M-KOPA, a leading fintech platform, today announced it successfully closed over $250m in new debt and equity funding to expand its financial services offering to underbanked consumers across Sub-Saharan Africa. This marks one of the largest combined debt and equity raises in the African tech sector, enabling M-KOPA to continue its rapid growth.

Over $200m in sustainability-linked debt financing was led and arranged by Standard Bank Group, Africa’s largest bank and long-term strategic partner to M-KOPA. Other participating lenders include The International Finance Corporation (IFC), funds managed by Lion’s Head Global Partners, FMO: Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, British International Investment, Mirova SunFunder and Nithio. A further $55m in equity investment was backed by existing strategic investor Sumitomo Corporation, which is contributing $36.5m to the total raise and will engage closely with M-KOPA on new growth markets and products. Blue Haven Initiative, Lightrock, Broadscale Group and Latitude, the sister fund to Local Globe, also participated in the transaction.

M-KOPA fintech platform combines the power of digital micropayments with the Internet-of-Things (IoT) to provide customers with access to productive assets. In markets where individuals have limited pre-existing financial identities and conventional collateral, M-KOPA’s flexible credit model allows individuals to pay a small deposit and get instant access to everyday essentials, including smartphones, electric motorcycles and solar power systems, and then graduate to digital financial services such as loans and health insurance. M-KOPA’s solution embeds credit into the product through a smart digital connection, giving customers ownership instantly, which they can pay off through micro-instalments over time. The company has sold over 3 million of these products through a unique direct sales model that includes more than 10,000 agents.

M-KOPA’s operations started in East Africa and successfully expanded to Nigeria in 2021 and, more recently, Ghana. From 2020 to 2022, M-KOPA recorded a compound annual growth rate of 85% in new customer acquisition, and was recently recognised as one of Africa’s Fastest-Growing Top 100 companies by the Financial Times for two consecutive years, in 2022 and 2023. Today’s news coincides with the business reaching over 3 million customers and providing over $1 billion in cumulative credit for underbanked customers in Africa. The company continues to scale rapidly and is on track to acquire an additional million customers over the course of 2023.

With this new funding, the business aims to grow its smartphone services, expand its model to new markets and extend its financed product set. In line with M-KOPA and its partners’ longstanding commitment to creating a positive impact, the debt financing is structured to support sustainability-linked goals with pricing that is linked to the achievement of environmental and social targets. Lendable was appointed as the Borrowing Base and Sustainability Verification Agent for the debt transaction. M-KOPA will also use the financing to drive women’s financial inclusion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its East African markets by increasing smartphone ownership among women and further developing its electric mobility solutions offering, respectively.

Speaking on the round, Jesse Moore, M-KOPA CEO and Co-founder said, “At M-KOPA, we are working hard to create a positive environmental and social impact by systematically addressing the barriers to digital financial services. We have already unlocked $1bn in cumulative credit to over 3 million customers, and are proud of the thousands of local jobs we’ve created during tough economic times. As we continue to scale we remain committed to building a sustainable business and closing economic and digital gender gaps. We are delighted to have the support of new and existing investors who share our vision and mission”.

“Supporting M-KOPA is in line with our purpose of driving sustainable growth for Africa and her people. Financial inclusion not only enables economic growth, it also accelerates it. M-KOPA has, in a short time, managed to positively impact so many lives by enabling access to power and smartphone connectivity, which are a vital part of enabling the economic empowerment of all.” added Nick Riley, Corporate Financing Solutions at Standard Bank.

“As a strategic investor, we are very excited to accelerate business growth through collaborative efforts in business development. By leveraging each expertise and resource, we believe this partnership will have a positive impact on both the financial and telecommunications sectors, ultimately enriching the lives of people across the continent.” commented Masaki Nakajima, Senior Managing Executive Officer, General Manager, Media & Digital Business Unit at Sumitomo Corporation.

Fintech startup Lanistar has recently unveiled its latest feature, which allows customers the choice to customise their virtual payment card with one of Lanistars eight iconic colour schemes.

Throughout its marketing campaign, Lanistar has put its payment card in the spotlight. The multitude of colours, all accompanied by a holographic finish, have been seen in the hands of football stars and Instagram models alike, having exploded online due to Lanistars intense social media marketing campaign.

Now, these social media famous payment cards are available in digital form for customers of the Lanistar app, which has been growing in users steadily since its launch in Brazil back in November.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lanistar-ltd_lanistar-virtualcards-fintech-activity-7062687908540878851-8E-Z/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

In 2022, Lanistar made the choice of going fully digital, eliminating the physical plastic card.  This was a bold move, but is part of the fintechs commitment to sustainability, cutting out plastic use and factory emissions. Furthermore, Lanistar also partnered with OneTreePlanted.Org to plant trees in honour of their customers, and also work with partners in the crypto space for carbon offsetting solutions.

According to Thales, the amount of plastic used to produce banking cards annually is equivalent in weight to roughly 95 Boeing 747s planes, with the production of said cards producing a carbon footprint equal to 288,000 passengers flying from New York to Sydney. That's no small amount of emissions - and one that Lanistar does not want to contribute to.

“The financial industry is just as capable of reducing its carbon footprint as any other,” said Lanistar CEO Jeremy Baber. “Lanistar has just taken an extra step. So, we will focus on a digital solution - anything you could want to do is here on the app. There’s no need for us to make plastic cards, they damage the environment, and quite frankly, young people hardly use them - they’re more likely to have their phone in their hands than their wallet”.

The Lanistar virtual card is now available in the following eight colours: Ocean Spray, Bruised Ego, Blood Orange, Tutu Fluff, Queen-B Lemonade, Chopped Kale, Phantom Black, and Silver Lining.

Freedom Finance, one of the UK’s leading digital lending marketplaces, is delighted to announce that it has entered into a new partnership that will see it power Money Expert’s consumer credit proposition. 

It will provide its wide selection of secured and unsecured lending products to Money Expert customers from credit cards and personal loans to second-charge mortgages, all through Freedom Finance’s proprietary soft search technology. 

These products will be delivered through Freedom Finance’s proprietary matching technology which uses soft search technology and open banking to match consumers only to credit products that they are eligible for. The platform ensures consumers are able to shop around to find more products that suit their individual circumstances at the best rates available to them, improving their access to the credit market. 

Freedom Finance partners with over 100 of the UK’s leading lenders and service providers, making it one of the UK’s leading digital lending marketplaces.  

Money Expert was established in 2003 and is one of the UK’s leading comparison sites, working for customers to make sure they get the best deals on a wide range of financial products, from loans to car insurance.  

Michael Davidson, Chief Revenue Officer at Freedom Finance, commented: “Increasing access to the credit market and helping consumers find products that best suit their circumstances is core to Freedom  Finance’s mission. Being selected by Money Expert to power their consumer credit service will allow us to support even more borrowers through our innovative technology which gives them a great customer experience and drives positive lending outcomes. Money Expert has a long-standing track record in the  market and our values are well-aligned making this a perfect match.” 

Liz Hunter, Commercial Director at Money Expert, commented: “In uncertain economic times, the financial services industry has a responsibility to look after its customers, strengthen their finances and help to improve their confidence in the borrowing sector. Partnering with Freedom Finance will help us to achieve these objectives by ensuring consumers have the access and support they need to secure products that are right for their individual profile. With its seamless onboarding process, impressive  technology and industry-leading range of credit products Freedom Finance is best placed to support and  empower customers’ financial decision-making.” 

Commenting on her appointment, Priya says: “Joining Kani Payments at such a pivotal point in its dynamic growth journey is hugely exciting, and the opportunity to bring its outstanding services to more companies is tailor-made for me. I’m passionate about helping businesses to visualise all the ways that their data can be made to work harder and smarter to unlock growth. I can’t wait to show clients all the features and functionality of the platform, and how to access and filter all the data insights they need with as few clicks as possible.

 

“It’s so important to make complex data processes easy to understand, as often in-house teams might not be familiar with technical or transaction data terminology. That’s the beauty of the Kani Payments platform. By simplifying and standardising data from multiple sources, businesses can utilise its easy-to-use dashboard and customisable workflows to accelerate data reporting and reconciliation processes, save huge amounts of time and money, and free up in-house teams to create exceptional products and services for their end customers. I’m looking forward to building a range of demos that will showcase the power and flexibility of Kani’s platform, forging new client relationships and opening up new use cases for more companies.”

Aaron Holmes, founder and CEO of Kani Payments, says: “We’re thrilled to welcome Priya to Kani Payments - her hugely impressive track record and renowned skills in building client demos, identifying client needs and her intrinsic understanding of their data reporting and reconciliation challenges will be invaluable for us. Priya has a rare ability to speak in the client’s language, taking out complicated jargon to make the client’s onboarding process quick, smooth and hassle-free, something that’s increasingly important to us as we experience unprecedented demand for our services.

 

“Kani Payments has been built by fintech experts to do the heavy lifting of making complex data simple and standardised, helping growth-hungry fintechs to achieve effortless compliance with scheme and industry regulations, and generate smarter business intelligence insights that will fuel future growth.”

Banks are expected to increase their lending this year as the UK economy swerves the predicted and the housing markets shows small signs of some revival, according to a panel of leading economists.

Total loans in the UK are expected to rise 1.2 per cent this year, a net increase of £29bn, upgraded from a 0.1 per cent fall forecast in February, according to the EY ITEM Club UK Bank Lending Forecast. Falling inflation, lower-than-anticipated energy bills and a resilient jobs market mean UK GDP is expected to increase by 0.2 per cent in 2023 rather than contracting, driving an increase in consumer and business borrowing.

Responding to the forecast, Laimonas Noreika, founder of HeavyFinance said: “With the UK’s improved economic set to see bank lending surging, companies have a new opportunity to invest, grow and develop more sustainable business models. As the global race to increase low-carbon green investment continues, UK firms need to think again about the steps they can take to reduce C02 emissions.

“The wider industry needs to consider how to use external finance to further improve key areas like agriculture and farming, modernising processes as well as saving time and money,” he added.

Industry expert Sjuul van der Leeuw, CEO of Deployteq said: “With banks increasing access to finance, UK businesses will have the opportunity to access the funding they need to invest and grow the skills of their workforce. As confidence in the economy recovers, key to SMEs achieving rapid growth will be looking again at key tools like automation and effective marketing platforms to empower staff and win new customers.

“Ambitious businesses cannot afford to operate a ‘business as usual’ approach when it comes to important areas of development like marketing and new business. Turbocharging growth requires the latest technology platforms, enabling businesses to reach new customers and increase their market share.”

Net mortgage lending is now expected to grow 1.2 per cent in 2023, up from 0.4 per cent in the February Forecast, according to the EY forecast.

Anna Anthony, UK financial services managing partner at EY, said the UK is “still on the path to economic recovery” but we are “in a more optimistic place than we were a few months ago”.

“The recession that many thought was inevitable is now likely to be avoided and energy prices have fallen, boosting consumer and business sentiment,” she said. “Despite recent volatility in the global banking sector, the EY ITEM Club has been able to upgrade its growth forecasts for UK bank lending this year, which is positive news.”

The crisis rippling through the US banking sector has also so far had “limited impact on the UK’s highly capitalised lenders”, EY’s economists added, though they said risks to the downside are “present within the forecast”.

Simpl, India’s foremost merchant-first checkout platform, today announced a partnership with Zolvit (formerly Vakilsearch), India's largest legal services platform, to provide reliable and personalised legal solutions for the Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) merchants across the country. The partnership aims to provide a one-stop platform for legal, tax and compliance needs of D2C merchants and solves for a critical pain point, enabling them to focus on their core business. 

As D2C merchants work with a host of vendors across the value chain, they tend to invest a lot of time in compliances and approvals and the process is fraught with friction. With this partnership, merchants will receive a complete portfolio of Zolvit’s Legal, Tax and Compliance support along with a host of additional services at affordable rates, enabling them to bring more efficiencies in their businesses. 

According to the “Beyond E-commerce 3.0” report by Kalaari Capital, at least 50 million new users have been added to the Indian e-commerce platforms over the last two years as a result of the pandemic's rapid digitisation. Along with this, India is anticipated to have 1.1 billion internet users by 2025, with 30% of them engaging in online shopping. This opens up a huge opportunity for D2C merchants that are expected to generate $50 billion in sales by 2025 and therefore, becomes imperative to support them on multiple fronts including legal support, credit access, discoverability and seamless payments and Simpl aims to be at the forefront of enabling this change.

Speaking about the partnership, Nitya Sharma, Co-Founder and CEO of Simpl, said, "As a merchant focused organisation, we are committed to solving the critical pain points for them, given our nuanced understanding of the industry over the years. In this endeavour, we have instituted a ‘Booster Package’ which brings together services from allied sectors which are necessary for business growth. From credit to digital marketing and now legal and compliance services with Zolvit, we are enabling D2C merchants to focus on their offerings in a cost effective manner. We are excited about our partnership with Zolvit and aim to utilise our synergies in fulfilling the evolving requirements of D2C merchants across the country”. 

Simpl works with over 26,000 merchants across the country and is building a fledgling D2C ecosystem as part of its community efforts under its D2C Simplified initiative. As part of this initiative, Simpl’s Booster Package has been actively empowering the ecosystem by actively partnering with associated businesses.

“Our mission at Zolvit is to empower entrepreneurs and small businesses by providing them with personalised legal solutions. Partnering with Simpl is an excellent opportunity for us to expand our reach and help  D2C merchants across the country with their legal, tax, and compliance needs. By working together, we can create a seamless and reliable ecosystem that supports the growth of the D2C sector in India,” said Hrishikesh Datar - Founder and CEO, Zolvit. 

Over the last few years, Simpl has aggressively collaborated with a host of ecosystem partners to bring together services which solve for nuanced pain points of D2C merchants under the umbrella of Booster Package. This is part of its larger vision is to empower  the entire D2C ecosystem, from product discovery to checkout, by providing a comprehensive suite of tools and services that make it easier for D2C businesses.

Copper.co, a leading provider of institutional digital asset custody and collateral management, today announced the appointment Jim Turley as a Non-Executive Director and the appointment of Dr Stephen Strickland as Chief Compliance Officer. Both appointments are effective immediately.

Jim joins the Copper Board following three years as Executive Chairman of Fnality International, a bank consortium start-up which looked to produce a regulated digital payment leg for wholesale financial markets using blockchain technology.

Prior to Fnality, Jim enjoyed a prominent senior management career in financial services, primarily with Deutsche Bank where his roles included Global Chief Operating Officer for the Global Transaction Banking business, Global Head of Foreign Exchange and Commodities trading and Global Head of Institutional Client sales. Jim joins the Board alongside other board roles across the retail and charity sectors. 

Dr Strickland comes to Copper from Elements Digital where he was Chief Compliance Officer. His previous roles include the Global Anti-Money Laundering Officer/ Head of Financial Crime Compliance for Sotheby’s auction house, Head of Financial Crime Operations and Nominated Officer for Deutsche Bank Operations International and Head of Anti-Bribery & Corruption for Barclaycard.

Dr Strickland has worked globally with many central, regional and global banks, regulators, national FIU’s, anti-corruption bodies and public and private partnerships assisting them in building and enhancing their capability to combat economic crime locally. He is an accomplished public and academic speaker and has spoken at the House of Commons on the use of technology in combating fraud in economic crime.

These hires further bolster Copper’s senior executive leadership team following the recent appointments of Lord Phillip Hamond as Chair, Sam Goh as Chief Financial Officer and Stefano Maestri as Chief Technology Officer and John Willian as Advisor alongside the promotion of Mike Roberts to Global Head of Sales and the addition of Sascha Rangoonwala as Managing Director, EMEA.

Dmitry Tokarev, Chief Executive Officer, Copper, said: “I’m delighted to be welcoming Jim and Stephen as we move into an exciting phase in Copper’s journey. Both of them bring outstanding experience and wisdom to Copper and I look forward to working with them as we reinforce Copper’s position as a leader in the digital asset sector.”

Jim Turley, Non-Executive Director, Copper, said: “This is a truly exciting time for the digital assets sector as the world looks to adopt digital and blockchain technology to underpin financial markets. I have no doubt that Copper is well-positioned to seize the opportunities that will be presented as a result of the ongoing shifts in financial services, and I look forward to assisting the Company as it executes its strategy.”

Dr Stephen Strickland, Chief Compliance Director, Copper, said: “Throughout my career I have sought to implement the highest industry standards for compliance and anti-corruption. At such a critical time for the digital assets sector, I look forward to upholding best practices for digital assets institutional digital asset custody and trading solutions compliance at Copper.”

Capital.com, the high-growth global fintech for the leveraged trading industry has today announced that its Australian Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Laura Lin, has been named one of the Top 25 Leaders in Financial Technology by the Financial Technology Report 2023. Laura Lin was recognised for her proven ability to lead others, her expertise and overall impact on the fintech sector.

Laura Lin has been instrumental to Capital.com’s success since joining the company in 2021. Under her leadership, Capital.com’s Australian business has gone from strength to strength, contributing to the Group's overall growth. 

In 2022, Capital.com Australia reported a rise of over 1300% in client trading volumes. The upward trend has continued so far into 2023 with Capital.com Australia reporting a 53% rise in client trading volumes Q1 2023 compared to Q4 2022. Testament to its growth, Capital.com Australia has been ranked the fastest-growing leveraged trading broker in Australia, according to the 2022 Australia Leverage Trading Report released by Investment Trends.

“I am honoured to be named one of the Top 25 Female Leaders in Financial Technology by the Financial Technology Report and is testament to the hard work of the entire Capital.com team. This recognition coincides with a 87% growth in active traders and a 1300% rise in trading volumes during 2022, reflecting Capital.com’s growing reputation as a platform of choice among Australian retail traders,” said Laura Lin, CEO of Capital.com Australia.

Capital.com is an online trading platform on a mission to make trading accessible and intuitive. Powered by technology, it offers access to thousands of financial markets, including indices, commodities and stocks. The platform is known for its user-friendly interface and extensive trading and education tools, which helps traders of all levels to trade with confidence. 

corfinancial®, a leading provider of specialist software and services to the financial services sector, announces the implementation of its Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR) software, SureVu®, at Man Group, a global active investment management firm with $144.7 billion of AUM (as of 31^st March 2023).

SureVu® enables buy-side firms to manage failed trades and cash penalty fees, as defined by the Settlement Discipline Regime, in one single solution.

“We were impressed by the speed with which SureVu went into production. Within three months, we had 90% of our custodians and prime brokers on-boarded and expect to have 100% of these parties live by the end of April,” said Antonio Dos Santos, Head of London Investment Operations at Man Group. 

“One of the big drivers to implement SureVu was the changes introduced by the CSDR, but we also saw T+1 on the regulatory horizon and knew that we needed to be on the ‘front foot’ regarding failed trade management. With 15,000-20,000 allocations per day, we needed a clear picture of our pending trades,” explains Dos Santos. “With CSDR, it is important to have failed trade monitoring and cash penalties in the same solution.”

“SureVu helps firms stay in control and manage trade settlement along with high volumes of data associated with cash penalties, applying effective governance across the processes. Companies need a solution in place quickly, without major overheads in IT and operational staff. Man Group has noted the ease and speed with which our solution starts to add real benefits to the business,” said David Veal, Senior Executive at corfinancial. “Such efficiencies are critical when considering the operational pressures envisaged when T+1 goes live next year.”

Taranis Capital, An ethical, fintech-focused investment fund envisaged by its founding members, who each bring knowledge and experience suited to the objective of the business. Having a combined 50+ years of industry experience in fund management, Fintech and business strategy, has announced the formation of its Advisory Board as the company embarks on the next phase of its global launch.

The new Advisory Board will consist of internationally recognised leaders from diverse professional backgrounds and specialities, including banking, financial services, capital markets, and technology. The Advisory Board members will work closely with Taranis Capital’s leadership team to offer strategic help and advice that supports the ambitious investment goals.

The members of Taranis Capital’s Advisory Board include:

• Andrea Dunlop, Angel investor, M&A Expert, Regulatory professional, Cross boarder financial services

• Amjad Shacker, An innovative leader, Government advisor, Management professional, Strategist.

• Daniel Roubeni, International Trade, Financial Management, Early-Stage VC Investment

• David Birch, Digital financial services, One of the top 100 global Fintech influencers, Forbes contributor

• David Parker, Global all-round Fintech specialist, Ex Saatchi, Keynote presenter

• Derek Stewart, Founder of Paysme, Fintech super App, Ex BNY Mellon Fund $2 billion AUM, Financial Services 39 yrs.

• Jack Hollander, Capital Markets New York, Master of Law, Raised over $3 billion in alternative investment. 

• John W “Jack” Crook, Regulatory Compliance, NED, Government Compliance

• Mike Chambers, Chairman of answer pay, Pioneered the UK’s fastest payments scheme, Ex-CEO for BACS, Experienced NED/Advisor

Nicholas S. Bingham, founder and chief executive of Taranis Capital, said: “The formation of our Advisory Board is another significant step forward in Tarsnis Capital’s launch journey. I’m delighted that we have been able to attract such a diverse and inspirational group of business leaders. I look forward to drawing on their decades of collective expertise, which will be invaluable as Taranis continues to expand our operations on a global scale.”