Early stage European FinTech deals this week include Praetura Ventures (BankiFi), Nauta Capital (trustshare), Anthemis Group (Balance Re) etc. We feature Q&As with Korbinian Spann of Insaas.ai 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.
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-questions-with-semih-kacan-of-swisscom-ventures/
Semih is among the investors who will be sharing her 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.eventbrite.com
7 Questions with Korbinian Spann of Insaas.ai
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself, both at work and leisure.
My name is Korbinian, I’m the founder and managing director of Insaas.ai. Our company and I are based in Munich, Germany. I have one son, live in the countryside and love sports like cycling, sailing, running and hiking. As Insaas.ai is a remote-first team, I´m used to working with my team every day via Zoom, Slack and Google. I love being an entrepreneur and work in a team on difficult problems. The understanding and processing of languages is my favorite topic since my studies (Arabic, Hebrew). I enjoy digital marketing and communication, as an expert and as a lecturer at Steinbeis SMI. I’m open minded, curious, and full of positive energy.
http://www.fintechforum.de/7-questions-with-korbinian-spann-of-insaas-ai/
Insaas.ai 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.eventbrite.com
Praetura Ventures and Greater Manchester Combined Authority invest £2.2M in BankiFi
Founded by Mark Hartley (CEO), BankiFi provides a technology platform that enables banks to provide a set of integrated services, including invoicing, payments, cash management and accounting, which are designed to help businesses reduce time spent on financial administration.
Praetura Ventures have been supporting SMEs since 2011, raising capital and investing in the early stages of business life cycles whose recent investments include Peak and Culture Shift.
bankifi-raises-2-2m-in-funding.html
Nauta Capital invests £2.3M in trustshare
Founded in 2020 by Nick Fulton (CEO and co-founder) and Joe Harlow (CTO and co-founder), trustshare provides a fintech building borderless escrow infrastructure that enables non-transactional marketplaces, online classified, B2B and tradesperson directories to offer escrow payments to their customers safely.
Nauta Capital is a pan-European Venture Capital firm investing in early stage technology companies whose recent investments include Treblle and airfocus.
https://www.finsmes.com/2021/09/trustshare-raises-2-3m-in-funding.html
Anthemis Group, with participation from Global Brain, Roland Berger Industries GmbH and Talabot Finance invest $10M in Balance Re
Led by two founders Lucian Rautu and Michel Gauer, Balance Re provides comprehensive reinsurance solutions to life insurance companies and pension funds to support capital management related to their retirement and savings products. Its technology and data-driven approach enables its clients to free up capital to finance their growth, support product repositioning and improve (or regain) competitive advantage.
Anthemis Group is a global venture firm investing in fintech and insurtech that cultivates change in the financial system whose recent investments include Joshin and Flat.mx.
https://www.finsmes.com/2021/08/balance-re-raises-10m-in-series-a-funding.html
BP Ventures invests $11.9M in in-car payments provider Ryd to support expansion
Ryd’s service allows users to lump together online payments for services like fuel purchases, EV charging and car washing via the startup’s app or integration with smart car systems. BP already offers digital payment options in the U.K. and the Netherlands through its BPme app. As part of its investment and partnership with Ryd, the legacy company hopes to expand its digital offerings as it learns from the startup’s secure and flexible digital payment options. Ryd will get the benefit of scaling its technology to BP customers across Europe.
BP Ventures is a venture capital firm that identifies and invests in private and high-growth technology companies whose recent investments include Cold Bore Technology and IoTecha.
Connected Capital and Iris Capital invest €12.2M in Dutch startup SurePay
David Jan Janse, CEO and CO-Founder of SurePay, said: “We are on a mission to protect both our clients and their customers against the growing threat of fraud worldwide, giving them the reassurance that their payments are going to the intended recipient also cross-border and multi-domestic.”
Based out of Amsterdam, Connected Capital is a Venture Capital & Private Equity firm that teams up with leading European B2B SaaS companies whose recent investments include Foleon and Brella.
https://siliconcanals.com/news/startups/dutch-startup-surepay-gets-12-2m/
BlackFin Capital Partners, Partech, Aglaé Ventures and RAISE Ventures invest €20M in Mooncard
Led by Tristan Leteurtre (CEO, ex-VLC, Anevia), Damien Metzger (CTO, ex-Prestashop) and Pierre-Yves Roizot (CFO, ex-Vente-Privée), Mooncard is a leader in smart corporate cards. The Mooncard card can be used to pay for any corporate expense (business expenses, online purchases, subscriptions) and to automate the administrative management (pre-filling of data, storage of receipts, accounting treatment).
BlackFin Capital Partners is a fully independent private equity and venture capital firm focusing on Financial Services whose recent investments include FINLEX and HAWK:AI.
https://www.finsmes.com/2021/09/mooncard-raises-e20m-in-funding.html
Vic.ai Raises $50M in Series B Funding
Led by Alexander Hagerup, CEO, Vic.ai provides an AI platform for autonomous accounting and financial intelligence, which adds artificial intelligence, computer vision and autonomous approval flows to a company’s back-office financial operations. The platform intelligently learns from historical data and existing processes to deliver what it calls an “Autopilot” for invoice processing and other functions.
The round, which brought total capital raised to date to $63m, was led by by ICONIQ Growth with participation from existing investors GGV Capital, Cowboy Ventures and Costanoa Ventures. In conjunction with the funding, Will Griffith, founding partner at ICONIQ Growth, joined Vic.ai’s board.
ICONIQ Growth is a tech-focused venture capital investment firm that partners with entrepreneurs whose recent investments include Monte Carlo and Reify Health.
https://www.finsmes.com/2021/09/vic-ai-raises-50m-in-series-b-funding.html
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-law.de
Opportunity Network https://www.opportunitynetwork.com/fintech-forum
Money2020 Europe https://europe.money2020.com
InsurTech Insights https://insurtechinsights.com
Finovate Europe https://informaconnect.com/finovateeurope/
FN FinTech 40 https://www.fnlondon.com