ICYMI funding round-up: LOQR, MOCA Financial, Bueno Finance, Glint Pay & more
At FinTech Futures, we know that it can be easy to let funding announcements slip you by in this fast-paced industry. That’s why we put together our weekly ‘In Case You Missed It’ (ICYMI) funding roundup for you to get the latest funding news.
The LOQR founding team
LOQR, a Portuguese start-up that provides authentication solutions for financial institutions, announced a Series A investment round worth €8 million.
The investment included the participation of Iberis Capital and Semapa Next, and was backed up by current investors, such as EDP Ventures, BiG Start Ventures and HCapital.
The firm says it will use its new cash to continue to invest in the “digital transformation of the financial sector”, as well as strengthening its international expansion.
“In just five years, we went from being a new and unknown company in the financial sector to being a market leader, with reference clients in Portugal, Spain
and Norway”, says Ricardo Costa, CEO of LOQR.
“This investment will allow us to focus our dedication in a wider geographic area, towards sustained internationalisation.”
MOCA, a digital-first card-based payment platform provider, has raised $3 million in Series B investment from Woodforest Financial Group.
MOCA plans to use the funding to increase its reach domestically as well as expand its current footprint in The Caribbean and Latin America.
The firm’s platform allows community banks and credit unions as well as select fintechs to offer a flexible, “best-in-class” payment solution to their customers.
India-based fintech start-up Bueno Finance has raised $3 million in a Seed funding round from a handful of new investors.
Goat Capital, JAM Fund, Olive Tree Capital, and Good Water Capital all participated. Bueno Finance is a credit-focused neobank for country’s middle and lower-middle-income segment.
The firm, which is also backed by Y Combinator, is using its injection to boost its products and hire new bodies in engineering, sales, and operations.
Glint raised £2.2 million in crowdfunding
Glint Pay, the subsidiary of gold trading firm Glint, has raised £2.2 million in a crowdfunding round on Seedrs.
891 investors were involved in the round, Glint’s second of its kind since its raised £2.1 million through Crowdcube in 2017.
Glint CEO, Jason Cozens, says: “We have taken gold, one of the most trusted and proven stores of wealth and made it liquid, enabling clients to buy, save, spend and send real gold, instantly and inexpensively.”
Cash management start-up Airbank has raised €2.5 million in a Seed funding round led by Pia d’Iribarne and Jean de la Rochebrochard at New Wave, with participation from Speedinvest and Tiny VC.
Airbank offers real-time cash flow insights by connecting to the user’s bank account and revenue sources. It provides multi-banking, cash flow management, and payment capabilities.
“Open Banking has enabled smooth integrations with banks, which we can utilize to offer richer banking experiences for our users,” says Christopher Zemina, co-founder and CEO of Airbank.
Vietnamese start-up Mfast has raised $1.5 million in pre-Series A funding from a group of investors including Do Ventures.
Mfast allows users to use and introduce financial and insurance service packages. The firm claims to have as many as 600,000 users.
Saudi Arabian firm Tweeq has raised an undisclosed amount of capital as it plans to expand across it shoe country and the Middle East.
Tweeq aims to allow users to open a payment account for the transfer of money and processing of transactions.
Digital mortgage exchange firm MAXEX has secured an undisclosed strategic investment from JP Morgan.
The investment is intended to accelerate broad market adoption of the MAXEX exchange platform for buying and selling loans in the U.S. non-agency mortgage market.
“MAXEX solves a number of problems that have plagued the mortgage secondary market for decades,” says board member Blythe Masters.
“MAXEX is uniquely focused on the standardisation and efficient intermediation needed to provide liquidity.”
Italian digital payments firm Flywallet has closes a second round of Seed funding, and plans to use the undisclosed sum to accelerate its’ go-to-market time.
The firm has also signed a reserved investment agreement for Global Payment, a subsidiary of TAS Group, to obtain a minority stake.
Flywallet’s flagship product is named Keyble, a new type of wearable that “adapts to the user’s lifestyle”, created with “eco-friendly materials”.
Through fingerprints or heartbeat, the user can enable in-store contactless payments, and password-free logins to online services
