Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,

You're invited to our Fintech Summer Soirée rooftop party, sponsored by 13books on July 18, 2024, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM at the incredible rooftop of the Hoxton, the Llama Inn in London. It is the perfect opportunity to unwind, connect with fellow fintech operators and enablers, and strengthen your ties within our vibrant community. Space is limited, so apply here.

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.

🇪🇺 Wealthtech Ramify raised a €11m Series A led by 13books Capital.

🇪🇺 AI-powered accounting solution for SMEs Mika raised an €800,000 pre-seed round.

🇪🇺 French payment provider Hero raised a €11.3m round led by Valar Ventures.

🇪🇺 Spend optimisation solution Viio raised a €3.4m seed round from North Ventures and angels.

🇪🇺 Wealthtech Froots raised a €2.5m round from Big Cheese Ventures and angels.

🇬🇧 Embedded payment solution First Digital Trade raised a ¢5m seed round.

🇬🇧 Investment data solution Finbourne raised a £55m Series B from Highland Europe and AXA Venture Partners.

🇬🇧 BNPL provider Zilch raised a £100m securitised debt financing arrangement from Deutsche Bank.

🇬🇧 Digital asset custody provider Zodia received an investment from National Australia Bank.

🌍 South African neobank TymeBank is planning to raise a $150m Series D ahead of an IPO in 2028.

🌍 Ecommerce accounting platform Finaloop raised a $35m Series A led by Lightspeed.

🌍 B2B lender Kapitus raised a $45m round.

🌍 Mexican payment and commerce startup Clip raised $100m.

🌍 Embedded financing platform Gynger raised a $20m Series A led by PayPal Ventures and included Gradient Ventures, Deciens Capital and more.

Challenger Banking 🚀

🇪🇺 Neobank Lunar has launched a debit card with Scandinavian Airlines.

🇪🇺 SME neobank Finom has entered the Italian market.

🇪🇺 Norwegian mobile payments solution Vipps has partnered with regional counterparty MobilePay to enable P2P payments in the Nordics using only a phone number.

🇪🇺 Corporate card platform Pliant has signed Commerzbank as a customer.

🇪🇺 Travel management company TravelPerk has acquired US competitor Amtrav.

🇪🇺 Swiss neobank FlowBank is being wound up by the Swiss regulator for breaches of capital requirements.

🇬🇧 Business lender Muse Finance has integrated its BNPL solution, MusePay, with Xero.

🇬🇧 Neobank Atom Bank announced a +600% increase in operating profit driven by increased lending.

🇬🇧 Revolut has launched RevPoints, a pan-European loyalty program. It also launched bond trading in the EEA with GTN and is seeking a $40bn valuation with an upcoming share sale.

🇬🇧 Insurtech Pikl partnered with Aviva backed Prestige Underwriting.

🇬🇧 Starling Bank is taking some of its borrowers to court amid a UK financial watchdog probe into Covid-19 loans.

🌍 Brex has partnered with Stripe Atlas to allow all companies incorporated using Atlas to apply immediately for a Brex account and will also reimburse the Stripe Atlas cost. It also partnered with Column to launch new business accounts with no transaction fees on ACH, checks and wires as well as a Treasury account.

Digital Assets ₿

🇪🇺 Turkish bank Garanti's Digital Asset subsidiary has introduced crypto wallets.

🇬🇧 Crypto payment gateway Transak has listed PayPal's PYUSD as a coin customers can buy.

🇬🇧 Standard Chartered is to launch a spot BTC and ETH trading desk,

🌍 Terraform's $4.5bn SEC settlement has been given the green light by a US judge.

🌍 The Financial Stability Board (FSB) is taking a close look at stablecoin use in emerging markets.

🌍 Nigeria has dropped tax charges against Binance executives.

🌍 Crypto exchange Gemini is to settle with the NY AG for $50m.

🌍 Tether has launched a new token that is supported by gold.

🌍 Crypto trading firm Cumberland has acquired a BitLicence in New York.

🌍 Australia has listed its first spot bitcoin ETF from VanEck.

🌍 Crypto exchange Gemini co-founders the Winklevoss twins have each donated $1m to the Trump campaign.

🌍 Digital asset technology provider Consensys has asked the IRS for a delay to new reporting requirements due to a lack of clarity

Traditional Banking 🏦

🇪🇺 BNP Paribas are working with BPCE to create technology solutions for payments processing.

🇪🇺 ING Nederland has made carbon footprint information available to all o fits mobile banking customers.

🇪🇺 BBVA is planning on launching a digital neobank in Germany.

🇪🇺 JP Morgan has settled its lawsuit with WeRealize in relation to shared ownership of Viva Wallet.

🇪🇺 Danske Bank has added sustainable investment insights into its mobile app.

🇬🇧 Lloyds is to invest in making its head office net zero.

🇬🇧 HSBC has enabled SMBs with a Kinetic current account to send and receive international payments.

🇬🇧 NatWest is receiving £125m to take on the retail banking business of Sainsbury's.

🌍 Evolve Bancorp and it's subsidiary Evolve Bank & Trust has received a cease and desist order from the US Federal Reserve Board for deficiencies in risk management, AML and compliance.

🌍 Royal Bank of Canada has partnered with Nova Credit to support immigrants to bring their credit history with them when they come to Canada.

Fintech Infrastructure 🚧

🇪🇺 French BaaS provider Swan has expanded to Milan.

🇪🇺 Embedded AR/AP solution Monite signed asset management platform ACE Alternative as a customer.

🇬🇧 Core banking provider Thought Machine has become a strategic end-to-end core banking partner of Mastercard.

🌍 Risk management provider Oscilar has released an AI-powered ACH fraud detection solution.

🌍 Banking solution Lumin Digital has partnered with Pinwheel to support deposit switching.

🌍 Treasury Prime's marketplace has added FS Vectors Compliance Training Resources.

🌍 BaaS provider Unit is cutting 15% of staff.

🌍 Plaid launched a new onboarding product Layer, cashflow underwriting insights from a Consumer Report, bank account insights from fraud and checkout solutions embedded with its Pay-by-bank technology.

Payments 💰

🇪🇺 Stripe have launched new enterprise solutions in France including integrating with leading French BNPL solution Alma and making available its Stripe Terminal.

🇪🇺 US payment process Shift4 has acquired a major stake in German POS provided Vectron.

🇬🇧 PSP AstroPay has faced FCA restrictions on onboarding new customers or providing payment services as its EMI licence is suspended.

🇬🇧 DNA Payments has added Open Banking payments at the POS using a QR code.

🇬🇧 GoCardless is to provide education and advice to the Federation of Small Businesses.

🇬🇧 Payment solution provider Monavate is to use Know Your Customer's KYC services to improve onboarding.

🇬🇧 Payment provider SumUp is adding faster payouts to SMEs from Adyen.

🌍 PSP Forwardly has launched Pay by Credit Card to allow SMEs to accept card payments for invoices.

🌍 Apple is shutting down its Apple Pay Later service which comes on the heels of announcing partnerships with Affirm and some issuers that have instalment products.

🌍 Payment solution Nium is creating a closed loop payment solution with Air France and KLM .

🌍 BNPL provider Laybuy has gone into receivership.

🌍 Payment infrastructure provider Alternative Payments has added access to PIX.

🌍 American Express is to buy restaurant booking platform Tock from Squarespace for $400m.

🌍 China has asked Visa and Mastercard to lower card fees.

Longer reads/listens 📜

• Deep dive into BaaS across the pond - Me
• Fast Crimes at Lambda School - Benjamin Sandofsky
• How Card Numbers Will Disappear - Matt Jones
• Central Banking from the Bottom Up - Marc Rubinstein

👍 👎 Have feedback for us? Let us know

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See you next week!