Weekly update #42

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.

Before jumping to the main topics for this week, I am exploring partnerships with the newsletter. So this edition is sponsored by Notion, which is offering a 6-months free plan of its plus product to all founders submitting an application for their startups program.

In order to redeem the free trial, submit an application using this linkhttps://ntn.so/michelemattei, select Michele Mattei as partner and include the following partner key: STARTUP4110P62416. I really hope it will be helpful for many founders out there!

Coming back to us, I’ve been reading some very interesting data this week about the fintech market. The report is “H1 2024 Fintech investment Landscape” by Innovate Finance , and it draws a very complete picture of the first half of the year in terms of investments in the fintech market globally. Here my main takeaways:

In the first half of 2024, there was a shift in investment towards earlier-stage startups (Seed to Series B) compared to previous years. This may be due to later-stage companies, which are better capitalized, being hesitant to raise funds at lower valuations. Early-stage companies, with less cash and fewer cost-cutting options, are more compelled to seek funding. Moving from Series A to B has become particularly challenging, as it involves proving the business model, refining the go-to-market strategy, and ensuring that key metrics, including revenue, are consistently improving.

The US continues to dominate global FinTech investment, maintaining around a 46% market share, consistent with recent years. The UK remains the second-largest market for FinTech investment, holding a 12.7% share in the first half of this year, although this is slightly lower than in previous years.

The top three countries in the global FinTech market—United States, United Kingdom, and India—remain unchanged from 2023. However, there have been some shifts in the lower ranks of the Top 10, with countries like France no longer in the Top 10 midway through this year. Despite these changes, deal volumes remain low, and a single large deal could easily propel a country back into the Top 10. Overall, all Top 10 countries have seen a decline compared to the second half of 2023.

Coming to Europe specifically, The UK continues to lead in the FinTech sector, attracting $2.0 billion across 184 deals in the first half of the year, surpassing the combined investment of the rest of Europe, which totals around $1.8 billion. Despite global economic challenges, the UK's position as Europe's top FinTech hub remains strong. Germany and the Netherlands rank second and third, with Sweden and France also holding significant positions in the top five, emphasizing the growing importance of these continental tech hubs.

Finally, a quick look at the M&A activity. In 2024, FinTech mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are experiencing a resurgence, with 301 deals totaling $45.8 billion globally. This marks a potential recovery in M&A activity, highlighting that FinTech investment extends beyond venture capital to include significant M&A and private equity deals. Tim Levene of Augmentum VC notes that incumbent financial services firms are increasingly opting to buy or partner with FinTechs rather than build their own solutions, with 85% of global M&A deals involving strategic buyers, reflecting the growing importance of collaboration in the industry.

Before jumping to the latest news, a quick request from my side. I will start a small series of podcasts to interview fintech founders and VC managers active in the ecosystem. If you want to be part of it, feel free to drop me a line on Linkedin!

Anyway we saw some very interesting news in the market this week. Tencent offloads it’s investment in Tide , Amazon expands credit cards services in UK and Germany. Google partners with GoHenry, Klarna try to expand in banking and neobank ClearBank secures a dutch banking license. In the crypto space, FTX has been ordered to pay back $12.7 billion to its former customer, and Tally is shutting down because of cash reasons. In the VC market, Balderton Capital announced a new $1.3 billion fund to invest in european startups, while Flint Capital and Antler raised respectively $160 million and $72 million for new funds. Finally, we saw some very interesting funding rounds from fintech startups like Conduit , Setpoint , Syfe , PayZen , Vayana , Okredo , Skydo , fulfin and many others.

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

Closed deals

• Conduit raises $6 million to expands its cross borders solution from Latam to Africa
• Setpoint secures a $31 million series B round to boost its credit management solution
• Singaporean fintech Syfe raises $27 million for its investment app in Asia Pacific
• Healthcare fintech PayZen secured a $32 million series B round led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA)
• Indian fintech Vayana secures a $20.5 million series D to push trade credit solution in the country
• Bengaluru based fintech Infinyte Club raises $3.6 million to push investments in India
• Lithuanian fintech Okredo raises $1.2 million seed round to expand in EU
• Cross border payments startup Skydo secures a $5 million pre-series A funding round led by Elevation Capital
• Proptech startup PROBIS secures an undisclosed Series A led by JLL Spark
• India's leading payment platform Innoviti Technologies raises $8.3 million Series E
• fulfin receive a bolt-on investment of $6.6 million
• Tether.io invests $3 million in investment app Kem

Insights on the VC industry

• Flint Capital raises a third fund at $160 million
• UK based VC Balderton Capital raised $1.3 billion to invest in European startups
• H/L Ventures closed its CityRock Venture Partners Fund II at $24 million
• Antler is doubling down in South East Asia with a new $72 million fund for startups

News on the market

• Tencent offload stake in British neobank Tide as part of international disinvestment strategy
• Google and GoHenry strike a partnership to enhance kid's financial literacy
• ClearBank secures a Dutch banking license
• It seems that the FTX saga is not over yet, as the crypto exchange has been ordered to pay $12.7 billion to its former customers
• Amazon expands its credit card service in UK and Germany with Santander and Barclays
• Fintech Tally, once backed by a16z with a $172 million funding round, is shutting down after running out of cash
• Payment provider Yuno is teaming up with Colombian fintech Nequi to provide its payments orchestration platform in Colombia
• Ripple has been ordered by a US judge to pay a $125 million penalty
• Janus Henderson Group PLC to buy Victory Park Capital Advisors in private credit expansion
• Cross border payments provider Nium expands its operations in Latam
• South Korean fintech app Kakao Corp's founder has been arrested on charges of stock manipulation
• Apple is pushing brand to use in-store payments, and now all Patreon's membership will be subject to their 30% fee
• Klarna wants to take on banking with a new savings and cash back offering

A special look in the Italian market

• C’mon guys, it’s ferragosto week.

And here some useful resources for everyone involved in the ecosystem:

Events you don’t want to miss

• BolzanoSlushD | Bolzano - 03.09.2024 (Link to the invite or website) I still have some discount codes for this one, reach out to me if you want one!
• Italian Tech Week | Turin - 25-27.09.2024 (Link to the invite or website)
• Newport investor summit | Newport (RI) - 26-27.09.2024 (link to the invite or website)
• Bits & Pretzels founders festival | Munich 29.09-01.10.2024 (Link to the invite or website)
• Milan Fintech Summit | Milan - 08-09.10.2024 (Link to the invite or website)
• VDS+ | Valencia 23-24.10.2024 (Link to the invite or website)

You have a cool event you want to mention or to sponsor? Feel free to send me a DM.

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.
• Shoppy Code:Gift card platform that offers a points based loyalty program. They share part of the profits coming from marketing budgets with their customers. Raising $500k.

Take also a look at the last edition of the newsletter, Weekly update #41