Fintech Newsletter for 3/13/21

Below are news related to  fintech industry this week.

General News

• Beeple sells his NFT , digital art containing collection of his images for the last 13 years, for $69 million. (More in this weeks post)
• US Treasury Yield increases sharply. The 10-year Treasury note reached 1.642%, the highest level in last year. The increasing yield curve is a sign of economic recovery.
• The U.S passes the $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill.

Venture and IPO

Reviewing the latest funding rounds. indicates that New Blockchain and Crypto related companies are on the rise in the valley.

• BlockFi,crypto-lending platform, lands a $350M Series D at a $3B valuation.Investors valued the company at $450M last august

“In less than six months since we completed our Series C, bitcoin and other digital assets have assumed a central role in many investors’ portfolios and in broader financial markets. Our conviction that digital assets are the future of finance has been vindicated by our client base, which grew 10X year-over-year in 2020 and has more than doubled since the end of 2020. Digital assets will continue to democratize finance, serve as a hedge against inflation and expansionary monetary policy, and promote innovation in financial technology and accessibility to financial services. -BlockFi CEO and Co-founder, Zac Prince

• Social Finance Inc(SoFi), a San Francisco-based Fintech Company, will spend about $22 million to acquire Golden Pacific Bancorp Inc.
• Alt, San Francisco, and New York-based platform, which allows people to buy, sell and store sports cards, raises $31m in combined Seed and Series A funding
• FalconX, San Mateo-based cryptocurrency trading platform, raised $50m in new funding.
• Sommelier, San Francisco-based blockchain protocol and Ethereum bridge, raised $3.5m in Seed funding.
• Cube, a New York-based financial planning software maker, raised $10m in Series A
• Cowbell, a California-based provider of cyber insurance, raised $20m in Series A.
• Komainu, a UK based digital asset custody services provider, raised $25m in Series A
• Zego, a UK-based on-demand auto insurer, raised $150m in Series C.
• MobileCoin, San Francisco-based cryptocurrency firm, raised $11.4m in new funding.
• Flowcast, a San Francisco based provider of AI solutions for credit and collection, raised $3m
• InterPrice, a New York-based debt capital markets fintech platform, raised $2.5m in Seed funding.
• Pipe, a Los Angeles based finance platform for SaaS companies, raised $50m
• M1, Chicago based platform for people to manage their money and investments, raised $75m in Series D funding.
• Eco, San Francisco-based digital global cryptocurrency platform, raised $26m in Series A funding.

Eco’s mission is to reimagine not only how consumer financial products work — but also to reimagine money itself. Eco is not a bank, checking account, or credit card. Although it has elements of each, it’s better than all of those. It begins as a single wallet that rewards you anytime you save or spend your dollars.  - A16Z blog post on eco

New posts this week

If you have any comments or have any topic requests for the blog, please leave your feedback here.