Early stage European FinTech deals this week include Cysero (4Securitas), Volta Ventures (Sprinque), Haerlem Capital (Peaks) etc. We feature Q&As with Gabriel Levie of Wequity, David Putts of Billon and Semih Kacan of Swisscom Ventures (who is among the investors on stage at the FinTech Forum 2021 on 18th Nov. in Frankfurt).
If you are an early stage startup in Europe building the next big thing in FinTech, reach out to Frank Schwab or Samarth Shekhar.
Q&A with David Putts, Chief Growth Officer, Billon
1. Tell us a bit about yourself and your company.
I am the Chief Growth Officer of Billon – the fintech scaleup which created the Unified Enterprise DLT System. What makes Billon special is that it saw weaknesses in the ability for blockchain protocols to handle the complexity of compliance. For this reason, Billon creates a new, eco-friendly layer 1 protocol which unifies fiat digital cash, documents and non-cash tokens into a single, high-performance distributed ledger (DLT). The system, designed for maximum throughput and low cost of maintenance, meets regulatory requirements and solves challenges for the wide adoption of blockchain technologies. As a result of this innovation, we are now moving past the early commercialisation stage, and we have over 20 clients.
Before joining Billon I was a challenger bank leader. I founded or ran two challenger banks, building them from scratch – Inteligo in Poland and Equa in Czechia – and I also became a payment expert with several years of experience in both Barclays and HSBC. The passion for challenging the status quo has always been in my blood, even during my early years as a consultant at McKinsey, so you could say that I have been fighting for change during my entire 30-year career.
http://www.fintechforum.de/qa-
7 Questions with Semih Kacan of Swisscom Ventures
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself, both at work and leisure
My name is Semih Kacan, and I am Investment Manager at Swisscom Ventures. I’ve joined Swisscom Ventures at the beginning of 2021 to strengthen the Fintech and Blockchain allocation in the portfolio. Prior to Swisscom Ventures I spent over 10 years in Strategy Consulting, Corporate Strategy, Business Development and Asset Management at Credit Suisse, BearingPoint and Haspa before I co-founded and successfully exited my venture in Zurich. I hold a Master Degree in Corporate Finance from Henley Business School.
I enjoy the time with friends and family and a cup of coffee on sunny days at the beautiful Zurich Lake but also like reading books and watching videos to educate myself about upcoming trends/technologies.
http://www.fintechforum.de/7-
Semih is among the investors who will be sharing his insights on “what’s next in European FinTech” at the FinTech Forum 2021 – 18th Nov. 2021 at the Airport Club, Frankfurt Airport /hybrid. Check out the agenda and register here: http://ftf2021.
7 Questions with Gabriel Levie of Wequity
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself, both at work and leisure.
I was born and raised in Belgium and was lucky to have a Dutch-speaking mother and French-speaking father, which means I speak both languages fluently. Before starting Wequity I completed my undergraduate studies in Economics and Philosophy in the UK. Since 2019 I have been back in Belgium.
With my cofounder Franck we launched Wequity in February 2021, and we have been working full time with a team of 5 people. On the side I run, climb, and play the piano.
7-questions-with-gabriel-
Wequity is among the startups selected to present at the FinTech Forum 2021 – 18th Nov. 2021 at the Airport Club, Frankfurt Airport/ hybrid. Check out the agenda and apply / register here: http://ftf2021.
Irish cybersecurity start-up 4Securitas has secured a €2m investment from an Italian venture capital firm called Cysero
Dublin-based 4Securitas was founded by Donal Kerr and Stefan Umit Uygur in 2017. Its flagship product is the Automated Cybersecurity Interactive Application (ACSIA), which is designed to “complement a traditional perimeter security model” and “stop cyberthreats at the pre-attack phase”.
The capital comes from Cysero, a €100m fund announced last year that specialises in cybersecurity, AI and robotics, operated by investment firm AVM Gestioni. The Cysero fund is a backer of RoboIT, the Italian technology transfer hub for robotics in Rome.
Founded in 2020, Cysero is a venture capital firm based in Italy. The firm prefers to invest in the humanoid robotics and cybersecurity solutions.
https://www.siliconrepublic.
Volta Ventures and other Investors invest €1.7M in Sprinque
Amsterdam-headquartered Sprinque, a checkout service provider, has reportedly secured €1.7 million in capital from Volta Ventures, Force Over Mass and several angel investors and payments industry professionals.
Established this year, Sprinque has created seamless digital checkout infrastructure in order to make business transactions as easy as ordering from a consumer shop online. Their software-as-a-service or SaaS solution requires just a single integration and provides several different options for businesses. These include pay with net 30-, 60-, and 90-day terms, split or installment payments, and pay on milestones services.
Volta Ventures is a venture capital firm that offers seed & early stage VC for internet & software companies in the Benelux whose recent investments include Ubuntoo and Kwarts.
Haerlem Capital and Rithmeester invest €5 million in Peaks
The Dutch investing platform Peaks has just received €5 million in growth capital from Haerlem Capital and Rithmeester. With the new capital, Peaks will to invest in its growth and product development to reach a broader target group in the Netherlands and Germany. To make this transaction possible, previous investors Rabobank Frontier Ventures (RFV) is selling its stake to Haerlem Capital & Rithmeester.
Peaks was founded in 2016 and launched in 2017 as a platform for first-time investors and millennials. Within four years, the platform had grown to include more than 130,000 active users in the Netherlands and Germany. Peaks stands out from its competitors by enabling its users to invest small amounts. Now, the company is ready to take the next step in its growth.
Haerlem Capital is a private holding firm, in the regulated financial tech sector.
https://www.eu-startups.com/
Partech invests $45 million in Billogram
Payments made a huge shift to digital platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic — purchasing moved online for many consumers and businesses, and a large proportion of those continuing to buy and sell in-person went cash-free. Today a startup that has been focusing on one specific aspect of payments — recurring billing — is announcing a round of funding to capitalize on that growth with expansion of its own. Billogram, which has built a platform for third parties to build and handle any kind of recurring payments (not one-off purchases), has closed a round of $45 million.
The funding is coming from a single investor, Partech, and will be used to help the Stockholm-based startup expand from its current base in Sweden to six more markets, Jonas Suijkerbuijk, Billogram’s CEO and founder, said in an interview, to cover more of Germany (where it’s already active now), Norway, Finland, Ireland, France, Spain and Italy.
Tiger Global and Baleen Capital invest $155M in Scalapay
The round, which brought the total amount raised to date to $203m, was led by Tiger Global, with participation from Baleen Capital and Woodson Capital, which joined existing investors Fasanara Capital and Ithaca Investments.
Founded in 2019 by Simone Mancini and Johnny Mitrevski, who were joined in the early stages by Raffaele Terrone, Daniele Tessari and Mirco Mattevi, Scalapay is an innovative payment solution for ecommerce merchants across the globe that allows customers to buy now and pay later, in three convenient installments, without interest.
Tiger Global Management is an investment firm that deploys capital globally in both public and private markets whose recent investments include strongDM and VERSATILE.
https://www.finsmes.com/2021/
THE PATRONS PROGRAM IS THE HIGH INTENSITY TRAINING FOR FINTECH AND INSURTECH STARTUPS. FREE. INVESTOR READY IN TWO DAYS.
The Patrons Program is the condensed Fintech Accelerator of the Sparkassen Finanzgruppe in cooperation with Silicon Pauli and the support of KfW.
In just two days we get you investor-ready – with the help of the best experts from UX, Business, Product, Brand. Afterwards you can pitch your startup in front of professional investors and decision makers of Sparkassen Finanzgruppe. The winning team will work out the possibility of a cooperation project in a co-op discovery with the Sparkassen Innovation Hub.
Early-stage startups from the fintech and insurtech sectors can participate.
The application period runs until the 26th of September 2021.
More information and the link to the application form at: https://innovationdays.
Money2020 Europe: 21-23 Sep. in Amsterdam
Radical change requires a radical catalyst. Fintech has a big journey to go on, and Money20/20 Europe is here to help you take the first big leap into the unknown. This is the only place where the whole community, from payments to banking to retail to regulation and beyond, comes together to make the decisions that shape the future.
This September, get ready for a reimagined Money20/20 Europe experience that puts you in the driving seat. The conversations that take place here will decide our collective trajectory.
Buy your pass: https://bit.ly/2TjdoEQ
Meet us at:
Money2020 Europe, 21-23 Sep. 2021, Amsterdam
South Summit, 5-7 Oct. 2021, Madrid
Web Summit, 1-4 Nov. 2021, Lisbon
FinTech Forum, 18 Nov. 2021, Frankfurt
Slush, 1-2 Dec. 2021, Helsinki
Meet Our Partners:
Heussen https://www.heussen-
Opportunity Network https://www.
Money2020 Europe https://europe.
InsurTech Insights https://
Finovate Europe https://informaconnect.
FN FinTech 40 https://www.fnlondon.com