Return of the Down Round: Financing Amidst a Pandemic

Since the last financial crisis, investors have poured billions into FinTechs and emerging growth companies, leading to staggering valuations and unprecedented volumes of capital. However, as we continue to witness the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies have been forced to reevaluate their funding goals, pare back expansion plans and institute a variety of cost-cutting measures. Despite these hits, a number of FinTechs and emerging growth companies have continued to grow their business and raise significant amounts of capital, looking poised to come out of the pandemic stronger than before. Join Shearman & Sterling and Innovate Finance on July 28th, as members of the Shearman team are joined by leading investors in the FinTech and InsurTech to discuss the effect of the pandemic on different verticals, investment trends and predictions for the second half of the year, advice for companies looking to raise funds and more! Moderator: Matt Lyons, Partner at Shearman & Sterling Panellists: Kirsty Grant, Chief Investment Officer at Seedrs Ryan Gilbert, General Partner at Propel VC Pawel Szaja, Partner at Shearman & Sterling Cassandra Cuellar, Associate at Shearman & Sterling