Plum Raises £1m from Investors in Only 8 Hours of Crowdfunding

Smart money app Plum has secured £1m from investors in the first eight hours of its crowdfund, achieving its initial target. More than 3700 people have invested so far, from nationalities spanning the UK, Greece, Cyprus, France, Bulgaria, Belgium and Spain. Further share allocation has been made available and crowdfunding is still open to new investments for 5 more days.  

Astra Announced $10M Series A Led by FPV Ventures

Astra, a leading provider of instant card-to-card funding as a service in the U.S., announced a $10 million Series A funding round led by FPV Ventures, with participation from Slow Ventures and Allegis Capital, as well as a $30 million line of credit through CoVenture to support the company’s rapid expansion in the payments industry. In 2021 alone, the ACH network, which processes financial transactions nationally, transferred a total of $72.62 trillion according to Nacha.

Northstar Raises $24.4M to Expand Financial Wellness Benefit Platform

Financial wellness benefit platform for employees Northstar has raised $24.4 million in a funding round joined by PayPal Ventures and Thomson Reuters Ventures. GGV Capital led the round, with participation from Canvas Ventures, M13, Workday Ventures, Parade Ventures, Foundation Capital, Designer Fund, and RRE.Northstar's financial wellness programme combines tools and one-on-one financial counsellors to help employees use their compensation wisely.

NorthOne Announces $67 Million Series B Round

NorthOne announced it has raised $67 million in Series B funding. With participation from new and existing investors, NorthOne is poised to further expand the reach of its business banking and financial management platform across all sectors of the small business community. NorthOne is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by The Bancorp Bank, N.A., Member FDIC.

Crypto Investment Platform Pillow Attracts $18M Funding Round to Accelerate Adoption of Crypto Services in Emerging Markets

Democratised access to digital assets is key to getting emerging market investors on a level playing field, giving them the opportunity to take control of their finances and battle the dual challenges of inflation and the rising costs of living. Helping them on this journey, crypto investments platform Pillow is creating simple, transparent, accessible products including crypto investing, crypto savings, crypto payments and other financial services.

B2B Payments Mondu Raises €20 Million Debt Financing Round from VVRB

B2B payments company Mondu has raised a €20m debt investment round from German bank Vereinigte Volksbank Raiffeisenbank. This is the first loan to Mondu, granted to a Luxembourg-based SPV and collateralized. This SPV-set-up allows Mondu to swiftly scale and diversify its refinancing with external investors - both German and International. In parallel, as part of its growth plans, Mondu is expanding into the Netherlands this October.

Ayoconnect Increases 2022 Fundraise to $28M with $13M Series B Extension Backed by SIG Venture Capital and PayU

Ayoconnect, Southeast Asia's largest open finance platform, has closed a US$13 million B extension financing round led by SIG Venture Capital with participation from CE Innovation Capital and existing investor fintech PayU, the payments and Fintech business of Prosus, increasing its stake. A follow-on round to its oversubscribed Series B fundraise led by Tiger Global and closed in January 2022, the new funding will enable Ayoconnect to continue building out an exceptional leadership team, and to invest in product and technology development.

GoHenry Group Raises $55M in Growth Capital to Accelerate Global Expansion and Boost Financial Education for Young

GoHenry, the prepaid debit card and financial education app for kids and teens, has raised $55m in its latest growth capital round with investment from existing investors, Edison Partners and Revaia, alongside new capital from leading Italian paytech Nexi. Having more than doubled its revenue during the pandemic to $42M in 2021, the funding round follows GoHenry Group’s recent acquisition of Pixpay, the leader in teen banking in France and Spain, which marked the fintech pioneer’s first steps into Europe.

FlapKap Closes $3.6M Seed Round

FlapKap, the first tech-enabled revenue-based financing platform in the MENA region, revolutionising e-commerce growth, announced the close of its $3.6M seed round. The round included participation from Bolt by QED, Nclude, Outliers, and A15. This latest capital injection comes six months after the company’s pre-seed raise and coincides with the company recording significant milestones of a MoM growth of ~200% in amount of funding disbursed and number of serviced clients.

Payable Raises $6.1M to Modernise Business Payments

Payable, a payments operations platform for businesses, has raised $6.1 million in a funding round led by CRV and Earlybird. Founded by Checkout.com vets Daniel Yubi and Razvan Musca, Payable has built a platform that lets firms connect their banks and automate payments from initiation to reconciliation with a single API and dashboard.

Blackbullion Raises £2.5M to Support Student Financial Wellbeing

Blackbullion has raised £2.5m to improve student financial wellness. The latest fundraising round will scale the platform's growth, furthering Blackbullion's objective to simplify money for young people and connect them with scholarships and extra funds while they study. Calyx Venture Fund led the oversubscribed round with Lord Stanley Fink and MPA Education. Blackbullion is MPA's second fund's initial investment.

Fluro Secures £200M through BNP Paribas Partnership

Fluro, formerly Lending Works, has partnered with BNP Paribas to raise £200 million. Fluro, founded in 2014, has become an institutionally financed lender in the previous two years. This BNP Paribas facility will help Fluro to extend its balance sheet. Fluro is one of the UK's most inventive embedded lenders, offering unsecured personal loans to prime and near-prime consumers through price comparison sites.

Airwallex Sustains US$5.5B Valuation with US$100M Series E Extension

Airwallex, a leading global fintech platform, announced that it recently closed its Series E extension with the same US$5.5 billion valuation, and secured more funds from existing investors Square Peg, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, Lone Pine Capital, Hermitage Capital, 1835i Ventures and Tencent. HostPlus, an Australian industry superannuation fund, as well as a leading North American pension fund also participated in this round.