BlackFin Tech Weekly — April 8th, 2024
Every Monday, we publish a short digest which sums up last week’s Fintech activity.
Hello FinTech Friends,
Welcome back to our newsletter! Coming out of a shorter week due to Easter Monday, we still had a fair number of deals in Europe last week. Notably, the Banktech sector saw some major inflows of money over the last couple of days. So now, without further ado, let’s dive in and see what has happened over the last week.
Last week we saw 7 official fintech deals all over Europe for a total amount of 276m€ raised, with 3 deals in France, 2 in the UK, 1 in the Netherlands, and 1 in Sweden.
Congratulations to Pigment the French business planning platform, who has successfully raised $145 million in a Series D led by ICONIQ GROWTH. Well done also to Scayl, a Stockholm-based debt financing platform for fintech lenders that provides debt capital for financing loan origination by fintech lenders, for having raised a €100 million Venture-Round. The new round was led by an undisclosed cohort of investors, among which was a major Northern European Bank. Lastly, we want to congratulate Bunq, the Dutch B2C neobank who raised €29 million in a Venture Round from existing shareholders.
Let’s dive in
Pigment, the French business planning platform raised $145 million in a Series D funding round. The round was led by ICONIQ Growth with the participation of Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, IVP, Meritech Capital, Greenoaks, and Felix Capital. In 2023, the startup managed to triple its revenue and double its customer base with well-known clients such as Unilever or Datadog. Half of Pigment’s clients are based in the U.S.. Pigment intends to allocate a significant portion of the funding towards research and development to introduce new features and capabilities to its platform. This includes expanding its generative AI capabilities to make the platform more accessible and efficient across various departments beyond finance, such as sales, HR, and supply chain management. Pigment’s goal is to ensure that more than 90% of its customers can utilize the platform across multiple departments, thus enhancing collaborative strategic planning and execution.
Scayl, a Stockholm-based debt financing platform for fintech lenders, has raised €100 million in a successful venture-round from undisclosed investors. Scayl offers a tech platform, which facilitates real-time data monitoring and AI-enabled risk modeling. This approach vastly outstrips the traditional methods employed by financial institutions, connecting FinTech lenders with a dynamic network of financing partners. The platform’s efficiency not only simplifies the funding process for lenders but also opens up new avenues for SME and consumer credit financing across Europe. The company said that it already has interest from nearly 100 lenders across Europe with a total demand of more than €1bn. It has also secured a partnership with an undisclosed northern European bank to start providing funding for fintech lenders through its platform. Scayl’s launch comes at a time when Europe’s macroeconomic landscape is becoming increasingly challenging for FinTech lenders. Rising base rates and a heightened risk of defaults have pressured lenders’ unit economics. Scayl’s solution, therefore, offers a much-needed lifeline, providing a more efficient and cost-effective funding route, thus enabling lenders to capitalize on the substantial market void left by incumbent banks.
Bunq's shareholders have quietly pledged to invest an additional €29 million in the company again this calendar year. Of that, €22 million has now been received by Bunq. According to Bunq founder and CEO Ali Niknam, additional capital is needed to achieve further growth at the bank and be in line with capital requirements. The funds will be used to support further growth and maintain compliance with European Central Bank capital ratios, given its substantial growth in total user deposits, which surged by 287% to €6.92 billion in 2023. This influx of capital is necessary for Bunq to continue its expansion and explore opportunities in the UK and US markets.
Last week was rather quiet in terms of European M&A activity, we did not see any notable new deals in the Fintech space.
And finally, here are the news that caught our eye last week:
Dutch mobile banking firm Bunq achieved a significant milestone by becoming the first EU neobank to report an annual profit in 2023, fuelled by a surge in users and favorable interest rates. With this success, Bunq solidified its position as the EU's second-largest neobank, boasting over 11 million users.
Looking ahead, Bunq aims to re-enter the UK market after reapplying for a UK e-money institution license, targeting the sizable market of British digital nomads. Furthermore, the company has ambitions of becoming the first global neobank, considering expansion beyond the EU and exploring opportunities for a US banking license.
Read more
Joël-Alexis Bialkiewicz, the founder of DeluPay and managing partner at Banque Delubac, is on a mission to revolutionize the payment card industry with DeluPay and its QR code system that makes transactions cost less for approximately 2,000 merchants.
Bialkiewicz has brought onboard industry veterans Philippe Lazare and Adrien Touati to increase DeluPay's credibility and appeal to investors. DeluPay’s strategy is to target merchants such as pharmacies and convenience stores, emphasizing the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of DeluPay compared to traditional card payments.
Read more
Wise has partnered with Swan, the leading embedded finance provider in Europe, to enhance its offerings with efficient international payments. Through the integration of Wise Platform's API into Swan's technology stack, clients can now enable international payments for their customers.
With this partnership, Swan's 100+ clients can facilitate transactions in over 20 currencies at the mid-market rate within seconds. This collaboration opens up growth opportunities for financial management and banking software.
Read more
Ripple, a leading crypto and blockchain company, announced plans to launch its dollar-pegged stablecoin, subject to regulatory approval. The stablecoin will be fully backed by US dollar deposits and other cash equivalents, with audits being done by third-party firms.
Ripple aims to bridge traditional finance with crypto through this move, offering its stablecoin initially on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum blockchains, with plans for expansion. The stablecoin market is currently dominated by Circle's USDC and Tether but other major players, such as PayPal, have also launched tokens.
Read more
Have a great week & see you soon!
Sources of the fundraising reports.