BlackFin Tech Weekly — January 06th, 2025
Every Monday, we publish a short digest which sums up last week’s Fintech activity.
Hello FinTech Friends,
Happy New Year and best wishes on behalf of the entire team at BlackFin!
Let’s start 2025 with some fresh insights, news and trends shaping the fintech market. Over the last three weeks, we saw 8 fintech deals in Europe, raising above €145 million in equity, with 3 deals in the UK, 2 deals in France, 1 deal in Germany, 1 deal in Switzerland, and 1 deal in Lithuania.
Congratulations to the German Insurtech wefox on kicking of the year with a €170m refinancing round (of which €80 – 100m in equity) led by Searchlight Capital Partners, Chrysalis and Target Global. Kudos to BVNK, the UK-based stablecoin payments infrastructure provider for businesses, for securing €46.8 million in a Series B round led by Menlo Park and Haun Ventures back in mid-December. And finally, a round of applause for the French decentralized fiat-backed stablecoin issuer Usual Labs for closing a €9.4 million funding round from Binance Labs and Kraken Ventures, with notable participation from both Coinbase and Galaxy Digital.
Let’s dive in
Insurtech wefox has secured a total of €170 million (of which €80m to €100m in equity) in a refinancing round led by Searchlight Capital Partners, with participation from Chrysalis and Target Global. Since its launch in 2015, wefox has developed into an innovative Insurtech platform that seamlessly connects insurance companies, brokers, businesses, and customers, providing simplified digital insurance solutions across multiple markets. Wefox currently serves over 2 million customers across 5 countries. The funds will effectively refinance wefox’s existing bank debt to avoid a sell-off of assets.
The UK-based stablecoin payments infrastructure provider BVNK has secured €46.8 million in a Series B round led by Menlo Park and Haun Ventures. Coinbase Ventures, Scribble Ventures and DRW VC participated in the round, along with previous investors Avenir and Tiger Global. BVNK provides a comprehensive platform that bridges traditional banking systems and blockchain technology, enabling faster and more efficient global financial transactions. The company, whose locations span the UK, US, Europe and Africa, now counts 270+ team members and processes $10bn in annualized volume. The funds will be used to further expand the company’s US operations.
Usual Labs
Usual Labs, a French decentralized fiat-backed stablecoin issuer has closed a €9.4 million funding round from Binance Labs and Kraken Ventures, with notable participation from both Coinbase and Galaxy Digital. Founded in 2022, Usual is a decentralized protocol that issues a fiat-backed stablecoin collateralized by Real-World Assets, while empowering users with ownership and governance through its $USUAL token, effectively merging traditional asset security with DeFi's flexibility and liquidity. Usual has $1.4bn in total value locked on their network, with 90% of Usual’s token distributed to individual users.
In addition to this week’s fundraising activity, here is the European M&A activity of the week:
Aurionpro Solutions, a provider of technology solutions for the financial services industry, has acquired Fenixys, a consulting firm specializing in capital markets services, in an all-cash deal valued at €10 million. The acquisition supports Aurionpro’s strategy to expand its presence in Europe and the Middle East. Leveraging Fenixys’ 10+ years of experience in IT transformations and established relationships with major banks in these regions, Aurionpro aims to strengthen its position in the financial services sector and accelerate its geographical growth.
Avanza (STO: AZA) has agreed to acquire Sigmastocks in its entirety for SEK 21.1 million, pending approval from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority. The transaction, expected to close in May 2025, aligns with Avanza’s 2030 strategic priorities announced in October. This acquisition aims to drive Avanza’s growth in Private Banking by leveraging Sigmastocks’ technical platform for digital discretionary portfolio management. Currently, Sigmastocks manages SEK 0.5 billion in assets across approximately 7,000 clients. With this acquisition, Avanza plans to offer its 35,000+ Private Banking clients automated equity investments in personalized portfolios at competitive fees starting in 2025. Clients will have the flexibility to choose their risk levels and exclude specific sectors, tailoring their investments to individual preferences.
And finally, we bring you four stories from the last couple of weeks from the Fintech universe:
US Fintech Chime has reportedly submitted a confidential filing aiming for a 2025 IPO. Founded in 2012, Chime offers mobile banking services to over 22 million users in the US. The company was valued at $25 billion after a 2021 Series G funding round and employs 1,500 people.
WhatsApp has made their WhatsApp Pay services available to all Indian users, after an initial limit to 40 million users in 2020. This marks the end of a phased rollout, with over 100 million users allowed in 2022. WhatsApp Pay now allows 500 million users in India to send money via India’s Unified Payments Interface.
Payment services provider Checkout.com has reported a significantly reduced pre-tax loss of $6m in 2023 (vs $138m in 2022) amidst declining revenues of $212m in 2023 (vs $246m in 2022). The loss in revenue is mainly attributable to the termination of a large merchant partner, namely crypto exchange Binance. The company’s employee count decreased from 1,032 in 2022 to 284 in 2023, although most of this reduction reportedly stems from a transfer to Checkout.com’s sister company, Checkout.com Technology Ltd.
Frax Finance has launched frxUSD, a rebranded stablecoin backed by BlackRock's BUIDL fund, offering transparency and fiat redemption capabilities. The stablecoin integrates blockchain technology with traditional finance, leveraging tokenized U.S. Treasury bills and cash for backing. frxUSD aims to set a new compliance standard while enabling seamless fiat on/off ramps through BlackRock's infrastructure.
Off to a great 2025!
Sources of the fundraising reports