This week we feature a Q&A with Andrew Alex, CEO of Spendbase, a startup combining corporate spend management (esp. SaaS and Cloud spend) with digital banking, cash-backs etc.
“The idea came to us when a friend casually mentioned he still had access to a company-paid license worth $3,000 for two years after leaving his job! At another company we knew, only one employee was using a subscription worth $10,000, even though ten licenses had been paid for….We founded Spendbase with a clear mission: to help companies optimize software costs and usage. What started as a tool to centralize and visualize SaaS spend has now grown into a full platform. We help businesses track license usage, manage renewals, and eliminate wasted costs. We benchmark prices, negotiate with vendors, and even offer procurement workflows to prevent overspending before it happens.” Read the full Q&A here.
We agree with Surebird’s Taco van Wachem on the need to move insurance from a passive to dynamic (and the massive hidden market there):
“Many people don’t look at their insurance for years, even though their lives change in the meantime. That passivity costs them money and security. With Surebird, we want to make insurance understandable again and give people back control—without the hassle. This investment enables us to accelerate the development of a platform that doesn’t just compare, but truly evolves with your life. Whether you move in together, have a child, or switch jobs—Surebird ensures your insurance stays up to date automatically, without you having to chase it.”
Also on our radar are Propel Finance and Ferovinum, proving out the value in financial services focused on vertical-specific and cross-border supply chains:
“Propel Finance, a UK-based asset finance provider for SMEs, has reportedly secured a new £1.5bn funding round to expand its lending capabilities across the country…Propel Finance helps small and medium-sized enterprises across the UK access financing for manufacturing, transport, and construction equipment, as well as technology and telecoms solutions.”
“Ferovinum, a British FinTech startup specialising in funding and supply chain solutions for the global drinks industry, has closed a €468 million asset-backed securitisation programme…Founded in 2018 by Mitchel Fowler and Daniel Gibney, Ferovinum provides capital and logistics support tailored to the specific challenges of the drinks industry. The startup’s technology enables brands and distributors to reportedly unlock capital trapped in inventory, optimise procurement and simplify the often convoluted task of moving alcohol domestically and internationally. Through their platform, businesses can manage working capital and scale operations across multiple markets.”
Finally, Drive Capital showed their money machine works (without $50B exits).
“If you were to just read the newspapers or listen to coffee shops on Sand Hill Road, everyone always talks about the $50 billion or $100 billion outcomes,” Olsen said. “But the reality is, while those outcomes do happen, they’re really rare. In the last 20 years, there have only been 12 outcomes in America over $50 billion….By contrast, he noted, there have been 127 IPOs at $3 billion or more, plus hundreds of M&A events at that level. “If you’re able to exit companies at $3 billion, then you’re able to do something that happens every single month” Drive owned “multiples” of the typical Silicon Valley ownership stake in the company, said Olsen, who added that Drive’s typical ownership stake is around 30% on average compared to a Valley firm’s 10% — often because it is the sole venture investor across numerous funding rounds.”
VENTURE FINANCING
Event budgeting platform Eventwise bags £525k
Eventwise, an end-to-end event budgeting platform, has secured fresh investment to accelerate its mission of giving event professionals complete control over their finances while they deliver exceptional experiences.
The company has raised £525k in a round led by Fuel Ventures, closing on 30 June, marking a significant milestone as Eventwise looks to scale its platform and infrastructure to meet rising demand within the events industry.
Eventwise provides event teams with a single platform to manage complex budgets with clarity, aiming to reduce administrative burdens and improve forecasting accuracy while giving businesses full visibility over their spending throughout the planning process.
https://fintech.global/2025/07/02/event-budgeting-platform-eventwise-bags-525k/
Dutch InsurTech Surebird secures €1.165m seed investment
Dutch InsurTech startup Surebird, which is building a digital platform to transform how people manage their insurance, has successfully completed a €1.165m seed funding round to power its next stage of development.
The investment was led by Quantum Leap Capital, Dutch Operator Fund, and Bright Business, according to FF News.
Notably, Coen de Ruiter, the former CEO of insurance comparison site Independer, has joined Surebird as chairman of its advisory board, bringing a strong industry track record to the startup.
Surebird is aiming to streamline the insurance experience through a single digital platform. Unlike conventional comparison websites, its solution continuously monitors insurance policies, detects when a user’s coverage becomes outdated or misaligned with life changes, and then offers independent recommendations to either improve cover or save money.
https://fintech.global/2025/07/03/dutch-insurtech-surebird-secures-e1-165m-seed-investment/
Danish InsurTech Leaf Insurance secures €1.74m funding
Leaf Insurance, a Denmark-based InsurTech startup, has raised €1.74m in a recent funding round.
Founded in 2023, the company operates as a licensed insurance broker, providing a digital-first approach to business insurance and pensions, according to the Coverager.
The funding round was led by caesar, with additional backing from Denmark’s Export and Investment Fund (EIFO) and several angel investors.
Leaf offers a platform that leverages data and automation to help businesses manage their insurance and pension needs.
By integrating with popular accounting platforms, the solution retrieves company data to recommend the most appropriate coverage, aiming to remove complexity from traditional insurance processes.
https://fintech.global/2025/07/04/danish-insurtech-leaf-insurance-secures-e1-74m-funding/
Indonesian FinTech Monit raises $2.5m for AI spend platform
Monit, an Indonesian spend management platform, has secured $2.5m in a funding round.
The round was led by Cento Ventures, as it looks to enhance its AI-powered financial tools, according to a report from Tech in Asia.
The round also saw participation from Sansan, based in Japan, alongside existing backers 1982 Ventures and Init 6.
Monit, based in Jakarta, integrates corporate cards with AI-driven software, aiming to address challenges in business spending and financial management for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The platform enables real-time transaction visibility and allows businesses to exercise detailed control over spending, including merchant locking, salary cut flags and multi-layer approval flows.
https://fintech.global/2025/07/01/indonesian-fintech-monit-raises-2-5m-for-ai-spend-platform/
Zango AI secures $4.8m to boost RegTech compliance tools
Zango AI, a regulatory compliance solution using AI and human expertise, has raised $4.8m to accelerate its mission to simplify compliance for financial institutions.
The funding round was led by Nexus Venture Partners, joined by South Park Commons, Richard Davies of Allica Bank, Alan Morgan, Mark Ransford, Notion Capital, No Label Ventures and Start Ventures.
Zango AI helps financial firms automate horizon scanning, gap analysis and controls testing. Trusted by banks including Novobanco and neobanks like Monzo and Juni, the platform uses regulation-specific language models to interpret compliance rules quickly.
The funds will support team expansion in London and Bengaluru while building additional modules for its AI-native GRC platform. Zango also plans to expand into insurance and asset management.
Zango AI co-founder Ritesh Singhania said, “
https://fintech.global/2025/07/02/zango-ai-secures-4-8m-to-boost-regtech-compliance-tools/
AI security pioneer Bonfy.AI bags $9.5m seed funding
Bonfy.AI, an AI security startup specialising in adaptive content protection, has launched from stealth as it aims to secure the growing volume of content created by generative AI tools.
The company raised $9.5m in seed funding led by TLV Partners, with participation from Saban Ventures, to support the development and rollout of its Bonfy Adaptive Content Security platform.
Bonfy.AI provides tools to help organisations monitor and secure content generated by platforms like ChatGPT, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Slack. It uses AI-powered business context and logic to detect and prevent data leaks, privacy breaches and non-compliant communications.
The company has a focus on regulated sectors including healthcare, finance, and legal.
https://fintech.global/2025/06/30/ai-security-pioneer-bonfy-ai-bags-9-5m-seed-funding/
FinTech DataBahn.ai secures $17m Series A funding
DataBahn.ai, a FinTech building security-native data pipelines for enterprises, has raised $17m in a Series A funding round.
The investment was led by Forgepoint Capital with participation from S3 Ventures and returning backer GTM Capital, bringing DataBahn.ai’s total raised to $19m.
The company enables enterprises to manage, govern and optimise their data pipelines using AI-powered automation across security, observability and IoT/OT ecosystems. Its technology offers telemetry collection without heavy resource loads, enriching and filtering data in real time to reduce noise and costs while improving insights for security and business teams.
With the new funding, DataBahn.ai will accelerate development of its platform, which uses agentic AI to automate data engineering, while also supporting global expansion to meet demand from enterprises seeking scalable AI operations.
https://fintech.global/2025/06/30/fintech-databahn-ai-secures-17m-series-a-funding/
Greek FinTech firm Natech Banking Solutions, a banking technology platform, has reportedly announced the successful completion of its Series B capital increase.
The company has raised over €28.1m in growth funding, including €22.1m in equity and €5.9m in long-term, low-interest debt, according to a report from EU Startups. The round closed ahead of the public launch of Snappi Bank, Natech’s joint venture with Piraeus Financial Holdings.
Founded in 2003, Natech Banking Solutions helps financial institutions compete in a rapidly changing banking environment. The company offers a modular, API-driven ecosystem that allows banks and FinTechs to launch financial products, modernise operations and scale quickly across Europe.
https://fintech.global/2025/06/30/banking-tech-firm-natech-secures-e28m-for-eu-expansion/
Clearspeed secures $60m Series D to boost voice-based risk tech
Clearspeed, a global leader in voice-based risk assessment technology, has announced a successful $60m Series D funding round, increasing its total capital raised to $110m.
The round was led by Align Private Capital, with participation from IronGate Capital Advisors, Bravo Victor Venture Capital, and KBW Ventures.
Notably, General David H. Petraeus (US Army, Ret.) also joined as a multi-round investor. Alongside the funding announcement, Anna Nekoranec, co-founder and CEO of Align Private Capital, will join Clearspeed’s Board of Directors.
The company specialises in using artificial intelligence-driven voice analytics to assess risk rapidly and accurately, enabling clients to detect fraud, reduce security threats, and make informed decisions without causing friction for end users. Clearspeed’s technology is widely applied in insurance, government, defence, and financial services sectors.
https://fintech.global/2025/06/30/clearspeed-secures-60m-series-d-to-boost-voice-based-risk-tech/
WealthTech Savvy Wealth bags $72m Series B funding
Savvy Wealth, a digital-first platform for financial advisors focused on modernising human-centred financial advice, has closed a significant funding round to expand its technology and services.
The company has raised $72m in a Series B funding round led by Industry Ventures. New investors include Vestigo Ventures, founded by former LPL Financial CEO and chairman Mark Casady, who has joined the Savvy Wealth board, and Euclidean Capital.
Existing investors Canvas Ventures, Thrive Capital, The House Fund, Brewer Lane Ventures and former Focus Financial executive Vamsi Yadlapati also participated, bringing the firm’s total funding to over $100m.
https://fintech.global/2025/07/02/wealthtech-savvy-wealth-bags-72m-series-b-funding/
Mobile-first FinTech Wave raises €117m for Africa
Wave Mobile Money, a mobile-first FinTech company transforming how Africans manage and move money, has secured €117m in debt financing to deepen its reach across the continent.
The funding round was led by Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) with support from British International Investment (BII), Norfund, and Finnfund, according to a report from Tech Africa News.
The fresh funding will help strengthen Wave’s working capital, scale its operations, and grow its services to new markets.
Wave, which operates in Burkina Faso, Gambia, Mali, Niger, and Cameroon, offers low-cost, mobile-first financial services including 1% transfer fees and 24/7 customer support.
https://fintech.global/2025/07/01/mobile-first-fintech-wave-raises-e117m-for-africa/
Mexican FinTech Klar secures $190m in fresh funding
Klar, a Mexican FinTech company providing app-based financial services to consumers and small businesses, has raised $190m in a series C funding round, pushing its valuation above $800m.
The round was led by US private equity giant General Atlantic, with $170m in equity and $20m in venture debt, according to a report from Tech in Asia.
Other investors included returning backers Prosus, IFC, Mouro Capital, and Quona Capital, alongside new participants Santander Group, Grupo Televisa, and Grupo Formula.
Founded in 2019, Klar offers a suite of app-based financial services designed to serve the needs of Mexican consumers and SMEs, providing credit and digital banking tools.
https://fintech.global/2025/07/01/mexican-fintech-klar-secures-190m-in-fresh-funding/
DailyPay completes $200m securitisation to fuel growth
DailyPay, a worktech platform providing on-demand pay and financial wellness solutions for employers and employees, has announced the completion of a $200m asset-backed securitisation.
The securitisation, backed by leading financial institutions, featured Barclays as lead bookrunner and structuring agent, with Citi and Morgan Stanley serving as joint bookrunners. The notes offering was rated by Morningstar DBRS, with ratings from AA (sf) to BB (sf). Legal advice was provided by Latham & Watkins for DailyPay and Mayer Brown for the bookrunners.
https://fintech.global/2025/07/01/dailypay-completes-200m-securitisation-to-fuel-growth/
London-based Ferovinum bottles €468 million to expand global funding for the drinks trade
Ferovinum, a British FinTech startup specialising in funding and supply chain solutions for the global drinks industry, has closed a €468 million asset-backed securitisation programme.
The facility, involving credit investors such as Pollen Street Capital alongside investment banks, marks a significant milestone as the company accelerates its international expansion.
Mitchell Fowler, Co-founder and CEO, shared with EU-Startups: “Ferovinum’s USD 550 million asset-backed securitisation marks a transformative moment for the drinks industry. By unlocking access to a wider pool of private credit investors and global investment banks, we’re scaling up the working capital support available to producers, distributors and brand owners across the sector. What makes this especially exciting is that the funding is seamlessly embedded within our end-to-end supply chain solution – enabling our clients to achieve best-in-class efficiency in procurement and distribution across their sales channels.”
London-based Ferovinum bottles €468 million to expand global funding for the drinks trade
Propel Finance secures £1.5bn to boost UK SME lending
Propel Finance, a UK-based asset finance provider for SMEs, has reportedly secured a new £1.5bn funding round to expand its lending capabilities across the country.
The funding was backed by a range of financial institutions, including Barclays, Bank of America, Citi and the British Business Bank, according to a report from FinTech Finance News.
Legal advice was provided by Ashurst and Blake Morgan, with Interpath acting as advisers on the mezzanine facility.
Propel Finance helps small and medium-sized enterprises across the UK access financing for manufacturing, transport, and construction equipment, as well as technology and telecoms solutions.
https://fintech.global/2025/07/03/propel-finance-secures-1-5bn-to-boost-uk-sme-lending/
M&A
Hong Kong-based crypto platform OSL shares jump on Canadian acquisition
SHANGHAI/HONG KONG, June 30 (Reuters) – Hong Kong-listed shares of OSL Group (0863.HK), opens new tab jumped 10% to their highest in almost four years on Monday after the digital asset trading platform said it had acquired Canadian-based crypto infrastructure provider Banxa.
The Banxa deal announced late on Friday is the latest in a string of overseas asset purchases over the past year. OSL’s finance chief said it would accelerate its global expansion plans to tap into growing interest in cryptocurrencies.
“We will continue global expansion through both acquisitions and license applications,” Ivan Wong told Reuters on Monday.
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/hong-kong-based-crypto-platform-osl-shares-jump-canadian-acquisition-2025-06-30/
Hebbia Acquires FlashDocs
Hebbia, a NYC-based provider of an Ai platform for finance, acquired FlashDocs, a NYC-based provider of enterprise-quality presentations.
The amount of the deal was not disclosed.
The acquisition will expand Hebbia’s platform beyond information retrieval and agentic workflows into content generation.
Founded in 2024 by co-founders Morten Bruun and Adam Khakhar, FlashDocs turns LLM prompts or structured outputs into enterprise-quality presentations in seconds and is currently automating 10,000+ slides per day for AI and enterprise companies.
Founded by CEO George Sivulka, Hebbia is a provider of a generative AI platform built for financial, legal, and professional services firms. Deployed at over a third of the largest asset managers, leading Am Law 50 firms, and Fortune 500 enterprises, its AI-powered analyst enables document research, analysis, and creation agents for over 1,000 use cases.
New Zealand’s Xero to buy US fintech Melio for $2.5 billion
The deal fills a gap in Xero’s offer by adding payments to its accounting software while enabling both parties to scale up. Australia-listed, New Zealand-headquartered Xero dominates its home markets but has been trying to grow in the U.S. where it says it makes about 7% of sales.
New Zealand accounting software giant Xero agreed to buy New York payments provider Melio for $2.5 billion, the companies said on Wednesday, accelerating the Kiwi firm’s push in the U.S. market with one of the country’s biggest outbound deals.
The deal fills a gap in Xero’s offer by adding payments to its accounting software while enabling both parties to scale up. Australia-listed, New Zealand-headquartered Xero dominates its home markets but has been trying to grow in the U.S. where it says it makes about 7% of sales.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/sme-sector/forging-success-quality-chrome-is-strengthening-indias-industrial-backbone/articleshow/122071786.cms
FUNDS
Miami-based Kiara Capital Announces First Close for Fintech-Focused Fund raising up to US$ 40 million
The fund invests in B2B fintechs operating in Latin America and the US
MIAMI, June 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Kiara Capital, a Miami-based venture capital firm founded by serial fintech entrepreneurs, has announced the first close of its inaugural fund. The fund focuses on early-stage B2B fintech startups operating in Latin America, and cross-border markets linked to the United States.
Founded in 2023, Kiara Capital specializes in early-stage investments, from pre-seed to seed. Since inception, the firm has reviewed over 160 opportunities and made five investments, including Astride, a U.S.-based fintech offering accounting solutions for foreign investors, and Payana, a platform using AI to enhance financial operations for small and mid-sized businesses in Mexico and Colombia. Kiara’s current portfolio spans startups in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and the U.S., with approximately $2 million already deployed.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/miami-based-kiara-capital-announces-first-close-for-fintech-focused-fund-raising-up-to-us-40-million-302488732.html