ICYMI fintech funding round-up: Fizz, Torpago, Sibill, WealthOS 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.
re:cap lands $14.6 million Series A
Berlin-based financing and data insights firm re:cap has secured a $14.6 million Series A funding round.
The round was spearheaded by pre-seed backer Entrée Capital, along with additional support from existing shareholders Project A and Felix Capital.
The firm’s pre-seed round in 2021 raised $111.5 million in what was described at the time as “one of the largest seed financing rounds among European fintechs”.
With the new cash re:cap says it is “positioned to further expand its successful alternative debt financing business and marketplace,” along with scaling its new investor Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, re:cap Institutional, and its cash flow software, Cash Insights.
US start-up Fizz has completed its seed round, led by Californian VC firm Kleiner Perkins, raising $14.4 million.
The round also saw participation from New Era Ventures, SV Angel, Y-Combinator, and a mix of angels comprising founders and operators behind 10 unicorns.
Fizz claims to be the first credit-building debit card for students “with an innovative, proactive AI budgeting solution at its core”.
The financing has been earmarked to build out additional product lines, scale its team, and invest in marketing and sales “to build awareness at more colleges and universities”.
Torpago secures $10 million Series B
Torpago, a financial services and spend management platform headquartered in San Francisco, has bagged $10 million through a Series B funding round.
The round, which adds to the firm’s $6 million Series A completed in 2023, was co-led by EJF Ventures and Priority Tech Ventures, with additional support from BankTech Ventures and other existing backers.
Founded in 2019, Torpago says it will use the funding to improve “implementation and compliance resources” while continuing to expand its product range.
For Brent Jackson, CEO and founder at Torpago, the raise is an “opportunity for Torpago to continue our momentum in product innovation and expand our top-of-the-line service” for “banks and credit unions and their customers across the country”.
Saudi-based spend management platform Simplified Financial Solutions Company (SiFi) has raised $10 million in a seed funding round.
The funding round, aimed at supporting the firm’s growth plans in the Saudi market, was led by Sanabil Investments and early-stage MENA venture capital firm RAED Ventures.
Founded in 2021 by Ahmed Alhakbani, SiFi helps enterprises manage vendor and bill payments while also assisting clients in overseeing their corporate card usage.
In an interview with TechCrunch, Alhakbani hinted that the company plans to leverage the Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence it received from the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) last year to offer a range of new services, including e-wallets and smart corporate cards.
Sibill lands €6.2 million investment
Italian fintech Sibill, which focuses on helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) manage their cash flow, has secured a €6.2 million investment.
The company has been backed by previous investors, including Danish VC firm Founders and Dutch holding company Exor NV, along with additional support from new backer Keen Venture Partners.
In a translated post announcing the deal on LinkedIn, Sibill says the “new resources raised will be used to better serve the thousands” of customers who already partner with the company and to “reach the millions of companies in Italy that want to grow more, healthier, more solid”.
Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Milan, Sibill provides Italian SMEs with a cash management platform that assists with accounting flows by forecasting future payments and analysing income and expenses in real time.
Singaporean start-up International Payment Identity (iPiD) has raised $5.3 million in a pre-Series A funding round.
The round was led by early-stage tech-specialist VC firm, Monk’s Hill Ventures, alongside new backers QED Investors and Quona Capital. Additionally, there was participation from existing investors Resolution Ventures, Jungle Ventures, 1982 Ventures and Saison Capital.
This cash injection is intended to accelerate the commercial launch of iPiD’s Verification of Payee solutions in European markets and to fuel the development of new products tailored to combat payments-related fraud.
Founded in 2021, iPiD offers financial institutions a range of payee verification and identification solutions.
WealthOS secures £4 million seed round
UK-based wealthtech WealthOS has closed a £4 million seed round led by Barclays.
The round was further supported by London-based VC firm Main Set, alongside other fintech angels including John Donohoe, Chris Adelsbach, Mike O’Brien and John Herlihy.
The firm says the funding will enable the company to “further develop our platform, increase distribution and scale the organisation to support our strong client pipeline”.
This funding announcement closely follows the news of WealthOS being selected by Quai Digital as its new strategic technology partner in February.
Swiss fintech Kaspar& has received CHF 2.5 million ($2.8 million) in a seed financing round led by Zurich-based wealth management technology provider Avaloq in exchange for a minority stake.
Minority investor Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank (BLKB) also participated in the round alongside undisclosed institutional investors and business angels.
As part of the deal, Kaspar& will now integrate its investment app with the Avaloq Core platform, which the vendor says will enable its banking clients in Switzerland to “provide more accessible opportunities for their clients to start investing” through the platform.
In addition to its app, the fintech, founded in 2020, also offers bank accounts, payment services and a save-as-you-spend solution that “rounds up card payments and invests the difference in index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs)”.
Building on a pre-existing commercial partnership between the two enterprises, AperiData, a UK-based credit reference agency, has received a £1 million investment from UK paytech PayPoint.
Headquartered in Chester, AperiData states that the new funds will help to expand its open banking solutions.
This move coincides with private equity investor Maven’s choice to divest its position in AperiData, following the sale of its initial investment in the company to PayPoint.
Commenting on the decision to exit, Tom Parton, an investment manager at Maven, says: “At Maven, we focus on adding value to companies with clear and credible strategies for growth. This exit is another example of our ability to identify high-potential businesses from the earliest of stages.”
BankTech Ventures backs three early-stage “bank-enabling” tech firms
BankTech Ventures, a strategic investment fund which focuses on early-stage tech enterprises, has made an undisclosed sum investment into three “bank-enabling” technology firms: Equabli, Filejet and Monit.
The California-based fund says the investments “aim to deliver essential solutions tailored to address critical challenges faced by community banks, including the impending increase in customer delinquencies and attracting and retaining small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and adding more value to them”.
Founded in 2020, Texas-based Equabli provides financial institutions with a range of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions to manage the “full recovery lifecycle”. Filejet, an entity management platform, primarily assists US organisations in navigating the complexities of ever-evolving compliance requirements.
Monit, a two-sided financial intelligence platform headquartered in Boston, US, offers SMB customers a suite of integrated “digital CFO” features, alongside a diverse set of analytical tools catered to bankers and marketing teams.
