 Global VC funding for fintech companies reached $131.5B in 2021, over twice as much as the $49B from 2020. The size of the fintech market is so large that it mirrors the market for VC in general. More: - Fintech funding dollars accounted for 21% of all VC dollars invested last year. Total global VC funding reached $621B.
- The number of funding rounds also jumped, albeit by a factor of only about 1.5.
- 2021 saw 4,696 deals, compared to 2020's 3,491, according to CB Insights data.
- Around 14 fintech deals were announced every day, on average, worth a total of almost $388M.
- In Q4'21, funding reached $34.9B, the second-highest figure after Q2'21.
- The quarterly funding record lies with Q2'21, which saw $36.6B pumped into financial companies. Deal flow was more or less equal for the two quarters, with 1,256 rounds in Q4 compared to 1,224 in Q2.
- The average round grew to $32M, nearly double 2020's $18M. The median round jumped by $1M YoY to $5M.
- The U.S. led funding in Q4 with $18.2B invested, compared to $8.2B and $5.6B in Asia and Europe, respectively.
- Latin America, despite gains that brought fintech funding to $4.2B in Q3, brought up a distant fourth place with only $1.9B.
The heat is on: - As fintechs grow ever larger, legacy financial institutions are looking to brace themselves for harsh competition.
- In anticipation, JPMorgan Chase announced that it would spend $12B to up its tech stack.
- It will also boost its general investment by 30% to reach $15B.
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6sense, which provides AI-based software for companies such as Cognizant, Dell Technologies, Qualtrics International, and Baker Hughes, is now valued at $5.2B. The new valuation is the result of a just-announced $200M funding round led by Blue Owl and MSD Partners. More: - Other participants included Tiger Global, Franklin Templeton, Insight Partners, D1 Capital Partners, and Sapphire Ventures.
- SoftBank reportedly joined at the last minute and invested from its Vision Fund 2.
- 6sense’s valuation more than doubled from the $2.1B at its most recent previous round last March, which saw it raise $125M Series D.
- The fresh capital brought the company’s total funds raised to date to $426M.
- 6sense has benefited immensely from the pandemic. It provides an end-to-end account-based platform for go-to-market teams.
- It recently added the ability to offer AI-based email marketing thanks to its acquisition of Saleswhale.
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 Andreessen Horowitz is reportedly looking for $4.5B for its next cryptocurrency funds. The escalation comes as the total sum for crypto-focused investment funds more than doubled from 2020 to over $10B in 2021. More: - The $4.5B will be spread over a follow-up to its current $2.2B crypto fund. That fund will have a $3.5B pot to invest from.
- The remaining $1B will be earmarked for a separate fund focused on seed investments in digital asset startups.
- The $1B seed-stage fund would be twice as big as the next largest fund for similar investments of any kind.
- The current record is held by a $500M fund that was raised by Greylock Partners in September.
- Sources claim that the new funds are expected to be finalized by March.
- a16z’s first crypto fund is currently led by Chris Dixon, who remained after Katie Haun departed to start her own crypto-focused firm.
- The majority of the fund has reportedly already been deployed.
- Investors injected $31.6B into cryptocurrency startups last year, an almost 700% increase from 2020, according to PitchBook.
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Autograph, which produces celebrity-based NFTs, raised a $170M Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins. Katie Haun's new crypto fund also got in on the action, along with Lightspeed partner Nicole Quinn. More: - Haun, a16z's Arianna Simpson, and Kleiner Perkins's Ilya Fushman will all join Autograph's board.
- The Seattle-based company was co-founded by Tom Brady of NFL fame. He sits on his firm's board alongside Apple's Eddy Cue, FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried, and artist Abel Tesfaye.
- The fresh capital comes on the heels of Autograph's $35M Series A round in July, co-led by 01A and Velvet Sea Ventures.
- Autograph offers athletes and entertainers a way to offer NFT collectibles for fans.
- It focuses on individual athletes and their cult of personality, as opposed to competitor Dapper Labs, which has partnerships with the NFL Players Association and the NBA's Player Association.
- Early partners include Tiger Woods, Simone Biles, Derek Jeter, Naomi Osaka, Usain Bolt, Wayne Gretzky, Tony Hawk, and of course Brady himself.
- The firm's NFTs have been dropped on Polygon blockchain, which taps into Ethereum and uses lower cost, a strategy undoubtedly related to celebrities' concern about being seen as environmentally friendly.
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 Today's Funding 💸 Adtech/Martech - Dovetail (Sydney, Australia), customer research platform provider: $63M A led by Accel, participation from Blackbird, Felicis Ventures, Grok Ventures, Didier Elzinga, et al.
Biotech/Health - Amber Implants (The Hague, Netherlands), spinal implants for spinal injuries: $10M from undisclosed sources.
Blockchain - Shakepay (Montreal, Canada), platform for buying and selling Bitcoin: $44M A led by QED Investors, participation from Boost VC, BoxOne Ventures.
- BlockFills (Chicago, Ill.), digital asset trading: $37M A from Susquehanna Private Equity, CME Ventures, Simplex Ventures, C6E, Nexo, et al.
Cybersecurity - Virtru (Washington, D.C.), encryption platform for shared data: $60M C led by Iconiq Growth, Foundry Capital.
- Anitian (Portland, Ore.), pre-engineered cloud security and compliance automation: $55M B led by Sageview Capital, participation from Forgepoint Capital.
- Fusion Connect (Atlanta, Ga.), managed security service provider of cloud communications and secure network solutions: $55M led by Morgan Stanley Private Credit, Ellington Management Group, Investcorp Credit Management, et al.
Data/Analytics - Pavilion Data (San Jose, Calif.), data analytics acceleration platform: $45M led by Kleiner Perkins, Artiman Ventures, participation from Korea Investment Partners, SK Telecom Ventures, Taiwania Capital, Tyche Partners, et al.
Deeptech - Atom Computing (Berkeley, Calif.), quantum computers: $60M B led by Third Point Ventures, participation from Primer Movers Lab, Endeavors, Venrock, Prelude Ventures.
- Terra Quantum (Switzerland), cloud-based quantum computing as a service: $60M from Lakestar, et al.
DevOps - CodeSee (San Francisco, Calif.), code visibility platform: $7M Seed from Wellington Access Ventures, Plexo Capital, Menlo Ventures.
Enterprise - BigTime (Chicago, Ill.), cloud-based software for professional services firms: $100M from Wavecrest Growth Partners.
- PlanRadar (Vienna, Austria), digital field management platform for construction and real estate projects: $69M B led by Insight Partners, Quadrille Capital, participation from Cavalry Ventures, Headline, Berliner Volksbank Ventures, et al.
- SaaS Labs (Noida, India), automation platform that serves sales and support teams at SMEs: $42M led by Sequoia Capital India, participation from Base 10 Partners, Eight Roads Ventures, et al.
- Zingtree (San Francisco, Calif.), interactive contact center software: $15M led by Conductive Ventures, participation from Storm Ventures, Madrona, et al.
- Dropee (Malaysia), B2B wholesale platform: $7M A led by Vynn Capital, participation from HCL Capital, Resolution Venture, LKF Capital, et al.
Fintech - M2P (Chennai, India), payments infrastructure startup: $56M C led by MUFG Innovation Partners, participation from Tiger Global, Better Capital.
- Lean Technologies (Saudi Arabia), bank data access and payments platform: $33M from Sequoia Capital India.
- Vartana (San Francisco, Calif.), managed checkout and BNPL options: $57M from Audacious Ventures.
Foodtech - Bokksu (New York, N.Y.), Japanese snack subscription and e-grocer: $22M A led by Valor Siren Ventures, participation from Company Ventures, St Cousair, World Innovation Lab, Headline Asia, Gaingels.
Proptech - HappyCo (San Francisco, Calif.), residential operations platform for real-time rental property condition data collection and utilization: $52M led by Camber Creek, participation from The BAM Companies, Berger Rental Communities, Bonaventure, CA Ventures, Continental Realty Corporation, et al.
Telecoms - EMnify (Berlin, Germany), platform for cellular connectivity in the modern IoT: $57M B led by One Peak.
Transportation - Smartcar (Mountain View, Calif.), API developer platform for connected vehicles: $24M B led by Energize Ventures, participation from Andreessen Horowitz, New Enterprise Associates.
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- Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind and Google VP, will leave the company to take a position at Greylock Ventures. Suleyman joined Google in 2014 after its acquisition of DeepMind and was admonished at Google for bullying subordinates.
- Investment app Acorns has bailed on its planned merger with SPAC Pioneer Merger Corp at a $2.2B valuation. The company will pay a $17.5M termination free and will seek private capital at a higher valuation.
- Fintech unicorn Plaid will acquire the verification platform provider Cognito for a reported price of $250M. Cognito allowed financial institutions to confirm customer IDs and deal with anti-money laundering requirements.
- 186 Ventures raised $37M to invest in impact-focused founders at the Seed and Pre-Seed stage.
- WeTransfer, a cross-border payments platform, will seek to raise $286M in an Amsterdam IPO. The listing is reduced by ~25% compared with its original target.
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 |  | Inside VC's writer/curator Stephen currently lives in Berlin and is pursuing a Master's degree in philosophy. He otherwise spends his time trying his hand at recipes from India and Southeast Asia, escaping it all at the kickboxing gym, and offending aural sensibilities with his band. |  | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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