Swiss Fintech investor Spiros Margaris wants to share its know-how with other investors. He is arguably one of the most influential fintech influencers worldwide. As the founder of Margaris Ventures, he has been active in the fintech industry from the very beginning. Two of his start-ups have a market valuation of more than one billion dollars and have thus risen to unicorns. In a new partnership with the Zurich financial boutique CAT Financial Products (CATFP), Margaris wants to offer investors the opportunity to invest broadly in global fintech companies.
The Dubai-based FOO works with banks, fintech companies, and retailers across the MENA region to offer digital products that enhance business models and customer experience. The company expanded its operations to Saudi Arabia to support digital transformation in this country. By establishing branches in Riyadh, the company will focus on providing solutions for the digital bank, the central bank's digital currency based on blockchain, the issuance of virtual cards and tokenization, and the merchant acceptance platforms.
It has become quiet about new partnerships of the San Francisco-based blockchain pioneer Ripple (www.ripple.com) since the ongoing legal proceedings with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). But now, the partner network seems to be expanding again, and Ripple is entering into a cooperation with the Lithuanian fintech FINCI (www.finci.com), which enables cross-border payments and could increase Ripple's influence in Europe.
Berlin-based fintech Upvest is currently one of the most highly regarded companies in the industry. Most recently, it attracted attention as it received a BaFin license allowing it to offer B2B customers investment brokerage and custody services via an API. Now Upvest is deepening its partnership with ABN Amro, which is already connected through its investment arm.
In 2021, the Swedish fintech Klarna was valued at around $46 billion making it the highest valued European FinTech. The company employs almost 7,000 people and announced to lay off 700 of them. Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Klarna’s CEO and co-founder, made the announcement to his employees in a pre-recorded video message Monday. The news comes just a few days after the Wall Street Journal reported problems in Klarna's new finance round.
Airbank can now offer its customers loan funds directly through the financial management platform with Iwoca. The customers of both FinTechs should benefit. Financing of €10,000 to €5 million is possible. While Airbank now enables SMEs to handle all financial processes uniformly on one platform, Iwoca is expanding its platform to include the option of requesting a loan directly via Airbank.
The Israeli PayTech BridgerPay (PC42 profile) has announced Laoura Salveta engagement as Head of Marketing. According to her LinkedIn profile, Laoura comes from the Forex field and therefore has experience in financial marketing. Most recently, she served as Chief Marketing Officer and Director at 120advertising.com in Cyprus.
Through cooperation with a US fintech FinLync, German banking giant Deutsche Bank wants to make it easier for treasurers to get a real-time overview of important account information. They should no longer have to worry about individual API connections. The new cooperation will make it easier for corporate customers to access all vital account information in real-time.
The Austrian exceet Card Group (exceet), a producer of payment cards, RFID, dual interface, and smart cards, announced the start of strategic cooperation with Berlin-based green fintech ecolytiq. The partnership aims to realize joint projects for more environmentally conscious consumer behavior in payment transactions. exceet is currently the only Visa and Mastercard manufacturer to offer certified payment cards with a real natural wood feel.
