Hello Fintech Friends,

For anyone who tried to sign up for our Berlin event before, the invite link is working now (sorry) and we’ve found some pretty exciting collaborators :)

If you’re in NYC, save the date on 12.2.21. Details coming soon.

Please find another week of fintech financings and exits below.

Editor’s Note: If you’re an early-stage startup founder raising equity or debt, I may be able to help - reach out to nik@thisweekinfintech.com.

Sponsored Content

Hundreds of organizations have already signed up for Fintech Meetup (online, March 8-10). Why? Because it’s the easiest way to meet new partners and customers. No webinars, no content, no travel--just 30,000+ 1-1 meetings with hundreds of fintechs (including Alloy, Autobooks, Dave, MANTL, PPRO, Ripple, Sila, Socure & Synctera to name just a few) , banks (Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo and more!), investors (Bain Capital, General Atlantic, Point 72) and many more! Join Them & Get Ticket

💸 Venture Financing

• AlphaSense, a research and insights platform for (among other things) financial data, raised a $180 million Series C.
• Ajaib, an Indonesian stock trading platform similar to Robinhood, raised a $153 million Series B at a $1 billion valuation.
• Masterworks, a fractional art investing platform, raised a $110 million Series A at a $1 billion valuation.
• Modern Treasury, a business treasury and balance sheet management platform, raised an $85 million Series C at a $2 billion valuation.
• Till Payments, an Australian B2B payments provider, raised an $80 million Series C and announced plans to expand into New Zealand, the UK, Europe and US.
• CRM & BONUS, a Brazilian customer giftback platform to increase billing and retention, raised R$280 million ($51 million).
• Anyfin, a Swedish loan refinancing company, raised $52 million.
• CommonStock, a social investing platform, raised a $25 million Series A.
• Ontop, a cross-border workforce payment solution, raised a $20 million Series A.
• WeMatch, a trading platform for the derivatives industry, raised a $19.5 million Series B from investors including Deutsche Börse.
• Qapita, a Singaporean and Indian equity management software, raised a $15 million Series A.
• Copper Banking, a digital bank for teens, raised $13.3 million in seed funding.
• Verto, a Nigerian B2B payments platform, raised a $10 million Series A.
• Chip, a UK money management app, overshot its £1 million crowdfunding target, raising £7 million total.
• Playbook, an app for lowering IRA taxes, raised $6 million.
• Daffy, a tax-free charity donation app, raised $4.8 million in seed funding.
• incident.io, an incident response platform for banks, raised $4.7 million.
• Otto, a platform to let people borrow credit against their vehicles, raised a $4.5 million seed.
• Now, an invoicing startup launched by Stacey Abrams, raised $4 million.
• Hopscotch, a B2B payments startup, raised $3.6 million.
• Crezco, a UK B2B open banking payments startup, raised a £3 million seed.
• Senso, a home financing platform, raised a $3 million pre-Series A round.
• Coinshift, a treasury management platform that uses crypto, raised a $2.5 million seed round.
• PostEx, a Pakistani online payment method for cash-on-delivery orders, raised a $1.5 million seed.
• Bitmama, a Nigerian digital currency transaction platform, raised a $350,000 pre-seed.
• GoCardless, a branded card program manager, is talking to JP Morgan about a potential £200 million funding round.
• Motus, a reimbursement software, received a strategic investment from private equity firm Permira.

💰 Venture Funds

• SBI Group (Japan), Sygnum (Switzerland), and Azimut Group (Italy) partnered to launch a joint $75 million bank-led venture fund for digital asset companies.

☯️ Exits

💻 IPOs

• North Carolina-based accounts payable software provider AvidXchange filed to raise $506 million at a $4.4 billion valuation.
• Investment management software maker Allvue Systems moved from postponing its $275 million IPO to formally withdrawing it.

📈 SPACs

Early investors are dumping SPAC deals once they go public, leaving day traders to rush in. We broke down fintech SPAC activity starting in Q4 of last year, but net-net this isn’t surprising: SPACs are generally the only path to liquidity for distressed tech companies.

• Anthemis Digital Acquisitions I filed to raise $200 million for a digital financial services-focused SPAC.
• ExcelFin Acquisition filed for a $200 million IPO to purchase a fintech.

🤝 M&A - Fintech

• Southeast Asian payments superapp and ride-hailing platform Grab is taking a 90% majority stake in Indonesian digital wallet provider OVO.
• UniversalCIS and Credit Plus, both credit reporting and income verification providers to the mortgage industry, will merge into the largest mortgage credit agency in the sector.
• Dock, a Latin American financial technology infrastructure provider, will acquire BPP, a Brazilian banking-as-a-service solution.
• Consumer investment manager Vanguard announced its acquisition of tax-managed personal wealth platform Just Invest.
• Vanguard’s acquisition came only a day after Franklin Templeton announced its own acquisition of direct investment indexing platform Canvas.
• Green Dot’s attempted acquisition of Republic Bank & Trust’s tax-refund business was abandoned following Federal Reserve scrutiny.

🏦 M&A - Bank

Bank mergers are on-track to hit their highest level since (ominously) the financial crisis.

• Sun Life Financial, which… as far as I can tell, is a Canadian financial services company, will buy oral healthcare company DentaQuest for $2.47 billion.
• UK bank NatWest is acquiring children’s pocket money and financial planning app RoosterMoney.
• Santander bank is spinning off its Brazilian merchant payment business, Getnet Brazil.
• Private equity firms Centerbridge Partners and TowerBrook are looking into a €1.7 billion acquisition of German bank Aareal Bank AG.

Sponsored Content

Hundreds of fintechs have already signed up to Fintech Meetup, including Alliance Data, Alloy, Alviere, Argyle, Autobooks, Azimuth, Botdoc, Certa, Checkout.com, Dave, FISPAN, MANTL, Nuance, Nymbus, PPRO, Signal Intent, Sila, Synctera, Urban FT and many, many more! They’re joining because they know that Fintech Meetup is the easiest way to find new partners and fill their pipelines. Join Them & Get Ticket

🌎 Fintech Around the World

A new payments platform for African currencies is a push for independence from the dollar

Africa’s Top Fintech Hubs Are Also Its Most Regulated

Zimbabwe cracks down on currency dealers

Latin America’s Fast-Evolving Fintech Regulatory Landscape

A report on the state of FinTech in Qatar

China’s Central Bank Governor Vows More Fintech Crackdown

📚 Deeper Reads

Google Plex – On Track Pivot

Under the Hood: Open Banking Account Information for PFM

Rappi: The One Who Knocks

Apple Pay Fees

Reexamining Overdraft Programs A Guide for Financial Institutions

‘Salomon Sisters’ Is Coming to Wall Street

Rethinking Concentration Risk in B2B Fintech Infrastructure

What is the point of a stablecoin?

Open banking’s unstoppable momentum

Inside the battle to be Europe’s Robinhood

Did The President Of Robinhood Dump All His AMC Stock Right Before They Restricted Trading?

The Race To Build Data-Sharing Hubs For Banks — And End Screen Scraping

Gorilla dies in the arms of ranger who rescued her as an infant 14 years ago 😢

Golden Retriever's Joyous Reunion With Brother After Months Apart Goes Viral Online

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Come meet us in-person at www.fintechhappyhour.com