Mont-Tremblant, Montreal
Hello Fintech Friends,
🗣️The ratio is not improving for all-female founding teams: per new data from Unconventional VC, women-led startups in Germany raised 1.3% of funding; in the Nordics, only 1.1%. This is something all of us in fintech need to work to improve, and is why we named our podcast Beyond Two Percent. You can see Julie and Helen's latest episode here.
📣For those who missed it, we held an awesome AMA with QED investor Frank Rotman on Thursday (preview below) in Finnovation, our fintech community. Who should we host at our next AMA?
If you want to ask questions to our next speaker yourself, come join Finnovation! Our 6,000+ member community is free, and always will be. 🚀
🏙️ In-person events more your thing? Come join us at our upcoming NY Fintech Week meetup on April 24th!
It’s been a (relatively) slower fintech newsweek this week, with startups perhaps holding onto press releases until the market banking turmoil dies down, so we’re combining our Saturday (Fundraises) and Sunday (M&A and Deeper Reads) email into one, to spare your inbox.
With that said... 4 rounds over $100 million? Are we back?
On Forbes this week I wrote about something non-fintech-specific: TAM is BS.
👍👎 Have feedback for us? Let us know!
Please find another week of fintech financing events below.
📺
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💸 Venture Financing
Rippling, the payroll and HR software firm started by ex-Zenefits founder Parker Conrad, raised $500 million in 12 hours following the SVB meltdown.
Kredivo, a credit fintech for underbanked consumers in Indonesia and Vietnam, raised a $270 million Series D.
eToro, the personal investing marketplace, raised $250 million in a round that values the brokerage at $3.5 billion.
IntegrityNext, a bootstrapped Swedish ESG platform, raised €100 million.
Rain, a US-based earned wage access company for paying workers in real-time, raised $66 million at a $250 million valuation and $50 million in debt.
ID Finance, a Spanish alternative lending platform, raised a €30 million round.
BitKeep, a decentralized multi-chain wallet, raised $30 million from crypto platform Bitget.
Recognise Bank, a UK neobank and lender to small businesses, raised £25 million.
Qlub, a UAE tech for instant bill payment in restaurants via QR codes, raised $25 million.
Two, a Norwegian B2B transaction portal, raised an €18 million Series A.
Auros, a Hong Kong-based crypto algorithmic trading platform, raised $17 million.
Caramel, a checkout platform provider for auto dealerships, raised a $12 million seed round.
Metatime, a Turkish crypto exchange, raised $11 million.
Natech, a core banking provider out of Greece, raised €10 million through a convertible bond.
Gryfyn, a custodial crypto wallet, raised $7.5 million.
Turnkey, a private key infrastructure for crypto trading, raised a $7.5 million seed.
Toku, a Chilean recurring payments startup, raised $7 million to move into Mexico.
CrossX, a new crypto trading venue, raised $6.35 million.
Monite, a German B2B business financial services provider, added $5 million to its $10 million seed round.
Fundpath, a data platform for wealth and asset managers, raised a £4 million seed round.
Beam, a startup for construction contractor payments, raised a $4 million seed round.
Alcove, a tracker for carbon credits, raised $3 million in seed funding.
Credible, a banking-as-a-service developer for emerging markets, raised a $2.5 million seed round.
Thematic, a platform for building ETFs and investment indices, raised $2.3 million in seed funding.
Focalpay, a Swedish retail payment provider, raised SEK15 million ($1.5 million).
Carbonable, which helps people invest in carbon capture via the blockchain, raised a $1.2 million seed.
FinGoal, a personalized banking insights platform, raised funds.
ClassWallet, a digital wallet purchasing and reimbursement platform for public funds, raised strategic funding.
Is #Revolut really worth
$33bn right now? https://t.co/q2ZYKN4O61 #fintech #finserv #banking #VC @Amy_EOBrien @Siftedeu pic.twitter.com/AEvBgJ7Vup— Spiros Margaris (@SpirosMargaris) March 22, 2023
All-female founding teams accounted for 6% of all funding rounds in 2022, but only 1% of the funding raised. https://t.co/TmaejLxuCD— Sifted (@Siftedeu) March 23, 2023
💵 Debt Financing
TradeBridge, a UK business lender, received a £100 million credit facility from Castlelake.
☯️ Exits
🤝 M&A - Fintech
Card network Mastercard acquired Swedish cybersecurity firm Baffin Bay to build a protective layer into card transactions.
JP Morgan announced that it will acquire private capital markets investment analytics provider Aumni, paying roughly what it was valued in its last round ($232 million) to help venture capital investors better track their startup equity holdings.
South Korean ride hailing giant Kakao Mobility made its first acquisition, buying UK superapp-as-a-service platform Splyt, which helps companies launch financial services apps.
Payments infrastructure provider Mangopay acquired Irish payments tech provider WhenThen.
Real estate purchase platform Homebot acquired first-time mortgage app Quo Finance.
Global payments technology provider ACI Worldwide is discussing a potential sale with private equity firm Motive Partners. Publicly-listed ACI has a market value of around $2.5 billion.
UK money-saving app Snoop is working with bankers at Rothschild on a potential sale after reportedly being approached by acquirers.
🏦 M&A - Bank and FinServ
In a quick and incredible end to its saga of the last week, Swiss investment and retail banking giant UBS agreed to acquire its competitor Credit Suisse, once valued at ₣23 billion, for $3.2 billion, under pressure from the Swiss central bank, putting stress on not just the banking sector but Switzerland’s banking reputation writ large.
Meanwhile in the US, while the FDIC has not yet found a buyer for Silicon Valley Bank, they are reportedly considering carving up the assets for sale, and First Citizens Bank is weighing a takeover.
And First Republic, whose stock has been under fire due to its exposure to the tech industry, is working withJP Morgan to reportedly find a buyer in a distressed acquisition as well.
New York Community Bancorp emerged as the final buyer for failed crypto-exposed bank Signature Bank, but will not be taking over the bank’s crypto assets.
This week for the Fintech Frontlines Series, we highlight @carinaoriel, Community Development Lead for @ThinkRiseGlobal created by Barclays. Carina is a true community ecosystem builder supporting New York City fintech founders and investors. Congrats on the recognition! pic.twitter.com/CmrmqqCoJm— This Week in Fintech (@twifintech) March 22, 2023
This is so awesome. Would love to see more fintechs engage with high school and college students about financial literacyhttps://t.co/KgZE32VFkM— Jaimin Desai (@JaiminDesai93) March 23, 2023
This week for the Builders Series, we highlight Saroop Bharwani, founder of @GoSenso. Saroop is making sure that the home buying process is accessible to all by removing the bias on getting purchasing power and getting a pre approval by your bank. pic.twitter.com/1tCwlrmIap— This Week in Fintech (@twifintech) March 24, 2023
🌎 Fintech Around the World
📚 Deeper Reads & Features
Have a news item for us? Reach out to [email protected]
