New week – new closed funding rounds! This week’s funding highlights cover personal finance, AI software, data, security, and many more! Take a look at some major investments of this week.
Novo secures USD 125 mln in Series B funding (The Paypers)
US-based neobank Novo has raise a USD 125 million Series B round to scale operations and reach more customers in the near future. Since the fall of 2021, Novo has launched a range of new capabilities for helping small businesses centralise their finances and speed up their cash flow. Novo is announcing this additional capital during a time of significant growth for the company. Novo has surpassed more than USD 12 billion in lifetime small business transactions and has brought on more than 180,000 small business customers. Read more
India’s KreditBee raises $80 million from Azim Premji’s Premji Invest, Motilal Oswal Alternates, among others (Tech Crunch)
KreditBee, Indian instant personal loans provider — is announcing that it has raised $80 million in a Series D funding round. The funding is notable coming at a time when raising capital has become more complicated due to the economic slowdown in markets worldwide.The startup projects to cross an assets under management (AUM) mark of more than $1 billion over the next six to nine months; currently that figure is $492 million.Azim Premji’s Premji Invest, Motilal Oswal Alternates, TPG-backed NewQuest Capital Partners, and Mirae Asset Ventures — all previous backers — invested, as did Japan’s MUFG Bank. The company said it’s keeping the Series D open, meaning more might be coming into the round. It declined to provide further details on that front. Read more
Digital banking platform Greenwood lands $45m (Global Fintech)
Greenwood, a US provider of a digital banking platform for the Black and Latino communities, has scored $45m in funding. The round was led by Pendulum, with participation from Cercano Management, Cohen Circle, The George Kaiser Family Foundation, NextEra Energy, Bank of America, Citi Ventures, PNC, Popular, Truist Ventures, TTV Capital, and Wells Fargo. Founded in 2020, Greenwood is a mobile banking platform for Black and Latino people and business owners. Greenwood features best-in-class digital banking services and innovative ways of giving back to the community. According to the firm, such communities suffer from a lack of wealth, money circulation in the Black community, and generational transfer. Read more
Spanish employee benefits platform Cobee raises €40m Series B (Fintech Futures)
Spanish employee benefits platform Cobee has raised €40 million in a Series B funding round as it looks to boost its domestic and international expansion. Cobee was founded in 2019 by Borja Aranguren, Daniel Olea and Nacho Travesí and aims to improve the wellbeing of employees through work-related and leisure benefits, such as travel or restaurant vouchers. UK fintech-focused investment firms Octopus Ventures and Notion Capital stumped up the cash for the Series B. The firm says it will use the new funds to focus on trends in the corporate benefits market with the aim of expanding its range of offerings to become an employee benefits super-app. Read more
Atom Bank raises £30m; pushes back IPO (Finextra)
BBVA, Toscafund, and Infinity Investment Partners have agreed to invest £30 million in Atom Bank as the UK digital lender readies itself for a 2024 initial public offering. Atom Bank previously raised £75 million in February, making their funding for this year total £105 million. The new funds will be used to fuel further lending. The bank says the raise is a “positive step in Atom’s plans for growth and a future public markets listing”. Atom has long-planned to go public but increasingly tough market conditions have forced it to delay a listing on the LSE until at least 2024. Read more
TreeCard raises $23 million for wooden debit card (Finextra)
TreeCard, the provider of a wooden Mastercard debit card that channels profits from merchant surcharges into reforestation programmes, has raised $23 million in a funding round involving Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, World Fund and EQT, Seedcamp, Episode 1 and various angels. Eco-friendly search engine Ecosia bought a 20% stake in TreeCard in 2020 for £1 million. The startup raised a further $5.1 million in February last year ahead of its launch in the UK. Read more
FrankieOne nets $15.5m for unified onboarding system (Global Fintech)
FrankieOne, a unified onboarding and fraud prevention platform, has reportedly raised $15.5m in its Series A+ funding round, bringing the round’s total to $30m. Greycroft and AirTree Ventures served as the lead investors, according to a report from Crowdfund Insider. Binance Labs and Kraken Ventures also joined the round as first-time backers. Existing FrankieOne investors, Tidal Ventures, Reinventure and Apex Capital Partners also joined the round. This funding will help FrankieOne scale quicker and mirror its success in Australia across North America and Asia Pacific. Read more
LGBTQ+ digital bank Daylight raises $15m (Finextra)
Daylight, the digital banking app built for America’s LGBTQ+ community, has raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Anthemis Group. CMFG Ventures, Kapor Capital, Citi Ventures and Gaingels joined the round for Daylight, which bills itself as the first banking platform designed specifically to improve financial equality and inclusion for the 30 million-strong US LGBTQ+ community. The startup has also unveiled a new tool, Daylight Grow, designed to help customers that are planning to build a family. Read more
Female-led proptech AltoVita secures $9.5M funding to redefine corporation accommodation(TFN)
London-based award-winning corporate housing booking platform, AltoVita, has secured $9.5 million in an oversubscribed Series A investment round. The investment round was co-led by Switzerland-based VC Novum Capital Partners and Fifth Wall. The funding news comes as AltoVita prepares for its 3rd Annual Global Corporate Home Awards. The in-person awards ceremony which took place on December 1, at the Tate Modern in London. Read more
Simbel nets €4M for its all-in-one staff learning solution aimed at SMBs (TFN)
Paris-based Simbel has netted a €4 million seed round led by Speedinvest (invested in Surfboard, Solvo.ai and cylib) and edtech-focused investor Brighteye. In addition, angel investors such as eFounders co-founder Thibaud Elziere, Figures co-founder Virgile Ringeart, Stupeflix co-founder Nicolas Steegmann, and Prestashop co-founder Alexandre Eruimy also participated in the round. It will use the fund to help small and medium-sized businesses adapt to a rapidly changing world. The investment will accelerate Simbel’s product development. Read more
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