Two companies with valuations in the billions attracted investor interest this week. The latest Bank Automation News funding wrap includes one buy now pay later (BNPL) tech firm that has a unique partnership with Barclays US and another fintech that is breaking ground as a trading platform for recurring revenues. Here’s a look at the highlights: 

Amount: The latest fintech unicorn 

On Monday, BNPL technology firm Amount closed a Series D capital raise bringing in close to $100 million of additional primary equity capital, turning the fintech into a startup unicorn with a post-money valuation of more than $1 billion. The recent funding comes from WestCap, a growth equity firm founded by Laurence Tosi; Hanaco Ventures; Goldman Sachs; Invus Opportunities and Barclays Principal Investments. Goldman Sachs led an $86 million Series C round for Amount in late 2020.

Barclays last month announced a partnership with Amount, making it “one of the first major banks to offer installment point-of-sale options, ” according to a press release from the bank . The bank’s offering integrates Amount’s digital platform for POS financing, along with core platform features that include fraud prevention, verification and account management.  

Amount lists HSBC, TD Bank, and Banco Popular as some of its other banking partners, and merchants are able to white label POS payments. “As consumer-focused challenger banks chip away at the market share of incumbents, and as BNPL providers see record user growth during the pandemic, the demand for Amount’s white-labelled products has a clear impetus,” Oliver Yu, an analyst at market intelligence firm CB Insights, told BAN. He added that companies such as Amount are playing a pivotal role in allowing incumbents to fight back against digital-first challengers. 

In a statement regarding the latest round, Amount’s total capital raised amounted to $243 million since spinning off from lending company Avant in January 2020. Amount said the new capital will be devoted to hires in the company’s product, technology and sales groups, as well as “accretive merger and acquisition opportunities.” 

 Pipe: Exceeding expectations 

Pipe, the creator of the “first trading platform for recurring revenues,” announced Wednesday it has raised $250 million in strategic equity funding, led by Greenspring Associates. The fintech, which went public in June 2020, said in a statement that is the “fastest fintech” to have reached $2 billion in valuation.  

Pipe integrates with the SaaS companies’ ERP and subscription management software to give companies access to instant financing. The subscription financing platform allows SaaS providers to access capital by tapping into companies with recurring revenue streams, then converts their subscriptions to their yearly value in cash, giving Pipe’s investor partners, described by the company as “a vetted group of financial institutions and banks,” access to alternative investments. 

The raise was originally allocated for $150 million but the round was oversubscribed by $100 million, and included new investors Counterpoint Global (Morgan Stanley), SBI Investment, Horizons and others. 

More than 4,000 companies have signed up on the Pipe trading platform since its public launch, including more than 25% operating in non-SaaS verticals, and tradable annual recurring revenue on the platform exceeds $1 billion, according to Pipe.  

The fintech plans to devote the new round of financing to extend its global reach to other verticals with recurring revenue streams, such as property management, telecom, and health care, among others.