Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,

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

The road to Stablecon starts here. Join us later this week at Electric House (Soho House, Notting Hill) for our stablecoin focused party. Expect music, drinks, and sharp conversation with a curated crowd of fintech leaders. Only a few tickets remain.

Heading to M2020 Europe? Come unwind at our Lending & Risk Reception. Drinks, tapas, and great company await. RSVP here.

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Check out our upcoming events and join us for our next London fintech breakfast!

Funding 💸

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

🇪🇺 Business identity verification startup Duna raised a €10.7m round from Index Ventures and angels.

🇪🇺 SME financial management solution Finom raised a $105m round from General Catalyst.

🇪🇺 Expense management provider Circula raised a €12m Series A from Alstin Capital, Capnamic Ventures, Storm Ventures and more as well as a €3m convertible round.

🇬🇧 Stablecoin platform BVNK received investment from Visa Ventures.

🇬🇧 Earned wage access provider Wagestream raised a £300m debt round from Citi.

🇬🇧 Alternative lender Juice raised a £25m round.

🇬🇧 Financial wellbeing solution Mintago raised a £6m Series A from Guinness Ventures and Seed X Liechtenstein.

Challenger Banking 🚀

🇬🇧 Neobank OakNorth has surpassed $1bn in lending in the US since July 2023.

🇬🇧 Neobank N26 is to launch a mobile phone plan product.

🌍 Spend management solution Ramp is partnering with Stripe for card issuing with its stablecoin-backed card.

Digital Assets ₿

🇪🇺 Citi is to become a custodian and tokenizer for SIX Digital Exchange, a platform to tokenize private companies.

🇪🇺 Robinhood is planning a blockchain platform to allow US securities trading in Europe.

🇬🇧 The FCA is exploring banning using credit to buy digital assets.

🇬🇧 Neobank Revolut has partnered with Lightspark for its Lightning network.

🌍 Crypto exchange Coinbase has released an internet payment protocol for AI agents. It also agreed to buy crypto options exchange Deribit for $2.9bn and reported disappointing earnings.

🌍 Crypto exchange Kraken reported Q1 2025 revenue +19% yoy and trading volumes +29%.

🌍 Tether's CEO announced its US stablecoin could launch later in 2025.

🌍 Galaxy Digital is to expand its staking services in Europe with Zodia Custody.

Traditional Banking 🏦

🇪🇺 Santander has sold the majority of its Polish banking business to Austrian bank Erste Group.

🇪🇺 Credit Suisse has pled guilty to conspiring to hide $bn from the IRS for its clients and will pay $511m.

🇬🇧 HSBC has launched a financing tool to help US businesses with the impacts of President Trump's tariffs.

Fintech Infrastructure 🚧

🇪🇺 A co-founder of BaaS provider Solaris is taking the company to court over its takeover by SBI Holdings.

🇬🇧 Open banking platform TrueLayer processed $10bn in payments in a single month.

🌍 Open banking platform Plaid launched an MCP server to streamline AI access to its products.

Payments 💰

🇪🇺 PayPal has launched a mobile wallet in Germany.

🇪🇺 Klarna signed BigCommerce as a customer, becoming its preferred partner for flexible payment solutions.

🇬🇧 Klarna has reached 11 million UK customers.

🌍 Stripe has extended its fraud prevention tool Radar to cover ACH and SEPA payments. It also launched a host of AI and stablecoin solutions and a solution for iOS developers to implement external payments outside of the app store.

🌍 Cross River Bank is launching an international payment solution.

🌍 Accounts payable provider AvidXchange was acquired by TPG and Corpay for $2bn.

Regulatory Corner 🔎

🇬🇧 The FCA is consulting on plans to simplify mortgage rules.

🌍 The CFPB is revisiting its open banking rule. It is also deprioritising enforcing its BNPL rule.

Longer reads/listens 📜

• The New Money Market - Marc Rubinstein
• Paradigm Shifts - Colossus
• Warren Buffett Took the Long View - Matt Levine
• Rediscovering British Progress - David Lawrence, British Progress
• The State of Crypto Lending - Galaxy Digital
• Capital One’s Acquisition of Discover – Set to Reinvent Retail Banking? - Tom Noyes
• Stablecoins. Breaking down a momentous set of April announcements - Tom Noyes

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See you next week!