BlackFin Tech Weekly — September 20th
Dear fintech folks,
This is a big week for the European fintech community as one of the major industry events is returning to RL* (*Real Life). Yes, it was so long we even had time to invent new acronyms. Maxime, Jean, and I will be in Amsterdam to celebrate and are very much looking forward to catching up in person!
Last week was intense in terms of deal announcements, especially in the Payment world with two of the three biggest rounds this week! It’s a mature segment, but at the same time ,there is still a lot to be done. New models are emerging, such as B2B BNPL startup, a platform for recurring billing, and a payment as a service model.
Finally, we also noted a funding round on the B2C green neobank side with Tomorrow’s €14m round. On that note, if you’d like to know more about the sector, check out Solène’s article on B2C green fintechs on our Medium here!
Last week, €362m were raised across 14 deals. Congratulations to Form3, a payment startup, for its $160m Venture round. The second one is Envelop Risk, an Insurtech specialized on cyber risk, that raised a $130m Series B. Third on the podium is Billogram, that raised a $45m Venture Round.
Geography-wise, we’ve identified 6 deals coming from the UK (still not suprised), 4 deals came from Germany, 2 from the Netherlands and finally, 1 deal each from Belgium, and Sweden.
Subsector-wise, there were 4 deals in Banktech and 3 deals each in Payments and Investment Banking. In the meantime, they were 2 deal in Regtech and 1 deal each in Wealth Management, and Insurtech.
Let’s dive in:
Form3 raised €135,8m:
- The Payment as a service company has raised a funding round led by Goldman Sachs as it prepares to launch in the US market. The company also counts Barclays Bank, Mastercard, 83North and Draper Esprit among its investors.
- Mastercard rolled out a Form3-designed cloud gateway to facilitate access for institutions connecting to the UK’s Faster Payments network.
- Founded in 2016, Form3’s annual recurring revenue in 2021 has grown by 233% and the company now employs over 260 people in 22 countries.
Envelop raised €110,3m:
- The company announced a Series B round led by SoftBank. The funding will facilitate Envelop Risk’s plans to expand its proprietary machine learning and data-driven underwriting business in London.
- Envelop Risk underwrites bespoke reinsurance for global insurance companies, enabling clients to manage their portfolios more accurately. In addition, Envelop partners with cyber technology companies to launch integrated insurance solutions.
- The company has written more than $250 million in premium since 2018.
Billogram raised €38,2m:
- The funding comes from a single investor, Partech, and will be used to help the Stockholm-based startup expand from its current base in Sweden to six other markets.
- Billogram started working with SMEs in 2011, but pivoted a few years later to work with large companies, which make up the majority of its business today.
- In 2020, Billogram’s contracts signed increased by 300%, and the first half of 2021 saw a further 50% growth. Its users include utilities such as Skanska Energi and broadband company Ownit, and others such as remote healthcare company Kry.
Congrats also to ModiFi, Tomorrow, PassFort, Lightyear, Coinfirm, Accountable, Peaks, Lhotse, Integrated Finance, Sprinque, and Sub Capital.
See you next week!
