The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup on Thursday 12 October 2023.
Funding and investments
Untangled Finance, the London-based fintech, has raised $13.5million in multi-year strategic funding to accelerate its mission to bring institutional-grade credit with a built-in liquidation mechanism on-chain. Fasanara Capital, the fintech investment platform, is the lead investor in the round. Proceeds from the funding round will be directed towards product development, ecosystem incubation and growth initiatives.
Berlin fintech Upvest partners with BlackRock following €30million funding round. The firm offers digital wealth management infrastructure, aiming to simplify investing in Europe. Upvest’s other existing investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, HV Capital, Earlybird, Notion Capital, ABN Amro Ventures and 10x Capital.
Instant payment provider Lopay lands £6million in seed funding from BackedVC, Portage, The Venture Collective and angel investors. The UK-based company lets businesses take card payments anywhere and any time, either through a mobile app or with a free card reader
ALT21, a hedging technology company, has closed a $21miliion funding round. The fundraise will help ALT21 to sustain its growth trajectory. ALT21 plans to broaden the base of strategic partners to reach a larger demographic of SMEs. It also plans to expand overseas, allowing it to work with strategic partners globally. In addition, it also plans to licence its software to a broader range of fintechs and banks.
Carefull, an AI-powered financial safety platform, has closed its Series A round with $16.5million in funding. The round was led by Fin Capital and joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, TTV Capital, Commerce Ventures, Montage Ventures, and Alloy Labs, bringing the company’s total funding to $19.7million.
Industry hires
SRM, the global cybersecurity and corporate intelligence consultancy, has appointed Ferry Noordzij as director, Europe, to drive the company’s expansion efforts across mainland Europe. Noordzij brings over two decades of experience in intelligence, security, and cyber risk management to the S-RM team.
MNT-Halan, an Egyptian fintech ecosystem, has named Omar Elhamawy as chief financial officer as well as Sara Metwally as chief marketing officer (CMO). Egypt’s first unicorn will draw on this new management depth as it continues to offer multiple products and expand in Egypt, Africa, and in the broader region.Omar Elhamawy joins MNT-Halan from Sodic while Metwally was most recently a director at Coca-Cola.
Digital bank Tandem, appoints James Streeter as head of ESG, supporting its drive to keep sustainability at the core of Tandem. In this newly created role, Streeter will set the environmental, social and governance strategy for Tandem; taking responsibility for the bank’s policies, compliance and targets,
while ensuring integration of ESG across Tandem’s products and propositions.
Partisia Blockchain announces the appointment of Shirly Valge as the head of external relations and partnerships. This strategic hire outlines its commitment to cultivating relationships and expanding partnerships. Valge was recently chief operating officer and board member at Velas Network.
Partnerships
Lloyds Bank has accelerated its strategic partnership with FreedomPay, a consumer-centric commerce platform, as part of its continued growth strategy to offer clients access to a suite of fast, efficient, and secure payments solutions. The partnership gives merchants using Lloyds Bank Cardnet access to FreedomPay’s advanced payment processing capabilities.
STICPAY, the e-wallet service provider and payment gateway, has partnered with Binance Pay, a contactless, borderless and secure cryptocurrency payment technology, to streamline STICPAY users’ access to dozens of cryptocurrencies. Through the partnership, STICPAY users can now deposit into their account directly through Binance Pay,
Mashreq has entered into a landmark partnership with Padelae, the UAE’s largest Padel facility. With 32 courts across four locations in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah, Padelae serves as a hub for the UAE’s rapidly growing Padel community. The partnership will promote Padel sports and community wellbeing across the UAE.
Allianz Partners, a B2B2C insurance and assistance services company, and bolttech, an international insurtech, have teamed up to provide embedded device and appliance protection insurance across APAC and the US. The strategic cooperation agreement aims to bring together each company’s complementary strengths to offer solutions enabling business partners to add insurance and protection products to customer journeys.
More partnerships
Currencycloud has partnered with xpate, the UK-based e-commerce payments platform and business bank for micro, small, and medium-sized businesses. The partnership will enable xpate customers to tap new markets around the world and open up fresh revenue streams. xpate can now also offer customers instant settlements, giving them greater control and flexibility over their cash flow.
HyperJar, the London-based fintech and digital wallet, is adding instant Cashback Gift Cards to its extensive feature set. Partnering with Tillo, the digital gift card network, HyperJar will be the first spending app to integrate Cashback Gift Cards, giving its customers the option to earn instant cashback of up to 15 per cent from over 50 top brands, straight into their wallets.
Company updates
Fime is accredited by Visa to support vendors to validate the Level 2 compliance of their contactless payment terminals. This gives solution providers in the APAC region a local one-stop shop for all their payment compliance needs, helping them to streamline the testing process, optimise time to market and save money.
Viva.com Group, a leading European cloud-based neobank, has received e-money institution authorisation for its UK subsidiary, Vivawallet.com Ltd, from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This licensing milestone marks a significant step forward in Viva.com’s strategic expansion efforts in the UK, complementing its extensive presence across 24 markets in Europe.
Claire Woffenden
