FUND RAISING
Greenlight raises $215 million in Series C funding
Greenlight, a start-up which issues debit card for children via an app managed by parents, recently raised an additional $215 million investment in Series C round. The lead investors for this round were Canapi Ventures and TTV Capital. Greenlight’s first institutional investor Relay Ventures also participated along with other new investors – BOND, DST Global, Goodwater Capital and Fin VC. Greenlight is a unique money-management platform which enables parents to pay allowance to their children and offers additional features such as managing chores, set parent-paid interests on the child’s savings and more. The platform plans to use this funding to “provide new ways for kids to learn about the world of money.” The company also plans to introduce new investing tools for kids in the coming months.
Robinhood increases Series G round to $660 million
Robinhood, a US based trading start-up,added $460 million to its Series G round bringing it to a total of $660 million. In August, the start-up had raised Series G round of $200 million from D1 Capital Partners. This additional funding of $460 million is bought in by Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, DST Global, Ribbit Capital and 9Yards Capital. A company spokesperson told Reuters: “We’ve raised an additional $460 million in subsequent closings to our Series G to support our core product and customer experience and new offerings like cash management and recurring investments.”
Syfe raises $18.6 million in Series A funding
Syfe, a Singapore-based digital wealth manager, raised USD18.6 million Series A round led by Valar Ventures. Other participating investors included Presight Capital and existing investor Unbound. Syfe is licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to offer fully managed investment portfolios without a minimum investment, based on an investor’s risk profile, investment objectives and goals. According to the Syfe’s press release, “The funds will be used to enter new markets, develop new products and services, hire top talent, and enhance Syfe’s technology platform to continue delivering exceptional user experiences.”
BLOCKCHAIN INITIATIVES
Ant unveils an international trade finance platform – Trusple
Ant Group unveiled Trusple – a trade finance platform powered by AntChain, Ant Group’s blockchain solution providers to enterprises, developers and public sectors. Trusple, built on the motto ‘Trust made Simple’, aims to provide end-to-end digital trade finance, smart payments and financing solutions to various organisations. This digital initiative will aid easier and faster cross-border trade with small and medium enterprises being the largest beneficiaries.
SUSTAINABLE FINANCE REPORTING
Standard Chartered published its first annual Sustainable Finance Impact report
Standard chartered recently published its first annual Sustainable Finance Impact report highlighting that “91% of sustainable finance assets were located in emerging markets and 86% in some of the world’s least developed nations.” It also disclosed that USD 3.9bn of Sustainable Assets were linked to UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and further elaborate on the impact of the EUR 500m Sustainability Bond of July 2019. Simon Cooper, CEO, Corporate, Commercial & Institutional Banking said: “Our natural footprint as a Bank means that we are providing finance in emerging markets where the need for funding as a positive catalyst for change is greatest. For example, financing of solar projects in India will help avoid over seven times the CO2 from a similar-sized project in France, given the current sources of power on those countries’ grids.”
