Capital on Tap leads the way in this week’s 23 FinTech funding rounds

Funding

FinTech Global reported on 23 FinTech funding rounds this week, with companies like Capital on Tap and BNPL firm BlueTape leading the pack.

In what was a fairly modest week for FinTech funding rounds, sectors such as the crypto space and marketplace lending saw funding hikes, with crypto options trading firm BITLEVEX raking in $50m.

Elsewhere this week, research from FinTech Global found that CyberTech seed deals in Europe are set to drop 7% in 2022 – in what is a slightly disappointing prediction for the fledging industry.

Dutch firm Hadrian has led the way with the highest CyberTech seed deal so far, landing $11.1m earlier this year.

In other news, the booming FinTech sector in Singapore is continuing to show handsome growth, with FinTech Global research finding that the country recorded 31 FinTech seed deals in the first half of 2022.

Of these, 11 companies are in the blockchain and crypto markets. Interest in cryptocurrencies peaked in May 2022 and a sizeable 4.92% of Singaporeans now own crypto which places them 18th in the world for percentage of the population that own cryptocurrencies.

Meanwhile, global WealthTech deal activity is on track to increase 65% year-on-year in 2022.

The number of WealthTech deals globally is on track to reach 1,062 in total this year based on the number of funding rounds completed in the first half of 2022, up 65% from the previous year. On the other hand, investment in the sector is slightly underwhelming with projections estimating that total investment will reach $17.6bn, globally, in 2022, a 29% decrease from 2021. Investment in the second quarter only reached $2.5bn, a dramatic 61% drop from the opening quarter of the year.

Here are this week’s funding rounds.

Capital on Tap secures £200m funding facility

Capital on Tap, a credit card for small businesses, has secured a £200m funding facility from JP Morgan and Triple Point.

It claims this capital will help small businesses access credit at a time when the UK is anticipating a recession and facing historic inflation rates.

This credit line comes just four months after Capital on Tap received a $200m facility for its growth in the US. Capital on Tap stated that both these credit lines are crucial to its expansion plans.

Launched in 2012, Capital on Tap has developed an all-in-one credit card for small businesses, as well as a spend management platform. It claims over 200,000 small business customers have spent £4bn on their business credit cards.

BlueTape closes funding at $55m

BlueTape, which offers buy now, pay later (BNPL) services to the construction industry, has raised $55m in a mix of debt and equity.

This capital will provide BlueTap with the ability to extend its BNPL lending capabilities, hire more staff and develop new products to help construction address the housing and infrastructure crisis.

BlueTape claims that the US construction industry market size is over $1.3trn and is made up of over three million small and medium-sized businesses. It added that the industry is lagging behind others, in terms of technology adoption, and has been neglected by traditional financial institutions.

US-based BlueTape offers BNPL financing options with easy-to-use accounts receivable and invoice management tools. Firms can use the platform to buy building materials at any supplier and pay back over time.

Funding Societies receives $50m credit for SME digital financing

Funding Societies, which claims to be Southeast Asia’s largest small and medium enterprises (SME) digital financing platform, has secured a $50m credit facility.

The credit facility was supplied by HSBC Singapore and will help Funding Societies expand its reach to underserved SMEs in the region.

With the funds, Funding Societies plans to bolster its financing solutions across the region.

Additionally, HSBC will act as a structuring bank, lender, facility and security agent in providing flexible, scalable and pan-regional financing solutions to support Funding Societies’ business expansion in the region.

It claims commercial lending in Asia Pacific is projected to grow at a CAGR of 16.5%, generating a revenue of over $7trn by 2028, making up around 25% of the global market size of $27.4trn.

BITLEVEX raises $50m for its crypto options trading

Estonia-based BITLEVEX, which offers crypto options trading, has received a $50m investment facility from digital asset investment firm GEM Digital Limited.

This capital will enable BITLEVEX to scale its promotional strategies, hire more staff and diversify its product suite. It is exploring new features, the launch of an NFT marketplace, a digital wallet, payment solutions for merchants and a crypto debit card.

BITLEVEX, which was founded in 2019, currently offers crypto options trading. The company currently has around 50,000 registered users and is looking to launch its native utility token BLEX.

The crypto options trading platform is on a mission to give crypto users access to user-friendly onboarding, financial education and products within Web3.

Small business loans provider Muse raises $20m debt facility

Muse Finance, which offers small business loans, has received a $20m debt facility to help it support customers.

With this capital, Muse hopes to increase its support to companies and ensure more companies have access to small business loans. It will also help Muse provide its invoice and supply financing solutions to companies in the US.

Muse supplies business owners with up to a 90-day cash flow snapshot with quick access to finance. Its app provides clients with access to sustainable funds quicker than traditional lenders.

As part of its lending offerings, companies can access supply finance and invoice finance to pay overseas suppliers whilst cash is tied up in pending business invoices.

Kasisto raises Series C extension at $15.5m

Kasisto, which is automating banking experiences, has raised $15.5m in its Series C extension round, which was led by Fidelity Information Services and Westpac Banking Corporation.

Also joining the extension was BankSouth, a US Community Bank in Georgia and an early adopter of Kasisto’s KAI platform. The extra capital brings the Series C total to $31m.

Kasisto, which is headquartered in New York, claims to be the industry leader in conversational AI, and its KAI platform supports intelligent and financially savvy digital assistants in the financial services industry.

This fresh funding will enable Kasisto to bolster its product development, continue strategic go-to-market initiatives and expand its partnerships with top financial services providers.

Fair Square Medicare raises $15m for concierge healthcare

Fair Square Medicare, a tech-enabled concierge healthcare platform for seniors, has raised $15m in its Series A.

Define Ventures served as the lead backer, with commitments also coming from Slow Ventures, YCombinator and several unnamed angel investors.

Fair Square Medicare claims to be revolutionising how seniors engage with the US healthcare system. It launched in 2020 out of YC and helps thousands of seniors navigate Medicare coverage options.

It plans to scale its platform to become a full-service care navigator for seniors.

Hazeltree bags $14m for treasury & liquidity management tech

Hazeltree, a treasury and liquidity management technology platform for the alternative asset and investment management space, has secured $14m in strategic funding.

With the funds, Hazeltree hopes to grow through customer success and support, scaling its commercial model and innovating across its product suite.

As part of the investment, FINTOP Capital co-founder and managing partner Rick Kushel has joined the Hazeltree board of directors.

Hazeltree claims to be a leader in treasury and liquidity management technology. Its cloud-based solutions offer enhanced transparency, liquidity, risk mitigation, streamlined operations and increased IRR by optimising counterparty interactions, credit facilities, margin requirements and fees.

Payments FinTech Highline lands $13m Series A

Highline Technologies, a payments FinTech that unlocks payroll-linked lending and billpay, has raised $13m from a Series A funding round.

Highline claims its payments platform allows consumers to easily automate bill payments directly from their paycheck, helping to avoid missed payments and overdraft fees.

The firm said its solution enables consumer lenders to improve portfolio performance, allowing them to expand approvals, reach more potential customers and grow revenue while reducing risk. Additionally, Highline extends payroll-linked lending to any asset class, where historically it was limited to only personal loans.

Highline said the recent influx of capital will support its continued growth, including additions to staff, more strategic partnership opportunities and expanded market adoption of its products and services.

Sweden’s Sustainability platform Worldfavor bags €10.2m Series A

Stockholm-based sustainability platform Worldfavor has raised €10.2m in its Series A round to aid its growth and expansion plans.

This capital injection will allow Worldfavor to continue its expansion and market entry plans to fill the global gap of easily accessing, sharing and gaining insights from ESG data.

Additionally, the company will bolster its research and development to continually improve its sustainability platform and provide users with the best product.

Worldfavor is a sustainability platform that enables businesses to access, share and leverage business ESG data to gain insights and make sustainable action possible, including internally, through value chains and via investments. Its data include GHG emissions, diversity, human rights, anti-corruption and more.

Singapore’s Safeheron bags $7m pre-series A

Singapore-headquartered Safeheron has reportedly raised $7m in its pre-Series A funding round.

As part of the deal, Safeheron will integrate its Multi-Party Computation (MPC) multi-signature security solutions with MetaMask. As a result, MetaMask users will benefit from an additional security level, improving the verification of apps and devices.

Founded in 2019 by Wade Wang, Max He and Bruce Wang, the company offers redefined custody that gives users 100% asset control. It boasts transparent audits, open-source algorithms and multi-party governance that safeguards assets.

The company claims to be a first-of-its-find security. Its MPC cryptography and hardware ensures private keys are never exposed.

LatAm InsurTech Latú Seguro raises $6.7m

Latú Seguros, a Latin America-based InsurTech, has reportedly raised $6.7m in its pre-seed funding round.

The round was also backed by several angel investors, including Simon Borrero, Sebastian Mejia and Felipe Villamarin from Rappi, Santiago Suarez and Daniel Vallejo from addi, among many others.

With the capital, the Brazilian company plans to further the development of its core underwriting technology, expand its insurance products and hire more cyber and engineering experts.

Latú Seguros is a Latin America-based InsurTech that offers business insurance services. Its products include professional indemnity, cyber insurance, corporate travel, tech errors and omissions, SME package and directors and officers.

Payment and banking experiences startup Deposits raises $5m

Deposits, a plug-and-play payment and banking experiences startup, has raised $5m in its seed funding round, which was led by ATX Venture Partners.

Other commitments to the round came from Cabal Fund, Lightspeed Venture Partners and others.

The seed funds will enable Deposits to bolster the development of its full-stack banking platform. It also hopes to hire more staff for its sales, marketing and engineering teams.

Deposits’ cloud-based platform enables credit unions, community banks, insurers, retailers and product brands to offer a variety of payment and banking experiences without needing deep technical expertise.

It claims the platform opens up access to digital banking by making it easy for organisations, regardless of size, skill or budget, to bolster their relationships by offering modern financial experiences. These include mobile apps, online account opening, identity verification, debit and credit accounts, mobile deposits, virtual cards, P2P payments, home and auto loans, foreign exchange and more.

Hello Clever bags $4.5m from pre-seed and seed hauls

Hello Clever, an Australian ‘buy to earn’ startup that gives shoppers real-time cashback, has raised $4.5m across a pre-seed and seed funding round.

Hello Clever claims its vision has always been to ‘create a bold ecosystem for everyone to win financially’.

The company said it is the first Australian buy-to-earn platform. Through its real-time payment API – an instant payment solution powered by the New Payments Platform, PayTo and PayID – the company provides real-time cashback for customers and allows users to be clever with their spending by tracking across multiple bank accounts in real-time.

Hello Clever utilises open banking, fast payments and AI technologies to put together an end-to-end experience for young people around shopping, payments, earning cash back and managing spending.

Hello Clever stated that the ‘economics of scale’ is exciting as it has seen strong demand over the past six months and has joined the “industry disruptors” club, lifting the needle to shake up an old industry that is worth $500 billions in Australia alone.

Harvesting Farmer Network raises $4m to help farms with credit risk

Harvesting Farmer Network, which helps farms with credit risk, has raised $4m in a funding round.

These funds will enable the FinTech company to reach the more than 120 million smallholder farmers across India, as well as explore opportunities in India’s rural markets.

Harvesting Farmer Network was founded during the Covid-19 pandemic to reduce friction between farmers and buyers, initially by enabling them to connect directly on Twitter.

Since then, over $500m of crops, consisting of over 360 crop varieties have been listed on Harvesting Farmer Network’s platform from every state in India.

The FinTech company helps smallholder farmers in India to easily buy high-quality and affordable farm inputs, across financial services such as loans and insurance, as well as sell their crops to national and international customers.

Micro investing platform Wombat closes Series A on £4m

Micro investing platform Wombat has closed its Series A round on £4m, as it gears up for international expansion.

For its international expansion, the company is looking to first move into Europe, where it sees an addressable market of 100 million users. The WealthTech company is also planning to release new products and bolster its marketing efforts.

In addition to the venture round, Wombat held a four-week crowdfunding campaign, which closed on 300% of its target. Including the crowdfunding, the micro investing platform has raised £4.2m.

The WealthTech company allows users to trade global stocks and ETFs, commission-free. Users can access a variety of theme-based exchange-traded funds and curated UK, US and EU fractional shares.

Its features include tax-free ISAs, automated investments, educational material and the ability to invest spare change automatically.

The micro investing platform has added a number of services over the past year, including an instant investing account offering with a cashback reward on all purchases. The company recently partnered with payments infrastructure firm Currencycloud to launch its instant investment solution.

Givers launches caregiving savings platform and lands $3.5m

Givers has launched its caregiving savings and support platform alongside the close of a $3.5m seed round.

The company claims to be putting money back in the pockets of family caregivers, who account for $470bn in unpaid work annually, whilst supporting them with community, educational resources and time-saving tools.

Givers was founded on the belief that caregiving is one of the most important and underserved socioeconomic healthcare issues in current times. The company stated that caregiving impacts key concerns in the economy, including financial equity, participation in the workforce and healthcare access, costs and outcomes.

Teen-focused banking app Zywa scores $3m

Teen-focused banking app Zywa, which is aimed at Gen Z in the Middle East and North Africa, has scored $3m in its seed funding round.

The investment round brings Zywa’s valuation to AED 110m ($30m).

With the funds, Zywa hopes to create more product initiatives and tailor its product to teens in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Zywa was founded in 2021 by Alok Kumar and Nuha Hashem. The Fintech platform brings a gamified community-based banking app and payment card to Gen Z between the ages of 11 and 25 years old.

It teen-focused banking platform offers a payment card and app to enable teens to manage, save and spend money.

US RegTech BalkanID extends seed funding

BalkanID, a startup building tech in the identity governance and administration sector, has extended its seed financing to $2.3m, bringing the total raised overall to $8.1m.

BalkanID currently markets a subscription-based product that provides defenders with visibility into risky entitlements and a simplified way to manage access review and certification processes.

The company emerged from stealth earlier this year with plans to target the mid-market with a tool that uses machine learning and workflow automation.

The company’s technology has been fitted with a risk engine that automatically identifies risky users and those with excessive permissions or toxic combinations, risky apps, roles and privileges across the organisation’s SaaS and public cloud estate.

According to Security Week, the additional financing will provide a longer runway for BalkanID to work on its cloud access governance product that promises to help firms find and remediate risky privileges across SaaS and public cloud infrastructure.

DAM Finance bags $1.8m pre-seed

dPRIME Asset Modules Finance, known as DAM Finance, has secured $1.8m in pre-seed funding.

The round was led by Digital Finance Group and Jsquare and saw participation from Arrington Capital, Ledgerprime, D1 Ventures, 11-11 Capital, Stacker Ventures and several angels investors.

DAM enables borrowers to deposit tokens in a single transaction to mint dPRIME, a Dotsama stablecoin on Moonbeam. This innovation provides borrowers more flexibility in purchasing power creation and vault maintenance while accommodating a broader range of blockchain-secured assets as collateral.

The project’s core contributors have backgrounds in enterprise and public blockchains, asset management and data science, previously at firms such as R3, Myria, Fidelity, Oak Hill Capital, EY and IC Group. As a result, protocol risk management will be a major focus area for DAM.

Bricknode bags loan to aid licenced brokerage subsidiary launch

SaaS financial services platform Bricknode has secured a SEK 5m ($470,000) loan to support its establishment of a licenced brokerage subsidiary.

With this loan, Bricknode will be able to establish a licenced brokerage subsidiary including the required regulatory and operational capital.

Plans to establish the licenced brokerage subsidiary were announced in May 2022. It stated the move would allow it to carry out brokerage services for customers that lack their own regulatory permissions.

At the time, Bricknode founder and CEO Stefan Willebrand said, “Investing is a big market right now and firms seeking to capitalise typically face lengthy development projects and regulatory challenges.

“By applying for a brokerage licence, we’re moving a step closer to being able to offer our own regulatory umbrella to clients and making it even easier for them to launch investment solutions.

Finexos bags £695,000

Finexos, a FinTech aimed at improving access to lending without a credit score, has received a £695,000 funding round, which was led by Growth Capital Ventures.

The round was oversubscribed by 40% and will supply Finexos with the funds to drive its market entry strategy. The company will roll out its solution to several key pilot partners looking to accurately evaluate credit worthiness.

Founded in 2018, Finexos has built a technology platform that combines open banking with AI and machine learning to measure financial capability without needing a credit score.

It states that where a traditional credit score uses around 12 pieces of information, the Finexos solution uses over 220 pieces of data to give an accurate assessment of how a consumer or SME manages its cash flow.

Standard Chartered backs ID verification firm Checkk

SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s FinTech investment and ventures arm, has invested funds into Hong Kong-based firm Checkk.

According to Standard Chartered, the investment has the aim of speeding up Chekk’s product development and boosting its sales organisation, both to meet the increasing demand of the global identity verification market for individuals and corporates that is anticipated to be worth $17bn by 2026.

SC Ventures joins Chekk’s multi-million dollar financing round announced in June this year, led by HSBC and with participation of venture capital firm SOSV.

Last week saw a modest 25 FinTech funding deals take place, with the PropTech sector performing well amongst others.

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