Rhodium is a private investment firm, we specialize in exceptional teams, fostering the growth of companies that are at the forefront of high-growth and cutting-edge industries. Our primary focus areas include Impact, Internet, Climate Tech, Food Tech, Space, and Deep Tech. We are dedicated to seeking out technologies that have the potential to make a profound difference in our world. We go beyond providing financial support. Rhodium is committed to supporting entrepreneurs and fortifying their ventures with our vast resources, encompassing funding, extensive management expertise, and a valuable global network of business contacts. Our vision at Rhodium is to collaborate closely with talented entrepreneurs, transforming their innovative ideas into industry-leading companies. We take an active role in our portfolio companies, strategically investing in promising startups each year, and creating the optimal environment for them to evolve into world-class business ventures. For more detailed information about us, please visit our website at www.rhodium.co.il.

Rhodium

Target Global is a prominent European technology investment firm with a significant presence in the venture capital landscape, boasting over €3 billion in assets under management.  The firm operates out of key tech hubs including London, Berlin, Tel Aviv, and Abu Dhabi, and has a rich portfolio featuring some of Europe's most successful tech companies such as Revolut, Auto1, Copper, Delivery Hero, Docplanner, and Rapyd. Founding and Growth Target Global was established in 2015 by Shmuel Chafets and Yaron Valler, who brought a wealth of experience from their tenure at Hasso Plattner Ventures. Their professional partnership dates back 15 years to their time at Giza Venture Capital, a trailblazer in Israel's investment ecosystem, where they honed their investment acumen and industry foresight. Investment Philosophy and Impact Target Global stands out in the European tech industry for its diverse team and its ability to identify and capitalize on unique opportunities. The firm's knack for recognizing potential in the early stages of Germany's tech economy led to the emergence of several unicorns in the 2010s. As the European tech industry evolves, Target Global remains at the forefront, seeking out innovative companies like Robovision, Saleor, and Finom. These recent investments reflect the firm's commitment to supporting cutting-edge technology and business models. Fundraising Successes Target Global's fundraising prowess is evident in its six investment funds, which have collectively raised significant capital. The funds range from Early Stage Funds, focusing on nascent startups, to Growth Funds that support more mature companies scaling their operations. The firm's co-investment strategy has led to over €1 billion in capital deployment across a diverse array of partnerships. Backing and Achievements With the backing of investors such as FERI, UBS, Allianz X, Mubadala, and Hermes GPE, Target Global has cemented its reputation as a trusted and successful investment firm. Its portfolio spans over 140 companies at various development stages, with a focus on those targeting trillion-dollar markets. Just a few of the many notable companies in the firm’s portfolio include: - Tarabut, MENA’s leading open banking platform, which was recently featured in Forbes Middle East’s list of Top 50 Fintech Companies. - Flo Health, an AI-driven women’s health product, which is the world’s top health and fitness app by downloads. - Robovision, an easy-to-use AI-driven computer vision platform for users to develop their own deep-learning-based solutions. - Enter, a German company that helps homeowners and businesses reduce their carbon footprint. Target Global's track record includes support for 15 unicorn companies, over 20 exits, and 7 IPOs, showcasing its ability to drive growth and success in the European tech ecosystem. The team, comprised of individuals with founder and operator backgrounds, continues to pursue exceptional opportunities to expand the firm's portfolio and influence. Target Global's journey from its inception to its current status as a key player in European venture capital is marked by strategic investments, a commitment to diversity, and a deep understanding of the tech industry's dynamics. With a clear vision for the future, Target Global is poised to continue its role in shaping the next wave of European tech giants.

Target Global

Blumberg Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that partners with visionary entrepreneurs to build successful technology companies that empower individuals, businesses and society through the innovative use of AI, big data and other transformative technologies. We are passionate about nurturing B2B technology companies from Seed stage through their growth journey, as active board members and hands-on advisors. We were among the first investors in industry leaders including Addepar, Braze, Credorax, DoubleVerify, Fundbox, HootSuite, Katapult, Nutanix, Trulioo and Yotpo. Find us in San Francisco, Tel Aviv, Miami and New York or at blumbergcapital.com.

Blumberg Capital

Maverick Ventures (Israel) was founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. They provide funding for Tech Start-Up Companies by high value investors from around the world who are interested in the success of innovative Israeli companies. The word Maverick in Hebrew means brilliant. They seek brilliant ideas and entrepreneurs.

Maverick Ventures Israel

SixThirty is a global venture capital fund that operates a go-to-market program for B2B FinTech, InsurTech & Cybser Security startups.  SixThirty invests in and helps grow between 8 - 12 early-stage (generally Seed - Series A) companies each year, providing funding, mentorship, and connections. Learn more about the SixThirty investment process at https://sixthirty.co/apply/. SixThirty's mission is to find the most innovative ideas in enterprise financial technology, insurance technology, and cyber security across the globe, and work with like-minded corporate investors and partners to mentor and grow them into great businesses.

SixThirty

WestCap is a strategic operating and investing firm that partners with visionary leaders to build generational businesses. Their team is comprised of seasoned industry leaders and entrepreneurs who guide companies through pivotal stages of growth. Some of their notable investments include Airbnb, StubHub, Ipreo, Addepar, Hopper, iCapital, SIMON, GoodLeap, and NYDIG. The firm has offices in New York, San Francisco, and London. For more information, visit www.WestCap.com.

WestCap

Citigroup is a financial services holding company that provides financial products and services. The company operates through two segments, Global Consumer Banking (GCB) and Institutional Clients Group (ICG). The GCB segment offers traditional banking services to retail customers through retail banking, commercial banking, Citi-branded cards, and Citi retail services. The ICG segment offers various banking, and financial products and services to corporate, institutional, public sector, and high-net-worth clients. This segment provides wholesale banking products and services, including fixed-income and equity sales and trading, foreign exchange, prime brokerage, derivative services, equity and fixed-income research, corporate lending, investment banking, and advisory services, private banking, cash management, trade finance, and securities services. Citi is committed to sustainability and social responsibility, and the company invests in initiatives that promote economic progress.

Citi

EJF Capital is an alternative asset management firm focused on regulatory event-driven investing in financials and real estate. The firm specializes in the fields of financial services, management, and investment.

EJF Capital

Optiver Principal Strategic Investments has remained steadfast in our commitment to improving global financial markets.

Optiver Principal Strategic Investments

Kessler family office is a family investment firm.

Kessler family office

Sharegain

Sharegain is democratising the $3tn securities lending industry. Sharegain empowers ambitious financial institutions to generate additional income from assets they (or their clients) already own, with an automated solution that enables private banks, asset managers, fund managers and online brokers to lend their stocks, bonds and ETFs.

Sharegain is a British company offering a cloud-based securities and capital markets infrastructure platform for online brokers, private banks, asset managers, and custodians to lend securities. Dubbed a securities-lending-as-a-service (SLaaS) platform, Sharegain aims to democratize the securities lending market by ultimately allowing private, smaller-scale investors to lend stocks, bonds, and ETFs, which is typically done by just the large financial institutions.

Democratizing financial technology with a suite of API-based solutions

FinTech Infrastructure

Freetrade Selects Sharegain to Launch Securities Lending for UK Clients

JP Morgan Chase

Sharegain has partnered with JPMorgan's Securities Services business to deliver its SLTech solution for securities agency lending.

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.

Sharegain is a British company offering a cloud-based securities and capital markets infrastructure platform for online brokers, private banks, asset managers, and custodians to lend securities. Dubbed a securities-lending-as-a-service (SLaaS) platform, Sharegain aims to democratize the securities lending market by ultimately allowing private, smaller-scale investors to lend stocks, bonds, and ETFs, which is typically done by just the large financial institutions.The platform offers an additional revenue stream to its users as well as its users’ customers and handles the backend lending process from monitoring the securities lending market to tracking the securities and validating collateral. Through Sharegain, users can also offer a customized lending solution to clients. The company charges its users based on a percentage of their lending revenues and does not charge license fees or upfront charges.Sharegain expanded its operations to the US in February 2023, adding on to its global presence spanning across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Funding and financialsNotably, Citi is an investor and early adopter of Sharegain (March 2021), and it used the platform to roll out a product for wealth management custody clients. The company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8493">raised USD 64 million </a>in Series B funding in February 2022 (reportedly the largest Series B funding in the securities lending industry) to invest in product development and geographic expansion.

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 partnerships As 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.

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

Sharegain

EDGE Insights

About EDGE

Contact Us

Resources

Area of Focus

Technology Research Made Effortless