San Francisco-based fintech company Finix is on a mission to increase representation for traditionally marginalized investors in the venture capital ecosystem — and it is making progress with this push.
The company announced Wednesday that, during its Series B extension, closed last August, it facilitated a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), a legally separate entity created by organizations to achieve a particular objective, to allocate funds to Black and Latinx investors. In total, 80 Black and Latinx investors contributed a total of $3 million to the startup’s coffers. This is in addition to the $30 million raised from Lightspeed and Amex Ventures.
“People too often focus on one aspect of diversity, but it’s not just about diversifying your employees, leadership team or cap table — it’s about all of it combined,” Richie Serna, co-founder and CEO of Finix, said in an interview with Built In.
Among the new investors of color joining Finix’s new SPV are Jewel Burks Solomon, head of Google for Startups in the U.S. and managing partner at Collab Capital, and Tiffani Ashley Bell, founder and executive director at The Human Utility.
“The opportunity to invest in a high growth company like Finix at a time that is typically reserved for a very select group of highly connected (usually white) investors is a big deal,” Solomon said in a statement. “Access is the primary determinant of wealth creation. So creating an opportunity for access to folks who might not otherwise have it is game changing.”
As part of its announcement, the company also shared its step-by-step process for creating its SPV to encourage founders of other early stage startups to follow suit.
“Black investors and other Latinx entrepreneurs were the first people to believe in me and back Finix. I’m happy to pay it forward by creating this SPV and I hope other founders will do the same,” Serna said.
Finix has now surpassed over $100 million in financing, according to the company. The startup, founded in 2016, offers a platform that helps SaaS enterprises manage their payments similarly to how they do web services. With the additional capital, the payments infrastructure startup plans to invest in its team.
The company plans to add another 100 people to its team by early 2022. Finix will hire across functions with a primary focus on expanding its engineering and product teams, according to Serna.
Over the past few months, Finix has also hired three senior executives to fulfill the roles of chief technology officer, chief operations officer and senior vice president of revenue. The new hires include senior leaders from tech giants like Google, Tesla and Uber.
“I’m grateful to have found leaders representative of our company culture with diverse backgrounds and experiences that align with our trajectory,” Serna said.
Additional investors in the company include Homebrew, Bain Capital Ventures and Visa, among others.
