BlackFin Tech Weekly — July 15th, 2024
Every Monday, we publish a short digest which sums up last week’s Fintech activity.
Hello FinTech Friends,
Welcome back to our newsletter! There was a slower week last week, with no notable M&A activity in the European Fintech space. Nevertheless, we have seen some interesting fundraising deals, so stay with us to learn more about the most recent activities in the European Fintech landscape.
Last week we saw 6 official Fintech deals in Europe for a total amount of €27.7m raised with 3 deals in Germany, 1 in the UK, 1 in Ireland, and 1 in France.
Applause goes to Lemon Markets, the German brokerage infrastructure platform, which has secured a €12 million seed extension led by CommerzVentures, to develop their partnerships and product offering. Congratulations to Trustap, an Irish marketplace payment platform, which has raised €5.1 million in series A funding led by TX Ventures. Finally, we extend our congratulations to Adfin a UK-based platform automating the full invoice-to-cash process, which has successfully raised €4.6 million from Visionaries Club and Index Ventures.
Let’s dive in
German fintech Lemon Markets has successfully raised €12 million in a seed extension round, led by CommerzVentures. Lemon Markets offers a brokerage-as-a-service platform tailored for fintechs, banks, and wealth managers, enabling their customers to access capital markets seamlessly. Currently available in Germany, the company has ambitious plans to expand its services across Europe by 2025. The newly acquired funds will be instrumental in bringing more partners and products to their platform in the coming months. This encompasses the introduction of mutual funds and further penetration into the banking sector, exemplified by their recent collaboration with Tomorrow. Another strategic initiative includes the March launch of the financial education app Beatvest, designed to facilitate ETF investments for B2C customers. These efforts are part of a broader strategy aimed at diversifying and enriching their offerings to enhance accessibility to investing for the public.
Irish fintech Trustap has raised €5.1 million in a Series A funding round led by TX Ventures. Founded in 2017, Trustap provides an innovative end-to-end transaction gateway that enables consumers to make payments without the risk of scams. As the merchant of record, Trustap manages payments, logistics, and customer support for marketplaces. A standout feature of the platform is its escrow-style payment system, which ensures buyers and sellers can transact with complete trust. The newly raised funds will be used to enhance the platform and introduce new features for both C2C and B2B marketplaces, driving further innovation and security in online transactions.
The UK start-up Adfin has secured €4.6 million in a seed round led by Index Ventures and Visionaries Club. Adfin offers a cutting-edge platform that automates the entire invoice-to-cash process for billers and bookkeepers. From seamless invoice distribution to efficient payment collection and dunning, Adfin supports both card and bank payments and integrates smoothly with popular accounting systems. Designed to be up and running in minutes, the founders have crafted a flexible payment solution tailored to the intricate workflows essential for expedient bill payments. They've even introduced an AI-powered payments feature that intelligently directs transactions across bank and card networks, optimizing success rates while minimizing costs. This funding will enable Adfin to further develop its platform and enhance its service offerings with the aim to “build the best way for bills to get paid”, enhancing the experience for payers and lightening the load for businesses chasing outstanding payments.
This week there have been no major new announcements in terms of M&A activity. We will hopefully be back with news on that space next week.
And finally, here are the news that caught our eye last week:
Younited, a consumer credit specialist, reported a 25% decrease in net banking income for 2023 to 118 million euros and a 31% drop in production volumes, resulting in a loss of 50.7 million euros, while tightening credit policies, reducing direct-to-consumer volumes by 44%, and raising 28 million euros from historical shareholders, increasing its customer base by 32% to 1.2 million.
Swaive, a fintech startup founded in late 2023, helps French consumers transfer funds from non-interest-bearing current accounts to risk-free investments, recently raised 2.2 million euros. It plans to expand by targeting businesses and forming partnerships to capture a significant market despite its low-margin model.
HSBC and Visa launched the Zing app in the U.K. in January 2024, offering international money transfers in over 10 currencies and transactions across 200+ countries. The app, featuring a smart multi-currency card, utilizes Visa's Currencycloud for a multi-currency wallet and Tink's open banking technology for seamless bank transfers. Users benefit from low-cost currency exchange, real-time rates, financial management tools, and P2P payments linked to a Visa card.
Have a great week & see you soon!