✅ Fintech Stripe Scores Blockbuster $95 Billion Valuation.
Our first article today covers the amazing new $95-billion-dollar valuation for Stripe. Stripe launched back in 2010 and is best known as a payment processor for startups and internet companies. They have grown to process billions of dollars in payments for millions of businesses worldwide and they just closed a $600-million-dollar funding round, according to Peter Rudegeair of the Wall Street Journal online. Investors in the round included Ireland’s National Treasury Management Agency, Allianz, AXA, Baillie Gifford & Co, and Fidelity Investments. The new valuation places Stripe at more than twice their valuation in 2019 and while the company doesn’t release financial details, they did share in a press release that more than 50 of their client companies use Stripe to process more than $1 billion dollars annually. But Stripe isn’t stopping with just payments.The company is also teaming up with Goldman Sachs and Citigroup to offer checking accounts and other banking services to merchants. Stripe plans to use the $600 million to bulk up its European business. Joining Stripe’s board of directors to help with this mission will be Mark Carney, former governor at the Bank of England.
—
✅ Does The FundSense Platform Have It All?
Our next article today introduces FundSense, a new digital transformation platform for asset and wealth managers. FundSense went live this month with its fully modular platform that can be customized for firms of any size. The offering integrates Business Process Management with Robotic Process Automation, and plenty of AI to round out their Digital Toolkit. There are almost too many tools in this toolkit to list. They include everything from workflow apps for launching funds to client onboarding and ESG product management. They also offer powerful document analysis, as well as AI and ML-powered digital assistant chatbots. The platform integrates via API with internal and external systems as well. In short- the FundSense platform allows firms to create a platform that meets their exact requirements, whatever those may be. The FundSense mission is to provide clients with the tools and knowledge to make changes to their processes themselves. According to creator Andy Keen, they want to empower companies to evolve their processes as they go, rather than face additional costs and development queues for every change. Andy Keen and his brother Jamie are the platform’s co-creators with more than 60 years of combined experience in the financial industry.
—
✅ Why Did Orion Buy HiddenLevers?
Our final article today covers Orion’s recent purchase of HiddenLevers. Orion Advisor Solutions is an Omaha-based wealth tech powerhouse. And Atlanta-based HiddenLevers is a risk technology platform for the wealth management space. The company was founded in 2009 with no outside financial backing, and they broke even within two years. They bootstrapped all the way – until they hit a wall last fall. HiddenLevers knew they needed help to scale the business. Now, they’re leveraging Orion and jumping into enterprise sales rather than selling to just one RIA at a time. The two companies were already involved in an extensive licensing deal, which built their relationship over the past two years. And prior to that, Orion and HiddenLevers claim to have worked together to integrate technology for over a decade. Now Hiddenlevers’ 30 employees will be folded into the Orion family over the course of the next year. Eric Clarke is CEO at Orion, he believes that the acquisition will help Orion compete with larger players on the market, namely Envestnet. Clarke believes that HiddenLevers offers advantages over other solutions in the risk field. According to HiddenLevers’ Raj Udeshi, their platform offers more than just a simple risk number. He says that they look at every security in a portfolio and stress test them across 100 scenarios. Udeshi says that the company needs help to climb bigger mountains and working with Orion is the opportunity they need to jump ahead.
