Hello Fintech Friends,

📜 Story time. In July 2021, our syndicate invested into a fintech infrastructure company being built by a smart repeat founder who was tackling the broken plumbing of equities markets. Less than a year later, amid market turbulence, the company was acquired by FTX. At the time, I was frustrated by the all-cash acquisition because it meant we would not in-turn become FTX shareholders. Well, the post-close process slowly wound on, and we received our distributions… two weeks ago. One week later, and we may not have received a check at all. More than we care to admit, timing matters.

🌴 I’ll be in Dubai at the end of this year for our first-ever Dubai Fintech Meetup on December 10th - if you work in fintech in the MENA, come join us - I’d love to know more about what you’re building.

Please find another week of fintech financing events below.

If you’re an early-stage startup founder raising equity or debt, we may be able to help - come check out our fund, The Fintech Fund (including a link to pitch us) and see our primer on how we make introductions to friendly VCs and debt providers.

Are you a fintech angel investor? Come join our syndicate.

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Are we seeing a rebound in fintech investing activity, a perennial pickup in October dealmaking, or a dead cat bounce in the market? Whatever it is, fintech fundraising picked up in November (per FT Partners’ data below). Here are some of the biggest deals that closed in October.

💸 Venture Financing

1. TRM Labs, a cross-chain threat intelligence provider for digital currencies, raised a $70 million Series B extension from Goldman Sachs, PayPal, American Express and Citi.
2. Lentra, an Indian embedded AI-based financial services provider, raised a $60 million Series B at a $400+ million valuation.
3. Privy, an Indonesian digital trust provider, raised a $48 million Series C.
4. Brightside, a financial care platform for employers, raised a $33 million Series B.
5. WeGift, a UK digital payout provider for brands and corporations, raised a £26 million Series B.
6. Baraka, a Middle Eastern commission-free investing platform, raised a $20 million Series A.
7. PayZen, a buy-now-pay-later provider for the healthcare industry, raised $20 million in equity and $200 million in debt.
8. Daylight, a neobank focused on providing financial services to LGBTQIA+ customers, raised a $15 million Series A and announced its subscription service.
9. Virgil, a French property investing platform, raised €15 million.
10. Banked, a UK-based account-to-account bank payment provider, raised a $15 million Series A.
11. The Trading Pit, a Liechtenstein-based equities trading company, raised €10 million in funding.
12. Service 1st Financial, a financial services provider to home contractors, raised a $5.85 million Series B and $15 million in debt.
13. Pashouses, an Indonesian transactional marketplace for buying and financing homes, raised a $5 million pre-Series B.
14. Zulu, a Colombian digital wallet builder, raised a $5 million seed round.
15. Fennel, a commission-free ESG focused investing app, raised $5 million in seed funding.
16. Beam, a Thai one-click checkout solution for social commerce providers, raised a $2.5 million seed.
17. Mifundo, a single credit market for the EU, raised a €1.2 million pre-seed.
18. Boodil, a UK account-to-account payments startup, raised £525,000 in pre seed funding.

Venture firm Revere Partners, a venture fund focused on oral health, announced that the fund is investing more than $10 million into fintech for the dental industry, including in Choice Payment Services, Walnut, FeatherPay, Plan Forward, Zuub, AirPay, and Tuuthfairy.

💰 Venture Funds

• Fiat Ventures, a venture fund started by a team with diverse backgrounds, raised a $25 million fund focused 90% on companies building for financial inclusion and health. 67% of investments are into underrepresented founders, 30% are female founders and 40% are minority-led.

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Pssst - if you like early-stage fintech investing, come join our angel syndicate.