Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,

Don't forget, if you are going to be in Berlin on 16th May, we are hosting a happy hour with our friends at 13books Capital. Please RSVP if you want to attend.

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.

🇪🇺 FinOps solution Payflows raised a €25m Series A led by Balderton and included Ribbit Capital, Headline, 20VC and others.

🇪🇺 Retail investing service Midas raised a $45m Series A led by Portage.

🇪🇺 RockFi raised a €3m round from Varsity.

🇪🇺 Zero emission financing solution NEoT raised €60m from 3i Group, Mirova and Banque des Territoires.

🇪🇺 Carbon trading platform Goodcarbon raised a €5.3m round from 468 Capital, Planet A Ventures, Silverstand Capital, Ocean 14 Capital and Greenfield Capital.

🇬🇧 Wealth management BI service Fundpath raised a £2m round from Fuel Ventures.

🇬🇧 Insurtech Peppercorn AI raised a £3.25m Series A.

🌍 Latam remittances provider Pomelo raised a $35m Series A from Vy Capital, Founders Fund and A* Capital.

🌍 VC firm 14Peaks has raised a $30m fund targeted at Fintech and Future of Work.

🌍 Retirement provider 401Go raised a $12m Series A led by Next Frontier Capital.

Challenger Banking 🚀

🇬🇧 Revolut has launched its refinancing facility in Romania. It is also seeing to generate more revenue from advertisements and recently hired a former TikTok executive. It has also launched joint accounts in Australia and is to boost headcount by 40% this year.

🇬🇧 Business neobank Allica Bank has reported its first profitable year in 2023 with revenues +141% yoy driven by +75% increase in deposits and lending volumes.

🇬🇧 Consumer neobank Monzo has added new subscription options which include additional benefits such as Railcards, breakdown cover and Greggs. The bank is also reported to have 20% market share of the BNPL space in the UK.

🇬🇧 Shariah-conscious investment platform Mnaara has launched in the UK.

🇬🇧 Property lender Together is to use nCino's banking platform to upgrade its digital offering.

🌍 Business neobank Grasshopper has enabled a digital application for SBA loans.

🌍 Trade credit provider Nuvo has added an integration to Equifax to its platform to enable its customers to pull business credit reports.

Digital Assets ₿

🌍 Crypto exchange Kraken has acquired TradeStation for its regulatory licence.

🌍 Exchange Crypto.com has had its approval in South Korea delayed due to leadership changes.

🌍 The IRS has given crypto investors a preview of their tax form and how they report their transactions.

🌍 FTX creditors have offered to settle their civil case against former founder SBF to gain his cooperation after celebrities.

🌍 Grayscale is to create a Bitcoin Mini Trust with a 0.15% fee.

🌍 Ripple has filed a rebuttal to the SEC's $2bn penalty and accused it of "ongoing intimidation". The SEC is also calling for a $5.3bn fine on Terraform and founder Do Kwon.

🌍 Venezuela's state owned oil company PDVSA is looking to use USDT to bypass US sanctions.

🌍 Binance has created a feature to allow traders to copy trades of "lead traders" who earn a profit share and a commission rebate. The DOJ is seeking a 36 month prison sentence for Binance founder CZ.

🌍 The SEC is seeking public comments on BlackRock's proposed spot Ethereum ETF.

🌍 Square is allowing some users to convert USD to BTC via Cash App for a 1% fee.

Traditional Banking 🏦

🇪🇺 Italy's UniCredit is to be penalised by the ECB for continuing its business in Russia. The bank is also upgrading its cards to Mastercard Touch card which includes features for blind and partially signed people.

🇪🇺 German regulator Bafin has fined Commerzbank €1.45 for AML breaches.

🇬🇧 Standard Chartered has launched an Open Banking Marketplace.

🇬🇧JP Morgan has opened a technology centre is Glasgow.

🌍 Goldman Sachs is selling its Marcus Invest unit to Betterment.

🌍 The FDIC is in talks with prospective buyers for Republic First Bancorp, a Philadelphia regional bank.

Fintech Infrastructure 🚧

🇪🇺 Dutch engagement banking provider Backbase has secured EverBank as a customer.

🇪🇺 Banking software solution Sopra is working with issuer processor Paymentology to embed its card issuing services into its core.

🇪🇺 Consumer financial services technology provider Ouro is to use Bnext as its strategic issuer for Europe.

🇬🇧 Banking infrastructure provider Monese is splitting its business in two, a B2C business and a B2B business with rumours around its financial stability.

🇬🇧 Financial crime provider ComplyAdvantage has acquired Golden, a data extraction and visualisation provider.

🇬🇧 Card issuer Marqeta has secured UK digital bank OakNorth as a customer to offer SME commercial cards.

🇬🇧 BaaS solution LHV Bank has reported its first profit (£6.4m) after operating as a licensed bank for one year.

🌍 Identity platform Trulioo is to provide identity verification to global payment provider Nium. Nium is also partnering with payment processor Thredd to issue virtual cards in APAC.

Payments 💰

🇪🇺 Klarna is selling the virtual shopping platform it acquired in 2021. It is also expanding its partnership with Expedia to the US and launched a global partnership with Uber to split ride-sharing and delivery.

🇪🇺 Open banking platform Tink has secured Splitwise as a customer for its Pay By Bank solution.

🇪🇺 Apple's offer to open up its "tap and go" payment system to third parties is expected to be approved by the EU in May.

🇪🇺 A2A payment provider Brite Payments has launched in Germany.

🇬🇧 Payment provider GoCardless has expanded its partnership with Quickbooks in Australia and the US to include its A2A solution.

🇬🇧 Local payment platform PPRO has expanded to the US.

🇬🇧 A2A solution Volt is rolling out its PayTo product in Australia.

🇬🇧 BNPL provider Zilch is to launch AI capabilities in collaboration with AWS.

🌍 Cross-border payments company Thunes is to acquire US payment platform Tilia.

🌍 Payment provider Square has enabled every hardware device in any country to take payments offline.

🌍 Global payment solution Airwallex has launched its payment acceptance product in the US.

🌍 Walmart owned fintech One has launched BNPL loans at Walmart stores.

🌍 BNPL provider Splitit has launched a new solution that banks and card issuers to offer their merchant customers instalment options at checkout.

🌍 During Stripe Sessions, co-founders Patrick and John says customers are asking for "software-defined financial services", a form of embedded finance. It is also bringing back USDC payments. Stripe's own summary of Sessions announcement is here.

🌍 Stripe partners with Uber to use its Link product to pay for rides via your bank account, commonly known as Pay-by-Bank or A2A payments.

🌍 Visa reported +17% increase in net income as card spend increased.

Regulatory Corner 🔎

🌍 The next evolution of the CFPB's war on fees seems to be targeting the "junk fees" in the mortgage industry.

Longer reads/listens 📜

• Why You Can’t Get a Restaurant Reservation - Adam Iscoe, The New Yorker
• BaaS partner bank landscape 2024 - Banking Embedded
• Visa - Acquired Podcast
• Costco - Acquired Podcast

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See you next week!