FinTech Europe | 2023 #38
Weekly news up to Tuesday, 19th of September 2023
REPORT
While the M&A market remains active, larger deals have become difficult to execute, creating issues for the European Unicorns. For the larger exits, we expect 2023 to be a lost year, with 2024 looking more promising. On the investor side, US, Asian and Strategic investors have become less active. Eventually, the transition in the next 12 months will result in a healthier ecosystem for those that survive.
Check the full report here
Read the full report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Klarna Kosma here
🤑In the past week, we saw 13 deals in Europe for a total amount of €102.7m
Raised officially with five deals in the UK🇬🇧, four deals in France🇫🇷, two deals in Germany🇩🇪, one in Italy🇮🇹 and one in Switzerland🇨🇭.
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Manual finance processes continue to swallow a third (33%) of UK finance teams’ time. With its finance automation technology, Tipalti aims to eradicate this - enabling finance teams to have the time to contribute to strategic work that aids growth.
😎 SPONSORED CONTENT
Delights your customers, optimize your operations, enhance your data, and more. Check out this practical guide by Vacuumlabs for applying AI in fintech.
📰 ARTICLE
Innovation within Ireland's banking sector has been hindered by a lack of government funding, claims a newly published report.
The study, Ireland's Fintech Future, commissioned by Financial Services Ireland (FSI), an arm of banking lobby group Ibec, found that limited state support was cited as a major barrier to the prospects of the country's fintech sector.
Read the full article here
Last week, Swedish buy now, pay later (BNPL) scaleup Klarna brought 4,000 employees together in Stockholm; social media showed people dressed up in bandanas or Klarna pink — there were even a few Minions.
Read the full article here
💬 INTERVIEW
Read the full interview here
💡INSIGHTS
🏦How banks are building the next wave of embedded finance:
weavr invited respondents to a survey to consider some suggested causes of cost and risk for their bank when developing new capabilities in embedded finance.
Read the full article here
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🌎 FINTECH HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Buy now, pay later booms for pensioners
⭐️ Half of UK payments made using debit cards in 2022
⭐️ Clearbank ups profit and eyes US expansion
⭐️ Santander commits to €100 million fund for Spanish startups.
⭐️Blackbullion announces money management app to promote financial wellbeing for students.
⭐️ Signicat launches no-code platform for digital ID.
PAYMENTS
Visa has leveraged its acquisition of Currencycloud to launch a new global cross-border money movement service for banks, fintechs, FX brokers, corporates, and other payment institutions.
Hokodo has partnered with AI powered transaction analytics firm, Fuse, to enhance its credit offering to businesses in the UK.
Divido launches pair of payments analytics tools for merchants.
OPEN BANKING
Coinbase has announced the expansion of its Easy Bank Transfers to the Netherlands, making Open Banking payments available to Dutch customers.
Saxo Bank and Mastercard launch open banking payments for investment accounts.
CRYPTO
Noda has tapped crypto-to-fiat banking platform BVNK to meet surging demand for stablecoin payments from customers across Europe.
BLOCKCHAIN / DEFI
A feud between two crypto kingpins—Sam Bankman-Fried and Changpeng Zhao—that wiped out tens of billions of dollars in market value and is still playing out today.
INVESTMENT
Trade Republic has doubled its interest rate offer to four percent. This move follows the European Central Bank's decision to raise its rates.
Lloyds Banking Group has invested €3 million in technology company Enigio to expand its use of digital documentation in trade.
Payflow snaps €20M to expand its financial superapp for employees.
Stripe added new features to its optimized checkout suite to help users increase their revenue by making it easier for their customers to complete a purchase.
DONE DEAL
Swan has announced a €37 million Series B investment round. The fresh capital signals the onset of Swan’s renewed international ambition.
Fipto has raised €15 million in seed funding that it will use to accelerate its platform that enables companies to manage their corporate treasury and make international payments in fiat and digital currencies using blockchain technology.
Immix has emerged from stealth with a $2.7m (£2.2m) seed round.
HyperJar has raised $24m in Series A funding led by Susquehanna Private Equity Investments.
Wamo raises $1.5m seed extension round ahead of EMI license application.
DKK Partners has announced the successful closing of their pre-seed funding raise, totalling £3 million, prior to Series B set to take place at the beginning of 2024.
M&A’s
Rauva is to acquire the bank Banco Empresas Montepio for around €30m, advancing its business solutions.
Recharge has announced its successful acquisition of Startselect, a European digital gift and gaming cards company.
FRAUD PREVENTION
Credolab has partnered with Circulo de Credito to bring more financial inclusion in Mexico by providing credit, risk, and fraud scoring solutions.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Conferma Pay has appointed Sonya Geelon, formerly of Mastercard, as its new Chief Commercial Officer.
Vodeno announces the appointment of Philip McHugh as Chairman and Noah Sharp as CEO.
FINTECH MAPS
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.
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