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The the largest fintech community in the world. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on the latest in news opinions, and all things financial technology.

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TWIF UK & Europe (28/11) - Two more UK fintechs show signs of trouble

TWIF UK & Europe (28/11) - Two more UK fintechs show signs of trouble

Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,

The European Women Payments Network (EWPN) released its shortlist of nominees for their annual awards. ย Good luck to all the awesome nominees.

Please find another week of fintech news, financings and exits below.


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Funding ๐Ÿ’ธ

Highlights below of deals since the last post in the fintech space across the UK & Europe.

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ Credit decision engine builder Taktile raised a $20m Series A co-led by Index Ventures and Tiger Global.

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ Proptech fintech InRento raised a โ‚ฌ230k seed round

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ Payment orchestrator Devengo raised a โ‚ฌ1.2m seed round led by TheVentureCity.

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บEmployee benefits management fintech Cobee raised a โ‚ฌ40m Series B led by Octopus Ventures and Notion Capital and also included Speedinvest and Balderton Capital.

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ French neobank Onlyone raised a โ‚ฌ35m round from GEM Global Yield.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Payments startup Atoa Payments raised a $2.2m pre-seed round led by Passion Capital, and Leo Capital with participation from angels.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Atom Bank raised ยฃ30m in equity from BBVA, Toscafund and Infinity Investment Partners.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Invoice financing lender Hydr raised ยฃ335k on crowdfunding platform Seedrs.

๐ŸŒ LGBTQ+ neobank Daylight raised a $15m Series A led by Anthemis.

๐ŸŒ SMB neobank Novo raised a $35m Series B+ from GGV Capital.

โ‚ฟ Crypto hardware wallet NGRAVE raised ย a Series A led by Binance Labs.

โ‚ฟ NFT platform Tropee raised a โ‚ฌ5m seed round from angels.

Challenger Banking ๐Ÿš€

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ German BNPL provider Billie has laid off 12 employees.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Savings and investment all Plum was ranked the fastest growing fintech and 5th overall on Deloitteโ€™s Fast 50 list.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Alternative investment app Ctrl Alt launched in the UK to provide digital shares in property and sustainability.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Alternative credit investor Fasanara Capital received a $200m mandate from a Canadian pension fund to continue to provide funding for its lending operations.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Neobroker Freetrade is in strategic talks about a new raise or potential sale.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Revolut claims to be seeing a rise in older customers that are attracted to its savings rate. It claims customers over 45 are depositing 64% more than those younger.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Expense management fintech Pleo has signed a strategic partnership with TravelPerk to enable a simplified travel expense experience for its users.

๐ŸŒ HR giant ADP has added Earned Wage Access to its platform through a partnership with DailyPay.

๐ŸŒ Revenue based financing marketplace Pipe has had its three founders announce a desire to hand over the reigns of the company to a more experienced CEO and executive team. ย Rumours surfaced on Twitter of an impending blowup due to some dodgy dealings.

Digital Assets โ‚ฟ

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ Bitpanda has received a Bafin licence to operate in Germany, allowing N26 to start offering its Bitpanda powered crypto service.

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ Two men in Estonia have been arrested in connection to a $575m crypto fraud.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง BoE deputy governor Jon Cunliffe has said the FTX collapse has highlighted the need for regulation of crypto.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Starling Bank is to block all income and outgoing crypto transactions.

๐ŸŒ Digital asset bank Sygnum is giving customers the opportunity to own part of Andy Warholโ€™s Four Marilynโ€™s painting, which it has tokenised under the Swiss DLT framework.

๐ŸŒ Genesis Block is closing its OTC portal amidst the fallout from FTX.

๐ŸŒ Regulators in the Bahamas have ordered FTX to move assets from its crypto wallets to government-controlled wallets. The exchangeโ€™s Japanese arm is set to allow customer withdrawals by year end.

๐ŸŒ Rumours are circulating about the bankruptcy of Genesis which sent BTC to a two-year low. It has engaged Moelis & Co to explore options. DCG has $575m of exposure to the lender.

๐ŸŒ Bank of America has called out the shortcomings of the rush to โ€œproof of assetsโ€ due to their snapshot nature and lack of proof of liabilities.

๐ŸŒ Alameda Research, the now bankrupt sister company of crypto exchange FTX, has been confirmed as having a backdoor into the exchange which exempted it from the exchanges liquidation procedures.

๐ŸŒ Uniswap is collecting some on-chain user data in its privacy policy update so it can make โ€œdata-driven decisionsโ€.

๐ŸŒ The discount on Grayscaleโ€™s GBTC has hit over 40% as concerns mount about its owner Digital Currency Group faces losses and is seeking to raise $1bn.

๐ŸŒ US Congress is set to ask the SEC Chair what his agency could have done to prevent FTX collapse.

๐ŸŒ Binance is targeting a $1bn recovery fund for the crypto industry. ย Its US arm will also be making a bid for bankrupt lender Voyager.

Traditional Banking ๐Ÿฆ

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ Italian bank Sella Group is trialling a biometric credit card developed with Idemia.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Lloyds Bank is trialling personalised gambling spending limits for their debit cards.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง The Bank of London has recruited a new CTO from 10x Banking.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง NatWest is working with the Financial Services Skills Commission to develop a framework of how to tackle the shortage of IT talent in UK banks.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Clearing bank ClearBank reached monthly profitability in October, driven by transaction volumes and interest income on the ยฃ3bn in deposit it holds. It is now looking to expand internationally.

๐ŸŒ RBC is the first Canadian bank to roll out Swift Go, an instant low-value cross border payment service from Swift.

๐ŸŒ JPMorgan has received a trademark for โ€œJP Morgan Walletโ€ as it positions itself to offer crypto services.

Fintech Infrastructure ๐Ÿšง

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง API first bank Griffin has launched its BaaS sandbox out of beta.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Truelayer secured trading platform Naga as a customer for its A2A payments service.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Featurespace secured funding from the UK and US governments to develop AI systems to prevent financial crime for banks and PSPs.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ThoughtMachine signed up payments provider Payset as a customer.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง JP Morgan has opted out of investing in open banking platform Yapily, in a blow to the company.

๐ŸŒ Bank software provider Finzly has added a treasury management solution to its platform.

๐ŸŒ Galileo is to power the โ€œRemit Now, Pay laterโ€ card from Pomelo.

๐ŸŒ DBS completed an intraday repo transaction on JP Morganโ€™s Onyx blockchain network using its JPM Coin to complete instant settlements and maturity in hours instead of days.

Payments ๐Ÿ’ฐ

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Payment orchestrator Br-dge has extended its partnership with payment giant Worldline to give the formerโ€™s merchants access to solutions from Worldlineโ€™s global acquiring platform.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Paysafe has launched Paysafecard, a prepaid alternative payment option, on Microsoft and Xbox platforms.

๐ŸŒ Visa is using the World Cup to demonstrate its face payments, working with Qatar National Bank and POP ID, as well as instantly issued prepaid cards with the tournament mascot. ย The payment giant also named a new CEO.

๐ŸŒ Incumbent payment processor FIS may cut thousands of workers in a $500m cost reduction program.

๐ŸŒ Afterpay has secured Expedia as a client to offer its BNPL product to travellers.

Regulatory Corner ๐Ÿ”Ž

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง The FCA has issued a warning to neobrokers and stock trading apps about their gamification which can prompt consumers to take actions that may harm them.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง The FCA is calling for a reform of Credit Rating Agencies (CRA) to introduce more competition and easier switching

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง An international fraud ring that resulted in losses for 200,000 victims in the UK has been shit down through collaboration between Scotland Yardโ€™s Cyber Crime Unit and international law enforcement.

๐ŸŒ The SEC has a revision of Reg D, which defines a โ€œAccredited Investorโ€, at the top of its priority list.


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