Credit, Real Estate Attracted More Interest As Market Conditions Worsened for Equity Investing: Pitchbook Report

Both private and public markets slowed dramatically during 2022. While the year started off relatively positive, the realities of persistent (and not transitory) inflation hit everyone hard. This, combined with geopolitical challenges such as Russia’s unprovoked war with Ukraine and China’s chest pounding, pushed investors to go risk off. As the US Federal Reserve drove rates higher, people moved their money to more mundane products. Private markets raising capital under various exemptions dropped.

QED Investors has appointed Melissa Ho as its lead in Southeast Asia as the Fintech VC focuses on the hot Asian market. QED is one of the leading Fintech venture capital firms in the world. Ho, based in Singapore, will be looking for Fintech firms across stages with an emphasis on early-stage companies.

Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ: HLNE), one of the largest private markets investment firms in the world, has listed its Equity Opportunities Fund V, on the digital securities platform Securitize. Going forward, Securitize and Hamilton Lane plan to launch two additional feeder funds in the coming months. The digital fund is tokenized...

DealMaker, a tech-enabled capital raising platform, has sued Issuance – another firm engaged in raising capital for private firms, in the US District Court, Central District of California. DealMaker is based in Canada but has several offices in the US. According to the complaint, Issuance CEO and co-founder Darren...

Monzo, a top digital bank serving the UK and the US, has surpassed seven million customers, according to an investor update posted on the Monzo community forum. The post indicates that Monzo has been growing by 150,000 new account sign-ups each month, with 350,000 customers signing up for either the Monzo Plus or Monzo Premium tiers. Approximately 200,000 business customers now utilize the digital bank.

Wise (LSE:WISE), a global transfers and payment platform that is also an emerging neobank, says that in Q3 FY 2023 its 5.8 million customers moved 28% volume or £26.4 billion, in comparison to the same quarter year prior. Wise said that for its third consecutive quarter, more than 50%...

Digital bank Zopa has raised £75 million ($93m) in order “to drive its next phase of growth, supporting its vision to become Britain’s best bank.”. The deal cements and markedly “enhances Zopa bank’s Unicorn status, and was led by existing investors.”. The proceeds from the...

A report published by Mobey Forum’s Digital Identity Expert Group has identified unique opportunities for banks “to leverage their position as custodians of personal data to offer value-added digital identity services and become brokers of trust in the digital economy.”. The report suggests “that for digital identity systems...

Extend, a virtual card and spend management platform, had a strong 2022 as customers embraced the opportunity ‘to add powerful controls and insights to their business credit cards.”. Since its founding nearly six years ago, Extend has “empowered companies to turn their existing credit card into a spend management...

The European Investment Bank (EIB) priced its first ever £50 million digital bond using a combination of private and public blockchains operated and accessed via HSBC Orion – the bank’s tokenization platform. It follows the recently adopted Luxembourg legal framework tailored “to allow for the issuance, transfer,...

The Nuon Protocol has announced the launch of its mainnet for the NUON flatcoin: the world’s “first” cryptocurrency “linked to an unbiased cost of living index.”. Decentralized and overcollateralized, Nuon will “go live on the leading Ethereum scaling solution, Arbitrum.”. The concept of a flatcoin...

Blockchain Intelligence Group, a key player focused on blockchain investigations and training, owned by BIGG Digital Assets, Inc. (CSE: BIGG), announces that it has achieved significant company and industry milestones “in global crypto investigations.”. It added new customers, “including enabler of real-time clearing and Embedded Banking for financial institutions...

Opportunity International, a global nonprofit, today announced the successful completion of its three-year Waymaker Campaign, “raising $101 million of philanthropic capital that will leverage over $1 billion in social impact funding from local banks and financial institutions to provide loans, investments and wraparound services to 25 million people living in endemic poverty so they can build their incomes and educate their children.”

In an effort to lead the industry in “trust” and “transparency” on their mission to accelerate the adoption of cryptocurrency, Kraken is pleased to release its 2022 Transparency Report. The 2022 Transparency Report “provides a summary of how they protect their clients’ privacy and financial freedom...

SEJ Services, which claims to be the most-trusted choice for janitorial and facility services throughout the Southeastern United States, has partnered with DailyPay–the provider of on-demand pay. Through this partnership, SEJ Services adds “an essential financial tool to its existing suite of employee benefits allowing employees to access their...

Yesterday, the UK government announced that it would assist the crypto industry by providing robust regulation of the emerging innovation. As industry insiders acutely understand, without clearly defined rules, risk increases, generating hesitancy and undermining acceptance of the technology. While policymakers in the US have yet to pursue a similar...

Proxymity, the digital investor communication platform, today announced its collaboration with FIS® to launch FIS Proxy Voting by Proxymity. The digital proxy voting service “connects issuers, intermediaries, and investors ensuring that investor communications are delivered in real-time.”. Rapidly increasing cost pressures amidst “an unpredictable economic environment necessitates a...

Specialty insurer Relm Insurance Ltd. announces an expansion of its strategic fronting partnership with Trisura Specialty Insurance Company, enabling the Bermuda-domiciled carrier “to provide capacity in support of AM-Best rated paper for U.S. digital asset risks.”. Trisura, rated A- by AM Best, claims it is “a leading international specialty...

The following message was shared with PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) employees recently by President and CEO Dan Schulman. Dan noted that over the past year, PayPal made significant progress in “strengthening and reshaping their company to address the challenging macro-economic environment while continuing to invest to meet their customers’ needs.”

The House Financial Services Committee, under the leadership of Chair Patrick McHenry, has announced a new working group to address environmental, social, and governance proposals (ESG). Currently, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is pursuing ESG rules, more specifically in regards to climate impact disclosure. Some have criticized the Commission’s...