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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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This Week in Fintech (1/23)

This Week in Fintech (1/23)

Hello Fintech Friends,

To quote personal finance guru Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar (better known as Cardi B), “Invest your money.”

Venture capitalists and SPACs look to be taking a page out of her book, judging by this week’s financings and transactions below.


Open Role Spotlight

Baselane, a next-generation banking platform and financial hub for the real estate industry, starting with independent landlords, is hiring a Head of Growth.


Financings

  • PPRO, a UK platform for enabling merchants to accept localized payments, raised $180 million at a $1 billion valuation (More details on the round here.)
  • Tripactions, a travel site that generates virtual cards and physical cards for light procurement and travel booking raised a $155 million Series E.
  • Georges, a French accounting automation startup, raised €35 million and rebranded as Indy.
  • Numbrs, the Swiss open banking startup, raised €25 million to expand into Europe.
  • Brigit, a financial health startup that has saved users over $250 million in fees, announced its $25 million Series A.
  • German wealth management platform Elinvar raised €25 million.
  • Trovata raised a $20 million Series A from Wells Fargo to build its multi-bank enterprise APIs globally.
  • Point of sale provider Revel Systems raised a $15.2 million round.
  • MotoRefi raised $10 million in a new venture round.
  • Wealthpilot, a German financial data aggregation startup, raised €8 million.
  • UK mortgage lending startup Perenna raised £7.3 million in new funding.
  • Qohash, a Canadian financial security company, raised an C$8 million round.
  • Tamara, a Saudi buy-now-pay-later startup, raised a $6 million seed.
  • Singaporean startup Volopay raised a $2.1 million seed to build a financial control center for businesses.
  • Egyptian startup Cassbana raised $1 million to build financial identities for unbanked consumers.
  • OZÉ, a Ganaian small business capital platform, raised a $700,000 seed.
  • Quirk raised £300,000 in pre-seed funding for its personality-based money management app.
  • Ziina, building an app to simplify peer-to-peer payments across the Middle East, raised a seed round and joined Y Combinator.
  • Clarity AI, a Spanish social impact investing analytics firm, raised a minority stake from BlackRock.
  • Australian buy-now-pay-later firm Zip invested in its Czech counterpart Twisto.
  • Morgan Stanley bought a minority stake in crypto startup MicroStrategy.
  • Plaid shareholders are fielding secondary inquiries at a $15 billion valuation.

Exits and M&A

Fintech
  • Trustly, the Swedish payments provider, is planning an IPO at an $11 billion valuation.
  • Allfunds, a Spanish financial services firm, will list its shares on Euronext Amsterdam at a valuation of $7.3 to $8.5 billion.
  • Payments software provider ACI Worldwide is evaluating a sale that could value the company at up to $6.26 billion.
  • Grab, the southeast Asian superapp that provides financial services across Indonesia and Singapore, is considering a US IPO this year that could raise up to $2 billion.
  • UK retail investing platform IG will buy US trading platform tastytrade for $1 billion.
  • Signify Health, which provides patient payment services for medical care, filed for a $100 million IPO.
  • Transferwise enlisted Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs for its UK IPO.
  • Brokerage-as-a-service platform Drivewealth bought institutional broker dealer Cuttone & Company in order to bring Drivewealth’s tech to the floor of the NYSE.
  • Open banking software provider Konsentus acquired PSD2 directory Open Banking Europe.
Bank
  • Goldman Sachs is considering more acquisitions to build out its Marcus banking unit.
Investment Management
  • Brazilian asset manager Vinci Partners set terms for a $236 million US IPO.
  • Investment advisor Mercer Global Advisors continued its acquisition tear, acquiring wealth management firms Pinnacle Wealth Solutions and Hart Capital Management.
SPACs
  • United Wholesale Mortgage went public through the Gores Holdings IV SPAC at a $16 billion valuation.
  • Payments startup Payoneer is in talks to go public through a merger with FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp at an enterprise value of up to $2.5 billion.
  • Expense management software Expensify is in talks with a range of fintech SPACs about a potential merger.
  • JOFF Fintech Acquisition, a SPAC targeting a fintech acquisition, filed for a $300 million IPO.
  • Fusion Acquisition II filed for a $300 million financial services SPAC IPO.
  • VPC Impact Acquisition II, Victory Park’s third fintech SPAC, filed for a $225 million IPO.
  • Athena Acquisition, the seventh SPAC created by management of The Bancorp, filed for a $220 million IPO.
  • Quantum FinTech Acquisition, a financial services-focused SPAC, filed for a $150 million IPO.
  • Evo Acquisition filed for a $100 million financial sector-focused SPAC.