Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,

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

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Funding 💸

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

🇪🇺 VC firm MiddleGame Ventures is raising a new fund with a €150m target.

🇪🇺 Digital lender Banca AideXa raised €16m.

🇪🇺 Family fintech app Bling has raised a $12m Series A.

🇪🇺 Agricultural insurtech IBISA raised a $3m seed round from Ankur Capital, ADB Ventures, Acumen and Equator.

🇪🇺 Micro financing institution Credo Bank raised a $13m round from Symbiotics Group.

🇪🇺 Insurtech Feather raised a €6m round from Keen Venture Partners, Entrepreneur First and Plural.

🇬🇧 Super-app Curve has received investment from Samsung's VC arm, Samsung Next.

🇬🇧 FX trading dark pool LoopFX raised a £2.6m round from Augmentum Fintech.

🇬🇧 Wealthtech Plum raised £2.2m on Crowdcube.

🇬🇧 Reinsurance marketplace Supercede raised a £15m Series A from MMC, Seedcamp, Outward VC, Alven, Mundi Ventures and AFP Partners.

🌍 Egyptian BaaS provider Connect Money raised $8, led by Disruptech Ventures and Algebra Ventures.

🌍 Payment provider Rainforest raised a $20m Series A led by Matrix Partners.

🌍 Regtech Norm AI raised a $27m Series A.

🌍 Mexican fintech Ximple raised $2.7m to launch a credit platform.

Challenger Banking 🚀

🇪🇺 German neobank C24 Bank has extended its partnership with core banking provider Mambu.

🇪🇺 Insurtech Qover has launched an AI-powered claims experience.

🇬🇧 SMB lender Funding Circle is selling its US operations for £33m.

🇬🇧 Agricultural neobank Oxbury has reported a pre-tax profit of £3m.

🌍 Latam neobank Nubank has partnered with Lightspark to bring the Bitcoin Lightning Network to its platform.

🌍 Global payment solution Airwallex has integrated Quickbooks to improve multi-currency reporting.

🌍 Latam neobank Nubank has acquired data intelligence company Hyperplane.

Digital Assets ₿

🇪🇺 Digital asset infrastructure provider Taurus has launched its Custody and Issuance solutions on Stellar.

🇪🇺 Digital asset custodian Zodia has partnered with 21Shares to provide custody services for ETPs in Europe.

🇬🇧 Crypto exchange Bitstamp has made changes to its offering to make it compliant with MiCA regulation, notably delisting EURT.

🇬🇧 Stablecoin payment provider BVNK has launched Layer1, a self-hosted, self-custody digital asset infrastructure to help businesses launch stablecoin payments quickly.

🇬🇧 Digital asset custody provider Copper has signed exchange Kraken as a customer for its off-exchange trading solution ClearLoop.

🇬🇧 Bitcoin payment app Strike has expanded to the UK.

🇬🇧 Stablecoin P2P transfer app Sling Money has partnered with digital asset infrastructure provider Paxos to switch its stablecoin base from USDC to USDP.

🌍 Van Eck is to waive fees on a spot ETH ETF when it is approved. It also filed for a Solana ETF.

🌍 Institutional custody provider State Street is to work with Galaxy Digital to develop active crypto trading products.

🌍 Coinbase has sued the SEC and FDIC over FOIA requests. It also partnered with Stripe to add USDC on Base as a crypto payout method.

Traditional Banking 🏦

🇪🇺 Commerzbank is to offer a new digital credit card to its business customers with Pliant.

🇪🇺 German bank Raiffeisen Bank selected Surecomp to reinforce its trade finance customer engagement.

🇬🇧 Virgin Money is developing personal customer experiences using technology from Experian. The bank is also expanding its AI-powered assistant.

🇬🇧 Lloyds has renewed its contract with Visa.

🌍 Under fire US bank Evolve has revealed it suffered a data breach.

Fintech Infrastructure 🚧

🇬🇧 Cross-border transfer solution Wise has signed SME neobank Qonto as a customer for its B2B Wise Platform solution to provide cross-border capabilities.

🇬🇧 Digital ID's from Yoti ID, Post Office EasyID and Lloyds Bank Smart ID have been accredited by the Proof of Age Standards Scheme.

🇬🇧 Thought Machine has signed payments company Payset as a customer.

Payments 💰

🇪🇺 Klarna has sold its Checkout business to a consortium of investors to allow Klarna to focus on its core BNPL product. It also announced its US subscription service Klarna Plus has reached 100,000 subscribers.

🇪🇺 PSP myPOS has introduced Tap to Pay on iPhone in Germany. Payment provider Nexi has also done the same.

🇬🇧 Payment processor Paymentology has partnered with African cross-border money provider Mama Money to launch a WhatsApp payment card.

🇬🇧 US payment solution Global Payments has acquired Takepayments.

🇬🇧 Payment provider Ecommpay has partnered with ecommerce platform BigCommerce.

🇬🇧 Payment orchestrator BR-DGE has partnered with A2A provider Trustly to offer open banking payments to its customers.

🌍 Payment orchestrator Gr4vy is to partner with Trustly to launch in Europe.

🌍 A US judge has rejected the $30bn settlement between Visa, Mastercard and retailers.

🌍 Visa has launched "Digital Emergency Card Replacement", a new service to give a replacement card on behalf of issuers via text or email.

Regulatory Corner 🔎

🇬🇧 The FCA has found that gamification by trading apps increases risk taking among users which could mean an incoming crackdown.

Longer reads/listens 📜

• After More Than a Decade, Merchant Steering with Discounts Remains Rare - Claire Greene, Atlanta Fed
• Apple Wallet “2.0” in iOS18 – What’s In It? - Tom Noyes
• Brex Co-CEO How being vertically integrated unlocks global scale - Simon Taylor
• A Brief Perspective on Money Technology - Joao Reginatto

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See you next week!