Payments Startup SpotOn Gets Funding from Mubadala, Others

A fintech payments company called SpotOn has gained $125 million in Series D funding from new investor Mubadala Investment Company and returning investors led by Andreessen Horowitz.

The funding round certifies the startup’s unicorn status after elevating SpotOn’s valuation to nearly $1.9 billion, the fund announced Wednesday. The firm services small and midsize businesses in the restaurant and retail sectors through its online business tools platform.

Thus far this year, the startup has added nearly 8,000 businesses to its platform. The ability to streamline digital marketing, review management, and data analytics, and complete and accept payments winds up saving firms “thousands of dollars in payments and software fees to multiple vendors,” SpotOn says.

For Mubadala, this is just the latest in a string of investments the sovereign wealth fund has recently made to firms in growth sectors. Last year, the Abu Dhabi-based allocator placed $29 billion into technology, life sciences, and other sectors, up from $18.5 billion in investments the prior calendar year.

Never miss a story — sign up for CIO newsletters to stay up-to-date on the latest institutional investment industry news. 

“Technology and life sciences in particular have been essential to the world over the last year, and we see those sectors bringing greater opportunity for deeper investment,” Mubadala Managing Director and Group CEO Khaldoon Al Mubarak recently said.

Other bets include investments into a real estate tech firm that transforms parking lots into urban hubs for restaurants. For some time, the investor has been diversifying its portfolio to wean Abu Dhabi’s economy off its dependence on energy.

Last year, Mubadala’s investment allocation helped it retain a record $243.4 billion (AED 894 billion) in assets under management (AUM), a 4.8% jump from the prior year, when it had US$232 billion (AED 853 billion).

Funding for the financial technology sector has only boomed during the pandemic. In the first quarter of this year, investors drove $22.8 billion into the largest funding quarter on record, according to CB Insights, into investments such as digital assets, banking, and cross-border payments.

Every populated continent in the world except for Africa experienced growth in fintech deal activity. Other payments firms that have recently attracted capital from sovereign wealth funds include Razorpay, a firm in India that raised $100 million in a funding round led by Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC.

Other investors that also participated in the SpotOn funding round include DST Global, 01 Advisors, Dragoneer Investment Group, and Franklin Templeton.

Mubadala Wants to Turn Parking Lots into Hubs for Restaurants

Mubadala Goes on a Spending Spree in 2020

Tags: Abu Dhabi, Investment, investment company, Mubadala, Mubadala Investment Company, Private Equity, Stock, United Arab Emirates

Christine Todd

Insurance firm Arch Capital Group has named Christine Todd as it chief investment officer, effective June 7. Todd will oversee the investment strategy for the firm’s $26 billion investment portfolio and will succeed W. Preston Hutchings, who is retiring from Arch Capital later this year after more than 15 years at the post.

Todd will be responsible for setting the company’s investment strategy and managing the day-to-day operations of its investment portfolio. She who will report to Arch Capital Group CEO Marc Grandisson.

“Christine is a dynamic and strategic investment leader with the experience and expertise to help bring our strong investment team into the next era,” Grandisson said in a statement. “Her deep understanding of the insurance industry, her ability to lead and develop teams, and her strong ability to collaborate across an organization make her a welcome addition to Arch and to our executive leadership team.”

Grandisson also thanked Hutchings for putting together “a world-class investment team that produced excellent results for our shareholders amid an evolving economic landscape and numerous financial stresses and challenges.”

Want the latest institutional investment industry news and insights? Sign up for CIO newsletters. 

Todd was most recently head of US fixed income for asset management firm Amundi US, a position she held for a little over two years, and prior to that was president of municipal bond manager Neighborly Investments for just over a year. Before joining Neighborly Investments, she was president of Standish Mellon Asset Management Company for more than 22 years, and before that was vice president of investment management firm Gannett, Welsh & Kotler for over six years.

Todd is a chartered financial analyst, and earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and an Master of Business Administration from Boston University.

Before joining Arch, Hutchings was senior vice president and CIO at RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. from 1998 to 2005, and senior vice president and CIO of Mid Ocean Reinsurance Company Ltd. from 1995 to 1998. He started his career as a fixed-income trader at JPMorgan’s New York, London, and Tokyo offices. He has a bachelor’s from Hamilton College, and a master’s in jurisprudence from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes scholar.