Singaporean neobank Aspire raises $100 million (TWIF 2/18)

Hello Fintech Friends,

This week we saw 32 new fintech fundraises, 3 fundraises over $100 million, Metaverse commercial opportunity calls – we are so, so... back?

This week was also the thrilling conclusion of Jenny Johnston’s 3-part real-time payments overview. If you missed them, you can catch all three segments here:

• Real-time Real Talk: A Real-time Payments Download - Part 1
• Real-time Real Talk: A Real-time Payments Download - Part 2, Electric Boogaloo
• Real-time Real Talk: A Real-time Payments Download - Part 3, Tokyo Drift

👍👎 Have feedback for us? Let us know!

Please find another week of fintech financing events below.

If you’re an early-stage startup founder raising equity or debt, we may be able to help - come check out our fund, The Fintech Fund (including a link to pitch us). Are you a fintech angel investor? Come join our syndicate.

Ansaf Kareem of Lightspeed Ventures published a good writeup of fintech subsector valuations and fundraising strategy. You can read it at The Alchemy of FinTech Valuations.

Meanwhile, per KPMG, UK fintech investing fell 56% in 2022, from $39.1 billion in 2021 to $17.4 billion.

💸 Venture Financing

1. Juniper Square, a partnership enablement provider for investment funds, raised $133 million in growth capital.
2. PhonePe, the Indian payments provider, added $100 million to its prior fundraise of $250 million at a $12 billion valuation.
3. Aspire, a Singaporean neobank, raised a $100 million Series C.
4. Taurus, a Swiss crypto infrastructure provider, raised a $65 million Series B from Credit Suisse.
5. Smile Identity, a Nigerian provider of ID and KYC solutions for Africa, raised a $20 million Series B.
6. Shift, an Australian small business credit and payments company, raised an A$27 million Series C.
7. Puzzle, an accounting software builder for data streaming and subscription tools, raised a $15 million Series A.
8. Earth Finance, a corporate strategy and climate investing firm, raised a $14 million seed round.
9. Landytech, an aggregation software platform for tracking investment portfolios, raised a $12 million Series B.
10. Alongside*, a crypto index investing provider, raised an $11 million seed round.
11. Luminary, a collaboration platform for financial advisors, raised $9.5 million.
12. Ledge, an Israeli no-code payments command center, raised a $9 million seed round.
13. SendOwl, a digital product checkout tool, raised €8.4 million.
14. Vexi, a Mexican neobank, raised an $8 million Series A.
15. AdalFi, a Pakistani end-to-end digital lender, raised $7.5 million.
16. Finq, an Israeli digital marketplace for investment, pension, and insurance products, raised $6 million.
17. Thatch, a benefits provider and debit card issuer for startups, raised a $6 million seed round.
18. Asset-Map, an advice app for wealth managers, raised a $6 million Series B.
19. C3, a decentralized crypto exchange, raised a $6 million seed round.
20. Stelo Labs, a security platform to prevent malicious crypto transactions, raised a $6 million seed.
21. Vaas, a Colombian debt management platform, raised a $5 million seed round.
22. ModernFi, a deposit marketplace for banks, raised a $4.5 million seed round.
23. Comun, a provider of modern banking solutions for Latino families, raised a $4.5 million seed round.
24. Kennek, a software for alternative lenders, raised a $4.5 million pre-seed.
25. Sandbox Banking, a low-code integration platform for banking, raised $4.3 million in seed funding.
26. Power, a Kenyan financial wellness platform (not to be confused with credit card infrastructure provider Power), raised a $3 million seed round.
27. Raison, an Estonian stockbroker app, confirmed a €1.5 million raise at a €30 million valuation.
28. Fuelfinance, a Ukrainian financial management tool for startup founders, raised a $1 million seed round.
29. Uplinq, a credit assessment and scoring platform for small business lenders, raised $600,000.
30. Fondo, a tax prep and accounting software for startups, raised a $3 million mix of debt and equity.
31. Clear Street, an independent prime broker, raised a strategic investment from proprietary trading firm and global market maker IMC.
32. Infinity, a defi protocol for institutional lending and borrowing, raised a strategic round from Nomura.

Pssst - if you like early-stage fintech investing, come join our angel syndicate.