REPORT
Congratulations to Greek-based Hellas Direct, a full-stack insurance company, who has successfully raised €30 million in their most recent funding round led by London’s ETF Partners.
Well done also to Embat, a Madrid-based FinTech specializing in corporate treasury management, for having secured €15 million in a Series Around led by Trade Republic, Klarna, iZettle and Pleo, Creandum, alongside the participation of existing investors Samaipata, 4Founders, and Venture Friends.
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Funding Circle will offload its US arm in order to focus on its more profitable UK business, after the small business lender widened its losses in 2023.
The former peer-to-peer lending platform reported “strong profit” in UK loans, which was offset by continued investment into its FlexiPay offering and its US business. This led to group earnings of -£3.9m for the 12 months ending 31 December 2023; down from £9.5m in 2022.
Group losses widened year-on-year, reaching £33.2m in 2023, compared with a pre-tax loss of £12.9m the previous year.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🌎 FINTECH HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Revolut’s U.K. boss says London risks losing its crown as the global center for FinTechs.
⭐️ Coinmerce acquires majority stake in Amsterdam’s Icoinic to offer alternative to Bitcoin ETF.
⭐️ French FinTech unicorn Qonto acquires Regate.
⭐️ Arf's Onchain Liquidity Volume Surpasses $1 Billion.
FINTECH
Payhawk releases its Spring’24 edition. This updated product suite now includes Visa credit cards in Euros for new customers throughout the European Economic Area (EEA).
Innovate Finance Launches the first Unicorn Council for UK FinTech. This will provide the government with key policy recommendations to both protect and maintain the UK’s leading global position in FinTech.
Viva.com debuts Merchant Advance financing package in Europe, a new credit solution that will solve critical cashflow issues for thousands of businesses across Europe, helping them invest in growth.
Apple releases a new API to fetch transactions from Apple Card and Apple Cash. The company has also released a new API called FinanceKit that lets developers fetch transactions and balance information from Apple Card, Apple Cash and Savings with Apple.
PAYMENTS
Stripe enables businesses in the UK to accept Tap to Pay on iPhone. Tap to Pay on iPhone provides more flexibility for UK businesses to accept all types of in-person contactless payments using only an iPhone and the Stripe Terminal SDK.
OPEN BANKING
Mastercard and Nexi team up to advance open banking payments across Europe. Nexi, the leading PayTech in Europe, has chosen Mastercard as its strategic partner across Europe to support open banking account-based payments.
DIGITAL BANKING
Banking Circle delivers agency banking service. The solution delivers indirect access to EURO local clearing via SEPA Credit Transfer, SEPA Instant Credit Transfer and GBP via Faster Payments Service.
Revolut has launched a digital eSIM card for Irish customers to access data plans in more than 100 countries. This makes Revolut the first financial institution in Ireland to enter eSIM market.
Sir Richard Branson ‘set for £650m payout’ from potential Nationwide takeover of Virgin Money. The two lenders announced last week that Nationwide had agreed terms for a £2.9bn takeover of Virgin Money to create the UK’s second largest provider of mortgages and savings.
CRYPTO
Deutsche Börse exchange debuts crypto platform for institutions. German exchange giant Deutsche Börse Group unveiled a crypto spot platform in a bid to capture the growing institutional market for digital assets.
DONEDEAL
Alphabet leads £340m Monzo funding round. The FinTech, which has become one of the largest digital banks in the UK with more than nine million users, has been valued at £4bn following the injection of capital.
Team8 raises $500 million for new tech funds. Israeli venture group Team8 said it had raised $500 million to invest in cyber, data infrastructure, FinTech digital health and artificial intelligence (AI) startups.
Griffin secures $24 million in funding and launches as a fully operational UK bank. Funding will be used to scale the bank and enhance infrastructure for new and existing customers.
Revolut investor slashes $5bn off valuation. US tech investor TriplePoint Venture Growth slashed the value of its stake by 18pc at the end of last year, accounts show. The reduction implies the company is worth $23bn, down from $28bn a year ago.
London FinTech Flagstone notches hundred-million-plus US deal as it eyes international expansion. London FinTech savings platform Flagstone has landed £108m funding from US private equity firm Estancia Capital Partners.
M&As
Papara's growth continues with T-Bank acquisition. Papara's latest expansion follows several recent acquisitions and its rollout of world-first voice-activation FinTech.
Payments FinTech Purse completes acquisition of ID firm ReachFive. Purse is a key player in payment orchestration in Europe. Designed to personalize the digital payment experience while simplifying its implementation.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Enfuce has appointed Philip Mikal as its Chief Product & Technology Officer to integrate its product and technology functions under a unified leadership and accelerate the company’s global growth trajectory.