Weekly update #58

Weekly update #58

Welcome to this edition of the weekly newsletter. The idea behind this is to gather all the information in the startup ecosystem in one place, with a special focus on the fintech market and the VC industry.

The latest episode of Builders has been released this week. In this episode, I sit down with Adrian Smith , founder of BlinkPay , a New Zealand based fintech startup that aims to revolutionize NZ's payments industry by offering seamless, cost-effective payment services. They are a kaupapa Māori kamupene, supported by strong relationships with NZ banks and the API Centre.

Adrian has multiple years of experience in Europe in the fintech industry, as a former executive of banking institutions such as Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group , but also past experiences at Vodafone and Payment NZ. Blinkpay has recently being acquired by Bank of NZ, in one of the most interesting exit in the country

With him, we will speak about the transition from banking executive to being a founder, but also the differences between the open banking market in EU and in NZ, payments, and the whole experience of having an exit, from due diligence to the actual cash out.

You can find the complete video interview here on YouTube, or you can listen to the podcast here on Spotify or here on Apple Podcast. Next week the podcast will be back with another interesting episode!

As always, if you are a VC manager or a founder and want to be the next guest on the podcast feel free to send me a message on LinkedIn!

Coming back to us, this week Sifted released a very interesting report on the 250 fastest growing startups in Europe. The study was conducted with a very clear methodology, with startups founded in Europe since 2014 on, with a max headcount of 999 employees and at least three years of financial statement. And there is good news: fintech is on the rise. Here my main takeaways from the report:

Fintech startups have regained their momentum in 2024, claiming four of the top ten spots after a challenging 18 months for funding. Although European fintechs traditionally attract the largest share of VC funding, the sector took a backseat in 2023 as climate tech led the way. However, fintech's resilience is highlighted in the latest State of European Tech report, showing that 17% of fintechs raising seed funding in 2015 have reached six or more funding rounds—the highest rate among all sectors.

While climate tech has fewer startups on the top 250 list, it showcases impressive diversity, with major players in carbon accounting, hydrogen, electric vehicles, solar power, and energy storage. Digital banking continues to dominate the fintech space, but both sectors reflect the innovation driving Europe’s tech ecosystem forward.

Europe’s leading tech hubs—the UK, France, and Germany—dominate the landscape, securing 15 of the top 20 spots. Central Europe and the Benelux states show weaker performances, with only 19 and 14 companies, respectively, making the list. Among the fastest-growing startups, OpenUp from the Benelux ranks 46th, and Yokoy from central Europe ranks 48th. Warsaw’s Plenti (88th) and Brussels’ Tapio (67th) are notable, though further down the list.

In Germany, Munich outpaces Berlin in the top 50, and Berlin surprisingly lags behind Stockholm on the top 250. Meanwhile, Sweden’s tech sector struggled in 2024, with declining deal volumes and Northvolt filing for bankruptcy protection. Despite Berlin’s lower rankings, Germany’s startup scene remains robust, with cities like Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne, and Düsseldorf contributing to the country's diverse and distributed tech ecosystem.

Consumer tech, once avoided by investors during the tech downturn, is making a strong comeback, claiming six of the top twenty spots on the 250 ranking—more than any other sector. While many consumer-facing companies didn’t survive the downturn, the ones that did now have more room to thrive.

Surprisingly, despite 2024’s AI buzz, generative AI startups are sparse in the rankings. The only one in the top 50 is London-based V7, which launched V7 Go, a tool designed to learn and execute tasks, from processing customer claims to analyzing website images. Further down, Cleo (134th), another London startup, uses AI to help users manage finances with a dose of humor, even reaching $100 million in annual recurring revenue by focusing on U.S. growth. 

Anyway we saw some very interesting news in the market this week. Coinbase introduces the possibility to purchase crypto through Apple Pay, BlackRock acquires HPS Investment Partners, LLC for $12 billion and bunch launches in the UK. Revolut CEO says that listing in the UK it’s not rational for them, while Mambu acquires Numeral, a Mambu company and Moneyfarm acquires Willis Owen Limited . In the VC industry, Invest in Women Taskforce raised a $250 million fund, ClearSky a $500 million fund and Fly Ventures a first $80 million fund. But also FIGR Ventures , Cadenza and Collab Capital . In the Italian market, in a week full of bank outages, Prospinity raised a $2 million seed round. And finally, some very interesting rounds from fintech startups like Splint Invest , Tembo , Zopa Bank , HUB2 , Lumin Digital , KPay Group , Brighty App , Briefcase and many others.

But let's take a closer look at the main news of the last seven days:

Closed deals

Insights on the VC industry

News on the market

A special look in the Italian market

And here some useful resources for everyone involved in the ecosystem:

Events you don’t want to miss

  • Blockchain week | Luxembourg 9-13.12.2024

You have a cool event you want to mention or to sponsor? Feel free to send me a DM.

Startups raising funds

  • Loyyal - Loyalty platform from the MENA region, with entities in the US and South East Asia, provides a B2B2C platform to handle multiple loyalty programs and earn rewards all over the world. Raising a $6M Series A
  • Freedhome - Proptech and fintech platform, enabling people to be able to gain profit from real estate by renting them to intermediaries. Raising a $1M seed round

  • PopulaRise - The platform that allows companies of every dimension to promote themselves on social media through the collaboration with their clients. B2B2C SaaS. Raising $1M.
  • Tutornow - Edtech that provides an online tutoring platform for students with learning disorders. Raising $500k to $1M.
  • Weagle - B2B Tech startup that provides the very first browser designed for company, with total security for sensitive data. Raising $6 millions for their seed round.

  • Shoppy Code:Gift card platform that offers a points based loyalty program. They share part of the profits coming from marketing budgets with their customers. Raising $500k.

Take also a look at the last edition of the newsletter, Weekly update #57

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