Rival suitors vie to buy British FinTech Railsr
Happy Wednesday, fellow FinTech Fanatic!
We are halfway through the week and a lot has happened so far, with developments around crypto companies Genesis and Wyre.
Today’s main topic is about global Embedded Finance company Railsr, as Nigerian FinTech-rival Flutterwave and a consortium of existing Railsr shareholders are vying to buy the London-based FinTech.
Railsr, which was before known as Railsbank, being available for sale has been an open secret for a long time. It already discussed some strategic options with US investment banking firm FT Partners last November.
Although Railsr raised $46 million in a Series C funding round the month before, one of the options on the table back then was the possibility of a sale.
Now the rumours are becoming more and more concrete that a sale is imminent. According to sources familiar with the matter, Railsr is facing being sold amid new layoffs.
Reportedly, Railsr is currently fielding offers from potential buyers including Africa's largest payments technology company Flutterwave, which has attracted a multibillion dollar valuation. According to insiders there is “heavy competition for the asset”.
News of the rival offers for Railsr comes as expectations grow of a wave of consolidation in the FinTech sector.
So it won't be the last we hear about acquisitions in the FinTech-scene, as companies struggle to access enough standalone funding to survive.
For example, German neobank Ruuky, which has filed for insolvency after failing to raise fresh funds. Launched three years ago it has now fallen victim to, what it calls: ‘an ongoing drought in VC funding’.
Ruuky is now looking for a buyer and will keep accounts open as it winds down.
Well, there is more FinTech news, so please find some topics I have selected for you below??
BREAKING NEWS
Binance acknowledges past flaws in the management of its stablecoin’s reserves which at times led to more than $1 billion in missing collateral, according to one analysis. Link here
Metropolitan Bank heads for crypto exit. The bank announced the decision to exit the crypto-asset related vertical on Monday, citing recent developments in the crypto industry as one of the reasons for the move. Link here
NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Tulipshare calls on PayPal to end discriminatory account suspensions. Tulipshare’s proposal follows campaigns launched by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and a petition on Change.org asking PayPal to end its biased practices in account suspensions. Link here
Coinbase to slash 20% of workforce in second major round of job cuts. The exchange is cutting about a fifth of its workforce as it looks to preserve cash during the crypto market downturn. Link here
FTX NEWS
Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers are veterans of the Ghislaine Maxwell and ‘El Chapo’ cases and are up against hard-charging Justice Department lawyers who moved quickly to indict Mr. Bankman-Fried after FTX’s collapse. Link here
Check out "A guide to the KSA Open Banking Framework," by Lean Technologies. This guide is for anyone that would like to gain a better understanding of KSA Open Banking standard . Get the full report here
INSIGHTS?
There’s no arguing with the fact that Zelle is thriving. Read “P2P Payments: Fintech’s Vision Board,“ an enlightening article by Alex Johnson, which explains why and jumps through four different, wildly optimistic visions for P2P payments. Learn more
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FINTECH NEWS
Earned wage access firm wagely enables In-App bill payments. Employees of wagely’s partners can now top-up Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) electricity tokens and mobile phone balances. Link here
Alipay+ pushes QR code payments connectivity in order to provide cash-free and mobile-friendly travel experiences for all Asian tourists coming to mainland China for shopping or traveling. Link here
Yellow Card Financial unveils Yellow Pay, which will enable customers to instantly send and receive money through the Yellow Card crypto exchange platform, without any extra charges, with just a few taps on their phone. Link here
领英推荐
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
Greenlight reinvents financial education with Level Up? — a Gamified Financial Literacy Curriculum to empower kids and teens with knowledge, skills and money confidence for life. Link here
Starling Bank subsidiary Fleet Mortgages reports 58% rise in lending. Fleet Mortgages saw its 2022 lending jump by over 50 per cent with the total value reaching ￡1.2bn during the calendar year. Link here
BLOCKCHAIN
Hong Kong’s finance regulator calls for 'a more solid footing' for crypto – CoinDesk. The bureau is piloting a non-fungible token (NFT) offering – one of a few pilots the regulator is rolling out, along with tokenizing green bonds and a central bank digital currency (CDBC), the e-HKD. Link here
PARTNERSHIPS
Matrixport partners with Chainalysis to step up its compliance capabilities. Through this partnership, Matrixport will be able to monitor its cryptocurrency assets to detect patterns of high-risk activity and deeper due diligence into suspicious activities. Link here
Effi enters a strategic partnership with Soho.com.au. Working together, their shared goal is to empower every Soho user on their property journey with easy access to the best broker services. Link here
Grab has partnered with ZaloPay to add a cashless payment method in Vietnam to its portfolio. The digital wallet will be available for Grab Vietnam’s services including transportation as well as food, grocery, and parcel delivery. Link here
Santander moves into the B2B BNPL market. Allianz Trade, Santander Corporate and Investment Banking and Two have partnered to develop a new B2B BNPL package dedicated to large multinational corporates. Link here
M&As
TipRanks acquires The Fly for $15 million. The Israeli FinTech company, which analyzes financial big data to provide market research tools for retail investors, is acquiring a company for the first time since it was founded in 2012. Link here
Qonto to complete Penta integration by end-2023. “Germany was Qonto’s fastest growing market in both 2021 and 2022 and we’ll keep building on this momentum in 2023. The union of Qonto and Penta is a starting signal for a new era of consolidation in the European fintech industry,” said Qonto CEO. Link here
TX Ventures, the VC arm of TX Group, invests in Swiss FinTech Relio, which secures CHF 3 million in financing for the launch of a digital payment account for business customers. Link here
Gen Z FinTech Prograd has raised ￡2m ($2.5m) in seed investment. The funds will be used to expand the team’s marketing and development capabilities, improve its digital footprint, release an app and improve its algorithms products. Link here
Cryptiony raises €500k pre-seed funding. The new funding will enable Cryptiony to launch into the UK and to expand its development team to introduce new features, and new exchange and blockchain integrations. Link here
BNP Paribas invests in AccessFintech. BNP Paribas is the latest banking giant to invest in AccessFintech, joining a previously announced Series C funding round for the capital markets specialist which is working to improve the capital markets operating model through data and workflow collaboration. Link here
Saudi’s DAAL Ventures invests in Mexico’s Pulppo. DAAL has taken part in a $5 million seed funding round for the Mexican startup. The funds will support the company’s plans to grow its operations in Mexico and expand to other Latin American markets. Link here
Superscript nets ￡45m Series B. The firm plans to use the funds to develop its underwriting and broking capabilities, enhanced by machine learning, as well as to grow its range of dynamic insurance products and services for international distribution. Link here
Tap Global raises ￡3.1 million from Aquis Exchange listing. Tap aims to scale quickly by attracting new users from other platforms, with customers looking for a fully regulated solution to take custody of their crypto accounts. Link here
200% jump in funding for Scotland’s FinTech cluster. In the last 12 months, businesses have secured over 200% more investment compared to the previous year. The latest figures compiled by industry body FinTech Scotland also showed that the number of Scottish FinTech SMEs increased up to 13% during 2022. Link here
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Ex-Nordea exec Erik Zingmark joins Loomis Pay as CEO. Zingmark brings more than 25 years of banking experience to his new role. Link here
Zeller appoints Priya Kanniappan as new Head of Marketing. Kanniappan will lead Zeller’s growing marketing team across content, brand, web, CRM and performance marketing, to drive the growth of Zeller’s financial ecosystem. Link here
This ends Your Daily FinTech News. Let me know if there are any questions or comments. Until the next!
Regards,
Marcel van Oost