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.
£103.5m growth funding for car finance FinTech Carmoola
London startup backed by US FinTech specialist QED Investors, Jaguar Land Rover’s investment arm and NatWest debt facility. Car finance FinTech Carmoola has raised an £8.5 million Series A round and £95m debt facility to revolutionise the way people pay for car purchases. The round was led by US-based FinTech specialist QED Investors, with participation from existing investors VentureFriends and InMotion Ventures, the investment arm of Jaguar Land Rover. It also includes a debt facility provided by NatWest, priming Carmoola for rapid growth in a lucrative market. Read more
EO Charging secures £66m after SPAC merger failure
EO Charging has secured £66 million investment following its SPAC listing failure. Last year the global electric vehicle infrastructure network agreed a $675m merger with special purpose acquisition vehicle First Reserve Sustainable Growth to list in New York. However the slump in public markets killed the deal. Now the Stowmarket-based company, founded in 2014, has been backed by Vortex Energy and Zouk Capital at a lower valuation. Vortex Energy is backed by Egypt-based EFG Hermes and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign investor, while Zouk Capital manages the UK Treasury’s £420m Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund. Read more
Liquidity Group joins unicorn club after $40m investment
Israel-headquartered Liquidity Group has reportedly joined the unicorn club after a $40m funding round brings its valuation to $1.4bn. The investment was led by Japanese banking giant MUFG Bank, according to a report from Invest Club. Founded in 2018, Liquidity Group is a credit-oriented FinTech platform that invests, syndicates and automates growth and middle market lending for businesses around the world, providing capital mainly to later-stage technology companies. Read more
Aussie paytech DataMesh lands $30m Series A led by NAB Ventures
Australian payments software firm DataMesh has secured a $30 million Series A funding round led by NAB Ventures, the investment arm of National Australia Bank (NAB). Along with the funding, NAB has also partnered up with DataMesh as it looks to improve its point-of-sale (POS) user experience for NAB business customers. DataMesh provides a single platform for in-store, online and in-app payments, offering full payment orchestration and interoperability. Its tech allows merchants to access data analytics that provide a “360-degree view” of their customers and use the insights to provide personalised payment experiences. Read more
SBI Investment leads $28 million Series A in German fintech Pliant
Japan’s SBI Investment has led a $28 million Series A round in Berlin-based corporate card platform, Pliant. Founded in 2020, Pliant’s credit card platform enables companies to issue physical, virtual and one-time credit cards that integrate into business back-end enterprise resource planning software. The company also services other fintech firms with an embedded card platform that they can offer to thier clients. Recent signings include Candis, an invoice management software company, and Circula, a travel expense and employee benefits software provider. Read more
Ikea investment arm pumps €9 million into DirectID
UK-based credit scoring and risk decisioning platform DirectID has secured a €9 million investment from Ikea venture arm Ingka Investments. DirectID uses open banking data and predictive models to track credit risks in real-time, providing insights into affordability, income verification, and financial distress. The firm says the new capital will be utilised to expand its credit risk offering into new markets and accelerate the development of models for each stage of the credit life cycle, from originations through portfolio management to collections. Read more
Fintech startup Flexvelop receives EUR 3 million
Germany-based fintech startup Flexvelop has announced receiving EUR 3 million from institutional investors Seventure Partners, 4Tree Capital, and Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg, as well as four business angels. With Flexvelop, business customers can flexibly rent individual small devices as well as larger collective orders in seconds. In this way, young, small, and medium-sized companies in particular can work directly with professional equipment and later decide flexibly whether and when is the best time to buy or return it. Read more
Bulgarian RegTech Evrotrust bags €2.5m in funding
Evrotrust Technologies, a Bulgarian RegTech identity verification and qualified trust services provider, has raised €2.5m in funding. The Capital Investment Fund – which is part of the Bulgarian Development Bank Group – invested in the firm. Founded in 2015, Evrotrust claims it offers unique and revolutionary technology for identification, strong authentication and signing. The technology is specifically developed with many of the current regulatory changes in mind, that take place within the services industry. Read more
Waste tracking firm gets £1.5m funding boost
Edinburgh-based Topolytics has been backed by several high net worth investors and UK Research and Innovation. Topolytics, an award-winning data analytics platform that has created a digital waste tracking system, has received a £1.5m funding boost. The investment enables the Edinburgh company to launch its WasteMap solution and extend the business commercially with new and renewed contract wins in 2023. The money comes from seasoned high net worth investors and a grant from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Read more
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