Weekly update #82

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.

Latest episode of Builders was released last week. In this episode, I sit down with Konstantin Stiskin, founder of Finom .

Kos has a very interesting background, with a strong interest in the entrepreneurial mindset. He started his career in Venture Capital, with Runa Capital and FinSight Ventures , until reaching partner role at Binomial Ventures . But his main interest was the entrepreneur path.

You can find the full episode here on YouTube, or you can listen to it here on Spotify or here on Apple Podcast.

After investing in Yieldify, he launched Genotek, a biotech startup that he sold after 7 years, until finally launching his main and current venture: Finom. The SMEs banking platform based in Amsterdam, that recently raised $90 million, is one of the main financial platforms for small businesses in Europe, and one of the most interesting fintech in Europe.

With him, we will talk about the path from investor to founder, how close he was to bankruptcy with his first startup, the current fundraising environment and the perspective on the fintech market.

Coming back to us, I was reading an interesting report this week, the latest “Q1 2025 European VC Valuations Report” by PitchBook. This is a regular study conducted by the very well known data portal about VC investments in European startups, divided by deal size, stage and median value. Here my main takeaways:

Median deal sizes rose across all stages, driven by a more stable venture capital environment, particularly benefiting mature companies with increased round activity. The uptick also reflects a clearing of previously delayed funding rounds that had been postponed in recent years.

Late-stage rounds experienced the most pronounced increase, with median deal sizes climbing 37% compared to 2024’s annual figure. Venture growth rounds followed closely, posting a nearly 25% rise. Notably, large-scale fundraises by unicorns such as surgical robotics firm CMR Surgical and travel management platform TravelPerk played a key role in pushing deal sizes higher.

Median valuations in Q1 mirrored the upward trend seen in deal sizes, with the exception of pre-seed rounds, where median valuations declined. Late-stage and venture growth rounds saw the most significant gains, supported by a rebound in venture activity and improving exit prospects, which have helped lift valuations.

In contrast, pre-seed valuations remained subdued, reflecting continued investor caution toward early-stage startups. Heightened due diligence and more conservative pricing persist as investors remain selective with higher-risk, unproven ventures.

Although early-stage startups generally saw a rise in median pre-money valuations, the AI sector was a notable exception. In Q1, the median valuation for AI and machine learning companies edged down to €6 million (approximately $6.8 million), from €6.3 million in 2024. Despite this dip, AI still dominated the upper end of the market, with seven of the ten highest early-stage valuations belonging to AI-focused startups.

Fintech also saw a slight decline, with its median valuation falling to €8.5 million. In contrast, SaaS companies led the gains, posting a more than 30% increase in median pre-money valuations compared to last year.

Improved market conditions have led to a shorter median time between funding rounds for seed and early-stage startups, reflecting a pickup in deal activity. For early-stage companies that raised in Q1, the median interval between rounds was 1.3 years. Seed-stage startups followed closely, with a median gap of 1.5 years between funding events.

In Q1, €2.5 billion was invested into Europe’s unicorn companies, putting 2025 on pace to surpass last year’s total deal value. If this momentum continues, it would mark the third-largest year on record for unicorn investment in the region.

Europe’s unicorn ecosystem now comprises 150 VC-backed companies valued at over €1 billion, with a combined worth of €477.3 billion. The first quarter welcomed five new unicorns, including body-scanning innovator Neko Health and AI workflow platform Tines.

Anyway we saw some very interesting news in the market this week. Revolut is investing $1 billion in France, Coinbase has been blackmailed for $20 million by hackers, and OpenAI hired Jony Ive to lead their design team. Some huge rounds from Airwallex ($300 million) and World ($135 million), but also Binance integrating with Pix to offer crypto payments in Brazil, J.P. Morgan letting customers buy Bitcoin and Circle evaluating a potential IPO or a sale. In the VC industry, Revolut’s founder VC QuantumLight closed a $250 million fund to invest on AI, but also Gilgamesh Ventures with a $20 million fund, Creators Fund with a $45 million and Headline - Asia with a new $145 million fund. And finally, some very interesting funding rounds from fintech startups like Affiniti, Thndr, Catena Labs, Ontik, Lendflow, Slash, Clair and many others.

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

Closed deals

• CrediLinq.Ai raises a $8.5 million series A to accelerate the growth of B2B embedded finance
• Egyptian fintech Thndr secures $17.5 million to scale digital investing in MENA
• Affiniti raises $17M Series A to reinvent expense management for traditional SMBs
• Circle cofounder Sean Neville raises $18M for Catena Labs to build an AI-Native financial infrastructure
• Aufinity Group | bezahl.de secures a $23 million series C to further expand in Europe
• Airwallex raises $300 million in Series F funding at a $6.2 billion valuation
• Embedded earned wage startup Clair raises a $23.2 million series B
• Keep just emerged from stealth with a CA$108 million round to transform finance for small businesses
• UK based fintech Ontik raises $3.2 million for an oversubscribed seed round
• Sam Altman's World secures $135 million to scale global digital ID infrastructure despite regulatory setbacks
• Slash raises $41M to scale vertical banking for the real economy
• Lendflow secures a $15 million round for its embedded credit platform
• Seeds raises a $10M Series A to personalize wealth management at scale
• Crypto trading platform True Markets raises a $11 million series A
• Greenlite AI raises $15M Series A to power compliance automation in financial services
• Treyd raises €5M and appoints Klarna veteran as chairman to drive international growth
• Penfold raises €4.6M to expand digital pension platform for UK SMEs and accountants
• Filed raises $17M to automate tax workflows and reinvent the accounting stack with AI

Insights on the VC industry

• Goldfinch and Digital Genesis Fund launch a $17.8 million fund to back blockchain powered media
• Wyld VC launches a $50 million AI-native fund
• Revolut founder Nik Storonsky raises $250M to scale AI-Driven VC firm QuantumLight
• Tokyo and Taipei based VC Headline - Asia closes a $145 million fund to invest in the Asia-Pacific region
• Creator Ventures just closed a $45 million fund
• Gilgamesh Ventures announces a $20 million second fund
• Berlin based VC Lunar Ventures closes a second $50 million fund to invest in pre-seed DeepTech startups

News on the market

• Revolut plans to invest $1 billion in France and will apply for a banking license
• Coinbase said hackers bribed staff to steal customers' data, demanding $20 million. Instead of paying, they are fighting back with a $20 million rewards.
• Etops acquires German financial planning tools FinanzPortal24
• Paythru teams up with Adyen on electric vehicle charging payment platform
• Finastra to sell Treasury and Capital Markets business to Apax Partners in a $2 billion potential deal
• J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon says the bank will finally let customers buy Bitcoin
• Qonto launches POS terminal and tap-to-pay with Adyen and payment links with Mollie
• YouLend and eBay Germany partner to launch embedded financing for online sellers
• Ripple expands in UAE with Zand Bank and Mamo as first Blockchain-Powered payments clients
• Circle’s IPO in play, but M&A Interest from Coinbase and Ripple signals possible twist
• du Pay taps Checkout.com to scale inclusive fintech services across the UAE
• Brex partners with Zip to reduce cash burn ahead of a possible IPO
• Binance Pay bring instant crypto payments in Brazil via Pix
• Block bets on lending after winning direct loans approval
• OpenAI acquires io for $6.5B, appoints Jony Ive to lead AI Device Design
• Curve launches first Apple Pay alternative on iOS in the EEA, redefining digital wallets
• Temenos launches AI copilot to accelerate banking innovation
• Google just announced agentic checkout during Google I/O 2025
• Kraken Digital Asset Exchange to launch tokenized U.S. Equities for global markets with Backed’s xStocks

A special look in the Italian market

• -

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

Events you don’t want to miss

• Money 20/20 - Amsterdam | 3-5.06.2025 (link to 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 #81