Top 5 FinTech funding rounds – June 2021 (UK & Europe)

By Megha Bhattacharya

Studies have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the FinTech ecosystem. The number of FinTech deals has taken a hit as investors are choosing mature companies over early-stage deals to put their money in. Although some FinTechs received hefty investments, Emerging Payments Association’s analysts revealed a significant contraction for the market, with fintech funding in Q1 2020 already down $2 billion from Q4 2019.

Check out these five noteworthy European FinTech funding deals that took place in June 2021 –

• Mollie ($800 million)

Mollie, a payment service provider in Europe, has announced the closing of US$800m (665 mn Euro) in a Series C funding round led by funds managed by Blackstone Growth (BXG), Blackstone’s growth equity investing business. The round values Mollie at US$6.5bn (5.4 bn Euro).

The investment brings the total amount raised by the company to over US$940m (780 mn Euro). The finance round also saw participation from EQT Growth, General Atlantic, HMI Capital and Alkeon Capital. TCV who led the Series B investment in September 2020.

Mollie aims to use the funding to fuel its international expansion, team scaling and continued investment in product and engineering.

• wefox ($650 million)

wefox, a Berlin, Germany-based digital insurance company, raised US$650m in Series C funding, resulting in a post-money valuation of US$3 billion.

The round was led by Target Global with participation from existing investors OMERS Ventures, Gsquared, Merian, Horizons Ventures, Eurazeo, Mubadala, Creditease, Salesforce Ventures, Speedinvest, Alma Mundi Ventures, Victory Park Capital, GR Capital, Mountain Partners, Seedcamp, and Sound Ventures and new investors LGT, Partners Group, Jupiter, and FinTLV.

The company intends to use the funds to expand into the US and Asia within the next two years while strengthening its presence in its existing markets in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Poland.

• Klarna ($639 million)

Klarna announced a new equity funding of $639 million led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2, with additional participation from existing investors Adit Ventures, Honeycomb Asset Management and WestCap Group.

Klarna’s other investors include Sequoia Capital, SilverLake, Dragoneer, Permira, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Bestseller Group, Ant Group, Northzone, GIC – Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund – as well as funds and accounts managed by BlackRock and HMI.

The funding round brings the post-money valuation of Klarna to $45.6 billion and is expected to support international expansion and further capture global retail growth.

• Ledger ($380 million)

Ledger, the Paris-based producer of crypto hardware wallets, has closed a $380 million Series C fundraise valuing the startup at more than $1.5 billion. 10T Fund, a digital assets fund founded by macro investor Dan Tapiero, led the raise. Tapiero’s $200 million fund was set up earlier this year.

10T Fund invested alongside existing investors and new backers, including Tekne Capital, Uphold Ventures, Felix Capital, Inherent, Financière Agache (Groupe Arnault) and iAngels Technologies.

The proceeds of the Series C raise will go towards product innovation, with plans to give users access to new transactional services such as Decentralized Finance (DeFi) solutions through Ledger Live, the firm’s crypto management app. Ledger is also planning to expand its enterprise capabilities and invest in upgrading its operating system.

• Smart ($227.9 million)

Smart, the global retirement savings technology platform provider that powers the Smart Pension Master Trust, announced today that it is concluding a £165m Series D funding round.

Chrysalis Investments, one of the UK’s leading crossover investors, has led Smart’s Series D funding round with a £75 million equity investment, with additional investors to be announced in the coming weeks. The overall round will comprise £110m of primary and £55m of secondary equity.

The investment from Chrysalis, whose portfolio includes Klarna, Wise (formerly TransferWise), Starling Bank, The Hut Group and Graphcore, as well as wefox, the insurtech unicorn from Germany, will see Smart further grow its retirement technology platform offering in the UK, the US, Australia and the Middle East, with additional territories to follow.

ALSO, READ : Cool FinTech Report by IBS Intelligence