BlackFin Tech Weekly — September 2nd, 2024
Every Monday, we publish a short digest which sums up last week’s Fintech activity.
Hello FinTech Friends,
Welcome back to our newsletter!
After a refreshing summer break, we’re diving into the highlights of August with a wealth of exciting updates and developments in the FinTech world.
Let’s catch up on the notable deals and innovations that defined the past month as we explore the latest developments in the European FinTech scene. Last month, we saw 20 official fintech deals in Europe, raising a total of €351.8 million, with 9 deals in the UK, 3 in Germany, 2 in Switzerland, 1 in France, 2 in Lithuania, 1 in Estonia, 1 in Denmark and 1 in Norway.
Congratulations to Cloudpay, a UK-based independent provider of global payroll and payment solutions, for securing a significant €111.7 million investment in a round led by Blue Owl Capital. We also applaud the german ESG platform Osapiens for their €111.7 million Series B round from Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives. Lastly, congratulations to Morpho Labs, the British decentralized lending developer, for successfully raising €46.5 million in a round led by Ribbit Capital.
Let’s dive in
CloudPay, a UK-based global payroll and payment solutions provider, has raised $120 million in funding, led by Blue Owl Capital with support from Rho Capital Partners, The Olayan Group, and Hollyport Capital. This significant financial boost will strengthen CloudPay’s capital base and provide the flexibility needed for future growth and innovation. Serving over 280 corporate clients across more than 130 countries, CloudPay plans to use the funds to enhance its customer product and technology offerings. Key initiatives include leveraging artificial intelligence for improved data management, automating processes, and expanding connectivity through a comprehensive suite of API solutions. These efforts aim to further integrate and streamline operations within its global payroll, payment, and HCM ecosystem.
Osapiens
Mannheim-based Osapiens, a rising leader in ESG technology, has raised €111.7 million in Series B funding, led by Goldman Sachs Growth . Founded in 2018 and recognized with the German Entrepreneurship Award in 2022, Osapiens operates the Osapiens HUB, the first AI-powered ESG platform designed to help companies meet complex international regulations such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the European Union Deforestation-free Regulation (E UDR). The platform integrates compliance, risk mitigation, and operational efficiency into a single solution, allowing companies to navigate ESG requirements with ease while promoting long-term sustainability. The latest funding will enable Osapiens to broaden its global reach and continue innovating its platform, which has already attracted over 1,300 customers, including major brands like Bosch, Coca-Cola North America, and Lidl.
Morpho Labs
Morpho Labs, a French leader in decentralized lending, has raised €46.5 million in a venture round supported by a16z crypto, Coinbase Ventures, and over 40 other investors. This funding will further decentralize the Morpho network and advance its mission to make financial infrastructure a public good. Morpho’s recent launch, Morpho Blue, a decentralized lending protocol, has quickly gained traction, surpassing $1.7 billion in total deposits within six months. Morpho Labs aims to expand its ecosystem with additional modular layers like Morpho Vaults, positioning itself as a foundational infrastructure for diverse DeFi and fintech applications.
In addition to this summer’s fundraising activity, here is the European M&A activity of the week:
Allica Bank has announced the acquisition of Tuscan Capital, a move aimed at expanding its presence in the bridging finance market. Allica Bank, founded in 2020, is a UK-based business lender with a growing reputation in commercial mortgages and asset finance. The bank manages significant assets and employs a growing team. Tuscan Capital, founded in 2018, is a specialist in bridging and refurbishment finance, offering tailored short-term lending solutions. The company employs over 200 people and has built a strong broker network. These strategic moves are part of Allica’s broader plan to enhance its technological capabilities and expand its product offerings in underserved segments of the lending market. The terms of the acquisition remain undisclosed.
Five Arrows has announced it will sell Harvest to TA Associates and Montagu. Harvest is a leading provider of wealth management software and is valued at approximately €500 million according to l’AGEFI, reflecting a multiple of 20 times its EBITDA. Founded in 2006, Harvest has grown significantly and now serves over 4,600 clients with an annual revenue of around €70 million. The company was previously acquired by Five Arrows in 2018 and was delisted in 2020. As part of this transaction, the new owners, TA Associates and Montagu, have made an offer entirely financed by equity, with plans to refinance part of the purchase with structured debt.
And finally, here are the news that caught our eye last week:
Amazon invested $20 million into the Indian BNPL firm Axio. Axio currently enables 3,000 e-commerce merchants to embed pay later, credit and personal finance management services into online checkouts, and serves nine million credit customers. Notably, they also provide the backbone for pay later services for Amazon in India. With the funding, they aim to scale their loan book, improve their checkout finance offering and expand credit offerings, as well as access the next 200 million credit clients in India.
Revolut collaborates with Visa Direct, in an effort to streamline international transactions for Revolut Business customers. Users will need only a card number for payments to arrive in the recipient’s account within up to 30 minutes. Visa Direct covers 78 countries and 50 currencies.
In a letter to shareholders, Klarna CEO Siemiatkowski claimed their AI assistant now has the ability to perform the work of 700 employees to full customer satisfaction. Through natural attrition and a hiring freeze in all areas but engineering, Klarna has thus far reduced their workforce from 5,000 to 3,800, a trend they aim to continue to land at 2,000 employees at no set time.
Stripe CTO David Singleton is stepping down from his position to start his own company after seven years at Stripe. To be replaced by deputy CTO Rahul Patil, Singleton has kept quiet about the nature of his own venture.
We are happy to be back from our summer break and looking forward to starting into the last months of the year.
Have a great week!
Sources of the fundraising reports