Monzo’s New Plan Caters to Bigger Small Businesses

Monzo’s New Plan Caters to Bigger Small Businesses
  • Monzo launched Team, a new offering aimed at larger small businesses that outgrow its Business Pro and Lite plans.
  • Team includes the same tools as Pro and Lite plans, but also offers features such as employee expense cards, bulk payments, and account access for up to 15 members.
  • Team is available in the U.K. and is priced at £25 per month.

U.K.-based digital banking platform Monzo is building out its small business offerings this week with the launch of Team.

Monzo’s Team offering complements Monzo Business Pro and Monzo Business Lite plans, which collectively serve more than 500,000 businesses. The digital bank created Team to serve businesses that are too large to have their needs met by either the Pro or Lite plans.

“With Team, we’re bringing that to bigger small businesses by introducing features that teams need to help run the business day-to-day,” the company said in its blog post announcement. “Bigger, more complex teams up and down the country whose needs weren’t being met by our Lite and Pro plans before.”

Monzo’s Team product comes with all of the products and services that Lite and Pro offer, including Tax Pots for tax savings accounts, invoicing, integrated accounting and more. Additionally, the new Team accounts come with employee expense cards, offer the ability to create payment approval limits, as well as the capabilities to tailor individual account access levels for up to 15 people.

Notably, Team also allows for bulk payments. Businesses can use Team to upload payee details and make multiple payments at the same time for things like salaries and suppliers, without having to worry about manually entering the payee details every time.

Limited companies can have up to 15 team members and sole traders can have a team of three people and set what individual team members can see and do. Pricing for Teams, which is currently only available to businesses in the U.K., starts at $32 (£25) a month. 

Founded in 2015, Monzo is one of the earlier small business digital bank providers. The company also offers personal accounts. With 10 million personal credit card holders, Monzo also provides savings, pension, investments, debit cards, and loan products. Monzo’s competitors include well known brands such as Revolut, Starling, N26, and Monese.


Photo by Fox

Tyfone Spins Out New Entity for Instant Payments

Tyfone Spins Out New Entity for Instant Payments

Tyfone announced the formation of a new spinout today. The company launched the new entity, Payfinia, to provide instant payment solutions to both financial institutions and third-party organizations.

Payfinia aims to help financial institutions access and establish ownership of their instant payments services. The company also helps third-party organizations across various industries integrate instant payments with traditional payment tools into their existing payment and money movement use cases including A2A, P2P, Bill Payment, B2B and B2C disbursements.

Tyfone formed Payfinia by shifting its IP and technology, including advanced UX and security protocols, to the new company. Payfinia hinges on Tyfone’s Instant Payment Xchange (IPX), a money movement gateway to FedNow that will serve as Payfinia’s flagship offering.

Tyfone launched its IPX platform in July 2023, in conjunction with the Federal Reserve’s FedNow instant payment service. Since launch, IPX has converted nearly 30% of same-day ACH credit transactions into send transactions on push instant payment systems, routing existing payment solutions through networks like FedNow. Launching Payfinia will help Tyfone further build on the instant payments experience.

“We’ve seen remarkable results with our Instant Payment Xchange, achieving 50% less fraud compared to Same-Day ACH and fourfold reductions over other P2P solutions,” said Tyfone CEO Siva Narendra. “As we launch Payfinia, we’re doubling down on security with cryptographic, deterministic methods aimed at countering AI-driven fraud risks, while ensuring instant payments remain efficient, secure and accessible. This is just the beginning of Payfinia’s impact across industries.”

Integrating FedNow’s instant payments service, which the U.S. Federal Reserve launched in July of 2023, has led to a host of challenges for banks. These challenges include building a complex integration for real-time payment systems, maintaining compliance with security standards, and ensuring a seamless user experience across digital platforms.

With IPX, Payfinia is positioned to help financial services companies overcome these obstacles. That’s because the IPX platform offers real-time connectivity to both FedNow and RTP networks, helping banks eliminate the need for multiple integrations when adopting both instant payment systems. Additionally, Payfinia provides enhanced security and compliance as well as user-friendly digital tools that can help firms integrate the new technology into their existing interface. Payfinia also ensures a scalable, unified experience across multiple channels.

Tyfone is one of the earlier Finovate alums, having demoed at the first Finovate event to take place in San Francisco– FinovateSpring 2008. At the show, Tyfone Co-Founder Siva Narendra demoed a memory card for a mobile phone that facilitated contactless payments. The company, which used to focus on mobile-only solutions, began developing for multiple channels in 2014.

Tyfone was founded in 2004 and provides digital banking and payment solutions. In addition to its instant payments tools, the Oregon-based company offers nFinia, an enterprise solution that allows community financial institutions to deliver a hyper-personalized digital banking experience to both retail and commercial customers. The configurable solution offers more than 300 financial functions and provides an open ecosystem with direct integrations with more than 160 players.


Photo by Pixabay

Brex and Navan Join Forces to Launch Business Travel and Payments Solution

Brex and Navan Join Forces to Launch Business Travel and Payments Solution
  • Brex and Navan have teamed up to launch BrexPay for Navan, a business travel and payments solution that combines Brex’s global payments infrastructure with Navan’s travel-booking system.
  • The new tool leverages Navan Connect and Brex Embedded, and will allow companies to use their existing payment cards while benefitting from automated receipts and reconciliation.
  • This partnership will offer Navan a competitive edge by creating a scalable travel program with local currency cards and a seamless payments integration.

Corporate card and expense management fintech Brex has partnered with travel and expense solution Navan to launch a joint offering.

The new product, BrexPay for Navan, is an integrated business travel and payments solution for Navan users that streamlines travel payments into a single workflow when using the Navan travel management system. The new tool taps Navan Connect, a card-link technology that allows companies to use their existing payment cards and banking relationships, and Brex’s embedded finance tool, Brex Embedded.

The result of the collaboration is a direct integration between Brex’s global payments infrastructure and Navan’s travel-booking infrastructure. The new tools offer Navan’s business clients higher limits than legacy cards and local currency cards across more than 50 countries, a scalable travel program that facilitates compliance and helps reduce costs, and automated receipts and reconciliation that saves companies hours of accounting time each month.

“With BrexPay for Navan, we are bringing something truly unique and monumental to the market,” said Brex CEO Pedro Franceschi. “By combining Brex’s fast onboarding, global acceptance, and homegrown financial stack with Navan’s end-to-end business travel offering into one solution, customers now have access to a payments and travel experience that is beyond any other corporate travel and payments solution.”

For Navan, integrating payments into its existing corporate travel booking tool has the potential to both attract new clients and maintain its existing client base. That’s because for Navan, integrating payments into its existing corporate travel booking tool has the potential to both attract new clients and maintain its existing client base by offering businesses a single, cohesive solution for managing both travel and payments, eliminating the need to juggle multiple platforms.

By combining Brex’s multi-faceted financial infrastructure with Navan’s travel management system, companies benefit from higher credit limits, local currency options, and automated reconciliation, making it easier to scale travel programs globally while saving time and reducing costs. The move not only simplifies operations, but also enhances the overall user experience, giving Navan a competitive edge in a market that values efficiency and innovation.

Brex was founded in 2017 to create a digital-first business banking solution. The company offers business bank accounts with credit cards that have built-in rewards, spend controls, and expense tracking. The accounts provide businesses access to their online revenue, billpay tools, and integration with popular accounting tools.

Brex quickly rose to prominence in the fintech space after positioning itself as a digital bank account and card offering for startups. The company sought to solve pain points that often come with corporate cards, including lengthy approval processes and restrictive credit limits. Within just two years, Brex managed to raise billions of dollars in funding and achieve unicorn status.

In 2022, however, as Brex expanded its focus from small businesses to larger, venture-backed companies, the company experienced a downward shift. Because Brex discontinued some of its services geared toward small businesses– its original customer base– many customers left to seek alternative solutions. negative backlash.

Despite the dip, Brex remains a major player in the fintech space, serving “tens of thousands of businesses” ranging from small private companies to large public brands, including Airbnb and Classpass.

Revolut Debuts Payment Terminal Hardware

Revolut Debuts Payment Terminal Hardware
  • Revolut has announced the launch of Revolut Terminal, a wireless POS device aimed at larger businesses in the U.K. and Ireland.
  • Revolut Terminal offers advanced features like multi-location management, customer analytics, and integration with Revolut Pay.
  • Revolut Terminal is different from the Revolut Reader, which targets micro-businesses.

International challenger bank Revolut is pushing further into the business-to-business space this year. The company just announced the pending launch of Revolut Terminal, an advanced Point of Sale (POS) device designed for larger businesses across the U.K. and Ireland.

The new payment terminal, which is wireless and claims 99.9% uptime, is geared toward helping businesses manage transactions efficiently and securely across multiple physical locations. Revolut plans to launch the Revolut Terminal just ahead of Black Friday, which is timely for businesses that want to prepare for the increase in retail traffic before the holiday season.

Revolut’s new POS device integrates with Revolut Pay and will allow customers to make payments directly from their Revolut accounts without having to enter card or bank details. For merchants, Revolut Pay provides competitive transaction fees, which, at 0.5% + £0.02, are considerably less than traditional card processing fees.

“We’re excited to be offering Revolut Terminal as an all-in-one, powerful POS solution for our business customers,” said Revolut General Manager of Merchant Acquiring Alex Codina. “This launch comes as we continue to invest into our B2B offering and particularly double down on the hospitality and retail industries as an acquirer. A truly reliable payment solution is the difference between closing the sale and losing money, with Black Friday round the corner, Revolut Terminal is built to withstand high customer demand; and it could be yours in time for the busy season at an exclusive, reduced rate.”

In addition to the competitive pricing, the Revolut Terminal provides access to advanced POS features, including multi-location management, table mapping for restaurant businesses, analytics and insights into customer behavior, and integration with customer catalogues.

The Revolut Terminal builds on the success of the Revolut Reader, which the company launched in 2022. The Revolut Reader is a smaller, wireless dongle-type of payment acceptance tool aimed to help micro-businesses and entrepreneurs accept payments at 0.8% + £0.02 per transaction. The lightweight, portable card reader integrates with Revolut Business accounts and offers essential POS functionalities, including tipping and analytics.

Revolut offers an entire suite of tools for its business users. In addition to its flagship multi-currency accounts, the company also provides expense management tools, corporate payment cards, as well as a line of payment acceptance tools that includes hardware, APIs, analytics, and integrations.

“We’re continuing to see lots of momentum in Revolut Business, having this summer surpassed $500 million in annualized revenue and onboarding over 20,000 new customers per month,” said Revolut Business General Manager James Gibson. “Revolut Terminal marks the latest investment in our business customers, with merchants of all sizes now able to easily accept payments directly into their Revolut Business accounts, without juggling multiple providers.”

Last month, the company spun out its wealth management app into a standalone entity. And earlier this year, the company cemented its reputation as Europe’s most valuable fintech after receiving a $45 billion valuation.

Finovate Webinar: Innovations in AI-Powered Observability

Finovate Webinar: Innovations in AI-Powered Observability

The idea of a black box has always been unacceptable in financial services. Financial institutions must be able to explain to clients and regulators how decisions are made – are they fair, justified, and sensible?

This is where observability comes in and it can do much more than setting your moral compass right.

Join Dynatrace, Deloitte, and AWS on October 24 at 2 pm Eastern for a 45-minute live webinar tailored for executives in the financial services industry. This session will feature a panel of experts discussing the latest strategies for modernizing financial services infrastructure and applications through AI-powered observability.

In this in-depth discussion, the panel will explore the integration of AI-powered observability and financial services, focusing on how organizations can enhance their operations, ensure data protection, and comply with regulations. The experts will delve into the transformative potential of AI, including Generative AI, in boosting overall productivity and maintaining regulatory compliance.

Why should you attend?

  • Gain strategic insights: Learn from industry leaders about the latest trends and strategies in AI-powered observability tailored specifically for financial services.
  • Enhance operational efficiency: Discover how to leverage AI and automation to streamline operations, mitigate risks, and ensure compliance.
  • Real-world applications: See live demonstrations and hear real-life use cases from Dynatrace customers, showcasing practical implementations and outcomes.
  • Interactive learning: Participate in a live Q&A session with experts, allowing you to get personalized answers to your specific challenges and questions.

Among the panel of experts is Wayne Segar, Field CTO at Dynatrace; Paul Barnhill, Managing Director at Deloitte; and Eric Baran, Principal Segment Leader- DevOps – Global Financial Services at AWS.

Learn more or register today.


Photo by Ron Lach

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

With Halloween and the U.S. election on the horizon, things may be getting spookier, but that’s not the case in fintech! We’ve seen some potential good news in VC funding trends and expect that there is more to come. Stay tuned throughout the week to read the latest news this week as we post updates and evolutions.

Small business financial management tools

HubSpot to acquire B2B billing management and CPQ solution, Cacheflow.

Pivot Payables joins American Express Sync.

Lending & credit

Digital origination and decisioning technology company Amount launched its unified account opening and loan origination platform.

AperiData introduces credit score fully powered by open banking.

Investing & wealth management

Apex Fintech Solutions agrees to acquire fintech and design agency FinTron.

Facet raises $35 million to broaden access to financial advice.

DriveWealth integrates with multiple execution management system (EMS) platforms, including Bloomberg EMSXLSEG Autex and TRAFiX

Regtech

Regulatory reporting software provider Regnology is acquiring CG3-1, a company that specializes in regulatory calculations for the U.S. broker-dealer industry.

Relyance raises $32 million to help companies comply with data regulations.

Open banking

Token.io and Santander team up to leverage open banking to enhance credit card repayments.

Crypto / Defi

Ripple announces readiness to launch its US dollar-denominated stablecoin, Ripple USD (RLUSD).

Insurtech

Paymentus accelerates digital disbursements for insurance claims payouts.

One Inc and J.P. Morgan Payments collaborate to enhance unified payment platform for insurance.

Payments

Instant Financial expands pay options with the launch of Instant Direct to offer employees earned wage access.


Photo by Rizki Yulian on Unsplash

U.K. Digital Bank Pockit Acquires Monese

U.K. Digital Bank Pockit Acquires Monese
  • Digital bank Pockit has acquired multi-currency account provider Monese.
  • Pockit plans to continue operating both brands separately while combining efforts to process $6.52 billion (£5 billion) in annual transactions.
  • Monese’s B2B arm, XYB, will be spun off as a standalone business, and Monese’s 100 employees will join Pockit.

U.K.-based digital bank Pockit announced that it has acquired multi-currency account provider Monese. While financial terms of the deal were undisclosed, Pockit is rumored to have paid a “modest sum” for Monese.

According to the Times, Pockit CEO and Co-founder Virraj Jatania said that the deal would be “transformational” for the company and “great news for millions of customers poorly served by traditional banks.”

Pockit was founded in 2012 and now offers a prepaid card for everyday use, as well as a travel-specific prepaid card that can be used in multiple currencies. The company also offers joint account cards, a credit building tool, a cash advance product, and more. Pockit has raised just shy of $50 million, with its most recent $10 million round led by Puma Private Equity in August of 2023.

Also founded in 2013, Monese offers both personal and business accounts that come with a multi-currency debit card suited for traveling. The company also offers international money transfers for both sending and receiving funds. The company is backed by $201 million in funding, having secured its most recent 2022 round from HSBC Ventures, which wrote off its investment earlier this year.

Monese also has a business-to-business arm called XYB. This core-less banking platform, which helps banks and other financial services companies create and launch new financial services solutions, was spun off as a standalone business earlier this year.

For now, it appears that Monese’s two million customers across 30+ countries will remain with Monese. Pockit has said that, while Monese’s 100 employees will join the Pockit team, they will continue to run both Monese and Pockit as two separate brands. Combined, Pockit and Monese will process around $6.52 billion (£5 billion) worth of transactions each year.


Photo by Engin Akyurt

Streamly Snapshot: Micro Life Insurance

Streamly Snapshot: Micro Life Insurance

At FinovateFall last month, Finovate’s David Penn sat down with Wysh Founder and CEO Alex Matjanec to discuss the concept of micro life insurance.

We’ve highlighted pieces of the conversation below, and included the entire 10-minute video for you to check out the full story.

Tell us a little bit about Wysh and your approach to embedded life insurance.

Alex Matjanec: I think the first thing that surprises most people about Wysh is that we’re actually a life insurance company…. Our product is called Life Benefit, and Life Benefit is micro life insurance that sits on top of their deposit accounts…. We sell the policy to the institution, and they give it as a benefit to their customers or members as a way to differentiate their story beyond just credited interest rate, helping to bring a real protection to that story.

You spoke in the past about the context of the protection offering that Wysh provides. How does Life Benefit extend the capacity for protection.

Matjanec: Today, there is protection being offered… we have deposit insurance, FDIC insurance, overdraft protection, fraud protection. The issue with a lot of that protection is that it comes from a world of being in a negative place. What we want to do with Life Benefit is show how protection can help you from a positive direction. As you grow your deposits, you’re growing this policy and benefit along with it. That is how we’re following along with you in your journey. As you’re trying to become financially independent, we’re giving you a little bit of protection along the way.

How does an institution go about adopting Life Benefit?

Matjanec: One of the things we’re really proud about is that it takes less than 45 days to go from contract to launching Life Benefit…. We give you a one-page disclosure that you amend to your existing contract. That allows us to bring this benefit to market without requiring any sign-up, opt-in, or underwriting… That turns this into a 72-hour ability to turn on.

What makes Life Benefit really powerful is when you show the customer the benefit they’ve earned and it growing over time as you’re raising your deposits– much like showing people the value of interest rates or return on investments. That is a little bit of a larger lift, but we’ve made integrations with other cores and banking platforms, as well as built a low-code, no-code option that some of our partners have implemented, and that’s why we’re confident that… it takes less than 45 days to go live.


Catch all of this, and more, including Matjanec’s explanation of how Life Benefit can help firms avoid the “sea of sameness,” as well as a discussion on the tool’s affiliate offering, and the company’s future plans, in the full video below.

Enhancing financial inclusion with micro life insurance


Photo by Arafat Tarif

Worldline Launches Embedded Payments Solution

Worldline Launches Embedded Payments Solution
  • Worldline and Online Payment Platform have partnered to launch an embedded payments solution in Europe.
  • The new tool will enable platforms and marketplaces to integrate features like split payments, escrow, and mediation handling.
  • The embedded payments solution is currently available in the E.U., and Worldline plans to expand it to Switzerland and the U.K., as well as add enhancements such as tap-on-mobile and POS integrations.

Payments services company Worldline and payment provider Online Payment Platform (OPP) have partnered this week to launch an embedded payments solution in Europe.

The new solution combines OPP’s payment technology with Worldline’s capabilities in acquiring, acceptance, and point of sale. Using the new embedded payments tool, platforms and marketplaces in Europe can add features such as split payments, advanced escrow, and unique mediation handling. Wordline anticipates that these new tools in an embedded experience will help businesses find new revenue opportunities and boost user engagement.

“Our partnership with OPP reflects our commitment to innovation in payments,” said Worldline CEO Marc-Henri Desportes. “By combining OPP’s robust platform capabilities with our extensive acquiring expertise, we are delivering an embedded payments solution that provides platforms and marketplaces a unique pathway to integrate and leverage new payment opportunities.”

Worldline designed its new embedded payments tool to offer a holistic, turnkey solution that works across multiple currencies and payment methods. The user-friendly interface allows for fast onboarding with a high level of security that can help reduce fraud and increase consumer trust. Additionally, the embedded payments tool is compliant with both E.U. and U.K. regulatory standards.

“With this joint offering, we are setting a new benchmark in the payments landscape,” said OPP Founder Richarad Straver. “Our approachability, combined with Worldline’s unrivalled footprint, allows us to provide a seamless and efficient experience for platforms and their sub-merchants. This solution not only facilitates transactions but also supports our clients with features like escrow and mediation, enhancing trust and security in every transaction.”

The new embedded payments tool is currently available in the EU. Worldline and OPP have plans to expand availability into Switzerland and into the U.K., having recently secured the EMI license for the latter region. The company also notes future plans for advancements such as tap-on-mobile and point of sale integrations, which it anticipates will further enhance the user experience.

Embedded payments in the U.K. are quickly growing and evolving as businesses across multiple sectors seek to enable companies to offer payment services within their existing interfaces rather than redirecting their customers to third-party payment processors. This is especially true in the E.U., where the growth of open banking and open APIs has accelerated the adoption of embedded payments as merchants seek to make transactions more seamless and ultimately enhance their customer experience.

France-based Worldline began facilitating card transactions in 1973 and currently has 18,000 employees in more than 50 countries and counts annual revenue of around $4.4 billion. Gilles Grapinet is CEO.


Photo by Anastasia Nelen on Unsplash

Plaid Introduces Pay-by-Bank for Billpay

Plaid Introduces Pay-by-Bank for Billpay
  • Plaid has launched a pay-by-bank tool for bill payments in the U.S., allowing consumers to securely pay bills directly from their bank account without manually entering their account details.
  • The tool provides offers billers cost savings and lower risk with fewer returned payments through its risk engine, Signal.
  • Plaid’s pay-by-bank tool is already being used across industries like telecommunications and property management, integrating seamlessly with existing payment processors like Adyen, Nuvei, and Checkout.

Pay-by-bank is back in the news cycle today– this time in the United States. Fintech infrastructure player Plaid unveiled a pay-by-bank tool for billpay.

The new tool, which is powered by Plaid’s network, provides businesses with a lower cost, more secure option for consumers to pay bills directly from their bank account with less friction. Because it leverages Plaid’s bank network, the new pay-by-bank tool does not require consumers to find their checkbook, manually enter their account and routing numbers, and wait for verification. Instead, the solution, which is embedded into a biller’s existing payments flow, connects to consumers’ accounts by securely entering their bank login credentials.

“Plaid provides both market-leading authentication through online banking and traditional account and routing number validation in the background,” the company explained in a blog post. “There’s no need to stitch together multiple vendors, so no matter how the user prefers to pay with their bank account, Plaid’s end-to-end Pay by Bank solution can securely accept it. Plaid Pay by Bank is available across all channels: online, in-app, in-store, and hosted contact center solutions.”

Plaid’s pay-by-bank is available as an all-in-one solution that includes processing, or it can be integrated with a biller’s existing payment processor such as Adyen, Nuvei, Checkout, and others.

Pay-by-bank offers two major benefits to billers. The first is cost savings. Plaid estimates that payments made directly from the consumer’s bank account offer a 40% lower processing cost when compared to credit card payments. The second benefit is lower risk. Plaid’s risk assessment results in fewer returns for recurring payments.

To decrease the risk of returned payments, Plaid leverages Signal, its risk engine that uses machine-learning-driven network insights that mitigate failed payments, connecting to closed accounts, or accounts with insufficient funds. Signal offers a feature called Smart Retries that provides guidance on when to retry failed payments. Plaid reports that this decreases non sufficient funds (NSFs) on first payments by up to 80%.

Plaid’s pay-by-bank tool is already in use with a handful of customers across telecommunications, property management, insurance, automotive, and other industries. One such company, a digital rent payment business Domuso, has integrated Plaid’s new bill pay experience into its existing payments platform.

Which Aspect of VC Fintech Funding is Rising?

Which Aspect of VC Fintech Funding is Rising?

We all know that the VC investment scene is nothing like it was in 2021 and early 2022. With Q3 of 2024 behind us, we now know that fintech is still experiencing a funding downturn. In fact, both deal numbers and funding totals are down from Q2 of this year, with 179 fewer deals and $2.4 billion less in funding volume.

While the drop is sobering, however, there are a few bright lights in recent funding data that may signal the potential start of a positive turnaround. I took a look at CB Insights’ recent State of Venture Q3 ’24 Report, and here are my major takeaways.

Areas of micro growth

As mentioned previously, there are a few aspects of CB Insights’ recent data that offer signs of potential recovery:

Deal size
The drop in the average size is leveling off. So far in 2024, the average deal size is currently $12.7 million, and compared the 2023 average size of $13.2 million, deal size falls around $500,000 short. This is much smaller than the $3.2 million drop that took place from 2022 to 2023, and looks quite favorable when compared to the $11.6 million drop from 2021 to 2022.

Even better news is that the median deal size has increased for the first time since 2020. Thus far in 2024, the median deal size has increased by $1 million. This comes after the median deal size dropped by $700,000 from 2022 to 2023 and decreased by the same amount from 2021 to 2022.

Resilience in early-stage investment
The data regarding deal stage distribution shows that 71% of deals are still going to early-stage companies. This suggests that investors remain optimistic about long-term innovation in fintech, even if they are currently more conservative with growth-stage investments. Investors’ focus on early-stage companies could signal that they are planting the seeds for future growth, and may be anticipating a recovery in the fintech sector.

Areas of concern

There are, of course, still some less positive aspects of the Q3 investment data, notably, M&A activity and unicorn valuations.

M&A environment

The data indicates that interest in acquisitions is dropping. In the third quarter of this year, we saw 146 exits made via M&A. While this is an increase of six acquisitions when compared to the same quarter last year, it is down from both the first and second quarters of 2024, which were 161 and 159, respectively.

Increased M&A activity often suggests that the market is stabilizing, so the decrease suggests that investors are either still concerned about market conditions or are holding out for lower interest rates.

New unicorns

The number of new unicorns has dropped. In the third quarter of 2024, there were just two newly minted unicorns. This level is equal to what we saw in the first quarter of last year. The number of new unicorns has dropped from three in the second quarter of last year and from seven in the first quarter of this year.

Is this the bottom?

Looking at the data, it would appear that we are pretty close to the bottom of the fintech funding slump. And while I said that last year at about this time, this year, we have small signals to back it up. Specifically, the first increase in the median deal size since 2020 is quite encouraging and may indicate the potential for increased investor appetites.


Photo by Mikhail Nilov

TrueLayer Lands $50 Million to Grow Pay-by-Bank

TrueLayer Lands $50 Million to Grow Pay-by-Bank
  • TrueLayer secured an additional $50 million in funding, bringing its Series E round total to $180 million.
  • TrueLayer’s valuation has dropped to $700 million from its peak of $1 billion in 2021.
  • Despite the downround, TrueLayer remains optimistic about its future, stating its intentions to work toward profitability.

Open banking platform TrueLayer is proving that it is not just AI companies that are receiving VC investor attention. The London-based company recently received a $50 million extension of its $130 million Series E round.

Today’s follow-on round was led by existing investor Northzone with contributions from Tencent Holdings, Tiger Global, Temasek Holdings, and Stripe. According to Bloomberg, the recent round reportedly values TrueLayer at $700 million, which is notably lower than the $1 billion valuation the company received during its 2021 Series E round.

Despite TrueLayer’s recent raise being a downround—reflecting a valuation drop of $300 million—this trend has been common across the fintech sector in recent years. TrueLayer remains optimistic, viewing the new funding as a vote of confidence in its future growth and ability to achieve profitability. “Separately to this fundraise, we have taken important steps to chart our path toward profitability. This funding is yet another vote of confidence in our company, our technology,” said TrueLayer CEO Francesco Simoneschi.

Founded in 2016, TrueLayer offers an open banking payments network that processes $40 billion across 120 million transactions annually. The company has 10 million users located among 21 European countries. In addition to its payments and payouts products, TrueLayer also offers Signup+, a streamlined onboarding tool, and VRP, its variable recurring payments tool.

TrueLayer appointed its first Chief Strategy Officer, Lisa Scott, earlier this year. The company has raised a total of $321 million. Francesco Simoneschi is Co-founder and CEO.

TrueLayer, which counts Revolut, Coinbase, and Robinhood among its clients, is well-known for facilitating pay-by-bank transactions. Pay-by-bank has seen increased interest among merchants, as they have multiple benefits in comparison to credit card payments. The benefits include fewer fees, faster settlement, and reduced chargebacks. While there has been some movement in pay-by-bank usage in the U.S., pay-by-bank has seen more growth in Europe where open banking is regulated and consumers don’t rely on credit cards as much.


Photo by Michael Kessel