While the fintech industry is preparing for a hard landing after the booming years, Berlin-based Mondu secured $43 million. This is the second-largest fintech funding this year right behind the €75 million credit card startup Moss received in January. As Mondu announces, Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures is leading the round as a new investor, as he did at Moss.
FinAPI (www.finapi.io), a BaFin licensed FinTech, develops solutions for data integration and analysis using artificial intelligence. In 2019, German credit rating agency Schufa took a 75% stake, but finAPI continued to operate independently. As has now been announced, the open banking payment platform operator Yapily, headquartered in London, wants to take over the German startup and acquire the Schufa shares.
New York-based Capital markets fintech Clear Street has secured $165 million in Series B financing and earned the unicorn status. The round was led by private equity firm Prysm Capital. It was the fintech's first venture capital raising since its inception four years ago, giving it a valuation of $1.7 billion. Other investors include NextGen Venture Partners, Walleye Capital, Belvedere and McLaren Strategic Ventures, and various angel investors.
Indian fintech company Jar, which closed a $32 million funding round in February this year, talks about new funding as it looks to scale its product and expand its offering. According to four people familiar with the matter, the Bengaluru-based startup is in talks with several investors to raise about $50 million at a valuation of $350 million.
The Zurich-based crypto platform Relai plans to expand its user base and offer additional features such as a Bitcoin debit card in its app. Despite the recent crash of crypto prices, investors continue to invest privately in cryptocurrencies. Zurich-based Bitcoin app Relai has received €2.16 million in its latest round of funding.
Check-out payments startup Bolt Financial is shedding around a third of its workforce, or around 250 employees, as the FinTech sector switches into crisis mode. The layoffs came just months after investors valued the San Francisco–headquartered payment company at $11 billion. Bolt builds software to simplify the check-out process for merchants and shoppers.
After the payment provider Klarna, the Berlin banking and accounting startup Kontist (https://kontist.com) has to lay off a quarter of its team because of financial pressure and the need for strategic changes in its business model. The FinTech segment switches into consolidation mode and will force its startup to restructure or die.
The UK-based cross-border payment platform for SMEs, Kapaga, has closed a £1.5 million funding round. The investment was led by Target Global, with participation from angel investors from the fintech industry, including Chris Adelsbach, Andreas Mihalovits, and Mark Ransford. With the new money in the cash register, Kapaga wants to expand to Europe.
Fintech startup and alternative loan manager Viola Credit has closed its latest $700 million fund, TechCrunch reported. The fund will provide asset-based lending capital to fintech lenders such as Affirm, which offers installment plans to consumers. Israel-based Viola Credit provides the credit capital for these claims. Another example is Market Finance, a technology-driven SME lender in the UK that needs loan capital to finance loans.
