Hola, 

Fintech has had quite a year. As our end-of-year report shows, the category saw nearly 100 financing rounds of $100M or more going to privately held companies. The pandemic couldn't stop the mega-deal firehose: it was a record year for these. In fact, one in twenty fintech deals in the year was 100M+.

In the last 3 months, a few of those $100M deals have gone to companies from our annual Fintech 250 list, including in:

• insurance (Newfront Insurance's $100M Series C),
• digital banking (Tink's $103M Series E),
• and payments (Razorpay's $100M Series D).

Dig into the report for more on the macro trends driving this surge, including a pickup in overall fintech deal activity in Q4, increases in North American and European funding, and growth in Series B deal share.

On the edge of glory

Advances in wireless standards like 5G and the explosion of connected devices are driving interest in edge computing, the processing of data closer to its source. 

Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are each aiming to capture a piece of the $500B edge computing market. We examine their strategies in the space here.

Ivy League-level homes
 

As people spend more time at home, “smart” applications are looking to satisfy increased consumer demand for convenience, social connection, wellness, and sustainability.

From connected appliances to pet monitoring to smart air filtration, clients can dig into the technologies making the home smarter in this report.

At your ledger
 

In 2019, over $7T of bonds flowed through primary markets, the stage of capital markets where securities are created. However, the process of issuing securities is highly complex and necessitates numerous stakeholders and layers of oversight.

Distributed ledger tech (DLT) like blockchain could help streamline the process. In collaboration with Blockdata, we map out which corporates and private companies are bringing DLT to primary markets here.

+3 unicorns: Data security company BigID, spa management software maker Zenoti, and productivity platform ClickUp became unicorns after closing funding rounds at $1B valuations, bringing the total number of unicorns up to 506. BigID was one of CB Insights and Fast Company’s 2020 Future Unicorn picks — see the rest here.

75 mph: Amazon-owned Zoox unveiled its robotaxi. The self-driving vehicle, which doesn’t have a steering wheel, can seat up to 4 passengers and travel at speeds of up to 75 mph — indicating that it may eventually travel on highways. Amazon is far from the only big company with eyes on the autonomous vehicle market. See what 40+ other corps are planning for the space in this report.
 

-4,400 bank branches: More than 4,400 bank branches have closed in the US since 2017, according to a study by NCRC. The trend is partly driven by the rise of digital banking and a surge in fintech services over that period. We dig into how incumbents and challengers are  competing for the growing digital banking market in this analysis. 

$100M: Gene therapy company LocanaBio raised a $100M mega-round. LocanaBio was included in our 2020 Game Changers cohort of high-potential startups that could change the world. From medicine to sustainability, check out what they’re all working on here.
 

9 months: A major hacking campaign, thought to be perpetrated by a state actor, has reportedly been ongoing since March. Affecting US government agencies and major companies, the hack exploited compromised software from a single provider that was downloaded by around 18,000 customers. The threat from cyberattacks continues to rise but emerging tech could help reduce the risk. See what high-momentum startups in the space are working on in this report.

Scientists are marveling at the Ubirajara jubatus (recreated above), a dinosaur species recently classified from a fossil discovered in northern Brazil. The chicken-sized carnivore would have lived during the Cretaceous period roughly 110M years ago.

The two-legged creature sported a long mane, as well as stiff shoulder protrusions. These “protofeathers,” which have never been observed in any other dinosaur, were likely used for mating or intimidation.

Their unique structure lends the dinosaur its genus name Ubirajara, which means “lord of the spears” in the local Tupi language.

Have a great rest of the week.

Marcelo