Compound is a venture capital firm that invests in bleeding-edge technology built by outliers. They have partnered with elite operators that understand the intricacies of many different industries and various components of businesses, that help them navigate the complex systems in which each startup lives by removing roadblocks and compounding growth. Compound is based in New York City.

Compound

Red Swan is a seed stage venture capital firm investing in entrepreneurs who delight customers, create culture, and disrupt industries.  If Black Swans are unforeseen calamitous events, Red Swans are great companies most of us never saw coming. They are built by entrepreneurs who create joy for their customers, provide meaning to their employees, and who scare their shareholders by passing on acquisition offers. They tend to be movements as much as businesses.

Red Swan Ventures

Western Technology Investment is a venture capital firm that specializes in offering acquisition financing to revenue-generating firms. The firm provides debt and lease financing to venture capital backed technology companies.

Western Technology Investment

Javelin Capital that offers its services to pension funds, institutional investors, and high net worth individuals. It offers strategic financial advisory, buy-side and sell-side advisory, mergers and acquisitions, and innovative ventures services and focuses on renewable energy generation, transmission and storage, recycling, renewable fuels and green chemistry, sustainable agribusiness, timberland, and water sectors. The company partners with market-leading developers, investors, asset managers, and corporations to identify, structure, and raise capital for both asset-based and corporate finance objectives in the low carbon economy. It delivers strategic, long term value for its clients and enables them to leverage cross-disciplinary expertise as a force multiplier advantage while structuring each transaction to ensure continuous alignment.

Javelin Capital

Core Innovation Capital is a fintech venture capital firm investing in companies committed to empowering small businesses and everyday Americans. Their portfolio companies deliver more efficient, well-designed solutions that save people time and money, create upward mobility, and scale broadly — driving both profit margins and consumer value.

Core Innovation Capital

Think + is a research-driven and thesis-based early stage venture firm.  We invest in exceptional entrepreneurs and help them with guidance, support and our proprietary research.  Our investments include Tubi.tv, ApplyBoard, Uber, Qventus, Angellist, Signifyd, PayJoy, and many other game-changing companies.  We focus on digital health, consumer, and leading edge enterprise solutions. We look for entrepreneurs who are driven to disrupt an old, inefficient system, and are focused on large markets that target millions of people.  We help our portfolio companies  to focus on design, accessibility, and efficiency of their platform.

Think + Ventures

Singularity is a private investment company led by one of Africa’s most prominent and successful entrepreneurs, Issam Darwish, Founder, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of IHS Towers.  They look to invest in, and support, dynamic entrepreneurs and teams that lead disruptive technology, media and telecommunications companies which are building the future.  Their focus is at the early and growth stages of these businesses, where they can provide real strategic value through their network and experience to help them achieve scale.  They are always excited to speak to entrepreneurs that share their excitement and passion for making an impact. Please contact one of their professionals below to see if they are the right partner for you and your team.

Singularity Investments

Three Fish Capital invests in various industries, including cleantech, consumer internet, enterprise software, mobile, and healthcare.

Three Fish Capital

StartX is a 501(c)(3) Stanford-affiliated nonprofit in Silicon Valley that runs one of the world’s top startup accelerator programs. Its mission is to advance the development of the best entrepreneurs through experiential education and peer learning. Since launching in 2010, it has supported more than 450 companies and 1000 entrepreneurs, from early to pre-IPO stage, working across a wide spectrum of industries.    StartX and StartX Med, dedicated to medical and biotechnology innovation, provide founders with access to a powerful network of entrepreneurs, investors, mentors, and industry partners, along with office space and a variety of other resources. Based in Palo Alto, the accelerator also operates StartX-QB3 Labs and the Stanford-StartX Fund. We are funded by Stanford University, Stanford Health Care, Microsoft, Steelcase, Hyundai, Oriza Ventures, Nissan, Panasonic, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Analog Devices, Silicon Valley Bank, Greylock Partners, Sequoia Capital, and many others. For more information, visit startx.com The company is associated investment vehicle, the Stanford-StartX Fund is a partnership between StartX, Stanford University and Stanford Health Care.  It can invest only in StartX companies who raise qualified rounds of venture capital using objective criteria; it is founder opt-in.

StartX (Stanford-StartX Fund)

The history of ITOCHU Corporation (hereinafter ''ITOCHU'') dates back to 1858 when the Company's founder Chubei Itoh commenced linen trading operations. Since then, ITOCHU has evolved and grown over 150 years into a sogo shosha, engaging in domestic trading, import/export, and overseas trading of various products such as textiles, machinery, information and communications-related products, metals, products related to oil and other energy sources, general merchandise, chemicals, and provisions and food. In addition, ITOCHU has made multifaceted investments in insurance agencies, finance, construction, real estate trading, and warehousing as well as operations and businesses incidental or related to those fields.

ITOCHU Corporation

500 Global is a multi-stage venture capital firm with $2.4 billion in assets under management. The firm invests in founders who are building fast-growing technology companies. It focuses on markets where technology, innovation, and capital can generate long-term value and economic growth. 500 Global collaborates with key stakeholders and provides advisory services to governments on fostering entrepreneurial ecosystems to support startups. The firm has invested in over 5,000 founders and more than 2,800 companies across 80+ countries. It has funded over 35 companies valued at more than $1 billion and over 160 companies valued at over $100 million, including those that are private, public, or have exited. The team consists of over 190 members based in more than 25 countries, with experience as entrepreneurs, investors, and operators from leading technology companies.

500 Global

Founded in 2011, NXTP was one of the early investors in B2B unicorns in Latin America, such as Nuvemshop, Mural, Auth0, Frete.com, and Betterfly. Based across offices in Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, and Argentina, NXTP invests checks ranging from $500,000 to $5 million in startups at pre-seed, seed, and Series A stages. NXTP principally supports founders in four B2B verticals: Cloud & SaaS, FinTech, E-Commerce Enablers, and B2B Marketplaces. The fund has backed more than 130 startups, raising over $2 billion in additional capital, and has co-invested alongside funds such as a16z, Greylock, Tiger Global, and Greenoaks. It boasts a portfolio of 6 unicorns and 32 exits. NXTP has a Latin American network not only to identify the region’s best entrepreneurs but also to help them expand their operations to other countries. NXTP's main goal is to help companies move to the next level, demonstrate a viable and scalable business, and be part of that growth process. NXTP has over 400 experts to assist companies in addressing operational challenges in different segments.

NXTP Ventures

TEKTON VENTURES is an international seed investment firm that partners at inception with forward looking company builders in leading technology hubs worldwide. The firm’s principals have over three decades of experience as early stage investors. Leveraging an extensive global network of entrepreneurs and investors, Tekton makes early stage investments in category defining companies in several strategic geographies around the world.  Passionate entrepreneurs exist in many parts of the world. Tekton Ventures focuses its investments in two different places: Silicon Valley and selected technology centers ( London and Israel); and the fast growing mobile/digitally connected markets in Asia (China, Korea and India).  Our approach to global investing rests on partnerships with local venture ecosystems: we have built long standing relationships with some of the best local seed and venture investors in our geographies of focus.  We see our unique global perspective as important to build transformational companies and make that knowledge available across our entire community of entrepreneurs.

Tekton Ventures

The hardest thing for early stage B2B Startups is to find the first customer who can validate your Product Market Fit and grow your business together. Since 2011, they have created more than 100 partnerships between startups and Fortune 500 companies by leveraging their CXO network with Global Conglomerates.

DNX Ventures

Union Square Ventures is a private equity and venture capital firm focused on early-stage, growth capital, late-stage, and startup financing. The USV portfolio companies create services that have the potential to fundamentally transform important markets.  It exclusively invests in the internet world, focusing on the applications layer of the web, internet services, and web services that create large networks as well as the mobile sector. Some of its invested companies are based in New York, San Francisco, London, Berlin, and places in between. It typically makes a starting investment in portfolio companies of $1 million. In certain Series Around cases, the firm may make a starting investment between $2.5 million to $3 million. It typically invests up to $20 million in any single company. Union Square Ventures was founded in 2003 and is based in New York, United States.

Union Square Ventures

Orange Ventures is a venture fund investing in areas of Orange expertise and beyond, with financial objectives in line with VC industry standards. With 350m€ assets under management, Orange Ventures is in the top 10 corporate ventures in Europe with an investment strategy focused on helping future global tech champions, fostering innovation in the Middle East and Africa, and supporting new sustainable and responsible business models.

Orange Ventures

FSV provides insights and capital to entrepreneurs re-inventing the multi-trillion dollar financial services industry and building innovative companies, strong brands, and world-class teams. FSV primarily makes early stage investments but will also consider promising growth stage investments.

Fenway Summer Ventures

Founded in 2015, CSC Upshot Ventures is an early-stage venture fund focusing on providing seed capital to technology companies at scale. The firm seeks to invest in companies operating in the enterprise, artificial intelligence, healthcare, Fintech, and the marketplace. In close partnership with AngelList, CSC Upshot Ventures built a new model of venture investing based on the needs of founders, investors, and startup communities.

CSC Upshot

Greylock Partners invests in entrepreneurs that focus on consumer and enterprise software companies. The firm invests in companies that define new markets, including Airbnb, AppDynamics, Apptio, Arista Networks (NYSE: ANET), Cloudera, Docker, Dropbox, Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD), Medium, Nextdoor, Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW), Pandora (NYSE: P), Pure Storage, and Workday (NYSE: WDAY). It was founded in 1965 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California.

Greylock

EchoVC Partners is a seed and early-stage venture capital firm focused on financing and cross-pollinating leading technologies, teams, business models, and knowledge across North America, Africa, and SE Asia. The average investment size ranges from $25,000 to several million dollars depending on the stage of opportunity and capital needs of the business.

EchoVC Partners

Warburg Pincus LLC is a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing. The firm has more than $60 billion in private equity assets under management. The firm’s active portfolio of more than 200 companies is highly diversified by stage, sector, and geography. Warburg Pincus is an experienced partner to management teams seeking to build durable companies with sustainable value. Founded in 1966, Warburg Pincus has raised 19 private equity funds, which have invested more than $90 billion in over 930 companies in more than 40 countries.  The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Berlin, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Mauritius, San Francisco, São Paulo, Shanghai, and Singapore. For more information please visit www.warburgpincus.com.

Warburg Pincus

Invus recognizes that every company is unique and that extraordinary business performance cannot be achieved by following a formulaic approach. Due to their unique structure, they have a great deal of flexibility in the types of companies and situations where they can get involved. They know that real transformation takes time and that it is never a straight line. They fully align their incentives with their partners and have the wherewithal and long-term commitment to see through any bumps along the way. They have been successfully empowering owner-managers since 1985. They have been reinvesting the same pool of money from the same group of European families (through their Artal investment vehicle) since their founding. Today they manage over $4 billion in an evergreen fund and work out of offices in New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong.

Invus

Citi Ventures utilizes Citi's resources to support individuals, businesses, and communities amid technological changes. Based in San Francisco with offices in New York, London, Palo Alto, Tel Aviv, and Singapore, Citi Ventures focuses on discovering new value by exploring, developing, and investing in innovative ideas, and collaborating with Citi employees, clients, and the broader innovation community.

Citi Ventures

PayJoy

PayJoy's mission is to deliver access to credit to the next billion people in emerging markets worldwide. Our unique mobile security technology gives customers the ability to afford their first smartphone on credit, using the phone itself as collateral, and then provides further access to credit to help weather life's unexpected financial surprises and climb the ladder of economic well-being. Founded in 2015, today PayJoy has reached over 10 million of customers in emerging markets around the globe, including Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and South Africa, and is solidly profitable and growing.

PayJoy offers financing options, including flexible payments on smartphone purchases and other lending products for underbanked communities across emerging markets. The platform allows users to buy a smartphone with an initial payment of 25% or 30% and split the rest weekly over a three-, six-, or nine-month payment period. PayJoy does not charge any late fees; if a payment is missed, the phone will be locked until a payment is made.

Buy Now, Pay Later

A Smartphone Can Be the Key to a Better Life: PayJoy

PayJoy offers financing options, including flexible payments on smartphone purchases and other lending products for underbanked communities across emerging markets. The platform allows users to buy a smartphone with an initial payment of 25% or 30% and split the rest weekly over a three-, six-, or nine-month payment period. PayJoy does not charge any late fees; if a payment is missed, the phone will be locked until a payment is made.Key customers and partnerships PayJoy has partnered with several smartphone manufacturers, including Transsion Group, TCL/Alcatel, D.Light, and Hisense (October 2019), and has extended existing collaboration with Samsung and LG to provide affordable smartphones to underbanked consumers on installment payment plans. Funding and financials The company raised USD 360 million in a <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21562">funding round </a>consisting of USD 150 million in Series C equity led by Warburg Pincus and debt funding of USD 210 million led by Citi in September 2023. The funds were earmarked to serve customers in existing markets and expand its geographic and product footprint. As of October 2023, PayJoy had provided over USD 2 billion in credit to more than eight million customers across several countries.

Openpay is an Australian BNPL platform launched in 2016 offering flexible payment plans with deferments ranging between 2-24 months for transactions from AUD 50 to AUD 20,000 (approximately USD 36-USD 14,600). The platform focuses on the automotive, healthcare, home improvement, memberships, and education industries. In December 2019, Openpay was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, raising AUD 50 million (approximately USD 35 million) in the process. This was roughly two years after it had to abruptly cancel its initial IPO plans and raised AUD 10 million (approximately USD 8 million) instead.Openpay’s B2C solution offers equal weekly and bi-weekly installment plans at no interest, with longer terms typically offered for larger ticket purchases. Its proprietary risk management technology drives the platform’s credit decisions, and it integrates with leading e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, PrestaShop, Magento, and WooCommerce. Furthermore, Openpay has a B2B trade account management solution that is separate from its BNPL service.Openpay generates revenue through merchant fees, which represent a percentage of the transaction value, customer fees (including late fees), an initial establishment fee, and a recurring plan management fee.Initially available in Australia and New Zealand, Openpay expanded its operations to the UK in June 2019, followed by a US launch in December 2020 under the brand Opy. However, it withdrew from the UK BNPL market in March 2022 citing its inability to compete in the market. It also revealed that it will continue to offer longer-term repayment plans for dental procedures and car repairs in the UK through partnerships.Key customers and partnershipsIt entered the veterinary market in the US via a partnership with ezyVet, which provides cloud-based software for veterinary professionals, and its plans are expected to be available on ezyVet platforms by early FY2022 in the US. It partnered with contactless payments firm Everyware in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/5954">October 2021 </a>to offer the first-ever Pay-by-Text BNPL solution, followed by a tie up with American Express in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7084">December 2021 </a>.Openpay secured a strategic partnership with the payments processor Worldpay and Cross River Bank. As a result, Openpay’s payment plans were integrated with Worldpay’s payment gateway as the merchant acquirer for Openpay in the US, while Cross River was expected to serve as <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/5806">Openpay’s lender </a>for consumer financing loans to US customers, meaning it will fund and originate all loans on Openpay’s US platform. However, in July 2022, Openpay announced that it’s ceasing operations in the US market owing to economic headwinds stemming from rising interest rates and deteriorating consumer sentiment.

Openpay

PrimaHealth Credit (PrimaHealth) is a BNPL solution designated for elective medical procedures such as cataract surgery, orthodontic work, dental care, LASIK, and addiction treatment. PrimaHealth’s credit decision-making is handled in-house using proprietary credit underwriting models. With PrimaHealth, patients would pay 25% to 50% of the cost upfront, and the residual cost, running from USD 300 to USD 24,000, can be repaid over 2-4 months. PrimaHealth’s interest rates range from around 0% to 25% APR with an average loan size of USD 1,800 across all types of procedures.As of December 2020, PrimaHealth was available in Arizona, California, Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas, and plans to expand across all 50 states by 2021.

PrimaHealth Credit

Laybuy is a New Zealand-based BNPL provider offering its services in Australia, the US (beta launched in December 2020), and the UK through a partnership with the streetwear retailer Footasylum in 2019. The platform partners with Experian, a multinational credit bureau, to help with its credit decision-making. Through Laybuy, users can make online or in-store purchases over six weekly payments with no interest charges if paid on time. The in-store offering is facilitated by Laybuy’s “Tap to Pay'' digital card, available in Australia and New Zealand as of March 2021 and launched in August 2021 in the UK. The platform has an average customer transaction limit of GBP 240, and any missed payments will result in the user account being suspended and a late fee of USD 10.In FY2022, the platform reported gross merchandise volume (GMV) of NZD 868 million (~USD 600 million), reflecting 47% YoY growth. The platform’s revenue grew by 45% YoY to NZD 47.1 million (~USD 32.8 million). The UK operation accounted for the majority (~60%) of GMV in FY2022, improving on its ~50% share last year. The company also revealed that total active customers increased 23% YoY to 931,000, while total active merchants grew 50% YoY to 13,700. Laybuy was listed on the ASX from September 2020 to March 2023, after which it was <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15915">delisted</a>.Laybuy issued <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/30597">receivership notice</a> in June 2024 due to financial pressures and economic challenges affecting its operations in New Zealand and Australia. The company stated that Laybuy Group Holdings Limited, Laybuy Holdings Limited, and Laybuy Australia Pty Limited were placed for receivership on 17 June and that its UK entities remain unaffected.Key customers and partnershipsIn May 2023, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/976316">​​ </a>Laybuy collaborated with New Zealand-based Centrix, a credit bureau, to develop a credit reporting system, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18326">PayWatch </a>. The company also <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18595">partnered with Eventfinda </a>, an event ticketing and marketing platform, to embed its BNPL solution and offer flexible payment options for event tickets. Laybuy secured partnerships with merchants such as Rakuten, AWIN, and Sovrn, giving users access to more than 5,000 merchants in the UK, including WHSmith, Asos, Nike, Marks &amp; Spencer, Amazon, and eBay.

Laybuy

Tamara is a Saudi Arabian BNPL platform provider offering customers the option to pay in 30 days or in three installments over 60 days at zero interest, making it Shariah-compliant. Tamara settles payments with merchants weekly for a commission-based fee, charging a late payment penalty of SAR 25 (approximately USD 7) from customers. These charges are capped at a lower rate between SAR 150 or 25% of the total transaction value. In September 2020, Tamara established a partnership with the e-commerce platform Salla, extending its reach to more than 10,000 merchants on the platform. As of June 2021, it operates in Saudi Arabia and the UAE with offices in Germany and Vietnam. In July 2023, Tamara <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19954">secured a permit </a>to operate its flexible payment services from the Saudi Central Bank following a trial period of operation within the Saudi Arabian regulatory framework.Key customers and partnershipsThe company claims to be the market leader in the BNPL space in Saudi. It reported that its transaction volume grew 170% month-on-month and its customer base increased 180% month-on-month over the six months preceding its Series A round. As of January 2023, the platform had serviced over 9 million registered users and had over 30,000 merchant partners, including partnerships with firms such as IKEA, Jarir, Shein and Namshi.<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27305">In March 2024</a>, Tamara partnered with UK-based <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/615710">Uqudo</a>, a digital identity verification platform, to enhance privacy and security on digital transactions. <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25271">In January 2023</a>, the company partnered with Egypt-based <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/497895">Paymob</a>, a payment gateway platform, to provide an integrated solution that facilitated installment payments for customers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.Funding and financialsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24016">November 2023</a>, Tamara secured up to USD 250 million in debt financing from Goldman Sachs and Shorooq Partners. It comprises an incremental debt financing of USD 200 million of senior debt provided by Goldman Sachs (bringing its senior warehouse facility up to USD 350 million, an increase from USD 150 million raised in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17139">March 2023</a>) and USD 50 million mezzanine tranche led by Shorooq Partners, which brings the total warehouse facility up to USD 400 million. The company earmarked the funds to service its growing BNPL product demand and invest in developing new products and services.

Tamara

Fly Now Pay Later is a UK-based consumer credit provider regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. The platform provides its services exclusively to the travel sector through a direct-to-consumer app (Anywhere) and an integrated checkout solution. The platform allows consumers to spread the cost of travel over a maximum of 12 months, with a limit of GBP 3,000 (approximately USD 4,200). The plans’ interest rates vary depending on the applicant's borrowing history; therefore, users may incur a one-off credit transaction fee. The payment plans can be applied to flight bookings, hotels, and car hires.The company has partnered with travel brands such as Lastminute.com, TravelUp, Kayak, LycaFly, and Trivago.The company secured GBP 55 million (approx. USD 75 million) in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates?industryIds=58">debt funding </a>from Atalaya Capital Management. The round follows its extended Series A round worth GBP 10 million (approx. USD 14 million) in May 2021. The debt infusion is earmarked to support its expansion efforts in the US, which it entered into in 2020.

Fly Now Pay Later

The providers plug into merchant checkouts and convert business purchases into installments.

These platforms integrate with the merchant’s e-commerce checkout and primarily offer the BNPL solution through their app. Consumers are restricted to shopping at merchants integrated with the provider in most cases.

These providers integrate with the merchant’s e-commerce checkout. The service is offered through the provider’s app or a virtual card that facilitates in-store application, including non-partnered retailers.

These companies offer merchants and financial institutions a white-label product to provide in-house BNPL solutions.

Solutions can use AI/ML to improve the quality of underwriting tools used in assessing consumers

Use of blockchain technology for customer screening is an emerging area

PayJoy, a BNPL provider for mobile phones, has raised $360 million in funding, consisting of $150 million in Series C equity funding and $210 million in debt financing. Warburg Pincus led the equity funding, while Citibank led the debt financing. The company plans to use the funds to expand its product reach within existing markets and support its geographic expansion plans. PayJoy has serviced over $2 billion in credit for more than eight million customers across multiple countries. This funding round marks the highest startup funding in the BNPL space this year.

PayJoy

About EDGE

Contact Us

Resources

Area of Focus

Technology Research Made Effortless