?? In search of VC money...

Hola crunchers, and Eid Mubarak to all my friends!

Not quite sure what to make of Elon Musk's latest stunt regarding Twitter - he has not announced that he is now pulling out of a $44bn (￡36bn) deal to buy the social media platform. Musk backed away after claiming Twitter failed to provide enough information on the number of spam and fake accounts on the site. Twitter plans to take legal action to make the deal go ahead and has hired a top US law firm. I suspect that this saga has few more twists in the storyline before it ends.

In the meantime, the shareholders of Twitter are paying the price - Twitter's share price stood at about $34.40 in early Monday trading - falling further below the $54.20-a-share takeover price agreed by Musk and Twitter's board in April. Watch this space - if for nothing else but entertainment value!

Now back to this edition of the crunch....

WHAT’S NEW IN FINTECH?

• Mobile-first credit card startup OneCard is set to become the 104th unicorn of India and 19th this year after raising $100 million in a new financing round from new and existing backers.

• Ethereum scaling tool Polygon is following the Solana blockchain in bringing Web3 to smartphones with a new partnership with tech startup Nothing. Nothing has tapped the Polygon network to offer NFTs on its new Android-based Nothing Phone (1).

• Banking fintech company Revolut is tapping into Stripe’s international reach to ramp up its expansion into new international markets, including Brazil and Mexico.

• Emirati digital banking start-up Zand, which provides retail and corporate services, announced that it had been granted a banking license from the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates.

In Search of VC Money…

Did you know that the top 10 VC firms have ownership in 38% of all unicorns?

A new analysis looked at the most recent unicorn data in an effort to address the question of where large amounts of venture capital money are spent.

In the past year alone, the total number of businesses valued at more than $1 billion has doubled, with venture capital funding driving the majority of this expansion.

Many of the biggest VC firms have invested in the same group of unicorns, the majority of which are either fintech or internet service providers, as a result of the fundamental shifts in social models, workplaces, and industries the market has witnessed.

The top 10 companies that have invested in the most unicorns were highlighted in the BestBroker report. According to the data, just ten firms own 38% of all 1143 unicorns currently on the market. With ownership in an astounding 67 businesses worth over $1 billion, Accel is in the lead.

Internet software and services, fintech, and e-commerce account for over half of the total number of unicorns. The next four industries — AI, cybersecurity, health, and data management — amount to just over a quarter of the unicorns.

“Since the beginning of 2021 fintech unicorns grew by a staggering 330%, followed by internet software and services with 274% and cybersecurity with 267%. Next in the list are health, data analytics, logistics, and AI. We can clearly see how the trending industries are influenced strongly by the pandemic and the changes, it brought about,” said Alan Goldberg, an analyst at BestBrokers.

So to sum it up, Venture capital firms that have ownership in a large number of unicorns are pouring money into two sectors — internet services and fintech. If you're looking for where to find the next big thing, these may be good places to start.

? QUICK INVESTMENT ROUNDS

• UAE-based financial technology start-up and digital banking app YAP has raised $41 million as it seeks to expand into new markets and enhance its technology offerings.

• UAE-based B2B food marketplace Supy has raised $8 million in a Seed round led by BECO Capital.

• Nigerian mobility fintech company Moove has secured $20 million from British International Investment.

?? BOOK OF THE DAY

Money Metaverse: How crypto is reinventing finance & property and unlocking value via tokenization.

I discovered this book that takes a deep dive into the Metaverse to understand how it’s reinventing finance and property. In the midst of a pandemic that has decimated traditional financial markets, one digital world is booming: the Metaverse. The Metaverse is a decentralized network of virtual worlds that runs on blockchain technology which could add around 16% to global output -- or about $13 trillion. And it's home to a growing number of digital assets, from cryptocurrencies to virtual property. Get the book here.

? BEFORE YOU GO…

• Metaverse: Meta recently announced that it was rebranding its payments system from Facebook Pay to Meta Pay and that it will soon be able to store digital metaverse items such as clothing, art, music, and even NFTs.

• Metaverse: On that same note, Meta has also announced that it is shutting down its Novi digital Wallet this September. The wallet was part of the company’s cryptocurrency project.

• NFTs: Holders of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) are finding new ways to monetize their NFTs, including branded clothing and accessories, selling Ape Water, and creating an NFT-based project for foodies, Bored & Hungry.

?? THE LATEST ON COUCHONOMICS

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