Benchmark invests in and works alongside entrepreneurs building startups into transformational companies. They focus on early-stage venture investing in mobile, marketplaces, social, and infrastructure and enterprise software. Founded in 1995, the firm has offices in Woodside and San Francisco, California. The firm has been recognized for its commitment to open source and is noted for creating the first equal ownership and compensation structure for its partners. The five equal general partners who take board seats and a hands-on approach to every entrepreneur and company they back, with no junior investment staff. Current general partners are Chetan Puttagunta, Sarah Tavel, Victor Lazarte, Peter Fenton, and Eric Vishria. Benchmark has had 37 exits since beginning of 2011; 14 IPOs and 23 M&As representing a total market value of more than $60 billion. Benchmark’s current portfolio of early-stage venture investments includes private market leaders such as Uber, Snapchat, Tinder, Stitch Fix, Elastic and Cyanogen; recent IPOs and acquisitions such as Twitter, Instagram, Yelp, League of Legends, Jasper, OpenTable, New Relic, Hortonworks, Amplitude, Confluent, GrubHub, Zendesk and Zillow; and franchise companies from Juniper to eBay to Red Hat.

Benchmark

Shasta Ventures invests in startups in sectors. Their program consists of a proven methodology and a set of comprehensive playbooks that dive deep into the obstacles and challenges of early-stage startups. There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to early-stage, so this agile program allows founders to tap into the resources they need when they need them.

Shasta Ventures

Tenaya Capital is a venture capital firm with offices in Woodside, California, and Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1995 as Lehman Brothers Venture Partners, they became an independent company in 2009. Over the years they've raised five funds representing over $1 billion of committed capital, investing it in a wide range of high-growth technology companies including software, consumer Internet, communications, semiconductors, electronics, and cleantech.

Tenaya Capital

Redpoint has partnered with visionary founders to create new markets and redefine existing ones since 1999. The firm invests in startups across seed, early, and growth phases. In total, Redpoint manages $4 billion across multiple funds.

Redpoint

Webb Investment Network is an investment firm that particularly in mobile, consumer Internet, and cloud applications. With its Affiliate Network, the firm draws not only from Maynard’s experience and insight but from those CEOs, CTOs, founders, and investors who make up the WIN Affiliate Network to provide our portfolio companies with on-demand advice and support.

Webb Investment Network

Index Ventures is a venture capital firm based in London, San Francisco, and Geneva, helping entrepreneurs turn bold ideas into global businesses.  Since 1996, Index has partnered with exceptional entrepreneurs who are using technology to reshape the world. The companies they’ve started include Adyen, Deliveroo, Dropbox, Farfetch, King, Slack, and Supercell.

Index Ventures

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

Vulcan Capital invests across all stages of corporate development through leveraged buyouts, growth capital, distressed/turnaround, and early-stage venture capital as well as public equity value investing. The firm's portfolio spans a range of industry sectors, including media and communications, energy and natural resources, financial and information services, technology, and life sciences. Vulcan Capital is the private investment group of Vulcan Inc., the organization founded by Paul G. Allen, co-founder of Microsoft.

Vulcan Capital

Founded in 2000, Northgate Capital is a global venture capital and private equity firm with investment offices in San Francisco and London, and an affiliate office in Mexico City. Collectively, the firm manages $4.8Bn in AuM and employs 50+ investment and finance professionals across its global locations. Northgate’s investment programs focus on venture capital – Fund-of-Funds and Direct – with additional programs in private equity – global small market Fund-of-Funds, Mexico growth equity and mezzanine finance.

Northgate Capital

NextWorld Capital is a venture capital firm that invests in enterprise technology startups and helps them grow into global leaders. We lead Seed, Series A and B rounds and then help entrepreneurs design and build the right GTM model and accelerate growth with our Global Enterprise Platform, which brings together the best enterprise startups and 100+ of the largest global corporates as customers and partners. NextWorld’s investments include Zuora (ZUO) and Gong. Headquartered in San Francisco with operations in London and Paris.

NextWorld Capital

Passport Capital

PremjiInvest is a multi-family office specializing in private equity and venture capital investments. It is a private equity fund owned by Azim Premji which manages his $1 billion personal portfolios. In 2011, Azim Premji invested around $15 million in Vinod Khosla's clean-tech fund.

PremjiInvest

Wellington Management focuses on investment management. The company applies its full resources to meet the needs of the institutional clients they serve. Their investment approaches span equity, fixed income, currency, commodity, and alternative markets. They also offer asset allocation, multi-manager, and speciality approaches.

Wellington Management

BlackRock is an investment management company that provides its services to a diverse range of clients, including institutions, intermediaries, foundations, and individual investors. The firm operates as a global asset manager, overseeing and advising on a wide array of investment portfolios. In addition to its role as an investment manager, BlackRock is also known for its technological innovations and solutions that support various aspects of the financial industry. The company's multifaceted approach encompasses investment management, financial technology, and serving a broad spectrum of clients in the financial ecosystem.

BlackRock

Cloud Apps Capital Partners is a market-focused venture capital firm helping early stage companies in the cloud business applications sector.    We know firsthand what it takes to build category-leading business application companies. We also recognize entrepreneurs need much more than capital which is why we differentiate and pride ourselves on the guidance and support we give entrepreneurs to help accelerate and maximize their business potential during the critical early stage.  Our firm is leading change in the venture market for early-stage companies with our market-focused Classic Series A approach which provides early stage investments of $2 to $10 million and full board support.  This “classic” approach benefits entrepreneurs by giving them the right financial backing along with operational guidance from a seasoned, skilled and engaged investment firm. We are the leading investor in early stage cloud business applications companies. Cloud Apps Capital Partners has more direct operating, commercial and venture experience building great cloud business app companies than any other early stage VC firm. This translates into exceptional market and business insights, guidance grounded in expertise for our entrepreneurs, plus access to a world class network of cloud business application executives.

Cloud Apps Capital Partners

GIC is a global investment firm established in 1981 to manage Singapore's foreign reserves. A disciplined long-term value investor, GIC is uniquely positioned for investments across a wide range of asset classes, including equities, fixed income, private equity, real estate, and infrastructure. GIC invests through funds and directly in companies, partnering with its fund managers and management teams to help world-class businesses achieve their objectives. In tech investing, GIC seeks to be a lifetime partner to the companies it invests in. GIC has investments in over 40 countries around the world. Headquartered in Singapore, GIC employs over 1,700 people across 10 offices in key financial cities worldwide.

Zuora

Zuora provides cloud-based software on a subscription basis that enables companies in various industries to launch, manage, and transform into a subscription business. The firm offers Zuora Central platform that acts as an intelligent subscription management hub that automates the subscription order-to-cash process, including quoting, billing, collections, analytics, and revenue recognition. I

<div>Zuora provides a software-as-a-service (SaaS) infrastructure platform for companies to manage the lifecycle of their online subscribers, from onboarding and billing to collection and analytics.&nbsp;</div>

Democratizing financial technology with a suite of API-based solutions

FinTech Infrastructure

ZUO Stock Alert: Halper Sadeh LLC Is Investigating Whether the Sale of Zuora, Inc. is Fair to Shareholders

BNP Paribas

Zuora and BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions collaborate to offer usage-based solutions for professional equipment financing, empowering industrial partners to nurture ongoing customer relationships and embrace the Subscription Economy.

<div>
 
 Zuora provides a software-as-a-service (SaaS) infrastructure platform for companies to manage the lifecycle of their online subscribers, from onboarding and billing to collection and analytics.&nbsp;
 
 
 The company expanded its operations by 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/12599">
 acquiring subscription experience platform Zephr
 </a>
 in September 2022, for around USD 50 million, to integrate their offerings and enable users to better manage subscriber relationships. The acquisition is expected to contribute around USD 5 million to its ARR (ARR amounted to USD 337.6 million as of July 2022).&nbsp;
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 Zuora has customers spanning across a wide range of industries, and as of April 2024, it had reported customers with an annual contract value (ACV) equal to or greater than USD 250,000 were 451 for Q1 FY2025, up from 436 recorded in Q1 FY2024. Its large enterprise customers include The Financial Times, Schneider Electric, Honeywell, The Guardian, and TripAdvisor with offices in Atlanta, London, Paris, Munich, and Beijing, among others.
 
 
 During Q3 2023, Zuora 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24457">
 partnered with Sovos,
 </a>
 a compliance solution provider, to facilitate electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) mandates in compliance with various tax reforms affecting global business transactions. In November 2023, Zuora expanded its 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23964">
 partnership with Avalara
 </a>
 , a tax compliance platform, to provide customers with Avalara's e-invoicing and live reporting functionality in early 2024.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 The company raised USD 154 million when it listed in the New York Stock Exchange in April 2018 at a valuation of around USD 1.4 billion.&nbsp;
 
 
 For full-year FY2024 (ending January), Zuora 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27073">
 reported
 </a>
 a 9% YoY growth in total revenue to USD 431.7 million for FY2024, from USD 396.1 million recorded in FY2023. The company also reported a non-GAAP net income of USD 45.9 million for FY2024, compared to non-GAAP net loss of USD 17.2 million recorded in FY2023. For FY2025, Zuora expects to generate total revenue in the range of USD 451 million &ndash; 459 million (implying a YoY growth of 4.5%&ndash;6.3%).
 
</div>

Cross River Bank provides a white-label banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform for enterprises, combining banking services, payments, and marketplace lending infrastructure to build fintechs. Its solutions comprise demand deposits, savings accounts, credit and debit cards, and payment clearing services, including automated clearing house (ACH) and real-time payments. The company also provides banking and payment infrastructure for the crypto industry, including risk management services for its crypto clients. Key customers and partnerships As of December 2020, the company had over 400 employees, and had entered into more than 30 partnerships. Moreover, as of March 2021, the platform had been used to support over 375,000 small businesses through the paycheck protection program (PPP).Cross River Bank teamed up with UK-based BaaS provider <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/421515">Railsr </a>in January 2019 to launch a common API for their platforms to be used globally. As of April 2022, Cross River had over 80 clients including lenders such as Affirm, Best Egg, and Upstart, neobanks such as <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/220119">Revolut </a>, and blockchain-based payment processing platform GreenBox. The platform reportedly originated over USD 24 billion in loans per annum, around 10x the value of loans it originated in 2015. Cross River Bank has expanded its operations by acquiring Betterfin, a platform offering lending-as-a-service (LaaS) solutions, in November 2021. Through the acquisition, Cross River Bank leveraged Betterfin’s software to digitize parts of the small-business lending process (such as origination and underwriting).The company partnered with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/1643">American Express </a>(Amex) to enable FinTechs to issue credit cards through Cross River Bank, on the Amex network, while also providing select Amex benefits to the FinTechs.Funding and financials The company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9458">raised USD 620 million in funding </a>co-led by Eldridge and a16z, at a valuation of over USD 3 billion, to invest in product developments, recruitment, international expansion, and boosting strategic partnerships.

Cross River Bank

Synctera was co-founded in 2020 by Peter Hazlehurst, the former head of Uber Money, who previously led the development of Google Wallet. The company offers an API-based infrastructure platform for community and regional banks to find and partner with FinTechs. This enables FinTechs to leverage the former’s licenses to embed FDIC-insured mobile checking, debit cards, savings accounts, and payment innovations, among other features. The API platform offered to the banks will then be sold to the FinTechs to code on. Although the end customers interact with the FinTechs, they legally belong to the bank.<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8117">Synctera mainly charges the banks </a>based on the interchange fees they earn (half of the interchange fees, as of January 2022) from the services provided. It does not charge them an initial amount to use the platform. Moreover, the platform also embeds fraud-as-a-service and charges FinTechs on a per transaction basis (4 cents per transaction) should they choose to use it. It subsequently shares that revenue 50/50 with the banks.The company launched the “t-minus10” project in January 2022, which offers a live sandbox for FinTechs to build apps, test, and go to market, enhancing their access to banking partners. It subsequently launched a “Smart Charge Card” (APIs to build, launch, and issue charge cards) and “White-label Banking App” (a codebase for developers to build embedded banking products or neobank apps) infrastructure in October 2022.Key customers and partnershipsIn February 2022, Lineage Bank (a community bank in Tennessee) and GoGetr (FinTech aiming to promote health and wealth management) became the first companies to launch a banking solution using the Synctera platform. As of March 2023, the platform was working with around 50 fintechs, of which 14 were live (including Wayapay and Float). Synctera reportedly had over 20 implementations set for launch in the following two months.Synctera announced a new card issuing and management infrastructure offering (Card-as-a-Service), in July 2021, which it developed in partnership with Mastercard and leading card issuing infrastructure disruptor, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/64287">Marqeta</a>.Funding and financialsIn March 2024, Synctera raised USD 18.6 million in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27244">Series A1 extension</a> co-led by Lightspeed and Fin Capital. The company earmarked the funds to support business growth by facilitating more complex use cases across the US and international markets. The company also <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16980?industryIds=53">raised USD 15 million</a> in funding led by NAventures in March 2023, to invest in expanding the platform’s use cases and broadening its geographic footprint beyond the US (including expanding to Canada). Meanwhile, Synctera has also partnered with the National Bank of Canada to enable companies to launch FinTech apps and embedded banking products in Canada.

Synctera

Based in the UK, Weavr, formerly known as Open Payments Cloud, was spun out of payment provider Ixaris in 2019. Weavr offers the infrastructure for enterprises to embed banking services across various industries, including education, fitness, logistics, etc. Weavr’s “Meta” platform combines multiple banking and payments partners in one platform through application programming interfaces (APIs). Using the APIs, enterprises can embed virtual banking services such as card payments, fund transfers, and international banking accounts.Weavr expanded its operations to Singapore in November 2022, as part of its global expansion plans.Key customers and partnershipsAs of July 2021, Weavr’s customers included Finway, Thanks Ben, and MySkillCamp, among others.In October 2019, Weavr partnered with payment service providers Global Processing Services (GPS), Paynetics, and iDenfy to enable developers to create and run sophisticated and streamlined payment experiences for their European customers through Weavr.Funding and financialsWeavr <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8647?industryIds=53">raised USD 40 million </a>in Series A funding in February 2022, led by Tiger Global, less than a year after <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/4166">raising GBP 4 million (USD 5.5 million) </a>in seed funding in July. The funds were earmarked for business development and recruitment to support Weavr’s expansion to the US market, while also supporting its continued expansion in the UK and Europe.

Weavr

MX offers an open finance portal, data connectivity application programming interface (API), and MX platform API for banks, credit unions, and other financial service providers. The company’s solutions allow its clients to utilize financial data to reduce fraud, approve loans faster, and improve their customer experiences. In addition to APIs and connections, MX also offers a range of capabilities, including data aggregation, analytics, financial feed insights, wealth and investment services, and verification services. MX looks to enable banks and financial institutions to launch next-generation services and apps that automate and personalize financial experiences. As of January 2021, the company noted that it worked with more than 2,000 banks, credit unions, and FinTech companies, and its platform reached over 200 million end-users. Moreover, it also powered 43 of the top 50 digital banks as of the same period. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8753?industryIds=53">February 2022, MX partnered </a>with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/361160">Rize </a>, to enable users to access Rize’s banking infrastructure to build, launch, and scale financial products through a single API, thereby reducing the development time and cost. In January 2021, MX raised USD 300 million in a Series C funding round led by TPG Capital, at a valuation of USD 1.9 billion. The newly raised funds are to be invested in improving MX’s capabilities, expanding its global presence, and increasing its workforce. In January 2021, MX noted that its headcount tripled over the past two years, reaching 550 staff members. The company appointed Shane Evans as interim chief executive officer (CEO) in January 2022, to prepare the company for an IPO or sale (at a valuation of over USD 5 billion) and oversee its growth.

Bankable is a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) infrastructure provider allowing financial institutions and corporations to utilize its API to integrate banking services. It provides a platform for its enterprise customers to offer modular banking services, including ledger management (process data from multiple banks to support cash management for global corporate affairs), digital banking, payment cards, and e-wallets. The company expanded its platform by <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19662">acquiring Arex Markets </a>in June 2023, to embed working capital solutions (such as flexible invoice financing, corporate credit cards, lodged cars, and revolving credit). The company has a global presence, with operations spanning from the US to the Middle East as of January 2021. Bankable noted that the expansion of its global footprint also helps its European and US FinTech clients expand their operations internationally. Key customers and partnerships In January 2020, the company partnered with the diversified FinTech infrastructure provider <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/85350">Plaid </a>, which enabled Bankable’s customers to use Plaid’s tech to connect to more than 15,000 banks in the US and Europe. Funding and financialsIn April 2019, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/13061">Visa </a>invested an undisclosed sum in Bankable and entered a partnership with the startup. Through the partnership, Visa members obtained access to Bankable’s platform, while Bankable used VisaNet (Visa’s electronic global payments network) to extend its international payment and banking solutions.

Bankable

Platforms that allow FinTechs to integrate banking services such as opening and maintaining accounts, facilitating card payments, etc.


Platforms that enable FinTechs to integrate a range of payment-related services such as one-time payments, subscriptions, and receipt management for domestic and cross-border transactions.


Companies that enable organizations to embed anti-money laundering (AML), identity verification, and know-your-customer (KYC) solutions.


Platforms that allow FinTechs to integrate lending services,  by typically applying AI/ML technology to a spending analysis to analyze creditworthiness.

Companies providing APIs and integrations for FinTechs to access securities markets, facilitate transactions and clearing, and provide insights to help end-users manage their finances.

May specialize in promoting inclusiveness in financial services, primarily in the investment and lending spaces

AI/ML can improve the quality of their offerings, such as using AI/ML to reduce biases

Used for payment completions, accessing banking and transaction data, and providing financial insights, among others

<div>
 
 Zuora proclaimed non-GAAP EPS (Earnings Per Share) of USD 0.19 for Q2 FY2025, a figure that surpasses analyst consensus-estimated EPS of USD 0.10. In comparison, the company's EPS a year ago was USD 0.07. Furthermore, Q2 FY2025 showed a 7% YoY (Year over Year) increase in total revenue as it reached USD 115.4 million, exceeding analyst consensus estimates by 2.57%. The previous year's Q2 recorded USD 108.0 million.
 Zuora's customers with annual contract value equivalent to or more than USD 250,000 rose to 445, displaying an increase from last year's figure of 444. However, the second quarter of FY2025 saw a drop in the dollar-based retention rate (DBRR) as it went down to 104%, a decrement compared to the 107% in Q2 FY2024. The annual recurring revenue (ARR) in Q2 FY2025 grew by 7%, going up to USD 412.3 million from USD 384.2 million in the same quarter the previous fiscal year.
 The acquisition of <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/1751511">Sub(x)</a>, an AI-based digital publishing and media platform, was announced during the quarter. This move is expected to bolster Zuora's existing paywall offerings. The platform also added new customers including Canva, The Economist, and Dark Matter Technologies.
 
</div>

Zuora

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