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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.

🇪🇺 Customer insights platform for FI's Safty raised €11.3m led by Upfin.

🇪🇺 B2B payments solution Mondu raised €30m in debt from VVR Bank as it looks to expand across Europe.

🇪🇺 Digital asset bank Sygnum raised a $40m round from Azimut Group.

🇬🇧 Open banking platform Ozone API raised a £8.5m Series A led by Gresham House Ventures.

🇬🇧 Digital wealth infrastructure solution WealthKernel raised a £6m Series A extension led by ETFS Capital.

🌍 Thomvest Ventures closed a $250m fund to invest in fintech, cybersecurity and AI.

🌍 Qatar based digital wallet fintech Karty raised $2m in seed funding.

🌍 Hong Kong SME lender FundPark expands its debt facility with Goldman Sachs by $250m.

🌍 Deposit management solution ModernFi raised a $18.7m Series A led by Canapi Ventures.

🌍 Loyalty platform Bilt Rewards raised $200m from investors including General Catalyst.

🌍 AI-powered wealth management app Alinea Invest raised a $3.4m seed round.

Challenger Banking 🚀

🇪🇺 Payroll lender DailyPay is to create nearly 200 jobs in Belfast.

🇪🇺Insurtech Luko was acquired by Allianz for €4.3m

🇬🇧 Mortgage lender Perenna is offering cheaper loans to customers to make energy efficient upgrades to their homes.

🇬🇧 Revolut has launched Mobile Wallets, a cross-border payment solution to other Revolut customers that doesn't require exchanging bank information.

🌍 Spend management solution Brex is cutting 20% of its workforce.

🌍 SME fintech provider Novo has rolled out Payroll, a tool for its customers to run payroll from their checking account.

🌍 SME lender Rapid Finance is working with LoanPro to enable more customisation and flexibility for lenders.

Digital Assets ₿

🇪🇺 Crypto lender Nexo is trying to recoup $3bn from the Bulgarian government due to repercussions in its criminal investigation.

🇪🇺 Digital asset platform Taurus is granted approval to offer tokenized securities to retail customers.

🇪🇺 Crypto exchange Gemini is coming to France.

🇬🇧 The UK Government has pledged to pass privacy legislation in the event of a digital pound.

🌍 Mt Gox is one step closer to repaying customers as it sent emails to customers asking them to verify their identity and account details.

🌍 The SEC has delayed its decision on Grayscale's Ethereum ETF again.

🌍 Coinbase has asked the US Treasury to reconsider its proposals to require crypto platforms to report crypto mixing activities. Bloomberg gave Coinbase a 70% chance of winning against the SEC in its upcoming court case surrounding the definition of a security.

Traditional Banking 🏦

🇪🇺 SEB is taking a minority stake in digital document exchange Kirva.

🇪🇺 The ECB is warning banks of the risk of failing to prepare for a low carbon economy

🇪🇺 German regulator BaFin has reported that cybersecurity and outsourcing of IT are the greatest risks to the finance sector.

🇪🇺 Commerzbank has partnered with Worldline to offer real-time payments across Europe in CHF.

🇬🇧 BNP Paribas has partnered with SuperTech to launch a UK innovation lab.

🇬🇧 Lloyds Bank is cutting 1,600 jobs in its branches whilst creating 800 new jobs as it increases its digital banking presence.

🌍 Citi is working with alternative investment manager LuminArx Capital to offer private credit to Citi's corporate customers. The bank also launched a free browser extension for cardholders to find offers and coupons online.

🌍 National Australia Bank is creating cyber assessment tools for SMBs through a partnership with Microsoft.

🌍 Banks in Hong Kong are joining an SMS sender register so customers can easily identify genuine messages and avoid scams.

Fintech Infrastructure 🚧

🇪🇺 Open banking platform Salt Edge has partnered with fintech Plannix.

🇬🇧 Financial software provider Finastra is working with Databricks to provide new solutions, including AI, to financial institutions.

🇬🇧Open banking payment solution Token joined the European Payment Council's new SPAA scheme.

🇬🇧 Open banking platform Moneyhub is the first TPP to connect to Co-Op, Smile Bank and Kroo Bank.

🌍 Mastercard has extended its agreement with TCH to operate the RTP network with its VocaLink unit.

🌍 Jason Mikula reports that partner bank Blue Ridge is in trouble after receiving another OCC Enforcement Action.

🌍 Jack Henry has launched a new solution to help regional banks modernise their SMB banking experiences.

Payments 💰

🇪🇺Credit Agricole has acquired a 7% stake in payment processor Worldline.

🇪🇺 Klarna has hinted that a US IPO might be coming soon. It also is stopping its "Klarna Credit Account" and launching Klarna Plus, a $7.99 subscription service in the US.

🇪🇺 Tink launched a rule-based risk engine to combat payment fraud using account, balance and transaction data.

🇪🇺 Paytech solution Payabl secured an EMI licence in Cyprus.

🇪🇺 Digital wallet Vipps MobilePay, formed after the merger of Vipps and MobilePay, has launched in Finland.

🇪🇺 The EU is proposing to limit any cash purchases to a maximum of €10,000 to try and combat money laundering.

🌍 American Express is selling its fraud prevention business unit Accertify.

🌍 X created a new handle @XPayments as it gets set to unveil its P2P payment solution.

🌍 57% of Gen X US consumers revolve their credit card balance, the highest among any generation.

🌍 Consumer lender Synchrony is to acquire the POS lending business of Ally Financial.

🌍 The CFPB is seeking to stop banks from collecting an NSF fee for transactions declined in real-time.

🌍 PayPal's new AI features proved to be a damp squib, with the stock down 5% in response.

🌍 The company's behind Venmo, Zelle and Cash App have been urged to increase their securities measures in the face of growing scams and fraud by the Manhattan DA.

🌍 Mastercard is creating a new biometric authentication services for logging into apps and websites and making online payments. It also partnered with Booking.com to use virtual cards when paying travel partners.

🌍 Visa reported FQ1 results with debit volumes +9%, credit volumes +8%, x-border volumes +16%, 77% in-person payments outside the US are contactless and Visa Direct volumes were +20%.

Longer reads 📜

• Open Banking Plus - Myself
• What platforms and marketplaces can expect from PSD3 - Stripe
• Exploring card payments in Europe - Jas Shah, Stitch
• Ramp passes Brex - Sacra
• The Economic Models of Identity (and Trust) - Tom Noyes
• The missing link of the AI safety conversation - Naré Vardanyan
• Machine learning or Generative AI: What's better for Fraud Prevention? - Sardine

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See you next week!