The number of new🦄 unicorn births slowed in Q2’22, although the pace was still greater than any quarter prior to 2021. Eighty-five more were added to the list over the course of the quarter, and they are all featured on our real-time unicorn tracker. Collectively, the world’s unicorns are worth $3.85T. CB Insights mapped all 1,170 global unicorn companies according to the primary markets in which they operate. Read the full article here.
What happened for European FinTech in the first semester of this rather chaotic year? 361 FinTechs raised money in H1 2022, equaling a total amount of €11.2bn. It’s slightly more than last year, with 333 fintech raising €11bn in H1 2021 and 324 raising €10.7 in H2. Average deal size is €33m, while median deal size equals €8.4m. In comparison, average deal size was €36.1m in H1 2021 and median deal size was €6.9m. Read the full BlackFin Tech article here.
GoCardless announced it has partnered with Xero, the global small business platform, to provide its Instant Bank Pay feature to Xero’s customers in the UK. Instant Bank Pay is a new open banking feature directly integrated into the GoCardless global payment platform. Link here.
Google Wallet starts rolling out worldwide. The Wallet, which is replacing the Google Pay app, will let users manage their payment cards, gift cards, rewards cards, as well as things such as event tickets, ID and more. It is being rolled out in 39 countries. In most it will replace Google Pay, although the two will both be available in the US and Singapore. Link here.
Crypto billionaire, owner of FTX, sees potential for deals in LatAm. US crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and CEO of FTX, has expressed an interest in opening markets in Latin America while advocating for more regulation for cryptocurrencies, considering that such a move could provide “more institutional confidence in the sector” despite the recent price slump. Link here.
BEE4 to launch Brazil’s first local marketplace of tokenized stocks in the next few weeks. The company plans to replicate the structure of a stock exchange and will allow Brazilian companies with annual revenue between $1.8 million and $55 million to make public offerings of up to $19 million. Link here.
FairPlay has raised $10 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Nyca Partners, with participation from Cross River Digital Ventures, Third Prime, Fin Capital, TTV, Nevcaut Ventures, Financial Venture Studio and Jonathan Weiner. FairPlay uses AI fairness techniques to reduce algorithmic bias in lending. Link here.
Conversational commerce startup charles has raised $20 million in Series A funding to help European sellers benefit from e-commerce in WhatsApp. Charles is an all-in-one, conversational-first operating system that promises to bring everything associated with e-commerce into WhatsApp and other chat apps. Link here.
Passionfruit has closed a seed round of $3.6m, in a round co-led by firstminute capital and Playfair, with participation from FJ Labs and Portfolio Ventures. It brings the total raised by the firm to $4.3m, after a $700k round last December. Link here.
Currensea has smashed its crowdfunding goals, surpassing its target in just two hours. The company closed the round after three weeks having raised more than £2m from 829 investors, £1.35m of which came in a matter of hours after the campaign went live on Seedrs. The money-saving travel card links to existing current accounts and sits on top of a high street bank account. Link here.
Arrenda just closed on $26.5 million in a pre-seed round of equity and debt led by Fasanara Capital and was joined by Kube Ventures, ODX, Toehold Ventures, Wharton Fintech, Lightspeed Venture Partners Scout Fund, PRMM Inmobiliaria and a group of angel investors. The Mexico City-based fintech company is offering digital financial services to the real estate market of Latin America. The funding round was a mix of $1.5 million in equity and $25 million in debt financing. Link here.
BNPL Zip to exit Singapore and deprioritize its crypto offering citing challenging market conditions. “Reflecting current market conditions, the Australian company has reviewed the goodwill against the Spotii, Twisto and Quadpay assets and is assessing the need to take an impairment charge,” the company said in a trading update. Link here.
Ablr is the latest company to join Malaysia’s BNPL landscape. Currently, the fintech company has already connected with over 30 brands in Malaysia and Singapore spanning over 250 merchant points. Link here.
Varo has laid off 75 employees as part of an effort, the neobank said, to move toward profitability. CEO Colin Walsh wrote in a blog post Tuesday that the company "must make some difficult decisions to ensure that Varo has sufficient capital to execute on our strategy and path to profitability." The cuts represent a little less than 10% of the company's staff, according to head count estimates on LinkedIn. Link here.
CWallet offers a multi-functional solution for MENA's Expats. Seeking to introduce a new money remittance and payment solution for unbanked and low-income expats in Qatar, Michael Javier launched CWallet, a fintech startup that enables users to receive their salaries on the platform, while also being able to conduct online and offline transactions, and ultimately, send money to other countries in a seamless fashion. Link here.
Iwocais increasing the maximum size of its flexible loan product up from £200,000 to £500,000. The increase is also informed by Iwoca’s experience being part of the government loan schemes for Covid, CBILS and RLS, both of which saw new and existing borrowers coming to Iwoca for higher-value loans. Link here.
FNZ acquired New Access, a specialized private banking technology firm primarily active in the markets of Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. These markets are key to serving and administering client wealth globally and will support FNZ in delivering on its promise to open up wealth and serve the US$240 trillion global wealth market. Link here
KwikPaisa launches in India, a new cross-border payments and digital banking platform. The company’s platform allows users to make instant and secure payments anywhere in the world. It includes a multi-currency account that enables users to hold and make payments in around 92 currencies. Link here.
Universo has selected Mambu, the SaaS cloud banking platform, to bring more accessible and modern financial services to the market. Mambu's composable approach enables Universo, a leading Portuguese financial services brand, to innovate fast and deploy quickly, strengthening its position as a leader in financial services in Portugal. Link here.
Union Bank of India launched a Metaverse Virtual Lounge & Open Banking Sandbox environment at an event held at Mumbai. Uni-verse, the Metaverse Virtual Lounge of the Bank, hosts Bank’s products information and Videos in the initial phase. Uni-verse will deliver a unique experience of Banking to the Customers who can roam around the Lounge. Link here.
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2yThanks Marcel van Oost for this coverage about KwikPaisa NEO Bank in your region. Already received Invitation from your region, Hope coming soon..