Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,

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.

🇪🇺 P2P lender Finbee raised €35m from Pollen Street Capital.

🇪🇺 Private markets platform Bunch raised a $15.5m Series A.

🇪🇺 Accounts receivable software Payt Software raised a €55m round from Partech.

🇪🇺 Payment fintech Payflow raised a €6m round from Thomson Reuters Ventures, 6 Degrees Capital and others.

🇬🇧 Digital wealth app Plum raised a £16m Series B from investors including Eurobank, iGrow Venture Capital, Venture Friends and Ventura Capital.

🇬🇧 Insurtech InsurX raised a £2m seed round.

🇬🇧 Payment firm Sokin raised a $31m round led by Morgan Stanley.

🇬🇧 Pension fintech Jarvis raised a £1.8m seed round co-led by Ascension VC and Cornerstone VC.

🇬🇧 Capital markets platform Primary Portal raised a €8.9m Series A from Flow Traders, DB1 Ventures and DFF.

🌍 Financial transactions database TigerBeetle raised a $24m Series A led by Spark Capital.

₿ Tokenisation platform Etherfuse raised a $3m round led by White Star Capital and North Island Ventures

Challenger Banking 🚀

🇪🇺 SMB neobank FINOM has launched SEPA direct debits.

🇪🇺B2B lender Liberis is expanding its revenue-based financing solution into Germany with Nexi.

🇬🇧 Revolut has received a UK banking licence with restrictions from the PRA, with the restrictions representing a common step for new banks in UK. It also topped the Financial Ombudsman Service for fraud complaints and has been urged by the ECB to enhance its fincrime controls. It also launched a personal loan product in Italy and enabled UK customers to deposit cash.

🇬🇧 Neobroker Lightyear has launched Business Accounts to offer better savings rates. Competitor Shares is exiting the UK market.

🇬🇧 Zopa Bank is to integrate open banking platform D*One's to improve loan origination journeys.

🇬🇧 Monzo is launching a pension consolidation product. It also announced that more than six million customers are using open banking technology.

🇬🇧 Digital neobank Kroo is partnering with Snowdrop for transaction data enrichment.

🇬🇧 Brokerage firm eToro has added access to more than 1,000 stocks through a partnership with London Stock Exchange.

🌍 Green Dot has been fined $44m for deceptive marketing practices.

🌍 Neobank Mercury is off-boarding clients with UBO's in risky countries such as Ukraine, Croatia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Philippines.

Digital Assets ₿

🇪🇺 Clearing House Cboe Clear Europe has participated in an ECB experiment testing the use of DLT technology.

🇪🇺 Stablecoin virtual card solution Stables has expanded USDC payments to Europe.

🇪🇺 Ferrari dealers in Europe are to accept crypto payment for its cars after a successful US launch.

🇬🇧 Coinbase UK was fined $4.5m by the FCA for failure to offer services to high-risk customers.

🌍 The HKMA has revealed participants in its stablecoin issuer sandbox.

🌍 Crypto exchange OKX has achieved SOC 1 Type 2 compliance.

🌍 BlockFi has sold its FTX claims and is preparing to repay customers at a "substantial premium to their face value".

🌍 Bitstamp is restoring recovered digital assets to Mt Gox creditors including BTC and BCH.

🌍 Galaxy Digital has acquired Ethereum node operator assets of CryptoManufaktur.

🌍 Messari CEO Ryan Selkis has quit after a recent Twitter tirade.

🌍 The SEC approved Ethereum ETFs.

🌍 Crypto exchange Gate.io has exited the Japan market.

🌍 Coinbase has filed a motion to compel the SEC and its Chair to hand over documents related to its case. The exchange's asset management arm plans a tokenised money market fund.

🌍 Digital asset custodian Hex Trust receives MPI licence in Singapore.

Traditional Banking 🏦

🇪🇺 UniCredit has acquired BaaS provider Vodeno and neobank Aion Bank.

🇬🇧 Banks HSBC, Lloyds, TSB and AIB have failed to meet rules on providing customers with clear and up-to-date information according to the CMA.

🌍 US Bank has introduced an end-to-end accounts receivable platform.

Fintech Infrastructure 🚧

🇪🇺 Embedded finance solution Weavr secure an E-money licence from Malta.

🇬🇧 Open banking platform Bud is expanding and creating a European hub in Lithuania.

🇬🇧 Credit risk management solution GDS Link is to use open banking data provider Atto to enhance its credit decision processes.

🇬🇧 BaaS provider ClearBank signed EMI PayDo as a customer.

🇬🇧 Open banking has hit 10m consumer and SMB users in the UK.

🇬🇧 Payment processor Thredd signed subscription management solution Spendbase as a customer.

🇬🇧 Stripe signed SMB finance and accounting platform Sage as a customer.

🇬🇧 The new Labour party is introducing a "Digital Information and Smart Data Bill" which will provide a legislative framework for open banking.

🌍 Risk decision solution Stratyfy is partnering with Prism Data to help lenders use cash flow data.

🌍 Account opening solution MANTL has integrated with Q2's digital banking platform.

🌍 Financial technology provider Galileo has launched a 3DS solution to enhance fraud protection.

🌍 Marqeta will be the first card issuer to adopt Visa's Flexible Credential.

Payments 💰

🇪🇺 Mollie has partnered with JTL to provide payment options for merchants.

🇪🇺 Klarna has integrated its open banking payments solution, part of its Sofort acquisition, into Klarna payments as a "Pay Now" option.

🇪🇺 BNPL provider Billie has integrated its service with Stripe.

🇬🇧 Embedded payments provider Modulr has had its ban on onboarding new customers lifted but still has to give the regulator warning when adding new customers.

🇬🇧 Payments fintech Ebury is planning a UK IPO and as appointed Goldman Sachs.

🇬🇧 Mastercard has signed as a sponsor for the McLaren F1 team.

🌍 Indian credit card fintech OneCard is partnering with Razorpay for improved repayments.

🌍 Lender Jifiti has introduced Tap Now, Pay Later, providing banks a channel to deploy loans through digital wallets using virtual cards that can be used at any POS.

🌍 The BCB has delayed the launch of recurring Pix payments to June 2025.

Regulatory Corner 🔎

🇬🇧 The FCA is calling on financial institutions to improve their treatment of PEPs. It also confirmed it is planning to protect access to cash for consumers and SMBs.

Longer reads/listens 📜

• Why Discover is no American Express - Jevgenijs Kazanins
• Are We Ready to Pay by Bank? - Glenbrook
• Digital Pound Point-of-sale proof of concept - Bank of England
• Pix: the latest updates on Brazil’s leading instant payment scheme - EPC
• Exploring the Belgian Payment Landscape: Trends and Challenges - EPC
• Private Equity for the Masses - Marc Rubinstein
• Why Can’t We Have a National Fintech Charter? - Alex Johnson

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See you next week!