What shaped European FinTech in 2022?
Happy Friday FinTech Fanatic,
As we are just a couple of weeks away from starting 2023, we still can see some wrap-ups about last year. For instance on the European FinTech deals made in 2022.
Although the 35 mega deals, pacts above €100 million, being closed in 2022 is still 45% less compared to 2021, the average deal size remained stable for early-to-mid stage FinTech companies.
Overall the FinTech industry slowed down compared to 2021, which resulted in fewer deals and less money raised in 2022.
BlackFin Tech made an interesting summary of the Top 10 Deals in Europe for 2022, with a substantial representation of companies from the payments and banking tech scene.
While the numbers of the amount raised are still impressive, you have to keep in mind that the top 2 on this list both had massive corrections in (their internal) valuation in the last couple of months. Exciting to see where 2023 will take us.
Speaking about impressive numbers, India-based PhonePe has secured US$350 million from US-based growth equity fund General Atlantic at a pre-money valuation of US$12 billion.
With a user base of 400 million, PhonePe accounts for nearly 50% of UPI transactions in India, surpassing Google Pay and Paytm.
Other remarkable news is Brazil’s antitrust watchdog Cade has started an investigation into Apple Inc. for alleged abuse of a dominant position, according to Bloomberg.
The investigation followed a complaint filed by MercadoLibre, LatAm’s e-commerce and FinTech giant.
The complaint adds to a series of antitrust cases around the world, so it remains to be seen how this turns out.
Interesting to follow, but first let’s dive into the other FinTech news listed for you:
BREAKING NEWS
FNZ Group has agreed to acquire U.S.-based YieldX. The acquisition will further meet FNZ’s mission to deliver personalized investment solutions to more people across the wealth management industry, as well as to boost its presence and market-leading capabilities in the U.S., accelerating its mission to open up wealth.?
Check out the "CV VC Top 50 Report 2022", published in collaboration with Bank Frick.
INSIGHTS
Climate fintech funding reaches record high in 2022. Investors poured $2.9bn into climate fintech companies globally in 2022, a new CommerzVentures report has found. Check out the full analysis by Sifted.
Twitter may soon be implementing a new Coins feature powered by Stripe, which will allow users to send awards to other users that can be cashed out as fiat currency. It’s another example of the payment processor’s push into social commerce, and FXC Intelligence explores the reasons why.
CoinDesk taps bankers for potential sale. The company has retained investment bankers at Lazard Ltd to help it explore options including a partial or full sale, according to its chief executive officer.?
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FINTECH NEWS
Digital Dollar Project announced new hires to support the strategic growth of its policy research and experimentation teams. The project is actively engaging with private sector leaders, academia, and policymakers and gearing up for additional experimentation support.
Thailand's SEC has issued regulations requiring digital asset business operators that provide custody of clients’ digital assets to establish a digital wallet management system to accommodate efficient custody of digital assets and keys* and ensure safety of clients’ assets.
领英推è
Crypto platform Bitzlato charged with laundering more than $700 million of illicit money. Treasury Department also designates platform as a primary money-laundering concern, a rarely used sanction used mostly against banks.
Startup Salmon (FinTech Holdings Ltd) announced that it has launched its first offering in the Philippines which is a point-of-sale (POS) loan product. This will enable Filipinos to shop for a variety of home products while deferring payment for their purchases over several monthly installments.?
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
Nubank now allows customers to access their balance from other institutions in the app. The tool is still in the testing phase, and will initially be offered to 300,000 NuCommunity customers. The bank has also added two new cryptocurrencies to the Nubank Cripto experience; and announced additional credit cards for Roxinho, Ultravioleta and under-18
Thailand to Issue 3 Digital Banking Licenses Next Year. Find out all you need to know in this informative article.?
Aspiration Inc. announced that the company will be setting up offices at Abu Dhabi Global Markets under Abu Dhabi Investment Office Supported Program. The company aims to serve as a sustainability partner for the UAE ahead of the country hosting COP28, the UN’s annual climate change summit.
BLOCKCHAIN
Peter Thiel’s VC firm Founders Fund closed almost all of its eight-year bet on cryptocurrencies shortly before the market began to crash last year, generating about $1.8bn in returns. The firm sold out of the vast majority of its entire cryptocurrency portfolio by the end of March 2022, said one of the people close to the fund.?
PARTNERSHIPS
Grasshopper Bank and Ramp announced a partnership to provide Grasshopper's clients with access to Ramp's platform, including its virtual and physical corporate cards, on a referral basis to deliver a superior experience for the small- and mid-sized business economy.
PayJunction partners Plaid for A2A money transfers and deliver a better pay-by-bank experience. The partnership will allow B2B and B2C businesses to easily extend to their customers a simple way to pay for goods and services via direct bank transfer.
BillEase partners Alipay+ to offer BNPL payment option for Filipinos. This partnership is a major boost for financial inclusion in the Philippines and it will make financial services more accessible to millions of Filipinos and also global online merchants reaching wider and more diverse customers.?
Port?o 3 raises US$3.6M in seed funding. With the investment, one of the plans drawn by the company is to stamp its passport to other countries in Latin America.
Betterway raises €4 million in funding from Edenred to accelerate the development of sustainable corporate mobility. With the new funding, Betterway will be able to broaden its business by allowing employers a simple way to fund employees' electric vehicle charging or energy.
Fintech firm Arch starts crypto lending product, raises $2.75M. The capital will help expand the team and financial partnerships. Arch will also lend out some of the funds
Video-first financial literacy platform Beurzbyte raises ï¿¡2.2million in pre-seed funding from angel investors. The funding will be used to develop the Beurzbyte platform and to create in-house content across financial literacy and investment intelligence.
P2P lender PeopleFund raises US$20 million led by Bain Capital. The company said that it will use the new funds to further advance its AI-powered risk management and credit scoring system for its users.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
TripleA appoints Elodie Trichet as new COO. Elodie brings over 18 years of international online payments experience globally. Her diverse experience in FinTech has made her a leader with deep knowledge and understanding of digital payments, according to the company.
PrimaryBid has appointed Fiona Richards, who will join the executive team based in London, reporting to PrimaryBid’s CEO Anand Sambasivan, and assume responsibility for global business operations and strategic planning.
This ends Your Daily Fintech News. Let me know if there are any questions or comments. Until the next!
Regards,
Marcel van Oost