Private Markets, Angel and Secondary Investing, Sacra

Sacra

Private Markets, Angel and Secondary Investing

Bringing transparency to private markets so investors, founders, and employees can build on conviction. Sacra delivers deeply researched insights on the private companies shaping tomorrow's markets. By surfacing the data, context, and operator perspective that are missing from private markets today, we help secondary buyers and sellers price equity accurately and unlock liquidity for the people building these businesses.

Private Capital Markets

<ul><li>In the late 2010s, investors were bullish on digital neobanks like Chime (US), Monzo (UK), and N26 (Germany) because of their rapid growth to millions of users and their structurally lower CAC vs. traditional banks (~$100 vs. $650-700).</li><li>During COVID, CACs went up across the industry as new neobanks proliferated, but when interest rates fell to 0%, it exposed that most of them were swimming naked, with only 5% being profitable.</li><li>As interest rates increased from 0% to ~5%, the outlook for the top neobanks has brightened, with accelerating revenue growth from deposits and lending (interest income was up 167% YoY at Monzo).</li></ul>

In the late 2010s, investors were bullish on digital neobanks like Chime (US), Monzo (UK), and N26 (Germany) because of their rapid growth to millions of users and their structurally lower CAC vs. traditional banks (~$100 vs. $650-700).During COVID, CACs went up across the industry as new neobanks proliferated, but when interest rates fell to 0%, it exposed that most of them were swimming naked, with only 5% being profitable.As interest rates increased from 0% to ~5%, the outlook for the top neobanks has brightened, with accelerating revenue growth from deposits and lending (interest income was up 167% YoY at Monzo).

<ul><li>High interest rates helped neobanks like Starling Bank, Monzo, and N26 re-accelerate revenue growth in 2023.</li><li>For those neobanks with the balance sheets to stay alive, interest rates rising from 0.25% to 5.50% between 2022 and 2023 drove significant revenue re-acceleration from the yield on their deposits.</li><li>Geographical expansion remains the next frontier for neobanking—see Monzo’s recent $430M raise designed to help them relaunch in the United States</li></ul>

High interest rates helped neobanks like Starling Bank, Monzo, and N26 re-accelerate revenue growth in 2023.For those neobanks with the balance sheets to stay alive, interest rates rising from 0.25% to 5.50% between 2022 and 2023 drove significant revenue re-acceleration from the yield on their deposits.Geographical expansion remains the next frontier for neobanking—see Monzo’s recent $430M raise designed to help them relaunch in the United States

<ul><li>Betterment and Wealthfront survived the robo-advisor purge by building the biggest brands in the space.</li><li>Growth slowed to low double-digits for both Wealthfront and Betterment in 2021 and 2022 with the rise of meme investing via Robinhood.</li><li>As interest rates have climbed to 5.25-5.50%—the highest levels since 2001—Betterment and Wealthfront’s AUM growth has re-accelerated, growing 50% and 77% respectively.</li></ul>

Betterment and Wealthfront survived the robo-advisor purge by building the biggest brands in the space.Growth slowed to low double-digits for both Wealthfront and Betterment in 2021 and 2022 with the rise of meme investing via Robinhood.As interest rates have climbed to 5.25-5.50%—the highest levels since 2001—Betterment and Wealthfront’s AUM growth has re-accelerated, growing 50% and 77% respectively.

Wealthfront, Betterment, And The robo-advisor Resurrection

Chime Financial / Private Capital Markets

<ul><li>Chime (launched 2012) found initial product-market fit marketing to millennials and the 75% of Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck with no-fee accounts and 2 days early access to their wages.</li><li>Chime can grow ARPU from the ~$30-$120 of a top interchange-based neobank to the $1,200 of a full-service consumer retail bank like a Bank of America and increase LTV by turning on additional features like crypto, investing, insurance, and most importantly, lending.</li><li>Chime’s lead gives it the chance to build the CNBC of finance superapps, positioned against Cash App’s meme-y, Wall Street Bets-adjacent finance superapp.</li></ul>

Chime (launched 2012) found initial product-market fit marketing to millennials and the 75% of Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck with no-fee accounts and 2 days early access to their wages.Chime can grow ARPU from the ~$30-$120 of a top interchange-based neobank to the $1,200 of a full-service consumer retail bank like a Bank of America and increase LTV by turning on additional features like crypto, investing, insurance, and most importantly, lending.Chime’s lead gives it the chance to build the CNBC of finance superapps, positioned against Cash App’s meme-y, Wall Street Bets-adjacent finance superapp.

<ul><li>As the revenues grew so much, I think you got these crazy valuations.</li><li>In the Chime world, there would be times where we would basically have to prioritize which thing to put in front of the bank first because there just weren’t enough resources to get them all done in time.</li><li>Chime is probably in a better position than most companies to handle a recession because they have a lot of cash flow and a lot of investor money and they haven&#39;t blown it all.</li></ul>

As the revenues grew so much, I think you got these crazy valuations.In the Chime world, there would be times where we would basically have to prioritize which thing to put in front of the bank first because there just weren’t enough resources to get them all done in time.Chime is probably in a better position than most companies to handle a recession because they have a lot of cash flow and a lot of investor money and they haven&#39;t blown it all.

Ex-Chime Employee On Chime's multi-product Future

Germany

Mobile banking app offering fee-free accounts and debit cards to European consumers

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N26 (N26 DE)

The Neobank Capital Cycle

TL;DR: The higher interest rate environment of the last few years forced underperforming neobanks to shut down, but the top players are doing...

Sacra

European Neobanks Are Back

TL;DR: High interest rates helped neobanks like Starling Bank, Monzo, and N26 re-accelerate revenue growth in 2023. Now, these neobanks—the ones...

Sacra

Wealthfront, Betterment, And The robo-advisor Resurrection

TL;DR: Betterment and Wealthfront survived the robo-advisor purge by building the biggest brands in the space—before the cost of customer...

Sacra

Chime: The $1.3B/year could-be Superapp

Chime (dataset) built the #1 neobank in the United States by focusing on lower-income consumers looking for early access to paychecks. Now, they...

Sacra

Ex-Chime Employee On Chime's multi-product Future

Sacra interview with an ex-Chime employee.

Sacra

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