The FinTech & PropTech Weekly(ish) Round-Up: Week 7
WeWork takes its Q, Finleap‘s ecosystem grows, and Perch swims upstream. Plus a couple other bits and pieces.
A short apology, we’ve been quite busy over here at mietwise, so we may have missed a couple of posts. But now we’re back on track, enjoy!
WeWork takes its Q
WeWork gobbled up another company to build out its ecosystem of complementary companies, which includes the likes of MeetUp, MissionU and Teem. This time round, WeWork acquired Managed by Q, which provides services including office cleaning, maintenance and IT staff. Unfortunately, the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Our verdict: It seems that WeWork is ramping up efforts to diversify, while also focusing on companies that support / compliment its core business
Investors: Managed by Q has picked up $85m since its founding, from the likes of GV and Oxford Properties Group
Source: Eric Platt, The Financial Times
Finleap’s ecosystem grows
In an interesting twist, Finleap acquired Penta, the German-based SMB banking app. Interestingly, Penta relies on the core banking functions and APIs of solarisBank to power its own application, which itself is a Finleap portfolio company. Impressively, Penta launched less than a year ago, with early investors probably now laughing their way to / from the bank.
Our verdict: Finleap is definitely the FinTech market leader here in Germany, and it is proving so by further consolidating the space o its advantage
Investors: Those investors noting a quick return on their investments include Inception Capital, Hambro Perks and Startupbootcamp
Source: FinTech Futures
Perch swims upstream
The home buying / selling space (now referred to as ‘iBuyers’) is really starting to heat up in the US (see, Roundup: Week 6), with Perch raising $220m in equity and debt to take on the likes of OpenDoor, Zillow and RedFin. Although doing pretty much the same as the other companies in the space, Perch says its main focus is on those who it calls ‘dual trackers’.
Our verdict: It’s impressive how much these US companies raise, especially when you consider the ‘peanuts’ similar European companies attract
Investors: They include FirstMark Capital, Accomplice and Juxtapose, with the company keeping schtum on who’s providing the $200m debt component
Source: Jordan Crook, TechCrunch
Bill.com cashes some cheques
Bill.com gained (the now not so fabled) unicorn status, raising $88m on the back of a $1bn valuation. The company, similar to GoCardless in the UK, offers small business a simple payment solution to invoice their customers. The company is doing pretty well, having acquired over 3m customers who are processing in excess of $60bn of payments per year.
Our verdict: We are big fans of the payments space, and companies like bill.com are great examples of how Open Banking can benefit SMBs
Investors: A somewhat messy cap table led by Franklin Templeton, and including Mastercard, Fidelity, Temasek, Cross Creek, and FLEETCOR
Source: Donna Fuscaldo, Forbes
A $100m vote of confidence in UK PropTech
UK-based property tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz, who has quite an illustrious past, announced that his £3bn property-focused fund will be buying no new properties in the UK this year. Instead, the fund will shift its attention to investing in PropTech, InsureTech and MedicalTech companies, all thanks to the fears of Brexit.
Our verdict: It’s great to see an ‘old school’ real estate investor move his focus to the PropTech space, let’s hope he can invest all that cash
Investors: The fund is Vincent Tchenguiz’s own, the Consensus Business Group. Take a look fellow PropTechs
Source: Joanna Bourke, Evening Standard
Yes, we even have an epilogue
As you might have guessed, this article is somewhat of a plug for us and our startup, mietwise. Even so, we are two founders going through the (sometimes testing) steps of founding and running a new PropTech / FinTech company in Germany. As such, we intend to share our experiences and knowledge in the hope that we can help others do the same.
Don’t forget to take a look at mietwise, and if you ever want to get in touch, we love good coffee!
The Mietwise Team
