11 Most Valuable Fintech Startups Worth Over $1 BillionEveryone likes money. But technology that handles money is what's really popular these days. The rise of "fintech," or, financial technology, has unleashed a new breed of apps, sites and services designed to help consumers pay for goods, get loans and manage their retirement accounts. Fintech is a multi-billion dollar industry, with startups in the US raising around $18 billion since 2015, according to PitchBook and nearly 1,400 venture capitalist-backed deals. Two of the most valuable startups in the country -- Stripe and SoFi -- are in the fintech sector. And there are 11 fintech startups valued at more than $1 billion. To get a sense of why fintech is so hot right now, we took a look at the 11 most valuable VC-funded US fintech startups, as compiled by PitchBook. [ PitchBook ] Masa Son claims SoftBank has already bagged $3 billion in profit
If you think SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son is overzealously pursuing overvalued startups with his oversized global megafund, then he would like you to know that things are actually going quite well. Son on Wednesday pushed back on long-simmering criticism of his $100 billion Vision Fund, which Recode has reported is only the first iteration of a collossal tech investment that could climb to almost $900 billion. Son disclosed before his single largest investor, the government of Saudi Arabia, that the Vision Fund had taken home $3 billion in profit and so far had earned about a 22 percent return over the last five months, based on current valuations. “Good start. Not bad,” he said with a smile at the first Future Investment Initiative, a high-wattage conference hosted by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. [ Recode ] Alphabet's investment in Lyft was a purely strategic move
Ride-hailing start-up Lyft has a big new investor: Alphabet. Lyft announced on Thursday that CapitalG, Alphabet's investment fund, is leading a $1 billion financing round for Lyft. The move follows an agreement made in May between Lyft and Alphabet's self-driving subsidiary Waymo to work together on the development of autonomous-vehicle technology. [ Business Insider ] 4 reasons to be optimistic about women in technologyFor women working in the male-dominated tech industry, every year can feel like Groundhog Day. The news is always grim: the enduring gender gap in both employment numbers and pay, women’s struggle for funding to launch and grow companies, and the dearth of female venture capitalists who can break the vicious cycle because they are more likely to invest in women entrepreneurs. Then there are women’s stories of groping and other unwanted sexual advances that are brushed off by bosses as just part of tech’s bro culture. But 2017 hasn’t been a complete repeat. There have been moments that indicate the tide is turning, and that the industry may finally get it. Here are four reasons to be hopeful about the future of women in tech. [ Boston Globe ] Silicon Valley Gets Behind Initiative to Challenge Trump’s Agenda in CourtHigh-profile donors from tech and Hollywood are funding a law group at Georgetown to fight for the Constitution, especially when it involves directly undermining President Trump’s policies. The day after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a ban on travelers from seven majority Muslim countries, Mamoon Hamid was rallying a response from Silicon Valley. The Pakistan-born venture capitalist held a private dinner that night in San Francisco, where he pitched other investors, entrepreneurs and technology executives on a coalition that could challenge the Trump administration’s most controversial policies in court. [ Bloomberg ] Square, the Twitter Boss’s Other Company, Could Pass It in ValueTwitter may be President Trump’s favorite platform, but Square, a payments company also run by Jack Dorsey, has had more success in recent quarters. Jack Dorsey has become a household name in Silicon Valley thanks to his role as the chief executive and co-founder of Twitter, President Trump’s favorite megaphone. People will sometimes mention, as an afterthought, that Mr. Dorsey also runs another start-up he helped found, the payment company Square. Sometime in the very near future, though, the value of Mr. Dorsey’s distinctly less sexy second company, where he tends to work in the morning, is likely to become more valuable than his more well-known first company, where he works in the afternoon after a short walk between the two companies’ headquarters in San Francisco. Thanks to its steadily ascending stock price, Square’s value — as measured by the value of its outstanding shares — has been closing in quickly on Twitter, which has seen its stock price stuck in neutral for months. On Tuesday, Square was worth $12.55 billion, or just $120 million less than Twitter. Just a year ago, Square was worth less than half as much. [ NY Times ] The Swedish founder of a €1,5 billion startup: Millennials hold the key to making money todayJessica Schultz – the co-founder of the hugely successful e-commerce food business HelloFresh and one of Sweden's foremost VC's – knows a thing or two about striking gold in tech. Since joining Swedish venture capital firm Northzone in 2014, Jessica Schultz has led investments into fintech sensations like iZettle and Klarna, as well as e-commerce successes like NA-KD and Matsmart (and become the firm's partner). [ Business Insider ] Social Capital has started investing in startups, sight unseenThere’s little question that former Facebook executive and venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya thoroughly enjoys challenging the way that startups are funded. Because he has the hot hand, so to speak, he’s able to get away with it, too. Last month, for example, Palihapitiya’s firm, Social Capital, took the unusual step of raising $600 million in an IPO for a SPAC called Social Capital Hedosophia. The shell company will use the money to acquire all or part of a privately held tech company, thereby taking it public and circumventing what Palihapitiya sees as the unnecessarily long, expensive and distracting process of going public. Now, Social Capital has another trick up its sleeve. It’s beginning to invest in far-flung startups, sight unseen. [ TechCrunch ] Silicon Valley Gets Behind Initiative to Challenge Trump’s Agenda in CourtThe day after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a ban on travelers from seven majority Muslim countries, Mamoon Hamid was rallying a response from Silicon Valley. The Pakistan-born venture capitalist held a private dinner that night in San Francisco, where he pitched other investors, entrepreneurs and technology executives on a coalition that could challenge the Trump administration’s most controversial policies in court. The goal was to solicit funding for the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection. The group offers a legal swat team of sorts “to protect people at a moment of great instability and peril,” said Hamid, the chairman. He had been planning the white-linen event with attendees from Facebook Inc., Google and other tech companies for months, but the immigration ban offered newfound urgency. [ BloomBerg ] Full transcript: Shondaland CEO and TV producer Shonda Rhimes on Recode DecodeE772: Investor Outlook: Ben Narasin NEA, Arlan Hamilton Backstage, Zach Coelius Angel SyndicatePaytm Payments Bank to invest $500 mn to meet RBI’s KYC norms: CEO Renu SattiAirbnb Is Building An Apartment Complex–And More May Be ComingFrom Silicon Valley to Staten Island, Russian troll sites kept online by American companiesEmpathy – the latest gadget Silicon Valley wants to sell youIN CAMDEN, BRIDGING THE SKILLS GAP MEANS MORE THAN TECH TRAININGSexual Discrimination, The State Of Venture Capital And How To Fix ItLoveFilm backer Draper Esprit acquires two Seedcamp funds including a stake in TransferwiseThe state of the US PE industry in 13 chartsApple acquires wireless charging company PowerbyProxiDoorDash CFO leaves less than one year after joiningDeal of the Week: Stitch Fix Stands OutAsian travel platform Klook raises $60M with backing from Goldman Sachs |