Weekly update #15

Welcome to this edition of the weekly newsletter. The idea behind this activity is to gather all the information in the startup ecosystem in one place, with a special focus on the fintech market.

Not sure about you, but this week my feed was absolutely dominated by a piece of tech overall: the new Apple Vision Pro. Coming with a quiet prohibitive $3499 price tag, the latest Apple's hardware is pushing people to be even more immersed in the web, trying to win where even big corporate like Meta and Google failed in the past.

This reminded me of one of the most interesting strategy in the tech market of the last 10 years. Between 2010 and 2012 Apple let out some rumours about a possible new device they were working on, a smartwatch. Their competitors, scared to be left behind by a new innovation, started to work on similar projects, launching several products on the market between 2012 and 2014. Basically, they created a market for the Apple Watch even before it came out. Then, in 2014, the new Apple Watch was announced, and in 2015 it was already the best selling smartwatch in the market.

I see the same trend here, in 2024. Apple let the competitors create a market, with Quest by Meta, or the HTC Vive. Now, with the hardware being normalised by the competition, Apple made his move. And what a move it was, with more than 200,000 sold by the end of January, it already produced $700 million in revenue for Cupertino. Not bad at all.

Anyway we saw some very interesting news in the market. The VC market is gaining traction, with new funds being launched every week. Episode 1 Ventures raised $95 million and Wonder Ventures raised $102 million, testifying that is possible to raise money even in this environment. Nubank reached $1 billion in profit, looking to expand in the US soon, while Onfido is looking for an exit by acquisition.

But let's take a closer look at the main news of the last seven days:

Closed deals

• #Coris secures $3.7M in funding to revolutionise risk management with AI;
• Traive secures $20 Million in funding to innovate agricultural fintech;
• KoinKoin Ltd and SR FINANZMANN raised a $2 million funding round to boost the African fintech ecosystem;
• Tuum raises a €25m series B to innovate core banking systems globally;
• Bankflip secures €2.6 Million in funding to transform financial data processing in Spain;
• ID Finance secures $150 Million to boost financial wellbeing through Plazo App;
• Reken raises $10M in Seed funding to combat generative hashtag#AI cyber threats;
• IONIX secures $42M in series A funding to innovate attack surface management in Cybersecurity;
• French fintech unicorn Pennylane secures €40 million to expand through M&A;
• Overflow raised $20 million for his charity platform;
• Suma Wealth raised $2.2 million to help latinos build wealth in the USA;
• Fintech startup finally raised $10 million to boost SMBs innovation;
• Crypto startup Oobit raised $25 million in a Series A to boost his payments platform;
• Closinglock, fintech company focused on fraud prevention, raised a $12 million series A;

Strategic moves on the market

• Grupo Financiero Banorte unveils bineo: Mexico's first completely digital bank;
• Celsius is coming out of bankruptcy with a $3 billion payout;
• Tata Group wants to be the next provider of UK's Faster Payments Network;
• Tembo acquires Nude Finance to empower future homeowners;
• Recently there was a rumor on the Indian market about Jio Financial Services acquiring Paytm. Now both companies denied this rumour;
• Nubank reaches $1 billion in profit and aims to become the first financial group in Latin America;
• CRED expands into Wealth Management with strategic acquisition of Kuvera.in;
• Will Onfido be the next fintech exit?;
• Ebury just launched a solution to boost cross borders payments between Brasil and China;
• #EU boosts instant credit transfer inside the union with a 10 seconds limit to reach your bank account;
• JUSPAY acquires LotusPay to booster recurring payment solutions in India;
• Tesco Bank being sold to Barclays in a deal worth £1 billion.

A special look in the Italian market

• Voidless revolutionise the packaging market with a €2.2 million seed round;

Insights on the VC industry

• Uncorrelated Ventures launches a new $315M fund amid Crypto winter;
• Wonder Ventures closes $102 million in commitments for his new fund;
• Episode 1 Ventures secures $95 million to fuel Early-Stage B2B Innovation;
• Former Société Générale executive launches Varsity Ventures with a first $150 million fund;

Startups raising funds

• PopulaRise - The platform that allows companies of every dimension to promote themselves on social media through the collaboration with their clients. B2B2C SaaS. Raising $1M.
• Cents - Fintech companies that allow corporate to include charity payments on their checkout. B2B SaaS. Raising $1M. Round closed!
• Bitcoin People - Fintech company focused on crypto payments between corporate and cross countries. B2B, SaaS. Raising $500k.
• Tutornow - Edtech that provides an online tutoring platform for students with learning disorders. Raising $500k to $1M.
• Recivu - Fintech  startup trying to digitize the receipt flow by getting rid of papers. Looking for $150k in SAFE, already $50k committed.
• Weagle - B2B Tech startup that provides the very first browser designed for company, with total security for sensitive data. Raising $6 millions for their seed round.
• Reach Finance - Reach is the fintech platform for wealth accumulation for the Y&Z generations, they provide users with the tools to build wealth such as a budget tracker, a financial plan and a systematization of investments. Looking for $700k, with already $500k committed;
• wrapp.ai - A fintech startups that offers a virtual accountant and CFO that can help SMEs scale globally. Looking for $1 million, $750k already granted from public funds, looking to close the last $350k.
• Viewit - Fintech startup, providing smart solution to boost management and performances, get more financing and innovate. Raising $500k.

If you are a startup and want to be present in this list, please contact me directly.

If you are an angel investor or a VC interested in those companies, contact me for an intro!

Take also a look at the last edition of the newsletter, Weekly update #14.