Weekly update #23

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 report from RedCompass Labs titled "So, you think you’re ready for SEPA Instant?”. On 7 February 2024, the march towards instant payments in Europe took a huge step forward as MEPs voted to adopt new rules for instant Euro transfers. The roadmap is pretty clear: by 9th January 2025 every bank in Europe is required to be able to receive an instant payment, and by 9th October 2025 every bank needs to be able to send an instant payment. So RedCompass interviewed 200 senior payment professionals and banking executives to find out if they are ready for this initiative.

The screenshot of the situation is pretty clear: many of those professionals see some potential critical problems in the introduction of this feature, like for example the availability 24/7 of the service and the business case related to this.

And it is also pretty clear that they are not very used to handling those kinds of transactions, with the average number of instant payments processed by banks daily that can vary between 100 and 300 transactions. Not that much for a feature that should be a standard for the industry.

This is a pity. Instant payments can surely be beneficial for both consumers and corporations at the same time, giving everyone a lot of different options in terms of payment methods. And even if they come with an integration cost on the bank side, they surely have a good opportunity attached in terms of use cases. You can find the report here if you want to deep dive on this.

But I also want to shine a light on a very positive metric on the fintech ecosystem this week:

As reported by our friends at Sifted in this article, using Dealroom.co data, after some very troubled times, fintech is finally coming back on the top spot in the European market, with the highest amount of funding raised between early stage startups in March among all industries. We really hope this is just the beginning of a new wave of investment in this sector.

Anyway we saw some very interesting news in the market this week. Revolut obtained a banking license in Mexico, but they are still waiting for the same achievement in the UK, and Nuvei has been acquired for $6 billion. The italian fintech startup Satispay closed a deal on Payments with Worldpay , while Accenture posted a record on revenue from AI services, among all the hype for AI startups. We also saw some very interesting funding round from startups like NewRetirement , Scayl and Bavest . And finally, some new exciting VC fund launched by Autism Impact Fund, BITKRAFT Ventures and JFFVentures.

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

Closed deals

• Bavest raises €1.1m in Pre-Seed funding to revolutionize B2B FinTech with AI;
• ValidMind secures $8.1m Seed funding to boost AI Transparency in FinTech;
• Build on Bitcoin raises $10M Seed funding for hybrid layer 2 development;
• NewRetirement raises $20M in Series A funding to innovate financial planning and retirement;
• Pulpos raises $4M to transform Mexican SMEs with cloud-based solutions and AI;
• Scayl emerges from stealth announcing a $100 million funding round to finance fintech leaders in Europe;
• Aidium Mortgage CRM secures $19M in Series A funding to transform mortgage tech;
• FlexM Global raised $12.5M in fresh capital from 6G Capital Digital to boost Singapore fintech market;
• KreditBee fuels expansion with a $9.4M boost in his Series D funding round;
• Benjamin app secures $5.5M in Seed funding to revolutionize the cash rewards market;
• Toronto based Brim Financial raised $85 million to boost expansion in the US;
• Mexican based Taxo's raised a $1.2M Pre-Seed round to disrupt the taxing system;
• #Condukt emerges from stealth with a £2.5M Pre-Seed funding round;
• ICEBERG DATA LAB's Series A: $10 million to provide financial institutions with environmental data;
• Formalize (formerly Whistleblower Software) secures €15M in Series A to transform compliance tech in the EU;
• Coadjute's raised £10M funding to transform the UK proptech market;
• Australian based Constantinople secures $33 Million in Series A Funding;
• Paris based Pigment marks one of the biggest round in Europe with a $145 million raising;
• Indian fintech Navi is looking to raise $200 million at a whooping $2 billion valuation;
• Hello Alice secures a Series C funding round from Mastercard at a $130 million valuation.

Strategic moves on the market

• Ingka Investments, the major operator of IKEA stores around the globe, acquires full ownership of Ikano Bank;
• Advent International acquires Ryan Reynolds-backed Nuvei in a $6.3 Billion deal;
• So when talking about AI, we often refer to OpenAI, Mistral AI and other startups. But you know who's making a lot of revenue with AI? Accenture is;
• Revolut México joins the elite circle of authorized neobanks after receiving a banking license;
• BlaBlaCar drives into future with $108M debt line for expansion and acquisitions;
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. launches Chase Media Solutions: A new era of digital media and financial synergy;
• Is Google going to buy HubSpot? The rumor already raised stock prices by 5%.

A special look in the Italian market

• Satispay e Worldpay stringono una partnership sui sistemi di pagamento in Italia;
• P101 and Cysero VC invest in DataKrypto | Encryption by Design's pioneering encryption technology.

Insights on the Vc industry

• Autism Impact Fund: Pioneering a $60M Venture to Revolutionize Autism and Neurodiversity Space;
• BITKRAFT Ventures raised a $275 million fund to invest on studios and platforms in the gaming industry;
• JFFVentures, the VC arm of Jobs for the Future (JFF), raises a $50 million fund to invest in underrepresented founders.

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 #22