BlackFin Tech Weekly — November 25th, 2024
Every Monday, we publish a short digest which sums up last week’s Fintech activity.
Hello FinTech Friends,
Welcome back! Start your evening and week with a fresh dose of fintech updates. Let’s explore the news and trends shaping the industry this November!
Last week, we saw 13 official fintech deals in Europe, raising a total of €134.6 million, with 4 deals in the UK, 3 deals in France, 2 deals in the Netherlands, 1 deal in Switzerland, 1 deal in Germany, 1 deal in Italy and 1 deal in Latvia.
Congratulations to CellPoint Digital, the travel-focused payment orchestration provider, on raising €27.1 million from Toscafund and Penta Capital. Kudos to Goodstack, the London-based FinTech platform transforming corporate giving, on securing €26.4 million in a Series A round led by General Catalyst. Finally, a shoutout to QPLIX, the Munich-based portfolio management software leader, for closing a €25 million round from Partech.
Let’s dive in
CellPoint Digital, a payment solutions provider for the travel industry, has raised €27.1 million in funding from Toscafund and Penta Capital. The investment will support the expansion of its Offer Order Service Delivery (OOSD) platform, aimed at advancing airline retailing and meeting the rising demand for payment orchestration globally. With a strong presence across air travel, hospitality, and tour operations, CellPoint Digital collaborates with leading brands like Virgin Atlantic, Avianca, and Riyadh Air. The funding will help the company scale its footprint, enhance its alternative payment offerings, and strengthen its position in the travel sector.
London-based Goodstack, a FinTech and SaaS platform focused on embedding purpose into business operations, has raised €26.4 million in a Series A round led by General Catalyst, with support from Morpheus Ventures and Repeat. The funding will fuel the expansion of its technology, corporate services, and global team across London, San Francisco, and Sydney. Goodstack simplifies philanthropy for businesses and nonprofits, offering tools for corporate grants, donations, and cross-border giving. Nonprofits gain access to advanced verification processes and funding channels. Projected to facilitate over $3 billion in donations across 215 countries this year, Goodstack supports organizations like the Red Cross and Cancer Research. CEO Henry Ludlam aims to position Goodstack as the “Stripe for philanthropy,” driving seamless integration of purpose into business operations while bridging technological gaps for nonprofits globally.
Munich-based QPLIX, a leading provider of digital portfolio management solutions, has secured €25 million in funding from Partech’s Growth Fund. With this investment, Partech joins Deutsche Bank as a minority shareholder.The funding will support QPLIX’s ambitious growth plans, including expansion into France, Switzerland, the UK, the Middle East, and APAC regions. Founded in 2019, QPLIX serves family offices, institutional investors, private banks, and asset managers, offering tools for managing complex portfolios with both liquid and illiquid assets. Its platform, trusted for its robust security and advanced analytics, currently oversees over €300 billion in assets. Partech’s backing underscores QPLIX’s position as a WealthTech leader, enhancing its global reach and capabilities in delivering cutting-edge solutions for the investment management industry.
In addition to this week’s fundraising activity, here is the European M&A activity of the week:
Bricksave, a global startup in real estate crowdfunding based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has acquired Alte, a London-based tech-driven real estate investment platform. This strategic acquisition positions Bricksave as the largest global platform in the sector, combining Alte's innovative tools with Bricksave's extensive reach to further democratize real estate investment. The integration enhances accessibility, transparency, and profitability for investors worldwide, reinforcing Bricksave’s mission to simplify real estate investing and expand opportunities across new markets.
And finally, these are the news that caught our eye last week:
Revolut has been granted a trading license by the UK Financial Conduct Authority, after having finally received their UK banking license in July of this year. As a now authorized investment firm, Revolut will be offering new trading products, including UK and EU listed stocks and ETFs, to its 650,000+ UK trading customers.
At the Group of 20 leaders’ summit in Rio de Janeiro last week, the UK and Brazilian governments discussed the move of Brazilian Fintech Nubank’s holding company to the UK. While the holding company is currently domiciled in the Cayman Islands, the corporate headquarters of the highly successful neobank are and will remain in its domestic São Paulo, Brazil. The discussion is part of a broader push by the UK government to attract Tech companies, and a wider set of arrangements between the UK and Brazil.
German neobank N26 has recorded its first quarterly profit with their Q3/2024 reporting, posting a net operating income of €2.8m. This comes after the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority BaFin fully lifted N26’s compliance-related growth restrictions in the beginning of June 2024. The company now expects to reach 4.8m revenue-generating customers by the end of the year, and are currently seeing sign-up rates of 200,000 monthly, twice as many as while growth restrictions were still intact.
Last but not least, the Fintech giant Stripe is buying back shares at $27.51 per share, which translates to a valuation of ~$70bn, which is a similar valuation to the one reached in an earlier share sale this year. Current investors have until mid-December to decide whether they would like to participate.
Have a great week!
Sources of the fundraising reports