The early stage players raising funding this week include FLEEP, Figopara, askRobin, Banked etc. We also feature a Q&A with Brain Nolan and Zbi Czapran of Finteum and Astrid Freier of Vidici Ventures.
Meet the first set of startups and investors who will be on stage at the 12th FinTech Forum, on 19th Nov. 2020 in Frankfurt:
(Click on the company name to read our Q&A with the respective founders)
KlickOwn: blockchain-enabled platform offering a superior real estate investing experience for everyone
CommneX: a digital brokering platform for credit- and deposits from municipalities and municipal enterprises
Finteum: a platform for interbank intraday lending, enabling treasurers to borrow and lend for hours at a time
We are pleased to confirm the following investors and financial institutions who will be sharing investment trends and opportunities in specific areas.
Astrid Freier: Partner, DACH, Vidici Ventures
Paula Blazquez Solano: Head of Investments at InnoCells (Banco Sabadell)
Daniel Andemeskel: Head of Innovation at Universal Investment
Manuel Silva Martinez: Partner, Head of Investments, Santander InnoVentures
If you are in the midst of a funding round, feel free to reach out to us via LinkedIn: Frank Schwab or Samarth Shekhar
Call for startups: apply to pitch at the 12th FinTech Forum, 19th Nov. 2020 in Frankfurt – email contact (at) fintechforum.de or reach out via LinkedIn. Investors & corporates: register here directly http://ftf12.eventbrite.com
7 Minute Pitch Template Essentials
In the past 7 years we at FinTech Forum have evaluated over 3,500 pitches and given a lot of feedback. More than 350 FinTech startups have presented their business models in 7 minutes each.
From this we developed a template. We recommend that all founders cover at least the following eight themes in their presentation.
http://www.fintechforum.de/7-minute-pitch-template-essentials/
7 Questions with Astrid Freier of Vidici Ventures
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself, both at work and leisure.
I am passionate about fintech for most of my business life. I started my carreer at Deutsche Bank during the New Economy bubble. Since then I pay a lot of attention to sustainability of business models. Since 2008, during the financial crisis, I started focusing on reg tech – even if it was not called like this.
I experienced this time in Japan where apart from work I could enjoy excellent food and in-depth experience in different cultures. Both aspects play an important role in my private life.
http://www.fintechforum.de/7-questions-with-astrid-freier-of-vidici-ventures/
7 Questions with Brian Nolan and Zbi Czapran of Finteum
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself, both at work and leisure.
Hi, we are Brian from Ireland and Zbi from Poland, both living in London. Together we have worked for 20 years in banking and in building technology solutions for enterprise. Brian was a director for UBS in Treasury in Zürich and New York in liquidity management, and before that in Bank of Ireland. Zbi has built technology for enterprise and financial services companies, such as IHS Markit. Outside work, Brian likes to stay healthy and go running. Zbi used to have free time for travelling and trying out European beers, but now his home life takes up most of the free time.
7-questions-with-brian-nolan-and-zbi-czapran-of-finteum
We are proud to partner with Money20/20 Europe- now taking place from 22nd – 24th September 2020, still at the Rai, Amsterdam (rescheduled from the original date of 16th – 18th June 2020). Join us using discount code MP20FOR: https://europe.money2020.com
Bavaria’s Pricefx acquires French AI pricing software Brennus Analytics
German cloud pricing software Pricefx has acquired Brennus Analytics, an AI pricing software startup based in France. Both Brennus’ technology and talent will join Pricefx, significantly boosting the German company’s AI and data science capabilities. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“The AI technology and deep bench of talent we are bringing in from Brennus will enable us to deliver strategic product enhancements that will allow Pricefx to set a new standard for price optimization,” said Marcin Cichon, CEO and co-founder at Pricefx.
Italian deep tech startup FLEEP Technologies gets €800,000 to bring eco-friendly printed electronic circuits to market
Italian deep tech startup FLEEP Technologies has raised €800,000 in seed funding to bring its ‘printed electronics’ technology to the market.
The round was supported by Pariter Partners, members of Italian Angels for Growth, Club degli Investitori, and the Cogliati family.
“What we bring with us from this fundraising is the awareness that even in Italy there are investors who are attentive to emerging technologies, even if far from commercialisation, who want to invest and take risks together with the founding team by focusing on value co-creation,” said FLEEP co-founder and CEO Giorgio Dell’Erba.
https://tech.eu/brief/fleep-technologies-seed/
Turkey’s Digital Invoice Financing Fintech Figopara Secures $1 Million in Capital via Second Funding Round
Turkish Fintech firm Figopara confirmed on May 7, 2020, that it has secured $1 million in funding from its second investment round.
Existing investors World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Turkish angel investor Revo Capital took part in Figopora’s latest round. Founding partners Ahmet Bilgen and Koray Gultekin Bahar also made contributions.
Hasan Davci, Arman Eker, CTO at Figopara, and Orhan Ayanlar took part in the round as well.
Founded in 2017, Figopara assists licensed SMEs with selling their invoices to lenders for cash at reduced rates before they have matured. The Fintech firm works closely with several Turkey-based lending businesses, including Akbank, Fibabanka, ING Turkey and Yapi Kredi Bank.
Koray Gultekin Bahar, CEO at Figopara, has experience working at electronic invoice firm Foriba, a company he left back in May of last year.
Estonian askRobin raises €1.6 million to bring fair credit to Latin America
Estonian-founded fintech askRobin is a financial services marketplace for underbanked customers in Latin America. The company completed a €1.6 million seed round to develop product functionality and increase its market share in Mexico, Argentina and Colombia.
Traditional banks focus on a small well-off part of the society, whereas askRobin (founded in 2017) is working hard to help the underserved customer groups to gain better access to formal credit products. With a mix of European and Latin teams the upstart is already on its way to changing the market, bringing a variety of credit options to support its customers to make useful choices.
According to Rain Sepp, co-founder and CEO of the company, banks lack high-quality data for making credit decisions.
https://www.eu-startups.com/2020/05/estonian-askrobin-raises-e1-6-million-to-bring-fair-credit-to-latin-america/
Banked Raises £2.35M in Seed Funding
Banked, a London, UK-based payments startup, launched out of beta after securing another £2.35m in seed funding.
The round, which brought total funding raised to date to £5.35m, was led by Force Over Mass, with participation from Backed, Acrew Capital (San Francisco based) and high net worth partners including the family office of serial investor and co-founder of indeed.com, Paul Forster.
The funding will be used to build more commercial relationships and support its rollout across Europe.
Founded in 2018, and led by Brad Goodall, CEO, Banked provides an account-to-account payment software platform that lets consumers, businesses and banks process payments in real-time, more securely.
http://www.finsmes.com/2020/05/banked-raises-2-35m-in-seed-funding.html
UK Fintech Startup Primer Raises £3.2 Million Through Seed Funding Round Led by Balderton Capital
Primer, a UK-based fintech startup, has reportedly secured £3.2 million through its seed funding round, led by Balderton Capital with participation from Taavet Hinrikus, who co-founded and previously led TransferWise.
Founded earlier this year by former PayPal employees, Primer states it consolidates your payments stack with a unified API and supercharges your checkout with data-driven insights. According to TechCrunch, Primer is currently building out a payments API to bring “greater transparency” to a merchant’s payment stack. The company further noted that it aims to reduce friction when adopting new payment methods as they come to market.
Workplace analytics startup Locatee secures €3.6 million Series A
Swiss startup Locatee, the workplace analytics solution that provides office intelligence for real estate companies, has announced securing €3.6 million in Series A funding.
Since its founding in 2015, the Zurich-based company has built up a corporate clientele that includes some of the world’s leading businesses, including EY, Biogen International, Zurich Insurance, and Swiss Re. With its software deployed across corporate real estate on six continents, Locatee plans to use this funding round to become the Google Analytics for office buildings.
Locatee is a pioneer in extracting office occupancy data from device connectivity to LAN and Wi-Fi networks. More recently, it has also developed an integration to collect data from motion sensors, making it data-agnostic. “The compatibility with different measurement sources is what sets Locatee apart from the heavily saturated sensor market,” said Thomas Kessler, CEO and co-founder of Locatee.
Countingup Raises £4M in Funding
Countingup, a London, UK-based provider of a business current account that automates accounting for small businesses, raised £4m in bridge funding.
The round was led by ING Ventures with co-investment from Triple Point, CVentures and BiG Start Ventures.
The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach.
Founded in 2017 by Tim Fouracre, formerly CEO of Clear Books Plc, Countingup now boasts more than twenty thousand customers and has processed almost £1bn in transactions.
http://www.finsmes.com/2020/05/countingup-raises-4m-in-funding.html
Alpian Raises CHF 12.2M Series A Funding
Alpian, a Carouge, Switzerland-based digital financial services company, raised CHF 12.2m in Series A funding.
The backers were not disclosed.
The company intends to use the funds to accelerate its growth plans and pursue its plans to receive a full banking license from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), launching as a fully licensed digital affluent bank in 2021.
Incorporated in October 2019, led by Schuyler Weiss, CEO, and incubated by Swiss banking group REYL & Cie Ltd, Alpian plans to offer will tailored investment boutique products, secure digital face-to-face access to experienced financial advisors, and simplified everyday banking services.
http://www.finsmes.com/2020/05/alpian-raises-chf-12-2m-series-a-funding.html
InsideBoard Raises €25M in Series B Funding
InsideBoard, a Paris, France-based provider of a SaaS platform for organizational change management based on Artificial Intelligence, raised €25m in Series B funding round.
The round was led by AXA Venture Partners, with participation from Orange Ventures and ISAI Cap Venture, and Entrepreneur Venture.
The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach, particularly in the United States, and to continue to develop product development, with the coming launch of the latest version of its API.
Founded in 2014 by brothers Michaël and Yohan Bentolila, InsideBoard provides a SaaS platform for companies to engage teams remotely.
http://www.finsmes.com/2020/05/insideboard-raises-e25m-in-series-b-funding.html
Bought By Many Raises £78.4M in Growth Equity Funding
Bought By Many, a London, UK-based pet insurance provider, raised £78.4m in growth equity funding.
The investment was led by FTV Capital, with participation from existing investors CommerzVentures, Munich Re Ventures, and Octopus Ventures. In conjunction with the funding, Mike Vostrizansky of FTV Capital, will join Bought By Many’s board.
The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand its business reach in UK and abroad following the launch in Sweden.
Co-founded by Steven Mendel (CEO) and Guy Farley (CTO), Bought By Many provides pet insurance products underwritten by Great Lakes Insurance SE.
http://www.finsmes.com/2020/05/bought-by-many-raises-78-4m-in-growth-equity-funding.html
AXA Venture Partners Holds €200M First Close of Second Vintage Diversified Fund
AXA Venture Partners, a venture capital firm investing in high-growth technology companies, completed a €200m first closing of AVP Diversified II, the second vintage of AVP Fund of Funds strategy.
The fundraise generated interest from existing and new investors. The final close of the fund is expected before the end of 2020 with a target of €250m.
Similar to AVP Diversified I, AVP Diversified II will continue to focus on key geographies: both coasts in the United States, Europe, Israël and Asia with a particular focus on China. On an opportunistic basis, the fund may also invest in funds established in other emerging regions globally.
axa-venture-partners-holds-e200m-first-close-of-second-vintage-diversified-fund.html
Meet us at:
NOAH Conference, Berlin, 4-5 Jun. 2020 https://www.noah-conference.com/noah-berlin-conference-2020/ (going virtual)
FinTech Junction, Tel Aviv, 1 Jul. 2020 https://www.fintechjunction.com (subject to decision based on COVID-19)
Swiss FinTech Fair, Zürich, 8 Sep. 2020 https://www.swissfintechfair.com
Money2020 Europe, Amsterdam, 22-24 Sep. 2020 https://europe.money2020.com
Bank+FinTech EFMA, Madrid, 21-23 Oct. 2020 https://www.efma.com/conference/748-bank-fintech-2020
Digital Insurance Agenda, Amsterdam, 28-29 Oct. 2020 https://next.digitalinsuranceagenda.com/dia-amsterdam-2020/want-to-attend/
MoneyConf / WebSummit, Lisbon, 2-5 Nov. 2020 https://websummit.com/moneyconf
12th FinTech Forum, Frankfurt, 19th Nov. 2020 http://www.fintechforum.de/events/