Perspectives

Crises are catalysts for innovation. When longstanding ways of doing essential things cannot continue because of circumstances beyond our control, technical expertise and entrepreneurial flair make possible new ways of doing these things. The Covid-19 pandemic is the crisis of the century and amid all the suffering it has caused, the innovation it has driven in our financial sector is proportionate.

SeedFi, a startup promising to help Americans build their credit and savings, has raised $15 million in equity and $50 million in debt. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, with participation from Flourish, Core Innovation Capital, and Quiet Capital. SeedFi is one of several fintech outfits targeting the huge swathe of Americans stuck in cycle of debt and with little or no savings.

Millions of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and struggle to get out of a debt cycle. One startup is developing financial products targeted toward this segment of the population, with the goal of helping them build credit, save money, access funds and plan for the future.

Saving and building credit are two of the most difficult challenges for a majority of Americans. In fact, statistics show that 69 percent of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings, while 61 percent ran out of emergency savings by the end of last year.

Venture capitalists will care more about supporting startups with a financial inclusion mandate next year, says Emmalyn Shaw, managing partner, Flourish Ventures. Click here to listen to the podcast

Armed with some data from our friends at CrunchBase, I broke down the largest NYC Startup funding rounds in New York during January 2021. I have included some additional information such as industry, description, round type, total equity funding raised to further the analysis for the state of venture capital in NYC.