Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,
Fintech Scotland reports that the 226 fintechs in the country employ more than 10,000 people and that 28 international fintechs are considering expanding in Scotland.
Please find another week of fintech news, financings and exits below.If you are an early-stage fintech founder, you can apply to pitch The Fintech Guild, a network of fintech operators here.
Tweet of the week 🦉🏆
the Brex / Ramp drama will never get old pic.twitter.com/accTwKx0Vp— Nik (@NikMilanovic) January 11, 2024
We built the world's first nuclear bomb in the 1940s in just over five years.
We are the same country that just took more than 10 years to approve an ETF to buy an imaginary coin made up of letters and numbers.— Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath) January 10, 2024
hey @GaryGensler and @SECGov, serious offer: as a crypto exchange we've had a lot of experience with security protocols around social media, and as a veteran and patriot I love to help my country. If you'd like any suggestions feel free to reach out. https://t.co/w3z2yU6FZw— Philip Martin (@SecurityGuyPhil) January 10, 2024
🙋Welcome to the party, HSBC!
In 2021, £180 billion was lost to hidden fees in international payments. It’s a big problem. And it’ll take a whole industry to solve it. pic.twitter.com/q7N9AZXY4Q— Wise (@Wise) January 11, 2024
Funding 💸
Highlights below of deals since the last post in the fintech space across the UK & Europe. Deal data powered by Dealroom.
🇪🇺 Payment prediction fintech Full Venue raised €2m from GED Ventures Portugal.
🇪🇺 Swiss payment operations fintech Rivero raised a $7m Series A from Seed X Liechtenstein, Kraken Ventures, Inference Partners and 6 Degrees.
🇪🇺 Alternative asset fintech Timeless raised a €11.5m round from EQT Ventures.
🇪🇺 Digital asset platform Finoa raised $15m from Balderton, Venture Stars and others.
🇬🇧 FX platform AbbeyCross raised a $6.5m round from Valar Ventures, BNY Mellon and Third Prime Capital.
🇬🇧 Wealth management software solution Zilo raised a £25m Series A from Citi, State Street, Portage and Fidelity International Strategic Ventures.
🇬🇧 Digital identity firm Yoti raised £20m in debt funding from and existing investors.
🇬🇧 Insurtech Hyperexponential raised a $73m Series B led by Battery Ventures and included Highland Europe and a16z.
🌍 Lending infrastructure solution Pier raised $2.4m from YC, Liquid 2 Ventures, ACME, Horizon Ventures and angels.
Challenger Banking 🚀
🇪🇺 Neobroker Trade Republic reported it is profitable and provided some updated numbers - 4m customers, €35bn in AUM and is launching a bank account and debit card.
🇬🇧 Revolut faces a lawsuit in the US over failing to disclose how biometric data is collected, stored and destroyed.
🌍 US neobroker Webull has launched its services in Canada.
🌍 NuBank is expanding its savings product to Colombia. It's Mexico unit has enabled customers to receive payment from the US via WhatsApp.
🌍 Business neobank Arc launched Capital Markets, a way for startups to raise venture debt.
Digital Assets ₿
🇪🇺Coinbase is in talks to acquire an unnamed company that has a MiFID II licence to allow it to offer crypto derivatives in the EU.
here's a table of the proposed spot Bitcoin ETF fees
excluding waivers --
low: Bitwise @ 0.24%
high: Grayscale @ 1.50%https://t.co/T5dNccZ3oJ via @crypto w/ @emilyjnicolle pic.twitter.com/yJ30yXmKRI— Katie Greifeld (@kgreifeld) January 8, 2024
🌍 A raft of asset managers amended their S-1 forms for their spot bitcoin ETFs as competition drove fees lower.
🌍 The SEC's Twitter account was hacked and falsely reported that spot bitcoin ETFs have been approved. It then approved all 11 applications later on Wednesday.
🌍 Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius is asking creditors who withdrew $100,000 or more up to 90 days before they filed for bankruptcy are being asked to return 27.5% of the funds.
🌍 Apple removed Binance, KuCoin and other crypto exchanges from its India app store after the Indian government banned them.
🌍 USDC issuer Circle has filed for an IPO.
🌍 Ripple is buying back shares at a valuation of $11bn.
Traditional Banking 🏦
🇪🇺 Danske Bank is to implment Backbase's engagement banking platform on its digital channels
🇬🇧 Metro Bank CFO is stepping down after joining 18 months ago.
Fintech Infrastructure 🚧
🇪🇺 Swedish einvoicing firm Pagero is to be acquired by Thomson Reuters for $626m.
🇬🇧GoCardless has signed JustGiving as a customer for its open banking payments product.
🇬🇧 TrueLayer is the first participant to join the SEPA Payment Account Access Scheme (SPAA) designed to premium create APIs that can be monetized better.
🌍 The CFPB is cracking down on data brokers that misuse personal data that could see fintech infrastructure companies looked at.
🌍 Financial infrastructure providers PortX and Plaid have partnered to integrate Plaid's account connectivity capabilities into PortX's core banking solution.
Payments 💰
🇪🇺 Payment solution Intergiro has partnered with card payment processor Silverflow.
🇪🇺 Dutch payment firm Multisafe is rumoured to be in the crosshairs of Ant Group who is looking at an acquisition.
🇪🇺 Global Payments has entered into a JV with Commerzbank, or sell payments technology to Germany businesses.
🇬🇧 Co-Op has partnered with processor ACI Worldwide and Microsoft to move its payment technology to the cloud.
🌍 Twitter is adding P2P payment this year.
🌍 Payment platform Finix launched Payouts.
🌍 US credit card delinquencies are approaching their highest levels since 2012.
Regulatory Corner 🔎
🌍 Big Tech has hit back at CFPB plans to regulate their digital wallets via a response from the CCIA.
💡
Have a thought/question/comment about anything we covered?
Start a discussion in the comments section below!
Longer reads 📜
The Capital Cycle Hits Payments - Marc Rubinstein, Net Interest
FedNow's Gaps and Opportunities - F-Prime Capital
Battle of the Buttons - Marc Rubinstein, Net Interest
Adios 3DS “Step up”.. Hello FIDO2 and How will eCom evolve in next 5 yrs - Tom Noyes
Payroll providers, Power, Respect - Patrick McKenzie
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