As FinTech apps and products become a bigger part of people’s everyday lives—especially with many currently spending more time at home—it makes sense that big banks are looking for ways to be a part of the sector.
Goldman Sachs has been embracing FinTech for years, with a unit dedicated to it since 2000 and offices in London, Sao Paulo, Hong Kong and New York. Its most notable offering, Marcus, reported a $12 billion boost in deposits to reach $72 billion by the end of the first quarter. The company has also been highly active in mergers and acquisitions, as well as investments, real estate, data analytics, and payments, all aimed at expanding Marcus.
And late last year it was reported that Goldman plans to launch a robo advisor aimed at clients that want to invest as little as $5,000. That news followed the company’s acquisition of wealth manager United Capital for $750 million, aimed at expanding its wealth management businesses.
In addition, the banking giant has been working to help companies in financial technology secure funding. But while Goldman Sachs is known for advising major players (think Rupert Murdoch and Jeff Bezos), when it comes to FinTech, it has been more focused on the little guy.
Goldman hosted a FinTech conference for a decade where its help introduce young entrepreneurs to potential investors, and it recently helped startup Stash raise $112 million in funding from investors including LendingTree, Breyer Capital, Goodwater Capital, Greenspring Associates, Union Square Ventures, Entree Capital, and others. Goldman Sachs also worked with Plaid Technologies on its $5.3 billion sale to Visa, advised Credit Karma on its impending $7.1 billion acquisition by Intuit, and assisted SoFi on its $1.2 billion purchase of Galileo Financial Technologies.
The company reports that it has worked on 14 FinTech deals worldwide, valued at more than $500 million since the beginning of last year.
“It’s been about creating opportunities with these private FinTech companies first and foremost. We want to be the core adviser to the next generation of companies, those who will be the next PayPal or Square,” said Jeff Gido, global head of Goldman Sachs’ financial technology group.
