Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,

Thanks to everyone that joined us for our second London Fintech Breakfast at Shoreditch Treehouse and sponsored by CMS. Another great turnout and amazing venue!

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

👍 👎 Have feedback or news to share? Let me know on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Check out our sponsorship information

Tweet of the week 🦉🏆

Funding 💸

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

🇪🇺 SaaS spend management solution Cardboard raised a NOK 22.3m seed round from Skyfall Ventures, RunwayFBU and Sondo Capital.

🌍 Latino neobank Comun raised a $21.5m Series A from Redpoint Ventures, FJ Labs, Costanoa Ventures, RTP Global, South Park Commons and Animo Ventures.

₿ Stablecoin money movement startup Bridge raised $58m.

Challenger Banking 🚀

🇬🇧 Neobank Revolut has integrated its Business Payment Gateway with ecommerce platform BigCommerce. It is also launching instant card transfers for business customers in partnership with Visa Direct.

🇬🇧 Neobroker Webull has launched options trading in the UK.

🇬🇧 SMB bank OakNorth secured authorisation from the NYDFS for a representative office in New York as it explores acquiring a banking charter.

🇬🇧 Neobroker Freetrade launched share lending powered by provider Sharegain.

🇬🇧 Embedded finance provider Liberis is partnering with BNPL provider Sezzle to provide SMBs with capital in the US.

🇬🇧B2B lender Lemon is to use alternative data from Wiserfunding for credit risk assessment.

🇬🇧 Business bank Allica has acquired bridging lender Tuscan Capital from Quilam Capital.

🌍 Neobank Chime introduced an earned wage app.

Digital Assets ₿

🇪🇺 Payments bank Banking Circle has launched EURI, a MiCA compliant stablecoin.

🌍 Crypto exchange Bitget has partnered with KoinX to simplify tax reporting for traders.

🌍 An Australian court found Kraken non-compliant with its margin trading product obligations. The exchange also has its motion to dismiss its SEC case denied.

🌍 Russia's central bank is considering amending the law to introduce a new category of investors which would be allowed to trade crypto.

🌍 Crypto exchange Crypto.com has added PayPal as a payment method for its US customers. The exchange is also partnering with Standard Chartered to expand its fiat on and off ramps.

🌍 PayPal and custodian Anchorage Digital are partnering to create a rewards program for the PayPal USD stablecoin, PYUSD.

🌍 The Nasdaq exchange is seeking SEC approval to list and trade bitcoin index options.

Traditional Banking 🏦

🇪🇺 Deutsche Bank has settled the majority of claims relating to its Postbank acquisition from 2008.

🇬🇧 Nationwide's app was hit with payment delays.

🌍 Online checkout option Paze is available at Sephora for its loyalty customers.

Fintech Infrastructure 🚧

🇬🇧 Fraud fintech Featurespace is in talks to be acquired by Visa.

🌍 India is to integrate its UPI payment system with Malaysia's PayNet.

Payments 💰

🇪🇺 Adyen signed invoicing and payment provider InvoiceASAP as a customer for its instant payments solution using FedNow. It is also working with IKEA.

🇪🇺 PayPal is to build a wallet to challenge Apple in the EU after the tech giant was forced to open up access to its NFC chip to third-parties.

🇪🇺 Klarna reported H1 2024 earnings with revenue +27% and adjusted profits of $66m compared to a $45m loss yoy.

🇪🇺 Payment provider Numeral has partnered with HSBC Innovation Banking to provided embedded payments.

🇬🇧 Payment platform Transact365 secured a Canadian licence.

🇬🇧 GoCardless launched a Salesforce app.

🌍 Rewards credit card Bilt has partnered with Walgreens for health savings rewards.

🌍 Payment provider Shift4 acquired Canadian gift card company.

🌍 PayPal has expanded its partnership with Fiserv.

🌍 Affirm announced strong earnings which saw its stock jump +15%. Losses narrowed to $45m from over $200m and revenue jumped to $660m from $446m yoy.

Longer reads/listens 📜

• Paypal: A Fintech OG rejoining the Fastlane - Jas Shah, TWIF
• Stolen iPhone. I Survived. - Dave Birch
• How Costco Hacked the American Shopping Psyche - Ben Howe, New York Times
• After 2022’s Bust, Scars Are Healing In Crypto Lending - CoinDesk

👍 👎 Have feedback for us? Let us know

Follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn for more fintech content

See you next week!