European fintech funding round-up: Unbox, Rivero, ProjectPay & Ryft
This week’s handy Friday funding round-up includes four Europe-based fintech start-ups — Unbox, Rivero, ProjectPay and Ryft.
Belgium-based fintech start-up Unbox has secured a €12 million Series A funding round led by HSBC Asset Management.
The round also saw participation from SFPIM Relaunch, a subsidiary of the Belgian Sovereign Wealth Fund.
Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Antwerp, Unbox is a software company that allows firms to “efficiently distribute and track value, cashflows and funding”.
With the new funds, Unbox plans to further expand its software platform to better serve its target markets and provide technology solutions for flagship and industry–led projects. It adds that a “sizeable portion” of the funding will go towards talent recruitment and the further development of existing team members.
Switzerland-based fintech start-up Rivero has raised $7 million in a Series A funding round led by 6 Degrees Capital and Inference Partners.
Rivero secures $7 million in funding
The round also saw participation from Kraken Ventures, Seed X Liechtenstein, the venture arm of PostFinance and angel investor and former COO of Adyen Robert Kraal, along with a number of payment executives.
Founded in 2019, the start-up aims to simplify payment operations and claims to be “filling a gap in the market” for fraud recovery, dispute management and payment scheme compliance solutions through its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) products.
Rivero says its products can be used by all companies in the payments ecosystem, but are specifically targeted towards issuing banks. It says it will use the fresh funding to accelerate its growth across new markets, boost its product development and expand its workforce.
UK-based ProjectPay, a new construction project payment platform, has secured public funding to provide small businesses and contractors with access to working capital.
It has been awarded over £700,000 in grants by Innovate UK to scale up its offering.
ProjectPay, a patented platform backed by Lloyds Bank, was founded by Louise Stewart. It aims to address issues within the industry by targeting cashflow shortages, which it labels as a “primary cause” for delayed payments in the construction sector, with the aim to mitigate payment default risks for small businesses and debt providers.
Ryft secures grant from Innovate UK
UK-based payments platform Ryft has secured an undisclosed sum as a grant from Innovate UK under the ‘Innovation within Professional and Financial Services’ tender.
Innovate UK has set aside £5 million in funding towards the promotion of innovation in the professional and financial services sector in the country.
Ryft founder and CEO Sadra Hosseini says the grant will enable the firm to “take the next steps towards expansion into new markets, where we feel Ryft will make a real improvement to the existing payment platform offerings available”.
Funds will also be put towards expanding its team and further developing its product offerings.
