Top 5 FinTech funding rounds in September 2020 (UK & Europe version)

By Megha Bhattacharya

Studies have shown that funding is undergoing a rebound following the COVID-19 disruption. The UK, Europe’s FinTech capital, has seen a rise in the number of investments received along with the country of Germany. Digital payment companies, health insurance entities, and relief funds gained the most popularity and investment amidst the pandemic.

Check out the top 5 FinTech funding rounds that took place in September 2020 (UK& Europe) –

1. October

French FinTech startup October raised $300 million in fresh capital to invest in small and medium companies on its lending platform. October works with small companies in France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands and Germany that need a credit line. For small and medium companies, users can apply for a loan and get an answer a few days later. October evaluates risk before handing out loans thanks to industry-specific data analysis and human analysts.

The FinTech stated that $23 million of the total funds raised will be used for traditional SME loans with monthly repayments. $44 million will be deployed in the tourism industry specifically — hotels, restaurants and more. Six insurance companies and French public sector financial institution CDC are contributing to this fund. Companies applying for loans in this category can delay repayment. $232 million will be injected in Italian SMEs in particular. Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo Group is investing exclusively in this fund. Those government-backed loans will go live quite rapidly as everything will be deployed by the end of 2020.

2. Mirakl

French startup Mirakl raised a $300 million funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation this month. Mirakl helps customers to launch and manage a marketplace on their e-commerce website. Many customers also rely on Mirakl-powered marketplaces for B2B transactions. The round is led by Permira Advisers with existing investors 83North, Bain Capital Ventures, Elaia Partners and Felix Capital also participating.

Mirakl is a marketplace SaaS platform that empowers both B2B and B2C organizations to launch and grow an enterprise marketplace at scale. 300 companies have been working with Mirakl for their marketplace, such as Best Buy Canada, Carrefour, Darty and Office Depot.

3. Auxmoney

auxmoney, a Düsseldorf, Germany-based credit marketplace, recently raised an equity funding of €150m ($176 million approx) in a new funding led by Centerbridge, who will become the majority shareholder, subject to approval from anti-trust authorities. Existing investors such as Index Ventures, Union Square Ventures and Foundation Capital will remain fully on board. The company intends to use the funds to further develop its tech platform and expand its market opportunities.

auxmoney is a credit marketplace located in continental Europe. On auxmoney, private and institutional investors directly invest in pre-approved borrowers of different score classes. Recently, the company also started offering loans to small and medium-sized enterprises.

4. MarketFinance

UK-based FinTech business lender MarketFinance secured an additional £50 million ($64.7 million approx) from Israeli asset manager Viola Credit in a bid to lend to UK SMEs under the HM Treasury and British Business Bank CBILS initiative. The company recently launched a unified application process for SMEs and is now able to offer a combination of business loans, invoice finance, and revolving credit facilities through this single application journey.

According to MarketFinance, it has improved its unified application process to allow faster decisions and access to the right funding for SME applicants. The process will allow SMEs to draw down a loan today and set them up to use invoice finance or a revolving credit facility for when their order book fills back up.

MarketFinance is accredited to lend under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), providing term loans from £50,001 to £150,000 and revolving credit facilities from £50,001 to £5m to UK SMEs.

5. Bitpanda

European digital investment platform, Bitpanda today announced that it has closed a Series A funding round by securing around €44.5 million($57.6 million approx) in a round led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures. The new funding will be used to drive the company’s expansion and strengthen its position in the European financial industry.

The funding round will also see Valar Ventures’ Founding Partner Andrew McCormack join the Bitpanda board. Bitpanda aims to launch new product offerings including a new way of stock trading. It has already expanded to France, Spain and Turkey in 2020 and will enter additional European markets this year and the next.

Established in 2014, Bitpanda is a platform for trading digital assets and precious metals. Through its desktop site and mobile apps, users have access to 44 investment assets backed by state-of-the-art technology quickly, easily and securely.

READ MORE: UK Financial Services Technology Market Overview by IBS Intelligence