Weekly update #18

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.

One of the most interesting things I read this week, and maybe overall recently, was a report by P101 on the status of the VC industry in Italy. Everyone working in the startup ecosystem can testify how this environment grew over time in the last couple of years. But still, we lack one main piece to fulfil the gap that separate us from markets like France and Germany: the capital.

As you can see from the image, taken from the P101 report, the grow was there until 2022 and beginning of 2023. Then interest rates, and a slower economic environment, caused a huge downfall in the growth rate. For comparison, Italy stands behind countries like Ireland, Belgium and Switzerland in terms of VC investments, and almost half what a similar country like Spain is investing. France and Germany are miles away now, and we cannot even take in consideration the UK. Here a snapshot of the ecosystem in numbers:

One of the worst KPI here, is the amount of money invested in 2023: $1.2 billion, approximately half of the amount invested in 2022 ($2.6 billion). But there is still hope: in 2023 new VC funds raised $1.3 billion, double the amount raised in 2022 ($665 million). One example above all, 2100 Ventures raised a $30 million fund in 2023 to invest in Italian founders and Italian startups, with notable investor like the Benetton family. We need more deal like this one in order to push forward the ecosystem.

Anyway we saw some very interesting news in the market this week. Microsoft is pushing even more in the AI direction, and after OpenAI strikes a deal to invest in the European Mistral AI. On the same page, Elon Musk is suing OpenAI over the possible breach of their initial contract to develop an AI tool open source, instead of selling that for profit to the biggest company in the world. Italian startup EsgMax riased $0.5 million from the well known ERP provider Zucchetti. COTU Ventures raised $45 million to invest in early stage startups, Inspired Capital raised a $330 million fund, while Qatar Investment Authority wants to go even further, committing to push $1 billion in the Saudi ecosystem.

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

Closed deals

• DeFi startup Singularity raised $2.2 million;
• Madrid based Embat secures $16M in Series A for global treasury management revolution;
• Parisian startup Bolero trying to innovate music royalties investment with a €2M Seed funding round;
• MoneyHash secures a $4.5 million seed funding round;
• Lapse's innovative approach reshapes photo sharing in social media with a $30 million boost in Series A funding;
• Lithuanian fintech kevin. raises a $25 million bridge round despite turmoil with employees;
• BNP Paribas and Citi complete a new investment in United Fintech;
• Canadian based Helcim secures a $20 million Series B;
• NayaOne secures $4.7 Million to drive fintech innovation with Sandbox-as-a-Service platform;
• Baubap (YC S21) secures $120 Million financing to boost financial inclusion in Mexico;
• SimpleClosure raises $4M in Seed funding to help startups shutdown services;
• BFREE secures $3 Million to revolutionize debt recovery in Africa;
• Hellas Direct secures $30 million for European expansion.

Strategic moves on the market

• Google pay bids farewell to the US market;
• Banco Master acquires majority stake in Brazilian neobank will bank;
• Microsoft is pushing on AI, closing a partnership with Mistral AI;
• BuzzFeed sells Complex Networks for $108 million and plans for layoffs;
• Vencora expands banking tech footprint with acquisition of Switzerland’s CREALOGIX;
• UAE based fintech Dunes announced the acquisition of multiple assets from Be Mobile Africa;
• Webull Financial, the popular trading platform, is going public on the Nasdaq through a SPAC;
• Stripe valuation is skyrocketing to $65 billion in an internal employee stock sales deal;
• Elon Musk initiates legal battle against OpenAI over AI mission and partnership with Microsoft;
• Gemini $1.1 billion commitment to earn customers;
• The new Klarna AI bot does the equivalent work of a 700 persons full time team

A special look in the Italian market

• Zucchetti invests $0.5 million in esg reporting Italian startup EsgMax

Insights on the Vc industry

• Horizon Capital's Ukraine fund IV closes at $350 million;
• COTU Ventures unveils $54M fund to fuel Early-Stage startups in MENA;
• Qatar Investment Authority embarks on a $1B Venture Capital journey;
• Inspired Capital announced the closing of a third found with a $330 million raising;

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 #17.