Specter Monitor is a data-driven newsletter for investors interested in learning about the latest market trends, signals, and opportunities. Our audience includes some of the most legendary VC investors in the world. We’ll work hard to bring you actionable insights on what’s happening in today’s markets, while celebrating data-driven wins and predictions ✨
Fintech is one of the fastest growing tech industries, and it’s no surprise given it recently peaked in Q1 with its biggest VC quarter ever.
Fintech startups gained momentum and so did their valuations: according to Specter, in 2021 more than 25% of the monthly fastest growing companies operate within the financial services industry.
Backed by fresh capital, a new wave of billion-dollar Fintech companies is entering the global markets, and as a consequence cultivating fertile breeding ground for new entrepreneurs. In 2021, more than 20% of top talent spin-outs launched a new Fintech startup.
Building on these trends, investors and corporates are bullish, and according to the Specterball, have doubled their interest in Fintech companies compared to the same period last year.
🔮 Talents of the Week
Specter tracks real-time top talents movements across the world to detect actionable investment opportunities before anyone else.
Alek Koenig: Founder / CEO at Settle
Featured by Specter on: 2020 - Week 03.
Advantage on Latest Funding Round: 491 Days.
Description: Settle builds best-in-class tools to automate B2B payments and provide working-capital solutions for businesses.
Prev. Experience: NextGen Venture Partners, Affirm, Privlo, Capital One.
Total Funding: $15M / Latest Series A in 05/2021.
Notable Investors: Kleiner Perkins.
Mustafa Eid: Co-Founder / CTO at MoneyHash.
Featured by Specter on: 2020 - Week 40.
Advantage on Latest Funding Round: 252 Days.
Description: MoneyHash is one platform to access all payment and fintech services across Middle East & Africa.
Prev. Experience: XPay, The U Group & Co.
Total Funding: Undisclosed / Latest Pre-Seed Round in 06/2021.
Notable Investors: COTU Ventures, Kepple Africa Ventures, Ventures Platform.
🎱 The Specterball
Inspired by Michael Lewis’ Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game - Specterball is a stealth engine that tracks online and social behaviour of corporate insiders and leading investors.
Pinwheel - Featured by Specter on: 2020-06-14.
Advantage on Latest Funding Round: 353 Days.
Description: Pinwheel is working to create a fairer financial system by unlocking API access to payroll systems.
Total Funding: $20M / Latest Series A in 06/2021.
Notable Investors: Adam Nash, Amit Agarwal, Coatue, First Round Capital, Gokul Rajaram, Jacqueline Reses, Primary Ventures, Raj Date, SemperVirens Venture Capital, Shishir Mehrotra, Shiva Rajaraman, Tony Xu, Upfront Ventures.
Forecast - Featured by Specter on: 2020-10-02.
Advantage on Latest Funding Round: 229 Days.
Description: Forecast is delivering an AI-native platform for profitable Project & Resource Management.
Total Funding: $19M / Latest Series A in 05/2021.
Notable Investors: Balderton Capital, Crane Venture Partners, Heartcore Capital, Seed Capital.
🍒 Cherry-Picked Companies
Specter tracks the alternative data performance of millions of companies and, on a monthly basis, flags the ones who are likely to increase in valuation.
Templar Payments - Strong Growth in Q2 2021. Specter Rank: 3142.
Description: UK-based White-labeled, standalone software to improve merchant journeys and reduce admin costs across all merchant risk types.
Total Funding: $132k / Latest Pre-Seed in 08/2020.
Notable Investors: N/A.
6 Months Growth: Team: +1150%; Web: +1165%; Social: +259%
Synctera - Strong Growth in Q2 2021. Specter Rank: 769.
Description: US-based FinTech-as-a-Service platform that connects financial institutions with fintech companies.
Total Funding: $45.4M / Latest Series A in 06/2021.
Notable Investors: Mastercard, Fin Venture Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners
6 Months Growth: Team: +252%; Web: +815%; Social: +1900%
That’s all for this edition of Specter Monitor!
Stay tuned for the next update, and feel free to share with your friends 👇
