It’s time to dive into The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup on Tuesday 5 March 2024 for the latest global fintech updates.
Funding and investments
Monzo, the UK digital bank, has raised $430million (£340 million) in a funding round that will boost its expansion plans. Led by CapitalG, Alphabet’s independent growth fund, the round also sees participation fromGV (Google Ventures) and HSG (HongShan Capital), as well as existing backers including Passion Capital and Tencent. The new capital will be used to accelerate Monzo’s expansion plans following a year of record growth that saw the company move into profitability.
Synctera, an embedded banking and finance company, has raised an $18.6million extension to its 2021 Series A round, with Lightspeed and Fin Capital co-leading alongside participation from other previous investors NAventures and Diagram. New investors include Banco Popular and Mana Ventures.
Meo (formerly NewBanking), the Danish end-to-end platform helping clients with risk assessment and continuous due diligence, has secured €1.67million for increased growth and expansion in Europe – expanding clients beyond the traditional banking sector to VCs and law firms. It comes from a new capital round from existing investors, including Scale Capital and EIFO Ventures, as well as a €1million loan from the Swedish growth & lending platform, Gilion.
Appointments
Zodia Custody, an institution-first digital asset custodian whose shareholders include Standard Chartered, SBI Holdings and Northern Trust, has appointed Azmina Keshani as chief legal officer. Keshani will direct Zodia Custody’s legal strategy for global growth, as well as oversee product development from a legal perspective.
VIPR, a provider of software solutions for the global delegated insurance industry, appoints Tony Russell as its new chief revenue officer. He has previously holding senior roles with notable organisations in the insurance and technology sectors such as Charles Taylor InsureTech. Russell will focus on leveraging VIPR’s advanced technological capabilities.
Digital transformation company GFT has strengthened its leadership team with the appointment of Ian Oswald as its executive director of strategy and offerings. He will be responsible for driving the business’ capabilities and offerings for the company’s clients across the financial services industry.
Ziglu, the UK personal investment, digital asset and banking platform, appoints Simon McNamara to its board of directors. McNamara brings over 30 years of experience in the global financial services industry, holding senior leadership roles at major institutions like RBS Group and Standard Chartered Bank.
Thredd, a global payments platform, has appointed Edwin Poot as global chief technology officer. Poot will lead the next phase of Thredd’s technological evolution to deliver the company’s robust product expansion roadmap. He will join the company’s executive committee alongside a range of C-level industry veterans who have come on board over the last year to deliver the organisation’s next chapter of strategic growth.
Partnerships
WineFi, a UK-based fintech platform, has bagged a strategic investment from Coterie Holdings, a UK fine wine group. The investment follows the success of WineFi’s pre-seed round, led by SFC Capital, with support from Founders Capital and an array of high-profile angels. Alongside the investment, WineFi has revealed Michael Saunders will also be joining WineFi’s board of directors.
Careem, a multi-service app, has partnered with Umrahme, an online travel booking platform, and Emirates Islamic, an Islamic financial institutions in the UAE, to provide Careem’s top performing Captains with all-inclusive trips to perform Umrah ahead of Ramadan in appreciation of their dedication and efforts.
Murex, a trading, investment management, risk and processing solutions for capital markets company, has joined forces with Alveo, a provider of cloud-based market data management services. The partnership brings the Murex MX.3 front-to-back-to-risk investment management system (IMS) and Alveo’s financial data management solution together to support client data operations and provide MX.3 users with accurate, dependable and auditable data.
Utimaco, a global provider of IT security solutions, has hooked up with InfoSec Global, the cryptographic vulnerability management and agility company. A strategic partnership enables commercial and government enterprises to discover and inventory cryptographic assets and achieve cryptographic agility as they tackle the challenges of post-quantum cryptography (PQC) migration. Utimaco is also the latest shareholder in InfoSec Global, following investments from Merlin Ventures and Synopsys.
Unlimit, the global fintech company, has forged a global partnership with VTEX, the composable and complete commerce platform for premier brands and retailers. Unlimit will provide VTEX’s merchants with more domestic and international payment services to support growing cross-border commerce.
Industry and company updates
A new programme announced by Nationwide Building Society will help over 120 young people into an exclusive tech education course, helping drive social mobility for underrepresented young people. The Tech Futures Launchpad, founded by Nationwide and tech education company MAMA.codes, will provide classes for children in foster care and from low-income homes in London and Swindon to learn all about the essentials of coding in a fun, friendly way that will help develop a lifelong learning habit.
Ecommpay, an international payment service provider and UK and European direct bank card acquirer, has been shortlisted at the Merchant Payment Ecosystem (MPE) Awards in the Best Use of Open Banking for Payments category. Ecommpay has been nominated for Open Banking Advanced, a proprietary product that exceeds standard account-to-account payment limitations.
Stenn, the digital fintech enabling growth for businesses engaged in international trade, e-commerce and digital services, has invested in a new technology and innovation hub in Barcelona – starting with the hiring of 25 new employees. The hub, Stenn’s second in Europe, will follow the same blueprint for success as its London presence.
