JPMorgan Chase’s fintech buying spree

This week I’ve been reporting on JPMorgan Chase, which has been on a deal spree, buying up or investing in more than 80 companies since 2021. The main reason? Competition. Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase’s billionaire chairman and CEO, has long warned about the competitive threat from fintechs and Big Tech. Companies like Amazon or Google or PayPal are not constrained by legacy software, or the volumes of regulations that banks have to contend with and are free to innovate. 

Dimon’s answer to this threat is to invest. JPMorgan Chase is so massive—the bank had $2.38 trillion of deposits at the end of the first quarter—that it has deep pockets to invest in adjacent businesses like UK digital wealth manager Nutmeg Savings and Investments; or 75% of Volkswagen Payments; or Frank, the financial aid site. The deals are seen as a way to access new customer bases that the main bank wants access to. That last deal—Frank—has caused some problems for JPMorgan Chase, which is now embroiled in a very public lawsuit against Charlie Javice, the 31-year-old founder of Frank (you can catch up on that story here). Regulators, namely the  Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, are now scrutinizing JPMorgan Chase’s due diligence of recent deals, the Financial Times reported April 7. It’s unclear what the OCC is looking at but JPMorgan’s purchase of Frank will likely be top on its list. (The OCC scheduled the audit before JPMorgan’s lawsuit against Javice, the story said.) The bank conducted several weeks of due diligence of Frank but failed to determine exactly how many customers the startup had before buying it in September 2021 for $175 million. JPMorgan Chase and the OCC declined to comment. 

But Frank was just one of many deals JPMorgan Chase has done since 2021. Most of the bank’s transactions were investments, where it bought a minority stake in a company or took part in a funding round. Surprisingly, just 16% of those were acquisitions. Many of the deals were so small they didn’t have a valuation. Some were outside of banking or fintech. There’s The Infatuation, the restaurant review site, that JPMorgan Chase acquired in 2021, or retailer Simply Organic Beauty, which JPMorgan Chase partnered with West Lane Capital Partners to buy a majority stake. 

One trend did emerge from the data: JPMorgan Chase is a major investor in fintech. Since early 2021, the bank has invested in or bought more than 40 fintechs. 

JPMorgan’s game plan is “scattering [its] bets to hopefully acquire the next big technology or service that winds up providing an edge,” said Stephen Biggar, an analyst with Argus Research. 

You can read more about the bank’s buying spree—and what it now owns—right here. 

Luisa Beltran
Twitter: @LuisaRBeltran
Email: luisa.beltran@fortune.com

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Jackson Fordyce curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.

VENTURE DEALS

- Limebus, a Addis Ababa, Ethiopia-based data engine provider for commerce companies, raised $83 million in Series B funding co-led by PELLIAUN and Leafhouse.

- Avalanche Energy, a Seattle-based fusion energy company, raised $40 million in Series A funding. Lowercarbon Capital led the round and was joined by Founders Fund and Toyota Ventures. 

- Katmai, a New York-based, virtual communications platform, raised $22 million in Series A funding led by Starr Insurance Companies.

- Riverlane, a Cambridge, U.K.-based quantum engineering company, raised £15 million ($18.72 million) in Series B funding. Molten Ventures led the round and was joined by Altair, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Amadeus Capital Partners, and the National Security Strategic Investment Fund. 

- Arado, a São Paulo-based platform connecting fruit and vegetable producers to restaurants and retailers, raised $12 million in funding. Acre Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Syngenta Group Ventures, Globo Ventures, Valor Capital, MAYA Capital, and SP Ventures. 

- ​​YELO Funding, a New York-based college financing solution platform, raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding from Stéphane Conrard and other angels.

PRIVATE EQUITY

- Lafayette Instrument, backed by Branford Castle Partners, acquired Aurora Scientific, an Aurora, Canada-based instrument and software manufacturer in the life sciences sector. Financial terms were not disclosed.

OTHER

- FULLBEAUTY Brands agreed to acquire ELOQUII, a Columbus, Ohio- and New York-based plus-size fashion brand, from Walmart.

IPOS 

- Kenvue, the Skillman, N.J.-based consumer health business of Johnson & Johnson, plans to raise up to $3.48 billion through the sale of 151.2 million shares priced between $20-23.

SPAC

FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS

- Ridge Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, raised $180 million for its fifth fund focused on seed and early series A enterprise software investments. 

PEOPLE

- ICG, a London-based alternative asset management firm, hired Tor Herno as a managing director. Formerly, he was with BlackRock.