Payments Tech Page 4
by CB Insights
of course, it’d be fair to ask why AmEx felt the need to invest in either company at all, especially in late-stage rounds with lofty private market valuations? Fancy, a Pinterest competitor, was valued at a rumored $600 million in the round AmEx invested in.
Motivations and strategy aside, it is clear that American Express has bought into its venture strategy more than its competitive peers. The NYC-based payments behemoth has in 19 deals in the last 2 years versus Visa and Mastercard which have combined for a total of 6 deals. Whether American Express’ strategy of actively investing in companies far afield from its core business proves prescient or ill-advised remains to be seen.