BlackFin Tech Weekly — May 4th, 2026
Every Week, we publish a short digest which sums up last week’s Fintech activity.
Hello FinTech Friends,
Welcome to another week of fintech insights. Let’s explore the news and trends shaping the industry!
Over the last week, there were six fintech deals in Europe, totaling €48.5m in disclosed funding, including one transaction in the UK, one in Italy, one in Spain, one in Denmark, one in Germany and one in Czechia.
Congratulations to the three largest rounds announced last week:
Fence, a US-based company, has raised €17.1m in a Series A round led by Galaxy Ventures.
Performativ, a Denmark-based company, has raised €12.0m in a Series A round led by Deutsche Börse Group.
Marloo, a UK-based company, has raised €8.6m in a Seed round led by Blackbird Ventures.
Let’s dive!
Fence, a US-based company, raised €17.1m in a Series A round led by Galaxy Ventures, with participation from ParaFi Capital and Crane Venture Partners. The company provides a platform for asset-backed finance, replacing traditional intermediaries with a software-driven system that automates verification, collateral management, and cash flows in real time. The funding will support US expansion, product development, and AI integration, as Fence aims to modernize infrastructure for debt capital markets.
Performativ, a Denmark-based company, raised €12m in a Series A round led by Deutsche Börse Group, with participation from Rabo Investments, FinTech Collective, EIFO, and angel investors. The company provides a cloud-native investment management platform for wealth managers, integrating portfolio management, analytics, compliance, and reporting into a single system. The funding will support product development and expansion into the enterprise segment, as Performativ aims to modernize wealth management infrastructure.
Marloo, a UK-based company, raised €8.6m in a Seed round led by Blackbird Ventures. The company provides an AI platform for financial advisers, automating administrative tasks such as note-taking, documentation, and compliance to improve efficiency and client engagement. The funding will support international expansion and product development, as Marloo aims to scale its AI-driven advisory infrastructure.
And finally, we bring you four news stories that caught our eye last week:
CVC is reportedly considering a €9bn take-private bid for Nexi, the Italy-based payments group, following a ~65% share price decline over the past four years. The proposed transaction could involve carving out Nexi’s digital banking solutions division and transferring it to an Italian state-backed investor such as CDP to mitigate potential government intervention under Italy’s “golden power” rules. The deal remains at an early stage and is subject to political approval, with Hellman & Friedman, Nexi’s largest shareholder, indicating it would consider a formal offer if one emerges.
PayPal is reorganizing its business into three standalone units, including a dedicated segment for Venmo, as the US-based payments group looks to improve performance tracking and strategic flexibility. The restructuring separates its core PayPal merchant and consumer business, Venmo, and a payment services division including Braintree and crypto, positioning Venmo — with nearly 100 million users — as a distinct asset amid reported takeover interest from Stripe.
Santander UK has completed the £2.65bn (€3.1bn) acquisition of TSB, following regulatory approvals from the Prudential Regulation Authority and the European Central Bank. The transaction creates one of the largest banking groups in the UK, with nearly 28 million customers, ranking third in current accounts and fourth in mortgages. The deal supports Santander UK’s growth strategy amid ongoing consolidation in European banking, with significant cost synergies expected and a continued shift toward digital banking capabilities.
European Payments Initiative, a Europe-based payments consortium backed by 16 banks, is working to reduce its reliance on US cloud providers as it builds a sovereign alternative to global card schemes such as Mastercard and Visa. Its Wero payment scheme, launched in 2024 and now serving over 53 million users across Belgium, France, and Germany, still depends partly on non-European cloud infrastructure despite all data being stored and encrypted within European data centers. The initiative, supported by the European Central Bank, is now actively pursuing a transition toward European-based providers to strengthen technological sovereignty and resilience in the region’s payments ecosystem.
Have a great start into the week!
*The information presented in this publication comes from publicly available sources. While the management company uses strict data selection criteria and focuses on the reliability of its sources, it cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies, omissions, or errors in the data provided. This publication is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an investment recommendation.