Is there more consternation for the Australian BNPL sector ahead?
Terrific Thursday FinTech Fanatic,
Today I’ll kick off this newsletter with some funding news from up North, as 3 Danish startups raised fresh capital.
The biggest amount is for Copenhagen-based Growblocks, who has just secured a whopping $6 million in seed funding during a round led by Project A Ventures.
Another FinTech from Copenhagen, Uniify, raised €3M to disrupt customer onboarding for financial services. Worth mentioning is the Danish FinTech startup has managed to go from being completely bootstrapped to raising fresh funds from business angels and VCs.
Last but not least, Aarhus headquartered FinTech Mazepay has raised €4m in growth funding. The new investment will allow the Danish platform, which aims to simplify procurement and B2B payments, to expand across Europe.
Congrats to all the companies and their teams for attracting some new money, and keep the FinTech scene rollin’.
Yet again, I would like to highlight a podcast-episode, as my friend Brad Kelly, Payments expert & consultant at Payment Services Group, attended the Australian finance podcast Money News earlier this week.
In an interesting conversation he discussed Openpay shutting its doors, something we mentioned in this newsletter earlier, and how a woeful 2022 for BNPL could signal more consternation in the sector.
Let me know in the comments below??
And now on to the news:
NEWS HIGHLIGHT
The Bank Of London extends Series C by $40m, successfully maintaining a flat $1.1bn valuation, despite market turmoil. The bank said it had maintained that valuation with an "oversubscribed" Series C extension.
How to avoid building another legacy bank. Tuum has partnered with a leading FinTech industry expert to create this whitepaper that shows how to achieve sustainable transformation in banking and ensure that tech stacks are future-proof.?
INSIGHTS
Introducing the new Current. ?The Current’s rebrand introduced a new symbol that represents the shift the company wants to make in its members' lives, and updated its color palette, logo, and app. The new app has a cleaner and more sophisticated design and provides the same services as before.
Klarna adds Paris Hilton to its celeb roster with new campaign. Hilton has taken Snoop Dogg’s original “Get Smooth” campaign with Klarna, added her own spin, combined her catchphrase “That’s hot” and ended up with “That’s smoooth.”
India halts PayU's LazyPay and Kissht apps in new crackdown. The LazyPay website has been blocked by several internet service providers in the country. A message on the website says the action was taken in compliance with the IT Ministry’s order.
UN says North Korea stole record amount of crypto in 2022. A confidential UN report says that North Korea targeted the networks of foreign aerospace and defense companies. The report claims they used “increasingly sophisticated cyber techniques both to gain access to digital networks involved in cyber finance, and to steal information of potential value, including to its weapons programmes.”
The Rise of Crypto Hubs: Which cities are leading the way in cryptocurrency adoption? The benefits offered by crypto, such as low ownership cost, anonymity and safe and fast transactions, are all factors influencing the rise of the digital asset in global markets.
PODCAST
Miguel Armaza sits down with fintech legend, Peter Hazlehurst, CEO/Co-Founder of Synctera. In this episode they talk about the future of banking as a service & lessons from 30 years of building FinTech & tech companies. Listen here
SPONSORED CONTENT
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FINTECH NEWS
Visa rolls out new offers for small businesses. With Visa SavingsEdge, eligible Visa Small Business cardholders can unlock automatic savings and discounts on business-related services and goods through their card issuer. Link here
MTN Nigeria’s FinTech subscribers surge 58% in one year. The number of active fintech subscribers on the MTN Nigeria network rose by 57.5 percent to 14.9 million for its full financial year which ended on December 31, 2022.?
Gambia gives approval to Zeepay. This marks another significant milestone, as it continues to disrupt the traditional financial services sector and bring innovative and accessible financial solutions to Africa.?
领英推荐
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
Nigerian digital bank Umba launches operations in Kenya. The startup aims to make it easier for consumers and SMEs to interact with banks and mobile money networks. Users get a no-fee current account, low-cost payments, billpay and loans.
SMBC to launch all-in-one card. The card will combine a Sumitomo Mitsui Banking account, credit, debit, and point payments. Set to be launched in March 2023. Link here
Hitpay granted payment license in the Philippines. The company has also submitted a major payment institution license application to the MAS and is working closely with key institutional partners across the globe.?
BLOCKCHAIN
Gemini and Genesis reach $100 million agreement over Earn Program. Gemini Earn users are a step closer to recovering their money with an agreement announced between US cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, Genesis Global Capital, LLC (Genesis), and Digital Currency Group.
M&As
PicPay has just acquired BX Blue. PicPay will bring into its financial platform a product that it did not have and now it will be able to scale the business by connecting with its base of 30 million active customers. Link here
PARTNERSHIPS
Companjon and European challenger bank bunq join forces. The strategic partnership brings bunq users in European markets an end-to-end embedded insurance solution that automatically compensates for financial loss incurred.
Emirates Islamic, Plug and Play Abu Dhabi accelerate FinTech innovation in the UAE. The campaign is a call to action for Islamic fintechs and financial startups with propositions that can enhance customer journeys across SME financing, trade finance, and financial wellbeing.?
Capital Bank and Ryalize announce partnership. The partnership will enable Capital Bank to provide a one-of-a-kind financial wellness solution, Earned Wage Access, to the bank's corporate clients.
FinTech Meetup?in Vegas is just around the corner and I will start and close it with a bang. Join me and let's do this together! ??Sign up here!
Wisor AI secures $8 million in seed funding. The funding will expedite it’s mission to digitize the global supply chain industry and empower freight forwarders to plan, price and book a shipment in seconds instead of hours or days.
CrediLinq banks fresh capital for global expansion. The company will use the fresh funds to enter the global embedded finance market, which it expects to hit US$248.8 billion by 2032.?
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Seba Bank names Amy Yu as APAC CEO. Yu has over fifteen years of experience in financial services spanning capital markets, trading ecosystems and liquidity provision. Link here
Looking to work with me in any of the following areas?
Cheers,
Marcel van Oost
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