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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.

🇪🇺 Brite Payments raises $60m from Dawn Capital, Headline and Incore.

🇪🇺 Deus X Capital, a family office investing in fintech and digital assets, has launched with $1bn in assets.

🇪🇺 B2B payment solution for marketplaces Getpaid raised a $6m seed round from Inventure and Picus Capital.

🇪🇺 B2B financial management solution Divilo raised €3m from angels.

🌍 Mexican neobank Albo raised a $40m Series C.

🌍 Embedded payments platform Stitch closed a $25m Series A extension led by Ribbit Capital.

🌍 Payments-as-a-service solution Rainforest raised a $8.5m round led by Accel as well as $3.25m in debt funding from SVB.

Challenger Banking 🚀

🇪🇺 Neobroker Trade Republic is seeing increased negative app reviews.

🇪🇺 Neobank Lydia has partnered with Qover to provide travel insurance to its premium cardholders.

🇪🇺 Finnish neobank Saldo Bank is rolling out its fist product, a term deposit account.

🇬🇧 Neobank for SMEs Redwood is looking at a reverse takeover of listed R8 Capital Investments as well as issue new tier 1 capital.

🇬🇧 Revolut has come to an agreement with investor Softbank over a deal to clean up the multiple share classes it has that is one hurdle in getting a banking licence. The neobank is also is in discussions with the FCA over allegations it failed to stop funds leaving accounts that the NCA flagged as suspicious.

🇬🇧 Earned wage access solution Wagestream has acquired credit building service Keebo.

🇬🇧 Savings platform Flagstone is partnering with Saga, a brand focused on products for the over 50s.

🇬🇧 Neobank Monzo has hired former Cash App product head to become its US CEO as it makes a renewed effort to make inroads into the country.

🌍 Experian has launched a checking account and debit card which embeds its Boost feature.

🌍 Neobroker Public announced the ability for its US customers to invest in Royalties, starting with Shrek.

Digital Assets ₿

🇬🇧 Digital asset platform Zumo is the first crypto platform to meet the new FCA framework for crypto promotions.

🌍 Asset manager Valkyrie received approval to convert its bitcoin futures ETF into a two-for-one vehicle with exposure to ether via futures contracts.

🌍 FTX creditors are estimate to receive $0.37 on the dollar, 3x over earlier estimates.

🌍 Coinbase has received a payment licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The SEC asked for a judge to deny a motion from Coinbase to dismiss its case against the exchange and said its campaign against the company is not barred by the US Supreme Court's "major questions doctrine".

🌍 A prospective successor to bankrupt lender Celsius would have seed funding of $450m and no debt if its plans get approved.

🌍 Chainalysis is reducing its workforce by 15% due to market conditions.

🌍 A US federal judge has dismissed the SEC's appeal against its recent court loss to Ripple.

Traditional Banking 🏦

🇪🇺 German savings banks and German loyalty solution Payback are to collaborate.

🇪🇺 ABN Amro is merging its fintech venture fund with Motive Ventures.

🇬🇧 Lloyds Bank is rolling out Smart ID, a way to prove identity from a phone and share specific information with businesses, powered by Yolt, which Lloyds invested in.

🇬🇧 Barclays is targeting students to warn them of the risks of being targeted by money mules.

🇬🇧 Banks including HSBC, Nationwide and Tesco Bank have joined up with Experian for a portal to allow disabled customers to tell multiple service providers how they prefer to be contacted and what support they need.

🇬🇧 NatWest have launched a transaction categorisation service.

🌍 Jamie Dimon has said AI could lead to a three and a half day work week.

Fintech Infrastructure 🚧

🇬🇧 Weavr has shut down Comma, the open banking payment app it acquired but will use the technology in its embedded finance offering.

🇬🇧 Amazon and Microsoft, two large providers of cloud services to UK financial institutions, have been referred to UK regulators for a competition probe.

🌍 Canadian debit network Interac is expanding access to its e-transfer service to fintech Wealthsimple.

🌍 Visa has created a $100m fund to invest in AI technology focused on commerce and payments.

🌍 Data science solution Enigma launched a KYB platform.

🌍 Card issuer Galileo has partnered with Mastercard to power its Galileo Buy Now Pay Later offering.

Payments 💰

🇪🇺 The EU has proposed rules to support SMEs that would require 30-day payment terms for businesses has received pushback from retailers.

🇪🇺 ABN Amro has sold a 49% stake in its payment processing businesses EMS to Fiserv.

🌍 The US Supreme Court is to hear an appeal from a merchant that has challenged the Fed's Regulation II as being in violation of the Durbin Amendment.

🌍 Payment provider Shift4 has acquired SpotOn, a sports and entertainment payments business, for $100m.

🌍 PayPal and Venmo cards can now be added to the Apple Wallet. PayPal has also been hit with a class action lawsuit and is being accused of anticompetitive "steering" rules.

🌍 Costco has enabled customers of its Anywhere Visa card can access instalment options through Citi Flex Pay.

🌍 Samsung have launched the Samsung American Express card that lets Suth Koreans track its physical location.

🌍 The BIS and central banks are seeking to embed regulatory requirements into cross-border transactions to create more efficient payments.

🌍 American Express is piloting biometric authentication in online checkouts, integrating it into its SafeKey 3DS tool.

Longer reads 📜

• Apple will be a bank in all but name - Simon Taylor
• Instant Payments and CBDCs, Chalk and Cheese - Dave Birch
• Vertical Operating Systems and Embedded Fintech - Upper 90 Capital
• Strong Authentication, Secure Payments - Dave Birch

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See you next week!