Page 72 - Forbes - USA (March 2020)

T H E FO R B E S F I N T EC H 5 0

fry speculators would pay 90% less, but they’d be
dealing with a firm that mostly inhabits the shad- D I V V Y H O M E S Ì FAT T M E R C H A N T Ì
owy world of offshore finance. Malta-based Bi-
SAN FRANCISCO ORLANDO, FLORIDA
nance has only a small presence in the U.S.
REAL ESTATE PAYMENTS
Serious traders get a better deal. They use
A digital take on rent-to-own, Bundles online and in-store
Coinbase Pro, a different platform that replicates
Divvy buys homes that clients credit-card processing and
the bid-and-ask order book of a stock exchange;
select and becomes their land- sales analysis into one monthly
here the combined buyer and seller commission
lord, allowing 2% upfront fee subscription service that it says
70 ranges from 1% for small trades down to 0.07% and part of rent to be turned costs small businesses 30% to
at the $100 million level. into a down payment later. 40% less than traditional per-
Somewhat more than half of Coinbase Pro’s Now in six markets. transaction charges.
T
S trading volume comes from algorithmic trad-
I FUNDING: $66 million; latest FUNDING: $18 million; latest
L ing. Furious trading doesn’t look socially produc- 1
valuation of $163 million valuation of $140 million
E
H tive, but it lubricates the capital markets. Bid/ask BONA FIDES: Receiving 10,000 BONA FIDES: Processed $2.3
T spreads on bitcoins, now worth $9,300 apiece, applications a month billion in transactions in 2019

•
are measured in dimes. In percentage terms, the COFOUNDER & CEO: COFOUNDERS: CEO Suneera
E
D crypto spread competes with the spread on the Adena Hefets, 33 Madhani, 32; president Sal
I Rehmetullah, 30 (Madhani’s
U very liquid SPDR S&P 500 ETF. brother); CTO Jacques Fun, 34;
G
The trouble with commission income is that chief strategy officer Lyndsey
T Lang, 27
N it’s extremely sensitive to crypto prices. When
E
M bitcoin collapses, as it did in 2018, trading vol-
T ume shrinks and the dollar revenue from each
S F I N I X Ì
E coin goes down.
V SAN FRANCISCO
N So Coinbase is trying to create stable revenue
I
streams to balance out the commissions. A big PAYMENTS
one, says Alesia Haas, the company’s chief finan- Gives companies more control
cial officer, is coming from a custody operation ADENA HEFETS over their payment processing,
for institutional clients. This digital warehouse, which helps them to keep more
greatly expanded by Coinbase’s acquisition last of the processing fees mer-
August of Xapo’s institutional business, holds E TH O S Ì chants pay.
$8 billion of bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. FUNDING: $55 million
A new revenue source is “staking.” Here, the SAN FRANCISCO BONA FIDES: More than
50 customers, including
holder of certain coins, such as tezos and EOS, INSURANCE Lightspeed, a Canadian
collects fees for confirming transactions on the Uses predictive technology to company that processes $17
network. There is no electricity-gobbling busy- quote term life insurance rates billion a year in transactions
work calculation as with bitcoin, but some fi- in about 10 minutes via app. COFOUNDERS: CEO Richie Serna,
nesse is needed, because messing up the recipe It verifies data with medical 32; Sean Donovan, 37
causes the player’s stake to be confiscated. Coin- and pharmacy records, requir-
ing no exam for most buyers.
base handles the details and splits stake revenue Ì
FUNDING: $107 million; latest H I P P O
with its customers. It’s rather like a stockbroker
valuation of $450 million
1
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA
BONA FIDES: Licensed in every
INSURANCE
state except New York
Using public data, satellite
COFOUNDERS: CEO Peter Colis,
30; CTO Lingke Wang, 29 imagery and smart home de-
vices such as water-leak and
Money Moves 2020 motion detectors, home insur-
TURN YOUR HSA INTO AN INVESTMENT FUND E V E R L E D G E R Ì ance agent Hippo streamlines
the application process and
One of the best-kept secrets about Health Savings LONDON minimizes claims. It’s currently
Accounts is that they can be used as investment ac-
counts. If you’re covered by an eligible high-deduct- BLOCKCHAIN & BITCOIN licensed in 21 states and aims
ible health insurance plan, you can contribute up to Has developed a blockchain to to be nationwide by year’s end.
$3,550 for an individual or $7,100 for a family to an track goods from raw-materials
HSA for 2020, reducing your taxable income by that FUNDING: $209 million; latest
amount. Of course, HSA withdrawals are tax-free source to sales. valuation of $1 billion
when used to pay for medical expenses. But healthy BONA FIDES: Premiums grew
or wealthy HSA holders should invest and grow the FUNDING: $20 million; latest fivefold last year
stash tax-free to be used for medical costs in retire- valuation of $100 million
ment. Fidelity and Fintech 50 member Lively offer BONA FIDES: First application COFOUNDERS: CEO Assaf Wand,
45; CTO Eyal Navon, 39
investor-friendly HSA platforms. Fidelity offers mutual tracks 2 million diamonds
funds plus commission-free trading of U.S. stocks and
ETFs. Lively provides no-fee access to TD Ameritrade, FOUNDER & CEO: Australian
Leanne Kemp, 47
which also offers free online trading. —A.E.

F O R B E S . C O M Ì NEW TO LIST M A R C H 2 0 2 0
1 According to PitchBook