REPORT
Over the past decade, technological progress and innovation have catapulted the fintech sector from the fringes to the forefront of financial services. And the growth has been fast and furious, buoyed by the robust growth of the banking sector, rapid digitization, changing customer preferences, and increasing support of investors and regulators.
During this decade, fintechs have profoundly reshaped certain areas of financial services with their innovative, differentiated, and customer-centric value propositions, collaborative business models, and cross-skilled and agile teams.
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Navro, formerly known as Paytrix, has secured $14m in its latest funding round and has concurrently announced that the Central Bank of Ireland has authorised its EMI licence.
The round was led by existing investors Bain Capital and Unusual Ventures, with participation from Motive Partners and prior investors Fin Capital. This investment bolsters Navro’s reserves, enabling it to meet the capital requirements of tier-one regulators, clients, and banks.
📰 ARTICLE
As the fintech talent market continues to fluctuate, bringing alumni back looks a safe bet for some firms. $8.8bn payments fintech Wise says it's seeing a "fantastic trend" of employees returning, and is rewarding their loyalty with a unique gift.
Wise calls its returners "Boomerang Wisers," and upon their return gifts them a real boomerang. The fintech says the benefit of hiring these boomerangs is that they come ¿with a "wealth of experience, fresh perspectives and a renewed decision to drive our mission forward." They presumably don't have to have as rigorous an onboarding process, too.
💡INSIGHTS
Oliver Bellenhaus, one of the 4 individuals on trial in the Wirecard case in Germany, has been released from custody after 3.5 years, subject to certain conditions. Bellenhaus is expected to leave the high-security prison in Munich-Stadelheim, where he is in pretrial detention.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🌎 FINTECH HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Crypto wallet app Coca rolls out virtual cards.
⭐️ Pluto Markets, a Danish fintech startup that offers stock trading, has raised $2.6 million.
⭐️ Cascading AI secures $3.9m in pre-seed funding.
⭐️ 1.2M USD Follow-up Investment in Turan, the Financial Application of the Turkic World
FINTECH
Klarna moves to new London HQ billed as “world’s largest co-working space”. The payments giant, has moved into its new London headquarters, billed as the “world’s largest co-working space”
Atlantic Money receives green light for expansion across US, Canada and Australia. UK fintech, Atlantic Money is set to offer its fixed international transfers of its fixed-fee money transfers across additional major markets.
Vanguard set to launch app for UK investors. The app currently in development will allow its customers to invest in the passive giant’s ETFs and other products.
Lightyear announces the full launch of its web application with new stock screeners, a highly requested feature by investors on the platform.
PAYMENTS
Ant International and Yapily Launch Europe’s First Commercial Variable Recurring Payments for e-Commerce, in Partnership with HungryPanda.
Mastercard and Last Mile Solutions launch a universal payment-terminal solution for EV charging in Europe. The new payment gateway solution will unify the user experience and simplify payment terminal integration.
Sprinque partners with Mangopay to provide holistic payments solutions for B2B marketplaces. The collaboration enables merchants and marketplaces to take advantage of holistic and customisable payments infrastructures and terms.
Inbank turns to Montonio for BNPL offering in Estonia. The initial phase of the partnership will be rolled out in Estonia, with future plans to expand to other markets.
Mastercard and Pagero partner to expand businesses access to seamless digital payments. By integrating with Mastercard´s Cross-Border Services, Pagero will now support account-based cross-border and domestic payments.
Visa 🆚 Mastercard on Performance FY 2023. Visa and Mastercard reported strong annual performance due to increased consumer spending and cross-border volumes.
OPEN BANKING
Neonomics selected by Lowell to roll-out account to-account payments across the Nordics. The collaboration will see Lowell integrate account-to-account payments through their customer portal.
Moneyhub boards public sector open banking push. Moneyhub has been named as a supplier on Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) Open Banking Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) framework for its account-to-account payment services.
REGTECH
KYC 🆚 AML : The terms KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) are often used by regulators and compliance officers, sometimes interchangeably, which may cause confusion.
Confide allies with the Association of Corporate Investigators. This alliance positions Confide at the forefront of industry innovation, harnessing ACi's vast member expertise to significantly enhance its product offerings.
Napier Continuum for AML compliance now available as plug-and-play hosted service or headless API. These new solutions deliver Napier’s experience in helping financial institutions.
DIGITAL BANKING
N26’s CEO Valentin Stalf predicted a 2023 IPO. Now he’s got a new timeline for going public. German neobank N26 is one of many tech companies that’s had to eat some humble pie in recent years.
Revolut is launching phone plans for travelers in the UK. Revolut is launching phone plans in the U.K., the company has told CNBC exclusively, making it the first financial services firm in the country to offer telecom plans.
CRYPTO
B2C2 obtains Luexmbourg VASP registration. While B2C2 has long serviced a diverse client base across the Americas, Asia-Pacific and EMEA regions this regulatory approval marks a further milestone in the company’s growth to benefit.
Kraken secures VASP registration from Dutch Central Bank. This registration will allow it to expand into an important European market and offer its industry leading products to Dutch clients.
A16z’s Chris Dixon on crypto regulation in the UK, open source AI and the coming wave of blockchain products in 2024.
DONEDEAL
Tuum raises EUR25m series B financing. The company plans to enhance its direct sales and marketing operations, while also fortifying its partner channel with key managed service relationships to amplify sales reach and implementation scalability.
Bankflip successfully raises a €2.6 million funding round. The objective of this funding round is to strengthen the company’s position in the Spanish market.
French fintech Pennylane raises €40m for M&A. The funds will largely be used to finance acquisitions as the company looks to expand its technology and services portfolio.
Ex-Société Générale’s exec launches new €150m European seed fund. Varsity VC, a brand-new seed investor founded by banking veteran and ex-Société Générale deputy CEO Didier Valet, has closed a first €75m for its first fund, targeting €150m.
Pagaya secures five-year $280m credit facility led by BlackRock. The company says the new facility “extends its corporate debt maturity to 2029” and “provides the capital and liquidity needed to support the company’s future growth”.
M&As
Tembo announces acquisition of Lifetime ISA provider Nude Finance. With the acquisition, Tembo will now be able to offer its customers Nude’s award-winning Lifetime ISA.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Revolut partner leaves for publicly traded rival. Aaron Elliott-Gross joins Wise as global director of product compliance in London, leading "the first line product compliance function."