Neo-Bank Dave Lands $100 Million FTX Investment To Grow Crypto Presence

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

Neo-Bank Dave Lands $100 Million FTX Investment To Grow Crypto Presence
Courtesy of Dave

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Two months after going public on the Nasdaq, digital banking app Dave is doubling down on its cryptocurrency plans after receiving a new $100 million investment from crypto exchange FTX.

The deal furthers Dave’s ambitions to rival competitors such as SoFi, which offers banking, investing and crypto-trading services all in one app. Crypto has been a target market of Dave’s dating back to before it went public this January via a SPAC merger.


The West Hollywood-based fintech startup already had ties to FTX: Alameda Research, the crypto trading firm founded by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, invested $15 million in Dave in a pre-IPO private placement deal last year.

Now, FTX is investing $100 million in Dave through its $2 billion FTX Ventures fund, while FTX US—the crypto exchange’s U.S. unit—is teaming with Dave on a “strategic partnership” meant to help it expand its crypto offerings. In a statement, the companies said FTX US will serve as Dave’s “exclusive partner for cryptocurrencies,” while the two firms will look to “introduce digital asset payments into Dave’s platform.”

In an interview with dot.LA earlier this year, Dave CFO Kyle Beilman said the startup was interested in using crypto to facilitate cross-border money transfers between the U.S. and Mexico.

On Dave’s fourth-quarter earnings call Monday, Beilman said the company could also use the money raised from FTX to pursue acquisitions, which he described as an “attractive component of our growth and capital allocation strategy.” FTX’s $100 million investment is not an equity deal, but rather takes the form of unsecured convertible notes—a type of short-term debt—that bear an annual interest rate of 3%.

In addition to announcing the FTX financing deal, Dave also released its first quarterly earnings report as a public company on Monday, covering both the fourth quarter and overall 2021 fiscal year. The firm reported quarterly revenues ($41.2 million) and full-year revenues ($153 million) that were up 16% and 26%, respectively, from their year-earlier periods—though it also posted a $15.2 million fourth-quarter net loss that contributed to $20 million in losses in the full 2021 fiscal year (up from $7 million in fiscal year 2020).

Dave also shared a bullish revenue guidance for 2022, projecting them at between $200 and $230 million in the ongoing fiscal year. The company also reported a growing customer base that surpassed 6 million users and more than 1.5 million monthly transacting members at the end of last year.

Those factors, plus Dave’s deal with FTX, sent the company’s stock climb more than 20% at one point in after-hours trading Monday—though it quickly moderated closer to Monday’s closing price of $10.60 per share.

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LA Tech Week Day 5: Social Highlights
Evan Xie

L.A. Tech Week has brought venture capitalists, founders and entrepreneurs from around the world to the California coast. With so many tech nerds in one place, it's easy to laugh, joke and reminisce about the future of tech in SoCal.

Here's what people are saying about the fifth day of L.A. Tech Week on social:

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LA Tech Week: Six LA-Based Greentech Startups to Know

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

LA Tech Week: Six LA-Based Greentech Startups to Know
Samson Amore

At Lowercarbon Capital’s LA Tech Week event Thursday, the synergy between the region’s aerospace industry and greentech startups was clear.

The event sponsored by Lowercarbon, Climate Draft (and the defunct Silicon Valley Bank’s Climate Technology & Sustainability team) brought together a handful of local startups in Hawthorne not far from LAX, and many of the companies shared DNA with arguably the region’s most famous tech resident: SpaceX.

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https://twitter.com/samsonamore
samsonamore@dot.la

LA Tech ‘Moves’: LeaseLock, Visgenx, PlayVS and Pressed Juicery Gains New CEOs

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: LeaseLock, Visgenx, PlayVS and Pressed Juicery Gains New CEOs
LA Tech ‘Moves’:

“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.

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LeaseLock, a lease insurance and financial technology provider for the rental housing industry named Janine Steiner Jovanovic as chief executive officer. Prior to this role, Steiner Jovanovic served as the former EVP of Asset Optimization at RealPage.

Esports platform PlayVS hired EverFi co-founder and seasoned business leader Jon Chapman as the company’s chief executive officer.

Biotechnology company Visgenx appointed William Pedranti, J.D. as chief executive officer. Before joining, Mr. Pedranti was a partner with PENG Life Science Ventures.

Pressed Juicery, the leading cold-pressed juice and functional wellness brand welcomed Justin Nedelman as chief executive officer. His prior roles include chief real estate officer of FAT Brands Inc. and co-founder of Eureka! Restaurant Group.

Michael G. Vicari joined liquid biopsy company Nucleix as chief commercial officer. Vicari served as senior vice president of Sales at GRAIL, Inc.

Full-service performance marketing agency Allied Global Marketing promoted Erin Corbett to executive vice president of global partnership and marketing. Prior to joining Allied, Corbett's experience included senior marketing roles at Disney, Warner Bros. Studios, Harrah's Entertainment and Imagi Animation Studios.

Nuvve, a vehicle-to-grid technology company tapped student transportation and automotive sales and marketing executive David Bercik to lead the K-12 student transportation division.

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