11th FinTech Forum is a wrap
With twelve startups pitches, a “journey to exit” by our alumnus Fairr.de, insights from leading VCs and a panel discussion if finance will become an add-on- here is the 11th FinTech Forum in tweets.
http://www.fintechforum.de/11th-fintech-forum-in-tweets/
7 Questions with Ben Shaw of InsurTech Hub Munich
This week we posted our 7 Questions to Ben Shaw, Director of Programs at the InsurTech Hub Munich. 1. Please tell us a bit about yourself, both at work and leisure. Difficult to separate the two: For work my team and I connect all dots needed to accelerate the insurance industry …
ImaurTech Hub Munich is currently accepting applications for its 2020 program (deadline 13th Dec. 2019). More information here: https://www.insurtech-munich.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ITHM_Innovation_Programme-3.pdf
Hastee Raises £208M in Funding
Hastee, a London, UK-based provider of a financial wellbeing solution that gives workers immediate access to their earned pay, raised £208m in funding.
The round was led by Umbra Capital with participation from IDC Ventures and others.
http://www.finsmes.com/2019/12/hastee-raises-208m-in-funding.html
Capitolis Raises $40M in Series B Financing
Capitolis, a fintech company focused on innovating global capital markets, completed its Series B funding round of $40m.
The round, which brought total capital raised to date to $70m, was led by Spark Capital and SVB Capital with participation from existing investors Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital and S Capital. In conjunction with the funding, Jeremy Philips joined the Board on behalf of Spark Capital.
http://www.finsmes.com/2019/11/capitolis-raises-40m-in-series-b-financing.html
Cuvva Raises £15M in Funding
Cuvva, a London, UK-based insurance company that began as an app offering pay-as-you-drive motor insurance, raised £15m ($19m) in venture capital funding.
Backers included RTP Global, Breega and Digital Horizon, which have joined seed investors LocalGlobe, Techstars Ventures, Tekton and Seedcamp.
http://www.finsmes.com/2019/12/cuvva-raises-15m-in-funding.html
Uncapped Raises £10M in Funding
Uncapped, a London, UK-based revenue-based finance provider to growth businesses, raised £10m in funding. Backers included Global Founders Capital, White Star Capital and Seedcamp…Founded in 2019 by serial entrepreneur, Asher Ismail, and venture capital investor, Piotr Pisarz, Uncapped provides flexible growth finance to companies seeking an alternative to venture capital or traditional debt without credit checks, personal guarantees, warrants, equity, or interest.
http://www.finsmes.com/2019/12/uncapped-raises-10m-in-funding.html
Finland-based Fintech Firm Enfuce Raises €10 Million to Expand Operations Globally
Enfuce, one of the largest Fintech firms in Finland, has raised €10 million (appr. $11 million) via an investment round led by Maki.vc. The round included venture debt from Nordea, LähiTapiola, and Finnvera…Established in 2016 by Denise Johansson (CEO and co-founder) and Monika Liikamaa (co-founder), Espoo-headquartered Enfuce provides payment and open banking services to traditional banks, Fintech firms, financial services providers, and various merchants.
buguroo raises $11M in Series A Funding
buguroo, a Madrid, Spain-based cybersecurity company, raised $11m in Series A funding. The round was led by Ten Eleven Ventures and Seaya Ventures, with participation from existing investors Inveready Technology Investment Group and Conexo Ventures. In conjunction with the funding, Alex Doll and Paul Ayers from Ten Eleven Ventures and Beatriz Gonzalez from Seaya Ventures will join buguroo’s board.
http://www.finsmes.com/2019/11/buguroo-raises-11m-in-series-a-funding.html
Fintech Startup Altruist Raises $8.5 Million
Venice-based financial technology startup Altruist Corp. raised an $8.5 million Series A round Nov. 25. The funds will be used to develop and launch the company’s flagship product, a fully integrated digital brokerage platform for financial advisers.
“Our mission is to make financial advice better, more affordable, and more accessible. To accomplish this, we need to modernize the tools available to financial (advisers),” Altruist Chief Executive Jason Wenk said in a statement.
Palo Alto-based venture capital outfit Venrock was the sole investor in this round.
https://labusinessjournal.com/news/2019/nov/25/fintech-startup-altruist-raises-8-million/
Sonect closes an oversubscribed Series A funding
A few days after receiving an accolade as the «Next Global Hot Thing», Sonect, the pioneer of Virtual ATMs, has announced the completion of an oversubscribed Series A round. Together, all existing investors have contributed CHF8.45 million.
Since its foundation in 2016, Sonect provides a location-based matchmaking platform that connects individuals that want to withdraw cash with those who want to deposit cash – typically, a local shop owner.
https://www.startupticker.ch/en/news/december-2019/sonect-closes-an-oversubscribed-series-a-funding
Acatus Raises €5.5M in Series A Funding
Acatus, a Berlin, Germany-based fintech company, completed a €5.5m Series A funding round. The round was led by DIP Capital and coparion with participation from Partech, Berliner Effektengesellschaft AG and Berliner Volksbank Ventures and business angels including Matthew Bosrock, formerly Global Head of Developing Markets and Franchise Development at S&P Global Ratings.
http://www.finsmes.com/2019/11/acatus-raises-e5-5m-in-series-a-funding.html
Bokio, the Swedish startup simplifying accountancy with AI, raises €4 million round led by Creandum
Bokio, the Swedish based startup which utilises artificial intelligence to simplify bookkeeping for small businesses, sole traders, and freelancers, has raised €4 million. Led by Creandum (early backers of Spotify), with participation from European financial group Svea, and an individual investment from Chris Adelsbach, Managing Director of Techstars, the funding will enable Bokio to scale its business in the UK where it launched earlier in 2019, and to further develop its AI-based bookkeeping tool with the implementation of more add-on services.
Berlin-based proptech realxdata raises Series A from SIGNA Innovations and Ventech
realxdata, the German provider of AI- and smart-data-enabled real estate and portfolio analysis, has raised a Series A round in the single-digit millions (€). The round was led by SIGNA Innovations, the venture capital arm of the SIGNA Group, with participation from Ventech.
StudentFinance.com, founded by the team behind Uniplaces, raises €1.15 million to reshape education financing using AI technology
StudentFinance, a Fintech company created by the founders of Uniplaces, has today announced it has closed a €1.15 million seed round of funding led by Seedcamp (investors in Revolut and TransferWise – two of the largest fintechs in Europe) and Mustard Seed Maze. StudentFinance was founded in 2019 in Madrid by the team behind Uniplaces, the largest student housing platform in Europe.
French fintech startup picks up €2.1M
Financial services startup Virgil has secured €2.1 million from investors including Alven Capital, LocalGlobe and Kima Ventures. The Parisian company offers young professionals the necessary deposit to become homeowners in the form of equity rather than a loan.
https://pitchbook.com/newsletter/french-fintech-startup-picks-up-21m
Moodwork, Parisian startup improving employee wellbeing, raises €2 million to conquer Europe
Moodwork, the French startup improving employee wellbeing, has completed a round of €2 million, led by Newfund, an investment fund specializing in seed. The funding will allow Moodwork to reach companies across the whole of Europe and tackle new sectors. Moodwork, founded in 2017, offers employees tools both on desktop and mobile that measure their quality of work life.
Datarade Raises €1M in Seed Funding
Datarade GmbH, a Berlin, Germany-based startup providing a platform to allow companies to source external data efficiently, raised €1m in seed funding.
Backers included High-Tech Gründerfonds.
http://www.finsmes.com/2019/11/datarade-raises-e1m-in-seed-funding.html
Fintech with Edinburgh base boosted by Norwegian bank deal
EedenBull, the fintech launching a tech hub in Edinburgh, has received a funding boost after partnering with a major Norwegian bank.
The digital banking services provider has secured an undisclosed investment from the Eika Group, one of the largest players in the Norwegian financial market, under an agreement which gives Eika’s member banks access to EedenBull’s payment services.
20 Startups pulled in half of the FinTech funding in Germany since 2012- Study by Comdirect & Barkow Consulting
Und: Von den insgesamt 4,7 Milliarden Euro, die seit 2012 von VCs in diese Fintechs investiert wurden, ging mit 2,3 Milliarden Euro fast die Hälfte an nur 20 Unternehmen. Abseits der Spitzengruppe verteilten sich die restlichen 2,4 Milliarden Euro auf 345 weitere Unternehmen.
https://financefwd.com/de/comdirect-barkow-studie-konsolidierung/
Why Silicon Valley Investors Are Bonkers For European Startups
…More money is flowing into European tech than ever, and it’s increasingly coming from venture capital’s elite U.S. firms. European startups are likely to receive a record $34.3 billion in investments this year, according to investment firm Atomico, with 19% of funding rounds including an American firm, double the portion when Atomico started tracking in 2015.
Portag3 Ventures closes $320 million second fund focused on fintech investment
Canadian venture capital firm Portag3 Ventures has closed a second fund focused on investing in fintech startups, with final commitments from institutional and strategic LPs totally $427 million CAD (around $320 million USD). The fund will focus on early-stage investments, and it’ll look to invest in companies globally, but with a particular focus on Canada, the U.S., Europe and some markets in the Asia-Pacific region.
Dutch VC firm Borski Fund raises €21 million fund to blow wind in the sails of female founders
Dutch investment firm Borski Fund has raised 21 million euros to invest in female-led startups, which it claims is the first such initiative to stimulate women entrepreneurship in The Netherlands.
The three leading Dutch banks – ABN Amro, ING and Rabobank – have all committed to the fund, which is named after banker extraordinaire Johanna Borski, investing €5 million each. Other backers include Van Lanschot, family offices and “a large number of informal investors” which were not named.
https://tech.eu/brief/borski-fund-raise/
How is the VC Asset Class Doing?
One of my more popular posts in recent years was a long write-up on how VC’s get measured. It occurred to me that about 2 years has transpired since that original post and I thought I’d write a follow-up. At the time, I spent most of my time describing the metrics themselves and how VCs and their LPs evaluate performance based on these measurements. This time, I’ll spend a bit more time thinking through the benchmarks to get a sense for how the VC business is doing.
https://nextviewventures.com/blog/how-is-the-vc-asset-class-doing/