Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,

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

👍 👎 Have feedback or news to share? Let me know on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Network tokens are the new standard for processing online transactions, but understanding their real value can be challenging—especially with so much conflicting information out there. Evervault is hosting a live webinar to cut through the noise and offer a clear, unbiased look at what network tokens are, how they work, and the benefits they bring.

Join Shane Curran, CEO of Evervault, as he dives into the world of Network Tokens with Liam Wiltshire, Head of Payments at Overwolf. 

Tweet of the week 🦉🏆

Funding 💸

Highlights below of deals since the last post in the fintech space across the UK & Europe. Deal data powered by Dealroom.

🇪🇺 Bank account and crypto wallet solution Deblock raised a £13.3m seed round from Hoxton Ventures, Headline, Chalfen Ventures and The Twenty Minute VC.

🇪🇺 B2B AI finance tool Freqens raised a $3m seed round from Kima Ventures, Financiere Saint James, Motier Ventures, Better Angle and Purple.

🇪🇺 Institutional digital lending platform Cardo AI raised a $15m Series A from Blackstone, Fintop Capital, Jam Fintop, Andy Horwitz and Kevin MacDonald.

🇬🇧 Payment orchestrator CellPoint Digital raised a $30m round from Toscafund and Penta Capital.

🇬🇧 Payment acceptance solution KodyPay raised a $20m Series A.

Challenger Banking 🚀

🇪🇺 Wealthtech Aixigo has been acquired by French asset manager Amundi for €149m.

🇪🇺 Neobank N26 has reported its first profitable quarter.

🇪🇺 Spend management provider Moss has partnered with Airwallex to enhance and streamline global payments.

🇬🇧 Starling Bank has launched an Easy Saver savings account. It's new CEO also ordered a return to office sparking a number of staff resignations.

🇬🇧 Neobank Revolut has hit 50 million customers globally.

🇬🇧 Spend management solution Payhawk has selected JP Morgan Payments as its payment partner.

🇬🇧 Digital bank Chase UK has introduced its first credit card.

🇬🇧 Cross-border payment startup Zing has selected PSP Checkout.com as its global acquiring partner.

🇬🇧 Latam neobank Nubank is in talks to switch its domicile to the UK.

🇬🇧 Neobank Kroo is considering offering investment products.

🇬🇧 Business neobank Tide launched a carbon calculator to help SMEs.

🌍 B2B lender Rapid Finance expanded its Rapid Access Card to all eligible Line of Credit clients.

🌍 Neobroker Robinhood acquired custodial and portfolio management platform TradePMR for $300m.

Digital Assets ₿

🇪🇺 Soc Gen's digital asset division is deploying its Euro stablecoin on the XRP ledger.

🇪🇺Crypto firm Gemini launched in France after securing a VASP licence ealier this year.

🇪🇺 Tether and Kraken backed firm Quantoz launched a MiCA compliant USDQ and EURQ stablecoins.

🇪🇺 Stablecoin issuer Paxos is buying Finnish EMI licence holder Membrane Finance to access the EU.

🇬🇧 Revolut Trading granted a UK trading licence and authorisation as an investment firm.

🌍 Crypto exchange Bitget hit an all-time high in trading volume.

🌍 Bitwise Asset Management acquired Ethereum staking provider Attestant.

🌍 Crypto exchange Crypto.com acquired Fintek Securities, an Australian brokerage firm.

🌍 18 attorney generals have sued the SEC over its crypto actions.

🌍 PayPal's Xoom is to allow cross-border stablecoin payments through PYUSD.

🌍 SEC chair Gensler is to step down in January.

🌍 DeFi protocol Ethena sees $1bn in inflows.

🌍 Coinbase has introduced a 4.7% APY reward for USDC holders

Traditional Banking 🏦

🇪🇺 Santander Commercial Bank has expanded its digital cash management tools. It also launched its digital neobank Openbank in Mexico.

🇬🇧 HSBC has partnered with cross border payment platform Dandelion.

🇬🇧 NatWest expands its partnership with NCR Atleos to modernise its self-service banking and upgrade its ATMs.

🇬🇧 Lloyds Bank launch a benefits tool to help customers who might be missing out on benefits.

Fintech Infrastructure 🚧

🇬🇧 Open banking provider TrueLayer laid off 25% of its staff in a single day before its recent fundraise.

🇬🇧 Payment infrastructure provider Modulr acquired accounts payable fintech Nook.

🇬🇧 Issuer processor Paymentology signed Mexican neobank Albo as a customer.

🌍 Australian banks are piloting a fraud and scam intelligence-sharing network.

Payments 💰

🇪🇺 Payments solution Mollie has launched in Italy.

🇪🇺 BNPL provider Klarna signed airline Finnair and Staples as a customers. The BNPL solution will soon launch on Google Pay.

🇪🇺 Mastercard has partnered with insurtech Qover to embed return shipping cost protection for credit card holders in Belgium and Luxembourg.

🇪🇺 Payment provider Worldpay has introduced virtual cards for travel agents.

🇪🇺 Adyen has launched Tap to Pay on iPhone in New Zealand.

🇬🇧 Barclays is exploring giving away 80% of its merchant acquiring business to Brookfield after it struggled with a outright sale or partnership.

🇬🇧 Payment firm Navro acquired a Foreign Money Service Business registration in Canada.

🇬🇧 BNPL provider Zilch is considering a secondary share sale.

🌍 Global payments fintech Airwallex is taking the 1% Pledge, committing 1% of its equity to support innovation and entrepreneurship alongside tech companies Atlassian, Canva, Airbnb and Salesforce.

🌍 Google Pay has added Afterpay BNPL to its digital wallet.

Regulatory Corner 🔎

🌍 The CFPB has amended its new payment rules brining digital wallet and electronic money transfer services into scope, impacting big tech.

Longer reads/listens 📜

• On the European merchant acquiring landscape - Jevgenijs Kazanins
• SoftPOS Creeping Slowly Towards Potential? - Flagship Advisory
• Made in Europe - Jeremy Light
• Challenges of In-Store A2A Payments and the Failure of kevin. - Flagship Advisory
• Wallet Wars: The Battle for Your Digital Life - Simon Taylor, Fintech Brainfood
• A Financier Penned a Crime Novel. Prosecutors Want to Know How Much Was Fiction. - Bradley Hope, Jenny Strasburg and Christopher Matthews, WSJ
• The Modern Private Equity Business was Invented in Beverly Hills in the 70s - The Diff, Byrne Hobart
• Cross-border payments in ~1,000 words - Matt Brown
• Plaid: Stitching Together the Future of Finance - Jas Shah, TWIF
• Is Chicago’s Don Wilson the smartest man in trading? - FT

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See you next week!