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Mapped: The World’s Legal Government Systems

by Freny Fernandes
This post is by Freny Fernandes from Visual Capitalist

Click to view this graphic in a higher-resolution.

Map of government systems across the world

Mapping The World’s Legal Government Systems

With over 200 countries existing across the world with unique cultures and traditions, one might assume that there are hundreds of types of government systems. But both historically and in modern times, that’s not the case.

Even while political regimes across these countries have changed over time, they’ve largely followed a few different types of governance. Today, every country can ultimately be classified into just nine broad forms of government systems.

This map by Truman Du uses information from Wikipedia to map the government systems that rule the world today.

Countries By Type of Government

It’s important to note that this map charts government systems according to each country’s legal framework.

Many countries have constitutions stating their de jure or legally recognized system of government, but their de facto or realized form of governance may be quite different.

Here is a list of the stated government system of UN member states and observers as of January 2023:

CountryConstitutional formHead of state
AfghanistanProvisionaln/a
AlbaniaRepublicCeremonial
AlgeriaRepublicExecutive
AndorraConstitutional monarchyCeremonial
AngolaRepublicExecutive
Antigua and BarbudaConstitutional monarchyCeremonial
ArgentinaRepublicExecutive
ArmeniaRepublicCeremonial
AustraliaConstitutional monarchyCeremonial
AustriaRepublicCeremonial
AzerbaijanRepublicExecutive
Bahamas, TheConstitutional monarchyCeremonial
BahrainConstitutional monarchyExecutive
BangladeshRepublicCeremonial
BarbadosRepublicCeremonial
BelarusRepublicExecutive
BelgiumConstitutional monarchyCeremonial
BelizeConstitutional monarchyCeremonial
BeninRepublicExecutive
BhutanConstitutional monarchyExecutive
BoliviaRepublicExecutive
Bosnia and HerzegovinaRepublicCeremonial
(Read more...)

Digital lending platform Blend valued at over $4B in its public debut

by Mary Ann Azevedo

Mortgages may not be considered sexy, but they are a big business.

And if you’ve refinanced or purchased a home digitally lately, you may or may not have noticed the company powering the software behind it — but there’s a good chance that company is Blend.

Founded in 2012, the startup has steadily grown to be a leader in the mortgage tech industry. Blend’s white label technology powers mortgage applications on the site of banks including Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank, for example, with the goal of making the process faster, simpler and more transparent. 

The San Francisco-based startup’s SaaS (software-as-a-service) platform currently processes over $5 billion in mortgages and consumer loans per day, up from nearly $3 billion last July.

And today, Blend made its debut as a publicly-traded company on the New York Stock Exchange, trading under the symbol “BLND.” As of early afternoon, Eastern Time, the stock was trading up over 13% at $20.36.

On Thursday night, the company had said it would offer 20 million shares at a price of $18 per share, indicating the company was targeting a valuation of $3.6 billion.

That compares to a $3.3 billion valuation at the time of its last raise in January — a $300 million Series G funding round that included participation from Coatue and Tiger Global Management. Also, let’s not forget that Blend only became a unicorn last August when it raised a $75 million Series F. Over its lifetime, Blend had raised (Read more...)

Kids-focused fintech Greenlight raises $260M in a16z-led Series D, nearly doubles valuation to $2.3B

by Mary Ann Azevedo

Greenlight, the fintech company that pitches parents on kid-friendly bank accounts, has raised $260 million in a Series D funding round that nearly doubles its valuation to $2.3 billion.

The funding comes just months after the Atlanta-based startup landed $215 million in funding at a $1.2 billion valuation. With the latest round, Greenlight has now raised over $550 million.

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) led its Series D, which also included participation from return backers TTV Capital, Canapi Ventures, Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, BOND, Fin VC, Goodwater Capital, as well as new investors Wellington Management, Owl Ventures and LionTree Partners.

Since it launched its debit cards for kids in 2017, the company has managed to set up accounts for more than 3 million parents and children, who have saved more than $120 million through the app. That’s up from 2 million parents and kids having saved $50 million at the time of its September 2020 raise.

Overall, Greenlight says it has “more than tripled” YoY revenue, more than doubled the number of parents and kids on its platform and doubled the size of its team within the past year. 

Image Credits: Greenlight

“Greenlight has quickly emerged as a leader in the family finance category,” said Andreessen Horowitz general partner David George, who will join Greenlight’s board of directors, in a written statement. “Greenlight was built to help parents raise financially-smart kids, and with its breakthrough combination of easy-to-use money management tools and educational resources, the company is well-positioned to become (Read more...)