FinTech Futures: Top five news stories of the week – 12 January 2024
Here’s our pick of five of the top news stories from the world of finance and tech this week, featuring Zilo, Ant Group, FirstOntario, Capital Banking Solutions and more.
UK fintech start-up Zilo lands £25m in Series A funding
Zilo secures £25m Series A
UK-based fintech start-up Zilo, which offers global asset and wealth management software, has secured £25 million in a Series A funding round.
The firm says it plans to utilise the funds to accelerate its product development, drive user acquisition and grow its foothold in its native market.
Additionally, funds will also be deployed towards expanding into new markets and forging strategic partnerships with the aim of broadening its offerings.
The Series A, which builds on the $10.6 million reportedly raised by the start-up during its October 2022 seed round, was led by Fidelity International Strategic Ventures (FISV) and Portage, with additional participation from State Street and Citi.
Amethis buys majority stake in Capital Banking Solutions
Amethis, an investment fund manager focused on Africa, has purchased a majority stake in European banking solutions provider Capital Banking Solutions (CBS) for an undisclosed sum.
It will take majority ownership of the firm alongside CBS’s president and CEO Samer Hanna, COO Michel Tueni, CFO Aziz Akl and other key executives, who it says “are reinvesting all their proceeds”.
As part of its investment, Amethis says it wants to help CBS “accelerate its organic growth, especially internationally”, alongside supporting its external growth through acquisitions that will further help the company expand geographically and strengthen its existing offerings.
Established 25 years ago and headquartered in Paris, France, CBS’ flagship solutions include CapitalBanker, a core banking solution, and CapitalPrivate, a front-office wealth management solution specifically for European private banks and wealth management specialists.
Ant Group reportedly nearing deal to acquire Dutch payments firm MultiSafepay
Ant Group reportedly to acquire MultiSafepay
China’s Ant Group is reportedly close to agreeing a deal to acquire MultiSafepay in a move that could place the group more competitively within Europe’s already highly saturated payments market.
The acquisition would value the Dutch payments firm at $200 million, Reuters reported this week, however it’s currently unknown when or how the deal will be completed.
Founded in 1999 and based in Amsterdam, MultiSafepay offers an end-to-end payments toolkit featuring more than 30 local and international payment methods, with the company claiming a user base of over 18,000 business merchants.
While it’s best recognised as the operator of the cross-border payments platform Alipay+, Ant Group has had a hand in a variety of payment initiatives over the past few years.
Credit union FirstOntario readies for Canada’s open banking push with Flinks and Everlink
Canadian credit union FirstOntario has tapped API developer Flinks and paytech Everlink to power its open banking services ahead of the planned rollout of the country’s open banking framework in 2025.
The partnership is expected to afford the credit union’s members greater control over their financial data, which FirstOntario will be able to leverage to offer a more personalised array of financial services.
Montreal-based Flinks, majority-owned by the National Bank of Canada, and Markham-based Everlink first came together in March 2023 to pioneer the adoption of consumer-driven banking in Canada by combining Flinks’ open banking infrastructure product, Outbound, with Everlink’s digital solutions.
The partnership between the two solution providers is central to the federal government of Canada’s initiative, first unveiled last November, to deliver an open banking framework for the country.
Global fintech investment plummeted 48% in 2023, finds Innovate Finance
Innovate Finance reveals new data for global fintech funding across 2023
The total global investment flowing into fintech reached $51.2 billion in 2023, almost half of the previous year’s figure of $99 billion, according to data from UK industry body Innovate Finance.
The number of funding deals also considerably shrank, with capital being spread across a total of 3,973 deals compared to 6,397 deals seen in 2022.
The US retains the top spot for the most fintech funding received by a huge margin, bringing in $24 billion across 1,530 deals, followed by the UK in second place at $5.1 billion and India in third with $2.5 billion.
The UK’s $5.1 billion worth of funding in 2023 was spread across 409 deals, compared to $14.6 billion across 592 deals the previous year, reflecting a 65% drop from 2022.
