a hundred dollar bill.   

Payroll and benefits fintech Catch shutters (Catch)

Backed by investors including Crosslink Capital, Khosla Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins, Catch is closing up shop after six years. Having raised about $18 million in its lifetime, Catch gave self-employed workers a way automate taxes and open a retirement account.

Gemini denies reports that JPMorgan cut banking ties (Twitter)

Gemini rejected a Coindesk report that JPMorgan is ending its banking relationship with the crypto firm.

Better.com doesn't rule out more layoffs (The Information)

The SoftBank-backed mortgage lender went viral in late 2021 for laying off 900 employees over Zoom.

SoFi sues Biden admin over student loan moratorium (American Banker)

The student loan fintech is suing the Department of Education in a bid to end the moratorium on federal student loan payments, saying the pause is unlawful and has directly harmed its business.

3. Credit score

Illustration of positive and negative trend lines coming out of center point.

• Masttro, a New York City-based maker of software for the wealth management industry, raised $43m. FTV Capital led the round. www.masttro.com

• Vantage, a New York City-based cloud infrastructure spend management startup, raised $21m in Series A funding. Scale Venture Partners led and was joined by Andreessen Horowitz, Harpoon Ventures, Matthew Prince and Glenn Solomon. https://axios.link/3ykHc5h

• Proven, a developer of zero-knowledge proofs of solvency, raised $15.8m in seed funding led by Framework Ventures. www.proven.tools

• Synctera, a Palo Alto, California-based banking-as-a-service startup, raised $15m. NAventures led and was joined by the Banc Funds, Veritex Community Bank, Midland States Bank and Emigrant Bank. https://axios.link/3mDpffD

• Yoti, a London-based digital identity company, raised £10m from Lloyds Banking Group. https://axios.link/3SZ3jaV

• Cubist, a web3 infrastructure startup, raised $7m in a seed round led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Dao5, Polygon, Axelar, Amplify Partners and Blizzard. https://axios.link/3YDze1E

• Tweed, a New York City-based white-label crypto wallet and payments company, raised $4m in seed funding. Accel led and was joined by Communitas Capital Partners and Zero Knowledge Venture. https://axios.link/3FanCMP

• Gyroscope, a crypto startup building a stablecoin, raised $4.5m in seed funding. Placeholder VC and Galaxy Ventures co-led the round, with participation from Maven 11, Archetype, and Robot Ventures. https://axios.link/3LaTLI0

• ECSA, a Brazilian-based stablecoin issuer, raised $3m. Investors include Y Combinator and Arca. https://axios.link/3LelgQO

• Molo, a U.K.-based digital mortgage lender, was acquired by Sydney-based non-bank lender ColCap. Terms were not disclosed. https://axios.link/3Law7ex

4. Deals!

Behind every seemingly independent decision you make is a team led by a guy wearing these glasses

5. One fun thing

Good morning, fintech friends. Happy Friday eve.

Situational awareness: Stripe is raising $6b at a $50b valuation from Thrive Capital, General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund and Goldman Sachs private wealth clients, per Newcomer. https://axios.link/3L9qLjG

@Lucinda is dealing with an influx of spam calls and texts.

Thanks to Michael Flaherty and Rob Reinalda for today's edits.

@Michael is wondering if those very glasses featured in today's newsletter are the same ones resting loosely on his nose. More to unpack there. 

And thanks to you for reading. Please tell your fintech friends about this newsletter. They can sign up here.

March 09, 2023

1 big thing: Tiger Global backs data startup Monnai