Digital Wealth News is pleased to continue our weekly column covering the largest venture capital & M&A deals of the week worldwide in fintech.
This past week, deal flow slowed down a bit – presumably due to US elections – but there were some WHOPPER deals, and frankly, a mystery.
We saw a huge capital raise for Reef Technology, which is actually a very interesting FL-based firm that helps property owners of industrial kitchens, parking lots, etc. better utilize/monetize their holdings. $700M USD is a lot of cash, and this will be an interesting one to watch in the future, but I think it’s a pretty interesting play.
Two of this week’s VC winners were Berlin- and UK-based challenger banks, another sector hugely important within fintech. But…who is behind a £263 million capital infusion into the British bank? We couldn’t find the source at publication time.
The last two were a blockchain firm out of HK (ho hum, yada yada yada, another crypto wallet, oh boy) and a conversational AI firm for the insurance sector – Ushur. I know I’m supposed to be an advocate for chatbots, but can I just say it? The chat technology still drives me (and I want to say a swear word here but won’t) freakin’ crazy. As in – my husband is concerned I’ve gone completely looney tunes every time I encounter one – I pick up the phone and start yelling at it, just like my father did in his late stage dementia. I get that they’re SUPER cost-effective, but just making my feelings known.
Anyway, here’s our latest top five fintech VC deals of the week according to the Digital Wealth News research team:
- Reef Technology (Proptech) | $700 million raise | FL-based parking lot monetization software | Mubadala Capital, Oaktree Capital Management, UBS Asset Management, Target Global (participating funding)
- Vivid Money (Banking) | $17.6 million, Series A | Berlin-based challenger bank |Berlin-based challenger bank | Ribbit Capital
- Starling (Banking) | £263 million | UK-based challenger bank | Investors undisclosed
- Ushur (Insurtech) | $25 million, Series B | Santa-Clara based insurtech startup | Third Point Venture, 8VC
- Mathwallet (Blockchain) | $7.8 million, Series A | Singapore-based crypto wallet, etc. | Alameda Research, Multicoin Capital
