Fintech and Crypto startups

Welcome to VCBay Weekly News Roundup. Here are some important developments in the startup space and major funding rounds this week –

  • Fintech 
  1. Berlin-based digital asset custody and financial services platform Finoa raised US$ 22 million in a Series A funding round on 30 April 2021.
    The funding was led by Balderton Capital, with participation from existing investors Coparion, Venture Stars and Signature Ventures, as well as an undisclosed investor.

  2. Paris-based, Fintecture, a next-gen payment infrastructure solution provider raised € 6.2 million in seed round funding on 4 May 2021.
    The seed funding round was led by Target Global, with participation from Samaipata, Société Générale, and high-profile operators and founders from leading financial and tech institutions such as Adyen, Affirm, American Express, Facebook Payments, Google, PayPal and Snapchat.

  3. Fewcents, a Singapore-based fintech startup, announced on 05th May 2021 that it secured USD 1.6 Million in the seed funding round. The funding round was led by  M Ventures Partners and Hustle Fund. 
    The round also had the participation of angel investors from top fintech, media companies, and adtech: Kenneth Bishop (Former managing director of Southeast Asia Facebook),  Koh Boon Hwee (former chairman of DBS Bank), Francesco Alberti (former APAC regional sales director for Bloomberg Media Distribution) Shiv Chaudhary (partner and managing), Pratik Majumdar (Dentsu managing director), Saurabh Mital (Mission Holding Chairman and founder) and Nitesh Kripalani (former director and country head of Amazon Video India).
  1. On 3rd May 2021, Bibit, an Indonesian mutual fund investing application, raised USD 65 Million in a growth funding round. The primary investor in this round was Sequoia Capital India.
    The other investors that participated in this round were Tencent, Prosus Ventures, Ac ventures and East Ventures. In January, the company had raised USD 30 Million in the first growth round led by Sequoia Capital India.
  • Crypto and Blockchain
  1. IndiaTech.org, an industry association representing India’s technology start-ups, unicorns and investors to build a positive business and conducive policy and regulations, released a policy proposal framework on Wednesday to regulate crypto in India. This is a step towards providing clear definitions for the cryptocurrency industry.
    The association released a white paper including a policy proposal that has recommendations for a regulatory framework for crypto-assets and crypto exchanges in India.

  2. US-based Upshot, a blockchain-based protocol and platform that incentivizes experts to answer subjective questions honestly – enabling real-time NFT appraisals, raised US$ 7.5 million in Series A funding round on 6 May 2021.
    The funding round was co-led by Framework Ventures, CoinFund and Blockchain Capital with additional investments from Slow Ventures, Mechanism Capital, Delphi Digital, CMS Holdings, Stani Kulechov, Kain Warwick, Ryan Selkis, FlamingoDAO, Andrew Steinwold, Shayne Coplan, Cooper Turley, gmoneyNFT, Meltem Demirors, Tegan Kline, Tony Sheng, Andy Chorlian, and other notable figures in the NFT space.

  3. Bitso, Mexico’s largest cryptocurrency platform, announced that it raised US$ 250 Million in a Series C funding round on 05th May 2021. The funding round was led by Coatue and Tiger Global. After this fundraise, the total valuation of the company is US$ 2.2 Billion.
    With this investment being made on the company, Bisto has become the largest fintech company in the region and the first Crypto Unicorn in Latin America. The other participants in this round were BOND, Valor Capital, Paradigm, QED, and Pantera Capital.
  • Gaming
  1. On Thursday (06.May.2021), Metafy, a US-based startup that provides competitive game players with a chance to monetise their gaming skills through providing coaching and courses. The startup has announced that it has added USD 5.5 Million in its seed fund to the existing amount of USD 3.5 million. This funding round was led by a trio of  Forerunner Ventures, Seven Seven Six and DCM.
    As the company has a workforce of 18 members with a burn rate of USD 80K, it wants to make that workforce up to 30 and make the platform reach more audiences.
  • SpaceTech
  1. US-based Firefly Aerospace, a provider of economical and dependable launch vehicles, spacecraft, and in-space services for small payloads, raised US$ 175M in a Series A round of funding. The company’s valuation has reached US$ 1 billion. The startup also announced that it intends to raise another US$ 300 million later in 2021. It is looking forward to the inauguration of its Alpha rocket launch, which is currently targeting a June take-off.
    The Series A funding round was led by DADA Holdings, with participation by Astera Institute, Canon Ball LLC and others. Jed McCaleb, a cryptocurrency billionaire, invested in Firefly and will join its board of directors.
  • Mobility
  1. Swedish startup Einride, a cargo and freight company that designs and builds technologies for transportation systems, raised US$ 110 million to help fund its expansion in Europe and into the United States. Einride is known for its unusual-looking electric and autonomous pods.
    New investors Temasek, Soros Fund Management LLC, Northzone and Maersk Growth, and existing investors EQT Ventures, Plum Alley, Norrsken VC, Ericsson and NordicNinja VC. This Series B round far exceeds the previous raises of US$ 10 million in 2020 and US$ 25 million in 2019. Einride has raised US$150 million to date.
  • Others
  1. Malaysian startup Kravve. co is expanding itself from Malaysia to Singapore with more mom and pop business with a RM 1.25 million (around USD 304543.79) fundraising on 3 May 2021. It has raised this amount through equity crowdfunding (ECF)  platform pitchIN and involved a total of 159 investors, in exchange for 11.11% of its equity.
    With the funds raised, 20% will go to the expansion plans in Singapore, 35% will be allocated to the marketing efforts, and the remaining 45% will be for increasing the manpower of the company.

  2. London-based FIXR, a digital events and ticketing platform raised € 6.5M in Series A fundraising on 5 May 2021.
    The startup raised funding from investors including FSE Group, Armajaro Holdings, Smith & Williamson and Carlisle Commerce Group LLC. FIXR has also partnered with one of the UK’s largest nightclub operators REKOM UK to welcome back nightlife from Monday 21 June.

  3. Crayon Inc. which is the leading competitive intelligence platform for the enterprise, has closed a USD 22 million funding round by Baird Capital with participation from Baseline Ventures, Bedrock Capital, C&B Capital, and Oyster Funds as announced on May 4, 2021.
    It also welcomed Gaingels as an investor in series B as a part of a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The company has raised its capital to USD 38 million to date.  The company has said that it will use the financing to support the growth initiatives. Crayon is aiming to double its team size over the next 12 months which currently is near 100 members and use some of the new funding to build more features for its cloud service and product development. The company also announced Benedict Rocchio from Baird Capital has joined its Board of Directors.

  4. Kenya’s Lami Technologies has raised USD 1.8 million in a seed funding round on 05th May 2021. The funding round was led by Accion Ventures Lab with participation from P1 Ventures, Acuity Ventures, AAIC, Future Africa, Consonance, and The Continent Venture Partners.
    This insurtech startup announced that the funds raised would be used to improve the digital platform of the firm, whose main objective will be to aid and help low-income populations. The company is also looking forward to extending its reach in different parts of Africa.
  • Startup Events
  1. A Govt of South Korea initiative – K-Startup Grand Challenge, a 3.5 month-long accelerator programme will be held on 16 August – 20 November 2021 in Pangyo Techno Valley, a tech hub near Seoul.
    The South Korean government is supporting talented entrepreneurs and promising startups, to turn Korea and Pangyo Creative Economy Valley into a global startup hub in Asia. Being a gateway to the Asian market, South Korea provides immense opportunities for startups to set up their businesses in the country and get the required support from the Govt. and the startup ecosystem.

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Komal writes about the startup ecosystem on VCBay. She is an Economics Hons. graduate from Miranda House, Delhi University, and is passionate about the world of entrepreneurship and finance.

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