ICYMI fintech funding round-up: Ximple, Hero, Curve, Chift 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 so you can get the latest funding news.
Hero lands €11.3 million investment
French fintech Hero has raised €11.3 million in an all-equity funding round led by New York-based venture capital firm Valar Ventures.
The Paris-headquartered start-up aims to support French small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by offering a platform that integrates both fintech and banking solutions – providing services such as short-term financing, IBANs, and payment cards.
Announcing the funding news in a LinkedIn post, Hero says it plans to use the new funds to fuel its product development and propel its expansion into the “main European markets”.
The new capital builds on the €7 million the company secured in 2022 in a round led by SquareOne Venture Capital, which also participated in the latest round.
Egyptian fintech start-up Connect Money has secured $8 million in seed funding in a round co-led by DisrupTech Ventures, Algebra Ventures, and Lorax Capital Partners, all of which are Egypt-based venture capital firms.
According to a report by TechCrunch, the company also received backing from One Stop Capital and MDP.
Founded in 2023, Connect Money looks to alleviate the “hassle of building in-house banking infrastructure” for businesses by offering services such as mobile banking app development, KYC, card issuance, and more.
The new cash will be used to drive the firm’s expansion beyond its native Egypt, with the company planning to enter markets such as Morocco and Kenya.
BlueFlame AI secures $5 million Series A
BlueFlame AI, a US-based generative AI solution for alternative investment managers, has landed $5 million in a Series A funding round.
The round, which the firm claims was oversubscribed by 25%, was supported by the company’s “network of industry leaders and strategic partners”, with additional backing from its own management team. The company says the new funding has boosted its valuation to $50 million.
BlueFlame says the cash injection will be used to further develop its generative AI platform and grow its team of engineers, product managers, operations professionals, and client success managers.
“With this capital, we can remain focused on our core goals of product innovation and customer value,” states Raj Bakhru, CEO of BlueFlame AI.
The funds will help the company to “push the boundaries of how our clients can use AI to reduce time spent on low value tasks and devote more time to delivering results for their limited partners”, adds Bakhru.
Ximple, a Mexican digital credit provider, has secured a $2.7 million pre-seed investment round.
Several enterprises came together to support the round, including Clocktower Technology Ventures, BoostCapital Partners, Graph Ventures, Lotux.VC, and 99 Startups.
The start-up says it is “dedicated” to promoting financial inclusion in Latin America by improving access to credit.
Ximple plans to leverage the financing to launch its platform and other financial products into the Mexican market.
Chift bags €2.3 million investment
Belgium-based fintech Chift has raised €2.3 million in a seed round led by Entourage, a venture capital firm headquartered in Ghent, Belgium.
The round saw additional participation from Seeder Fund, Shapers, and a number of business angels.
Founded in 2021, Chift aims to ease financial integrations for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) vendors by offering a range of unified APIs covering areas such as accounting, invoicing, and POS that can be connected “in one click”. According to TechCrunch, the firm is also in charge of maintaining and updating the integrations once they are established.
In a post on LinkedIn, company co-founder Matthieu Hertoghe says the cash injection will be used to invest in the firm’s customer experience and help the company achieve its ambition of being the “European leader regarding financial integrations”.
Samsung Next, the venture capital arm of the Samsung group, has made an undisclosed investment in UK digital wallet provider Curve.
Launched in 2018 and headquartered in London, UK, Curve combines all of a customer’s existing bank accounts and payment cards into one smart card, accessible through its app. There, users can track their transactions and finances and earn cashback and rewards on purchases.
The new financing, earmarked by Curve to enhance its products and services, brings the company’s total raised to date to over $250 million.
In September last year, Curve raised £58 million in a Series C extension, which took its total Series C funding to £133 million.
Carlos Castellanos, an investor at Samsung Next, writes in a post on the company website that its investment in Curve “aims to gain insights on how to enhance digital wallet capabilities, leverage extensive consumer spending data, and stay competitive in the rapidly growing digital payments market”.
