Start-up


Fintech funding round-up: 8 June 2017

It felt like only yesterday (7 June) that we published a fintech funding round-up. In fact, we did. But this latest version features Kasikornbank, Lmrkts, International Finance Corporation and Entersekt. Kasikornbank (Kbank), one of the largest banks in Thailand, has launched its “Beacon Venture Capital” investment unit with $30 million on hand to support start-ups […]

Fintech funding round-up: 7 June 2017

Fintech funding can be an intense blur of money, jargon and unerringly similar expansion plans. Here’s a round-up that gets to the heart of the matter. Features Plynk, IHS Markit, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and Wahed. Ireland’s Plynk, a money messaging app, has revealed a Series A raise of €25 million. Led by […]

Payments firm Tilt wilts

Following Airbnb’s acquisition of crowdfunding and social payments start-up Tilt in February, it is now being wound down. Tilt (formerly Crowdtilt) was built with the aim to allow groups and communities to collect, fundraise, or pool money online. It was founded five years ago with high hopes. Its co-founder and CEO James Beshara said at […]

Interview: Daniel Schreiber, co-founder and CEO of Lemonade

Ask most people about their experience with insurance, grudge purchase par excellence, and they’ll say it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Enter Lemonade, the New York-based insurtech combining the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and an approach founded on behavioural economics and customer centricity to offer homeowners and renters protection with a difference.

Fintech funding round-up: 30 May 2017

It’s all go for money flow. Our latest fintech funding round-up, featuring NetGuardians, Banco BNI Europa, Raize and Wave. Swiss fraud prevention vendor NetGuardians has reported a Series C investment of CHF 8.5 million ($8.7 million). The investors in this round are Swisscom Ventures and Freemont Management. The financing will be used to fund NetGuardians’ […]

R3 hits jackpot with $107m investment for DLT

Blockchain consortium R3 has completed the first two of three tranches in its Series A fundraising round, securing $107 million in the “world’s largest distributed ledger technology (DLT) investment to date”. The consortia contest is heating up as this handy cash injection follows on from yesterday’s (22 May) announcement from the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) […]

IBM unleashes blockchain accelerator for start-ups

IBM has launched its Blockchain Founder Accelerator to help enterprises and enterprise developers power up their blockchain networks. The programme provides one-on-one mentorship and support by network founders and technologists for business case development, network membership incentives, technical development, governance and legal issues. In addition, members of the Founder Accelerator will receive early access to […]

Fintech funding round-up: 17 May 2017

Quickly following on from the cash flow glow of 15 May, here’s another fintech funding round-up. Features Additiv, BZ Bank, Symphony, BNP Parabis and IOTA. Zurich-based digital finance provider Additiv knows how to stay healthy as it has secured its first capital investment funding round of CHF 21 million ($21.3 million). The round was headed […]

Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 17 May 2017

The world moves fast, so you need a fast read. A round-up of key events in the blockchain and Bitcoin arena. Featuring Coinsilium Group, SatoshiPay, Aragon, ShapeShift and Kotak Mahindra Bank. Blockchain accelerator Coinsilium Group reveals that SatoshiPay, a “nano-payments” company in which Coinsilium has a 12.08% equity interest, has added PayPal as a new […]

Fintech funding round-up: 15 May 2017

Brevity and celerity. It’s our latest fintech funding round-up for a quick fix – featuring Axoni, Citi, MarketInvoice, Banco BNI Europa, Alibaba and Qupital. Distributed ledger technology (DLT) provider Axoni has revealed that Citi has joined its Series A funding round, bringing the total amount raised to over $20 million. Citi joins a group of […]

Fintech funding round-up: 10 May 2017

Whether it’s blockchain, lending or core banking – everyone likes a bit of cash. Our latest funding round-up – featuring Coinsilium Group, Coindash, Kreditech, PayU and Finxact. Blockchain accelerator Coinsilium Group has completed its investment of $75,000 in Coindash, which is developing a social trading platform for cryptocurrency investors. Coinsilium will also receive an entitlement […]

Budget boosts Australia’s fintech

Good days and good times have come to Australia’s fintech scene with the 2017-18 Australian budget bringing in some useful initiatives. Some of the positives include open financial data reforms, reduced barriers for banking licences, an expanded regulatory sandbox and digital currency tax cuts – all welcomed by Fintech Australia, a national industry association. Australian […]

Fintech funding round-up: 4 May 2017

Money talks, but it doesn’t sing and dance, and it doesn’t walk. And long as I can have you here with me, I’d much rather be, forever in fintech funding. Featuring FriendlyScore, Nav, Stockspot and InDebted. London-based FriendlyScore, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) B2B credit-scoring platform, will be opening its doors to new investors. The company is […]

Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 3 May 2017

No need to pace yourself. Here’s a quick blockchain and Bitcoin round-up. Featuring Infosys Finacle, Commercial Bank of Qatar, Adel and Blockpool. Infosys Finacle and the Commercial Bank of Qatar have completed a pilot on the “first ever” cloud-based blockchain network to process international remittances. The bank, along with its subsidiary Alternatifbank (ABank) in Turkey, […]

Lessons learnt on a start-up journey

I grew up in Darwin, northern Australia and dreamt of playing hockey for my country. Today I live in Glasgow, thousands of miles away from the sunny climes of home and head up the UK operations and marketing for regtech firm Encompass.

Payments start-ups PayKey and Blue Code win Temenos innovation final

Israeli payments start-up PayKey was voted as Temenos’ Innovation Jam winner by the attendees of the 2017 Temenos Community Forum in Lisbon. Another payments start-up, Austria-based Blue Code, was crowned the winner of the Judges Awards (the judges panel consisted of three Temenos’ senior execs, two representatives from banks and a consultancy). The prize is […]

Fintech funding round-up: 26 April 2017

They said it. We read it. We edit. Hot on the heels of Monday’s (24 April) fintech funding round-up, we have more action. Featuring Quovo, Gnosis and Indian Angel Network. New York-based Quovo, a data platform providing insights and connectivity for financial accounts, has raised $10 million in Series B funding. F-Prime Capital and Napier […]

Nasdaq goes on attack with fintech investment programme

Nasdaq has unveiled its venture investment programme, Nasdaq Ventures, as it seeks out new fintech firms to work with in the global capital markets. Adena Friedman, president and CEO, Nasdaq, says it plans to “accelerate the pace of innovation”. The minority stake investments made by Nasdaq Ventures are expected to range from less than $1 […]

Fund times with BNP Paribas blockchain-powered platform

BNP Paribas Securities Services is partnering with AXA Investment Managers for the creation of a new digital fund distribution platform. Called BNP Paribas Fund Link, it aims to make the fund distribution process better by improving the flow of information between fund buyers and sellers via blockchain and smart contract technology. Jean Devambez, head of […]

Mastercard AIs up future with start-ups

Mastercard has welcomed five new start-ups to its Start Path Global programme – its initiative to boost its share of the commerce market. The programme is open to all start-ups who focus on banking and payments and have raised a “significant seed” or Series A round of investment. Three out of the five firms joining […]

Starling Bank developer portal goes live

UK challenger bank Starling has unveiled its developer portal to enable third parties to access customer data and build on top of its platform using APIs. As Banking Technology previously reported, Starling launched its mobile app and is welcoming the first customers through its digital doors to join a beta testing programme. It also recently […]

Banking Technology April 2017 issue out now

The latest edition of our flagship magazine – Banking Technology – is out now, packed with news, analysis and insights, case studies, research and expert commentary.

Fintech funding round-up: 31 March 2017

Lighter and brighter – catch up with fintech funding news in our brief round-up. Features Monzo, Quint and Lidya. Mobile-only challenger bank Monzo has raised another £2.5 million from more than 6,000 investors – the highest-ever number of any Crowdcube campaign. This follows its crowdfunding record of £1 million round last year, which closed in […]

Fintech funding round-up: 28 March 2017

Enjoy a word-lite delight with our brief fintech funding round-up. Features Clarity Money, The Glue and OOjiBO. US-based Clarity Money, a personal finance app, has announced a $11 million Series B funding round led by RRE Ventures and Citi Ventures. This financing comes three months after Clarity Money launched its product and eight months after […]

Fintech funding round-up: 23 March 2017

Fintech funding news comes thick and fast, so here are four stories in one to save you time. Featuring Revolut, Jirnexu, Airpay and Quantexa. UK-based payments start-up Revolut has launched its 2017 funding round. The latest bout takes place almost a year after it raised £1 million with 10,000 investors registering, pledging in excess of […]

EdgeVerve calls for fintech’s magnificent seven

EdgeVerve Systems, a product subsidiary of Infosys, has launched Finacle FinTech Connect and the chance for firms to integrate their solutions into Finacle’s banking suite. Companies are invited to register for a partnership evaluation process and stand a chance to present at its event Infosys Confluence 2017 in May in San Francisco; along with joint […]

Inter-American Development Bank launches Finconecta ecosystem

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Florida-based fintech firm Above & Beyond (A&B) have unveiled “Finconecta”, a ten-month programme which integrates fintechs and financial institutions (FI) in an interconnected ecosystem. The technology platform behind it is called “Forward”, which was built by A&B, and is described as an app store-styled marketplace that allows firms to expose […]

BBVA launches fintech challenge for start-ups

BBVA has launched the ninth edition of its “Open Talent” fintech competition – and is looking for start-ups from across the globe. The Spanish bank says this year its programme has grown from one competition to five. It will be hosting three focused world-wide competitions, more than a dozen country-specific opportunities, two specialist challenges for […]

Fintech funding round-up: 14 March 2017

Life needs less noise. So here words are destroyed. A round-up of key events in fintech funding. Featuring Autobooks, University of British Columbia, Scotiabank and more. Michigan-based start-up Autobooks has raised $5.5 million in funding. This follows an earlier $2 million seed funding round. Draper Triangle Ventures led the latest round and was joined by […]

Fintech funding round-up: 10 March 2017

When time is tight, the reading can be light. A round-up of key events in fintech funding. Featuring Dimebox, NAB Ventures, Currencycloud and more.                          Amsterdam-based start-up Dimebox has raised €5 million in a series A round from payment processor Billpro Group. Dimebox says its modular, white label Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution includes risk management, artificial intelligence […]

Symantec ventures into cybersecurity start-up space

Symantec has created a venture capital arm, Symantec Ventures, as it looks to work with cybersecurity start-ups. Its plan is to get start-ups to build on its Integrated Cyber Defence Platform and save them time. It will also talk to start-ups and academic communities through sponsorship of activities such as innovation challenges and hackathons. These […]

Baloise to invest $50m in insurance and risk management tech start-ups

Switzerland-based insurance provider Baloise Group has forged an investment partnership with Anthemis Group, a digital financial services investment and advisory firm. Together, they will curate European and American tech start-ups developing insurance (insurtech) and risk management solutions, with a mandate is to invest CHF 50 million ($50 million).

Fintech funding round-up: 23 February 2017

Let’s put the fun in funding by keeping it mercifully brief. A round-up of key events. Featuring Tala, Nymbus and Monzo. US micro-loan start-up Tala (formerly InVenture), led by founder and CEO Shivani Siroya, has raised $30 million in Series B funding. The money will support its expansion plans in South Asia and Latin America. […]