European FinTech deals this week include Offr, Open Payments, Cobalt etc. We feature an interview with Hans de Back of Finch Capital as part of our new series Scaling Enterprise FinTech, as well as Q&As with Balkrishna Dubey of Nagarro Germany and Simon Dingle of Lettuce.
Check out the first set of startups and investors who will be on stage at the 12th FinTech Forum, on 19th Nov. 2020 in Frankfurt and register here http://ftf12.eventbrite.com . If you are a startup- or know one- that is building the next big thing in FinTech, apply to present at the event: email contact (at) fintechforum.de or reach out to us via LinkedIn: Frank Schwab or Samarth Shekhar.
7 Questions with Simon Dingle of Lettuce
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself, both at work and leisure.
I am a fintech entrepreneur and worked on the founding teams at 22seven, Luno, and Curve. My obsessions with broadcasting, computers and network science led me through a career in journalism and into the intersection of money and technology. I authored a book called In Math We Trust: The Future of Money and still enjoy speaking and writing about the various topics adjacent to consumer technology and finance. In 2011 I first compiled the Bitcoin core software and became immediately intrigued by the movement to distributed financial systems. In my spare time I enjoy podcasting, something I have done since 2005, as well as hiking, surfing, board games, and doing as much of those things with my two sons as possible.
http://www.fintechforum.de/7-questions-with-simon-dingle-of-lettuce/
7 Questions with Balkrishna Dubey, MD of Nagarro Germany
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself, both at work and leisure.
Empathy and trust have played a pivotal role in shaping my worldview, and the way I engage with my business partners, colleagues, friends and family. I grew up in India and moved to Germany 17 years ago that essentially means that I combine the deep-rooted values in both societies and cultures.
In my leisure time I passionately read German literature, philosophy and learning violin.
http://www.fintechforum.de/7-questions-with-balkrishna-dubey-md-of-nagarro-germany/
Scaling Enterprise FinTech: with Hans de Back, Finch Capital
Samarth Shekhar: Hi Hans, good to meet you. About a year and a half since we last met. Let’s get right on with the interview. Tell us a bit about yourself, both at work as well as at leisure.
Hans de Back: Sure. Okay, so my name is Hans de Back. I’m a General Partner at Finch Capital. I am Managing Partner at Finch Capital since 2015. I’m based in Southeast Asia. So we as a FinTech VC we invest in two regions, Europe and Southeast Asia. So I’m responsible for our Southeast Asian activities. Radboud is looking after Europe.
http://www.fintechforum.de/scaling-enterprise-fintech-with-hans-de-back-finch-capital/
8 factors why crypto currencies are here to stay
User numbers and investments in cryptocurrencies and blockchain projects are increasing. In the Swiss Crypto Valley, 800 companies with 4000 employees are working on the digitalization of assets. The regulators are also taking up the issue. In the digital age, cryptocurrencies are the next logical stage in the development of money.
http://www.fintechforum.de/8-factors-why-crypto-currencies-are-here-to-stay/
Dublin-based Offr raises €3 million led by Barclays to launch its proptech platform in UK and Australia
Today Offr, the proptech platform digitising the buying, selling and leasing process for real estate agents and buyers, today announced it has raised around €3 million in seed funding led by Barclays. Existing investors Delta Partners on behalf of Bank of Ireland, AIB, Enterprise Ireland, The European Investment Fund and Frontline Ventures also participated in the round.
Launched just ten months ago with a mission to enable people to buy, sell, lease or rent a property with one-click, Offr enables fast, digital property transactions, from offer to exchange, on any device, at any time, and from anywhere in the world.
Swedish fintech player Open Payments raises €3m
Open Payments, a Swedish company taking advantage of the growing demand for open banking technology in Europe, has announced a €3m seed funding raise.
Founded in 2017 by Jonas Kjellin and Louise Brandt, the start-up’s goal is to democratise financial services by providing an open banking API that connects both big and small innovators with private and corporate accounts across Europe.
The fintech firm’s latest funding round was led by Industrifonden, with participation from existing investors Brightly Ventures, Luminar Ventures and angel investors.
https://www.siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/open-payments-banking-sweden-fintech
Danish cybersecurity startup Cobalt raises $29 million Series B for ethical hacking platform
Cobalt, a Danish-born cybersecurity platform that connects human penetration testers (sometimes known as ‘ethical hackers’) with companies looking to test their software, has raised $29 million to continue global expansion from its current headquarters in San Francisco. The Series B round was led by Highland Europe and brings the startup’s total funding to $37 million.
Cobalt was founded in 2013 by four Danish co-founders: Jacob Hansen, Esben Friis-Jensen, Jakob Storm and Christian Hansen. The company now has more than 500 clients, including GoDaddy, Vonage, Axel Springer and MuleSoft, and around 300 pentesters on its platform.
https://tech.eu/brief/cobald-series-b/
Seed Capital announces fourth fund, devoting €135 million to Danish startups
Danish VC Seed Capital has announced a new fund for early-stage startups in Denmark. The first close, padded with pledges from Chr. Augustinus Fabrikker, Dansk Vækstkapital and Preben Damgaard, landed at €67 million, about half of the fund’s €135 million target.
Since getting started fifteen years ago, the Copenhagen-based firm has worked with over 300 startups (including Trustpilot, Vivino, Templafy, Lunar and Dixa) and watched the ecosystem evolve.
https://tech.eu/brief/seed-capital-fourth-fund/
Movens Capital launches €12.7 million fund for early-stage CEE startups
Movens Capital has launched a €12.7 million fund for early-stage, CEE startups (in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia), that have global potential. The firm focuses on businesses that will revolutionize traditionally large industries mainly through the use of ML/AI in process automation.
The fund is primarily looking for 16 early stage (pre-seed, seed, Series A) startups within the fintech, martech, e-commerce support, logistics, medtech, industry 4.0 and deep-tech industries, as well as sport and wellness, however it is not closed to other sectors. Preferred business models are marketplace and SaaS, with around €850K available per company.
Meet us at:
Swiss FinTech Fair, Zürich, 7-8 Sep. 2020 https://www.swissfintechfair.com
B2B Rocks Paris, 7-11 Sep. 2020 https://b2brocks.co/paris/
EY Startup Academy, Frankfurt, 15 Sep. 2020 https://start-up-initiative.ey.com/en/academy/program
South Summit, Madrid, 6-8 Oct. 2020 https://www.southsummit.co/en/home
FinTech Junction, Tel Aviv, 21-22 Oct. 2020 https://www.fintechjunction.com/annual/
Digital Insurance Agenda, Amsterdam, 28-29 Oct. 2020 https://next.digitalinsuranceagenda.com/dia-amsterdam-2020/want-to-attend/
MoneyConf / WebSummit, Lisbon, 2-5 Nov. 2020 https://websummit.com/moneyconf
12th FinTech Forum, Frankfurt, 19th Nov. 2020 http://www.fintechforum.de/events/
Meet Our Partners:
Heussen https://www.heussen-law.de
Nagarro https://www.nagarro.com/en
Money2020 Europe https://europe.money2020.com
InsurTech Insights https://insurtechinsights.com
Finovate Europe https://informaconnect.com/finovateeurope/
FN FinTech 40 https://www.fnlondon.com