ICYMI funding round-up: Meniga, Recharge.com, Hala, Zaver & more

Written by Alex Hamilton
26th March 2021

With the fast-paced nature of the fintech world sometimes it’s easy for announcements to slip by. Here at FinTech Futures we’ve put together an “In Case You Missed It” (ICYMI) list of our funding picks this week.

Meniga raised funds from its banking clients

Digital banking vendor Meniga has raised €10 million in a round led by Velocity Capital and Frumtak Ventures.

Swedish venture capital fund Industrifonden also participated in the round, in addition to existing customers UniCredit, Swedbank, and Íslandsbanki.

The vendor says its funding will go towards a continued investment into research and development, including the creation of green banking products.

The round follows a similar €9.4 million raise from May 2020, which also featured a range of banking customers investing in the firm.

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Recharge.com has raised $10 million in a debt funding round and appointed fintech entrepreneur Michael Kent as its non-executive chairman.

The company secured the funding largely from London-based Kreos Capital, who specialise in providing financing for high-growth companies.

The firm plans to use the funding to further enhance its mobile offering, extend its product range and accelerate its international expansion.

“We live in a world of instant wish fulfilment, from taxis that appear on demand to same-day delivery of consumer goods,” says CEO Günther Vogelpoel.

“Recharge.com gives customers a fast, safe and simple way to fulfil their wishes.”

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Saudi Arabian firm Hala has landed $6.5 million in a Series A funding round from Impact46.

Founded in 2018, Hala claims to be one of the first mobile wallets in its home country, and offers peer-to-peer payments through QR codes.

The start-up has pivoted to providing services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It offers packaged services through a point-of-sale device, account, and visa debit card.

Hala claims its solutions are used by more than 20,000 merchants across Saudi Arabia, responsible for more than $100 million transactions.

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Zaver offers BNPL services to merchants

Swedish fintech Zaver has raised $5 million to bolster merchants with the ability to offer buy now, pay later (BNPL) services.

Behind the new round are venture capital firms Inbox Capital and Inventure, as well as investors Fredrik Österberg, Fabian Hielte and Max Hobohm.

Zaver plans to target the “durables” market – goods that don’t need to be bought regularly and last “a long time”. These include house renovations, doctor’s visits, or buying cars.

The start-up aims to bypass traditional card rails, like credit cards and factoring companies.

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Mexico-based Baubap has closed $3 million in a seed funding round led by Grupo Grameen. It marks the company’s fifth round and first raise in the millions.

The firm aims to offer banking services and products to underbanked or unbanked people in the country.

Its first product arrived as a micro loans platform offering up to 5,000 pesos. The firm claims it can approve loan applications in minutes, requiring only voter registration and a mobile phone.

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Nigeria fintech Bankly has raised $2 million in seed funding in a round led by Vault.

Bankly states it provides a USSD based savings product where users fund their account using vouchers.

It digitises the banking process, allowing customers to deposit and withdraw money through agents located in Nigeria.

The firm is aiming to grow its customer base to 2 million unbanked Nigerians over the next three years.

It will use its funding to build out its agent network and acquire new customers. CEO Tomilola Adejana says distribution is the first key stage in financial inclusion.

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Jeff App claims 300,000 users in Vietnam

Jeff App, a Latvian fintech start-up based around financial inclusion in Asia, has raised $1 million to support its operations.

The firm is already live in Vietnam, and claims to have accrued more than 300,000 users who have compared products 1.7 million times.

Its round was led by the Estonian Business Angels Network (EstBAN) syndicate. Joining the funding are Startup Wise Guys, Taavi Tamkivi (ex-Transferwise and Skype) and “a number” of Nordic investors.

“Jeff helps our users to start building credit history based on their digital footprint,” says Toms Niparts, CEO.

“The more Jeff is used, the more we can learn and innovate with new products. Ultimately, we want to develop Jeff into a financial super app offering a range of products besides loans.”