In the BLIK of an eye - TWIF UK & Europe (05/08)

Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,

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

👍 👎 Have feedback or news to share? Let me know on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Funding 💸

Highlights below of deals since the last post in the fintech space across the UK & Europe. Deal data powered by Dealroom.

🇪🇺 Fraud startup Hawk raised a Series B extension from Macquarie.

🇪🇺 Non-custodial lending protocol Morpho raised a $50m round from investors including Ribbit Capital, Brevan Howard, Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures, a16z crypto and more.

🇪🇺 Digital payment app Bourgeois Boheme raised a €6.5m seed round from Graphit Lifestyle.

🇪🇺 BNPL solution Leanpay raised a €10m Series B from South Central Ventures, Black Peak Capital, Lead Ventures and Catalyst Romania.

🇪🇺 Female wealth app Female Invest raised a $11.2m Series A from Republic Europe, Rubio Impact Ventures and Educapital.

🇬🇧 Equity capital markets fintech Primary Portal raised a £7.5m Series A from Flow Traders, DB1 Ventures and DFF.

🇬🇧 Ethereum mining platform Argo Blockchain raised £6.5m.

🌍 UAE-based SMB payment fintech Mamo raised $3.4m.

🌍 Accounting automation solution Rillet raised a $13.5m round from Creandum, First Round Capital, Susa Ventures and BoxGroup.

🌍 Wealthtech solution GeoWealth raised an $18m round led by BlackRock.

🌍 B2B payment platform Monto raised a $9m round.

Challenger Banking 🚀

🇪🇺 Hungarian neobank Granit Bank has entered to Romanian market.

🇪🇺 Digital wealth solution Mintos has expanded its Smart Cash product to Spain.

🇪🇺 Insurtech Wefox has exited the German market.

🇪🇺 SME neobank Qonto has been ordered to improve its AML measures by the Bank of Italy and is temporarily banned on onboarding new customers in the country.

🇬🇧 The number of UK consumers using the Current Account Switch service was up 10% in the past 12 months to 1.4 million.

🇬🇧 SMB lender Multifi has expanded its credit offering to include smaller credit limits.

🇬🇧 SMB lender TRIVER has partnered with Elcom to enable public sector suppliers to be paid efficiently.

🇬🇧 Monzo selected SAP to provide cloud ERP services. It also launched interest on Savings Jars in the US.

Digital Assets ₿

🇪🇺 Digital asset banking group Sygnum posted record profits in H1 2024.

🇪🇺 Crypto exchange One Trading has been granted an Organised Trading Facility Licence in the Netherlands allowing it add derivatives trading.

🇪🇺 Swiss regulator FINMA has published guidance on the issuance of stablecoins.

🇪🇺 Slovenia has become the first EU country to issue a sovereign digital bond.

🇪🇺 ETP provider 21Shares has integrated with Chainlink Proof of Reserve to enhance transparency.

🇬🇧 Digital asset insurance policies are now available on-chain and can be paid using crypto from Lloyd's of London coverholder Evertas.

🇬🇧 Fidelity International has listed an BTC-backed ETP on the London Stock Exchange.

🌍 HSBC Australia has notified customers it will block payments made to crypto exchanges.

🌍 Kamala Harris campaign team has reached out to the crypto industry to try and reset relationships.

🌍 Ledger has unveiled a new wallet that incorporates touchscreen technology.

🌍 Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald is to launch a bitcoin financing business.

🌍 Crypto exchange Bybit has launched a Digital Rupee payment method for its Indian users.

🌍 Ripple is to tokenise T-bills provided by OpenEden.

🌍 Crypto lending platform Ledn processed $1.1bn in digital asset loans, driven by institutional activity.

Traditional Banking 🏦

🇬🇧 NatWest has bought Metro Bank's £2.4bn mortgage book.

🌍 Wells Fargo is facing a lawsuit for alleged fake DEI hiring.

Fintech Infrastructure 🚧

🇪🇺 BaaS provider Solaris has signed crypto exchange Bitpanda as a customer for its KYC platform.

🇬🇧 Core banking software provider 10x Banking has launched a new category of core technology, a "meta core".

🇬🇧 Payments provider GoCardless has signed Airwallex as a customer for direct debits.

🇬🇧 Google Could is powering a data analytics hub for Monzo to enhance customer experiences.

🇬🇧 Embedded finance provider Aro has partnered with personal finance app TotallyMoney to bring personal credit matching to secured loans.

Payments 💰

🇪🇺 Polish payment service BLIK has expanded to Slovakia.

🇪🇺 Payment solution Kevin has been prevented from onboarding new customers by the Lithuanian central bank.

🇪🇺 Irish payment solution Payac has selected Nexi to power its SEPA instant payment solution.

🇬🇧 Payment platform Judopay is to offer the flexible funding solution Cashflows Advance, from Cashflows.

🌍 Global payments platform Airwallex is partnering with Canadian B2B fintech Float.

🌍 Stripe has acquired SaaS platform Lemon Squeezy. It also partnered with Fifth Third for embedded payments.

🌍 Google Wallet is to integrate Pix payments with C6 Bank and PicPay accounts meaning users can initiate Pix payments without opening the financial institutions apps.

🌍 Payment processor Finix has launched Recurring Billing.

Regulatory Corner 🔎

🇬🇧 The new Labour government is to outline its plans to regulate BNPL firms soon.

🇬🇧 The FCA is launching an initiative to simply rules for financial services firms.