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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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TWIF UK & Europe (09/10)

TWIF UK & Europe - The latest fintech news across the UK and Europe

TWIF UK & Europe (09/10)

Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,

Thanks to our friends at Element Ventures and Balderton for sponsoring our Paris Fintech Meetup and to all those that came out! Interested in sponsoring a meetup in your city? Reach out!

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


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Tweet of the week πŸ¦‰πŸ†


Funding πŸ’Έ

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

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί Brite Payments raises $60m from Dawn Capital, Headline and Incore.

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί Deus X Capital, a family office investing in fintech and digital assets, has launched with $1bn in assets.

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί B2B payment solution for marketplaces Getpaid raised a $6m seed round from Inventure and Picus Capital.

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί B2B financial management solution Divilo raised €3m from angels.

🌍 Mexican neobank Albo raised a $40m Series C.

🌍 Embedded payments platform Stitch closed a $25m Series A extension led by Ribbit Capital.

🌍 Payments-as-a-service solution Rainforest raised a $8.5m round led by Accel as well as $3.25m in debt funding from SVB.

Challenger Banking πŸš€

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί Neobroker Trade Republic is seeing increased negative app reviews.

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί Neobank Lydia has partnered with Qover to provide travel insurance to its premium cardholders.

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί Finnish neobank Saldo Bank is rolling out its fist product, a term deposit account.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Neobank for SMEs Redwood is looking at a reverse takeover of listed R8 Capital Investments as well as issue new tier 1 capital.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Revolut has come to an agreement with investor Softbank over a deal to clean up the multiple share classes it has that is one hurdle in getting a banking licence. The neobank is also is in discussions with the FCA over allegations it failed to stop funds leaving accounts that the NCA flagged as suspicious.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Earned wage access solution Wagestream has acquired credit building service Keebo.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Savings platform Flagstone is partnering with Saga, a brand focused on products for the over 50s.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Neobank Monzo has hired former Cash App product head to become its US CEO as it makes a renewed effort to make inroads into the country.

🌍 Experian has launched a checking account and debit card which embeds its Boost feature.

🌍 Neobroker Public announced the ability for its US customers to invest in Royalties, starting with Shrek.

Digital Assets β‚Ώ

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Digital asset platform Zumo is the first crypto platform to meet the new FCA framework for crypto promotions.

🌍 Asset manager Valkyrie received approval to convert its bitcoin futures ETF into a two-for-one vehicle with exposure to ether via futures contracts.

🌍 FTX creditors are estimate to receive $0.37 on the dollar, 3x over earlier estimates.

🌍 Coinbase has received a payment licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The SEC asked for a judge to deny a motion from Coinbase to dismiss its case against the exchange and said its campaign against the company is not barred by the US Supreme Court's "major questions doctrine".

🌍 A prospective successor to bankrupt lender Celsius would have seed funding of $450m and no debt if its plans get approved.

🌍 Chainalysis is reducing its workforce by 15% due to market conditions.

🌍 A US federal judge has dismissed the SEC's appeal against its recent court loss to Ripple.

Traditional Banking 🏦

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί German savings banks and German loyalty solution Payback are to collaborate.

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί ABN Amro is merging its fintech venture fund with Motive Ventures.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Lloyds Bank is rolling out Smart ID, a way to prove identity from a phone and share specific information with businesses, powered by Yolt, which Lloyds invested in.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Barclays is targeting students to warn them of the risks of being targeted by money mules.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Banks including HSBC, Nationwide and Tesco Bank have joined up with Experian for a portal to allow disabled customers to tell multiple service providers how they prefer to be contacted and what support they need.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ NatWest have launched a transaction categorisation service.

🌍 Jamie Dimon has said AI could lead to a three and a half day work week.

Fintech Infrastructure 🚧

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Weavr has shut down Comma, the open banking payment app it acquired but will use the technology in its embedded finance offering.

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Amazon and Microsoft, two large providers of cloud services to UK financial institutions, have been referred to UK regulators for a competition probe.

🌍 Canadian debit network Interac is expanding access to its e-transfer service to fintech Wealthsimple.

🌍 Visa has created a $100m fund to invest in AI technology focused on commerce and payments.

🌍 Data science solution Enigma launched a KYB platform.

🌍 Card issuer Galileo has partnered with Mastercard to power its Galileo Buy Now Pay Later offering.

Payments πŸ’°

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί The EU has proposed rules to support SMEs that would require 30-day payment terms for businesses has received pushback from retailers.

πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί ABN Amro has sold a 49% stake in its payment processing businesses EMS to Fiserv.

🌍 The US Supreme Court is to hear an appeal from a merchant that has challenged the Fed's Regulation II as being in violation of the Durbin Amendment.

🌍 Payment provider Shift4 has acquired SpotOn, a sports and entertainment payments business, for $100m.

🌍 PayPal and Venmo cards can now be added to the Apple Wallet. PayPal has also been hit with a class action lawsuit and is being accused of anticompetitive "steering" rules.

🌍 Costco has enabled customers of its Anywhere Visa card can access instalment options through Citi Flex Pay.

🌍 Samsung have launched the Samsung American Express card that lets Suth Koreans track its physical location.

🌍 The BIS and central banks are seeking to embed regulatory requirements into cross-border transactions to create more efficient payments.

🌍 American Express is piloting biometric authentication in online checkouts, integrating it into its SafeKey 3DS tool.


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