Amica Financial Technologies raises $24 million in funding
Amica Financial Technologies, an upcoming digital retail bank founded by Citrus Pay cofounder Jitendra Gupta, has received $24 million in its maiden funding round. The funding is backed by a long list of institutional investors including Greyhound Capital, 3One4 Capital, Germany’s Rocket Internet, venture capital funds Matrix Partners and Sequoia Capital. Gupta, a former PayU India managing director, is among a growing tribe of second-time entrepreneurs who have attracted big bucks from marquee investors even before officially launching their companies. The Mumbai-based startup, which Gupta cofounded along with Vishnu Jerome of law firm Jerome Merchant and Partners, has also brought on board a host of angel investors. To read more, […]
Stockholm-based fintech startup Dreams raises €9 million to help millenials fulfill their financial ‘dreams’
Stockholm-based fintech startup Dreams has raised €9 million in a late seed round. The investor pool includes AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM), the Norwegian insurance company Storebrand, Finnish Ålandsbanken and a group of private investors. Dreams helps its users fulfill their financial goals through a user-friendly mobile app using behavioural science. Launched in 2016, Dreams’ key commercial offering is a digital product platform for financial services, with a focus on financial well-being. The platform is particularly focused on serving millennials. Dreams helps its users to fulfill their financial ‘dreams’ through its user-friendly mobile app. What differentiates Dreams from other fintech apps is its deep application of behavioural science in its methodology and […]
US FinTech West Creek nabs $150 mn from Pollen Street Capital
West Creek, a Virginia-based FinTech firm has raised $150 million from Pollen Street Capital, bringing the company’s total raised capital to $250 million. The company claims a revenue growth of over 4,400% since 2015 and expects to surpass $200 million by the end of 2019. West Creek plans to expand its point-of-sale (PoS) financing offering with the new funds, according to a statement Rajesh Rao, chief financial officer, and chief risk officer at West Creek stated that the company plans to deliver an improved financing experience to its retail partners and customers through a combination of customer support, technology, and data-science-driven credit decisions. Founded in 2014, West Creek helps consumers make […]
Luge Capital raises $85M to invest in Canadian fintech startups
There are 831 financial technology startups headquartered in or operating in Canada, according to data collected by Fintech Growth Syndicate, yet only a handful of venture capital funds specializing in the region and sector. Luge Capital, a fintech and AI-focused venture capital fund headquartered in Montreal and Toronto, is looking to close that gap. The firm has raised $85 million for its debut fund and plans to make seed investments as small as $150,000 and as large as $2 million. The relatively new outfit, founded in 2018, is led by David Nault, a former vice president at iNovia Capital, and Karim Gillani, who previously led corporate development for Xoom, the […]
Utrecht-based Rabo Frontier Ventures invests in UK fintech and banking company Tide
Rabo Frontier Ventures, Utrecht-based strategic investment venture fund, has invested in the mobile business platform Tide in a Series B investment round. This investment round was led by SBI Group and Augment. Notably, the RFV deal was structured through an SPV that is managed by Anthemis Group, a major early-stage investor in Tide and one of the most active fintech investors. Jeroen van Doornik, Partner at RFV, said: This investment in Tide will generate valuable insights regarding innovation and development in SME banking and further allows us to work together with Anthemis and alongside existing investors such as LocalGlobe. The funding will help Tide substantially increase its share of the […]
How Crowdfunding is becoming regular investing
A decade ago, an entrepreneur wanting to raise cash pretty much had to have rich relatives or pals, or gain entry into the clubby world of venture capital. Sure, that entrepreneur could take it to the web, asking people to make their own relatively small investments, but that was considered less than respectable – the digital version, perhaps, of panhandling. My, how much has changed since 2009. Now crowdsourcing is not only the hip way to raise money, but is pretty much expected to be part of the overall fundraising process. And one person who has helped in that shift is Jeff Kelisky, CEO of Seedrs, a crowdsourcing platform where new businesses […]
Scotland attracts £37m investment in fintech over the past decade
Fintech in Scotland has attracted nearly £37m in investment over the last 10 years with an emerging ‘ecosystem’ which brings together start-ups, large firms, universities and the public sector, said the Scottish Government. Scotland is now a key location for many international firms, such as J.P. Morgan, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, NCR, Ingenico and Avaloq. J.P. Morgan’s European Technology Centre in Glasgow is a key strategic technology hub with 1,300 employees.Deloitte’s 2017 Global FinTech Hubs Federation report highlighted Edinburgh’s high concentration of key elements, and outside London and the South East, Scotland has the most complete financial and business services industry cluster in the UK. Economy Secretary Keith Brown has been […]
UK start-ups attract record £8.27bn investment
UK start-ups raised more money in equity investment last year than ever before, new research shows, as foreign investment cash flooded into the country. Data from the research firm Beauhurst, which specialises in tracking growth businesses, shows UK start-ups picked up £8.27bn worth of funding during 2017, more than twice as much as in 2016. Last year was also a record year for megadeals, with no fewer than 29 companies attracting investments of more than £50m. These businesses were led by Improbable, which raised £389m from the Japanese technology investor SoftBank Capital, and Farfetch, which raised £313m from the Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com. Other large funding rounds included TransferWise’s raise […]
