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.

🇪🇺Insurtech Wefox has secured €25m in emergency funding as part of a heavy restructuring preventing it from insolvency.

🇪🇺 Danish crypto trading platform OpenLedger raised a $8m seed round from Polychain Capital, TRG Capital, MH Ventures, WAGMI Ventures and STIX.

🇪🇺 Digital wealth solution Findependent raised a CHF 5m seed round.

🇪🇺 Digital asset software solution Trever raised a €2.4m seed round from Market One Capital, TX Ventures and Blockchain Founders Capital.

🇪🇺 Investment data solution RavenPack raised a $20m round from GP Bullhound.

🇬🇧 Business lender Simply Asset Finance has secured a £120m credit facility with Bank of America.

🇬🇧 SMB lender Triver raised £2.5m from existing investors.

🇬🇧 Travel debit card solution Currensea raised £1.7m on Seedrs.

🇬🇧 Consumer crypto app FreeBnk raised a $3m seed round from LVT Capital, Founderheads, Lavender Capital and ChaiTech Ventures.

🌍 Payment infrastructure solution Payabli raised a $20m Series A led by QED Investors.

🌍 Healthcare payments firm Arrow has emerged from stealth.

Challenger Banking 🚀

🇪🇺 Greek neobank Snappi secured a banking licence from the ECB.

🇪🇺 Neobroker Trade Republic is outsourcing its customer service.

🇪🇺 EPI has launched its digital wallet solution Wero in Germany.

🇪🇺 Business bank FINOM launched local IBANs in Spain.

🇪🇺 Spend management solution Pleo saw revenue increase 50% in 2023, with its customer count up 39%.

🇪🇺 Business neobank Vivid Money has acquired treasury solution Pile.

🇬🇧 Monzo released new fraud controls; Known Locations, Trusted Contacts and Secret QR codes.

🇬🇧 Allica Bank has partnered with title insurance provider Westcor International to integrate their Perfect Title product on its commercial mortgages.

🇬🇧 Neobank Revolut has announced 2023 results including $2.2bn in revenue, $545m profit. Founder Nik Storonsky is rumoured to be selling part of his stake as part of a $500m secondary share sale.

🌍 US neobank Chime has acquired enterprise financial wellness technology company Salt Labs.

🌍 Google Wallet has replaced Fitbit Pay and aded support for American Express.

🌍 Neobroker Robinhood has acquired AI investment research firm Pluto.

Digital Assets ₿

🇪🇺 Circle has received approval to issue USDC and EURC under Europe's MiCA regulatory framework as it obtained an EMI licence.

🇪🇺 BitPanda has expanded ints B2B "Bitpanda Business" offering to offer more personalises support.

🇪🇺 The Germany government has transferred $175m in crypto, including a total of $75m to exchanges Bitstamp, Coinbase and Kraken.

🇬🇧Crypto exchange Gemini has signed a five year sponsorship agreement with Real Bedford FC.

🌍 Digital asset infrastructure provider Paxos has been approved to issue stablecoins in Singapore.

🌍 The SEC has charged Consensys for the sale of unregistered securities through MetaMask Staking.

🌍 Crypto bank Silvergate has settled charges with US regulator for $63m.

🌍 ETP provider 21Shares has filed an S-1 for a spot Solana ETF in the US.

🌍 The IRS has delayed rules for non-custodians in its new Crypto Tax Regime for 2025.

🌍 Coinbase Prime is to be the custody solution for the US Marshals Service.

🌍 Robinhood wants to launch CME Bitcoin and Ether futures in the US and offer perpetual futures in Europe.

Traditional Banking 🏦

🇪🇺 Bank of Ireland is hiring for 100 technology roles.

🇪🇺 ABN Amro has completed its acquisition of neobroker BUX.

🇬🇧 Barclays, HSBC, Nationwide and Virgin Money have experienced payment problems delaying customers payments and salaries.

🇬🇧 Lloyds Bank is cutting another 60 branches in 2024 and 2025.

🌍 Thread Bank has been ordered by the FDIC to step up its BaaS oversight.

🌍 Australian bank CBA has added travel booking and car buying to its mobile app

Fintech Infrastructure 🚧

🇪🇺 German tax filing platform Taxfix has expanded to the UK and acquired TaxScouts.

🇪🇺 Core banking solution Tuum is integrating debt management solution Flexys.

🇪🇺 Card issuer Marqeta signed Swiss neobank Swiss4 as a customer.

🇪🇺 Regtech Lynx has launched a money mule account detection tool.

🇬🇧 Payments infrastructure provider Mangopay signed digital marketplace Driffle as a customer.

🇬🇧 Open Banking Limited has released version 4.0 of its Open Banking Standard which includes mandatory ISO20022 upgrades and optional information flow of payment status and errors.

🌍 Asset manager BlackRock is buying private market data firm Preqin for £2.55bn.

🌍 The central banks of India, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Philippines are launching a cross-border retail payments platform with the BIS.

Payments 💰

🇪🇺 Shopify announced that Amazon Pay will no longer be available as a payment option in Europe.

🇪🇺 Dutch payment solution MultiSafepay has been acquired by Chinese financial conglomerate Ant Group.

🇪🇺 Payment solution Nexi is bringing its Bancomat Pay solution to Amazon in Italy.

🇪🇺 Klarna is providing BNPL solutions for Adobe Commerce.

🇪🇺 Payment provider Mollie has partnered with BNPL solution Riverty to offer 30 day invoice financing in Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Germany.

🇬🇧 Insurtech AutoRek is to use JP Morgan Payments to improve its payment operations for premiums.

🇬🇧 Technology manufacturer Lenovo has implemented Trustly's Open Banking payment solution at checkout in UK and Europe.

🌍 Visa and Amazon are teaming up to offer Canadian customers with instalment plans at checkout.

Longer reads/listens 📜

• Why going cashless has turned Sweden from one of the safest countries into a high-crime nation - Niclas Rolander, Jonas Ekblom, Fortune
• The Federal Reserve’s little secret - The Atlantic
• Magnitsky case: How Switzerland failed to investigate Russian millions - Elena Servettaz
• The FBI’s Star Cooperator May Have Been Running New Scams All Along - Jason Leopold, Bloomberg

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See you next week!