Fintech Highlights - 10/15/2024
Here's what we've been watching this week 👇
Pinned to the Top
FTX received approval from a U.S. bankruptcy court for its plan to fully repay customers plus interest, almost two years after the collapse of the crypto exchange.
Thanks to rising crypto prices, FTX expects the total value of its assets, when converted to cash and available for distribution, will be between $14.7 billion and $16.5 billion, according to a press release. Under the plan, 98% of the FTX creditors will receive approximately 119% of the amount of their claims.
FTX is also seeking to get back $1 billion of its funds that was previously seized by the Justice Department. If it succeeds, preferred shareholders such as Tribe Capital Management, Canyon Partners, and Steadview Capital Management, could also get some money back, according to Bloomberg, citing a disclosure filed in bankruptcy court.
The BFD
Federal regulators hit TD Bank with about $3 billion in fines after the firm pleaded guilty to widespread money-laundering breaches that allowed criminals to easily open accounts and move money through the bank for nearly a decade.
The penalties, issued by FinCEN, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve after a Department of Justice investigation, are the largest ever levied on a bank for violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws. OCC acting comptroller Michael Hsu said TD Bank put growth before its compliance controls and “allowed its employees to break the law and facilitate the laundering of hundreds of millions of dollars.” This included more than $400 million in fentanyl drug traffickers, according to the Treasury. TD Bank tellers took gift cards as bribes in exchange for filing false or misleading reports about the transactions, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said.
As part of the penalty, the OCC also imposed an asset cap on TD Bank—Canada’s second largest bank—a rare punishment that restricts the bank from growing larger than its current size. The fines eclipse the $1.9 billion HSBC agreed to pay in 2012 for facilitating billions in transfers for Mexican drug cartels and sanctioned countries such as Iran.
M&A
🚑 Reveleer, a Glendale, Calif., health insurance risk management SaaS backed by Oak HC/FT, acquired Annapolis, Md.-based clinical insights provider Curation Health, which had raised VC funding from Echo Health Ventures. More here ->
Buyers Edge Platform, a Waltham, Mass., provider of digital procurement software for restaurants, acquired Swedish purchasing analytics platform Parsly. BEP backers include Blackstone, General Atlantic and Morgan Stanley, while Parsley had raised VC funding from VNV Global. More here ->
Younited, a French P2P lending platform backed by Eurazeo and Goldman Sachs, plans to go public on the Euronext Amsterdam via a reverse merger with Iris Financial (Ams: IRIS). More here ->
LendingClub (NYSE: LC) and Pagaya Technologies (Nasdaq: PGY) agreed to buy the IP of Tally Technologies, the a16z-backed credit card company that recently shuttered. More here ->
Warburg Pincus is seeking to sell a majority stake in Kestra, an Austin, Texas-based network of RIAs and broker-dealers, per Citywire. More here ->
Charles Monat Associates, a global life insurance broker for the wealthy, is exploring a sale that could fetch $400m to $500m, per Bloomberg. More here ->
Pockit, a British prepaid credit card startup that's raised over $50m in VC funding, agreed to acquire U.K. challenger bank Monese, which has raised nearly $300m from firms like Kinnevik and Augmentum Fintech. Pockit backer Puma Growth Partners will invest £15m into the merger. More here ->
Fintech
Infinite Giving, an Atlanta-based fintech platform for nonprofits, raised $2m in seed funding. Infinite Giving enables nonprofits to invest, endow, and liquidate stocks easily, automating investment strategies to grow their giving. More here ->
Imprint, a co-branded credit card startup, raised $75m in Series C funding at a $600m valuation. Founded in 2020 by Irish entrepreneur Daragh Murphy, Imprint has disrupted the traditional co-branded credit card space by focusing on regional brands and direct-to-consumer companies. More here ->
Logik.io, a Highland Park, Ill.-based CPQ fintech, raised $25m in Series B funding. Logik.io has developed a unified advanced product configuration, discovery, and recommendation engine that simplifies complex selling experiences. More here ->
FlexFactor, a startup tackling lost revenue from payment snafus, raised $16.8m. According to their approach, payment declines represent a significant loss in sales, ranging from 5-30% on average. In digital commerce, over 80% of declined payments can result in losing the customer altogether, leading to substantial lifetime revenue impacts. More here ->
AtVenu, a San Clemente, Calif.-based live event payment processor, raised $130m in equity funding from Sixth Street. AtVenu’s Register is an iOS-based POS solution that integrates with the company’s platform, enabling event organizers to track sales, collect credit card payments, and update inventory in real-time. More here ->
TrueLayer, a London-based pay-by-bank network, raised $50m in Series E extension funding. The company provides a real-time bank payment, data, and identity API across the UK and Europe, enabling businesses to accept and send instant payments via open banking rails. More here ->
Salmon, a Philippines-based consumer lender, raised $30m in Series A2 funding from IFC and Lunate. Salmon uses AI-enabled technology and a proprietary credit engine to provide market-disruptive consumer loans, such as Salmon Credit, Salmon Installment, and Salmon Cash Loans. More here ->
Asaas, a Brazilian provider of financial automation solutions for SMEs, raised $148m in Series C funding. Asaas offers a comprehensive digital account solution for businesses, automating financial management processes, increasing productivity, and reducing bureaucracy for all types and sizes of companies. The company’s technology introduces simplicity, consistency, and customizability to foundational components of any business’s core operations, such as receiving and managing cash. More here ->
Surfin, a Singaporean lending and remittances company, raised $12.5m. More here ->
Investtech
Farther, a New York-based wealth advisory startup, raised $72m in Series C funding at a $542m post-money valuation. With its focus on providing unbiased guidance and proactive planning, the company is well-positioned to serve the complex financial needs of high-net-worth professionals in New York and beyond. More here ->
Quartr, a Swedish public market research platform, raised $6m from Altos Ventures. Quartr has emerged as one of the largest distributors of IR material globally, offering a free mobile app, a research platform built for desktop use, and an API. More here ->
Round, a British banking and treasury management platform, raised $2.1m in pre-seed funding. Round’s primary focus is on providing institutional-grade financial products and services to businesses, making it easier for them to earn a better yield and better manage their cash. More here ->
Kriptown, a French stock exchange for SMEs, raised €4.2m in Series A funding. Kriptown will offer asset managers and individual investors access to shares in SMEs, with the added benefit of liquidity through a 24/7 secondary market. More here ->
Crypto
Bitlayer Labs, a Bitcoin Layer-2 network developer, raised $9m in Series A extension funding. More here ->
Delta, a blockchain network focused on decentralized apps, raised $11m. More here ->
Insuretech
Qantey, a French health insurance claims platform, raised €30m in Series B funding. The platform aims to transform the claims process, reducing costs and improving services for insurers. More here ->
Proptech
Gropyus, an Austrian startup that uses robots to make prefab buildings, raised €100m. The company uses a unique approach, integrating its proprietary building system, prefabrication elements, and a powerful building operating system. More here ->
From the Stash
Bank of America launches financial solution for kids - Bank of America has created a digital solution for parents looking to teach financial responsibility to their children. Ninety percent of parents responding to a recent Bank of America survey said “they feel responsible for their children’s financial health and setting them up on the right foot,” More here ->
Bank of America, JPMorgan invest in branch networks - Some financial institutions are decreasing their branch footprint as bank clients increasingly adopt digital offerings while Bank of America and JPMorgan are investing in their branch capabilities to meet evolving client needs. The case for expanding branch networks lies in evolving customer preferences, the role of the branch and tailored solutions More here ->
Gen AI to boost customer loyalty, Forrester says - Financial services providers are exploring generative AI uses for coding, customer service and document automation and FIs are looking to the evolving tech to increase customer loyalty. Banks can use gen AI to provide personalized services and data-driven offerings to deepen customer relationships, Alyson Clarke, principal analyst at think tank Forrester, told Bank Automation News. More here ->
Transactions: PayNearMe, PayPal expand integration - Payments platform PayNearMe announced Oct. 3 that it will integrate PayPal’s full-stack processing capabilities into its platform. “Reliability is of utmost importance to PayNearMe, and PayPal’s full platform gives access to multiple money movement capabilities supported by numerous banking partners,” John Minor, executive vice president and chief product officer of PayNearMe, told Bank Automation News. More here ->
Credit unions invest to create personalized digital experiences - Banks and credit unions are using data-driven insights to diversify their offerings, create personalized experiences and grow their operations. Use of data-driven insights is one of three strategies banks and credit unions are investing in to create digital organizations, according to tech provider Alkami’s 2025 Digital Banking Playbook, released Oct. 9 More here ->
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