A Flood of Financing in the Wealthtech Industry?
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September 2020 WealthTech – A Flood Of Financing In The WealthTech Industry? Dear Clients and Friends; Marlin & Associates (M&A) is pleased to share our latest report on the Wealth Management Technology (WealthTech) sector. As you will see, interest and values of many firms across the WealthTech sector have come back strong in the past two months. Several publicly listed WealthTech firms now have market values that exceed those reached earlier in the year. Most others are not far behind. As you will see, in our report, the industry continues to consolidate – especially around themes such as digitization, Social Trading and facilitating investing in Alternative Investments. Nobody questioned the fact that the current crisis has triggered a change of society’s behavior with a need for financial services to become fully digital. Tensions between brick and mortar incumbents and flashier WealthTech startups are fueled by this rush to digitize services in order to win over new customers online while retaining their existing client base. In our world, that usually means more M&A and investment. The flood of transaction activity in July /August seems to be proving that out (more here: Page 16). Our own client pipeline mirrors that with the pent-up demand. Could a flood of investment activity be coming? The COVID-19 pandemic will accelerate the natural selection between WealthTech companies as most did not exist 5 years ago, and hence were not confronted with the last global crisis in 2008–2009. With many early stage WealthTechs struggling to attract continued funding (except the 3 mega-rounds for Robinhood just this year (see page 5 of the report)), H2’20 could see increasing consolidation among these companies. See page 9, while Q2 financing more than doubled than Q1, the number of deals stayed low. We shall see how long it lasts. There’s more in the report that follows. We are available to answer questions. Stay Safe. Michael Maxworthy | Partner | Marlin & Associates 570 Lexington Ave | 48th Floor | New York, NY 10022 o: +1 (212) 257-6041 | m: + 1 (516) 906-6764 [email protected] | www.marlinllc.com WealthTech Industry Update September 2020 © 2020 Marlin & Associates All Rights Reserved – Proprietary & Confidential Marlin & Associates Securities LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Marlin & Associates Holding LLC, is a broker-dealer registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and is a FINRA/SIPC member firm (www.finra.org). Investment banking and/or securities are offered through Marlin & Associates Securities LLC. Marlin & Associates: Advisor Of Choice To Fintech, Data And Analytics Companies And Investors Worldwide ▪ Domain expert – advised on 200+ relevant transactions over 18+ years. Marlin & Associates (“M&A”) has been the domain expert in providing independent and unbiased strategic counsel and advisory services to global sellers and buyers of middle-market FinTech and Data & Analytics firms ▪ Local yet global – successfully served clients from 27 countries from our HQ in New York City, and offices in Washington, D.C. and Toronto ▪ Well recognized – “Middle-Market IB of the Year,” “TMT Advisory Firm of the Year”, and “Cross-border Boutique IB of the Year”, and more than 20 “Deals-of-the-Year” Full Range of Transaction Services Industry Recognition and Awards Sector Coverage WealthTech ▪ TMT Advisory Firm of the Year Sell-side & ▪ Middle-Market IB of the Year Buy-side M&A Bank Tech Payments ▪ Cross-Border Boutique IB of the Year Data & Analytics Debt Debt Capital ▪ Advisory Firm of the Year Equity & Raise Capital Markets Tech Fairness Fairness Opinions Regulatory Tech ▪ FinTech Deal of the Year ▪ Corporate M&A Deal of the Year Insurance Tech Joint Ventures Digital Lending & Partnerships ▪ Middle-Market IB of the Year Enterprise Software ▪ Middle Market Tech Deal of the Year Business Intelligence Proprietary & Confidential 3 © Copyright Marlin & Associates Holding LLC 2020 Several WealthTech Themes Are Evolving In The Pandemic Affected World “Social Trading” Drives Activity For Online Trading Platforms The Need For Modern Technology Is Driving Consolidation Increased Demand For Investments In Alternative Assets Investors Increased Funding To Capitalize On Success Market Values Are Recovering M&A Activity Has Picked Up Proprietary & Confidential 4 © Copyright Marlin & Associates Holding LLC 2020 “Social Trading” Drives Demand For Online Trading Platforms Illustrative Companies ▪ Social trading is becoming increasingly popular, where traders and investors observe and follow the trades of leading traders. eToro provides a social trading There are several trading platforms and brokerage firms offering and investment platform for social trading features, such as eToro, TipRanks, Zulutrade, and investors more. “Social Trading” Drives Activity For ▪ The stock-trading app Robinhood reached $180 million in TipRanks is an analyst Online Trading revenue in the second quarter – nearly double the $91 million in accountability engine that ranks Platforms made in the first quarter, helped in large part by social traders stock recommendations and first-time investors Its hyper growth is being driven by an increase in trading volumes across the brokerage industry, combined with a ZuluTrade is online forex trading surge in new customers – it added three million funded platform accounts in the first four months of the year Robinhood has raised a total of $1.7 billion to date, after its last three rounds of funding occurring this year. The Stockbit provides an app-based company’s founders have long pledged to pursue an social trading platform IPO, but the company has yet to offer specific details Relevant Transactions Date Company Funding Amount Description • Robinhood is a trading platform for stocks, cryptocurrencies, gold and options 08/17/20 $208mm • D1 Partners led the funding • eToro acquired Marq Millions for an undisclosed amount 7/29/20 n/a • Marq Millions is a financial services company providing white-label financial product solutions • Robinhood is a trading platform for stocks, cryptocurrencies, gold and options 7/13/20 $320mm • Sequoia Capital, TSG Consumer Partners, IVP, NEA Source: Pitchbook, CNBC, Forbes Proprietary & Confidential 5 © Copyright Marlin & Associates Holding LLC 2020 The Need To Upgrade And Embrace Modern Technology Is Driving Consolidation In The Investment Management Space ▪ As investment managers realize that modernization is key Illustrative Companies to remain competitive, firms are exploring new investment management technology. They are embarking on a digital Avaloq is a SaaS-based financial solution provider for wealth transformation journey to increase their own operational management firms, universal efficiency to overcome increased competition, fee and retail banks pressure, and market volatility The Need For Modern Technology Is Driving ▪ New technologies, including automation, advanced Wealth management software Consolidation analytics, and innovative portfolio management systems, and services to independent are ensuring overall portfolio efficiency to realize profitable financial advisors and institutions AUM growth InvestCloud provides a cloud- ▪ Communication is key to modernizing systems and based front and middle-office workflows. Whether considering tech for front-, middle- or solutions for global investment back-office, end users will need to understand the purpose, advisors the impact, and how it will either improve their life or their customers’ lives Docupace is a fintech compliance and security ▪ The sector’s accelerated growth is leading to consolidation company for the wealth across WealthTech sector management industry Relevant Transactions Date Target Acquirer Description 05/13/20 • Artivest is a technology company focused on accessing and investing in alternatives • Innovest is a provider of scalable, SaaS-based solutions enabling trust companies, wealth 04/30/20 managers and other asset stewards to invest, monitor, analyze and service investment portfolios • Docupace is a provider of SaaS-based enterprise-grade solutions to digitize wealth management 04/28/20 operations for broker-dealers, RIAs and financial advisors Source: Pitchbook, IMTC Proprietary & Confidential 6 © Copyright Marlin & Associates Holding LLC 2020 Increased Demand For Systems That Aid Investment In Alternative Assets Illustrative Companies Preqin provides comprehensive data and research on the ▪ Demand for alternative investing remains strong throughout alternative assets industry 2020, as investors look for asset diversification, higher Increased Demand yields, and uncorrelated returns For Investments In Cais offers financial planning Alternative ▪ Across the board, successful alternative asset managers are and advisory solutions for Assets growing while many traditional asset managers have / are financial advisors considering moving into the space ▪ Growing demand for specialized custodians, expansion of Axial is runs an online network offerings and consolidation among service providers and for investment professionals in modernizing the alternatives industry by digitizing business the alternatives space processes are some of the key trends taking place in 2020 iCapital Network provides investment management solutions for private market investors Relevant Transactions Date Target Acquirer Description • Raised $180mm - Provides equity management solutions – featuring cap table management, 05/10/20 valuation, equity planning, transfer agents, electronic securities fund administration and more • SharesPost