Why TPG and CapitalG Invested in MX

This week we announced $300 million in Series C funding led by a $150-million investment from TPG Growth with additional participation from new and existing investors including CapitalG, Geodesic Capital, Greycroft, Cota Capital, Canapi Ventures, Digital Garage, Point72 Ventures, and Pelion Venture Partners, along with Regions Financial Corp.

To give more details about the funding, the state of the industry, and what it all means for MX, we hosted a webinar, moderated by MX Chief Advocacy Officer Jane Barratt. Ryan Caldwell, MX Founder and CEO, was joined by Jon Winkelried, Co-CEO at TPG, Mike Zappert, Partner at TPG Growth, and Derek Zanutto, General Partner at CapitalG.

You can read a few highlights below.

Ryan Caldwell starts the conversation by talking about what this funding means for MX. "What we're most excited about with this round is the ability of MX to accelerate its capacity to help our partners deliver data-driven money experiences," he says. "We've seen these incredible shifts over the last several years where the experiences that people have with their banks and fintechs — and even with non-banks — are increasingly data driven and automated. MX is empowering this." 

Jon Winkelried, Co-CEO at TPG, echoes Caldwell's comments. "This is one of the most dynamic spaces for investors in the fintech landscape and banking landscape," he says. "It's clearly one of the most dynamic parts of the market, particularly as it relates to focus on data management, focus on creating customer tools and interfaces that customers and financial institutions use on a real-time basis." He adds, "We look at the size of the market and disruptive forces going on in certain markets. And so from that perspective, this is an area that we've decided to spend a lot of time on. And in doing so, obviously we're trying to look for innovators — innovative management teams that are providing innovative solutions. ... We have an opportunity here to back a company that's at the centerpoint of a lot of that change and a lot of innovation, and frankly we found a team that we feel is exceptional."

"We have an opportunity here to back a company that's at the centerpoint of a lot of that change and a lot of innovation, and frankly we found a team that we feel is exceptional." — Jon Winkelried, Co-CEO at TPG

Derek Zanutto, General Partner at CapitalG, adds his view, saying, "Our mandate at CapitalG, as Alphabet's Growth Fund. is to invest in and partner with the world's best technology companies. In pursuing this mission, we've had the honor of partnering with category-defining companies like Stripe, Credit Karma, Robinhood and UI Path, among many others. When we evaluated MX, we saw the market opportunity, the quality of the product as vetted firsthand by our team of engineers at Google, and the excellence of the team at MX. All this gave us very high conviction that MX is and will continue to be the leading franchise in driving this money experience."

"MX is and will continue to be the leading franchise in driving this money experience." — Derek Zanutto, General Partner at CapitalG

He adds, "We are quickly moving through the age of big data to the age of personalization where it's no longer about collecting a massive amount of data, but really about what is it you can do with that data to drive insights and what really matters. Our view is that MX is enabling this to happen in a very impactful area where consumers spend a ton of time and mindshare, which is, their finances. Looking toward the future of fintech with MX, we will see financial institutions not only harnessing the data, but making use of it, resulting in a future where financial institutions can improve the bottom line through products and offerings that tightly aligned with what their customers need and consumers can interact with their finances in a way that best serves them. We're quite optimistic and excited about what's to come."

Mike Zappert, Partner at TPG Growth, builds on this optimism. "It's pretty remarkable that MX was just a small startup offering a few tools 10 years ago, and now it's become this big powerhouse of a company in a big and important space. ... We came away with a lot of conviction that this is the best product out there. And this is something that more and more folks want to get in front of their customers." He adds that "insanely passionate customer feedback" was one of the key drivers in their decision to invest in MX. "You need somebody who can help you to deliver a better experience," he says. "Our strong belief is that somebody is MX." 

"You need somebody who can help you to deliver a better experience. Our strong belief is that somebody is MX." — Mike Zappert, Partner at TPG Growth

In closing, Ryan Caldwell points to the strength of MX. "It's not enough just to have data," he says. "When you think about companies like Spotify, Tesla, and Amazon, you see that everything's about personalization. They know exactly what you've looked for in the past and what you might want to look for. They use all that data in a very consumer-friendly way to make your experience better so it can get what you need faster and return time to you, which is the most valuable thing that you could have returned to you. ... And that's what gets me really excited. It's not about dumb pipes. It's not just about connecting the data. Sure. That's the first step. ... But the real value add is to take this data and enrich it — to have all these insights into that data so that you can personalize and automate the experience, giving customers less work with a more beautiful outcome."

"In the future," he says, "people are going to love their banks or the bank won't exist. They'll love their fintech or the fintech won't exist. And fintechs will look more like banks and banks will look more and more like fintechs and there'll be this new version of an incredibly loved brand that you really trust — a brand that guides you and protects you and automates this complex part of your life that helps fuel everything else."

Want to learn more about the future of banking? Read the Ultimate Guide to Money Experience.