PitchBook has released their latest retail Fintech ecosystem report.
PitchBook has commented on their Total deal value:
They claim to have reportedly “recorded $3.2 billion in enterprise fintech VC deal value in Q1 2024, denoting decreases of 36.0% QoQ and 72.9% YoY.”
VC deal value this quarter represents “the lowest quarterly level since Q2 2018.”
Still, enterprise fintech companies continued to “claim a higher portion of VC deal value than retail fintech companies did, earning 64.0% of total fintech VC in Q1.”
Despite a slow start to 2024, our conversations “with fund managers suggest they have been busy looking to deploying capital.”
Deal count: Enterprise fintech companies “recorded 309 VC deals in Q1, representing declines of 10.4% QoQ and 24.8% YoY.”
Similar to VC deal value this quarter, enterprise fintech companies “saw their lowest quarterly count of VC deals since Q2 2018.”
Key deals: CFO stack and capital markets companies “saw the top deals of Q1.”
These include TravelPerk’s $220.9 million Series D1 extension (raised as $185.0 million in equity and $35.8 million in debt), DailyPay’s $175.0 million Series E ($75.0 million in equity and $100.0 million in debt), MioTech’s $150.0 million Series C, DataSnipper’s $100.3 million Series B, and Kickstarter’s $100.0 million Series D. During the quarter, we also saw notable deals in the BaaS and core banking spaces:”
Synctera raised “an $18.6 million Series A extension, Solaris raised a $104.3 million Series F, and 10x Banking raised a $45.0 million late-stage round.”
Rainforest is a payments-as-a-service startup “that helps software companies embed payment processing functionalities.”
The company’s developer-friendly API and low-code integrations “allow software platforms to quickly embed payment capabilities such as the ability to accept and send payments on multiple rails.”
As Rainforest provides its payment facilitation “as a service, it handles functions relating to risk management, compliance, and merchant onboarding while allowing its customers to focus on customizing their payment offerings.”
Rainforest currently enables payment processing “for vertical SaaS companies across several industries, including retail, fleet, and healthcare.”
The startup can be considered “a disruptor to legacy payment processors such as Fiserv and Global Payments, and a direct competitor to Stripe’s embedded finance business.”
Rainforest’s leadership team holds “over two decades of experience in the payments space.”
The startup’s founder and CEO, Joshua Silver, is “an industry veteran in the embedded payments space.”
Silver spent over 11 years “at healthcare payments platform Patientco, where he was a co-founder and Chief Solutions Officer.”
Rainforest’s team also “includes VP of Engineering Chris Church, VP of Finance Cailey Ryckman, and VP of Payments Becky Kopplin, each with over a decade in the payments and SaaS sectors.”