Funding activity is stalling in the Baltics’ fintech sector as startups are failing to raise considerable rounds this year, data from Fintech Global show.
International money transfer firm TransferWise announced a $280mn series E raise; investors in the round include Old Mutual Global Investors, IVP, Sapphire Ventures, Mitsui & Co., Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford and Richard Branson; they plan to use the funds for expansion to the Asia Pacific region by having a full set of products available in India and opening offices in Tokyo and Sydney. Source.
The VPC Speciality Lending investment trust sold it’s exposure to Avant loans and their equity stake as it continues a move out of the sector; the fund has been shifting to a balance sheet strategy for quite some time and this is another indicator of that move; they also sold their equity exposure in Australian point of sale lender zipMoney. Source.
Equity management platform Capdesk and investment management service Fidelity are partnering to enable a continuous transition of share plans from private to public.
Codat, the API enabling SMEs to share and synchronize financial data, has today announced its foray into the Australian market.
Fintech company Näktergal has raised EUR 1M, led by Katalysen & Partners to accelerate further expansion in Europe.
Steven, the Swedish expense sharing app, has recently released a card to support the platform as they evolve further, addressing the need to split household bills.
The company passed £1bn in 2016 after 5 years and booked another £1bn in just 14 months; part of their success in increasing originations has been due to two new products, confidential invoice discounting and business loans; their larger institutional investor base has also allowed them to fund larger businesses with bigger funding requirements; in 2017 the firm lent £714.2m to businesses. Source
UK-based Growth Capital Ventures (GCV) has received a 1.1 million British pound ($1.37 million) investment from Maven Capital Partners; GCV will use the funds to develop a new P2P lending platform and for expansion of its current crowdfunding solutions; the firm focuses on crowdfunded investments in real estate, clean energy and technology. Source
Huddle Capital provides P2P loans for businesses; Terry Fisher talks about the platform's differentiators and advantages; also discusses its ownership by Access Commercial Finance, its relationship with Rebuildingsociety, its technology and what investors can expect. Source