API builder Teller raises $4m to challenge Plaid
Teller’s co-founder: “I fear for the future of Plaid’s product”
Investment & Funding
Pine Labs becomes Indian unicorn after Mastercard investment
Pine Labs valued at $1.5 billion after latest financing.
Neocova gains $9.5m backing from community banks for AI-led tech
Vendor finds investment from six community banks.
API provider Currencycloud raises $80m in Series E funding
The round was co-led by Visa and SAP’s venture arm Sapphire.
Catalyst Fund raises $15m from JP Morgan and UK Aid for emerging market fintechs
Thirty fintech start-ups from South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, India and Mexico will get funding.
Video: Top fintech stories this week – 24 January 2020
FinTech Future’s weekly news round-up.
Liberis raises £32m to boost growth plans
The funding for the SME finance provider was led by investment firm FTV Capital.
Tokopedia lines up $1.5bn funding from Alibaba and Softbank
The $1.5bn funding would value Tokopedia at between $8bn and $9bn.
Nigerian paytech Flutterwave raises $35m, partners with Worldpay
Flutterwave has become Worldpay’s only African payments partner.
GetVantage debuts with India’s first revenue-based financing platform
The alternate funding model is gaining significant traction in foreign markets.
Gig economy fintech SteadyPay raises £2.9m to tackle income volatility
Roughly a seventh of the 32.54 million employed in the UK are gig economy workers.
Monese becomes UK’s latest fintech unicorn
The challenger aims to close £100m funding in the first half of this year.
Goldman leads LumApps $70m Series C funding
The French start-up hits $100m in total funding.
Mortgage broker Trussle raises £7.5m
Fresh funding brings total investment in Trussle to £26.5m.
Qonto raises $115m round led by Tencent
The SME challenger bank says it’s the largest funding round ever for a French fintech.
Kristal.AI raises $6m in Series A for algo-powered wealth management
Singapore-based firm plans Middle East expansion with fresh cash.
Volt closes $70m ahead of IPO plans
Volt plans for $50 million Series D round with British and Middle Eastern investors.
Lydia raises €40m in Tencent-led Series B funding round
Tencent-backed funding to be used to avoid “costly mistakes”.
Tink raises €90 million to power European expansion
Swedish open banking firm brings funding total close to the $200m mark
BMLL appoints Paul Humphrey as CEO
Johannes Sulzberger, outgoing CEO, will remain on the board as a non-exec director.
Australian fintech Wisr raises $33.5m for P2P lending marketplace
New and existing “high quality” institutional investors took part.
Capital markets fintech iStox raises $5m in South Korea
iStox claims to offer one-stop issuance, custody and trading of digitised securities.
Fintech Autenti lands $4.48m from three major Polish banks
Alior Bank, BNP Paribas and PKO Bank Polski have all invested.
Revolut valued at $5bn by investors ahead of new fundraising
The valuation is nearly three times its last estimated valuation of $1.7 billion.
Visa invests in data security start-up VGS to boost fintech innovation
The size of the investment has not been revealed.
Tradeshift raises $240m in bid to become profitable
CEO Christian Lanng confirmed Tradeshift is not planning a 2020 IPO.
WisdomTree takes lead in $17.65m Securrency investment
It plans to pursue the integration of blockchain technology into the ETF ecosystem.
Why start-up boards are here to stay
Start-up boards are often overlooked and underappreciated.
PayU nabs controlling stake in PaySense, plans merger with LazyPay
PayU splashes $185 million on new acquisition.
Indian challenger founded by Google Pay execs raises $13.2m
Former Google Pay execs aim to tap into India’s millennial market.
Know Your Customer and Botsync close first $2.5m on Hong Kong’s AngelHub
The rounds are part of a larger $50 million Series C round by AngelHub.
Payments app KogoPay crowdfunds £200k and hits £10m valuation
The London and Bangkok-based start-up tallied 281 investors.
Texan fintech HighRadius raises $125m and hits unicorn status
Customers include Nike, Burger King and Sony.
Financial management app Muse reveals £500k funding target
The fintech launched its app just a few weeks ago.
Receipt Bank raises $73m in Series C funding round
Bookkeeping fintech will use funds to boost international growth.
Tokyo: fintechs welcome!
Japan is keen to turn Tokyo into the number one financial hub in Asia.
Reasons behind the rise of fintech companies popularising stock market investing
Being financially successful is ‘cool’ and is a growing aspiration for younger generations.
Omnio lands €15m in private placement
Further €10 million anticipated in January 2020.
SME challenger bank B-North raises £2m funding
The bank’s first regional “Lending Pod” will open in Manchester in Q2 2020.
A market course correction will rein in overblown valuations in 2020
Recent disappointing IPO stories are sending investors back to the drawing board.
