BlackFin Tech weekly — December 4th, 2023
Every Monday, we publish a short digest which sums up last week’s Fintech activity
Good afternoon, fintech friends! We trust you've had a fab weekend.
Let's dive straight into the latest insights and updates that the fintech landscape has to offer:
In the past week, we saw 8 deals in Europe for a total amount of €122m announced officially with two deals in the UK, two in France, one in the Netherlands, one in Sweden, one in Finland, and one in Germany.
Congratulations to Paysend, the London-based payments platform, for successfully raising $65 million from Mastercard, and participation from existing investors Infravia Growth Capital, One Peak, and Hermes GPE Innovation Fund. Well done as well to Lassie, the Swedish pet insurance company, on its €23m Series B led Balderton Capital, with participation from Felix Capital, inventure, Passion Capital, and other investors. Finally, we want to congratulate Banxware, the Berlin-based fintech specializing in embedded lending, who has successfully raised €15 million in a Series A funding round. Notably, UniCredit , the prominent Italian bank, participated in this round.
Let’s dive in
Paysend, a leading global fintech in international money transfers, successfully raised $65 million in a funding round announced on November 29, 2023. This round included strategic investment from Mastercard, showcasing the strengthened relationship following their earlier partnership this year.
The funding round was marked by the participation of existing investors Infravia Growth Capital, One Peak, and Hermes GPE Innovation Fund, reinforcing their ongoing faith in Paysend's mission and growth path.
A significant aspect of this round is Paysend's strategic partnership with TelevisaUnivision, a major Spanish language media company. This partnership aims to target the profitable USA-Latin America money-transfer corridors and includes a three-year advertising agreement on TelevisaUnivision's network, boosting Paysend's visibility among the Hispanic community in the USA.
Since its establishment in 2017, Paysend has shown rapid growth and expansion. It offers an integrated cross-border platform for both businesses and consumers, positioning itself to tap into the vast $133 trillion market opportunity. Recent strategic moves include providing digital payments for Western Union's global consumer business.
The latest funding builds on the success of Paysend's previous Series B round, where the company raised $125 million, bringing its total raised funds to $224 million. This capital is aimed at accelerating the expansion of its global payments platform, with a particular focus on the USA-Latin America market.
Paysend, headquartered in the UK, has evolved into a comprehensive global payment ecosystem since its inception in April 2017. It now boasts over 8 million registered customers and the capability to send money to over 180 countries. The company, a principal member and certified processor of major international card networks, operates its own worldwide network of banks and payment systems.
Lassie, a pet health app and insurance provider, has successfully raised €23 million in a Series B funding round led by Balderton Capital. This funding comes after the company's €11 million Series A round in 2022, bringing its total raised to €36.5 million.
The funding round witnessed participation from previous investors, including Felix Capital, Inventure, Passion Capital, and Philian, demonstrating sustained investor confidence in Lassie's growth and business model.
With a surge in pet ownership during the pandemic, Lassie's growth was significantly driven by pet owners' increasing reliance on mobile apps for maintaining their pet’s health.
The Series B funding will be utilized to enhance Lassie's team and product offerings, including the in-app sale of health products for pets. Additionally, the company aims to expand beyond its core markets of Germany and Sweden.
The company's significant growth is evident in its expansion into Germany in January of this year, where it has grown 200% faster than in Sweden. Lassie currently serves over 60,000 customers, covering a wide variety of dog and cat breeds.
Banxware, a Berlin-based fintech specializing in embedded lending, has successfully raised €15 million in a Series A funding round. This investment round notably includes the major Italian bank UniCredit as a new investor, demonstrating significant confidence in Banxware's potential.
The funding round was further supported by Sella Investment Banking and existing shareholders such as 13books Capital, VR Ventures, D4 Ventures, and Force Over Mass. This collective backing underscores the strong market position and growth prospects of Banxware.
Banxware's service currently enables 30 platforms in Germany and the Netherlands to offer financing to their business customers, specifically targeting the underserved long-tail SME market. Its client base includes notable platforms like Worldline, JustEat Takeaway, Qonto, and SumUp.
UniCredit's investment in Banxware aligns with its strategic focus on direct investments in companies that can accelerate its technological transformation. The bank seeks to collaborate with innovative players offering state-of-the-art digital capabilities to enhance client services and achieve internal operational goals.
Banxware's co-CEO, Jens Roehrborn, expressed enthusiasm about working with UniCredit to bridge the SME funding gap. He highlighted Banxware's scalable solution that reaches SMEs through various platforms they use for business activities, enabling banks to offer diverse loan products and amounts.
Since its inception in 2020, Banxware has now raised more than €29 million. The company plans to use the Series A funds to expand its product offerings, enhance global footprint, and focus on European expansion, aiming to achieve product excellence and manage non-performing loans efficiently.
Congrats also to Enfuce, Weefin, Plum, Waltio and Vesper for their fundraisings!
In addition to this week’s fundraising activity, here is the European M&A activity of the week:
Diapason, a French provider of treasury and risk management software, has recently partnered with PSG Equity, marking a significant step in its growth and international expansion plans. PSG Equity, known for its expertise in supporting software and technology-enabled services companies, replaces Seven2 as the new reference shareholder in Diapason. PSG Equity's experience in the European and U.S. markets is expected to be invaluable for Diapason, which offers specialized solutions in cash management, payment automation, and financial risk management, primarily to large and mid-sized companies. This partnership is a strategic move for PSG Equity as well, enhancing its portfolio in the European cash management software sector and aligning with its investment strategy focused on European software companies. Diapason's goal under this new partnership is to strengthen its position in the French market and to pursue growth opportunities internationally. The support from PSG, particularly their experience in scaling software companies, is anticipated to be a key factor in Diapason's future success. This investment is part of PSG’s second European fund, PSG Europe II, reflecting the fund's commitment to the growth of the European software industry.
And finally, here are the news that caught our eye last week:
Apple has decided to terminate its credit-card partnership with Goldman Sachs within the next 12 to 15 months. The termination signifies a setback for Apple's services business and a shift in Goldman Sachs' focus back to its core clients after a failed experiment in consumer lending.
Amazon's rapid rise to the third-ranked advertising platform in the UK, surpassing TikTok, has been fueled by significant ad share growth from 1.7% (Q2 2023) to 6.1% (Q3 2023). While Meta maintains its dominance with a 60.3% share, Google registers substantial long-term gains with a 7.4% YoY ad share increase, as overall ad spending by online retailers jumps 67% YoY.
Embedded Finance Europe has applied for an EMI license in France ahead of the PSD3 implementation, aiming to expand its European operations. Philippe Muller, an industry veteran, has been appointed General Manager of France, while the company recently secured $25 million in funding, positioning itself for growth in the fintech sector.
During Black Friday through Cyber Monday (BFCM), Stripe processed more than 300 million transactions, totalling over $18.6 billion in payments, with an impressive API uptime exceeding 99.999%. This remarkable performance highlights Stripe's critical role in the global BFCM phenomenon and its commitment to reliability and scalability as transaction volumes continue to grow.
Have a great week & see you soon!