Weekly update #64

Welcome to this edition of the weekly newsletter. The idea behind this is to gather all the information in the startup ecosystem in one place, with a special focus on the fintech market and the VC industry.

The Builders podcast is officially back with season 2. In this episode, I sit down with Ertan Can , founder of Multiple Capital. Multiple Capital is a micro-VC focused fund of funds that invests in VC funds in Europe and the US. They seek out innovative, emerging fund managers (teams and solo) in niche geographies and verticals that are often overlooked and inaccessible for many investors.

It's a unique perspective on how an investor decides on which funds to invest, and consequently on how VC managers drive their decision process. With Ertan, we will discuss the VC industry in Europe, on how to choose a fund, and what the European startup ecosystem is missing to catch up the gap with the US.

You can find the full video here on YouTube, and the audio here on Spotify and here on Apple Podcast.

Coming back to us, I’ve been reading a very interesting report this week, the “Milan ecosystem report 2024” by Italian Tech Alliance in collaboration with Dealroom.co. The report is a deep dive on the most interesting tech hub in Italy, the Milan ecosystem, in a full quantitative analysis and comparison with the main European hubs. Here my main takeaways:

Let’s start with the aggregate data. The graph illustrates the remarkable growth in the combined enterprise value of Milan-based startups across different founding years, reaching a total of €29 billion by 2024. Startups founded between 2020 and 2024 significantly contributed to this surge, representing the highest share of enterprise value. This steady upward trajectory highlights Milan's evolving status as a dynamic European innovation hub, driven by a strong foundation of startups launched in prior decades, particularly those from 2010-2020.

The overall growth of the ecosystem have been mostly fueled by VC investments in Milan startups, peaking at €1.5 billion in 2022, and driven largely by late-stage funding exceeding €100 million. While investments dipped slightly in 2023 and 2024, they remained robust, with totals of €550 million and €507 million, respectively. Early-stage (€0–15M) and breakout-stage (€15–100M) funding showed steady contributions over the years, indicating a healthy pipeline of emerging startups alongside established late-stage successes.

Milan's startup ecosystem demonstrates steady growth in median round sizes across Seed, Series A, and Series B funding stages. Seed rounds have consistently increased, reaching a median of €1.7M in 2024, closely aligning with national and European benchmarks. Series A funding shows significant momentum, with the median size surging to €14M in 2024, outpacing both Italy and Europe. Series B rounds have remained robust, maintaining medians above €15M for three consecutive years, reflecting sustained investor confidence in scaling startups.

In terms of sectors by amount of VC investments, Fintech is leading by a significant margin, attracting €1.2 billion. Enterprise Software follows with €774 million, showcasing strong interest in scalable digital solutions. Other key sectors include Health (€491M), Real Estate (€440M), and Food (€427M), indicating a diverse investment portfolio. While sectors like Transportation (€169M) and Marketing (€160M) reflect moderate interest, emerging focus areas such as Energy (€137M) and Travel (€91M) suggest potential for growth.

The picture described by the report is surely one of an emerging ecosystem, surely not mature enough like London or Paris, but growing at a steady rate, raising more and more interest from international investors.

Anyway we saw some very interesting news in the market this week. Trade Republic reached 8 million users and $100 billion in AuM, indian neobroker Groww is ready to go public at a $8 billion valuation. Klarna partners with Stripe ahead of the upcoming IPO, while Amazon acquired the indian fintech axio . Finally, Freetrade has been acquired by IG Group for $189 million. In the VC industry Smartfin closed a $250 million fund and Vensana Capital a $425 million third fund, but Insight Partners eclipsed everyone raising $12.5 billion for new funds. In the italian ecosystem we saw pension fund Fondo Pensione Fon.Te. investing $30 million in Venture Capital, Intesa Sanpaolo buying Bitcoin on the market and tate being acquired. Finally, some very interesting funding rounds from fintech startups like Float, LemFi, Nelly Solutions, Arva AI, Hyperline, Skor Technologies, Klearly, Habits Inc. and many others.

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

Closed deals

• Digital wealth advisory platform Endowus secures additional $17.5 million to bring its latest round to $52.5 million
• Float Financial raises a $48.5 million series B to be the Canadian answer to Brex
• London based fintech LemFi raises a $53 million series B funding round
• Digital asset banking platform Sygnum Bank raises $58 million and reaches unicorn status
• Brex secures a $235 million revolving credit facility to growth its corporate card and spend management solution
• Fintech startup Nelly Solutions raises a $51 million series B to innovate the healthcare industry
• Arva AI secures a $3 million seed round from Gradient to reshape business verification with AI
• Latvia based fintech startup Jeff App its targeting a $20 million series A to expand in Europe
• French fintech Hyperline secures $10 million for its billing platform
• Dfns, a wallet-as-a-service platform for crypto assets, has successfully closed a $16 million Series A led by Further Ventures
• Indonesian fintech Skor Technologies raises $6.2 million to reshape credit access in the region
• In-person payments startup Klearly secures a $6 million seed round
• Habits Inc. raises a $1.1 million round to connect millennials with financial advisors
• Fuel Ventures 🚀 invests $1 million in Juno AI to reshape lending for SMEs
• Nomura backed exchange Komainu raises $75 million in bitcoin
• Metica raises a $9 million seed round led by 13books Capital
• Prepaid payment platform Recharge raises $45 million to go full M&A
• Spanish blockchain platform Brickken raises a $2.5 million seed round

Insights on the VC industry

• Smartfin closes a $250 million Growth fund to invest in European B2B tech innovation
• Vensana Capital closes a $425 million third fund
• Capricorn Partners secures $51 million for its second fund
• Intel Corporation spins off its venture capital arm, Intel Capital, into a stand alone fund
• Insight Partners closes on $12.5 billion in new capital for its funds

News on the market

• Trade Republic doubles users to 8 million and reaches $100 billion in AuM
• Crypto payments startup MoonPay acquires payment processor Helio for $175 million
• Bank Alfalah Limited just announced the acquisition of a stake in fintech startup Jingle Pay
• It seems that China is open to sell TikTok's US operations to Elon Musk
• Indian neobroker Groww is preparing to go public this year with a valuation between $6 and $8 billion
• wamo partners with Adyen to offer free POS and eliminate transactions fee
• Clearwater Analytics announced the acquisition of Enfusion for $1.5 billion
• Klarna strikes a deal with Stripe to expand reach ahead of the upcoming US IPO
• Freetrade has been acquired by IG Group for €189 million
• Amazon announces the acquisition of the Indian fintech axios for $150 million

A special look in the Italian market

• One of the main italian pension fund, Fondo Pensione Fon.Te. , invests €30 million in Venture Capital
• Intesa Sanpaolo becomes the first italian banks to acquire Bitcoin
• The italian startup tate closes an exit with Plenitude from Eni

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

Events you don’t want to miss

• DXPX - Munich | 26-27.01.2025 (Link to the event)
• TechChill - Riga (Latvia) | 5-7.02.2025 (Link to the event)
• 0100 DACH - Wien (Austria) | 18-20.02.2025 (Link to the event)
• Tech Arena - Stockholm (Sweden) | 20-21.02.2025 (Link to the event)

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

Startups raising funds

• Loyyal - Loyalty platform from the MENA region, with entities in the US and South East Asia, provides a B2B2C platform to handle multiple loyalty programs and earn rewards all over the world. Raising a $6M Series A
• Freedhome - Proptech and fintech platform, enabling people to be able to gain profit from real estate by renting them to intermediaries. Raising a $1M seed round

• Tutornow - Edtech that provides an online tutoring platform for students with learning disorders. Raising $500k to $1M.
• 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.

• 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 #63