Crypto start-up Bakkt lands $300m Series B from Microsoft and PayU
The fundraising was closed last Friday, the same day Bitcoin experienced a multi-month low.
Investment & Funding
Agora Services lands $2m in seed funding
The founder previously built French digital bank Fortuneo.
Santander buys Spanish fintech Mercury TFS
Santander hopes the deal will enhance its global trade platform operations.
Global fintech funding: 2018 still stands as the reigning year
As of February 2020, year-over-year deal counts were down by 22%.
SpotOn raises $50 million in Series B featuring former Twitter CEO
Payments firm plans to extend product development.
SME challenger bank NorthOne raises $21m Series A
New York-based challenger plans to splash the cash on customer acquisition.
UK treasury expected to push back sale of its RBS stake to 2025
A further five-year delay is put down to “turbulent stock markets”.
UK banks prop up SMEs with £7bn amid coronavirus outbreak
The banks are also deferring customers’ payments on loans and mortgages for up to three months.
Paytech firm QRails raises $8m in Series A funding
Colorado-based firm brings total funding raised to $18 million.
A look beyond the big numbers
The devil is often in the detail.
Greensill buys Aussie payday advance app Earnd
The acquisition marks Greensill’s move into payday finance.
San Fran money manager Empower Finance lands $20m Series A
“There’s growing demand in the market for financial knowledge to be more practical,” says CEO.
First Digital Trust bags $3m investment led by Nogle
FDT and Nogle’s goal is to bring legacy financial services to the digital asset industry.
Family finance app Jassby raises $5m, anticipates $20m round later this year
CEO says rounds will drive fintech closer towards 1 million users within a year.
Tandem lands funding, tipped to buy “green” lender
The bank is set to announce “the acquisition of an established ‘green’ lending business”.
Leap Finance raises $5.5m to help finance Indian students abroad
Start-up wants to change the way students are given credit.
PFM app Bean shuts down 15 months after BGL Group acquisition
Bean no longer accepting new sign-ups and set to close later this month.
GFH buys 70% stake in MENA payments fintech Marshal
Marshal has a 85% market share across the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Banking Technology March 2020 issue out now
Keep calm and carry on: Where does COVID-19 leave the Chinese fintech market?
Video: Top fintech stories this week – 06 March 2020
FinTech Futures’ weekly news round-up.
Money management app Emma bags $2.5m in seed funding
The fintech connects users’ bank accounts under a single dashboard.
Flywire’s CEO on unicorn status: “It means nothing until it is something”
“I’m the most anti-unicorn terminology person, so it’s quite ironic,” says Massaro.
Dutch fintech TerraPay gets acquired & raises $9.6m
“Fintechs like TerraPay play a vital role in increasing financial inclusion in emerging markets.”
CreditEnable announces $2m pre-Series A investment round
The investment will allow it to develop and launch a second-generation product.
Australian neobank Xinja launches $33m Series D with customer buy in opportunity
The challenger is offering a minimum investment of AUD 20,400 ($14,000).
China’s Ant Financial buys small stake in Swedish unicorn Klarna
Klarna is already embedded into Alibaba’s AliExpress.
India’s lending start-up SMEcorner bags $30m Series B
The round was led by a $10.5 million investment from Germany’s Paragon Partners.
Digital Risks raises $10.4m in Series A funding round
SME insurance firms plans to triple its headcount in 2020
Public.com raises $15m with help of Will Smith and JJ Watt
The trading app is focused around making investing ‘social’.
Thought Machine completes $83m Series B funding round
Core banking vendor plans to use the capital to expand into new markets.
Video: Top fintech stories this week – 28 February 2020
FinTech Futures’ weekly news round-up.
Monese set to make 30 employees into millionaires
This is expected after its next fundraise which will value the neobank at £1bn.
South African fintech Jumo raises $55m to fuel geographic expansion
Jumo plans to break into both Cote d’Ivoire and India in 2020.
Metro Bank cuts two thirds of new branches and returns £50m to BCR
The bank is paying back £50m of its fund from BCR.
Open Banking home finance start-up Youtility raises £4.5 million
Venture funding round to be used on new products and new hires.
UK fintech B-Social raises £7.8m ahead of ‘Kroo’ rebrand
The fintech has “significantly progressed” with its pre-application for a UK bank licence
Small business lender iwoca raises €100m for German loan growth
The company says it is the largest fintech small business lender in Germany.
ConsenSys-backed start-up Apex:E3 launches analytics platform
Initially focusing on digital assets, the fintech will branch out to more traditional asset classes in the future.
BBVA joins $1.3m round for UK gig economy start-up Wollit
It’s one of the first to evolve out of BBVA’s ‘Venture Creation Partnership’ with Anthemis.
TripActions lands $500m credit facility from SVB, Goldman and Comerica
TripActions Liquid will float an employees’ travel spend.
