Praise the lord: Pushpay shares rise after $33m placement
Pushpay, an ASX-listed fintech seeking to convert United States church goers to donating via their mobile phones, has raised $US25 million ($33 million) in an oversubscribed placement as it targets a doubling of revenue next year. Fifteen new institutional investors in Australia and New Zealand, where Pushpay is also listed, backed the private placement at $NZ1.51 per share, 26 per cent below the price when it raised $54 million ahead of its ASX float last October. The latest fundraising was managed and underwritten by Deutsche Craigs and Ord Minnett and initially reported by Street Talk. When the Seattle-based company resumed trading on the ASX on Thursday, shares rose 6.9 per […]
UK fintech start-up Revolut raises $66 million, adds bitcoin
The “global banking alternative” Revolut has raised $66 million in a fund-raising round, the start-up said on Wednesday, in the latest sign that London is so far weathering Brexit to remain a global financial-technology center. Led by Europe- and San Francisco-based venture capital fund Index Ventures, the fund-raising round was one of the biggest ever Series B rounds in Europe. It should provide some comfort to the British capitol as it jostles to hold onto its reputation as Europe’s leading hub for the nascent fintech sector. The investment dwarfs the 19.5 million pounds ($25 million) raised by London-based rival Monzo in its Series B round earlier this year. Revolut, which […]
World Bank, Alibaba fund invest in Hong Kong-based fintech startup
Hong Kong-based startup CompareAsiaGroup has secured $50 million in funding from investors led by the World Bank’s commercial lending arm, as the personal finance management platform looks to develop its technology and launch more products. The International Finance Corp (IFC), as the World Bank unit is called, said it had agreed to invest $15 million in the firm. The other investors include Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, a not-for-profit fund launched by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, and Japan’s SBI Group. Existing investors of CompareAsiaGroup, such as Goldman Sachs Investment Partners and private equity firm Ace & Company, also took part in the funding round, the fintech company said without disclosing the […]
London fintech Curve closing in on $10M Series A
Curve, the London fintech startup that offers a platform that lets you consolidate all your bank cards into a single Curve card and manage your money, is on the verge of closing $10 million in Series A funding. According to sources, the round, which could be announced as soon as this week, is being led by Connect Ventures, with participation from Santander Ventures, the venture arm of Spain-headquartered bank Santander Group. A number of other investors from the fintech and banking world are also participating, although I haven’t been able to pin down who they are. It is also not clear if this Series A includes an earlier bridge round […]
Vantiv offers Worldpay a deal valued at $10 Billion
Worldpay Group, the British payment processing company, said on Wednesday that it had agreed in principle to be acquired by Vantiv, an American rival, for 7.7 billion pounds. The transaction, valued at about $10 billion, is one of the most significant in the field since the financial crisis. Payment processing has become increasingly important for financial institutions as more people shop online and move money using cellphones or other digital devices. Worldpay disclosed on Tuesday that it had received takeover approaches from both Vantiv and JPMorgan Chase, an announcement that sent its shares 23 percent higher. Shortly after the deal was announced on Wednesday, JPMorgan said it did not intend […]
London ‘defends title as Europe’s tech hub with record investment so far in 2017’
London appears to be defending its title as Europe’s tech hub – at least for now. According to figures published by London & Partners, the Mayor of London’s promotional agency, venture capital firms pumped more than £1.1bn into the city’s technology sector over the last six months. London’s tech sector attracted more venture capital investment over that period than any other European city since the Brexit vote, including Dublin, Paris and Amsterdam. More than four times the amount of investment was recorded than at the same stage during 2013 and more than during any other six-month time period in the last decade. Investment across the whole of the UK topped […]
Fintech startup Tide got a $14 million boost
Banking startup Tide raised $US14 million in one of the largest Series A funding rounds closed by a fintech company this year. Tide, a digital-only banking app aimed at small businesses, has also partnered with online lender iwoca, in a move to allow small companies access to loans of up to £100,000. The funding round was led by specialist fintech investor Anthemis, along with Passion Capital, LocalGlobe and Creandum, the company that backed Spotify. Tide plans to almost double its London team by the end of the year, and develop more features to make online banking for small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) more efficient. Some of these features, says […]
MortgageGym receives £500K investment from Henry Ritchotte
MortgageGym, a UK-based regulated mortgage robo-adviser, received a personal investment of £500k from Henry Ritchotte. Ritchotte, former Chief Operating Officer and member of the management board of Deutsche Bank AG, was also appointed as an adviser. He has over 24 years’ experience in the investment banking and financial services industries. Since leaving Deutsche earlier this year, Ritchotte has been making early stage investments in financial services firms with a focus on disruptive regulatory- and technology-driven business models. He previously held the role of ‘Head of Digital Bank’ at Deutsche. Ritchotte previously worked as Deutsche’s Chief Digital Officer on projects to digitalise banking services. Other roles at Deutsche included Chief Operating […]
