Return of the IPOs (TWIF 3/10)

Hello Fintech Friends,

Is the IPO window opening back up? UK corporate banking services provider Ebury is reportedly eyeing a listing at a £2 billion valuation, while others like Klarna and Circle move towards their own listings.

Meanwhile, Virgin Money will be acquired for £2.9 billion and $12 billion payroll unicorn Deel is on an acquisition spree.

See how fintech unicorn Robinhood is diversifying its revenue streams in our latest Signals writeup:

Please find another week of fintech exits and deep reads below. (👍👎 Have feedback for us? Let us know!)

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📖 Reads of the Week

☯️ Exits

💻 IPOs & SPACs

Lex at Fintech Blueprint speculates that Klarna's upcoming IPO could draw a valuation as high as $20 billion. (The buy-now-pay-later provider last raised $800 million at a $6.5 billion valuation.)
Ebury, a corporate banking services provider to small businesses that operate internationally, is investigating a London IPO at a £2 billion valuation.
Zach Perret, the CEO of open banking provider Plaid, confirmed the company has no plans for an IPO this year.

🤝 M&A - Fintech

Global payroll provider Deel, valued at $12 billion is on an acquisition spree: this week, it acquired PaySpace, a South African HR software and services company, reportedly at a price over $100 million – Deel recently crossed $500 million in ARR. It also acquired Zavvy, a Munich-based “people development” startup building tools for personalized career progression, training, and performance management (estimated at $16 billion).
SoftCo, which delivers financial process automation solutions for procurement, accounts payable, expenses and payments processes, announced that it will be acquired by Keensight Capital for over €100 million.
French business banking unicorn Qonto is acquiring Regate, an accounting automation software-as-a-service startup.
Ziff, a Mexican revenue-based financing provider for businesses, acquired commercial property lending startup Arrenda.
Nayax global publicly-listed commerce enablement, payments, and loyalty platform designed for merchants, will acquire VMtecnologia, a technology provider for the automated self-service industry in Brazil.
European alternative financing provider CapitalBox acquired Danish fintech Omniveta Finance, an invoice-purchasing company dedicated to improving lending liquidity for SMEs across Denmark.
Global consulting firm Oliver Wyman acquired digital payments consulting provider Innopay.
Alter Domus, which provides tech-enabled fund administration, private debt, and corporate services for the alternative investment industry, secured an investment from private equity firm Cinven at a €4.9 billion valuation.

🏦 M&A - Bank and FinServ

Nationwide Building Society, which provides consumer financial services in the UK via its 686 branches, will acquire Virgin Money for £2.9 billion to expand into business banking.
Blue Ridge Bank, a frequent partner bank to the fintech industry, reportedly turned down a potential acquisition offer from Southern BancShares. Southern offered Blue Ridge, which is under a regulatory consent order, between $4.50 and $5.50 per share, a premium between 30.8% and 59.9% to the company's $3.44 share price.
JP Morgan reportedly pursued an acquisition of Discover before Capital One's $35 billion deal.