Fintech #DoneDeal Newsletter # 1
Friday December 3rd, 2021
INTERVIEW
Hernan Kazah of KASZEK talks about how its Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company, MEKA, provides better opportunities than other blank-check companies for Latin American start-ups that want to go public.
👉 Read more here.
UNICORN CLUB
Slice, which was valued at under $200 million in a financing round in June this year, has raised $220 million that values it at over $1 billion. Tiger Global and Insight Partners co-led the Bangalore-based startup’s Series B round. Private equity firm Advent International’s Sunley House Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Anfa, and existing investors Gunosy, Blume Ventures, and 8i also participated in it.
👉Read more here.
Thought Machine, the cloud-native core banking technology firm, announced the close of its series C funding round, bringing $200m into the business from new and existing investors. This new round sees Thought Machine achieve unicorn status.
“We are delighted to have earned the support of our new and existing investors as we continue to move the world’s leading banks into the cloud. We set out to eradicate legacy technology from the industry and ensure that all banks deployed on Vault can succeed and deliver on their ambitions." Paul Taylor, Chief Executive Officer, and Founder Thought Machine.
👉Read more here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S FINTECH SPACE
NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Brazilian online lender Nubank is considering cutting the potential valuation of its initial public offering following a slump in technology stocks globally, Bloomberg News reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Link here.
Also, check out FT Partners' executive summary of Nu Holdings filing for an IPO. Link here.
NOTABLE FUNDING ROUNDS
The CEO of Freetrade says its latest crowdfunding campaign has set a new record, as it undertakes a fresh round of funding aiming to more than double its value to £650m in less than a year. Link here.
Lenderwize, an invoice financing marketplace for telecoms firms, has closed a whopping €100m in debt funding to pave the way for international expansion and to take its platform global. Link here.
MoonPay, which provides crypto payments infrastructure, has raised a $555m Series A equity funding round, valuing the company at a $3.4bn valuation. Link here.
Also, Allica Bank has closed a £110m Series B new cash raise, its largest funding round to date. Link here.
VENTURE CAPITAL FUNDS
A former Citi trading executive has launched a $1.5 billion fund focused on investing in crypto infrastructure, blockchain protocols, and virtual worlds. Link here.
British crowdfunding platform Crowdcube has just secured an €11.8 million investment led by Circle Internet Financial, a leading startup fundraising platform in the US. Link here.
ACQUISITIONS
India-based payments and API banking solutions company Cashfree Payments has picked up a majority stake in UAE and Saudi Arabia-based payment service provider (PSP) Telr for US$15 million. Link here.
Viva Republica (Toss), operator of South Korea’s pioneering fintech platform Toss, acquired a 1 percent stake in Republic, a multi-asset retail investment platform based in New York, for $5 million, the company announced Tuesday. Link here.
Mastercard announced it has acquired Arcus FI, an alum of the company’s Start Path program, to help support the delivery of bill pay solutions and other real-time payment applications across Latin America. Link here.
US ROUNDS
Fundbox, a company that offers loans and financial products to small businesses, announced that it has raised $100 million in a Series D round at a valuation of $1.1 billion. Link here.
Settle, which is focused on helping companies to streamline their inventory purchasing and bill payments has closed a $60 million Series B round. Link here.
UNest, a fintech company that helps parents invest and save for their kids’ future, announced it has raised $26 million in Series B funding. Link here.
HSBC has joined a $200 million funding round for ConsenSys that values the blockchain software engineering firm at $3.2 billion. Link here.
EarlyBird, a mobile app that helps parents and loved ones invest in the financial futures of their children, has raised $4 million in a seed round led by Reddit, Inc. co-founder Alexis Ohanian Sr.'s Sven Seven Six. Link here.
UK ROUNDS
VAUBAN is a new startup based out of London which provides venture capital fund managers with tools to raise a fund and invest capital. It’s now closed a Post-Seed / Pre-Series A funding round of £4.7m or $6.3m. Link here.
Rental deposit lending business Fronted has raised over £20m in a debt and equity deal led by Fasanara Capital. This comes after Monzo co-founders backed the fintech in a £1m fundraise in May 2021. Link here.
Bank North, previously operating as B-North, is looking to raise £1 million in growth capital on GrowthFunders. Link here.
EU ROUNDS
Fring connects innovative companies with creative and digital freelance talent worldwide. In a recent development, the Dutch platform that offers a quick way to hire or get hired within your network has raised €500K in a fresh round of funding from Dutch tech entrepreneurs. Link here.
The Swedish fintech company Näktergal, supporting financial institutions with cloud-based platform solutions for digitized lending, has raised EUR 1M led by Katalysen Partners. Link here.
De Nederlansche Bank (DNB) has approved a €193 million funding round agreed between bunq and Pollen Street Capital, a British private equity firm. Link here.
Global tax automation platform provider Fonoa has raised $25 million. Investors in the funding round include Index Ventures, OMERS Ventures, FJ Labs and Moving Capital. Link here.
GLOBAL ROUNDS
Logistics and last-mile delivery startups focused on facilitating streamlined online sales and e-commerce continue to pique the interest of investors; Algeria-based super app YASSIR has raised $30 million for its Series A round. Link here.
Singapore-based YouTrip, an online bank that focuses on making multi-currency transactions less costly and more efficient, announced that it has raised a $30 million Series A. Link here.
Israeli blockchain firm StarkWare has secured $50 million in a Series C funding round, led by Sequoia Capital. Link here.
CloudWalk, Inc., a Brazilian fintech, announced the close of a $150 million Series C round of funding. The company, which is based in São Paulo, offers payment processing to about 150,000 merchants across 4,300 cities in Brazil. Link here.
TruePay, a one-year-old São Paulo-based “buy now, pay later” startup, announced that it has raised $32 million in a Series A funding round led by Lee Fixel’s Addition. Link here.
Singapore-based buy now, pay later outfit Pace Enterprise has raised US$40 million in a Series A funding round joined by a group of pan-Asian investors. Link here.
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.