Weekly Wrap-up of Fintech / Startup News for March 3, 2020

A weekly update of some of the news that I found to be relevant on the Fintech and Startup world.

The News:

It’s Not Just You, Seed Rounds Are Actually Getting Bigger
- Already seed-funded companies may opt to raise a “seed-plus” or “seed extension” round if they’re not quite ready to pursue a proper Series A round.
Roblox Raises Series G at $4B Valuation
- Online gaming platform Roblox announced $150 million in Series G funding. The round, led by Andreessen Horowitz, values Roblox at around $4 billion. Nice, but know what's nicer? The company's profitable on a cash-flow basis and expects to generate $1 billion in bookings this year, CFO Michael Guthrie told the WSJ.
Varo Moves Closer to Becoming a Bank
- Financial-technology startup Varo Money Inc. said Monday it has received regulatory approval to use federal deposit insurance, a significant step in the fintech industry’s quest to take on traditional banks.
ZoomInfo Files for $500M IPO
- The Vancouver, the Washington-based company, which operates a cloud market intelligence platform for sales and marketing teams, is seeking to raise up to $500 million in the offering. If it hits or exceeds that number, the offering would rank as one of the bigger software debuts in recent months.
DocuSign ‘Makes A Bet’ On AI With $188M Buy of Seal Software
- Today, DocuSign announced it will acquire Seal Software, which develops artificial intelligence-powered contract discovery and contract management software solutions, for $188 million.
7 Surprising Industries Turning To Subscription Business Models
- Revenue among subscription businesses grew roughly 5x faster than both the retail sector and the S&P 500 from January 2012 through June 2019, according to data from Zuora.
In one of the most interesting articles, I've read in a long time, here's a list of the 20 reasons startups fail
If you are looking for a startup accelerator, then read this: 100 Startup Accelerators Around the World You Need to Know About
These Are Countries Where Startup Funding Is Really Taking Off
The 3 reasons why Latin America Is Suddenly Fintech’s Hottest Market
The Banking-As-A-Service’s Secret Sauce
- Banking as a service serves as a software platform that connects financial institutions (FIs) to a variety of innovators with value-added services that help them acquire and retain new customers via new and evolving use cases. Application programming interfaces (APIs) simplify that access for banks and for FinTechs that want their innovations to reach their customers.