GREENWICH — Venture capital firm Oak HC/FT has announced its leading role in $54 million of funding for Highnote, a San Francisco-based financial-technology firm.
Greenwich-based Oak led the Series A funding and co-led the seed funding round with another venture capital firm, Costanoa Ventures, while several other investors also participated.
Those funds will support the growth of Highnote, which describes itself as the first card-issuing platform specifically built for small and mid-sized companies. The company was founded by John MacIlwaine, former general manager at Braintree, a PayPal company, and Kin Kee, Braintree’s former director of architecture.
“We understand the many challenges enterprises currently face in embedding payments capabilities to drive customer engagement, loyalty and revenue, as well as for consumers and (small and medium businesses) that need access to wages and funds immediately,” Oak partner Matt Streisfeld said in a statement. “We see a massive opportunity emerging to whomever is able to crack the code. We’re building that at Highnote, and as a result, we are thrilled to provide the support they need to continue their incredible velocity.”
Founded in 2014, Oak manages about $3.3 billion in assets. The HC/FT is an abbreviation that refers to its focus on early to “growth-stage” companies in health care and financial technology.
It has maintained that strategy with the launch of its Fund IV earlier this year which provided the funding for the Highnote investment.
“As we think about what we want to accomplish with the new fund and the areas we invest in, health care and fintech are about 50 percent of the economy,” Oak co-founder and managing partner Annie Lamont said in an interview earlier this year.
Oak’s other investments this year have included leading roles in a $98 million funding round for e-commerce provider cart.com and a $100 million infusion in Medicare agency Advise Health Holdings.
Among other companies in its portfolio, Oak participated in approximately $120 million in fundraising rounds last year and in 2019 for the Stamford-based health care information firm Sema4.
In July, Sema4 completed its transformation into a publicly traded company and achieved about a $3 billion valuation.
Sema4 is the sole Connecticut-headquartered company in which Oak has an active investment.
The Oak investor base includes strategic investors, fund-of-funds, corporate and public pension plans, endowments and family offices.
Oak is headquartered in the Pickwick Plaza office complex in downtown Greenwich and also maintains offices in Boston and San Francisco. There are 33 people on the Oak team, with 21 of them based in Greenwich.
pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; twitter: @paulschott
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