Weekly update #24

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 annual Shareholders letter from J.P. Morgan Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon. As an investor and a finance enthusiast, every year I am looking forward to Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance to get to know what Warren think about the market, but this year I found jamie Dimon letter very interesting, not only for the finance world but also for the VC and startup ecosystem.

Starting from some data that we have been talking about for a while now. You can see below one of the main reasons why we saw a crazy reduction on the capital invested in the startup ecosystem from 2021. This is the impact from interest rate raise in the amount of credit given to consumer, business and government by JP Morgan in the last years. we can clearly see what happened from 2020 going on.

But also a couple of interesting takeaways on the market overall. First of all, a thought about one of the main trend in the startup ecosystem: AI. Dimon says that AI will bring changes comparable to "the printing press, the steam engine, electricity, computing and the Internet." A very clear position from one of the leading investor in the US market. But also some very interesting insight on the current shift of powers we are all witnessing between the USA and China. Dimon says "It is a valid point that the Western world — both government and business — essentially underestimated the growing strength and potential threat of China," the letter states. "It’s also true that China has been comprehensively and strategically focused on these economic issues, all while we slept.” But he also went on describing the main threats of this change, like the overreliance on China in the supply chain; the relying on potential adversaries for rare materials and supplies critical to national security industries like pharmaceuticals and electronics or the weakening other countries' economic positions and making them reliant on adversaries as a result.

You can find the whole letter here if you want to deep dive.

But another interesting read I had was the white paper “The fintech bridge to Italy” released by DoubleP consulting and Intergic . In this very interesting article you can find the status of the fintech ecosystem in Italy by impact on the final end user of those services. One takeaway over all here:

You can see how different countries reacted to the fintech wave of the last couple of years in terms of digitalisation of the payment system, with Italy strongly attached to that 27% of cash shares of pos transactions value, even with strong players in the country like Satispay . Even if that is not going to surprise anyone, you can find some good evidences on the good path taken by the country towards a future made of innovation and digitalisation, even if with baby steps.

This was just one of many interesting pieces of information in the paper. Absolutely worth reading if you are interested in this market, you can find the paper here.

Anyway we saw some very interesting news in the market this week.The italian software house Bending Spoons acquired StreamYard, in a crazy step forward for the milan based company. Santander is launching Openbank in the US market, while Ripple launched a USD-backed stable coin. Some interesting new VC funds from Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures, $60 million, Toyota Ventures, $300 million, Lakestar $600 million and Elevator Ventures $70 million. And finally, a lot of wonderful deals for fintech startups like FidoCommercialista, CashU Fintech, Bumper UK, Smartpay, Gillion, Pactio, Mimo and many others.

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

Closed deals

• CashU raises $1.4 million to propel B2B credit innovation in latin america;
• Bumper UK secures £2 Million in Series B extension, fuelling expansion across the UK and Europe;
• Aico - Intelligent Financial Close Automation secures strategic investment from Accel-KKR to revolutionize financial close processes.
• Hokodo secures €100M to revolutionize B2B Payments in Europe;
• Smartpay sets new standards in Japanese fintech with $7M Pre-Series A funding
• Honey Insurance secures $108M to disrupt home safety in Australia
• The Chilean fintech Radar raises $1.5 million to conquer Mexico with treasury management innovation;
• Deblock wants to revolutionize Euro and Crypto banking with a €12M Fundraise;
• Gilion secures €10M equity round to accelerate expansion of growth and funding platform;
• Pactio raises $14 Million to digitalise private markets;
• Northzone led the $18M round of Mimo to simplify global payments;
• FloQast rockets forward with a $100 Million series E funding round;
• Guesty secures $130M at $900M valuation to revolutionize Property Management;
• Parafin secures $125 Million warehouse facility to fuel growth;
• Monkee - Saving. Rewarded. secures seven-figure investment for his save now buy later model;
• Onum secures $28M Series A funding to innovate how financial institutions deal with data;
• General Catalyst commits €80m to HR platform Factorial, with a very particular funding round;
• TransferGo raises $10M to fuel expansion in Asia.

Strategic moves on the market

• SC Ventures by Standard Chartered and NEXT176 unveil a new financial wellness platform for the Middle East and Africa;
• Ripple announces launch of USD-Backed stablecoin, aiming to bridge traditional finance and crypto;
• Nubank Ultravioleta dives into the travel sector with Global Account
• Tradeweb acquires Institutional Cash Distributors (ICD) in a Landmark $785 Million Deal;
• Empower is set to acquire Petal to transform global credit access;
• Multiverse acquires Searchlight to enhance AI in professional training;
• Santander is set to introduce Openbank into the US Market;
• Automattic, owner of WordPress, acquires Beeper for $125M.

A special look in the Italian market

• FidoCommercialista raises $1.2 millions to innovate fiscal services for italian corporates and entrepreneurs;
• Bending Spoons, popular Milan based software house, acquires the popular streaming provider StreamYard;
• Another good news for italian crowdfunding market: OpStart takes ownership of BacktoWork, backed by Intesa Sanpaolo;
• Viva.com and BANCOMAT S.p.A. closed a partnership to empower merchant payments in Italy.

Insights on the Vc industry

• Elevator Ventures launches €70M fund to fuel fintech and banking innovation;
• Toyota Ventures secures a $300 Million fund to foster innovation in frontier technology and climate solutions;
• Three years later after their latest fund, Lakestar closed a crazy $600 million fund to invest on deep tech in Europe;
• While everyone is looking for funds, Cendana Capital and Kline Hill Partners just raised $105 million to buy stakes in Seed VC funds;
• Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures (VKAV) closes inaugural fund at $60 Million.

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!

Take also a look at the last edition of the newsletter, Weekly update #23