ICYMI fintech funding round-up: Refine Intelligence, Apiture, Solvimon and more
At FinTech Futures, we know that it can be easy to let funding announcements slip you by in this fast-paced industry. That’s why we put together our weekly In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) funding round-up for you to get the latest funding news.
US and Israel-based start-up Refine Intelligence has launched with $13 million secured in seed funding.
Refine Intelligence raises $13 million
The round was led by Glilot Capital Partners and Fin Capital with participation from SYN Ventures, Valley Ventures (the corporate venture capital arm of Valley Bank), and other investors including Ground Up Ventures.
The start-up has taken a different approach to helping banks reduce the growing operational costs of financial crime.
Its proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) scans anti-money laundering (AML) alerts from transaction monitoring systems and “greenflags” customers’ legitimate activity to “dramatically” reduce investigation time, and can also be used to protect against check fraud, scams and money mules.
Refine Intelligence plans to use the funding to accelerate expansion within North America, Europe and Latin America, and advance the development of its technology.
US-based digital banking solutions provider Apiture has raised $10 million in an insider fundraising round, led by funds and accounts advised by T Rowe Price Investment Management, with participation from other existing investors.
The investment brings the total funding raised by Apiture to $79 million since its inception in 2017.
Apiture plans to deploy the additional capital towards accelerating product development initiatives and expanding its sales and marketing efforts to meet demand for its digital banking platform, which serves more than 300 banks and credit unions throughout the US.
Netherlands-based fintech Solvimon has raised €9 million from Northzone and select business angels.
Founded by former Adyen VPs Kim Verkooij (CEO) and Etienne Gerts (CTO) in 2022, Solvimon operates a billing platform for mid to large businesses to operationalise modern pricing methods.
It includes “usage-based” models where customers pay only for what they consume as well as hybrid models which combine usage-based and traditional, user-based subscriptions.
The seed round will be used to continue expanding the team and to accelerate go-to-market.
Almond FinTech, a B2B fintech aiming to bridge fiat and digital currency, has secured $7 million in fresh funding.
Headquartered in Boston with offices in Singapore, Almond was founded in 2020. It operates a blockchain-based funds transfer network connecting financial institutions globally.
It claims its settlement optimisation engine (SOE) selects the “best possible rates and provides near instant settlements” for financial institutions globally. Additionally, it also uses a combination of psychometric and financial data to provide “fast, low-risk, ethical loans to communities with unconventional or limited credit histories”.
The funding will be used to expand Almond’s network in Asia, the Americas and Africa.
US-based personal finance management start-up Era has secured $3.1 million in seed funding.
The round was led by Northzone and backed by Protagonist, Designer Fund, and angel investors from Stripe, Netflix, Pipe, Google, and Plaid.
Founded in 2023 and based in San Francisco, Era operates a mobile app that leverages AI to help people manage their finances including taxes, spending, saving and investments. The app is currently inviting users to sign up for early access.
UK-based generative AI start-up Eilla AI has raised $1.5 million (£1.2 million) in seed funding led by Eleven Ventures with Fuel Ventures and its founder taking part as an angel investor.
The start-up’s platform helps companies in completing tasks such as market mapping, creating documents and offering comparisons, claiming that more than 50 M&A banks, venture capitalists and private equity funds have used its software.
Eilla AI says it plans to deploy the funds towards expanding in Europe and the US.
Upworth, an Australian fintech start-up, has raised $1 million in its first funding round from angel investors and entrepreneurs.
Upworth co-founders
Aiming to democratise money management for all, Sydney-based Upworth is also launching its free-to-use consumer product to the public, “allowing every Australian to take control of their financial future”.
Key features include a dashboard to see all assets and liabilities, customised insights via AI and open banking, and a digital platform to access financial products, starting with home loans.
The start-up also plans to launch new tools from 2024, including a self-serve financial roadmap to achieve retirement goals, a fee scanner to identify how to reduce financial costs, among more features.
