Troubled FinTech Solaris in Search of Fresh Funding
Weekly news up to Tuesday, 3rd of December 2024
REPORT
The Portugal 🇵🇹 FinTech Report 2024 by Portugal FinTech is out.
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Some of Revolut’s earliest investors will be offered the chance to cash in on the fintech giant’s latest secondary share sale in a move that has staved off potential legal action, City AM can reveal.
The British banking company has opened up the next phase of its sale to early stage investors, including those holding stock through start-up investment platform Republic Europe.
📊 INFOGRAPHIC
📰 ARTICLE OF THE WEEK
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🌎 FINTECH HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Troubled FinTech Solaris in search of fresh funding.
⭐️ Revolut Legal has quietly been working on an AI copilot with Google Gemini.
⭐️ Fingular Surpasses Operational Breakeven in Record Time, Gains 5 Million Customers Globally.
⭐️ Bulgarians plead guilty to involvement in Jan Marsalek spy ring.
FINTECH
Spendesk officially launches its own Payment Institution: Spendesk Financial Services. With Spendesk Financial Services, Spendesk now has end-to-end control over its payment services infrastructure. This strategic initiative represents a significant milestone in the evolution of its platform.
HSBC loses court challenge against $33.4 mln EU cartel fine. HSBC lost its challenge on Wednesday, as Europe's second-highest court upheld the 2021 penalty. HSBC can appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union, Europe's top court. More on that here
SumUp surpasses 1 billion transactions per year and accelerates global expansion with record growth. This milestone marks a pivotal point in SumUp’s mission to help merchants start, run, and grow their businesses, highlighting its rapid expansion across multiple markets.
Lightyear to relaunch in the UK with direct FCA authorisation. Under the newly authorised company – Lightyear UK – customers will benefit from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), something only available to investment firms who are directly authorised. Read on
Norrsken-backed green investment startup Grünfin closes saying “maybe we were ahead of time.” The Estonian green investment platform was founded in 2020 by former Wise employees and offered investors the chance to build an investment portfolio in sustainable companies. Explore more
Financial inclusion drives African FinTech M-KOPA to $400M in ARR. The company claims to have hit profitability since last year across four countries: Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and Ghana. South Africa, where it opened around a year ago, is its fastest-growing market, according to President and MD of FinTech Mayur Patel.
Eddid Financial receives In-Principle Approval for Singapore Capital Markets Services license. Once officially approved, the license will offer a wide array of services, such as dealing in capital markets products, product financing, and custodial services, marking a significant step into the local market.
PAYMENTS
Klarna Payments and Klarna Pay Now Standalone are now available on Checkout.com’s network. Click here to watch video
Checkout.com has officially announced the integration of Bizum as a payment method in Spain. This partnership aims to provide merchants with one of the most popular payment options in the country. Continue reading
Revolut will expand its payment services in Italy by introducing its POS terminals, starting next week. Italy has been a key market for Revolut, with 2 million customers, personal loans, and advertising campaigns launched this year. The company has increased its investments in the region by 94%.
Klarna opens new hub in Warsaw to recruit 100 of Poland’s top tech talents. This strategic investment highlights Klarna’s dedication to advancng its global technology capabilities while recognizing Poland as a key player in Europe’s innovation landscape.
Biosmart granted Mastercard Letter of Approval for IDEX Pay biometric cards. This milestone enables the Korea-based company to begin industrialized production of biometric payment cards. Biosmart is a trusted partner of leading banks in Asia, Middle East, Europe and USA.
Tranglo expands remittance services to seven African countries. The cross-border payment hub now facilitates payments in Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Senegal, and Zambia, aiming to address high remittance fees by offering efficient and cost-effective solutions.
Worldpay brings faster refunds to the UK. The faster refund service enables most UK shoppers using Mastercard or Visa to receive near-instant refunds for online returns at participating retailers like HMV. This will drive better rates of retention and cost efficiency through reduced queries related to refunds.
Paysera Romania launches online payment processing solution combining card processing and open banking payments. By combining bank card processing with payment initiation services, the company offers merchants maximum flexibility and provides customers with a fast and secure payment experience.
REGTECH
FCA fines Macquarie Bank £13m for fictitious trades amid ‘serious failings.’ The FCA fined Macquarie Bank due to weaknesses in its systems that allowed trader Travis Klein to hide fictitious trades and trading losses for 20+ months. The bank failed to address known issues, enabling bypassing of internal controls.
Sumsub partners with Elliptic to strengthen crypto fraud prevention and compliance tools. The integration of Elliptic's blockchain analytics into Sumsub’s system creates a unified platform for crypto wallet screening and risk assessment, aiming to combat rising blockchain-related crime and fraud in the crypto sector.
DIGITAL BANKING
Banca Investis, in partnership with Bain & Company, has launched NIWA, a Gen AI-driven investment advisory app designed as a "digital junior banker" to transform the customer experience for high-net-worth individuals with hyper-personalised financial services.
NatWest launches advent calendar to warn Brits about scams. The Scamvent calendar, available in limited branches, includes 12 artisan chocolates, each symbolizing a common festive purchase scam. Explore more
Inbenta and ebankIT join forces to enhance digital banking experiences with AI-Driven customer engagement. This collaboration aims to revolutionize the way financial institutions interact with their customers by offering Inbenta’s advanced AI technologies through ebankIT’s platform.
CRYPTO
In Lugano, Switzerland (Population approx 65,000) there are hundreds of merchants accepting Bitcoin on Lightning Network right now. Including McDonald's. Read more
Morocco preparing law to allow cryptocurrencies, central bank chief says. Cryptocurrencies have been banned in Morocco since 2017, yet the public continues to use them underground. The central bank, Bank Al Maghrib, is currently in the process of adopting a draft law to regulate crypto assets.
PARTNERSHIPS
Mollie and PayPal join forces on marketplace payments. Mollie’s partnership with PayPal enhances its payment solution for marketplaces, offering seamless flows, better shopping experiences, and business growth. Mollie is one of few financial service providers authorised to offer PayPal to marketplaces.
Aevi and LEGI.ONE partner to make advanced payments accessible to SMEs. This partnership makes advanced payment tools accessible to SMEs, allowing them to gain access to reliable, professional-grade technology originally developed for major market players.
Arab Financial Services (AFS) partners with PayTic to optimise card programme management. Through this partnership, the two companies intend to simplify the end-to-end daily operations of users, scaling productivity, decreasing risks, and increasing value.
big xyt and Trackinsight partner to elevate analytics for global ETF markets. This collaboration brings together the complementary strengths of both companies to provide market participants with unparalleled insights into ETF trading and investment across the globe.
Yellow Card Partners With Onramper. Through Onramper’s partnership with Yellow Card, Nigerian users of all of Onramper’s clients can now easily access crypto. This extensive geographic coverage is complemented by sophisticated routing engines that recommend the best conversion for users in real-time.
Adyen and Doctolib partner on embedded financial products in healthcare. Doctolib is integrating Adyen's online payment and financial services into its digital healthcare platform, and recently launched in France and Italy with plans to expand to Germany and other European countries, according to a press release.
DONEDEAL
Deutsche Bank invests in blockchain payment network Partior. The German lender joined Partior's Series B funding round as a strategic investor, taking the total raised by the payments firm in the round to $80 million, the Singapore-based company said.
Ex-Revolut duo raise $2.3 million to build 'blockchain bank account' Bleap. Joao Alves and Guilherme Gomes, former Revolut employees, believe that blockchain technology forms the foundation of the future of finance. The concept for Bleap began to take shape in July 2023. Find out more
Klarna founder-backed Predium cements €13M to decarbonise real estate with AI. The fresh capital will enable Predium to strengthen its position as a prominent real estate intelligence platform for sustainable and economic management while exploring new markets.
Revolut will let former staff sell stock in secondary sale. The company has informed former staff that those who had been with Revolut for at least 24 months and held $100,000 or more in vested shares can sell up to 5% of their portfolio, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg News.
M&As
Request Finance expands with Pay.so Lithuania acquisition. The acquisition enhances Request Finance's Fiat-to-Crypto and Crypto-to-Fiat transaction capabilities (USD 100 to USD 100M) while adding direct payments, multi-payee billing, and employee payments to streamline financial operations for businesses.
Atlantic Money joins Deel. Joining Deel allows Atlantic Money to combine its innovative and efficient approach to offering financial services with Deel's comprehensive platform, ultimately enhancing the financial ecosystem for businesses operating globally.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Swan announces the appointment of Camille Tyan as Deputy CEO. Tyan’s main mission will be to work closely with all teams to ensure the execution of strategic objectives, monitor performance, strengthen internal collaboration, and implement organization-wide processes.
Starling strengthens leadership with two key appointments. Adeel Hyder joins the Executive Committee as Managing Director of SME Banking, driving commercial growth and innovation. Michele Rousseau steps in as the bank's first CMO, supporting the CEO's efforts to shape Starling’s strategic direction.
Anna Maj joins French FinTech Bridge as president and CEO. Maj brings over 25 years of financial services experience, including founding FinTech consultancy CreatLink in 2007. She has led open banking projects for banks and payment providers, creating collaboration models between incumbents and FinTechs.
SIX appoints Bjørn Sibbern as new CEO, effective 1 January 2025. Since the beginning of 2024, Bjørn Sibbern has been leading the international exchange business of SIX as Global Head Exchanges and a member of the Group Executive Board.