Weekly update #16

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.

This week the Italian startup ecosystem was dominated by one news overall. The popular software house Bending Spoons, that recently acquired Evernote Co and Meetup, raised $155 million at the valuation of $2.55 billion.

The round is obviously very interesting, mostly because it is very hard for Italian companies to rise that kind of money. But that also led to other two interesting topic: the first one, a not very interesting discussion on the term "unicorn". Some papers reported the news calling Bending a startup and the new Italian unicorn. With more than 10 years of life and $500 million in revenue, they are no longer a startup since a while. We can discuss about the fact if is appropriate to call a company like that a "unicorn", but I would say that in front of a similar round the terminology doesn't matter much.

Second topic, the strategy that led bending to this round. In the last years, they acquired many different companies, like Evernote, Mosaic and Meetup. Often, after the acquisition, they restructured the companies acquired and let off many people, in a push to reach efficiency and profitability. That led to a lot of critiques, and many are wondering if this strategy can actually create value for shareholders and final users, arguing that many of the know how of those companies has just gone away with those people.

But numbers are on Bending side, with the Italian company going from $160 million in revenue in 2022, to approximately $500 million in revenue in 2023. That marks also a valuation of 5x the revenue after the round. If this kind of approach is sustainable also long term, only time will tell.

Anyway we saw some very interesting news in the market. Cosmico, another Italian company active in HR management, acquired Bioss. Adam Neumann is trying to take back WeWork in one of the craziest ending in the startup storytelling history, while Finom raised a $50 million funding round. J.P. Morgan is fighting again with his fintech company, Viva.com, and Notion is trying to expand through acquisition, buying Skiff (acquired by Notion).

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

Closed deals

• Mexico-based Coba (YC S23) raised $2.2 million to innovate cross borders payments in LATAM;
• Navro (formerly Paytrix) raised $14 million to boost global payments;
• Pagaya technologies leverages $280M credit facility from BlackRock;
• Finom just announced his $54 million series B to boost SMEs in Europe;
• Mia Share Inc. raises $6.5 million in Seed funding;
• Danish fintech disruptor Pluto.markets (YC W22) secures $2.6 million to disrupt the brokerage market;
• Cascading AI (YC S23) secures $3.9 million in pre-seed to revolutionise banking with AI;
• Canadian fintech hashtag#Code raises $6.5 million to boost global payments;
• Artificial Labs raises £8M in Series A funding to introduce AI in underwriting;
• Kema raised $2.2 million in pre-seed to transform cash flow management for B2B SMEs;
• LoanStar Technologies secures $28M in growth equity to propel embedded lending innovation;
• Plataform, a Colombian fintech, raises $3 Million in its first investment round;
• Y Combinator backed Cambio (YC S22) wants to put AI between banks and users for debt collection;
• Nordic Fintech Kameo Sverige secures £1.1 Million investment from Incore Invest to propel growth in property lending;
• Sibli secures $4.5 million in Seed funding to revolutionise investment research with AI;
• Bitwala secures an undisclosed investment from Blockchain Founders Fund to enhance its mobile wallet app;
• FORDEFI raises $10 Million to launch innovative Wallet-as-a-Service for crypto markets;
• Colombia based Bold.co raised $50 million Series C from General Atlantic.

Strategic moves on the market

• This saga never ends. Adam Neumann is in talk to buy back WeWork;
• Revolut is making one step forward to his super app vision, providing eSIM plan for global connectivity;
• Oliver Wyman expands digital payments expertise with acquisition of INNOPAY;
• Notion acquires privacy focus platform Skiff (acquired by Notion);
• Kinnevek announces complete write-off of investment in Monese amid financial challenges;
• Ripple set to expand its blockchain ecosystem with acquisition of Standard Custody & Trust Company;
• Klarna launches "Sign in with Klarna" to revolutionise eCommerce experience;
• Virgin Money to acquire abrdn's stake in joint venture Wealth platform for £20 million;
• LPL Financial Acquires Atria Wealth Solutions for $805 million;
• The wedding between J.P. Morgan and Viva.com seems to still have some problems, as one of the executive of the fintech company sued the banking giant;
• Temenos shares plunge as the BaaS provider faces serious allegations;
• HiBob acquires Pento for $40 million in a move to revolutionise HR and Payroll Management.

A special look in the Italian market

• Cosmico expands through M&A and acquires Bioss;
• Bending Spoons raises $155 million at the crazy high valuation of $2.5 billion.

Insights on the VC industry

• Wingman Ventures transforms in Founderful and is looking to raise a $120 million fund;
• .406 Ventures closed its fifth fund brining home from investors $265 million.

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 #15.