Early stage European FinTech deals include Retraced, Wombat, Tickr etc. We feature Q&As with Andrea Girasole of Billte and Matthias Klein of Opportunity Network. If you are an early stage startup in Europe building the next big thing in FinTech, reach out to Frank Schwab or Samarth Shekhar.
7 Questions with Andrea Girasole of Billte
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself, both at work and leisure.
Hi everyone, I am Andrea CEO & Co-Founder of Billte. I was born in Rimini 34 years ago from an entrepreneurial family active in the entertainment and gastronomic field.
I learn from an early age what it means to be an entrepreneur and especially the amount of work that goes with it; an entrepreneur never sleep J.
I had the chance and the opportunity to travel around the world also thanks to my sport which is my passion: baseball. I have been playing in several countries and baseball gave me the opportunity to meet people from different cultures, different backgrounds and speak different languages. Baseball brought me to Switzerland as well, to represent the Swiss national team (I hold the swiss citizenship thanks to my mother) and back then (2011) I have decided to start my working career here in Zurich, going from working as bartender in a club, my first job, to create my own fintech company 7 years later.
I consider myself a balanced and pragmatic person, my motto is “the difference between your dreams and the reality is action”.
7-questions-with-andrea-girasole-of-billte
7 Questions with Matthias Klein of Opportunity Network
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself, both at work and leisure.
Throughout my professional career I have always been focussed on simplifying complicated processes. As an investment banker I have helped medium sized corporates using standardized derivative solutions in their hedging programs. And I have also helped many startups, especially Fintechs, especially in Europe and Singapore, to not just focus on over-engineering their products, but on creating real value for clients as well.
In my role as Country Director Germany for Opportunity Network I currently play a huge role in enabling entrepreneurial spirits in startups, business associations, banks and corporates with one another. Via Opportunity Network’s digital matchmaking platform CEOs and decision makers can post, find and connect with commercial, funding and acquisition deals worldwide, at any given time of the day.
Last but not least, I love cooking with my family & friends and consider my kitchen as an innovation accelerator.
http://www.fintechforum.de/7-questions-with-matthias-klein-of-opportunity-network/
Düsseldorfer Blockchain-Startup bekommt 1 Million
Retraced hat sich in seiner Seed-Runde eine Million Euro geholt. Investor ist der spanische Wagniskapitalgeber Samaipata. Das Geld will das Düsseldorfer Startup in die Entwicklung seiner Plattform stecken und zur Akquise neuer Kunden nutzen.
Retraced bietet eine Software für Modeunternehmen, die damit ihre Lieferketten nachverfolgen können.
Fintech startup Wombat rounds up £2M
Wombat Invest has raised £2 million in a seed round led by Fuel Ventures, with participation from existing backers, including angel investors Chris Adelsbach and James Moore. The London-based company provides a fractional investment platform accessible through a mobile app. Founded in 2019, Wombat was valued at £2.5 million in 2020, according to PitchBook data.
https://pitchbook.com/newsletter/fintech-startup-wombat-rounds-up-2m
tickr Raises £2.5M in Funding
tickr, a London, UK-based provider of an app that empowers customers to positively impact the world through their finances, raised £2.5m in funding.
The round was led by Ada Ventures.
Built by Tom McGillycuddy and his co-founder, Matt Latham, tickr is an app that empowers customers to positively impact the world through their finances, from investing in companies making a positive impact on the planet, to offsetting carbon footprint.
https://www.finsmes.com/2021/02/tickr-raises-2-5m-in-funding.html
Fintech startup Twinco Capital picks up €3M
Mundi Ventures has led a €3 million investment in Madrid-based Twinco Capital, TechCrunch reports. The startup provides supply chain financing allowing companies to buy materials and pay salaries when they receive purchase orders. Twinco Capital raised a €2.5 million Series A in 2019.
https://pitchbook.com/newsletter/fintech-startup-twinco-capital-picks-up-3m
Berlin-based FinTech Banxware secures €4 mn in seed funding round
Berlin-based FinTech Banxware has secured €4 million in a seed funding round led by Force over Mass and VR Ventures.
The round also saw the participation of FinTechs and VCs including HTGF, a public-private venture capital investment firm based in Bonn, Jan Kaniess and Carl Frederic Zitscher, the founders of Payone, Alex Urdea, Principal at Upper90, a New York City based debt and equity fund, CJ Lanktree, Partner at Solus Alternative Asset Management, a New York City-based investment advisor, as well as Paula Blazquez Solano, Principal at Innocells, the venture arm of Banco Sabadell in Spain.
Jens Roehrborn, Founder and CEO at Banxware said, “We are super proud that investors with such a deep experience in our core field of business are sharing our vision of how banking will look like in the future.
Monzo to raise £50M, another funding during COVID-19 pandemic for London fintech
Monzo, the UK-based challenger bank that allows customers to access a range of products and services, is expected to raise a £50 million extension in Series G round from existing shareholders and a new San Francisco-based VC firm Octahedron Capital.
The new funding will take the amount raised by the digital bank during the pandemic to £175 million. It’s worth mentioning that the investment round will be carried out with the same financial terms as the rest of the rounds.
London fintech SumUp acquires Lithuanian fintech Paysolut
The global mobile payments service company headquartered in London, United Kingdom — SumUp has acquired the core banking system provider Paysolut, founded in Lithuania. Representatives of SumUp say that the acquisition of the Lithuanian company aims to create even stronger technology-based banking solutions. The acquisition amount is undisclosed.
Operating in 32 global markets, and serving more than 3 million company’s customers globally, as well as in Lithuania, SumUp has worked with Paysolut as business partners for the past two years.
https://www.uktech.news/fintech/london-fintech-sumup-acquires-lithuanian-fintech-paysolut-20210202
Join us for Bar on The Block webinar on Thursday, March 4th to learn more about cryptocurrency derivatives.
About this Event
In this webinar, we’ll discuss one of the oldest forms of a financial contract- DERIVATIVES! We’ll deep dive into the types of crypto derivatives products, their common forms, policy, and regulatory regime. We’ll have an in-depth discussion on how derivatives are used in crypto trading, what kinds of Crypto derivatives can be traded both on traditional exchanges and regulated crypto exchanges, the biggest risks that traders face, and why investor interest seems to be surging in crypto-derivatives.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-insight-into-crypto-derivatives-tickets-137765609647
“Meet” us at:
F10 Online Demo Day, 11 Feb. 2021
https://hopin.com/events/f10-zurich-demo-day-incubation-batch-6
An Insight Into Crypto Derivatives, 4 Mar. 2021
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-insight-into-crypto-derivatives-tickets-137765609647
Finovate Europe, 23-25 Mar. 2021
https://informaconnect.com/finovateeurope/
Meet Our Partners:
Heussen https://www.heussen-law.de
Nagarro https://www.nagarro.com/en
Opportunity Network https://www.opportunitynetwork.com/fintech-forum
Money2020 Europe https://europe.money2020.com
InsurTech Insights https://insurtechinsights.com
Finovate Europe https://informaconnect.com/finovateeurope/
FN FinTech 40 https://www.fnlondon.com