Early stage European FinTech deals include ReceiptHero, Payout, Asistensi etc. We feature Q&As with Marcus Polke of signals Venture Capital, Nicolas Christiaen of Cashforce and Konstantin Stiskin of Finom.
The 12th FinTech Forum is a wrap- check out the event in tweets.
If you are an early stage startup in Europe building the next big thing in FinTech, reach out to Frank Schwab or Samarth Shekhar.
Scaling Enterprise FinTech: with Marcus Polke, signals Venture Capital
Samarth Shekhar: …it would be great to have for our readers a bit about yourself- both at work and at leisure.
Marcus Polke: Sure. I’m a tech industry guy who became VC 13 years ago, so I think I have a good view on both the operational and the financing side of things. I was one of the first people to work for Amazon here in Europe, then I ran all of AOL’s ecommerce businesses in Germany, and led a large marketplace business, all of their European operations. That marketplace business we sold to Amazon.com in 2008, and that’s when I switched the side of the table to the VC side of things, actually. Since then, I’m a technology investor. Two years ago, I joined signals VC and now run it together with my partner Christian Weniger.
Other than that, I’m a marathon runner, I’m a family man, a father of three, and I live between Munich and Berlin and invest across Europe.
http://www.fintechforum.de/interview-with-marcus-polke-signals-venture-capital/
Scaling Enterprise FinTech: Nicolas Christiaen of Cashforce
1. Give us the backstory- what were you up to before starting up, how did you get the founding idea?
In 2012 Nicolas Christiaen & Bart Claes sank their teeth into a mutual project dealing with Working Capital management at the company they were both working for. There the first spark of insight was deployed.
2. Who was your first customer, and how did the first sale come about?
We started with bootstrapping and consultative selling while looking for customers and working below price for references. Our first client was a paper manufacturer, the largest in Europe at the time.
http://www.fintechforum.de/scaling-enterprise-fintech-nicolas-christiaen-of-cashforce/
7 Questions with Konstantin Stiskin of Finom
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself, both at work and leisure.
My name is Konstantin Stiskin, I have spent most of my career in the VC space in every available form – as an analyst, associate, as a director, partner, as an angel investor, advisor and co-founder. So it turned out that the area that attracted me most was FinTech, although I also have success stories in biotechnology and marketplaces. Besides, I play football, volleyball and chess.
http://www.fintechforum.de/7-questions-with-konstantin-stiskin-of-finom/
Finnish Fintech ReceiptHero Secures €2 Million Through Seed Round Led By Lifeline Ventures, Superhero Capital & Vidici Ventures
ReceiptHero, a Finnish fintech, announced on Thursday it secured €2 million through its latest seed round, which was led by Lifeline Ventures, Superhero Capital, and Vidici Ventures
Founded in 2018, ReceiptHero describes itself as an open digital receipt system that sends digital receipts from point of sale (POS) systems to various applications, such as expense tracking and accounting software.
“Our journey in the receipt business isn’t a new thing, since selling eTasku to Accountor Group in 2018, we’ve been more committed to removing paper receipts from existence and finding ways to build out a global platform allowing merchants to send customers receipts without the need for the printer to… print.”
Amsterdam-based Payaut lands €2.6 million to grow its all-in-one payment solution for online marketplaces
Dutch fintech startup Payaut announces raising over €2.6 million seed funding.
Existing investor LocalGlobe led the round, with Finch Capital also participating again.
Global VC fund Entrée Capital who specializes in fintech and several notable angels from the fintech and payment industry completed the lineup of investors.
Payaut will use the fresh funds to scale its payment service for online marketplaces and to roll out in the rest of Europe.
German healthtech startup wellabe closes €3 million Series A
Munich-based healthtech startup wellabe has closed a €3 million Series A round. Sana Klinik, the third largest private clinic group in Germany, has joined existing investors Earlybird VC, Paua Ventures and Plug and Play.
The German company is geared toward preventive healthcare and ‘corporate health management’, pitching itself to employers. With mobile stations, wellabe offers check-ups at the workplace and follows up with personalised, data-based programmes that encourage a healthier lifestyle.
The ‘patient’ (and employee) receives insights into their current health status in less than 20 minutes.
https://tech.eu/brief/wellabe-series-a/
Madrid-based Asistensi gets $3 million to help migrants buy medical coverage for families back home
Asistensi, a Madrid-based insurtech startup that wants to improve medical coverage for migrants’ relatives back home, has secured $3 million in seed funding. The round was co-led by the venture capital funds Alma Mundi Ventures and Mexico-based Mountain Nazca.
With its first product launched in March 2020, the company enables migrants to buy emergency medical insurance for loved ones in their country of origin. The insurance can be purchased online without any medical admission tests.
https://tech.eu/brief/asistensi-seed-funding/
UK-based fintech startup Pockit raises £15 million Series B round, partners with Railsbank
Pockit, the 6-year-old London-based fintech business that focuses on providing financial services primarily to customers who are typically excluded or at least underserved by high street banks, has secured a £15 million Series B funding round from existing and new investors.
That’s not the only thing the startup is announcing today: it has also partnered with Railsbank subsidiary PayrNet as a direct result of the Wirecard debacle and needing to switch up its ‘open banking’ provider, and it is kickstarting a Future Fund-backed equity crowdfunding campaign to the tune of £500,000 – which is actually part of its financing round. Still with us?
Pockit has now raised a total of £27 million in funding since it was founded in 2014.
Berlin-based insurtech startup simplesurance scores €15 million convertible loan from Allianz X
Berlin-based cross-selling insurance platform simplesurance has raised a €15 million convertible loan from Allianz X, the ‘€1 billion digital investment unit of the Allianz Group’ and a previous investor in the insurtech startup.
Backed by the likes of Rakuten, simplesurance had raised roughly $60 million in financing before this transaction, according to Crunchbase.
The company describes itself as ‘an e-commerce provider for product insurances’ – basically it offers online sellers to offer their customers a quick and convenient way to purchase product insurances, up to a couple of months after they have purchased something.
https://tech.eu/brief/simplesurance/
London-based fintech startup Updraft raises £16 million to ‘help people break up with their credit cards’
UK-based fintech upstart Updraft, which offers an app that it says is “part lending, part credit report, and part financial planning”, has scored £16 million in funding to help people steer clear of avoidable credit card and overdraft charges.The startup essentially wants to help customers get rid of spend-associated borrowings such as credit cards, overdrafts and increasingly, the ‘buy now, pay later’ schemes often found on e-commerce sites.
To accomplish that, it builds profiles of users’ spending and borrowing habits, and offering to pay off high-interest-rate debts with a lower-cost loan when expensive borrowing is detected.
Updraft was started by financial services veteran Aseem Munshi, former Head of Cards and Unsecured Lending for HSBC, UK.
Getsafe, the European digital-first insurance startup, scores $30M Series B
Getsafe, the digital-first insurance startup that initially launched with an app for home contents insurance, has closed $30 million in Series B funding.
Swiss Re, the reinsurer giant, led the round. Existing investors, including Earlybird and CommerzVentures, also participated. Getsafe has raised a total of $53 million to date since being founded in May 2015.
The company says it plans to extend its Series B funding with a second tranche to be closed ahead of the company launching products powered by its own insurance licence, scheduled for the first half of 2021.
Outfund raises £37M: London-based fintech invests in SMEs without asking for equity
Outfund, the fintech company changing the way online businesses raise funds, has announced the close of a £37 million late seed round of capital, including debt and equity.
The funding round was led by Fuel Ventures and sees TMT Investments and Force Over Mass also invest in Outfund. The fintech lender aims to provide a faster, fairer and more affordable way for SMEs to raise growth capital.
https://www.uktech.news/news/london-based-fintech-outfund-raises-37m-20201207
Immedis Raises $50M in Funding
Immedis, a Dublin, Ireland-based provider of consolidated global payroll solutions, secured a $50m strategic investment from Lead Edge Capital.
Brian Neider, Partner at Lead Edge Capital, will join Immedis’ Board of Directors. The valuation of the company has grown to over $575m.
This investment will support global growth, including the opening of a West Coast and Singapore office to service the increased demand from US and APAC clients.
Founded and majority owned by Terry Clune of the Clune Technology Group and led by Ruairi Kelleher, CEO, Immedis Immedis is the global leader in consolidated global payroll solutions.
https://www.finsmes.com/2020/12/immedis-raises-50m-in-funding.html
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