Weekly update #21

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 pieces of content I read this week was a post by Ilya Strebulaev, a professor at Stanford University, very active in the startup and VC ecosystem. In a very detailed analysis, Ilya was trying to analyze how the stock returns of newly public unicorns vary over the years, following the recent Reddit, Inc. IPO.

The analysis, conducted on a sample of 236 unicorns that went public via an IPO from 2010 to 2021, suggests that most of the time (9 out of 12 years), IPO investors averaged positive returns, with only rare occasions with negative outcomes, very unsurprisingly I would add. That means that most of the VC that invested in the pre-IPO phase experienced very positive returns from the unicorn going public.

But we cannot say the same about the post-IPO investors. In this case in fact, we have more mixed returns, with 6 out of 12 years with positive returns, two years with a net zero return, and four years with negative returns (–29% in 2011, –32% in 2015, –9% in 2018, and –36% in 2021). And how is Reddit going?

The first day of trading was surely a success for the tech company, that posted a crazy +48% on the IPO price. The entire operation made all the investors very happy, including Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI , who invested in the company when he was president of Y Combinator , whose stake in the company is now worth approximately $600 million, even if he is prevented from selling for the next 6 months. But also foreign investors like Tencent , that invested in reddit multiple years ago. Another proof that the investment strategy of the Chinese group is giving positive results all over the world.

Anyway we saw some very interesting news in the market this week. Apple is talking to Google to bring Gemini to the iPhone, while Revolut launched a point-of-sales solution for iPad. Robinhood finally landed in the UK, and Monzo Bank raised an additional $50 million in funding from the Sovereign fund of Singapore. We also saw some very interesting new VC fund launching, with Ballistic Ventures raising $360 million for their second fund, OTB Ventures securing $185 million and Frontline Ventures raising $200 million. From a startup perspective, we saw Solaris SE raising $96 million, Addi bringing home $86 million and Uber leading the $100 million funding round in Moove.

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

Closed deals

• Youverify secures $2.5 million investment to boost identity verification and AML solutions in Africa;
• SquareDash raised $20 million to innovate payments processes for contractors;
• Uber leads a $100 million round in the African mobility fintech startup Moove, at a valuation of $750 million;
• Monzo Bank is securing an additional $50 million in funding from the Sovereign Fund of Singapore;
• Blockchain payments network Zone just raised $8.5 million;
• Solaris SE secures €96M in a Series F funding round;
• Cologna based Xaver raised a $5 million pre-seed to close European retirement gap;
• Telegram Messenger secures $330 million through bond sales;
• Tandem - Couples App, a solution for couples, raised $3.7 million;
• Figure Technologies secures $60M to build a new concept of crypto exchange;
• Capstack Technologies announces a $6 million investment from Citi Ventures;
• bezahl.de (NX Technologies GmbH) secures €22 Million from PayPal Ventures for expansion into European auto sector;
• Keyring Network secures $6M to improve permission tools in financial services;
• marco financial's groundbreaking $12M Series A to revolutionize SMEs trade in Latin America;
• FLOAT's $11 Million funding boost by Standard Bank Group is set to revolutionize payment options in South Africa;
• Addi, Colombian BNPL fintech, secures $86M to fuel growth in home market;
• FLOWPAY secures €2.1M in Seed funding to transform SME lending with AI-driven solutions;
• Zed revolutionizes the Philippine banking scene with a “No-Fee” credit card initiative, and raises $6 million;
• Smart Pension closes a $37 million Series E round amid layoffs;
• Expenses management startup Coast raised $25 million in equity and $67 million in Venture debt;
• AccessPay raised a $24 million funding round to boost his banking integration platform.

Strategic moves on the market

• GoCardless is set to acquire Nuapay, moving towards a full service bank payments solution;
• Apple is reported in talks with Google to use Gemini to power all AI related feature in iPhone;
• ANNA Money acquires Australian based expense management platform Cape from ANNA;
• Japan and ASEAN forge ahead with unified QR code Payment Initiative for FY2025;
• Canadian payment processor Nuvei is evaluating a possible buyout deal;
• MNT-Halan, a partnership between Dutch microlending company MNT and Egyptian fintech startup Halan, acquires the Pakistan based Advans;
• Revolut releases a point-of-sales feature for iPad, in a move to shake the payments market for merchants;
• Will the third time be the right one? Robinhood finally launched their service in the UK yesterday;
• DBS Bank India unveils a $250 Million lending initiative to fuel Start-Up growth;
• Is the IPO market for tech companies back? Reddit, Inc. closed its first of trading with a crazy +48%.

A special look in the Italian market

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Insights on the Vc industry

• 2-years-old Ballistic Ventures already raised $360 million for a second fund;
• OTB Ventures secures $185M fund to propel European deep tech to new heights with NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) support;
• Frontline Ventures raised a $200 million fund targeting B2B startups;

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.
• Bitcoin People - Fintech company focused on crypto payments between corporate and cross countries. B2B, SaaS. Raising $500k. Round closed!
• 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.

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!

Also, our friends at TechChill wanted to give a discount for every readers who want to participate to their next event in Riga April 17th-19th, so if you are up to it here you can find the 20% discount code: FinTechNewsxTechChill

Take also a look at the last edition of the newsletter, Weekly update #20