Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,

Join us for our first London fintech breakfast of 2025, when we return to the fantastic Shoreditch Treehouse alongside our friends CMS! RSVP to secure your spot.
Please find another week of fintech news, financings and exits below.

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

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.

🇪🇺Neobank Nsave raised a $18m Series A from Sequoia, YC, TW Ventures, Proton and ACE Ventures.

🇪🇺 Automated personal claim solution Minte.ai raised a €488k seed round.

🇪🇺 PSP Nomupay raised a $37m Series B from Endeit Capital and Uneti Ventures.

🇬🇧SME bank Tide is exploring a £50m fundraise.

🇬🇧 UK lender Shawbrook is debating a £2bn sale or a London IPO

🌍 AI bookkeeper Truewind raised a $13m Series A from Rho Capital, Pathlight Ventures and Thomson Reuters Ventures.

Challenger Banking 🚀

🇪🇺Neobroker Trade Republic has reached 8 million customers.

🇬🇧 Revolut is hiring for new roles to support the build out of its private banking service for HNWI.

🇬🇧Lending data provider Monevo is to be acquired by US credit bureau TransUnion.

🌍 B2B lender Tranch is acquired by legal payments company Elite.

Digital Assets ₿

🇪🇺 Crypto exchange Backpack acquired FTX EU to expand its trading across Europe.

🇪🇺 Digital asset credit network Hidden Road secured a MiCA licence in Netherlands.

🇪🇺 Crypto firm HashKey obtained regulator approval to operate a crypto trading service in Ireland.

🇪🇺 Santander CIB completed an intrday repo transaction on JP Morgan's blockchain infrastructure.

🇪🇺 Standard Chartered is establishing a digital asset custody in Luxembourg.

🇬🇧 Crypto market maker GSR received FCA approval to operate as a crypto asset business in UK

🌍 Digital asset prime broker FalconX acquired crypto derivative trading firm Arbelos Markets.

🌍 Coinbase secured an appeal which pauses the SEC's lawsuit against the exchange.

Traditional Banking 🏦

🌍 Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Citi have exited a UN net-zero banking alliance. JP Morgan also quit the alliance, leaving only 3 US banks remaining.

Fintech Infrastructure 🚧

🇬🇧 Credit reporting fintech ClearScore acquired credit marketplace Aro.

🌍 The CFPB has approved Financial Data Exchange (FDX) as the first open bank standards setting body.

Payments 💰

🇪🇺 Klarna hits back at Swedish regulator after fine.

🇪🇺 ABN Amro's payment app Tikkie reached a record 157 million payments for €7.4bn in 2024.

🇪🇺 EPI completed its first e-commerce transactions.

🇪🇺 The deadline for the first Instant Payment Regulation, requiring PSPs that offer credit transfers in Europe to be able to receive instant credit transfers and credit the payee's account within 10 seconds, came into force on 9th January.

🇪🇺 Adyen launched Adyen Uplift, a payment optimisation solution that uses AI.

🇬🇧 Checkout.com is integrating with UAE payment gateway Noqodi.

🇬🇧 JP Morgan has filed new lawsuits against Viva Wallet co-owner Haris Karonis over allegations of depriving the bank of the value of its investment.

🌍 Latam payments company DLocal is exploring a potential sale. It also secured a UK payment institution licence.

🌍 X, formerly Twitter, is to launch X Money in 2025.

Regulatory Corner 🔎

🌍 The CFPB has sued Experian over unlawfully failing to properly investigate consumer disputes.

Longer reads/listens 📜

• Can Capital One challenge American Express? - Jevgenijs Kazanins
• Tokens and Binding 101 - Tom Noyes
• Stablecoin Payments: Who Actually Wins? - Rob Hadick
• The great crypto crash - Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic
• Stablecoins in 1,000 words - Matt Brown

👍 👎 Have feedback for us? Let us know

Follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn for more fintech content

See you next week!