The Weekly Wrap: all you need to know by Friday COB | Oct 29th

By Gaia Lamperti

The Weekly Wrap is published every Friday and recaps the week’s main stories and deals, as well as upcoming events and announcements. For Prime subscribers only.

The big story

A massive deal has been secured this week, proving that the e-commerce boom continues at blistering speed. UK-based start-up Storefund has raised £300 million, in a round led by Fasanara Capital.

The funding will enable Storfund to meet e-commerce retailers’ intense demand for cashflow services, expanding its coverage in Latin America and Asia Pacific, particularly in China where Storfund is piloting its service this autumn.

The firm is Amazon’s only approved provider of immediate payment on sales, adopted in 17 out of  20 Amazon’s marketplaces. Last February, the company had already secured  £26.5 million from Union Bancaire Privée.

Fasanara Capital CEO Francesco Filia commented: “Storfund is a true tech-first company, capable of delivering globally; it just needs the funds to reach scale. They’ve built their brand on transparency, particularly on pricing, and on international reach which has helped them win large, experienced retailers as clients.”

Deals of the week

• Klarna partners with Stripe to fuel growth for retailers worldwide
• Oportun completes $500 million asset-backed securitisation
• Risk Ledger secures a £2.1 million funding as supply chains hit the headlines
• Groww raises $251 million in Series E funding led by Iconiq Growth
• Citcon closes $30 million Series C funding
• Moralis secures a $13.4 million Seed funding from EQT Ventures
• APLYiD raises $7 million in Series A led by UK’s Octopus Ventures

Be on the lookout for

After the Korean series reached all-time high views on Netflix (111 million), now Squid Game will become an online game, on a crypto-powered play-to-earn platform.

The game will launch in November but the Squid Game tokens are for sale since Tuesday and their price has already seen a spike from $0.012 to $6.27, increasing by nearly 2,400% in the last 24 hours.

The token now has a market capitalisation is above $174 million, yet experts suggest caution before jumping into trading as some exchange platforms, like the popular Pancakeswap, do not support the token.

Events & Appointments

• Hong Kong Fintech Week starts on November 1st, combining a physical conference with access online from anywhere in the world for five days of talking panels and opportunities for engagement with world-renowned investors. IBS Intelligence is proud to announce a media partnership with the event.
• Web Summit is happening in Lisbon next week too. Among all things internet culture, the event will also explore the future of digital payments and major tren in the European FinTech scene.