The Weekly Europe newsletter powered by Marcel van Oost

??ANNOUNCEMENT

• The Financial Revolutionist Announces Strategic Partnership with Marcel van Oost

The Financial Revolutionist (The FR), a leading destination for fintech insights, analysis, and data, has entered into a strategic partnership with Marcel van Oost — a prominent fintech social media commentator, investor, and entrepreneur — and his popular “Connecting the dots in FinTech” newsletters.

The FR and Van Oost’s “Connecting the dots in FinTech” newsletters will share select coverage across audiences — offering a wider range of news to more than 130,000 combined global subscribers spanning the globe as well as and nearly 150,000 social media followers.

Dive into the details on this exciting news

?? NEWS HIGHLIGHT

• Fidesmo integrates to Mastercard’s Token Connect and partners with German neobank VIMpay

Fidesmo, a leader in providing secure and convenient contactless services, is proud to announce the successful completion of its integration between Fidesmo Pay and Mastercard’s Token Connect service, also known as MDES Token Connect.

This pioneering partnership sets the stage for a new level of security and convenience in digital payments and marks Fidesmo Pay as the first tokenization platform for passive wearables to successfully implement Mastercard’s latest innovation.

Read more.

?? ARTICLE

• Last week, Europe witnessed a financial fiesta with a whopping €182.5 million raised across 9 FinTech deals.

Read more.

?? PODCAST

• During the pandemic, Klarna became Europe's most valuable startup ($46B).

However, the market shifted, and Klarna's valuation dropped. In the most challenging month, the company faced a loss of $150 million.

Listen to the complete Podcast episode by Florian Rinke.

NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S?NEWS

?? FINTECH HIGHLIGHTS

?? 11:FS to launch fintech VC fund led by Fronted founder Jamie Campbell

?? Fintech heavynweight Kaspi.kz valued at $17.5 bln in tepid Nasdaq debut.

?? Revolut Denies Wrongdoing In Allianz Travel Insurance Deal.

?? Apple Offers to Open Mobile Payments to Third Parties Amid EU Antitrust Case.

FINTECH

Jabil partners with Revolut. In addition, Jabil’s payment expertise and overall design of high-performance hardware platforms and software-integration skills were leveraged in order for Revolut to move quickly.

Mangopay partners with Storfund to offer marketplaces an embedded cash flow solution for their sellers.

Wise hikes profit guidance as customers sending cash overseas surges again. Money transfer firm lifted its profit guidance for the year after another surge in the amount of customers.

Payhawk secures UK e-money licence and expands top team. The UK licence joins existing European EMI licence and was granted after the FCA conducted due diligence on the fintech’s.

Fintech VCs’ predictions for 2024. Fintech startups have been the standout category for the investment of VC dollars over this period with estimates that a quarter of all VC cash poured into startups goes to fintech.

PlugandPlay and Visa select 21 startups for accelerator programme. The program aims to foster diversity and inclusivity in the fintech sector by supporting and empowering diverse founders.

Qover enters ￡19bn UK motor insurance market. Driven by a vision of creating a global safety net through insurance announces the launch of its innovative motor insurance solution in the United Kingdom.

FinTech Wales welcomes Starling Bank as latest Partner. The leading digital bank aims to give people a fairer, smarter and more human alternative to the banks of the past.

Moneyhub and Vodafone expand partnership. The customers will be able to claim free access to the Moneyhub app (usually ￡14.99 annually), as part of the latest series of benefits.

PAYMENTS

Revolut Pay gives Aer Lingus customers a first-class checkout experience . Businesses build these into their checkout process, and while they protect online payments.

OPEN BANKING

Open Banking in the UK: Where are we after 6 years? Primarily impacting payments up until this point, the Open Banking mandate was intended to boost competition amongst service.

Open Banking Milestone in Central and Eastern Europe: Finqware Launches FinqPayments. Becomes the first company in the region to launch payment services based on Open Banking APIs

DIGITAL BANKING

Surge in Irish customers using Revolut to trade securities. The average male customer had higher levels of activity, Revolut said, and their portfolio was more than twice the size of the average female user at €1,650 compared with €612.

Plum launches ‘Spend Tracker’ feature to make budgeting easier. The feature, available to Ultra and Premium members, automatically categorises a user’s outgoings and shows them as a percentage of overall spending.

Revolut hires lobbyist in bid to end banking licence limbo. The financial technology firm is seeking a UK Government affairs manager for its team in London.

Perenna to offer green discount for customers who decarbonise their homes. The fintech, working in conjunction with Heatio and Energy Systems Catapult, has secured funding from the UK Government.

CRYPTO

Zero Hash joins United Bitcoin Companies Netherlands (VBNL). Zero Hash looks forward to bringing its experience of adhering to the highest standards with regulators in the U.S to the Netherlands community.

Gemini Secures French Crypto Registration, Continuing Global Expansion. We are delighted to announce that Gemini has been registered as a Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP).

DONEDEAL

Onboarding platform Detected raises ￡2m follow-on investment. Detected, a fintech onboarding startup, has raised $2.5m (￡2m) in a follow-on investment round from Thomson Reuters and Love Ventures.

Pliant concludes a successful 2023 with a €33 million Series A extension and €100 million debt facility. In addition, Pliant has secured €100 million in debt refinancing to solidify its financial position going into 2024.

Car finance fintech Carmoola raises $15.5 million. The new capital arrives as many existing lenders face the prospect of an FCA probe into the potential mis-selling of car finance.

Varengold Bank invests in Dutch BNPL firm Billink. The scale-up has also gained ground in the business market, where 20% companies of all companies registered.

Vertice gains $25 million in Series B. Vertice will use the capital to further fuel its pace of product innovation and accelerate its worldwide expansion.

M&As

Getsafe Acquires EQT-backed student loan platform deineStudienfinanzierung. This acquisition is a testament to Getsafe’s direct-to-consumer approach and the company’s focus on guiding young people.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Gigs hires ex-Adyen man Steven van Bommel as head of finance. Says van Bommel: “ Gigs has created a category of its own, making it one of the most exciting tech companies worldwide."

Ex Revolut/ActivTrades exec Lana Sinelnikova named UK Chief Compliance Officer at Kraken. FNG has learned that leading crypto exchange Kraken has named London based executive Lana Sinelnikova as the Chief Compliance Officer for its UK entity.