Fintech funding round-up: 21 September 2016
Too many words can be absurd. A round-up of some key events in fintech funding.
UK payments start-up Curve has announced a further tranche of fundraising taking its total investment to $5 million. The firm says this puts it on a “trajectory for a sizeable” Series A round by the end of December ahead of the planned release of its consumer card early next year.
The Curve card is built on the MasterCard network, but with a nod to the non-physical it is supported by a mobile app. The card was launched in Beta in February 2016 targeting small business owners including sole traders, freelancers and the self-employed. Later this year, Curve will release an Android version of its app.
Show me the money
While it’s not just for fintech start-ups, the Australian federal government will launch its AU$23 million ($17.3 million) Incubator Support programme, which Industry, Innovation and Science Minister Greg Hunt says will give start-ups better access to advice, capital and connections.
Incubator Support will provide “matching grants” of between AU$10,000 ($7,555) and AU$500,000 ($378,000) for over one to two years, for the development of new incubators in business sectors or regions that have strong links to international trade. Existing and “high-performing” incubators are not excluded – they can also get grants to expand their services.
European start-up FinanceFox has revealed it got $28 million in a Series A funding round today (21 September) – the “largest insurtech round in Europe to date”. FinanceFox is an app and web-based service platform that lets consumers, brokers and insurance companies manage their insurance products.
It launched in October 2015 in Switzerland and Germany, and has now got over 65.000 customers. The funding will be used to further expand its product, marketing and sales activities in those two countries, as well as enter new markets – for example Austria in Q4 2016.
Finally, back to the UK again, where challenger Atom Bank plans to raise £100 million from its shareholders in Q1 2017 – with speculation it wants to break into the mortgage space.
Nothing’s confirmed yet but its website has a “Residential mortgages” button which says “Spreading the Atom magic, available through mortgage brokers very soon”.
