Sector Updates

Facebook Messenger introduced Venmo-like QR Codes and personalised payment links in a bid to enable person-to-person payments with Facebook Pay.

Australian compliance software specialist Castlepoint Systems has completed a $3m Series A funding round led by Main Sequence.

Solana has raised over $314m through a private sale of its native token SOL led by Andreessen Horowitz and Polychain Capital.

ComplySci, regulatory technology and compliance solutions provider for the financial services sector, landed a growth capital investment of $120m from private equity firm K1 Investment Management.

Swedish-based BNPL giant Klarna raised more than $639m in a new private fundraising round, led by Japan’s SoftBank, boosting its valuation to almost $46bn.

Digital risk protection services company GroupSense and cryptocurrency intelligence firm CipherTrace are teaming up to help businesses identify threat actors and groups and thwart ransomware attacks.

Virgin Money has partnered with New Zealand-based FinTech company 9Spokes to help support the development of the former’s business banking proposition.

Adverse media screening is a grey area. It is not particularly clear if it is a legal requirement, but some banks have been flagged for engaging with illicit people, which a simple adverse media search would have told the bank not to engage that person.

Finnish FinTech Enfuce has entered a collaboration with UK open banking firm Bud to bring the former’s carbon tracking engine to the UK market.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has unveiled a new strategy for driving FinTech development in Hong Kong.