Fintech Highlights - 6/4/2024

Investors are plowing money into spot bitcoin funds again. Shopify acquired Checkout Blocks. Prósperos raises a round. And more...

Here's what we've been watching this week 👇

Pinned to the Top

Investors are plowing money into spot bitcoin funds again, after a momentary lull.

• Nearly $890 million flowed into bitcoin ETFs yesterday, with Fidelity and iShares funds receiving the largest share of that pot, according to preliminary data from Farside Investors.

The big picture: Not surprisingly, the flows coincide with the price of the world's largest digital asset coming close to its all-time high.

• Bitcoin is currently trading above $71,200, suggesting retail interest in the sector hasn't abated despite the volatility of the last few weeks.

Context: The rush into the asset class appeared to peak in March, when more than $1 billion in fresh money flowed into the January-launched group of ETFs in a single day.

• Yet early data suggests there's latent demand, or perhaps investors are eyeing a new record.

💭 Our thought bubble: Investors tend to chase performance.

M&A

Greenbriar Equity Group acquired Renuity, a Coral Gables, Fla.-based home services platform, from York Private Equity. More here ->

Frontdoor (Nasdaq: FTDR) agreed to buy 2-10 HBW, an Aurora, Colo., provider of home warranties, for $585m in cash from Genstar Capital. 2-10.com More here ->

Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) acquired Checkout Blocks, a provider of no-code checkout customization software. More here ->

Robinhood (Nasdaq: HOOD) agreed to buy London-based crypto exchange Bitstamp for around $200m in cash (just half its 2018 valuation). Bitstamp backers include Ripple and Pantera Capital. More here ->

CSG Systems International (Nasdaq: CSGC) acquired iCheckGateway, a Fort Myers, Fla.-based omnichannel payment processor, for $17m. axios.link/3Kvj2Li More here ->

Fintech

Prósperos, a Los Altos, Calif., neobank for Spanish speakers, raised $3m from Febe Ventures, Bat VC, Tekton Ventures, and Courtyard Ventures. More here ->

Aperture Finance, a Sunnyvale, Calif., decentralized finance platform, raised $6.7m in Series A funding at a $250m valuation co-led by Skyland Ventures, Blockchain Founders Fund, and Krypital Group. More here ->

SiFi, a Saudi spend management startup, raised $10m in seed funding from Sanabil Investments and RAED Ventures. More here ->

Sibill, an Italian fintech for SMBs, raised €6.2m from Keen Venture Partners, Founders, and Exor Ventures. More here ->

Sipay, a Turkish payments fintech, raised $15m in Series A funding led by Anfa.More here ->

Nium, a cross-border payments company, raised $50m in Series E funding at a $1.4b valuation (30% discount to last round). Backers included Bond, NewView Capital, and Tribe Capital. More here ->

iPiD, a Singaporean payments identify startup, raised $5.3m in pre-Series A funding. Monk's Hill Ventures led, and was joined by QED Investors and Quona Capital. More here ->

Investtech

Blueberry Protocol, a decentralized prime brokerage terminal, raised $2.5m co-led by WSC and Varys Capital. More here ->

Kanastra, a Brazilian provider of back-office tech for private credit funds and securitizations, raised $21m in Series A funding. Kaszek led, and was joined by Valor Capital, Quona Capital, QED Investors and Actyus. axios.link/458U2Db More here ->

WealthOS, a London wealth management startup, raised £2m in seed funding led by Barclays. More here ->

Re:cap, a German financing and data insights company, raised $14.6m in Series A funding. Entrée Capital led, and was joined by Felix Capital and Project A.  More here ->

11th Estate, a startup targeting claim payouts from investment-related settlements and fines, raised $2m in seed funding led by Social Leverage. More here ->

Light Frame, a Providence, R.I., wealthtech startup, raised $1.7m in pre-seed financing co-led by ATX Venture Partners and New Stack Ventures. More here ->

Crypto

M^0, a decentralized stablecoin minting protocol, raised $35m in Series A funding. Bain Capital Crypto led, and was joined by Galaxy Ventures, Wintermute Ventures, GSR, Caladan, and SCB 10X. More here ->

Fortunafi, a real-world asset tokenization platform, raised $9.5m from Shima Capital and Manifold. More here ->

Insuretech

Sixfold, a New York insurance underwriting tech startup, raised $15m in Series A funding led by Salesforce Ventures, per Axios Pro. More here ->

🌎 Understory, a Madison Wis., provider of climate risk-related insurance, raised $15m in Series A funding co-led by True Ventures and Prelude Ventures. More here ->

🚑 Ifeel, a Spanish mental health insurance startup, raised $20m in Series B funding co-led by FinTLV Ventures and Korelya Capital. More here ->

Proptech

Atlas, a provider of rent payments and property management software, raised $1.6m in pre-seed funding from Better Tomorrow Ventures, On Deck, Orange DAO, Common Metal, Casey Winters, Deon Nicholas, and Blockchain Founders Fund. More here ->

From the Stash

Mastercard, bunq team up for open banking, AI - Card giant Mastercard and digital bank bunq are teaming up on open banking and AI, the companies announced this week at Money2020 in Amsterdam.   The partnership breaks down “how open banking is helping to provide the next generation of financial insights to their users” More here ->

ING implements gen AI for know your customer processes - ING is using generative AI in its know-your-customer processes to boost productivity for its data analysts and improve the client experience.   The generative AI efforts for KYC have both an operational and client benefit, Marnix van Stiphout, chief operating officer and chief technology officer ad interim at 976 billion euros ($1.1 trillion) More here ->

U.S. Bank reaps returns on $8B tech investment - U.S. Bank is realizing gains from the $8 billion it has invested in technology since 2019 as it remains focused on developing its payments technology.  “We’ve invested a lot in the company in digital and technology capabilities over the last five years that are starting to pay off,” Chairman and Chief Executive Andy Cecere said More here ->

BNY Mellon’s automated smart routing solution decides which payments rail to send transactions through behind the scenes, without burdening clients with the decision - “We don’t want our clients to know — or care — about [how money is sent], we want them to think about real-time payments, period More here ->

CFPB solicits stakeholders to form open banking framework - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is soliciting financial services stakeholders to help form a framework for sharing data ahead of open banking in the United States.  The CFPB on June 5 finalized a rule outlining which entities qualify as acceptable “standard setters” More here ->

Texas Stock Exchange, a new Dallas-based stock exchange - received $120 million of development capital from Citadel Securities, BlackRock and other undisclosed investors. 

Reports / Webinars

As blockchain technology advances, digital currencies are poised to disrupt traditional banking models and could redefine the global monetary landscape.

Access in-depth analysis from Citi on the future of digital currencies.

 The world of cross-border payments is at an inflection point  

Financial institutions are taking note. In today’s unprecedented rates environment, new tech has the power to address key pain points and transform cross-border payments for the benefit of all.

Access in-depth analysis from Citi on the future of cross-border payments.

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