BlackFin Tech Weekly — September 9th, 2024
Every Monday, we publish a short digest which sums up last week’s Fintech activity.
Hello FinTech Friends,
Welcome back to our newsletter! We have a week full of Fintech news behind us and we are excited to dive into the deals and other related Fintech news that happened over the last 7 days. Read on to learn about all the latest developments.
Last week, we saw 7 official fintech deals in Europe, raising a total of €30.5 million, with 2 deals in the UK, 3 in France, 1 in Denmark and 1 in Sweden.
Congratulations to Cognitive Credit, the UK-based corporate credit analysis software, for securing a €9.3 million series B round led by ETFS Capital. A round of applause to the Swedish treasury management platform Palm for raising €5.7 million in a seed round led by Speedinvest and Target Global. Lastly, a big congratulations to Kompasbank, Denmark's neobank for SMEs, for successfully raising €5.5 million in fresh capital.
Let’s dive in
Cognitive Credit, a UK-based corporate credit analysis software, has secured €9.3 million in a series B round led by ETFS Capital, with additional support from XTX Ventures. The company, known for offering advanced data and analytics solutions to credit investors, empowers users to make smarter, faster investment decisions through its proprietary platform. Cognitive Credit's software automatically generates detailed credit models, updating them within minutes of earnings releases, and offers workflow tools designed to streamline productivity. This functionality enables investment teams to uncover more actionable insights, ultimately enhancing their decision-making process. With the new funding, Cognitive Credit plans to expand into new markets, enhance its product suite, and invest in cutting-edge AI and algorithmic debt valuation solutions tailored for institutional investors.
Palm, a Swedish treasury management platform founded by former Uber and PayPal executives, has raised €5.7 million in seed funding led by Speedinvest and Target Global. The platform helps businesses streamline money movement between hundreds of bank accounts and subsidiaries, with a faster setup time compared to traditional systems. Palm’s automated cash forecasting feature, which the company claims outperforms human models at least 75% of the time, is a key differentiator. The new funding will be used to expand Palm’s team and drive its growth across Europe, the UK, and the US.
Kompasbank, Denmark’s digital business bank for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), has raised €5.5 million in new funding, primarily from existing investors. Since its launch, the bank has filled a crucial gap in the market, offering tailored banking solutions to over 247,000 SMEs in Denmark. The fresh capital will be used to expand Kompasbank’s lending portfolio and introduce new services such as leasing, overdraft facilities, foreign exchange, and payment solutions. These additions will further Kompasbank's goal of becoming a full-service bank, offering more comprehensive support to SMEs.
In addition to this summer’s fundraising activity, here is the European M&A activity of the week:
Tarabut, the first and largest regulated open banking platform in the MENA region, based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has acquired Vyne, a London-based real-time account-to-account (A2A) payments platform for online businesses. The strategic acquisition, approved by both the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), aims to enhance Tarabut’s capabilities in delivering faster and more interconnected financial services, particularly in light of upcoming regulatory changes in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Vyne's technology will be integrated into Tarabut’s operations, starting in Bahrain, to provide advanced A2A payment solutions across the region. The acquisition closed on August 1st, 2024, and further solidifies Tarabut's position as a global leader in Open Banking.
And finally, here are the news that caught our eye last week:
Bills and subscriptions have been paid through bank transfers / direct debit for a long time. Now, Visa has announced they are launching an account to account solution in the UK in early 2025. Banks and businesses will be able to offer consumers Visa A2A in order to give them more control over how they pay their utilities, rent and childcare bills. Consumers will have more choice over their payment methods, more control over their payments, and a higher level of protection through dispute resolution and biometric solutions.
The Swedish fund trading platform SAVR implemented Brite Instant Payments, which will enable customers to use BankID to authenticate direct transfers of larger sums into their account. SAVR currently has over 1000,000 users and offers 1,700 funds at reduced prices, with the plan to launch stock and ETF trading later this year. The equally Sweden-based Brite Payments offers A2A solutions for consumers and businesses.
Revolut now enables customers in the UK and in Switzerland to make payments using crypto, both online and in person through virtual crypto payment cards. These cards will be integrated with Apple Pay and Google Pay. Exchange fees will not be charged to customers; Revolut may however charge “fair usage fees” depending on the user’s subscription package.
The Danish family finance app MyMonii has closed down. The FinTech offered Visa credit cards and and app for savings goals to parents of children between 7 to 18 years. After eight years, they shut down their business, citing not being able to scale their business in a manner that would lead to profitability.
Have a great week!
Sources of the fundraising reports