DeFi startups go on a fundraising tear (TWIF 9/21)

Hello Fintech Friends,

If you missed it on LinkedIn or Twitter this week: Ryan Zauk is joining us to host a new podcast!

This Month in Fintech kicks off next Tuesday, featuring Plaid Founder and CEO Zach Perret.

Bad news to everyone who wrote off crypto: DeFi startups are back and they are raising significant rounds on the back of user traction. This week, Yellow Network, Huma, Drift, and Infinit (as well as stablecoin exchange TrueX) raised a combined $88 million.

Please find another week of fintech financing events below. (PS: Have feedback for us? 👍👎 Let us know! Enjoying TWIF? Tips are always appreciated 🙏)

📊 Stat of the Week

Contactless payments in Canada increased by 17% in 2023 to reach 63% of all in-store transactions. (Source)

💸 Venture Financing

Huma, a decentralized payments network, raised $38 million.
Wealth.com, which helps financial advisers create and optimize estate plans for their clients, raised a $30 million Series A.
TeamBridge, an HR and payment software for hourly employees (shown below), raised a $28 million Series B.
Yonder, a British rewards credit card and app, raised £23.4 million.
Orb, an AI-driving SaaS pricing and billing engine, raised a $25 million Series B.
Drift, a decentralized finance platform built on Solana, raised a $25 million Series B.
Ferovinum, an end-to-end digital platform that helps businesses fund, produce, procure, and sell to global wine and spirits markets, raised a £17.5M Series A.
Kaleidofin, an Indian financial services platform aimed at providing tailored financial solutions for low-income customers and small businesses in India's informal economy, raised $13.8 million.
Yellow Network, a blockchain-agnostic DeFi mesh network, raised a $10 million seed round.
TrueX, a non-custodial, stablecoin-native exchange, raised a $9 million seed round.
Zevero, a carbon accounting platform, raised $7 million.
Infinit, a decentralized finance abstraction protocol, raised $6 million.
Loop, a Canadian cross-border banking startup, raised C$6.4 million.
Nopillo, a French startup offering tax solutions for real estate transactions, raised €4 million.
Sitewire, a mobile construction finance platform, raised a $3.17 million seed round.
SETTLE, an Egyptian B2B payments automation platform, raised a $2 million pre-seed.
Upfront, a real estate finance platform, raised $1.5 million in equity and $1 million in debt.
Regfyl, a Nigerian fraud detection company, raised a $1.1 million pre-seed.
Pomelo, an Argentinian payments infrastructure firm, received strategic funding from former Mastercard execs.
One Trading, a European crypto asset exchange, received strategic funding from Standard Chartered bank.
Savr, a Swedish equities, ETFs, and mutual fund exchange, raised strategic funding from Incore Invest.
Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky sold shares worth $300 million in a secondary sale.

💵 Debt Financing

💰 Venture Funds

Costanoa Ventures raised $394 million for two new funds focused on fintech and enterprise AI.
Moderne Ventures raised $230 million for its Fund III, a proptech and fintech fund.
The Fintech Fund* raised a $10 million Fund II.