Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,

We are putting out a call out for some rockstar fintech folks in Europe that are eager to help build out our events and community in 2023. If you have a "get it done" mentality, are based in a fintech hub in Europe and interested in being an Event Coordinator at TWIF, hit me up!

Also if you are a company wanting to sponsor one of our amazing events in Europe please also reach out.  You can check out our previous events here to see what they are all about.

Please find another week of fintech news, financings and exits below.

If you’re an early-stage startup founder raising equity or debt, we may be able to help - come check out our fund, The Fintech Fund or get in touch.

Are you a fintech angel investor? Come join our syndicate.

Sponsored Content 

Want to be a This Week in Fintech - UK & Europe sponsor? Reach out to me at michael@thisweekinfintech.com and see our sponsorship information here.

Tweet of the week 🦉🏆

Funding 💸

Highlights below of deals since the last post in the fintech space across the UK & Europe.

🇪🇺 Tax fintech Staxxer raised a €1m seed round from NOM, G- Force Capital and angels.

🇪🇺 Digital insurance broker Garantme raised a €15m Series B from Bonsai Partners, Bpifrance, NewAlpha and Axeleo Capital.

🇪🇺 Climate fintech Maya Climate raised a €1.2m seed round.

🇬🇧Embedded lender Liberis has secured a €30m debit financing deal with SVB.

🇬🇧Mortgage lender LiveMore riased a £250m credit facility from Citi.

🇬🇧 Electronics subscription service Raylo has raised a £110m debt financing facility from NatWest and Quilam Capital.

🇬🇧 Zopa raises £75m from existing investors to target M&A.

🇬🇧 Bud secured strategic investment from US credit bureau TransUnion.

🇬🇧 BaaS platform Rackle raised a $220k seed round from Arz Portfolio.

🌍 Stripe is to raise $3bn, led by Thrive Capital, to pay an upcoming tax liability at a $55bn to $60bn valuation

🌍 Fintech infrastructure provider Moov raised a $45m.

🌍 Embedded banking provider Treasury Prime raised a $40m Series C led by BAM Elevate.

Challenger Banking 🚀

🇬🇧 M&G are rolling out a robo-advisory firm after previously taking a stake in Moneyfarm.

🇬🇧 Monzo saw its revenue double (to £440m) in 2022 and is expected to break even in 2023. It also has 7m customers, 350,000 which pay either £5 or £15 per month and 200,000 businesses paying £5 per month.

🇬🇧 Revolut is to go on a hiring spree, bucking industry trends and is to hire for 1,700 new jobs.

🇬🇧 Consumer lender Koyo has signed a partnership with lending marketplace Freedom Finance which will see Koyo's declined customers passed over to Freedom's panel of lenders to help find them a loan.

🌍 SoFi reported 46% growth in deposits in Q4 with 88% of its deposits coming from direct deposit members, a sign of it being a primary account.

Digital Assets ₿

🇬🇧 Crypto startup Mode is to wind down its services and has told customers to remove their funds.

🇬🇧 The UK government has announced its intention to regulate the crypto market.

🇬🇧 HSBC are recruiting for senior digital asset and tokenisation roles.

🌍 Credit scoring agency Moody's is developing a scoring system for stablecoins.

🌍 An examiner for the US Bankruptcy Court has described Celsius Network as a ponzi scheme.

🌍 Alameda Research's attempt to regain $446m it transferred to also bankrupt Voyager Digital was rejected by both creditor committee and Voyager.

🌍 The US authorities have warned SBF to stop contacting witnesses on secure messaging app Signal. The co-signers of SBF's bail bond are also to be made public.

🌍 A class action lawsuit claiming Coinbase sold them unregistered securities and failed to register as a broker dealer was rejected by a district court. The crypto exchange is also to show transaction previews in its Wallet to protect against scams.

🌍 Binance has acquired a majority stake in Korean exchange GOPAX, as it re-enters the South Korean market since closing its affiliate in December 2020 due to lack of traction.

🌍 Crypto bank Silvergate is having its dealings with FTX and Alameda Research investigated by the US Justice Department.

🌍 Tether has denied it borrowed $2bn from Celsius, as reported in a court document.

🌍 Chainalysis has laid off 5% of staff.

🌍 BlockFi is to auction off its coin mining business after gaining court approval. It also got court approval for an employee retention program.

Traditional Banking 🏦

🇪🇺 JPMorgan is preparing to launch a retail bank in Germany in the next two years.

🇪🇺Swiss authorities are launching a criminal proceeding against those responsible for the 2022 Credit Suisse data leak.

🇬🇧There are to be a further nine shared banking hubs open across the UK, coming at an opportune time as more bank branches are cut. Barclays is also opening semi-permanent banking pods.

🇬🇧 NatWest has installed machines for customers to recycle old credit and debit cards,

🌍 BNY Mellon is to offer its execution and technology expertise to other buy-side customers in an expansion of its outsourced trading offering unit xBK.

Fintech Infrastructure 🚧

🇪🇺New fintech Unbanx enables consumers to share their transaction data via open banking with brands in exchange for rewards.

🌍 Plaid released an open letter to the CFPB with its comments as feedback on the Bureau's data rights proposal.

🌍 Marqeta has acquired credit card program manager Power Finance for $275m in cash to boost its program management tech stack.

🌍 Small US banks are asking for more time to transition from screen scraping to APIs.

🌍 FIS has cut 2,600 employees after a strategic review.

Payments 💰

🇬🇧 Payment provider Checkout.com has made changes to its leadership as it expands in the US and takes on Stripe.

🌍 Online travel agency KAYAK has partnered with Affirm to give users a BNPL option for their travel spend. The BNPL provider has also seen its exclusivity agreement with Amazon end.

🌍 PayPal is to cut 2,000 of its employees.

🌍 Stripe is to be the payment provider for BMW, helping the automaker digitise its vehicle purchases and aftermarket services.

🌍 Twitter has begun to apply for payment licences across the US.

Regulatory Corner 🔎

🌍 The Biden administration, through the CFPB, is to put a limit on the amount that can be charged in late payments fees for credit cards.

Longer reads 📜

• KYC and AML: beyond the acronyms - Patrick McKenzie
• What needs to happen for insurance to take off in emerging markets? - Mouro Capital
• Destiny: Disrupting BlackRock - Mario Gabriele
• A call for a better bureau - Jeremy Solomon, NYCA
• Fintech gets SaaSy - David Roos
• Banks Launch “Wallet” (again) - Tom Noyes
• The Rise and Stall of Lanistar "bank" - Jas Shah
• Real Time Payments in US – Strategic Shifts - Tom Noyes

👍 👎 Have feedback for us? Let us know

See you next week!