Friday Fundings: Alma, Scandit, Alchemy

With BNPL All the Rage, Alma Cashes In

BNPL startups, also known as “buy now, pay later” companies, are attracting a significant amount of private investment capital across the world. Most recently, France-based Alma announced a $210 million round of fundraising involving both debt and equity financing. The three-year-old company has a large merchant network that provides installment-based payments.

Alma executives say they plan to expand into several more European countries over the next 12 months. It currently operates in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Analysts note the “buy now, pay later” model that originally took off in ecommerce is now becoming more prevalent in other industries as well.

Data Capture Company Scandit Hits Unicorn Status

Europe’s latest unicorn is a data capture and scanning company by the name of Scandit. The company recently closed a $150 million Series D financing round. Founded in 2009, Zurich-based Scandit has now raised upwards of $300 million since that point.

Scandit aims to make in-store operations easier for both retailers and their customers. The technology allows smart devices such as cell phones to scan barcodes, text, and even physical objects to track available inventory. Similarly, shoppers can scan a product on the shelf to quickly receive past customer reviews.

Rapidly Growing Blockchain Company Alchemy a Decacorn

San Francisco-based blockchain development platform Alchemy reported a new round of financing that almost triples its valuation. After reaching unicorn status in October, this $200 million in “Series C-1” fundraising brings Alchemy’s valuation to $10.2 billion. This means the rapidly growing company reached decacorn status in less than two months.

Some analysts have called Alchemy the Amazon Web Services (AWS) of blockchain technology. Whereas Amazon (AMZN) provides tools and hosting services for businesses looking to operate in the cloud, Alchemy looks to fit a similar niche on Web3 and blockchain. The company has now raised upwards of $564 million since being founded in 2017.

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