Fintech Highlights - 7/2/2024
Here's what we've been watching this week 👇
The BFD
Sainsbury's (LSE: SBRY), the British grocery giant, agreed to sell its banking business to NatWest (LSE: NWG), which will receive both the customer assets and £125 million in cash.
Why it's the BFD: Sainsbury's becomes the latest retailer to reverse course on offering financial services to customers, deciding that the competitive challenges were larger than the customer loyalty rewards.
- Just four months ago, fellow British grocer Tesco offloaded its bank to Barclays.
By the numbers: NatWest says it will add around 1 million customers and £2.6 billion in customer deposits.
- It also will assume £2.5 billion in gross customer assets, including £1.4 billion of unsecured personal loans and £1.1 billion of credit card balances.
The bottom line: "The UK was among the first to embrace open banking technology, which was meant to induce more competition for lenders by making it easier for consumers to switch providers. Even with that effort, big banks Barclays and Lloyds have been among the largest beneficiaries of people switching accounts." — Sam Nagarajan, Bloomberg
M&A
Zurich Insurance has announced the acquisition of a 70% stake in Kotak Mahindra General Insurance Company Limited ("Kotak General Insurance"), marking a significant milestone as the first foreign insurer to enter India since the foreign direct investment (FDI) rules were amended to allow up to 74% foreign ownership in 2021. Read more, 1 min read More here ->
Robinhood agreed to buy AI research platform Pluto Capital. More here ->
iA (TSX: IAG) completed its $170m purchase of Vericity, a Chicago-based life insurer majority owned by J.C. Flowers & Co. More here ->
Nubank (NYSE: NU) acquired Hyperplane, an SF-based developer of customer behavior models for banks that last year raised a $6m round led by Lachy Groom. More here ->
Fintech
Hero, a French banking services platform for small businesses, raised €11.3m led by Valar Ventures. More here ->
Bling, a German family fintech app, raised $12m in Series A funding. Owl Ventures led, and was joined by Neosfer, Peak, and Angel Invest. More here ->
Investtech
Ramify, a French wealth management platform, raised €11m in Series A funding. 13books Capital led, and was joined by Fidelity International Strategic Ventures, Crédit Agricole, Newfund, and AG2R. More here ->
Fisher Investments, a Plano-based independent registered investment advisor, raised $3B in private equity from Advent International and a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. This is their first funding round to date and gives Fisher Investments a valuation of ~$12.75B. RBC Capital Markets and J.P. Morgan Securities served as joint financial advisors in this transaction. More here ->
Insuretech
Amplify Life Insurance, an SF-based life insurance platform, raised $20m in Series B funding co-led by Crosslink Capital and Anthemis.More here ->
ZA Tech, a next-generation insurance core system SaaS provider, has rebranded as Peak3 and has also announced the completion of its US$35 million Series A fundraising from EQT (lead investor) and Alpha JWC Ventures. More here ->
Feather, a German startup that helps foreign workers get health insurance, raised €6m. Keen Venture Partners led, and was joined by Pural. More here ->
Proptech
Chexy, a Canadian startup which allows renters to pay their rent online whilst earning rewards and building credit, has announced it has raised $3 million in a seed round. More here ->
Cinven agreed to acquire Idealista, a Spanish online real estate classifieds business, from EQT and Oakley Capital at a €2.9b enterprise value. More here ->
From the Stash
3. Stellantis Announces Partnership with Bolt - Stellantis, the captive automotive finance company, has announced it is partnering with insurtech bolt. The partnership will allow Stellantis customers to purchase car insurance using bolt’s solutions and through Stellantis websites and mobile apps with a variety of insurers’ products. More here ->
Goose Rebrands To SmartBunny in U.S. - Goose Insurance Services, an insurtech known for offering instant insurance solutions, has announced its rebranding in the U.S. with the launch of a new app, SmartBunny Insurance. More here ->
13. Columbia Announces Partnership with Guidewire - Columbia Insurance Group has announced it is partnering with Guidewire, utilising their advanced software solutions to enhance their customer platform. More here ->
☑️ Thanks for reading. Please, share this post with your friends, colleagues and tell them to sign up.
If you haven't already signed up - do it now....☝️
If you have any companies or news to share - use the form
AND - if we’re not already connected - let’s do it.