Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,

This Week in Fintech is the official curator of the Fintech track at SXSW London!

We are bringing the builders, ideas and debates that are reshaping global finance into the cultural catalyst and creative collision. Our track will explore what happens when AI agents manage our wealth, how crypto and culture intersect, the next generation of digital identity, and the ideas redefining how money works.

London is the perfect backdrop. A global capital of finance and culture with an ecosystem that rarely gets to collide at this scale. This partnership changes that.

We can’t wait to build the future of finance with you—right at the center of culture.

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

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Funding 💸

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

🇪🇺 BNPL provider Scalapay secured an €70m debt facility from The European Investment Bank .

🇪🇺 SME automation platform GoDutch raised a €3.6m round.

🇪🇺 B2B payment solution Mondu raised a €100m debt facility from JPMorgan Payments.

🇪🇺 Wealthtech Finax raised a €8.4m round.

🇪🇺 Neobank Denarius Finance raised a €11.2m Series A.

🇬🇧 United Fintech secured investment from Barclays.

🇬🇧 Lender CapRelease raised a £2m round.

🌍 Airwallex raised $330m at an $8bn valuation led by Addition.

Challenger Banking 🚀

🇪🇺 Neobank N26 has joined digital payment system Wero.

🇬🇧 SME bank Shawbrook is expanding its financing offering after acquiring SME lending platform Playter.

🇬🇧 Revolut is launching a new ultra-premium corporate card dubbed "Titan".

🇬🇧 Money management app Plum secured an EMI licence.

🇬🇧 Business bank Tide announced it surpassed 1 million customers in India.

🌍 Neobroker Robinhood is acquiring Indonesia brokerage firm PT Buana Capital Sekuritas.

🌍 Spend management platform Brex signed Fifth Third Bank as a customer to offer commercial cards.

Digital Assets ₿

🇪🇺 Klarna signed a partnership with Privy to develop crypto wallets.

🇪🇺 French bank BPCE is to roll out crypto trading for its retail clients managed by Hexarq.

🇪🇺 BMW is using JPMorgan's Kinexys Digital Payment network to automate cross-border transfers.

🇪🇺 European bank AMINA became a customer for Ripple Payments.

🇬🇧 ClearToken launched CT Settle, a multi-currency settlement solution.

🇬🇧 The Bank of England is seeking input from businesses over its digital pound initiative.

🇬🇧 HSBC partnered with Ant International on cross-border tokenized deposit transfers.

🌍 Ripple secured an expanded licence from MAS to broaden its payment services. It was also reported its recent raise included investor protections to guarantee profits for Citadel and Fortress.

🌍 Binance secured a global licence under ADGM framework.

🌍 PNC Bank launched direct spot trading for its HNW clients.

🌍 Stripe has acquired Valora wallet.

🌍 JP Morgan has arranged a US commercial paper issuance for Galaxy Digital on Solana.

🌍 Coinbase has deepened its partnership with Standard Chartered to explore trading, prime, custody and staking services for institutions.

🌍 The SEC ended its investigation into tokenization platform Ondo Finance.

🌍 The CFTC is launching a digital asset pilot allowing bitcoin, Eth and USDC as collateral.

🌍 Circle secured an ADGM licence allowing it to expand payment and settlement in the UAE.

🌍 Stripe backed L1 blockchain Tempo starts its testnet, with Kalshi, Mastercard and UBS added as partners.

🌍 State Street and Galaxy are launching tokenised liquidity fund on Solana.

🌍 Hex Trust is to issue wrapped XRP to expand DeFi utility.

🌍 YouTube has allowed US creators to receive payouts in PayPal's PYUSD.

🌍 The DTCC subsidiary has received a SEC no action letter on offering tokenzied US securities.

🌍 The OCC gave conditional approvals to five crypto firms, Ripple, Circle Fidelity, BitGo and Paxos, to become federally chartered trust banks.

🌍 Moody's has a stablecoin ratings framework focused on reserve quality.

Traditional Banking 🏦

🇬🇧 Lloyds completed its first digital trade Letter of Credit on blockchain WaveBL.

🇬🇧 19 top banks, wealth and investment managers are coming together to launch the UK Retail Investment Campaign, to transform support for Brits wanting to invest.

🇬🇧 Nationwide was fined £44m for lax financial crime controls by the FCA.

🌍 Lending company Enova acquired Grasshopper Bank for $369m.

Fintech Infrastructure 🚧

🇬🇧 BaaS provider ClearBank signed Finseta as a customer for cross-border payments.

Payments 💰

🇪🇺 French payment giant Wordline sold its Swedish payments orchestration platform to Incore Invest.

🇪🇺 Payment provider Mollie is to acquire UK payment firm GoCardless for €1.1bn.

🇪🇺 Klarna is available as a payment option on Apple Pay in France and Italy.

🇬🇧 Visa is moving its EU HQ to Canary Wharf.

🇬🇧 BNPL provider Zilch secured an FCA payments licence.

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See you next week!