FinTech funding rounds recorded by FinTech Global were down from 34 to 23 this week, with $303m raised in total.
Of the sectors that saw funding this week, WealthTech firms pulled in the most investment with ten. CyberTechs pulled in three raises, while PayTech, InsurTech and FinTech raised two. RegTech, PropTech and Crypto firms made up the rest of the investments.
Geographically, the US led the way in funding rounds with eight deals, with the UK trailing just behind with five. Singapore pulled in two, while Indonesia, Belgium, Netherlands, Ireland, Canada, India, Brazil and Egypt all brought it one deal.
Research by FinTech Global this week found that deal activity in European AI FinTech is on track to drop 33%, stifled by stricter rules. European AI FinTech deal activity reached 36 transactions in Q1 2023, a 40% drop compared to the same period last year.
European AI FinTech companies raised a combined $184m during the opening quarter of 2023, down 53% YoY. The UK was the most active country for AI FinTech investment with ten deals completed in Q1 2023.
Here are this week’s deals.
Indonesian P2P lender Amartha secures $100m
The ID FinTech firm, Amartha, which operates an Indonesian peer-to-peer lending platform, has successfully amassed an investment of $100m from Community Investment Management (CIM), a prominent US-based debt provider.
The hefty funding round has resulted in a $100m cash injection into Amartha, thanks to the contribution from CIM, according to a report from Tech in Asia. This marks a significant milestone for the Indonesian platform in the FinTech space.
Diving into the operations of Amartha, the firm offers an innovative solution in the form of a peer-to-peer lending platform. Established in 2010, Amartha had a challenging start, with the company being on the brink of collapse. However, a successful pivot from conventional microfinance to peer-to-peer lending in 2016 marked a turning point. The company has been profitable for the past three years.
The newly raised funds are earmarked for working capital loans for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia. Amartha’s dedication to nurturing these businesses is evident in their track record. To date, they have disbursed over $800m in working capital loans to 1.6 million businesses, a large percentage of which are women-led.
Real-time payments provider Volt secures $60m in Series B
Volt, a leading global real-time payments provider, has successfully raised a $60m Series B investment round.
The firm, which is forging the path in the FinTech industry by providing an innovative account-to-account (A2A) payments infrastructure through a single point of access, is currently operating across the UK, Europe, and Brazil.
The round was led by prominent Silicon Valley investor, IVP. This seasoned investment firm has a strong track record, with previous investments in renowned companies such as Coinbase, Slack, and Supercell.
At the core of Volt’s operations is its pioneering real-time payments technology. With a view to facilitating quick and secure transactions, Volt’s platform brings together new generation A2A payments infrastructure at a single point of access. The company’s unique aggregation model bolsters the speed, security, and resilience of transactions, making it an attractive proposition for merchants and PSPs across the globe.
The funds secured in this Series B round will support Volt’s ambitious expansion plans. The firm has set its sights on entering the APAC and US markets, with an Australian market entry planned for later in 2023. In addition, Volt intends to enhance its product suite to include cash management and plans to significantly bolster its product and engineering teams.
Regions Bank backs InsurTech innovator Slide Insurance with a robust $35m
Slide Insurance, an InsurTech firm with a specialised focus on homeowners insurance, has announced a noteworthy stride in its financial journey.
The company successfully finalised a $35m senior credit facility with Regions Bank, marking a significant moment for the firm’s strategic plans.
The substantial $35m investment into Slide Insurance was spearheaded by Regions Bank. This move underscores the growing interest from established financial institutions in the potential of disruptive InsurTech firms.
At the heart of Slide Insurance’s services is its mission to revolutionise homeowners insurance. As a full-stack InsurTech company, Slide simplifies the process of selecting the right coverage for modern consumers, making it as effortless and accessible as possible to cater to their unique needs and budgets.
Yendo’s $24m funding fuels mission to democratise credit access
Yendo, an innovative FinTech firm that introduced the world’s first vehicle-secured credit card, announced it has raised $24m in a Series A funding round.
This round of financing is a significant step forward for Yendo, the company that’s redefining credit offerings for millions of Americans who were previously alienated by the traditional financial system due to their credit scores.
Founded in 2021, Yendo aims to increase access to affordable credit for everyone, providing opportunities for people to achieve their financial goals. By using a car as collateral, Yendo customers can unlock up to $10,000 of revolving credit at a fixed, affordable rate, regardless of their credit history.
The company employs a unique model to determine a person’s credit limit, considering factors like income, expenses, and the value of their vehicle. This model has enabled many who were traditionally unable to access credit to start building their credit histories, a goal cited by 90% of Yendo’s customers.
With the freshly raised capital, Yendo intends to fuel its next growth phase. The funding will enable the company to recruit new talent, enhance the user experience of its product, and extend its services to more states. Wesley Chan, a representative from lead investor FPV Ventures, will also join Yendo’s board as part of the deal.
PropTech start-up Picket lands $20m Series B financing
Picket, a firm that provides integrated technology and services for residential real estate investing, has completed a Series B funding round worth $20m.
The capital was raised in a round led by LL Funds, with participation from RET Ventures, a previous lead investor from Picket’s Series A round in 2022.
Picket is revolutionising the real estate industry by providing investors with an all-in-one platform to identify, evaluate, acquire, and manage single-family rental (SFR) properties across markets using robust data and analytics. This platform uses a plethora of data points including rental and sale valuations, neighbourhood-level data such as school scores and crime rates, and more, to rank properties according to investor criteria.
The funds will be used to speed up innovation and further broaden technology-enabled services for investors and rental home residents. Backed by its proprietary workflow automation technology, Picket’s teams aim to enhance the entire lifecycle of single-family rental assets, thereby improving investors’ operating income and the quality of life for rental residents.
Balderton backs TreasurySpring with £15m Series B funding
London-based TreasurySpring, a revolutionary FinTech company in the capital markets arena, has successfully secured a Series B funding round.
The investment, a significant £15m, has been sourced from a cohort of investors, including leading venture capital firms Balderton and Black Lion, along with contributions from existing investors ETFS Capital, Anthemis, and MMC Ventures, according to a report from Sifted.
TreasurySpring’s primary offering is a novel Fixed-Term Fund (FTF) platform, developed to manage and optimise large cash balances held by entities ranging from charities to FTSE 100-listed companies and venture capital firms.
The innovative platform enables clients to move beyond traditional unsecured bank deposits and instead make short-term investments in secured financial instruments like single secured bank loans or single investment-grade corporate loans.
AI-powered platform Parrot rakes in $11m in Series A
Parrot, a technology-based court reporting firm, revealed today its innovative AI-enabled platform, designed specifically to assist insurance providers and legal firms expedite case resolutions and minimise costs.
The company secured $11m in Series A financing led by Amplify Partners and XYZ Venture Capital, bringing the total funds raised to $14m. These financial resources will be channelled towards expanding their market reach, hastening product development, and deepening their commitment to artificial intelligence (AI).
Parrot’s platform redefines the deposition process by utilising proprietary large language models (LLMs), which are trained specifically on legal and insurance terminology. This allows them to deliver highly accurate transcripts immediately following a deposition, a vast improvement over the traditional timeframe of days or weeks. Additionally, their legally-compliant platform addresses the increasing scarcity of court reporters, as the demand for such services continues to surge annually.
The fresh funding will be allocated to accelerate product development, deepen investment in AI, and broaden their go-to-market efforts. Parrot also introduces a new product to legal professionals, offering AI-generated deposition summaries, a first in the industry.
DeFi infrastructure leader Maverick Protocol secures $9m in funding round
Maverick Protocol, a provider of DeFi infrastructure aiming to augment industry efficiency, has recently announced a successful fundraising endeavour.
The company’s core objective is to bring about significant efficiency improvements within the DeFi markets. The newly acquired funding will be channelled towards expanding this mission. Maverick Protocol has specified that it will focus on building a more efficient Liquid Staking Token (LST) infrastructure and rectifying cross-chain liquidity inefficiencies. It also aims to leverage the new capital to scale the protocol to new chains, provide support for developers constructing on its infrastructure, and attract more projects to its expanding ecosystem.
Maverick Protocol, which was launched in March 2023, boasts of its DEX, an innovative Automated Market Maker (AMM) that has enhanced capital efficiency for liquidity providers, placing it far ahead of its competitors. The platform has since garnered notable achievements, including ranking among the top three DEXs on Ethereum and attaining the top spot on zkSync Era by volume.
It has secured over $37m in total value locked (TVL), supported $2B in on-chain volume, and achieved a capital efficiency rate of up to 374%. Maverick Protocol has also integrated with projects like Lido, Frax, Liquity, cbETH, Rocket Pool, and Swell.
FundMyPitch lands £5.7m in funds to energise startup investment landscape
London-based FinTech firm, FundMyPitch (FMP), a prominent platform that forges connections between investors and investment-ready businesses in need of capital for venture initiation, has made remarkable strides in its maiden trading year by raising close to £6m for entrepreneurs on its platform.
In this recent round, FMP amassed a total of £5.7m. The fundraising witnessed the participation of several key financial institutions, venture capital firms, and startup incubators, attesting to FMP’s expanding prominence within the investment landscape.
FMP distinguishes itself by its pioneering video pitch model, facilitating entrepreneurs to craft impactful content that entices investors. In addition, the platform puts a special focus on early-stage business opportunities and refrains from charging any upfront fees, thereby indicating its inherent commitment to ensuring the successful finalisation of deals.
With the newly acquired funds, FMP is poised to further enhance its offerings. The platform leverages advanced AI algorithms and provides an intuitive user interface to construct a vibrant investor network. These improvements are expected to revolutionise the way startups and SMEs interact with investors.
Aktos obtains $4.4m to modernise the $20bn debt collection industry
Aktos, a trailblazer in the world of debt collections, has successfully procured a seed funding round of $4.4m.
The firm’s cutting-edge, cloud-based platform is swiftly gaining popularity amongst future-facing third-party debt collection agencies, making it a leader in the modernisation of the accounts receivable management (ARM) industry.
Aktos’s platform manages the entire accounts receivable management workflow for debt collectors. This includes managing consumer communications, compliance, payments, and invoicing. This comprehensive solution offers debt collectors a seamless experience, blending simplicity and ease of use with robust enterprise-grade features that cater to all sizes of agencies.
Aktos will deploy the new funds to amplify its mission and accelerate its growth, essentially reshaping the landscape for debt collection agencies. By addressing the issues faced by these agencies, such as archaic software systems and inefficient communication methods, Aktos is poised to revolutionise the debt collection process and mitigate the need for costly administrative staff.
Liquid investments platform Earn Network hauls in $2.7m seed round
Announced today, Earn Network, a community-driven marketplace for liquid investments, has successfully concluded its seed funding round.
Earn Network’s central mission is to bridge the gap between traditional investment platforms and the largely untapped potential of the DeFi ecosystem. The platform claims that its accessible and straightforward interface, coupled with its decentralised structure, allows investors to leverage secure and audited templates to create customised financial products, thereby bypassing hidden fees, middlemen, and tedious processes.
With the fresh injection of funds, Earn Network plans to diversify its product categories. Alongside the already developed DeFi Staking, the platform is set to add three more categories: Lending, Liquid Staking, and Native Restaking. The funds will also enable Earn Network to hire additional professionals to their team, grow their community, and establish relationships with more base layers and projects.
Other pertinent information includes Earn Network’s assertion that the traditional investment platforms’ inability to exploit the value arising from the DeFi ecosystem limits the global economy’s development. The platform argues that this scenario leaves billions of potential investment opportunities and economic growth untapped.
Access management start-up NineID secures $2.6m in seed funding
NineID, an innovative security technology firm, has successfully closed a seed funding round, raising an impressive total of $2.6m.
Operating at the crossroads of cyber and physical security, NineID provides modern access control solutions for organisations. The technology firm, spearheaded by founders Roy Jeunen and Frederik Keysers, offers a unique SaaS platform that centralises user identification, certificates, and training. It also provides on-site access management hardware, compatible with QR codes, smartphone scans or facial recognition, to help businesses enhance security and streamline operations.
NineID plans to utilise the fresh funding to accelerate international growth and further its research and development efforts. The investment will bolster the company’s presence in key markets, particularly after the recent opening of a New York office.
In an era where many organisations focus primarily on cybersecurity, NineID’s integrated solution addresses the often overlooked element of physical access management. This is particularly critical considering that badges, often used to grant access to company facilities, are frequently passed around, copied, or stolen, inadvertently creating potential security breaches.
Dutch AI firm Deeploy clinches €2.5m seed round
Deeploy, a Dutch company with a mission to make AI explainable, accountable, and trustworthy, has announced an impressive financial boost.
Deeploy is carving out a unique niche in the market by developing an ‘Explainable AI’ (XAI) platform. This software is designed to make Artificial Intelligence (AI) transparent and comprehensible for businesses, their customers, and regulators. By placing XAI at the heart of MLOps, Deeploy is striving to make machine learning deployments accountable.
Deeploy has detailed plans to utilise this new influx of funding to enhance its ‘Responsible AI’ platform. The focus will be on enabling high-impact AI models, thereby promoting responsible and transparent use of AI. It will also aid in the growth of the team to facilitate a European roll-out of the product.
The SI3 Fund, which is part of the Shaping Impact Group, sees this transparent and accountable approach to AI as a critical prerequisite for the socially responsible use of AI. This was clearly articulated by Pieter Oostlander, co-founder and partner of the Shaping Impact Group.
Shaping Impact Group co-founder and partner Pieter Oostlander said, “With the arrival of AI applications such as the latest version of ChatGPT, we see that the need for explainability and transparency is becoming increasingly loud in society. Because AI learns from human input, human biases can potentially be reproduced. If that happens, AI can increase inequality in society. Especially when victims are fobbed off with just the message: the computer says no.”
Dublin’s Mesh secures €1.55m seed funding to fortify email security for MSPs
Mesh, a Dublin-based company renowned as the world’s first purveyor of email security solutions made explicitly for Managed Service Providers (MSPs), announced the successful completion of its seed funding.
This funding feat was achieved through the instrumental participation of investors, most notably Elkstone, who led the round, and Enterprise Ireland, who backed it with considerable support. The infusion of €1.55m into Mesh’s capital structure marks a significant milestone in the company’s expansion journey.
At the heart of Mesh’s operation is the provision of comprehensive protection against a variety of email threats, including business email compromise, ransomware, and spear-phishing. Since its inception in 2020 by Brian Byrne, Ralph Casey, and Daimhin Kavanagh, Mesh has established a reputation as a proactive, carbon-neutral email security provider.
The newly secured funds will drive a host of growth initiatives for Mesh. It will enable the company to further refine its unique email security platform and scale its global presence. A large portion of the funding will facilitate the creation of 40 new jobs over the next four years. Furthermore, investments in critical areas such as research and development, talent acquisition, and market expansion will be empowered.
Maven steers £1.42m injection into eLearning specialist iAM Compliant
UK-based, iAM Compliant, which specialises in providing eLearning courses and a cloud-based compliance platform, has successfully secured a funding round.
iAM Compliant stands out in the edtech market with its unique bifurcated business model. One arm, iAM Learning, extends a comprehensive library of eLearning courses, covering topics from health and safety to mental health, while the other arm, iAM Compliant, offers a cloud-based software platform for estates and compliance management. Their primary focus is to service the education sector, granting schools access to its exclusive learning library to support their training requirements.
The fresh funds of £1.42m will be harnessed for several of iAM’s growth strategies. These include product development for their compliance software and eLearning library, and bolstering their sales and marketing departments.
iAM has displayed impressive financial growth since Maven’s initial investment in 2021, with annual recurring revenues quadrupling. This round builds upon the prior £1m investment made by Maven through NPIF Maven Equity Finance, another fund managed by Maven and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF).
Canadian startup Chexy seizes CAD1.3m in a pre-seed round
Chexy, described as Canada’s pioneer payments platform enabling tenants to garner rewards through regular on-time rent payments, has announced both its launch and a pre-seed funding round that has netted the company $1.3m CAD.
Chexy aims to modernise the process of rent payments, a domain that remains largely traditional and inefficient. As Canada faces a competitive rental market with soaring prices, particularly in metropolitan areas, Chexy aims to empower Canadian tenants in achieving their financial objectives.
It allows them to earn rewards through using their favourite credit cards for rent payments and secure additional cashback towards their rent from everyday spending with prominent household brands.
Additionally, Chexy’s forthcoming credit building offering, expected to be launched in the summer, is a significant asset for newcomers to Canada as it aids in building credit through rent payments, their most significant expense.
The raised capital will be put to use by Chexy to expand its team with a view to delivering this lucrative programme to more renters throughout Canada. The company’s vision is to turn this platform into a tool for all Canadians to facilitate digital rent payments while simultaneously earning rewards and bolstering their credit score.
Portal Gate secures $1.1m to boost privacy in DeFi
Portal Gate, a compliant and privacy-centric infrastructure developer, has successfully closed a funding round of $1.1m.
This milestone marks a significant win for the firm that aims to revolutionise privacy in the DeFi landscape.
Portal Gate operates in the realm of decentralised finance (DeFi), offering robust and privacy-centric infrastructure solutions. The firm is renowned for its privacy pools that conceal links between wallets, and its primary product – a decentralized dark pool. The latter facilitates users with the ability to execute on-chain transactions with hidden prices and order sizes. As the Web3 landscape migrates towards a more regulated environment, Portal Gate is harnessing zero-knowledge based compliance oracles to support both off-chain and on-chain permissioning.
With the influx of fresh capital, Portal Gate intends to expand its core team, initiate privacy pools on the mainnet, and fast-track the development of the decentralized dark pool. The investment will pave the way for a new era of privacy in DeFi, enabling more efficient on-chain trading for institutions.
Portal Gate’s core contributors, including digital assets’ long-term builders and investors from as early as 2016-2017, bring a wealth of experience to the table. Their dark pool core developers are credited as the founders of a leading Web3 cross-chain protocol that managed a Total Value Locked (TVL) of over $1bn without any security breaches.
TransBnk bags $1m from 8i Ventures-backed seed round
TransBnk has made a significant stride in its growth journey by successfully amassing $1m in seed funding.
The funding round was spearheaded by 8i Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund primarily focusing on Indian startups. Other key players that bolstered the round included Growthcap Ventures, Leadway Ventures LLP, and Growth Sense. In addition, a notable array of family offices, institutions, and angel investors contributed to this successful round.
The core objective of TransBnk is to address friction in the business-to-business (B2B) transactional sphere. With a cumulative experience exceeding 60 years, the team at TransBnk has developed an innovative technology stack which they aim to establish as the gold standard for frictionless B2B transactions. They have already secured strong partnerships in the private banking, non-banking financial company (NBFC), and FinTech sectors.
With the newly acquired funding, TransBnk plans to reinforce its product and technical teams, improve its technology stack, and diversify its product range. The company’s goal is to revolutionise the way specialised accounts and B2B payments are managed. These areas form the backbone of lending ecosystems, capital markets, supply chain finance, and treasury management.
GlobalBlock closes a $300,000 private placement in a hunt for new acquisitions
GlobalBlock Digital Asset Trading Limited, a publicly traded holding company which runs a European Union-based digital asset broker, has announced a successful closing of its non-brokered private placement.
GlobalBlock operates through its wholly-owned subsidiary, GlobalBlock Europe, UAB. It provides a personalised telephone brokerage service, an online trading platform and mobile app specialising in digital assets. However, following the disposition transaction, the company will not have any operating business. This situation necessitates the identification and, if successful, acquisition or combination with a new business.
The company plans to allocate the proceeds from this private placement towards its search for businesses to acquire or merge with, following the completion of its proposed disposition of its digital asset broker business. A portion of the funds will also be utilised for covering general and administrative expenses.
Egypt’s Agel raises substantial pre-seed funding
Agel, a pioneer in Egypt’s FinTech landscape, is the nation’s first and only provider of Sharia-compliant financial solutions.
Agel’s core objective is to transform traditional financial services and offer alternative, Sharia-compliant financing options to Egypt’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The company’s product portfolio includes digital, cashless, and customised financing products such as Murabaha, a cost-plus financing model that aligns with Islamic principles.
With the fresh capital, Agel plans to scale its operations, deepen its product capabilities, and extend its services to major cities across Egypt. Additionally, the company is poised to evolve into a licensed non-banking financial institution and accelerate advanced product development.
In its first operational year, Agel successfully penetrated the $15bn annual textiles industry in Egypt by establishing a vast suppliers’ network. The company’s innovative approach includes empowering merchants with needed financing to acquire goods and supplies on-credit from its network of suppliers.
Moving forward, Agel aims to diversify its offerings into other lucrative industries that contribute $85bn annually.
EDX Markets takes FinTech world by storm with successful funding round
EDX Markets, the pioneer in providing safe and compliant digital asset trading through trusted intermediaries, made headlines today with its launch and completion of a new investment round.
This FinTech firm has successfully secured new funding with the strategic participation of Miami International Holdings, DV Crypto, GTS, GSR Markets LTD, and HRT Technology. These firms join an impressive ensemble of founding investors, which includes Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital AssetsSM, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, and Virtu Financial.
EDX Markets operates as a unique digital asset marketplace, bridging the gap between traditional finance and the new world of cryptocurrency. As a trailblazer, it has become the crypto marketplace of choice for industry leaders.
EDX offers customers numerous benefits including liquidity, competitive quotes, and a unique, non-custodial model designed to mitigate conflicts of interest. The company currently trades Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
Cleareye.ai bags strategic investment from J.P. Morgan
Cleareye.ai, a pioneer in digital trade finance, recently declared a significant investment from J.P. Morgan’s Trade and Working Capital group. The fund is aimed at expanding Cleareye.ai’s digital reach in the trade finance industry.
The ClearTrade Platform, Cleareye.ai’s innovative solution, is transforming the landscape of trade finance. By smartly interpreting data and documents, it identifies trade-based money laundering (TBML) and sanctions red-flags, thereby streamlining complex manual verification procedures. Equipped with a high-tech document digitisation engine, it has the capability to extract, validate and appropriately categorise unstructured data.
Accenture fuels Latin American FinTech, Parfin, with significant investment
Accenture, a global professional services company, has confirmed its strategic investment in Parfin, a leading player in the provision of responsible and compliant Web3 infrastructure services to Latin America’s financial institutions.
Parfin, originally established in 2019 and operating out of London and Rio de Janeiro, stands as one of the chief digital asset custody and management tools providers in the region, making a substantial impact on the burgeoning FinTech sector in Latin America.
The exact figure of the investment remains undisclosed, but it’s clear Accenture views the move as significant, marking the first Accenture Ventures “Project Spotlight” investment in Latin America. Accenture Ventures is the strategic arm of Accenture, responsible for investing in and nurturing partnerships with innovative companies globally.
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