This Week in Fintech UK & Europe (27/06)

Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,
Please find another week of fintech news, financings and exits below. If you are reading this but havenโt already subscribed, you can click below ๐
Donโt forget to also share with colleagues and friends!
Sponsored Content
How do crypto firms in Europe navigate the fast-changing anti-money laundering landscape? What steps can they take to make compliance a competitive advantage, and build a strong relationship with EU and national regulators? Our guide explores these questions, and much more.

Tweet of the week ๐ฆ๐
Funding ๐ธ
Highlights below of deals since the last post in the fintech space across the UK & Europe.
๐ช๐บ Klarna is rumoured to be seeking to raise funds at a $15bn valuation, ย a third lower than its last round.
๐ช๐บ Turkish payments fintech Param raised an undisclosed amount at a $200m valuation.
๐ช๐บ Lender Scramble Up raised a pre-seed round of $150k
๐ช๐บ Payment orchestration fintech Formance (formerly Numary) raised a $3.1m seed round from Hoxton Ventures, Frst, YC and angels.
๐ช๐บ German BaaS provide Solarisbank is rumoured to have raised โฌ40m from existing investors and also to be seeking new funds with some private equity firms becoming interested.
๐ช๐บ Credit data provider Fido raised a โฌ30m Series A from Fortissimo Capital and AVG.
๐ช๐บFinancial planning service Folio raised a $5m round.
๐ฌ๐ง BNPL provider Playter raised $55m in debt and equity.
๐ฌ๐ง Insurance policy management software Instanda raised a $45m Series B from Dale Ventures.
๐ฌ๐ง Insurance underwriting technology Artificial Labs raised a ยฃ9.5m Series A led by Force Over Mass Capital.
๐ฌ๐ง Home lender StrideUp raised ยฃ280m in funding for a new shared ownership mortgage for first time buyers.
๐ฌ๐งFamily savings app Beanstalk raised a ยฃ657k seed round on Seedrs platform.
๐ฌ๐ง B2B BNPL provider Hokodo raised a $40m Series B from investors included Anthemis, Notion Capital and Mosaic Ventures.
๐ฌ๐ง SumUp raised โฌ590m at an โฌ8bn valuation, down from its previous โฌ20m valuation earlier this year.
๐ API infrastructure provider Prime Trust raised a $107m Series B.
Challenger Banking ๐
๐ช๐บ Property lender Estategugu has lent โฌ100m in its Lithuania market, and over โฌ580m across all markets to over 3,000 projects.
๐ฌ๐ง Revolut is stopping unlimited free trading for Metal subscribers and instead offering 10 free trades per month. It is also launching a BNPL product in Ireland.
๐ฌ๐ง Monzo is still pursuing its crypto plans despite market turmoil, co-founder Jonas Templestein said.
๐ฌ๐ง InvestEngine, an ETF investment platform, announced it reached ยฃ70m in AUM from over 10,000 customers.
๐ฌ๐ง Starling Bank has reached 3 million current accounts, which includes its near 500,000 SMB accounts.
๐ Spend management fintech Brex is to stop serving its SME clients from August.
Digital Assets โฟ
๐ช๐บ Bitpanda is laying off 730 employees.
๐ Crypto exchange FTX is buying Canadian crypto trading startup Bitvo as it enters the country. The exchange also bailed out Voyager Digital and BlockFi with credit facilities.
๐ Goldman Sachs is looking to buy assets of Celsius Network if it goes into bankruptcy.
๐ Crypto staking service Lido Finance is questioning its dominant position and may scale back depending on community voting, for the benefit of Ethereumโs security.
๐ Coinbase is facing a class-action lawsuit over its promotion of TerraUSD and announced it is closing its Coinbase Pro product, with all functionality migrated to Coinbase.com.
๐ Solana lending protocol Solend pushed through emergency powers to take over a users wallet to prevent a margin call but then reversed course after public backlash. It is partnering with Mango Markets to share this userโs debts.
๐ Babel Finance is working with counterparties to shore up its liquidity situation.
๐ The mining difficulty of Bitcoin fell by 2.35%.
๐ Horizon Bridge was hacked for $100m.
Traditional Banking ๐ฆ
๐ช๐บ Irelandโs competition authority, the CCPC, has given the green light for Irelandโs banks to create a new payment app.
๐ช๐บ German bank Berenberg seems to be requiring employees to go back to the office 5 days a week.
๐ช๐บ Italian bank Sella launched an accelerator program for startups at the intersection of finance and the metaverse.
๐ช๐บGerman savings banks majority takeover of credit checker Schufa seems to have hit the brakes.
Fintech Infrastructure ๐ง
๐ฌ๐ง The Bank of London, a new clearing bank, is creating a new โCenter of Excellenceโ in Belfast.
๐ฌ๐ง The OBIE has revealed that the UK has 6m open bank users, less than four months after it reached the 5m milestone.
๐ฌ๐ง Stripe is offering its bank transfer product to businesses in the UK, EU and Mexico which includes automated reconciliation and virtual account numbers.
๐ RBC has signed a data sharing agreement with Plaid which will mean consumers do not need to share their credentials for increased privacy.
๐ Money movement platform Nium is working with the Stellar Foundation to support cross-border payouts to 190 countries.
Payments ๐ฐ
๐ช๐บ Samsung is integrating Samsung Pass and Samsung Pay into a new digital wallet which will be available in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and the US.
๐ช๐บ Germany banking industry is contemplating merging Girocard and Giropay.
๐ช๐บ GoCardless is launching Instant Bank Pay, a solution for one off bank-to-bank payments, and Verified Mandates, a fraud prevention measure pairing open banking with debits, in Germany.
๐ช๐บ Klarna is to unveil a new loyalty card feature that allows users store digital versions of loyalty cards thanks to its acquisition of Stocard.
๐ฌ๐ง Draft rules on the BNPL sector are likely to include affordability checks and new financial promotion rules, with lenders needing FCA approval. The Consumer Credit Act in the UK is also set for an overhaul.
๐ฌ๐ง The Payment Systems Regulator is launching two market reviews into Visa and Mastercard fees.
๐ Twitterโs integration of payments into its service is likely to be accelerated if Elon Musk gets his way.
Regulatory Corner ๐
๐ช๐บ ECB Board Member Panetta has said the digital euro could be a good opportunity for more โpublic-privateโ co-operation.
๐ช๐บ The European Banking Authority is calling for PSD2 to be merged with the Electronic Money Directive alongside its other 200 proposed amendments to the European Commissionโs call for feedback on PSD2.
๐ US agency the CFPB has indicated it would like the BNPL industry to work closer with credit reporting agencies to standardise payment data for credit reports.
Sponsored Content
We're the tooling for today's trading communities. Rules Engine lets you find undervalued stocks and get notified when the time is right to buy. Easily create, back test and execute strategies in spoken English for stocks and crypto.

Longer reads ๐
- BNPL Travel Example - Short Blog - Tom Noyes
- How the Celsius Liquidity Crunch Is Linked to Lido's Staked Ethereum - Stacy Elliott, Decrypt
- Crypto is dead. Long live crypto - Jpizzolato
- When Customers Say Their Money Was Stolen on Zelle, Banks Often Refuse to Pay - NYT
- Orchestration is the new layer - Michael Jenkins
Your feedback is a gift, please give below ๐
Good || Bad || Needs Improving
See you next week!

Comments ()