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Lending Data Fintech dv01 Acquires Pragmic Technologies, Closes $6 Million Series B

dv01 has acquired Pragmic Technologies, according to a note from the company. The acquisition follows a $6 million series B3 financing round led by Pivot Investment Partners and joined by new strategic investor, AGNC Ventures, LLC, an affiliate of AGNC Investment Corp. (Nasdaq: AGNC), a residential mortgage REIT with over $97 billion in assets.  dv01’s total financing to date stands at $34 million, with past investors including Quantum Strategic Partners Ltd., Jefferies Financial Group Inc., OCA Ventures, Illuminate Financial Management, Ribbit Capital, and Regions Financial Corp.

dvo1 explains that Pragmic’s algorithms will provide investors with intra-month performance insights on agency MBS (mortgage backed securities), helping investors better optimize their portfolio management and hedging processes in a market that trades $65 trillion a year. dv01 will also be able to combine its understanding of loan-level data within securitizations with proprietary analytics to provide ESG ratings for structured products.

dv01 is a top Fintech providing deep data on the online lending sector. Pragmic Technologies is an early-stage company that is “reimagining” data infrastructure of the agency MBS market.

Charlie Oshman and Memo Sanchez, Pragmic Technologies’ founders and co-founders of commercial real estate data analytics company Reonomy, will join dv01.

“Unlocking real-time performance data in agency MBS will be a massive paradigm shift for a market that trades $65 trillion a year,” said dv01 Founder and CEO Perry Rahbar. “With this acquisition, we are at the forefront of building a proprietary data infrastructure that will significantly enhance our offerings across all structured products, in addition to agency MBS.”

dvo1 notes that the market for data-driven ESG investments has surpassed $40 trillion. With the addition of Pragmic Technologies, dv01 will be in a better position to combine its understanding of loan-level data within securitizations, with external data sources and proprietary analytics to work with partners to provide the first true ESG ratings for structured products.

Oshman called dv01 the ideal partner to “revolutionize the agency market.”

“With our combined resources, we will provide unmatched market transparency and quickly develop a dominant agency MBS business line to complement dv01’s non-QM, consumer unsecured and student loan coverage.”

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Pockit Partners with Railsbank, Raises £15 Million Includes Crowdcube Future Fund Offering

Pockit, a digital banking app designed to cater to the underbanked masses, has announced a new partnership with Railsbank while simultaneously announcing a £15 million Series B funding paired with an offering on Crowdcube.

The Crowdcube securities offer is for £500,000 Future Fund convertible note with an 8% interest payment. The offering will convert at a 20% discount to a future funding round. The money raised will be matched by the Future Fund, the funding scheme designed by the UK government and delivered by the British Business Bank.

Last month Pocket migrated its payment services and functions that underpin the Pockit accounts and operations to PayrNet Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Railsbank.

Virraj Jatania CEO & Founder of Pockit, said that launching a crowdfunding offering has been an ambition for his company for some time:

“Since its launch Pockit has helped over half a million customers to take control of their financial affairs, many of whom never previously had a current account that let them shop online or make contactless payments. The time to accelerate is right now; the COVID recession and the end of furlough schemes will disproportionately affect the financially underserved. Some 12 million people in the UK need a solution urgently, and we believe Pockit is that solution.”

Jatania views the crowdfunding round as a way to allow their loyal customers to own a piece of the Fintech and participate in its growth.

Since the Fintech’s inception, Pockit has raised a total of £27 million in funding and is backed by well known investors who previously have supported the successful growth of, among others, Spotify, Bolt, Funding Circle, Houst and Wheely.

Pockit has posted a page on its website explaining the securities offering hosted on Crowdcube. The investment limit starts at £10 with no upper limit. Pockit reports over 500,000 users that have completed more than £1 billion in transactions.

Have a crowdfunding offering you’d like to share? Submit an offering for consideration using our Submit a Tip form and we may share it on our site!

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U.S. Financial Services Startup Step Secures $50 Million Through Series B Investment Round Led By Coatue

Step, a U.S.-based financial services company built for teens and families, announced on Wednesday it secured $50 million through its Series B round, which was led by Coatue, with participation from returning investors Stripe, Crosslink Capital, Collaborative Fund, and Will Smith’s Dreamers VC. To-date, Step has raised more than $75 million from investors.

Founded in 2018 and launched just two months ago, Step describes itself as the next-generation financial services company building the best banking experience to help teens and young adults achieve financial independence and knowledge at an earlier age.

“Step gives you a free bank account with zero fees. Track your balance, earn interest, deposit checks and manage your savings from the Step mobile app. You can also send and receive money instantly on your phone, shop with a personalized spending card and earn rewards.”

Step also reported that it has seen tremendous growth, with more than 500,000 users on the platform. Speaking about the investment round, CJ MacDonald, Founder and CEO at Step, stated:

“Since Step’s launch, we’ve seen massive demand for this new type of all-in-one banking solution, making it much easier for teens to learn about money management. We founded Step to help improve the financial future of the next generation and this investment not only validates what we’ve built, but it will also help us continue to innovate and grow with our users.”

Michael Gilroy, General Partner at Coatue, further commented:

“Gen Z is a very passionate and engaged group and they also have an estimated spending power of $75 billion. As this generation continues to mature, they’ve been vocal about the importance of establishing healthy financial habits—with many having lived through two recessions. We’ve invested in Step because we think their game-changing technology and grass-roots approach will help capture the next generation.”

Step added that with the investment round’s funds, it plans to accelerate growth and will continue to expand the team which has doubled in size since the start of the pandemic.

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Cale Johnston from Fintech Firm ClickSwitch Reveals that Banking Challengers are Now Interested Only in Handling Direct Deposits

ClickSwitch, a U.S. fintech that claims it simplifies and automates the switch of direct deposits and recurring payments for financial institutions’ new and existing account holders, recently acquired $2 million through its Series B investment round led by USAA subsidiary. The investment round brings ClickSwitch’s total funding to more than $21 million.

ClickSwitch describes itself as an automated account holding acquisition technology provider for financial institutions and fintechs. The company aims to simplify the process of bringing new depositors onboard by quickly, safely, and efficiently switching their deposits and recurring payments from their old accounts to new ones.

Cale Johnston from ClickSwitch claims that banking challengers are only interested in handling direct deposits now. He reveals that banks have become more aggressive when it comes to onboarding new customers.

As reported by Tearsheet, ClickSwitch has been helping customers of challenger and traditional banks with switching over their direct deposits to their new accounts.

As banking challengers continue to focus on acquiring more customers, they’ve also started to provide better services to their existing clients (so that they can continue to earn their business). Digital banks and other financial service providers are now being judged or evaluated on whether these new account openings can actually turn into new clients. Financial institutions are also being assessed on whether their new customers can rely on them to provide comprehensive banking services.

ClickSwitch aims to assist large challenger banks and incumbents with converting new account openings into loyal customers. The Fintech firm’s proprietary technology has been designed to help new customers with seamlessly switching over their direct deposits and bill pay to their new banking service provider.

The ongoing competition between digital banking solution providers has started to mature. The Fintech and banking industry is not only focusing on acquiring new customers. They also want to onboard and provide quality services to consumers that have already signed up.  Banking challengers are making substantial investments into getting a new customer to consider their new digital accounts as their primary bank accounts.

Cale Johnston, founder and CEO of ClickSwitch, says that customers are able to easily open new checking accounts. He adds that banks are sort of forced with this “dilemma” as to how they can identify a primary bank account holder.

One way to check how engaged a customer might be with a service provider is to see if they’ve got their direct deposit set up. ClickSwitch aims to assist challenger banks and incumbents with figuring out which of their customers are primary bank account holders and are not just maintaining inactive checking accounts.

ClickSwitch’s platform and services can integrate with banks in order to interact with customers directly after they’ve signed up for a new account. ClickSwitch’s management explains that the company uses data aggregation to show new account holders they’ve got a direct deposit of their paychecks setup.

The Fintech company claims that it has a fast approval process, after which customers are ready to move their direct deposit to the new account via integrations with payroll processors.

ClickSwitch claims that it’s currently working with more than 500 financial institutions, which includes some of the largest banking challengers.

In statements shared with Tearsheet, Johnston noted:

“It’s not just about direct deposit — it’s about the downstream effect, as well. Creating the ROI metrics for our financial institutions has been critical in getting us in the front door of our 500 clients and signing 10 to 15 new net financial institutions a month right now.”

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InsurTech NY Announces 2020 Accelerator Cohort

InsurTech NY, an insurtech community that is located in the New York metro area, recently announced its growth-stage InsurTech accelerator cohort.

According to Insurtech NY,  the program will focus on growth-stage startups that have existing customers and range in funding stage between Seed and Series B. It will be open to InsurTechs around the world. David Gritz, InsurTech NY Managing Director, previously explained:

“The InsurTech NY accelerator will focus on the critical moment in time for startups when they are crossing the chasm. Many InsurTechs are able to build a product and get their initial customers; however, the true test is how to scale their business. Our program is about helping InsurTechs to get to scale.”

InsurTech NY also revealed 22 startups were selected to participate in its insurance carrier and broker sponsored program that focuses on providing resources to support traction, talent, and financing. The program will provide access to insurance carriers and brokers looking to deploy new technologies and provide financial backing to digital managing general agencies (MGAs).

Selected startups include:

  • Life and Annuities Lines: Amenity Analytics, Best Fit, Breathe Life, Everyday Life, Fenris, Gerald App, Insurmi, IXN, Sensely, Sorcero, and Vymo
  • Property and Casualty Lines: Assurely, Dealer Policy, Ecopia, GradientAI, Guardhog, Harbor.ai, Honcho, Neural Metrics, Pinpoint Predictive, Relay, and TrustLayer

InsurTech NY added that for traction, 18 member corporations will work closely with the startups to establish proof of concepts and partnerships. For talent acquisition, startups will be invited to present at the InsurTech Matchmaking Expo on October 29th.

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