Weekly update #22

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 the report "States of Fintech 2024" by Motive Ventures in collaboration with ABN AMRO Bank N.V. and Dealroom.co . The report, is a wonderful snapshot of the fintech market at the beginning of 2024, with a strong comparison of ratios in the last couple of years.

The situation obviously and not surprisingly, is quite complex in terms of numbers. VC investment in fintech startups reached $42B in 2023, a drop of 63% from the previous year, approximately ⅓ of what happened in 2021, and the lowest since 2018.

At the same time, the value created from the fintech market since 2000, continue to grow at a good rate. Fintech companies launched in US and Europe are now worth $2T, with the vast majority of this value (approximately $1.3T, 66%) is still private and not exited. Less than 20% of those startups are now public.

And finally, a good snapshot of the aggregation wave started with the downturn. Starting in 2021, with a maximum peak of 294 operations, we saw multiple deals in the market in this sense, with 2023 that has been one of the most active years to date for fintech M&A (241 operations in total).

The report keeps on listing multiple and interesting variables, such as the main sectors in the fintech industries that gained traction during the years. For example, the payments sector grew immensely in terms of ratio, and was also one of the segments that was impacted less by the economic downturn in terms of capital invested (-15% 2022-2023). Overall, a highly recommended read for everyone interested in this field. You can find the report here if you want to deep dive on some topics.

Anyway we saw some very interesting news in the market this week. Amazon amplifies his investment in Anthropic, reaching a $4 billion commitment. Visa and Mastercard agreed on a long awaited deal on merchant’s fee on credit card transactions worth $30 billion, while Saudi Arabia wants to launch a gigantic $40 billion fund on AI with the help of Andreessen Horowitz. We also saw Nubank breaching the target of 4 million SMEs customers and Robinhood launching their new golden card. In the VC ecosystem two huge funds made the news, with Matter Venture Partners and New Summit Investments respectively raising $300 and $100 million.

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

Closed deals

• Switzerland based nsave raised $4 million in a Seed funding round;
• Ameetee secures $1M in Seed funding to boost its B2B fintech platform;
• Belong wants to revolutionize wealth-building for millennials with a €3.4 Million Pre-Seed funding round;
• Ant Group bolsters ANEXT Bank with $200 Million investment amid expansion efforts;
• London’s GSS - Global Screening Services secures $47M to strengthen sanctions screening for global banks;
• Peruvian fintech LEASY closes a $28 Million Series A to boost financial inclusion in Latin America's ride-hailing sector;
• FundGuard secures a stellar $100M in Series C funding to transform investment accounting;
• Yenmo (YC W24) secures $500,000 from Y Combinator to innovate lending in India;
• Goalsetter secures $9.6 Million in series A extension to empower financial literacy in families;
• Scaleup Finance secures $8 Million to revolutionize financial management for Startups in the UK;
• PayPal Ventures invests $47M in Indonesian insurtech startup Qoala to close the protection gap in Southeast Asia;
• ZayZoon secures $15M in Series B extension for its innovative earned wage access platform;
• Copilot Money raises $6M in Series A funding to transform personal finance management;
• Amazon amplifies his investment in Anthropic with a $4 Billion commitment;
• Brasil based Koin secures $7.3M boost for his BNPL solution for retailers in the tourism sector;
• German based insurtech ELEMENT Insurance AG secures €50M in funding;
• Swedish fintech Zaver wants to help you buy a Porsche with BNPL. And it raised $10 million to do it;
• Proptech Blueground raised $45 million with more than $500 million in revenue.

Strategic moves on the market

• BlackRock breaks new ground with "BUIDL", a tokenized fund on the Ethereum network;
• SmartSearch just announced an undisclosed investment from Triple Private Equity;
• Chime sets sights on a possible 2025 IPO;
• Visa and Mastercard agree to $30 Billion deal favouring US merchants;
• Robinhood challenges Apple Card with innovative gold card launch;
• TIFIN amplifies wealth management innovation with strategic assets acquisition from WestCap;
• Paynetics acquires the impact banking app Novus;
• The push for sustainability is finally producing some results. GoCardless sets sights on Profitability in 2025;
• So, Nubank has now 4 million business customers in Brasil, more than the entire number of business entities in the entire italian market;
• In a very sad epilogue of the FTX saga, Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in jail.

A special look in the Italian market

• Qonto releases a Pay-Later feature for SMEs in Italy, France and Spain.

Insights on the Vc industry

• Saudi Arabia is set to launch a $40 billion gigantic fund to invest in AI, supported by Andreessen Horowitz;
• Ascension VC launches a €19.8M Institutional fund for Tech4Good Startups;
• P1 Ventures closes a $25M Fund to fuel Africa's tech revolution;
• New Summit Investments launches a $100 Million fund for climate tech and equity;
• Matter Venture Partners raised $300 million for his fund to invest in hard tech;
• Startup studio super{set} fuels the AI revolution with a $90 Million fresh funding.

Startups raising funds

• Fantalegends - a Fantasy Football free-to-play mobile game that aims to provide an enjoyable and safe experience, user-centered, with more than 2k daily active users. Raising $1M.
• 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 #21