Welcome to your daily FinTech news!
- US VC giant Sequoia Capital has launched an accelerator programme in Europe for seed-stage companies. The roughly 15 seed-stage companies selected will go through an eight-week programme to learn the basics of company building from other founders and operators. They will also receive a $1m investment from Sequoia. Applications for the first European cohort opened today and will close on April 8. The programme will start on May 23 and be led by partner Luciana Lixandru. The first US cohort will be selected later this year. Read it here
- Gemini, which was recently valued at over $7bn following a $400m funding round, joins the likes of Meta, Google and Stripe which have also been approved to use electronic money in Ireland. Link here
- Less than seven months after closing on a $57 million Series B, fast-growing fintech Jeeves has raised $180 million in a Series C round that values the company at $2.1 billion. Link here
- Payment provider Zimpler and Payap, a startup within payroll management, have launched a new collaboration to disrupt the payment and payroll scene. Link here
- Global crypto exchange Binance signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to acquire Brazilian securities brokerage sim;paul investimentos. Link here
- The year 2021 was especially good for LATAM in terms of the number of companies, customers, and the attraction of venture capital. Link here
- American VC Hoxton Ventures raises $215M to back early-stage ventures in Europe. The fund is purposed to help build and scale Europe’s most promising early-stage start-ups. Link here
- Fast-growing finance automation and corporate credit card startup Ramp has hit an $8.1 billion valuation after closing a $200 million funding round led by Founders Fund. Link here
- Even in 2022, it’s still a man’s world at Europe’s biggest legacy banks — only around a quarter of top management is women. But what’s the picture at the neobanks that claim to be disrupting the stuffy finance industry? According to Sifted analysis, women are just as lacking in the key decision-making roles at Europe’s top challenger banks. That’s despite the fact that many market themselves as providing financial services for the underserved — including women. Read it here
- Mastercard has partnered HSBC to launch a product in the UK that allows businesses to use their commercial card programme to make payments to any supplier, regardless of whether the supplier accepts card payments. Link here
- Finastra announced its collaboration with The Union of Arab Banks to help banks across the Arab League member states offer enhanced digital services to their customers. Link here
- Revolut employees in Ukraine are being “evacuated” and taken to “safe shelters" while other fintech workers take up offers of working visas and other relocation support measures offered by their employers. Link here
This ends Your Daily Fintech News. Let me know if there are any questions or comments. Until the next!
