DANIEL, Native AI, and more

Your weekly update on Christian-related startups, founders, and VC

April 11, 2023

Good Morning!

Welcome to this week's edition of Faith Factor, your weekly overview of Christian-related startup and VC news.

Startup of the Week: DANIEL

Founded in 2018 by Martin Hopkins and David Daniel, DANIEL is a fintech startup focusing on reducing the cost of cross-border payments. They aim to reduce the cost and processing time of a $200 cross-border payment from 7% and 1-5 days to 1.5% and instantaneously by bypassing may of the current payment intermediaries. The company, named after Daniel from the Bible, has over 40 employees based on their LinkedIn profile. Yet, even with their early increase in headcount, the team has bootstrapped much of their progress through taking on only small amounts of outside funding. In 2021, they raised $100k from Eagle Venture Fund, and later raised similarly-sized amounts from friends, family, and current team members. They also were a winner of The Lion's Den DFW, a Christian startup pitch competition. Now, Daniel begins to enter the next stages of their growth; they filed three provisional patent applications, and are beginning to raise a pre-seed round. With their strong team and useful product, DANIEL could see strong results as they progress to the next stage.

Faith-Based News

Startups

  • Profit, a fintech startup that helps businesses analyze customer profitability better, raised an undisclosed amount of early-stage funding from Eagle Venture Fund (PitchBook data)

  • Native AI, which creates "digital twins" of customers to help brands collect better insights, raised $3.5 million in seed funding (link)

  • Phil Stevens, the founder of Missio Dei Films, formed a $25 million fund focused on Christian filmmaking (link)

Incubators, Programs and Competitions

  • None this week

Impact News

Startups

  • Isar Aerospace, which aims to lower the entry barriers to space launches, raised a $165 million Series C (link)

  • Norsepower, which builds mechanical sails for large ships, raised a $30.3 million Series C (link)

  • Green Labs, an agtech startup with a smart farm management system, secured $38.4 million in debt financing (link)

  • Wellth, which focuses on improving the health of patients with chronic diseases, raised a $20 million Series B (link)

  • Mercy BioAnalytics, a developer of an early-stage cancer detection platform, raised a $41 million Series A (link)

  • Covariant, an AI robotics startup, raised a $75 million Series C (link)

  • X Shore, which manufactures quiet electric motorboats, raised $30 million (link)

Around the Network

Select Articles

  • Lion's Den Unites Kingdom-Minded Believers (link)

Select Podcasts

  • Developing Holy Ambition with Chip Ingram (link)

Job Boards

All Levels

See you next week!