Europe fintech funding round-up: Aria, AbbeyCross, Salv and more
This week’s handy Friday funding round-up includes five Europe-based fintech start-ups – Aria, AbbeyCross, Salv, Paynest and OneBanx.
French fintech Aria, which helps businesses upgrade their payments infrastructure to “get paid instantly”, has secured €15 million in a funding round led by 13books Capital.
Aria secures €15m funding
The round also saw participation from Adevinta Ventures, Ankaa Ventures and Otium Capital, as well as a number of angel investors including Laurent Ritter (Purple) and Guillaume Princen (former Stripe exec).
With the new funding, the company plans to scale its deferred payments infrastructure across the platform economy and B2B marketplaces. It hopes to provide a checkout experience similar to B2C while also providing KYC/KYB, debtor risk analysis, fraud risk analysis, credit insurance and debt recovery services within its offering.
Founded in 2019 and based in Paris, the fintech start-up launched its deferred payments API in 2021 and since claims to have grown “rapidly across Europe”.
AbbeyCross, which claims to be the world’s first wholesale FX platform focused on improving the payment market infrastructure for emerging market currencies, has raised $6.5 million in a seed funding round.
Led by Valar Ventures, the round also saw participation from investors including BNY Mellon, Third Prime and Gaingels. It follows a $2.47 million pre-seed funding round led by Third Prime last year.
Founded in 2021 and based in London, UK, AbbeyCross says it works with global banks, their currency suppliers and other financial services providers to remove “inefficiencies in the market”.
The new funds will be used to further develop and deploy its ABX Sync platform, which the company claims can help banks, payment companies and NGOs reduce costs, improve operational efficiency, enhance supervisory processes and ensure regulatory compliance.
Estonian regtech Salv, which provides tools to help banks and service companies fight financial crime, has raised €3.9 million in fresh funding from new and existing investors. The round brings its total funding raised to date to €12.1 million.
The investment will be used to fuel its expansion in the UK, a market which Salv says is currently experiencing a “sharp increase” in Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud.
Founded in 2018, Salv helps companies detect and prevent fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing. Its technology is currently used by 53 financial institutions across 12 countries, including LHV Bank, Swedbank and SEB.
Portuguese financial wellbeing start-up Paynest has raised €2 million in a seed funding round led by Lince Capital.
The round also saw participation from BlueCrow Capital, TechTree CTT managed by Iberis Capital and M4 Ventures managed by C2 Capital.
Founded in November 2022, Paynest enables companies to offer financial wellbeing benefits to their employees. Its offering features financial literacy tools including personal finance management articles and finance coaches for employees.
The new funding will be used for further product development, hiring new staff and fuelling the company’s planned expansion across Europe.
Glory, a global cash technology solutions provider for the financial, retail and quick service restaurant industries, has acquired additional shares in OneBanx, a fully managed shared banking solutions provider.
As a result, Glory now holds 91.99% of OneBanx’s outstanding shares, with the majority acquisition being completed with additional investment in July 2023.
Founded in 2019, OneBanx’s shared banking solution provides basic banking services for individuals and business customers through personalised assisted service and advanced self-service. The solution is currently live with three UK financial institutions and has powered “thousands” of transactions by accountholders of all major UK banks.
Glory says its investment will support the FCA’s call to protect access to cash by further underpinning OneBanx’s ability to offer customers cash services.
