BlackFin Tech Weekly — May 3rd
Hello everyone,
Lighter deal activity this week. Is the holiday breeze blowing on the European fintech ecosystem this week? Is that why the spotlight is for Greece-based Viva Wallet?
We recorded 7 fundraisings, with total money raised being €189,2m. As just mentioned, the largest fundraising is Greek this time with Viva Wallet raising a chunky $80m round! Also Germany-based Vivid is worth mentioning with a raise of $73m Series B. Last but not least is Qover, raising a $25m Series B. Congrats to all the exceptional team nailing such bold rounds!
Geography-wise, there were 2 deals in respectively Belgium and Germany. Greece, France and Luxembourg follow with 1 deal each. Missing UK? The last week without a UK deal was more than 4 months ago…
In terms of sub-categories, Banktech accounts for 3 deals, Insurtechs for 2. There was also 1 deal in Investment Banking and 1 in Wealth Management.
Let’s dive in:
Viva Wallet raises a $80 round:
- Viva Wallet is a pan-European neobank providing localized payment and credit services to businesses across 23 European countries.
- The firm has secured additional financing of $80 million from Tencent, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and Breyer Capital.
- The Greek payments firm, which last year acquired Praxia Bank’s banking license, will use the new financing to accelerate the deployment of its ‘Tap-on-Phone’ payment service, which turns any Android device into a card terminal.
Vivid raises a $73m Series B:
- The German startup Vivid Money lets you send, receive, spend, invest and save money in different ways. In addition to this fairly standard feature set, Vivid Money offers stock trading with fractional shares. Users can also invest in stocks and ETFs and there’s no commission. Similarly, they offer a service for users to buy, hold and share cryptocurrencies from the app.
- It has raised a new $73 million Series B funding round led by Greenoaks Ltd, with existing investor Ribbit Capital also participating. Following this round, Vivid Money has reached a valuation of $436 million (€360 million).
- The funds will be used to finance the growth and build a European financial super app.
Qover raises a $25m Series B:
- Insurtech startup Qover, which has built an API-first global insurance solution, has raised around 20.7 with Prime Venture as lead investor, backed by Cathay Innovation. Existing investors Anthemis and Alven have also participated in the funding round.
- The Series B financing follows a year of significant growth and momentum for the company, among which the promising partnership with unicorn Revolut.
- The new funds will be used to accelerate their development in Europe and worldwide. The focus will be on recruiting business development and marketing talent to speed up customer acquisition and sales.
Congrats also to Finoa, Expensya, Sweep, PaxFamilia, and Oko.
See you next week for juicier updates!
