Fintech funding round-up: 21 September 2017
Following swiftly on from the fintech funding round-up on 19 September, here’s more concise, cash-coated action. Features CivilisedBank, HighRadius, Swirlds and Luno.
UK challenger CivilisedBank, which got its banking licence in May, has agreed terms for a further round of funding from current investor Warwick Capital Partners. No more details on that but the bank says it has also appointed Philip Acton as CEO to lead the bank through its build phase towards launch in early 2018. He replaces Gordon Dow, whose LinkedIn profile still shows he works at CivilisedBank.
The bank is focused on the UK SME market and funded by retail savings. It will offer savings and loans, transaction banking, overdrafts, current accounts with deposits and foreign exchange.
India-based HighRadius, a fintech enterprise software-as-a-service company, has raised $50 million in funding from Susquehanna Growth Equity. This is its first external funding round and the money will be used to expand the team.
HighRadius offers an integrated platform for cash flow through automation of receivables and payments processes across six areas – cash application, collections, credit, deductions, electronic billing and payment processing. According to the firm, it has more than 350 clients on its platform. One of them is Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Swirlds has raised $3 million
Over in the US, Swirlds – which last year launched its hashgraph distributed consensus platform, an alternative to blockchain – has raised $3 million in a seed round. The round was led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA). The funds will be used to “accelerate platform development and drive adoption”.
The start-up says: “Until now, consensus technologies have fallen into one of two categories: public networks, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, or private (permissioned) solutions that use leader-based consensus algorithms, such as HyperLedger, Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, and R3 Corda. Both have critical shortcomings”. With the new funding, we’ll find out if it can do better.
“To the moon!” The dramatic words of Luno, a UK-based digital currency firm. It has launched across several new European markets – and is now available in 40 countries (around the world) for people to buy, sell and store Bitcoin.
Along with this, it has recently closed its $9 million Series B round, led by Balderton Capital. The round also includes another new investor, AlphaCode, the fintech investment arm of Rand Merchant Investment Holdings (RMI); and its “loyal supporters from day one” – Digital Currency Group. The funding will be used to promote its services and double its existing team of 70 people.
