We are back after a short skiing break (okay, just kidding!), so this week we catch up on two weeks of FinTech & InsurTech deals from Europe, as well as our recent “7 Questions…”- with Florian Heinemann of Project A, and Julian Mattes of Digital+ Partners.
We have been on the road almost all of the last 3 weeks, spending some quality time with our friends in France (Paris FinTech Forum) and the Netherlands (Holland FinTech launching their new FinTech network infographic and Startupbootcamp’s FinTech & Cybersecurity Demo Day).
Some other upcoming events we are looking forward to:
Global : 19-20 March, Frankfurt.InsurTech Roadshow
Global : 3-4 April, Istanbul.InsurTech Summit
Money2020 Europe: 3-5 June, Amsterdam.
But without much further ado, here are the European FinTech & InsurTech deals that dominated the headlines in the last two weeks!
Fintech (TradePlus24) Clinches $120 Million Funding
Tradeplus24, a two-year-old Zurich-based fintech, concluded a funding round in Switzerland in which it took in 120 million Swiss francs ($119.7 million), the company said in a statement on Friday. The start-up offers a cheaper solution for small- and mid-sized firms to insure their account receivables against default and raise a secured credit line.
Belgian data governance startup Collibra raises $100 million and joins unicorn club
Data governance technology startup Collibra has raised $100 million and joined the ranks of fellow tech unicorns. Founded in Belgium and now based in New York City, the company has raised a total of $233 million in venture capital. This latest round was led by CapitalG, Alphabet’s growth equity investment fund, and included money from previous investors Iconiq Capital, Index Ventures, Dawn Capital, and Battery Ventures.
Tink Completes €56M Funding Round
Tink, a Stockholm, Sweden-based open banking platform, completed a €56m funding round.
The round was led by Insight Venture Partners, with participation from Sunstone, SEB, Nordea Ventures and ABN AMRO Digital Impact Fund. They were joined by new investors Christian Clausen, former Chairman of the European Banking Federation, and Nikolay Storonsky, founder of Revolut.
http://www.finsmes.com/2019/02/tink-completes-e56m-funding-round.html
Swiss fintech startup Loanboox raises €20 million
Zurich-based startup Loanboox has landed a €20 million Series B funding round at a valuation of €110 million from several investors, including Deutsche Kreditbank AG and the LGT Group.
Loanboox has developed a platform for mediation of financing and investments for public corporations, banks, large companies and institutional investors. The company claims to have processed €17.5 billion in financing requests and boasts over 1,000 active customers.
https://tech.eu/brief/swiss-fintech-startup-loanboox-raises-e20-million/
Danish challenger bank Lunar Way gets €13 million to take over the Nordics
Copenhagen-based fintech app Lunar Way has raised €13 million in a round led by SEED Capital along with Greyhound Capital, Socii Capital and a number of individual investors. The funding comes shortly after the startup received licenses giving it the status of a payment institute.
7 Questions with Florian Heinemann, Project A
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself, both at work and leisure.
I’ve been involved in digital startups for 19 years, for a long time as an entrepreneur, later at Rocket Internet for 4.5 years as managing director. In 2012, I founded Project A. We are an operational VC. This means that we invest in early-stage startups across Europe and support them operationally with our 100 experts in areas such as Business Intelligence, Marketing, Sales & Customer Success, Software Engineering, and many more. At times short-term and on a project basis, at times over several months, with the aim of supporting our ventures with our expertise and transferring it, both operationally and strategically. Our main goal is to help our portfolio companies grow and generate sustainable value.
http://www.fintechforum.de/7-questions-with-florian-heinemann-project-a/
Insurtech Startup bsurance Raises €4M in Series A Financing
bsurance, a Vienna, Austria-based insurtech startup, raised €4m in Series A financing.
Backers included Uniqa Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Austria’s leading insurance group, and new investors.
http://www.finsmes.com/2019/01/insurtech-startup-bsurance-raises-e4m-in-series-a-financing.html
Fintech Capinside is collecting millions
Das Hamburger Fintech Capinside hat sich in einer Finanzierungsrunde etwa 3,3 Millionen Euro Eigenkapital bei Investoren besorgt. Mit dem Geld soll das hauseigene Vergleichsportal für Investmentprodukte weiterentwickelt werden, teilt das Start-up mit.
Swiss fintech raises $2m for blockchain project
Geneva based fintech Mt Pelerin has successfully closed its first stage of funding with 5% of its tokenised equity sold to the crowd.
On 16 October 2018, Mt Pelerin Group was incorporating 100% of its share-equity on the blockchain in the form of tokens. This achievement drew the attention of experts as it was the first time the shares of a company were incorporated into a token and made indissociable from it. Token holders could now be recognised as shareholders by Swiss law and not by contractual agreement.
https://www.investmenteurope.net/news/4000676/swiss-fintech-raises-usd-blockchain-project
Investment for Berlin-based FinTech Donut
Der Schweizer Kapitalgeber Redalpine investiert nach Informationen von deutsche-startups.de gemeinsam mit Business Angels wie Daniel Aegerter, Andreas Bodczek und Heiko Hubertz in das Berliner FinTech Donut. Die Jungfirma, die von Neel Popat, Jordan Abderrachid, Jordan Abderrachid, Dan Spooner und Julian Lehr gegründet wurde, will es jedem Menschen ermöglichen, Krypto-Investor zu werden – auch ohne technische Vorkenntnisse.
https://www.deutsche-startups.de/2019/02/05/dealmonitor-05-02-2019/
Vitruvian puts German fintech Smava up for sale
uyout group Vitruvian is putting German consumer credit online platform Smava up for sale, people close to the matter said.
The private equity firm has asked investment banks to pitch for roles in a potential sale or initial public offering of the fintech, which may fetch up to $500 million, the people said.
Big step for Verimi: BaFin grants ZAG license for acquisition and financial transfer business
Die Identitätsplattform Verimi (Website) arbeitet am Ausbau des Dienstes und erfüllt entscheidende regulatorische Anforderungen. Nun erteilte die BaFin dem Unternehmen die Erlaubnis, Dienstleistungen als Zahlungsinstitut nach dem ZAG zu erbringen. Damit können nun Nutzer die bei einer Bank hinterlegte Identität in die Plattform übertragen – das erleichtert das Onboarding erheblich.
https://www.it-finanzmagazin.de/verimi-bafin-erteilt-zag-lizenz-85254/
Hamburg Fintech brings ex-Bundesbanker on board
Andreas Dombret ist künftig als Senior Advisor für Deposit Solutions tätig. Den Betreiber einer internationalen Online-Plattform für Spareinlagen soll er bei der strategischen Geschäftsentwicklung beraten. Der Schwerpunkt liegt dabei auf die Internationalisierung und Geschäftsentwicklung.
Nets announces alliance with Przelewy24 to continue Polish expansion
Payments specialist Nets has announced a strategic alliance with Przelewy24, a Polish online payment service provider. Nets will attain a majority stake of 51% in the consolidated Polish group including Przelewy24and the recently acquired Dotpay/eCard. Piotr Kurczewski will continue as CEO and shareholder of Przelewy24, with 49% of the consolidated group. Andrzej Budzik will continue as CEO of Dotpay/eCard.
Start-up will Vorsorgekunden gewinnen
Flexibel und günstig: So wirbt das Berliner Start-up Vantik für sein Altersvorsorgeprodukt. Das besteht aus einem Dachfonds auf ETF-Basis, mit dem Ein- aber auch Auszahlungen möglich sind. Ein Sicherheitspuffer soll vor zu hohen Verlusten schützen.
Dermalog Identification Systems GmbH / IDnow and DERMALOG – Together
Das Münchener Unternehmen IDnow arbeitet künftig mit DERMALOG zusammen, um international in den wachsenden Markt für digitale Identifizierungslösungen zu expandieren. Deutschlands größtes Unternehmen für Biometrie unterstützt IDnow bei der Produktgestaltung und dem Vertrieb von AutoIdent, einem innovativen Verfahren für die sichere und effiziente Identifizierung in der digitalen Wirtschaft.
“Air Bank Germany” – The N26 of the East is aiming for the German market
Im hiesigen Retailbanking könnte es schon bald einen weiteren schlagkräftigen Player geben. Nach Recherchen von „Finanz-Szene.de“ bereitet die tschechische „Air Bank“ schon seit Monaten ihre Expansion nach Deutschland vor. Die Pläne wirken ambitioniert: Als CFO ist der langjährige „Leiter Finanzen“ der Fidor Bank eingeplant.
http://finanz-szene.de/exklusiv-air-bank-germany-das-n26-des-ostens-strebt-in-den-deutschen-markt/
CLARK takes over brokerage business of SchneiderGolling & Cie. AG
Die Paetau Sports Versicherungsmakler GmbH gehört ab sofort zum digitalen Versicherungsmanager CLARK. Damit schließt CLARK nach der Übernahme der Malburg GmbH im Sommer 2018 die zweite Akquisition erfolgreich ab und befindet sich zum Jahresstart 2019 weiterhin auf rasantem Wachstumskurs.
Financial Start-Up Giromatch has a new boss
Das Frankfurter Finanz-Start-up Giromatch hat einen neuen Geschäftsführer. In einer E-Mail an Geschäftspartner und Freunde, die dem Handelsblatt vorliegt, gab der Gründer und bisherige Geschäftsführer Robin Buschmann am Donnerstag seinen Nachfolger bekannt. Klaus Zimmermann sei „ein sehr erfahrener Banken-Manager und Entrepreneur“, so Buschmann. Er selbst werde sich Ende März aus der Geschäftsführung zurückziehen. Als Gesellschafter werde er dem Unternehmen aber weiter treu bleiben, sagte er im Gespräch .
In 2019, Europe’s biggest FinTech event is back in Amsterdam
An unmissable event for the smartest visionaries and innovators, Money20/20 is the destination where the payments, FinTech and Financial Services communities come together to connect and build the future of money. From industry institutions to up-and-coming innovators, everyone is here, every time. Businesses come together to explore unique regional insight and trailblazing enterprise, seizing the opportunity to meet the person or land the deal that will change the trajectory of their business. Join us in Amsterdam this June.
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