Y Combinator is a startup accelerator that invests in a large number of startups twice a year. It created a new model for funding startups. Twice a year, the company invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups. The startup accelerator works intensively with the companies for three months, to get them into the best possible shape and refine their pitch to investors. Each cycle culminates in Demo Day when the startups present their companies to a carefully selected, invite-only audience.

Y Combinator

We back founders who are reimagining the world. We invest $1-10m early, in those building daring adventures across Europe.  Our partners have worked in leading Silicon Valley startups since the dawn of the Internet and have collectively amassed over 50 years in tech on both sides of the Atlantic. We are a small team of investors and startup operators who typically make just a small number of new investments per year, so every relationship matters. We appreciate that success is not built overnight; we are in it for the long haul. We are humble, curious, open and straightforward — having learned from both mistakes and successes. Read about our thesis-driven approach to investing and what you can expect when working with us on our website.

Mosaic Ventures

Change Ventures is the first pre-seed/seed venture capital fund with boots on the ground in all three Baltic states. We back ambitious founders based in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania as well as Baltic diaspora entrepreneurs building their businesses elsewhere in the world. Our initial investments range from €400k to €3M, with follow-on capital available for later rounds. Our founder-friendly no-nonsense investment process is designed to help founders with big, bold ambitions get fast investment decisions. Once we are on board, we help with getting to product-market fit, raising additional funds and growing the business, leveraging an unparalleled network of follow-on investors and partners.

Change Ventures

Superangel is an early stage fund investing into for the builders of world-changing technology in the Baltics and Nordics. Based in Tallinn, Superangel is founded, run and backed by tech entrepreneurs who know what it takes to build industry-defining companies. They're early backers of global success stories such as Bolt, Pipedrive, Grabcad, and Veriff – and have the founders they once invested in backing Superangel today.

Superangel

NordicNinja is searching for #1 teams in the world who are based in the New Nordics. The Article 8 classified fund focuses on scaling companies from Northern Europe that promote environmental and social characteristics, from self-driving electric trucks to AI-driven identity verification; from brain scan analytics predicting Alzheimer’s to mixed reality headsets training astronauts for their Mars mission; from seamless urban mobility to end-to-end transparency of sensitive supply chains. The founder and operator-led team fulfils the Japanese desire towards opportunities within sustainability and the digital society by investing in the future we want to live in.

NordicNinja VC

SV Angel is a San Francisco-based venture fund. Their experience spans helping companies like Airbnb, Coinbase, Databricks, DoorDash, Faire, Flexport, GitHub, Notion, Pinterest, Snap, Square, and Stripe Scale. Over the last 30 years of investing, their core values of trust, loyalty, and integrity along with a founder-first approach have driven our strategy. They are a service organization, investing in founders who share these values. They support entrepreneurs in building lasting companies by assisting at key inflection points and leveraging networks to help them propel their businesses forward.

SV Angel

Founders' success is often defined by their physical location. Tapping into top startup ecosystems need expensive relocation and time. LIFT99 connects startup founders across borders by sharing unique knowhow through an invite-only online platform. Founders connect over burning topics like fundraising, entering new markets, hiring, etc. LIFT99 supports founders across their lifecycle and uses behavioral and company data to provide the highest value to founders. The online platform is supported by physical co-growing centers in emerging markets (CEE) and founder-focused events.

LIFT99

Asia Alpha is a family office investing in top-performing alternative assets including Venture Capital and Private Equity, and co-investing in high growth companies in New York, Silicon Valley, Israel, and Asia.

Asia Alpha

Vestin Wolf Holdings

Accel is an early and growth-stage venture capital firm that powers a global community of entrepreneurs. Accel backs entrepreneurs who have what it takes to build a business.  Accel’s vision for entrepreneurship and business enables it to identify and invest in the companies that will be responsible for the growth of next-generation industries. Accel-backed companies include Atlassian, Braintree, Cloudera, DJI, Dropbox, Dropcam, Etsy, Facebook, Flipkart, Lookout Security, MoPub, Qualtrics, Slack, Spotify, Supercell, Vox Media, and others.

Accel

IVP turns breakout companies into enduring market leaders. With a 40-year record of driving growth and 130+ IPOs, we’ve partnered with over 400 companies including Amplitude, Brex, Coinbase, Crowdstrike, Datadog, Discord, Klarna, Slack, Snap, and Twitter. As trusted allies, IVP helps founders and CEOs meet the challenge of leading a rapidly growing company. Its proven system bolsters functions including those that are sometimes overlooked and partners serve as trusted allies to companies seeking to realize their full potential.

Founded in 2001, Tiger Global Management, LLC (“Tiger Global”) is a New York-based investment firm pursuing a long-term approach to investing in leading, global public and private companies that leverage technological innovation. Tiger Global’s public equity business includes fundamentally oriented long/short, long-focused and crossover strategies, targeting investments in high-quality, public growth companies. The private equity business invests in early through late stage companies that pursue innovative approaches to new and existing industries, building on over 20 years of experience investing in hundreds of businesses in more than 30 countries with more than 90 portfolio company IPOs. With a strong track record investing across sectors and stages, Tiger Global aims to be a thought partner to companies and their management teams across their lifecycle in public and private markets. The Firm’s mission is to generate world-class returns for its investors and to do so in a way that makes its employees, partners and portfolio companies proud.

Tiger Global Management

Alkeon Capital Management is a service that assists investors with their financial endeavors. Founded in 2001,  Alkeon Capital Management focuses on investing in people and innovation.

Alkeon Capital

Veriff

Veriff is an online identity verification company that protects businesses and their customers from online identity fraud. It is a highly automated identity verification platform connecting companies with honest customers. Veriff makes it easy to connect with people to trust. With the combined forces of machine learning and eagle-eyed specialists, Veriff is always two steps ahead of digital fraud. AI speeds up sessions with immediate feedback, while manual checks by their verification gurus nip risks in the bud. Veriff was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia.

Based in Estonia, Veriff offers an enterprise identity verification platform to reduce online identity fraud. It uses an AI-powered, video-based approach to automate and quicken the verification process, primarily by analyzing a variety of government-issued IDs across the globe. The platform was used by a range of industries including mobility, crypto, and financial services.

Democratizing financial technology with a suite of API-based solutions

FinTech Infrastructure

Based in Estonia, Veriff offers an enterprise identity verification platform to reduce online identity fraud. It uses an AI-powered, video-based approach to automate and quicken the verification process, primarily by analyzing a variety of government-issued IDs across the globe. The platform was used by a range of industries including mobility, crypto, and financial services.As of September 2022, Veriff confirmed IDs from over 10,200 ID documents, across 190 countries (including the US and the UK), in 45 languages. However, in February 2023, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16805">Veriff agreed to pay USD 4 million </a>to settle a class action lawsuit filed against it under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). Veriff allegedly failed to comply with BIPA, in relation to obtaining consent before collecting facial geometry scans for identity verification. Key customers and partnerships The company joined the Visa Fintech Partner Connect, a program that helps financial institutions connect with tech providers, in September 2021, to expand the market for its identity verification platform by tapping into Visa’s network of issuing clients. Veriff partnered with mobile app developer Shockoe, in September 2022, to help businesses creating mobile apps embed fraud prevention to help them stop bad actors when converting and onboarding customers. Funding and financialsIn 2021, the company saw rapid growth with volumes reportedly growing by 8x globally (20x in the US), driven by the financial services sector volumes rising 10x. Veriff further noted that its customer base has grown by 150% YoY.Veriff <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8060?industryIds=53">raised USD 100 million </a>in Series C funding in January 2022, co-led by Tiger Global and Alkeon, at a USD 1.5 billion valuation (reportedly making it Estonia’s sixth unicorn). The funds were earmarked for R&amp;D investments and recruitment.

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.

Synapse offers a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) infrastructure primarily for banking and financial service providers. The infrastructure applies machine learning and automates repetitive back office tasks, covering a breadth of products, including deposit, lending, investment products, and payments platforms, among others. Its white-label infrastructure is available through application programming interfaces (APIs), allowing developers to launch customer-facing FinTech services.The company expanded its platform by launching the “Credit Hub” offering in August 2021, for financial institutions to help individuals build and access credit, and offer cards, credit building tools, lending accounts, and cashback rewards. Synapse claims its platform enables users to build FinTech solutions in six weeks, compared to the 18 months taken by typical alternatives. The Credit Hub was in private beta until August 2021, and in private beta it had issued around 1 million credit accounts and extended over USD 40 million in credit.In June 2019, the company claimed that its integrations allow developers and apps to reduce the incremental cost of operating financial products to zero, from around USD 130-USD 150.Synapse looks to broaden its global footprint by gradually entering Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa. As of June 2019, its operations were limited to the US; however, the company intended to begin its foreign expansion to Canada and Europe by initially launching payment, deposit, and debit card issuances, expanding to lending and investment products thereafter.In October 2023, Synapse <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22521">laid off nearly 40% of its workforce </a>due to worsening macroeconomic conditions having unfavorable impacts on business circumstances, clients, and platforms. In June 2020, the company laid off nearly half of its workforce across 11 departments owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. This was largely due to the pandemic having a negative impact on its customers, who primarily comprised early-stage startups.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/28683">April 2024 </a>, Tabapay acquired the assets and affiliates of Synapse, for an undisclosed sum, following the filing of a voluntary bankruptcy petition under Chapter 11 by Synapse. Through this acquisition, TabaPay planned to leverage Synapse's assets and technologies to broaden its financial services offerings, while Synapse will continue to operate independently.Key customers and partnershipsIn January 2022, Synapse <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7574">partnered with TrueAccord </a>to offer debt collection service infrastructure for its clients.Funding and financialsIn April 2020, the company’s annual recurring revenue was estimated at around USD 20 million-USD 30 million and the company reportedly doubled its revenue in 2020 and saw a 150% revenue growth year-to-date July 2021. Notably, as of January 2021, Synapse had more than 7.8 million users and processed over USD 39 billion in transactions.

Synapse

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

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


Veriff

FinTech Infrastructure

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Veriff raises USD 100 million in Series C funding

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