Secondary is the new primary - TWIF UK & Europe (17/02)
Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,
Please find another week of fintech news, financings and exits below.
Tweet of the week ????
Funding ??
Highlights below of deals since the last post in the fintech space across the UK & Europe. Deal data powered by Dealroom.co .
???? Cross-border payments solution Rapyd is in talks to raise $300m from investors to fund an acquisition spree.
???? Accounting and finance services provider Integral Development Corp. raised a €6.3m round led by General Catalyst and Cherry Ventures and included Puzzle Ventures .
???? Bank digital ID solution OneID? raised $20m from ACF Investors .
???? Investor communication platform Proxymity raised $26m from 花旗 , 法国巴黎银行 , Clearstream , 美国道富银行 , BNY , J.P. 摩根 and Computershare .
?? Stripe is also planning a secondary share sale that would value the company at $85bn.
?? Fraud platform Sardine raised a $70m Series C led by Activant Capital .
?? UAE BNPL provider Tabby raised a $160m Series E.
?? US card issuer Zeta raised a $50m round from Optum Ventures .
?? Trucking insurtech @Heavy Definition Vehicle Insurance raised a $40m round from Munich Re Ventures , 8VC , Autotech Ventures and Weatherford Capital .
?? TaxGPT raised a $4.6m seed round from investors.
Challenger Banking ??
???? Revolut has expanded its services for Ukrainian customers. It also expanded its instalment payment options in Spain.
???? Credit card Yonder has enabled customers to "top up" their cards for more debit-style spending whilst still earning rewards.
???? Cross-border payment service Wise is closing its Tampa Florida office and laying off 300 employees.
Digital Assets ?
???? Bitpanda was granted FCA approval to expand its UK products to include staking, savings plans and crypto indices.
?? Crypto exchange Gemini is considering a 2025 IPO. It also received approval in Malta for an Investment Firm licence to offer perpetuals.
?? Digital asset custodian BitGo is considering a IPO in H2 2025.
?? The CFTC has announced a Crypto CEO Forum to discuss using digital assets for collateral.
?? Digital asset custody platform Taurus SA has integrated its platform with Solana Foundation .
?? Crypto exchange Coinbase is in talks to return to the Indian market. The company also posted Q4 revenue growth of 138% yoy and +185% increase in trading volume, surpassing estimates.
Traditional Banking ??
???? Lloyds Banking Group has partnered with financial knowledge app Doshi to launch a new app for students.
?? TD is selling its 10% stake in brokerage Charles Schwab .
Fintech Infrastructure ??
???? Open banking platform TrueLayer announced it has reached 10 million consumers using its services.
???? BaaS provider ClearBank signed SME credit card provider Capital on Tap as a customer to power the latter's new business savings accounts.
?? US transaction enrichment provider Spade is partnering with Stripe for real-time merchant intelligence.
Payments ??
???? Klarna is targeting a US IPO in April. It also signed an agreement with J.P. 摩根 to become a payment option for the banks payment processing customers.
???? Nordic payment reconciliation firm Storebuddy was acquired by accounting fintech Ageras .
???? Payment solution provider GoCardless has chosen Form3 , a payment technology provider, to provide payment connectivity in the UK to Bacs.
???? PSP Checkout.com has signed marketplace Vinted as a customer.
???? Cross-border payment platform Zepz is reportedly cutting 200 employees.
?? Affirm has signed FIS as a customer to power its pay-over-time capability to the latter's debit-issuing bank clients.
?? US P2P payment network Zelle? has surpassed $1 trillion in transactions.
Regulatory Corner ??
?? The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to halt its operations as it looks to slim down the agency.
?? Have a thought/question/comment about anything we covered? Start a discussion in the comments section below!
Longer reads/listens ??
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