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The Front Page of Global Fintech

The the largest fintech community in the world. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on the latest in news opinions, and all things financial technology.

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UK fintech funding fell 56% in 2022 - (20/02)

UK fintech funding fell 56% in 2022 - (20/02)

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


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Funding πŸ’Έ

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

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί Outsourced finance team solution Fuelfinance raised a Β’1m seed round from angels Markus Villig and John Kim.

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί BaaS provider Omnio raised a €9m round with it open to another €3m from selected investors.

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί Crypto firm Taurus raised a Β’65m Series B led by Credit Suisse and included Deutsche Bank, Pictet and others.

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί Insurer wefox raised a $55m Series D.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Onboarding and verification platform Sikoia raised a $6m seed round led by MassMutual Ventures.

🌍 Indian digital payments provider PhonePe has raised a $100m at a $12bn valuation from Tiger Global and Ribbit Capital.

🌍Deposit marketplace ModernFi raised a $4.5m round led by a16z.

🌍 Payment solution for Australia businesses Shift raised an A$27m Series C led by Sequoia.

🌍 Saudi fintech Halal acquired Paymennt.com, a payment processor for SMBs in UAE.

🌍 Credit scoring and lending solution for Pakistan banks, AdalFi, raised a $7.5m seed round.

Challenger Banking πŸš€

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί Wirecard boss Marcus Braun rejected the charges connected to the collapse of the company.

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί US neobroker Public.com is expanding to Europe.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Starling Bank is to offer savings for businesses, with a 2.5% interest rate over one year for balances larger than Β£2,000.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Monzo has launched a 3% instant access savings account.

Digital Assets β‚Ώ

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί The founder of insolvent Nuri is looking to launch a new venture under the company's original name "Bitwala".

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί The European Parliament updated rules requiring banks to disclose crypto exposure to suggest digital assets have a 1,250% risk weighting.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ The founder of crypto company Ziglu has resigned.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§The FCA has joined forces with police to shut down an illegal crypto ATM in Leeds.

🌍 Deposit tokens instead of stablecoins could emerge as the base layer for digital money according to JP Morgan.

🌍 NYDFS is investigating Paxos and has stopped minting BUSD after legal action from the SEC for selling an unregistered security.

🌍 PayPal has paused its stablecoin project after increasing regulatory scrutiny of Paxos.

🌍 Coinbase is headed on a collision course with the SEC after its CEO indicated it would go to court to defend its staking service.

🌍 The UAE is to build a CBDC and domestic card scheme as part of a plan to overhaul its financial infrastructure.

🌍 Singapore's DBS Bank saw a growth of 80% in bitcoin trading volumes on its exchange.

🌍 BUSD token has regained its peg after temporarily falling on news Paxos is to stop minting it. Tether has gained $1bn in market cap as investors switch from BUSD to USDT.

🌍 The Financial Stability Board is to increase its investigation into DeFi and potential impacts on traditional finance.

🌍 Binance, sensing that it is increasingly in the crosshairs of US regulators, said it is prepared to pay penalties for past regulator violations. It reportedly transferred $400m from Binance.US, via Silvergate Bank, to a trading firm managed by founder CZ.

🌍 FTX reportedly sent nearly $8bn of assets from its Bahamas unit to its US entities.

🌍 The Mango Markets scammer is seeking to keep his ill gotten gains.

Traditional Banking 🏦

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί Index group Deutsche Borse has selected Google Cloud for its new digital asset platform.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ NatWest is buying an 85% stake in workplace pension fintech Cushon for $174m.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§Nationwide is to cut 450 jobs.

🌍 Global Payments is selling its gaming subsidiary for $415m.

🌍 Payment giant FIS is planning to spin off its merchant acquiring business Worldpay.

🌍 The head of Goldman's consumer unit Marcus is leaving.

🌍 RBC has acquired the real estate platform of OJO Canada.

🌍 US banks have asked for a delay in implementing the debit routing rule but face the ire of merchants who want it implemented as soon as possible. Banks claim a lack of network availability.

Fintech Infrastructure 🚧

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί Solaris finds itself in trouble with German regulator BaFin, facing a "permission proviso", which restricts it from taking on new customers without regulatory approval.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§Finastra is mulling over selling its banking business for up to $7bn.

🌍 Payroll API provider Pinwheel is pushing the CFPB to include payroll data in the agency's definition of consumer financial data.

Payments πŸ’°

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊNordic payment processor Nets is hiring 50 engineers in a new hub in Finland.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ The UK Government has opened its long awaited BNPL consultation which could see BNPL firms placed under the scope of the FCA and consumers given additional rights to complain.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§NewDay, the credit card provider for John Lewis, is to use Checkout.com for payments.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Neobank Zopa has acquired BNPL provider DivideBuy for $75m.

🌍 Stripe has partnered with Xero to help SMBs get paid faster.

🌍 PayPal CEO Dan Schulman is to step down from PayPal at the end of the year after nine years in charge.

🌍 Australian bank Westpac has created a twist on BNPL by letting its credit card customers pay off their bills in four monthly instalments.

🌍 Apple will look to evaluate customers for its BNPL product based on its history with Apple, for things such as Apple Credit Card applications and other Apple Pay histories.

🌍 Shopify saw a growth of 40% in offline volume as shoppers returned to in-store. It also saw a 21% increase in demand for Shopify Capital. Growth in its e-commerce volumes slowed.


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