UAE-based blockchain payment startup PYPL raises $11 million 

One of the region’s fastest-growing FinTechs, Pyypl (pronounced “People”), announces it has closed a US$ 11 million series A financing round with participation from a diverse group of international family offices and HNWI’s. The international blockchain technology-based company provides digital payments and financial services for smartphone users to carry out online transactions, without the need for a bank account or credit card.

Vitesse PSP secures $26 million in Series B funding 

Vitesse PSP, the global payment, liquidity, and treasury management platform, announced that it has raised $26 million in Series B funding led by Prime Ventures. The Series B funding also includes investments from Octopus Ventures, who lead the 2020 Series A funding round and are one of Europe’s largest and most active venture capital investors as well as Hannover Digital Investments, the corporate venture capital fund of HDI Group, one of Europe’s largest insurance companies. Additional participants include existing angel investors and industry heavyweights such as Ron Kalifa, OBE, former Worldpay CEO and author of the Kalifa Review, and Shane Happach, CEO of Mollie, the Dutch payments unicorn.

Brick raises $8.5 to build a single API layer for open finance in Southeast Asia

Brick has raised $8.5 million of funding in a Seed investment round led by prominent global venture capital investors Flourish Ventures and the global venture capital firm Antler. Other investors in the round include Trihill Capital, existing investors - Better Tomorrow Ventures and Rally Cap Ventures, and notable fintech operators including Sima Gandhi (Plaid, Creative Juice), Yan Wu (Bond), Brian Ma (Divvy Homes), Ooi Hsu Ken (Iterative), Amrish Rau (Pine Labs) and Andrea Baronchelli (Aspire) also participated. The fundraising supports Brick’s vision of powering the next generation of fintech companies with easy-to-implement, cost-effective and inclusive fintech infrastructure.

Newton completes $20 million Series B funding round

Newton Crypto, a low-cost cryptocurrency trading platform for Canadians, announced that it has completed a US$20 million (CAD$25 million) Series B funding round, led by the partners from DV Chain and with participation from CI Financial Corp., a global asset and wealth management firm, along with Singh Capital Partners, Anthony Pompliano, Tiny Capital and Snowdevil Capital (founded by Shopify co-founder Tobias Lütke).  This latest oversubscribed round brings Newton’s valuation to approximately US$200 million (CAD$253 million), reflecting the company’s growing customer base and market share.

Fintern secures £40 million to scale its credit technology and power fair finance across the UK and beyond

Fintern, the fast-growing UK credit technology platform, has secured £8 million of new capital in its latest funding round. The investment, which brings the Company’s total capital raised to £40 million and will help drive expansion plans, was led by Hambro Perks, an international investment firm focused on private investing. The investment round also included an equity investment from Fintern's primary debt provider, Varengold Bank, and other high-net-worth individuals. Osborne Clarke LLP advised Fintern on the fundraising. The proceeds from the investment will be used to bolster Fintern’s presence in the UK, build out its team and launch its first B2B partnerships.

Tonik raises $131 million Series B led by Mizuho Bank

Tonik Financial Pte Ltd, the parent company of Tonik Digital Bank in the Philippines, announced that it closed a US$131M round of Series B equity funding. The round was led by Mizuho Bank, which is one of the largest Japanese banking groups and a Top 10 bank by assets in Asia Pacific region, active in the Philippines since 1981. Other significant new investors in the round included Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers Ventures), the co-founder of DST Partners Rahul Mehta, as well as a Singapore investment fund Sixteenth Street Capital and Indonesian family office Nuri Group.  

Investing app Infina closes $6 million in seed funding from Sequoia India’s Surge, Y Combinator, Saison Capital and more

Vietnam-focused retail investing app Infina announced they have closed US$6 million in seed funding from investors such as Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, Y Combinator, Saison Capital, Starling Ventures, Alpha JWC, and AppWorks. Additional investors who have backed Robinhood, Coinbase, and similar models in other markets also participated in the funding.

Infina joins the retail investing app revolution with companies like Ajaib in Indonesia, Groww in India, and Tiger in China that have enabled a new wave of avid retail investors around the world to access financial markets like never before. The Infina app is designed to make investing more accessible, easy, and safe for the young, tech-savvy Vietnamese who are looking to start their investing journey.

Gocardless joins Tech Unicorns as it secures $312 million to accelerate growth in open banking

GoCardless, a leading fintech in direct bank payment solutions, announced that it has secured a Series G funding round of USD312 million, making it the latest European and UK tech unicorn at a valuation of USD2.1 billion. The investment is led by Permira, which brings significant experience in backing best-in-class payments and financial software businesses including Klarna, Clearwater Analytics, and Carta. New investor BlackRock Private Equity Partners also joined the round. The funding will allow GoCardless to accelerate its growing footprint in the open banking space through both product and geographical expansion as it targets becoming the world’s leading network for direct bank payments.

Scotland’s leading impact investor launches £5 million fundraise

Scotland’s leading impact investor, SIS Ventures, is launching a second round of fundraising with the aim of attracting up to £5 million to scale up its support for Scotland’s high-impact potential early-stage businesses.SIS Ventures’ Impact First fund provides the opportunity for investors to make tax-efficient financial returns alongside impact returns by investing equity into Scotland-based businesses whose social and environmental impact is aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

SuperSeed launches £50 million fund to back early-stage technical founders who are creating the future of business

SuperSeed, a venture capital firm investing in the future of business automation, announces it has completed the first closing of its new fund at £31m, targeting a final close of £50m. The fund will invest between £500k and £1.5m into 30-35 UK-based startups, and those looking to use the UK as a springboard to the rest of the world. Europe continues to develop world-class technology and the European startup ecosystem has exploded over the last decade. However, far too often, European startups are outfought by their American counterparts and the venture ecosystem needs to do more to support them.

Alternative lender SME Capital closes funding round

British alternative lender SME Capital scooped a new investment from three family offices to expand its offering in the under-served lower middle market. The investors, from Mustard Kick, Hambleden Capital, and Karan Capital, will join the company’s board as part of the deal. The investment allows SME Capital to accelerate growth, fund new loans, and develop a new product which it will bring to market later this year. Currently writing tickets up to £6m, the firm is sector-agnostic and provides cash flow loans to the lower middle market, which has struggled in recent years to fund events like M&A, MBOs and MBIs due to the retrenchment of mainstream banks.