Tracking Tiger Global (Week 38) | 20-26 Sep 21
3 (official) Tiger deals this week: TrueLayer, Kavak and Emerge
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Welcome to the fifth edition of Tracking Tiger Global, a newsletter that provides weekly updates on Tiger Global’s latest investments.
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Tiger Global Deals Announced (20-26 Sep)
There were 3 new (official) VC deals with Tiger’s involvement announced this week. The dataset has been updated on the website and can be accessed here.
TRUELAYER (UK | $130m | Series E | Fintech | Tiger led)
KAVAK (Mexico | $700m Series E | SaaS | Tiger participated)
EMERGE (US | $130m | Series B | SaaS | Tiger co-led)
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TRUELAYER (UK | $130m | Series E | Fintech | Tiger led)
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in the UK, TrueLayer provides global financial connectivity through open APIs. They raised a $130m Series E round led by Tiger Global, with participation from Stripe, at a $1bn post-money valuation. It should be noted that the company had just announced a $70m Series D round in April-21.
“TrueLayer helps software developers build their financial applications by providing abstractions and connections to banks and financial institutions worldwide” with a regional focus on Europe. It provides “a gateway for approved applications to connect to financial institutions. You can find a list of all the banks they support here.
Using TrueLayer, developers can build applications that can:
Access user’s bank data with the user’s consent.
Initiate and make fast payments.
Verify account ownership
Some examples of businesses using TrueLayer:
CreditLadder: leverages TrueLayer by reading its users’ rent payments directly from users’ bank account. They use this data to create reports for credit agencies and improve users’ credit score. Demo here
Revolut: users can top up their account with ease using another bank account. No card number is required. Demo here
“In 2021 so far, Truelayer has processed billions of pounds in payments and seen 400% growth in monthly volume and 800% growth in monthly value, as they expand across Europe, doubling their customer base.” According to Sifted, TrueLayer generated less than £5m in revenue as of Apr-21. According to LinkedIn, the company has 280 employees (55% growth in the last 6 months) and c.90 job openings.
The new funding will be used to acquire new customers, particularly in e-commerce and customers with subscriptions models. Furthermore, the company plans to grow its engineering and product teams and expand its product suite.
Sources:
KAVAK (Mexico | $700m Series E | Marketplace | Tiger participated)
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Mexico, KAVAK is an e-commerce platform for the purchase and sale of pre-owned cars in Latin America. They raised an impressive $700m Series E round led by General Catalyst, with participation from several investors including Tiger Global, at a $8.7bn valuation. It is the most valuable private company in Latin America after Nubank. It should be noted that the company had just announced a $485m Series D round at a $4bn valuation in Jul-21.
“Kavak’s core business model is based on acquiring used cars from individuals and then reconditioning them and selling them to the public. They run a transactional platform with various ancillary services offered.”
“For car sellers, Kavak provides a flexible inspection schedule. Sellers can pick their preferable time and place. They also have 4 different offers: instant payment, leave the car on account, payment on consignment, and amount on credit.
They provide financing plans for buyers with various automotive credit options. Insurance is provided along with those financing plans, and it’s also offered to the buyers who prefer cash purchase.
All the cars sold have a 3-month guarantee. Additionally, buyers have 7 days or 300 kilometres of the trial period to return it and Kavak will refund 100% of the money, without any kind of penalty.”
The platform currently has +10,000 certified and guaranteed cars across Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. The company has c. 40 logistic and reconditioning hubs in these three countries and employs c. 5,000 people.
The new funding will be used to “expand across Latin America, with plans to begin operating in several other markets over the next 12 months. Longer term, it is eyeing an expansion into “other emerging markets” globally. It also plans to continue hiring — particularly engineers and product managers — as well double down on product development.”
Sources:
EMERGE (US | $130m Series B | Marketplace | Tiger co-led)
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in the US, Emerge is a leading platform for freight procurement. They raised $130 million in a Series B funding round led by 9Yards Capital, Tiger Global and the Spruce House Partnership.
“Emerge begins with the premise that the way shoppers perform the bidding process with just a dozen carriers and brokers brings serious inefficiencies in the freight market.
Emerge’s platform aggregates shipper volume and capacity to provide shippers, brokers and carriers with visibility into each other’s networks and so find cheaper and more efficient options. Platform tools include “dynamic RFP, spot management and a light TMS to present the best rate from a massive network of vetted carriers alongside rates from a shipper’s incumbent network.”
“Shippers use Emerge for free, and brokers and carriers pay Emerge to access the shipper’s cargo. Emerge’s platform has network effects, with each newly installed shipper or transport provider adding value to existing users.”
“In an interview with FreightWaves, company officials said that the company will generate c.$200m in 2021 revenue. The company expects to carry about $ 4 billion in freight for the entire system this year and hopes to expand to $15 billion next year.”
With this latest funding, “Emerge plans to further enhance their products to solve real-life logistics problems within shippers’ supply chains and improve the relationship between carriers and shippers in contract and spot markets. Emerge plans to significantly grow its team in 2022, with over 200 new employment opportunities opening in enterprise sales, R&D, product, marketing and operations.”
Sources:
[deleted fundraising news on request of a company]