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The Front Page of Global Fintech

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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This Week in Fintech (8/7)

This Week in Fintech (8/7)

Hello Fintech Friends,

No boring weeks around here, huh?

Sorry for the wall of words below; we’ll find a way to spice the Saturday issue up a bit in the future.

Please find another week of fintech financings and exits below.


Editor’s Note: If you’re an early-stage startup founder raising equity or debt, I may be able to help - reach out to nik@thisweekinfintech.com.


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💸 Venture Financing

  • BharatPe, the Indian merchant financial services and payments platform, raised a $370 million Series E at a $2.85 billion valuation.
  • Rapyd, a UK embedded fintech provider, raised $300 million on an $8.75 billion valuation.
  • Human Interest, a 401k plan provider for SMBs, raised $200 million at a a $1 billion valuation.
  • Sentilink, an ID verification technology company, raised a $70 million Series B.
  • Nedbank, a South African infrastructure bank for clean energy, raised $63 million (R190 million).
  • Kuda, a Nigerian neobank, raised $55 million at a $500 million valuation.
  • Octane, a lender for large recreational and vehicle purchases, raised $52 million at a $900 million valuation.
  • Tabby, a UAE buy-now-pay-later firm, raised $50 million at a $300 million valuation.
  • Jupiter, an Indian consumer neobank, raised $45 million at a $300 million valuation, from investors including Brazilian neobank Nubank.
  • Zeni, a provider of real-time financial data to SMBs, raised $34 million.
  • Reserve Trust, a Federal Reserve master account B2B payments company, raised $30.5 million.
  • Yaydoo, a Mexican B2B payments company, raised $20 million.
  • Snoop, a UK money management app, raised £15 million at a £47 million valuation.
  • Kasisto, a financial chatbot developer, raised a $15.5 million Series C.
  • Wildfire Systems, a rewards and loyalty provider, raised a $15 Million Series A.
  • FintechOS, a low-code financial inclusion provider, raised $10 million.
  • Banyan, a rich receipt data provider for banks and fintechs, raised $10 million.
  • Aspen Digital, a platform for traditional and crypto investing, raised $8.8 million in “pre-A” funding.
  • Trading.tv, a livestream platform for financial content creators, raised $6.1 million.
  • Aplazo, a Mexican omnichannel buy-now-pay-later provider, raised a $5.25 million seed.
  • MotoRefi, a US-based auto lender, raised $5 million.
  • Comma, a UK bulk payments startup, raised £4.34 million.
  • Baraka, a Dubai-based retail investment app for US stocks, raised a $4 million seed.
  • FlowAccount, a Thai online invoicing platform, raised a $4 million Series A.
  • Nymbus, a banking tech provider, raised $3 million from OFG Bancorp.
  • Tembo, a mortgage broker, raised £2.5 million.
  • Wapi Pay, an Asia-Africa remittances provider based in Singapore and Kenya, raised a $2.2 million pre-seed.
  • CoreChain, a payments network built on a blockchain back-end, raised a $1.25 million pre-seed.
  • Akiba Digital, a South African small business lending startup, raised a $1.1 million pre-seed.
  • CreditFins, an Egyptian credit card management and financial wellness platform, raised a pre-seed.
  • Raise, a startup building ‘Carta for Africa,’ got backing from 500 Startups.
  • Banking Circle,  a Luxembourg-based cross-border B2B payments startup, is looking to raise $500 million at a €5 billion valuation.
  • VNLife, a Vietnamese neobank, raised strategic funding from PayPal.
  • Abrigo, a compliance and risk software provider, raised undisclosed funding from Carlyle.

💵 Debt Financing

  • Capital on Tap, a UK small business credit card provider, raised a $100 million credit facility as it expands to the US.

💰 Venture Funds

  • Element Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on B2B fintech and founded by ex-bankers, raised a $130 million fund.
  • HSBC launched a venture capital arm to invest into B2B fintech.

☯️ Exits

💻 IPOs
  • Orange County Bancorp (a bank based in New York?) raised $34 million in its IPO at a $150 million valuation.
  • Alabama bank Southern States Bank set terms for its IPO, and will seek to raise $40 million at a $174 million valuation.
📈 SPACs
  • FinAccel, the parent company of Indonesian buy-now-pay-later lender Kredivo, agreed to go public through a merger with Victory Park’s VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings II SPAC at a $2.5 billion valuation.
  • Pico, a financial markets data provider, is planning to go public through a merger with FTAC Athena Acquisition Corp at a $1.4 billion valuation.
🤝 M&A - Fintech
  • In the biggest fintech acquisition story of the week (of the quarter?) Square announced that it will acquire Australian buy-now-pay-later lender Afterpay, in an all-stock deal valued at $29 billion - a 30% premium to Afterpay’s current market cap. You can see the investor presentation here. There are many reads to this acquisition. It could enable Square to begin hopping borders into geos like Australia. It could further link the consumer Cash App experience to the Square merchant experience, creating “superapps” on both sides. And it could signal that buy-now-pay-later is here to stay as a legitimate alternative payment method to credit cards.
  • Credit rating agency Moody’s will acquire RMS, a provider of climate and natural disaster risk modeling and analytics, for $2.0 billion.
  • Financial data aggregator News Corp will acquire S&P Global’s oil price information business for $1.15 billion.
  • Western Union is selling its Business Solutions division to Goldfinch Partners and The Baupost Group for $910 million.
  • NCR, one of the largest ATM operators in the US, will acquire LibertyX, a cryptocurrency software provider, to enable crypto withdrawals.
  • Blockchain mortgage provider Figure announced that it will merge with Homebridge Financial Services, a $25 billion+ mortgage originator with 150,000 customers.
  • Brazilian neobank Nubank will acquire Juntos Global, a customer communications platform, to bolster its customer service.
  • PicPay, a Brazilian financial marketplace, will acquire Guiabolso, a Brazilian financial management and open banking platform.
  • Coinbase is acquiringPlaid for crypto’ provider Zabo.
  • Financial crime-fighting platform Feedzai acquired behavioural biometric platform Revelock to enable better transaction fraud protection.
  • Secure payment solutions provider Paysafe signed an agreement to acquire Peruvian payments platform PagoEfectivo.
  • Broadridge Financial Solutions, a corporate finance solutions provider, acquired Alpha Omega, a post-trade solutions provider for the investment management industry.
  • Payroll provider Deel acquired automated payroll software Zeitgold.
🏦 M&A - Bank
  • Italian payments provider Nexi signed an MoU to acquire a 51% stake in Greek bank holding company Alpha Bank's merchant acquiring business for €157 million.
  • Newtek Business Services, a business development company, will acquire National Bank of New York City for $20 million in cash.
💲 M&A - Investment Management
  • Cresset Asset Management acquired boutique Asset Management Advisors.

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🌎 Fintech Around the World

Challenger fintechs take aim at Australia’s big four banks’ ‘crypto hesitancy’

The first Zambian startup to get into YC is developing Africa’s first card-issuing API

North Africa VC Funding Market Map

Is regulatory license repurposing the engine of the fintech revolution in Nigeria?

Why Ghana’s tech scene was booming even before Twitter and Dorsey moved in

Finnovating for Africa 2021 & Full Startup List

Burnout, mental fatigue and talent drain are a threat to Nigerian startups

The inside story of how an ambitious African cryptocurrency startup failed

Latin America: Examining the region’s Buy-Now, Pay-Later landscape

Insights on the fintech VC industry in Mexico

The Mexico-based fintech that decided to buy a bank

The great ASEAN e-wallet battle: traditional banks vs fintech companies

India’s new digital payment e-RUPI is not what you think it is

Mumbai-based GetVantage is helping startups raise funds without giving away equity

How Roundups converts Indian Starbucks purchases into investment opportunities

📚 Deeper Reads

DeFi is Getting Into Everything

The Fintech Revolution (paper)

How Walgreens and Walmart’s new banking ventures will shake up finance

The New Age of Ownership; When Fintech Meets Marketplaces; Creator Tools for Active Investing

FinTech Platform ChangeFi is Crafting a New Banking Blueprint for Black and Brown America

Square’s Acquisition of Afterpay Accelerates the Race for Alternative Credit

Buy Now Pay Later

‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Installment Plans Are Having a Moment Again

A history of Robinhood

What are Stablecoins and What Risks and Opportunities Do They Bring?

Monzo Bank Annual Report

Baby panda falls into a bucket; here’s how mommy panda helps


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