Passion Capital has backed Fronted, the startup that wants to offer loans to cover rent deposits
Fronted, the new London-based startup aiming to make life easier for renters, has picked up seed investment from Passion Capital.
London Fintech Updraft raises £16m to help people break up with their credit cards
Consumers will pay over £10b in fees and interests for overdraft and credit cards in 2020 alone. Updraft wants to reduce that amount.
Irish fintech sector sees record investment during pandemic
Although many sectors saw investment slow due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Irish fintech industry saw a record period of activity.
Vietnam second among ASEAN members in attracting fintech funding
Vietnam’s fintech firms secured $410 million, or 36 percent of the global capital pouring into Southeast Asia between January and September, behind Singapore. The country’s share of regional venture capital funding devoted to fintech soared from just 0.4 percent in 2018, according to a report prepared by the United Overseas Bank (UOB), PwC and the Singapore Fintech Association (SFA). Singapore remained the top destination for regional fintech investment, with 51 percent, down from 53 percent in 2018, with Indonesia in third place with 12 percent, down from 37 percent last year. By the end of the third quarter this year, ASEAN had received $1.14 billion in funding for fintech firms, […]
MiddleGame Ventures announces $165m FinTech-focused fund
MiddleGame Ventures (MGV), a fintech-focused investment firm, announced today that it had raised a new fund targeting post-seed, series A and series B lead investments in Europe and North America. MGV’s Venture Fund I has achieved its first close, with a final close target size of $165MM. It will invest in and partner with B2B and B2B2C startups driving the transformation of financial services from analog to digital and from centralized to decentralized, with an emphasis on middleware and back office solutions. Its remit extends to enabling technologies such as RegTech, Digital Identities, “FinData” and crypto-enabled infrastructure across banking, asset management, insurance, payments, and capital markets. The Luxembourg Future Fund […]
The latest marker of Chinese interest in African fintech is a $120 million funding round for OPay
Chinese interest in African fintech has just stepped up another gear. OPay, the payments service operating in Nigeria, has raised $120 million in a Series B round led mainly by Chinese investors including familiar names like Sequoia China, IDG Capital and Source Code Capital. The round also included participation from Softbank Ventures Asia, Meituan-Dianping, DragonBall Capitak, GaoRong Capital and GSR Ventures. It’s the second major funding announcement by OPay this year and comes just five months after it raised $50 million back in July in a round also led by Chinese investors. OPay was incubated by Opera, the China-owned internet browser. OPay says the new funding will be deployed to […]
Singapore FinTech startup M-DAQ wins Samsung’s backing
Singapore fintech startup M-DAQ Pte won the backing of Samsung Group’s venture capital fund in a bid to expand in South Korea and beyond. With Samsung’s investment in its pre-series D round, the company’s valuation will exceed S$500 million ($368 million), up from S$250 million in November 2015, according to Chief Executive Officer Richard Koh. M-DAQ didn’t disclose the amount of Samsung’s investment. “Samsung is a key investor who will be facilitating our strategic expansion in Korea within the Samsung ecosystem and externally as well,” according to a release by M-DAQ. To read more, please click on the link below… Source: Singapore FinTech Startup M-DAQ Wins Samsung’s Backing – Bloomberg
Tokyo-based WealthNavi raises $37.6m in Series D round
Tokyo-based WealthNavi, provider of Japan’s biggest financial robo-adviser service, has secured 4.1 billion yen ($37.6 million) in its Series D funding round backed by a fund launched by Sony Financial Ventures and Global Brain, according to an announcement. Other investors including UTokyo Innovation Platform, SMBC Venture Capital, Mizuho Bank, Opt Ventures, and Resona Capital also participated in the funding round that brings the total funding into WealthNavi to over $130 million, the company said. Established in 2015 by Kazuhisa Shibayama, WealthNavi offers a platform for asset managers to provide advice using risk management algorithm. The company has opened 240,000 accounts with assets under management of 180 billion yen ($1.6 billion). […]
