Two European banks go to battle - TWIF UK & Europe (30/09)

Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,

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

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

🇪🇺 Wealthtech Desia raised a $3.3m round led by Dig Ventures.

🇪🇺Fincrime KYB solution Dotfile raised a €6m seed round from Seaya, Hexa and Serena.

🇪🇺 Corporate loan platform Fundu raised a €200m growth round from Pollen Street Capital.

🇪🇺 Digital asset custody solution Dfns raised an $11m Series A from White Star, Bpifrance, Susquehanna, Motive Partners and more.

🇪🇺 Crypto asset management software solution 3Folio raised a €700k seed round from Blockpit.

🇪🇺 Payroll and HR solution Jet HR raised an €12m seed round.

🇪🇺 Digital financial services platform Qliro raised a $4.9m round.

🇪🇺 Home insurance provider Tuio raised a €7.5m round from BAMCAP, BlackRock, MassMutual and Extension Fund.

🇪🇺 ESG investment data solution Clarity AI raised a €20m round from Balderton Capital.

🇪🇺 Insurance pricing fintech AKUR8 raised a $120m Series C from Partners Group, One Peak Partners and Guidewire Software.

🇪🇺 Ecommerce BNPL solution PastPay raised a €12m Series A from Advance Global Capital, STRT holding, Platina Capital, Quantic Financial and angels.

🇪🇺 Insurtech Neat Protect raised a €30m Series A from Mundi Ventures, Hedosophia, ETFS Capital and Athletico Ventures.

🇬🇧 Real-time credit bureau Infact raised a £4m seed round led by AlbionVC and 13books Capital as they also secured FCA authorisation as a CRA.

🇬🇧 SMB super-app Apron raised a $30m Series B led by Zinal Growth and included Index Ventures, Bessemer Ventures and Build Collective.

🇬🇧 Revolut sold shares in a secondary offering to UAE investor Mubadala. It also hit 10 million UK customers.

🇬🇧 Credit card startup Yonder raised £23m in funding.

🇬🇧 1-click checkout solution Simpler raised an €9m round from MMC, VentureFriends, Lamda Development and others.

🇬🇧 Payments software solution Form3 raised a $60m Series C from Barclays, Molten Ventures, Goldman Sachs, Mastercard, 83North, Visa and British Patient Capital.

🌍 Accounting fintech LiveFlow raised a $13.5m Series A.

🌍 Australian debt collection fintech InDebted raised a $41m Series C.

🇪🇺 Dutch neobank Bunq has launched stock trading as it hits 14.5 million users.

🇪🇺 French SMB neobank Qonto has expanded to Austria, Belgium, Netherlands and Portugal.

🇪🇺 Neobroker eToro acquired Australian competitor Spaceship.

🇬🇧 EWA provider DailyPay has expanded to the UK.

🇬🇧 Chase is testing a credit card product in the UK.

🇬🇧 Revolut is launching a standalone investment app in Europe. It also partnered with Visa to launch instant card transfers for it's business customers.

🇬🇧 Embedded lender YouLend has partnered with payment processor Lopay to provide access to capital to SME.

🇬🇧 B2B lender Kriya is now available as a pay later option with Stripe in the UK.

🇬🇧 Hotel chain Hilton has launched two hotel loyalty debit cards in partnership with Currensea.

🌍 B2B lender Liberis has launched flexible cash advances for eBay sellers in the US.

🌍 Israeli startup Bridgewise has been approved by the regulator to offer an AI chatbot that provides stock picking advice.

🌍 Spend management fintech Brex added an embedded payments tool.

🌍 US neobank Chime has selected Morgan Stanley to lead its IPO next year.

🇪🇺 Digital asset bank Sygnum obtained a crypto licence in Lichtenstein.

🇪🇺 Societe Generale FORGE is partnering with Bitpanda to increase adoption of its MiCA EUR stablecoin.

🇪🇺 Kraken has expanded in Europe with the acquisition of broker BCM.

🌍 DTCC and Digital Asset completed a pilot for using tokenized Treasuries for collateral on the Canton network.

🌍 Crypto exchange Crypto.com secured a payment service licence in Bahrain.

🌍 Stablecoin issuer Circle has expanded support for USDC in Brazil and Mexico via PIX and SPEI allowing direct access to USDC in local currency.

🌍 Former FTX executive Carline Ellison received a two-year prison sentence for her part in the fraud.

🌍 PayPal has added the ability for US businesses to buy and sell crypto.

🌍 Coinbase has urged a US court to force the SEC to draft digital asset rules. In contrast, SEC Chair Gary Gensler has stated that regulatory clarity exists in crypto and reiterated that bitcoin is not a security.

🌍 Neobroker Robinhood is exploring launching its own stablecoin.

🌍 First Abu Dhabi Bank and JP Morgan have piloted programmable payments using JPM Coin.

🌍 BNY Mellon is readying a digital asset custody solution for ETF providers.

🇪🇺 Commerzbank is fighting for survival amidst takeover interest from Italy's Unicredit.

🇪🇺 BNP Paribas is acquiring the private banking business of HSBC in Germany.

🇪🇺 Santander's mobile app faced a three-hour outage.

🇬🇧 HSBC has called on tech giants to help reimburse victims of APP fraud which often occur on their platforms. It also launched new financing for SMEs in Hong Kong.

🌍 Bank of America is to open 165 new branches in 2026.

🌍 JP Morgan is near to closing a deal to take over Apple's credit card from Goldman Sachs.

🇪🇺 Core banking fintech Mambu has signed mortgage lender Interbridge Mortgages as a customer to support its UK launch.

🇪🇺 Payment infrastructure provider Kevin has been declared insolvent by a court in Lithuanian.

🇪🇺 BaaS provider Solaris is to discontinue major parts of its EMI business, formerly known as Contis.

🇬🇧 Open banking platform Bud has released a consumer agent for banks to embed in their products.

🇬🇧 Losses at open banking platform TrueLayer reported a 40% increase in pre-tax losses for 2023 to £55.6m on revenue of £12.4m.

🇬🇧 Visa is to acquire fraud solution Featurespace.

🌍 Plaid has signed a data sharing agreement with PNC through Akoya.

🌍 Fincrime solution Hummingbird acquired no-code provider LogicLoop.

🌍 Financial technology firm Galileo has introduced a secured credit product with dynamic funding.

🌍 Cross River Bank and Forward have combined to create a payouts-as-a-service solution for developers.

🇪🇺 Klarna has partnered with Xero to offer BNPL to SMBs. The BNPL provider also launched an AI shopping assistant and partnered with Adyen to become available in-stores.

🇪🇺 A2A payment service Vipps MobilePay has expanded to Sweden.

🇪🇺 Paytech Nexi has borrowed €220m from the European Investment Bank.

🇪🇺 Polish payment service Blik is partnering with Revolut.

🇪🇺 Payment process Adyen launched an AI-powered Payment Routing solution for US debit transactions which reduces costs by 26%.

🇬🇧 Wise has partnered with Swift to enable full transparency with Swift transactions in the Wise app. It also launched an invoicing tool for SMEs.

🇬🇧 Checkout.com signed Slope as a customer.

🇬🇧 The FCA has proposed new rules to enhance safeguarding of customer funds held by payment and e-money firms.

🌍 Visa has been sued by the DOJ for an illegal debit payment monopoly.

🌍 Payment provider Nuvei has added a split payment feature to its platform.

🌍 MoneyGram suffered an outage caused by a cybersecurity incident.

🌍 Walmart is to offer Pay-By-Bank payment option online through Fiserv.

🌍 Amazon added a PayPal option to Buy with Prime.

🇬🇧 The FCA has highlighted the UK's AML efforts in the City of London are insufficient.

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