Venture capital

Canapi Ventures — created by former comptroller of the currency Gene Ludwig and banker Chip Mahan — and other venture capital firms say Peach Finance stood out because, unlike so many other startups, it's not focused on loan originations.

Industry experts weigh in on the future of wealth management.

The company, which started in personal financial management, has grown quickly by helping consumers avoid overdraft fees and, more recently, adding a no-fee bank account. It's counting on a merger deal with a special-purpose acquisition company to fuel further growth.

Rapyd's new venture capital arm seeks companies that can develop or benefit from an international identity verification system.

The New Jersey bank has been informally funding startups for more than a year. Now it has established Cross River Digital Ventures, which will focus on backing fintechs the bank wants to work with or ones that it feels will benefit the broader industry.

More than 97% of venture backing goes go white-owned startups. Firms like Mendoza Ventures, Chingona Ventures and MaC Venture Capital are stepping in to support underserved entrepreneurs.

The card brand has added a dedicated lane to its startup program to address the venture funding gap for race and gender. Overall, less than 3% of VC funding goes to startups with Black or Latinx founders.

The Curql Fund, an investor in upstart technology companies, is trying to help credit unions build relationships with cutting-edge firms.

Chargebee, a startup that helps enterprises with subscription billing and revenue management, raised $125 million in funding and boosted its valuation to $1.4 billion, reaching so-called unicorn status for the first time.

The financial-technology firm Plaid is close to a new round of funding at a valuation of about $13 billion, almost three months after scrapping its sale to Visa, according to people familiar with the matter.

Large U.S. banks are directing their venture capital dollars to fintechs in capital markets, wealth management and "future-proofing."

Capital One Financial led a $170 million investment in the startup Hopper as the financial giant seeks to make a deeper push into travel.

MissionOG spots opportunities among firms that provide pandemic-era automation and a route for legacy financial institutions to compete with challenger banks and fintechs.

Rapid changes in payments and regulations have blown open the door to new ideas, creating frontiers for fintech investors. Javier Perez hopes three decades of experience will help him have an early read on startups.

The fintech world is expanding at a sometimes breathtaking pace. Much of that growth is driven by venture capital, but how do VCs decide which companies to invest it in--or not? Join Greycroft partner Will Szczerbiak in a discussion with Olugbenga Agboola, the founder and CEO of Flutterwave, the San Francisco-based startup building the largest payments infrastructure in Africa. Guest host James Ledbetter, editor and publisher of the fintech newsletter FIN, will explore these questions: What are VCs looking for in a fintech startup? What are the hottest fintech sectors in 2021? How has the rise in fintech valuations affected the market? Where will growth be strongest in the next few years?

The latest round includes two new investors, Eurazeo Growth and Wellington Management, as well as one returning shareholder, Sprints Capital.

U.K. fintech Rapyd, backed by Stripe, has raised $300 million in a Series D round to fuel its growth through acquisitions in payment processing, card issuing and disbursements.

Walmart's fintech venture with Ribbit Capital allows it to influence more technological developments in the retail industry.

Venture capitalists will shift their focus to fintechs that support financial inclusion, according to Emmalyn Shaw, managing partner of the VC firm Flourish. Meanwhile, challenger banks will continue to grow, she says.

Fintech success stories have encouraged investors to back more startups, but newcomers will be hard-pressed to attract enough customers to compete while keeping expenses down.