Having ditched plans to go public via a Spac, savings and investing app Acorns has raised $300 million from private investors at a $1.9 billion valuation.
According to CNBC, the Series F round was led by TPG and joined by BlackRock, Bain Capital Ventures, Galaxy Digital, and basketball star Kevin Durant's firm.
Launched in 2014, Acorns now claims more than four million subscribers in the US for its app that automatically rounds up PayPal and debit and credit card purchases and puts the extra cents into stocks and bonds.
Last year, it decided to join the Spac train, outlining a deal with Nasdaq-listed Spac Pioneer Merger Corp at a $2.2 billion valuation.
However, in January the deal was abandoned because, CEO Noah Kerner tells CNBC: “The markets got very volatile."
He continues: "The concerns we had about the [Spac] market were that we would get lumped into a group of companies that perhaps were valuing themselves in inflated ways."
Although the $1.9 billion valuation is below the $2.2 billion Spac target, Kerner tells CNBC he is "proud" because private markets are currently "choppy" with investors "taking a long, hard look at valuations".
As for the future, Acorns still plans to go public when the markets look better but the firm will list via the traditional IPO route.