Technology
Summing Up the 10 Biggest Fintech Deals of 2015
Image courtesy of: Raconteur
Summing Up the 10 Biggest Fintech Deals of 2015
How hot is fintech right now?
This one statistic sums it up: in 2015, a record amount of fintech deals were done for a total deal value of $24.6 billion. That number is higher than the last five years put together.
With everything seemingly turning up “fintech”, here is a summary and some reflection on the 10 biggest fintech deals of last year.
Summing Up the Biggest Fintech Deals of 2015
1. FIS acquires SunGard for $9.1 billion
The acquisition, financed with a mix of 45 percent cash and 55 percent stock, yields a combined company with $9.2 billion in annual revenue, 55,000 employees, and operations in more than 130 countries. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, FIS is the world’s largest global provider dedicated to banking and payments technologies. Their technology underscores $9 trillion in global transactions each year.
SunGard, which was the target of the acquisition, was previously taken over in 2005 by a consortium of private equity firms in the largest tech privatization deal ever. It was valued at $11.3 billion.
2. ICE acquires Interactive Data Corp
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) bought Interactive Data Corporation (IDC) from private equity firms Silver Lake Group LLC and Warburg Pincus LLC. Valued at $5.2 billion, including $3.65 billion in cash and $1.55 billion in stock, the deal allows ICE to expand the markets it serves while bringing in new technology platforms and data services.
ICE owns and operates 23 exchanges and marketplaces, with the most famous of these being the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
3. McGraw-Hill Financial acquires SNL Financial
McGraw-Hill Financial, the parent of the Standard & Poor’s ratings agency, paid $2.23 billion in cash to buy SNL Financial from private equity firm New Mountain Capital.
McGraw-Hill is also known for some of its other subsidiaries, such as S&P Dow Jones Indices and Platts.
4. D+H Corporation buys Fundtech
D+H, a Canadian corporation which was historically a manufacturer of cheques, has recently shifted its focus on more technology-related endeavors. Part of this includes buying global payment services provider Fundtech for $1.25 billion in cash.
In a recent press release, D+H described the transaction as a key piece in their transition to technology: “The Fundtech acquisition significantly advanced D+H in our FinTech journey and was evidence of our commitment to continue providing clients the innovative solutions they need to grow and compete.”
5. Lufax is funded by multiple investors
Lufax, also known as the Shanghai Lujiazui International Financial Asset Exchange Co., is an online Internet finance marketplace in China. Focusing on peer-to-peer loans, Lufax connects individual investors with borrowers for loans of around $10,000 while collecting a 4% fee off each loan.
Domestic and overseas institutions participated in the most recent $1.2 billion financing in December, including the investment arm of COFCO Group and Guotai Junan (Hong Kong). The company is considered a mover and shaker in the Chinese lending space, and is now valued at $18.5 billion.
6. Lufax is funded by multiple investors
Lufax was also responsible for the sixth biggest deal of 2015, as it did an earlier raise in March 2015 for $488 million from a group of investors at a valuation of nearly $10 billion.
7. Markit
Markit, which recently announced a merger with IHS to create a data heavyweight, was also very active last year.
In 2015, it initiated a secondary public offering of its common shares to investors worth $350 million.
8. Learnvest acquired by Northwestern Mutual
Northwestern Mutual went all-in on personalized financial planning by buying New York-based startup LearnVest for over $250 million.
9. Neustar acquires TNS
Real-time information services provider Neustar bought caller authentication assets from Transaction Network Services (TNS), an affiliate of Siris Capital Group, for $220 million in cash.
10. Markit buys CoreOne
Earlier in 2015, market data company Markit bought CoreOne Technologies, a global leading provider of regulatory reporting for $200 million.
Original graphic by: Raconteur
Markets
Charted: What are Retail Investors Interested in Buying in 2023?
What key themes and strategies are retail investors looking at for the rest of 2023? Preview: AI is a popular choice.

Charted: Retail Investors’ Top Picks for 2023
U.S. retail investors, enticed by a brief pause in the interest rate cycle, came roaring back in the early summer. But what are their investment priorities for the second half of 2023?
We visualized the data from Public’s 2023 Retail Investor Report, which surveyed 1,005 retail investors on their platform, asking “which investment strategy or themes are you interested in as part of your overall investment strategy?”
Survey respondents ticked all the options that applied to them, thus their response percentages do not sum to 100%.
Where Are Retail Investors Putting Their Money?
By far the most popular strategy for retail investors is dividend investing with 50% of the respondents selecting it as something they’re interested in.
Dividends can help supplement incomes and come with tax benefits (especially for lower income investors or if the dividend is paid out into a tax-deferred account), and can be a popular choice during more inflationary times.
Investment Strategy | Percent of Respondents |
---|---|
Dividend Investing | 50% |
Artificial Intelligence | 36% |
Total Stock Market Index | 36% |
Renewable Energy | 33% |
Big Tech | 31% |
Treasuries (T-Bills) | 31% |
Electric Vehicles | 27% |
Large Cap | 26% |
Small Cap | 24% |
Emerging Markets | 23% |
Real Estate | 23% |
Gold & Precious Metals | 23% |
Mid Cap | 19% |
Inflation Protection | 13% |
Commodities | 12% |
Meanwhile, the hype around AI hasn’t faded, with 36% of the respondents saying they’d be interested in investing in the theme—including juggernaut chipmaker Nvidia. This is tied for second place with Total Stock Market Index investing.
Treasury Bills (30%) represent the safety anchoring of the portfolio but the ongoing climate crisis is also on investors’ minds with Renewable Energy (33%) and EVs (27%) scoring fairly high on the interest list.
Commodities and Inflation-Protection stocks on the other hand have fallen out of favor.
Come on Barbie, Let’s Go Party…
Another interesting takeaway pulled from the survey is how conversations about prevailing companies—or the buzz around them—are influencing trades. The platform found that public investors in Mattel increased 6.6 times after the success of the ‘Barbie’ movie.
Bud Light also saw a 1.5x increase in retail investors, despite receiving negative attention from their fans after the company did a beer promotion campaign with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Given the origin story of a large chunk of American retail investors revolves around GameStop and AMC, these insights aren’t new, but they do reveal a persisting trend.
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