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

QVentures sources, screens, and invests in top-tier start-ups from Seed to Series B. Our investors consist of Family Offices, Institutional Investors, UHNWIs, and Cashed-out Entrepreneurs. We look for disruptive companies with a proven product-market fit, set to scale from Seed to Series B. We focus on Enterprise SaaS, Marketplaces, Consumer Tech, FinTech, AdTech, EdTech, InsurTech and HealthTech and more. We look for quality management teams, large addressable markets, proven traction, sustainable business models, route to scale and quality investors. To apply for investment, please fill out this short form to be reviewed: https://qventures.typeform.com/to/zZPOWf

QVentures

VentureFriends is a venture capital fund that invests in tech-enabled companies. VentureFriends (VF) is a venture capital fund specialising in seed stage startups. VF seeks to invest in tech-enabled B2C and B2B startups that can develop a sustainable moat over time and have a sweet spot for PropTech, FinTech, Marketplaces, and SaaS. The fund typically invests between €0.3M - €2.5M and can follow on up to a total of €5 - 10M. VentureFriends invests predominantly in Europe and is founded by ex-entrepreneurs and angel investors, thus having an entrepreneurial and founder-friendly philosophy.

VentureFriends

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development provides project financing for banks, industries, and businesses, supporting both new ventures and investments in existing companies. It works with publicly owned companies to assist in privatization, restructuring, and improving municipal services. The bank collaborates with commercial partners to invest in private enterprises across various sectors. Additionally, it advises governments on policies that enhance the business environment and promote economic development.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

GreyX Group is on a transformative mission to 'Develop the Frontier in Human Life'. Leveraging exponential technologies and guided by the ExO framework, we're leading revolutions in vital domains. Our key subsidiaries, GreyEd and Grey Health, embody our dedication to reshape the landscapes of education and healthcare respectively. Infused with moonshot thinking, GreyX doesn't just innovate but sets the gold standard in integrating technology with human potential. As we shape the future, we remain anchored in our core ethos: empowering and uplifting humanity at every step

Grey X Group

Ventura Capital is an investment firm focused on late-stage high-growth companies in global technology sectors.  It was founded in 2012 and headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Ventura Capital

Dmg ventures is the venture capital arm of Daily Mail and General Trust plc. dmg ventures is part of a large diversified group of consumer media and B2B information services companies spanning industries from Edtech, Energy, Property, Insurance and Events. They focus on finding early-stage businesses where they can help grow their brands and market presence through their media properties and industry networks. They commit time, capital and resource to nurture these start-ups into mature, robust stand-alone businesses.

dmg ventures

Global Brain Corporation is a venture capital firm that invests in companies from seed or early to pre-IPO startups.  Global Brain has invested in 300+ startups from seed/early to pre-IPO startups and achieved 25 IPOs and 61 M&As as a result of providing hands-on support services and resources to its portfolio startups. Global Brain has managed a pure investment fund as well as multiple corporate venture capital funds partnered together with tier 1 public companies of telecom, real estate development, financial service, beverages, agriculture food, logistics, and electronic devices.

Global Brain Corporation

iGrow Venture Partners is an investment firm.

iGrow Venture Partners

Eurobank EFG Group is a European banking organization with total assets of â‚¬84.5bn. The Group employs more than 23,000 people and offers its products and services both through its network of over 1,600 branches and points of sale, and through alternative distribution channels.

Eurobank

Plum Fintech

Plum Fintech is the developer of Plum, a smart money app. Founded by Victor Trokoudes and Alex Michael in 2016, Plum automates the parts of personal finance that people find difficult or don’t have time for, with effortless saving, empowered spending and accessible investing. It offers the best financial products to help customers grow their money for life, from pensions to tax-wrappers. Today, Plum has helped 2m people across Europe and has expanded to 10 countries. The team of 200+ are based in the company's London HQ as well as offices in Athens, Greece and Nicosia, Cyprus.

Based in the UK, Plum offers a Business-to-Consumer (B2C) application that links with the user’s bank accounts and uses AI to analyze spending patterns, provide customized advice, and automate savings and investments. The app also analyzes monthly bills and helps identify instances of being overcharged and automatically switches to more cost-efficient vendors.

Helping employers provide personalized, high-touch, and holistic financial wellness tools to their entire workforce.

Financial Wellness Tools

UK-based Plum is an automated investment and savings platform that allows users to manage personal finances and wealth through budgeting and automating investments. It allows users to invest with a minimum of GBP 1 and enables fractional share trading. The platform offers a B2C application that links to the user’s bank accounts and leverages AI to analyze spending patterns in order to provide customized advice and automate savings and investments. The app also analyzes monthly bills and helps identify instances of being overcharged and automatically switches to more cost-efficient vendors.

Retail investors demanding sophisticated passive investment strategies are looking for an edge.

Retail Trading Infrastructure

Plum

AI-Powered Personal Finance Management Market Next Big Thing: Major Giants- Yodlee, Plum Fintech, Fyle

Based in the UK, Plum offers a Business-to-Consumer (B2C) application that links with the user’s bank accounts and uses AI to analyze spending patterns, provide customized advice, and automate savings and investments. The app also analyzes monthly bills and helps identify instances of being overcharged and automatically switches to more cost-efficient vendors.Plum offers various options for individuals to save and invest. These include tax-free individual savings accounts (ISAs), interest pockets (goal-based investing), government-backed securities, stocks and ETFs, investment funds, as well as self-invested personal pension (SIPP) accounts.Plum operates on a subscription model that includes a free tier and three paid tiers, with costs ranging from GBP 2.99 to GBP 9.99 per month.The company reported a five-time increase in consumer savings using the app between January 2020 to June 2020, with a 163% increase in vendor switching to save on bills during the same period. As of November 2023, the platform had over 1.8 million users (translating to nearly 100% year-over-year increase), over 10 markets in Europe.Key customers and partnershipsIn November 2023, Plum entered into a strategic partnership with Greek-based Eurobank, to develop a digital wallet for digital savings and investments focused on Greece and adjourning markets. In addition, the company partnered with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/455140">Modulr</a> to offer account and related payment services and <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/17216">Investec</a> to provide interest pocket solutions. It also collaborated with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/626115">Upvest</a> to offer a stock trading platform.

Based in the UK, Salary Finance offers a comprehensive suite of financial well-being benefits for employees. The company partners with employers to offer a platform that provides employees with access to a range of financial well-being products, including salary-backed loans, earned wage advances, savings accounts, and customized educational resources to help them build and automate savings as well as improve their overall financial well-being.In April 2024, the US operations of Salary Finance merged with the financial wellness benefit platform <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/609722">Finfit</a>. The combined entity now operates under the FinFit brand in the US.Key customers and partnershipsAs of February 2024, the platform was used by 600 employers across the UK, available to more than 4.5 million employees. These include more than a fifth of the companies in the FTSE-100 index. Its notable customers include the NHS, Dunelm, Virgin Active, and Simply Health.Salary Finance partnered with the American financial technology company Chime in July 2021, to launch Save—a new product to incentivize US employees to set up a salary-linked savings account with Chime, and become entitled to a USD 50 bonus and a variable Annual Percentage Yield (APY) of 0.50%.

Salary Finance

Payactiv offers a financial wellness solution, centered around "Earned-Wage Access," allowing employees to access their wages before payday. Employees can instantly access funds for hours worked, with options to transfer to their bank, load onto a Payactiv card, or withdraw cash at Walmart. Its app works as a digital wallet and includes additional features such as AI and machine-learning-based tools for budgeting, tracking savings, managing spending and bills, and obtaining personalized one-on-one financial coaching from trained professionals.The Payactiv app also features a free communication tool—Payactiv Connect—that enables employers and employees to connect for HR communications, company news, alerts, and shift scheduling.Key customers and partnershipsAs of November 2023, PayActiv’s platform was used by employees at over 4,000 businesses from industries such as retail and food services across the US, with some customers in Canada, Australia, the Philippines, and Brazil. Its clients include Walmart, Wayfair, Ibex Global and several others. It also entered into a partnership with US Bank in February 2022, where users of prepaid US Bank Focus Cards for payroll will be able to access their wages early.The company also has working partnerships with payment processors such as <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/23004">Fiserv</a> and <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/13061">Visa</a> to enable real-time transfer of earned wages to bank accounts of employees.

PayActiv

Based In the UK, Wagestream provides a financial wellness platform, offering a range of services including earned wage access, financial education, tools for savings, and pay and spend tracking. Wagestream’s tools are offered to employees through a mobile app, with an analytics platform for employers to monitor participation and financial resilience of staff.Employees can access their earned wages using the app by paying a flat fee of GBP 1.95 (USD 2.50) per withdrawal. The company’s platform has integrations with several payroll and timekeeping systems, enabling organizations to deploy Wagestream into their payroll process.Wagestream acquired 1) Australian earned-wage access startup Earnd in March 2021 to enter into the Australian market. 2) a credit card startup Keebos, in October 2023, to integrate Keebos credit score building platform (that uses open banking data) with Wagestream’s core offerings.Key customers and partnershipsAs of February 2024, Wagestream had a global user base of more than 3 million, which included more than 1,000 corporate customers in industries such as the retail, hospitality, and healthcare sectors. The company has offices in the US, UK, Spain, and Australia and some notable employers include Burger King, Pizza Hut, Crate &amp; Barrel, Bupa, University of Chicago, Popeyes, and National Health Service UK.The company also partnered with French Insuretch provider Wakam in August 2023, to introduce income protection coverage to its users.

Wagestream

Cleo offers tools for budgeting, and provides personalized spending and savings advice by connecting to a user's bank account and applying machine learning algorithms to analyze spending habits and transaction history. The app also provides access to an interactive chatbot which users can query to obtain on-demand suggestions (which has been supported by an in-house large language model since 2023).&nbsp;The platform also offers additional features such as a secured card to build credit score, direct debits, and salary advances.Cleo operates a subscription-based pricing on its budgeting and savings tools, with fee-based pricing on its cash advance offerings targeted at gig workers and workers with poor credit. The platform charges monthly subscription fees in the range of USD 1.99 - 5.99 on Cleo Plus offering and charges USD 10.99-14.99 on Cleo build offering.Cleo’s target market is the Gen-Z segment of the population and as of October 2023, the company had 7 million users, (up from 4 million in December 2020) and had USD 72.3 million annual recurring revenue (which was up 2.4x YoY)

Cleo

FinFit offers a financial wellness benefit platform for employers that uses predictive AI, and includes tools for employees to budget, track spending, set savings goals and obtain personalized financial assessments. The platform also provides access to certified financial counselors to obtain one-on-one financial advice. In addition to financial coaching, the company also offers services such as tools to manage student loan debt, get early access to earned wages, and obtain low-cost short-term loans backed by the employee’s salary. In April 2023, Fitfit merged with the US operations of UK-based financial wellness platform <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/342361">Salary Finance</a>. The two companies aim to launch a combined platform in the US under the Finfit brand.FinFit operates a subscription-based pricing model, and charges employers in the range of USD 0.30–1.00 per employee per month based on the size of the organizations and number of employees. The platform also generates revenue through interest income by charging users interest in the range of 7.9%–24.9% APR on its loans. It charges fixed interest on its lines of credit.As of March 2024, FinFit was reported to be serving more than 500,000 employees (up from 150,000 in 2020).Key customers and partnershipsIn September 2024, FinFit <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/33696">partnered with</a> <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/945256">Sunny Day Fund</a>, a financial support platform, to offer emergency savings accounts for employees through its SafetyNet platform. In August 2024, FinFit <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/32581">partnered with</a> <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/493140">isolved</a>, a human capital management platform, to expand product reach.

FinFit

Offers interactive platforms or apps for employers to provide personalized financial advice to its employees. These also include tools for budgeting, tracking earnings, and managing expenses.

Provides a platform for employers to offer its employees an alternative to payday loans. Can either be early access to wages already earned or emergency access to interest-free funds which are settled through the paycheck.

Provides a platform for employers to provide resources such as tools and advice to manage employee debt (with an increased focus on student loan debt).

Consumers can use these applications to obtain personalized financial advice, automate savings, create budgets, and track and manage their spending.

Operates a B2B SaaS model to support employers with offering various fringe benefits to employees

UK-based Plum is an automated investment and savings platform that allows users to manage personal finances and wealth through budgeting and automating investments. It allows users to invest with a minimum of GBP 1 and enables fractional share trading. The platform offers a B2C application that links to the user’s bank accounts and leverages AI to analyze spending patterns in order to provide customized advice and automate savings and investments. The app also analyzes monthly bills and helps identify instances of being overcharged and automatically switches to more cost-efficient vendors.As of September 2022, Plum had expanded into six European markets including France, Spain, and Italy. As of October 2022, the platform had over 1.4 million users (translating to a nearly 50% YoY increase) and has close to GBP 1.4 billion in assets under management (AUM) (nearly 43% YoY growth).Funding and financialsIn October 2022, Plum raised over <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13819">GBP 1 million (~ USD 1.13 million) in crowdfunding through Crowdcube </a>. The company planned to use the funds to support its European expansion plans and improve its product offering and technology.

Ellevest is a hybrid investment management platform that specifically targets women, with an algorithm that takes into account gender-specific factors such as career breaks, longer life expectancy, and income differences.Ellevest currently offers services under three categories: Ellevest Essential (at a monthly fee of USD 1), Ellevest Plus (USD 5 per month), and Ellevest Executive (USD 9 per month). All three offerings include portfolio customization, banking services (spending and savings accounts), access to human advisors, and on-demand learning for subjects such as investing, career, and money. Ellevest Plus is more costly because it handles retirement accounts for clients. Meanwhile, Ellevest Executive handles both retirement accounts and investment management for multiple goals. The company also offers private wealth management services for clients who wish to invest USD 1 million or more through the platform. A dedicated advisor will work together with clients to create investment plans to meet their goals.Ellevest reported assets under management (AUM) of USD 1.4 billion as of December 2021, growing 44% during the year.In April 2022, Ellevest raised USD 53 million in Series B <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9622?industryIds=28">funding </a>co-led by BMO and Contour Venture Partners. The company planned to use the funds to expand its product offering and provide personalized coaching.

Ellevest

ComposedPro is a digital investment advisor that handles clients’ investment accounts at their employers (such as employer-sponsored accounts) as well as private investment accounts, focusing on low cost Employer-Coordinated Portfolios. The company oversees USD 25 million in total assets over 181 customer accounts as of the company’s Q2 2020 filing. ComposedPro manages half of the company’s accounts on a discretionary basis, meaning an investment advisor has the discretion to make buy and sell decisions for a client’s account. ComposedPro also has 46 non-discretionary accounts totalling USD 7.9 million in assets. The average investment account size is USD 138,222 placed across exchangeable assets such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs), equities, bonds, and options.

ComposedPro

Guideline provides automated investment management services for employer-sponsored retirement accounts. The services also include plan set-up and administration, enrollment and education, recordkeeping, compliance with Retirement Income Security Act, and reporting.As of July 2023, Guideline had assets under management (AUM) of over USD 9 billion and over 350 employees. The company stated that it is the only provider that does not charge plan participants (i.e. employees) with any fees. Guideline charges the employers with a straightforward pricing of one flat fee per participant, in contrast to the asset-based fee model predominant in the industry (i.e. fee is charged on account balances). The standard service has a base fee of USD 49 per month and an additional USD 8 per participant. The standard service includes unlimited phone/email support to both plan participants and employers. For prime service, access to a dedicated account manager is available at a higher base fee of USD 129 and an additional fee of USD 8 per participant. In addition, the company stated that it has a low mutual fund expense ratio, at 0.08%. It purchases mutual funds from Vanguard and other fund providers.Funding and financialsIn June 2021, Guideline raised USD 200 million in funding led by General Atlantic. The company intends to utilize the funding to broaden its 401(k) offerings and introduce new retirement plan solutions.

Guideline

Based in Plano, Texas, AssetBuilder is a robo-advisory company that develops investment portfolios based on the Fama/French school of thought, using low-cost active index funds. It has Dimensional Fund Advisors (the eighth largest fund company in the world as of September 2019) as its funding partner. Human advisors are available to provide investing guidance. As of April 2019, the firm’s assets under management (AUM) amounted to USD 765.9 million. The firm’s business model relies on a fee-only structure, meaning a customer solely pays AssetBuilder to create and manage investments (the company does not receive product-specific commission). The minimum investment for AssetBuilder is USD 50,000 with an asset management fee ranging from 0.24% to 0.45%; the higher the investment, the lower the fee. Though the firm does not have a setup fee, it requires a custodial cost for setting up a portfolio of USD 11.95 per trade for each recommended mutual fund. Most of the platform’s portfolios require about 11 to 14 mutual funds, costing about USD 131.45 to USD 167.30 to open an account.

AssetBuilder

Based in Canada, Smart Money Invest provides portfolio management services to individual clients, advisors, and employers (such as group saving plans for retirement). Human advisors are available to serve individual investors.The company provides financial tools to develop a long-term financial strategy by calculating net worth, setting a budget, managing investment accounts, and planning for retirement.

Smart Money Invest

Robo advisory startups that offer automated investment services directly to individuals solely via digital platforms.

Robo advisory startups that offer automated investment services to individuals via both digital platforms and human financial advisors.

Provide solutions for financial advisors/asset managers to automate wealth management and administration functions.

Robo advisory startups that offer automated investment services to businesses via both digital platforms and human financial advisors.

Provides solutions for financial institutions to set up their own robo-advisory function and offer services to clients.

Startups that offer online platforms for investors to trade various securities such as stocks, ETFs, and options directly via the platform

Operates a B2B SaaS model to support financial institution in offering various investment related services

Leverages AI/ML to automate allocation and management of investment funds to cater to retail investors

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 Plum, a UK-based automated investment and savings platform, has raised GBP 16 million (~USD 20.6 million) in Series B funding. The funding round included GBP 13.4 million (~USD 17.3 million) in equity funding, and an additional GBP 2.7 million (~USD 3.5 million) through a crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube. Eurobank and iGrow Venture Capital co-led the equity round, and participants included Venture Friends, Ventura Capital, among others. The total funding of Plum Fintech now amounts to USD 110.5 million.
 The funds raised will be used to widen Plum's product offerings, together with its recently introduced products like Cash ISA in the UK and ETFs in Europe. Plum's objective is to improve its savings and investment app and achieve profitability by 2025.
 In terms of financial performance, Plum disclosed a 2x YoY growth in its revenue along with a 40% uptick in average revenue per customer. The company has more than 2 million users across 10 European markets. Over the past 12 months, it registered a threefold growth in assets under management, which now exceed GBP 1 billion (~USD 1.3 billion).

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Plum

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