ICYMI funding round-up: ApexEdge, DirectID, Everything, NALA, Tuum, & OZÉ
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 round-up for you to get the latest funding news.
Tuum raises €15m in Series A
Tuum (formerly Modularbank), an Estonia-based core banking software provider, has raised €15 million in a Series A round.
Portage Ventures led the round, joined by existing investors Blackfin Capital Partners and Karma Ventures.
Tuum says the money will help it “strengthen” its presence in the UK and EU. Initially, it will expand its operations in the UK, “offering on-the-ground support to customers in its biggest market”.
It also plans to double its team to 140 staff by the end of 2022 and invest further in R&D.
Tuum was founded in 2019 and operates in Tallinn, Berlin, Malaga and London.
It says its cloud-agnostic core banking platform enables banks, fintechs and traditionally non-financial companies to quickly and easily roll-out new financial products and services.
Among its clients is SweepBank, a new digital banking service launched by Malta’s Ferratum Bank.
ApexEdge, a white-label subscription management platform for banks, fintechs and credit unions, has received $4 million in a seed funding round from the Florida Funders Fund 2 and the Institute for Commercialization of Florida Technology.
The investment, the start-up says, will help it “to enhance talent acquisition and automate services”.
Headquartered in Miami, ApexEdge is already working with the likes of Intuit, MetLife and NerdWallet.
“Cancelling subscriptions and reducing bills is inconvenient and time-consuming for everyone,” comments Tom Wallace, managing partner at Florida Funders.
“ApexEdge solves a very important problem by offering enterprise solutions that can positively impact Americans’ overall financial well-being.”
NALA raises $10m in seed funding
Tanzania-based cross-border paytech NALA has raised $10 million in a seed fundraising round.
Lead investors were Amplo, Accel and Bessemer, plus angel investors including Jonas Templestein, co-founder and CTO of Monzo; Vladimir Tenev, Robinhood co-founder and CEO; Deel founder Alex Bouaziz; Laura Spiekerman, co-founder of Alloy; and Peeyush Ranjan, the head of Google Payments.
NALA was founded in 2017 and its pre-seed investment came from Accel and others in 2019. At the time, the company’s offering was aimed at the local market, but in 2021 it pivoted to international transfers.
Its core customer base is the African diaspora in the UK. Transfers are available from the UK to Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana and South Africa. The list of countries will be expanded further to 12 African countries, including Nigeria.
In an interview with TechCrunch, founder and CEO Benjamin Fernandes said NALA has got licence approvals for the US and the European Union.
UK-based credit and risk platform DirectID has completed a $3 million bridge round led by Hong Kong-based venture capital firm QBN Capital.
Having doubled both headcount and revenue over the last year, DirectID says it will use the new funds for international expansion.
DirectID boasts over 13,000+ bank connections giving them access to 1.5 billion users in over 45 countries. The fintech operates across banking, consumer and SME lending, utilities, gambling and gaming, the gig economy and other sectors.
“Credit decisions are traditionally based on historic transactions, which are obtained from Credit Reference Agencies, or on self-declared information provided by the consumer. These information sources are often out-of-date and can only provide a partial view of the customer’s credit history or current financial health,” the company explains.
DirectID’s offering obtains data (with explicit consent) directly from consumers’ bank accounts – “real-time, verified, incorruptible and guaranteed to be accurate”.
Everything raises €2m “to build the next social finance experience for Gen Z and young Millennials”
Everything, a UK-based fintech “on a mission to build the next social finance experience for Gen Z and young Millennials”, has raised €2 million from a group of angel investors and entrepreneurs, including Sujay Tyle (Merama co-founder and CEO), two Frontier Car Group founders (Peter Lindholm and Ricardo Donoso), Albin Johansson (Axel Arigato co-founder) and angel collective Framtid.
Everything’s debit Mastercard will enable users to “win instant cash rewards every time they tap, spend or save money”, the start-up says. It will be free to join and use.
It currently has a waitlist and plans to open in the coming months.
“It is an evolution of the UK’s most popular savings method, Premium Bonds, with a social twist,” Everything explains. “To increase the chance of winning, people can also invite their friends and family to their own ‘squads’ and have a chance to win every time they tap or save too.”
Everything pools together a part of their revenue and allocates it to different reward buckets ranging from £1 up to £1 million. When a reward threshold has been funded, the next user who makes a payment becomes the winner. They will be notified in real-time through the Everything app and their rewards are deposited straight into their account.
Its banking services are underpinned by banking-as-a-service provider Railsbank.
Everything was co-founded by Adam Lewestam, Thorir Gudlaugsson and Michael Wilkinson in 2021. The team is distributed internationally in London, Reykjavik and Stockholm.
OZÉ, a start-up in Ghana that provides digital recordkeeping tools with embedded finance products to medium and small businesses, has raised a $3 million pre-Series A round.
The round was led by Speedinvest, a European early-stage venture capital firm. Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund, Savannah Capital and several angel investors also took part.
OZÉ was founded in 2018 by Meghan McCormick (CEO) and Dave Emnett (COO).
