Funding deals, Founders and Investors, & Movers and Shakers #36
FUNDING
Fintech startup 🇩🇪 N26 has raised a $900 million Series E round at a $9 billion valuation. That represents a big jump from the company’s Series D valuation of $3.5 billion. Link here.
🇲🇽 REWORTH, a Mexico-based startup that offers API solutions so financial institutions can offer cash back to their clients, today announced the closing of a $2.8 million Seed round. Link here.
🇰🇪 Asante Financial Services Group announced $7.5 million Series A investment anchored by Goodwell Investments with participation by other investors including Sorenson Impact Foundation and Forsage Holdings. Link here.
🇺🇸 Deel is announcing it has raised $425 million in a Series D funding round that gives it a valuation of $5.5 billion. Coatue led the latest financing, with partners Rahul Kishore and Lucas Swisher leading the deal. Link here.
Money management app 🇬🇧 Chip has closed the biggest ever equity crowdfund on Crowdcube, raising £11.5 million from 12,954 investors. Link here.
French employee benefits fintech 🇫🇷 Swile has secured $200 million in a Series D funding round led by SoftBank Group Corp.. Link here.
Payday, a Pan-African financial technology company has raised one million dollars in pre-seed funding to build out what they believe will be the “PayPal” for Africa. Link here.
Money management app 🇬🇧 Chip has closed the biggest ever equity crowdfund on Crowdcube, raising £11.5 million from 12,954 investors. Link here.
🇧🇷 Bradesco, Brazil’s third-largest bank, announced its purchase of a 49.99% stake in digital bank Digio for $113.2 million. Link here.
Microlender to the underbanked 🇺🇸 Tala has raised $145 million in Series E financing to fund a host of new services, including crypto. Link here.
Nigeria’s lifestyle and financial ecosystem app 🇳🇬 Sparkle Nigeria has raised a $3.1 million seed round from a group of all-Nigerian investors. Link here.
🇳🇬 Flutterwave Inc., a Nigerian payments firm, is seeking fresh funding at a valuation of $3 billion or more, a figure that would roughly triple its last valuation, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Link here.
🇬🇧 SumUp, a U.K.-based payment processor, has acquired marketing start-up Fivestars in a bid to expand its reach across the U.S. and take on giants like PayPal and Square. Link here.
🇬🇧 TradingView, a social network and charting platform for traders and investors, has hit a $3 billion valuation off the back of a $298 million investment round led by Tiger Global. Link here.
Toronto real estate tech startup 🇨🇦 Perch | Make better real estate decisions has raised $1 million CAD in seed funding to scale the development of its property financing solutions. Link here.
🇬🇧 Plum has made the first close of its Series A with a $14m fundraise along with what it says is a tripling of its valuation. Link here.
🇺🇸 Pomelo, Inc. Pay announced $5 million in seed funding and will be the first company to combine credit and international money transfer in one unified product. Its launch will aim to help users build credit while sending money to family overseas without any fees. Link here.
🇺🇸 Atomic, the market-leading provider for payroll connectivity, announced that it has secured $22 million in Series A financing to expand its payroll integration platform and grow its team. Link here.
🇬🇧 Global Processing Services, the leading global payment technology platform, announced it has raised over US$300 million from Advent International and Viking Global Investors, who will co-control the company. Link here.
Australian online lender 🇦🇺 MoneyMe Limited has formed a $36 million (AUD 50 million) funding partnership with private equity investment firm Pacific Equity Partners (PEP). Link here.
🇦🇺 Judo Bank, Shareholders Seek $477 Million in Sydney Fintech IPO. Link here.
Australian online lender 🇦🇺 MoneyMe Limited has formed a $36 million (AUD 50 million) funding partnership with private equity investment firm Pacific Equity Partners (PEP). Link here.
🇸🇪 Juni, a neobank built for ecommerce merchants, announced a $52m Series A extension from EQT Ventures. Link here.
FOUNDERS & INVESTORS
There is a well-known gender gap in FinTech: a 2020 study found that less than 7% of global FinTech founders are women. Finance Forward ’s applicant pool paints a rosier picture for impact-driven companies, with 29% of financial health startups reporting a female founder or co-founder. The regional results vary widely, from 15% of startups in Europe reporting gender diversity to 45% in the United States. Link here.
🇬🇧 Sokin, a global payments provider, has announced a new multi-year partnership with the Miami Dolphins. The three-year deal is 🇬🇧 Sokin’s first substantial sponsorship agreement in North America and its first with an NFL team. Link here.
Mortgage disrupter 🇬🇧 Nano has signed a transformational deal with global tech giant Oracle under which its technology could be used to onboard all new-to-bank customers applying for a home loan with Westpac and NAB. Link here.
The digital asset company 🇺🇸 Bakkt Holdings has completed a merger with a firm called VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings and the combined business will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on October 18. Link here.
Last month, 🇺🇸 Paystack became the first payment gateway in Africa’s largest economy to become an Apple Pay partner. Link here.
🇺🇸 AngelList recently launched AngelList Stack, a new suite of products that will compete with Carta in providing services to help founders start, operate and maintain ownership over their companies. Link here.
After the completion of 🇺🇸 MoneyLion’s public listing on the NYSE, the company’s co-founder Chee Mun Foong becomes the first Malaysia FinTech founder to be on the New York Stock Exchange. Link here.
The central and eastern European startup ecosystem is booming. Tech companies from the region are now valued at more than €186bn, a 19-fold increase since 2010, according to a new report released today by Google for Startups, VC firm 🇬🇧 Atomico and intelligence platform Dealroom.co. Link here.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, more commonly known as Prince Harry and Meghan, have signed up to help scale a fintech start-up asset manager Ethic. Link here.
During the pandemic, Latin America became a hot market for tech startups, with foreign venture capital flooding the region. Latin America now hosts 23 private “unicorn” companies — valued over $1 billion — according to Crunchbase. Overall, these companies have raised more than $15 billion. Roughly two-thirds of them are based in Brazil, but data indicates other countries are catching up. Link here.
🇺🇸 Bakkt, a trusted digital asset marketplace that enables consumers to buy, sell, send and spend digital assets, today announced a partnership with Google to extend the reach and usability of digital assets to meet rapidly evolving consumer demand and preferences. Link here.
🇬🇧 Elliptic, the London-headquartered crypto startup that monitors financial crime, has raised $60 million from a group including SoftBank Investment Advisers. Link here.
🇳🇬 Mono, an African startup that helps connect consumers’ bank accounts to financial applications, has raised a $15 million Series A round, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. Link here.
MOVERS & SHAKERS:
Laurel Powers-Freeling has been appointed as the new chair of directors for the digital wealth platform Moneybox. Link here.
Former UK chancellor Philip Hammond has signed on as an advisor to a British cryptocurrency startup. Link here.
OPPORTUNITIES:
🇬🇧 ComplyAdvantage, a global data technology company transforming financial crime detection, announced the North American expansion of ComplyLaunch™ a free program for fintech startups. Link here.
Railsbank the leading global Embedded Finance platform has announced the opening of its new Global Headquarters in Broadgate, London’s largest pedestrianized neighbourhood in the heart of the financial district. Link here.
🇬🇧 Bank North, the UK's first truly regional business bank of the modern era, has grown its team further, including adding Neil Boycott as Head of Credit Risk, as the bank continues to progress through its mobilization phase. Link here.
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.