PIN (Power in Numbers)

Top 5 funding rounds of the week: 📌1. Fastino - a startup that focuses on developing specialized AI models tailored to business needs. →Founded by: Ash Lewis, George Hurn-Maloney →Raised: $7 million in pre-seed funding co-led by Insight Partners and M12, with NEA and Valor also investing. 📌 2. Lume (YC W23) - a startup that uses AI to automate the organization and conversion of data between formats, streamlining data management processes. →Founded by: Nicolas Machado →Raised: $4.2 million in seed funding led by General Catalyst, with Y Combinator, Khosla Ventures, Floodgate, and Soma Capital also participating. 📌 3. Tako - a startup providing a platform that simplifies HR processes, including payroll management, employee onboarding, and benefits administration. →Founded by: Fernando Gadotti →Raised: $13.2 million in seed funding co-led by Ribbit Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, with ONEVC also contributing. 📌 4. PointFive - a startup with operations in New York and Israel that helps businesses identify and reduce unnecessary expenses in their cloud services, optimizing operational costs. →Founded by: Alon Arvatz, Gal Ben David 🇮🇱🎗️, Amir Hozez →Raised: $20 million in Series A funding led by Salesforce Ventures, with Index Ventures, Entree Capital, Sheva VC, and Vesey Ventures also participating. 📌 5. Fleek - a startup that operates an online marketplace connecting retailers and resellers with verified suppliers of vintage and second-hand clothing. →Founded by: Abhi Arora, Sanket Agarwal →Raised: $14.8 million in Series A funding led by HV Capital, with previous investors Andreessen Horowitz and Y Combinator also pitching in. Congrats to everyone on the fresh funding! 👏

The “Founder Factory” effect is alive and well in fintech. Not are only are these unicorns dominating the market—they’re also producing alumni who go on to launch impactful startups of their own. For example, Stripe alumni have founded successful startups like Pilot & Square alumni have started popular companies like Affirm and DoorDash. Money raised by alumni groups: Stripe - $23B Square - $7B Visa - $5B Klarna - $2B Monzo - $2B Mastercard - $830M Revolut - $510M Robinhood - $500M Wise - $342M Brex - $203M N26 -$132M These aren’t just big numbers, they’re signs of a growing trend. When talent from high-growth companies starts new ventures, they bring unique skills, networks, and the confidence to disrupt industries, often with backing from their alumni networks. Imagine the impact if these groups pooled their knowledge, experience, and capital to fund each other’s ventures, with PIN 😉 PS: If you like this, check out our newsletter for startup investors, link in comments! #startups #venturecapital #techmafia #founders

Klarna just announced its IPO, but... imagine working at a founder factory - a company so influential it spawns over 60 startups. Klarna did just that in Europe’s tech scene (reminiscent of the PayPal Mafia’s impact on Silicon Valley). Klarna alumni are leading the charge among Europe’s tech mafias, ahead of: 📌 Revolut - 49 alumni-led startups 📌 Wise and N26 alumni - 33 startups each Klarna is one of 625 startups globally launched by former unicorn employees. PIN's team recently spoke with Jordan Olivas, one of Klarna's early employees, about what it was like in the early days and how it shaped his entrepreneurial path which led him to launching Harvv. In the interview we talk about: 💫 Klarna’s culture: What unique elements fueled so many entrepreneurial success stories? 💫 Early challenges: Klarna’s journey, including its U.S. expansion and the launch of the “Pay in 4” product. 💫 Lessons learned: Scaling, branding, and leadership that Jordan applied directly to his startup, Harvv. 💫 Former employees & where they are now: Learn more about Sven Brauer from MODOFI, Filip Polhem from Anyfin, John Keatley from Scratch, Uri Nativ – Torii, Lena Hackelöer from Brite Payments, and others. Link to the full article in the comments 👇 #startups #techmafia #founders #klarna #klarnamafia #founderactory

Klarna just announced its IPO, but... imagine working at a founder factory - a company so influential it spawns over 60 startups. Klarna did just that in Europe’s tech scene (reminiscent of the PayPal Mafia’s impact on Silicon Valley). Klarna alumni are leading the charge among Europe’s tech mafias, ahead of: 📌 Revolut - 49 alumni-led startups 📌 Wise and N26 alumni - 33 startups each Klarna is one of 625 startups globally launched by former unicorn employees. PIN's team recently spoke with Jordan Olivas, one of Klarna's early employees, about what it was like in the early days and how it shaped his entrepreneurial path which led him to launching Harvv. In the interview we talk about: 💫 Klarna’s culture: What unique elements fueled so many entrepreneurial success stories? 💫 Early challenges: Klarna’s journey, including its U.S. expansion and the launch of the “Pay in 4” product. 💫 Lessons learned: Scaling, branding, and leadership that Jordan applied directly to his startup, Harvv. 💫 Former employees & where they are now: Learn more about Sven Brauer from MODOFI, Filip Polhem from Anyfin, John Keatley from Scratch, Uri Nativ – Torii, Lena Hackelöer from Brite Payments, and others. Link to the full article in the comments 👇 #startups #techmafia #founders #klarna #klarnamafia #founderactory

Thank you PIN (Power in Numbers) for featuring Harvv and I in your latest release about the Klarna Mafia. A lot of our success stems from my experience at Klarna, and it's exciting to see other founders from the organization go on to build new companies! #klarna #bnpl #payments #fintech #startupss https://lnkd.in/gYW8Wqez

Ever wondered what live pitching a fintech startup to Y Combinator looks like? Check out the videos of these 8 startups founders and how they pitched their startups to YC (and got in): 1. Kontigo (YC S24) – USDC-smart neobank for Latinos Founders: Gino Guatavita Jesus Castillo →𝐘𝐂 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧  https://lnkd.in/d9HPsGCd 2. Koywe – Crypto on/off ramp for Latam Founders: Ignacio D., Guillermo Acuña →𝐘𝐂 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧  https://lnkd.in/dRG6j6rQ 3. OneText – Frictionless payments via SMS Founders: Jonathan Fudem, Daniel Brain →𝐘𝐂 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧  https://lnkd.in/dam9FZtv 4. BlueHill Payments – Lower-cost payment processing Founders: Himanshu M., Rohan Minocha →𝐘𝐂 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧  https://lnkd.in/d8pPQgsZ 5. Mono – Financial management for Latam SMBs Founders: Salomón Zarruk Valencia, Jose Tomas Lobo, Sebastian Ortiz Vásquez, Juan Camilo Poveda →𝐘𝐂 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧  https://lnkd.in/gk5dUB7P 6. BukuWarung – Finance app for Indonesia Founder: Abhinay Peddisetty →𝐘𝐂 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧  https://lnkd.in/dJcpGQbk 7. Altro – Credit-building for all Founder: Michael Broughton →𝐘𝐂 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧  https://lnkd.in/deR4iJHc 8. yearend. (Acquired by Carta) – Tax simplicity for SMBs Founders: 👻 Jared Hobbs, Sean O'Keefe →𝐘𝐂 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧  https://lnkd.in/dB_ADjTG Have you pitched to YC before? Tell us in the comments. 👇 Check out our newsletter for startup investors (link in comments).

Founders: We all know one universal truth - investors are not created equal. Some investors are very helpful, and some investors are… not as helpful. 🙃 PIN is on a mission to ask 500 of the top VC-backed founders to nominate their favorite angel investors so we can compile a list that future founders can reference (and so top angel investors can continue to support great founders)! If you submit a nomination, we’ll also send you the full list once it’s complete. Help us rescue founders and nominate an angel 😇 https://lnkd.in/dbXK6siW #angelinvesting #founders #fundraising #investors #angels #angelinvestor

Tamagotchi, but make it a startup you have to keep alive by raising money and dodging distractions from VC's A fun game our PIN (Power in Numbers) team built at our offsite mini-hackathon last week 🙃 play it now at startuptamagotchi.com

Top 5 funding rounds of the week: 📌1. MoradaUno - a startup that simplifies apartment rentals by offering services like tenant screening, lease management, and rent protection, aiming to make the process more secure and convenient for landlords and tenants. →Founded by: Santiago Morales Prado →Raised: $5.6 million in Series A funding co-led by Flourish Ventures and Cometa, with Clocktower Ventures, Picus Capital, and Y Combinator also participating. 📌 2. vlayer Labs - a startup that leverages zero-knowledge proofs to integrate real-world data into Ethereum. →Founded by: Hubert Rachwalski von Rejchwald →Raised: $10 million in pre-seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Credo Ventures, and BlockTower Capital. 📌 3. Dash0 - a startup offering an observability platform designed to help software developers monitor and improve their applications’ performance through real-time insights and diagnostics. →Founded by: Mirko Novakovic →Raised: $9.5 million in seed funding led by Accel, with Dig Ventures also contributing. 📌 4. Tola - a startup that assists small and medium businesses in managing their finances by streamlining processes like bill payments, invoicing, and cash flow tracking. →Founded by: Alen Cvisic and Guillaume Simard →Raised: $10.2 million in seed funding led by Sequoia Capital, with Cherry Ventures, Creandum, RTP Global, Founders, Y Combinator, Zinal Growth, and Pathlight VC also joining. 📌 5. Glow - a startup that utilizes blockchain technology to incentivize the development of solar energy projects, promoting sustainability and renewable energy adoption. →Founded by: David Vorick →Raised: $30 million in funding co-led by Framework Ventures and Union Square Ventures, with Lattice Ventures, Protocol Labs, Hack VC, HF0, and Alliance DAO also participating. Congrats to everyone on the fresh funding! 👏

Tamagotchi, but it’s a startup you have to keep alive by dodging distractions from VCs. https://lnkd.in/gm5SEk2T