ICYMI fintech funding round-up: Fordefi, Mia Share, Kema, Coba 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.

Fordefi secures $10m round

New York-headquartered multi-party computation (MPC) wallet vendor Fordefi has concluded a $10 million investment round which brings the fintech’s total raise to $28 million.

The round, which was led by former investors Electric Capital with Paxos and Alchemy participating as new backers, is anticipated to continue to fuel the expansion of Fordefi’s Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS) solution.

Josh Schwartz, CEO and co-founder of Fordefi, claims the Web3 service is a “crucial tool to enable safe crypto adoption”, adding that the new funds will allow the business to strengthen its position with the sector and ensure its “accessibility while maintaining a strong focus on security and transparency”.

Educational payment platform Mia Share has raised a $6.5 million seed round to enhance the company’s digital payment capabilities for technical and trade schools.

The seed round was led by TTV Capital, with the fintech planning to further use the additional funding to grow its customer support team, incorporate additional product features, and increase its customer count.

The firm’s payments platform, which claims to service over 200 schools across the US, enables trade and technical school administrators to collect payments, manage tuition options, view data and reports, and send invoices, among other offerings.

Trade schools “need a tailored solution that can handle collections, provide meaningful data and reporting, and interface with students on their behalf”, claims CEO and founder of Mia Share, Joshua Haghani.

Cascading AI lands $3.9m investment

Cascading AI has raised $3.9 million to build what it claims is the first AI-native loan origination system.

The pre-seed funding round, which was announced by CEO Lukas Haffer via LinkedIn, was led by existing investor Peterson Ventures, which was joined by existing backer Y Combinator, and several other financiers including Clocktower Ventures, The 23 Fund, Olive Tree Capital, MBA Ventures and others.

Haffer says that the current generation of banking tech is “due for a reboot and everyone knows it”.

Stating the US company’s mission is “to turn AI from a buzzword on a slide to reality for banking”.

Latin American cross-border fintech Coba has completed a $2.2 million seed round led by Alaya Capital and Switch VC. Additional backers include Mexican B2B forex banks, Banco BASE, and serial investors from Latin American financial organisations including Topaz.

Coba’s platform provides customers with a US deposit account to collect USD payments, which can then be converted to the local pesos currency through connected Mexican spending cards.

By offering dollar accounts in the US and allowing “users to cover their daily expenses in Mexico through the Coba card and their built-in bank payments, they’re revolutionizing cross-border payments for remote workers”, claims Alaya Capital’s managing partner, Claudio Barahona.

Kema raises $2m pre-seed

UAE-based B2B Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) fintech Kema has raised $2 million in a pre-seed round led by Speedinvest, with additional participation from the Dubai Foundation District Fund (DFDF).

The company aims to save SMEs time and money by optimising, digitising and automating the invoice-to-cash process.

The enterprise intends to utilise the cash injection to introduce and expand its SME-focused SaaS platform throughout the UAE and, in addition, recruit “top-tier talent” to bolster its growth.

“Our north star is simple: to accelerate cash flow for B2B SMEs using the latest technologies and without the integration headache that comes with it for our clients” says the company’s co-founder Michael Ghandour.

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) has invested an undisclosed amount in Turkish digital banking and financial tech organisation, T.O.M Group.

Founded in 1975, the Islamic bank’s CEO, Adnan Chilwan, explains: “The decision to invest in TOM Group, including TOM Bank, was driven by the tremendous potential we see in Türkiye’s digital banking and financial technologies sector.”

Chilwan claims the Turkish group, nine months since its launch, has expanded its reach to 7 million customers.

The news comes after the DIB declared its initial 20% shareholding acquirement across T.O.M. Group (rising to 25% after 12 months) last September.