ICYMI fintech funding round-up: Actyv.ai, MoneyHash, Novus, SJ Mobile Labs, Trace Finance, & Zand

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.

Actyv.ai, an enterprise Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform with buy now, pay later (BNPL) for business-to-business (B2B) embedded, has raised $5 million in a pre-Series A funding round.

Bengaluru-based Actyv.ai says its easily adaptable low-code no-code platform is used by large enterprises (like Britannia, Nivea, and Adani Wilmar) “to transform their supply chains and to empower their partners with an intuitive platform and financial products”.

The vendor’s Actyv Score enables banks like Kotak Mahindra Bank and Axis Bank to provide unsecured, low-interest, closed-loop credit (BNPL for B2B) for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

The round was led by Dubai-based investment management firm 1Digi, the family office of Raghunath Subramanian, global CEO of Actyv.ai.

“Having created the platform which brings together the financial institutions and enterprises to help SMBs, we are confident that Actyv.ai has the potential to reach the under-served category and evolve as a game changer in the B2B space,” CEO Subramanian states.

Prior to co-founding Actyv.ai, he was chairman, India for UiPath, which IPO-ed on the New York Stock Exchange last year.

MoneyHash founding team

Egypt-based paytech MoneyHash has emerged from beta to launch across the Middle East and Africa with $3 million in pre-seed funding.

The round was led by UAE’s venture capital firm COTU Ventures, with participation from MENA fintech fund VentureSouq and European fund VentureFriends.

Nuwa Capital, The Continent Venture Partners, First Check Africa, Fox Ventures, Kepple Africa Ventures, and Lofty Capital Inc also took part, as well as angel investors such as Tim Chen and Jake Gibson (NerdWallet) and Oriol Tintore (Belvo).

MoneyHash says it aims “to become the AWS of payments” with its “super-API” for payment orchestration and revenue operations. The offering is Africa’s first, the start-up says.

MoneyHash also provides additional services such as e-commerce checkout experience, business intelligence reporting, transaction routing, subscription management, and invoicing.

Novus raises $3m in crowdfunding

UK challenger bank Novus has closed its crowdfunding round after reaching a total of over $3 million (beating its initial target of $1.2 million).

As a result of this round, the “impact” banking app, co-founded by 27-year-old Hristian Nedyalkov, has raised $5 million total capital to date and is now onboarding users across the UK.

It says it is the first digital banking app in the UK to become a certified B Corporation.

Novus has EQT Ventures, QED, Softbank, Accel, and BrightCap Ventures among its backers.

The money will be used to build its operational hub in Sofia.

“Since raising our first capital in late spring 2021, we have successfully built our own proprietary core banking infrastructure through various milestones including partnering with Visa and Railsbank, receiving regulatory approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and welcoming over 150 sustainable brands to our in-app marketplace,” comments CEO Nedyalkov.

Singapore Japan (SJ) Mobile Labs has raised a $2.85 million seed round for its mobile wealth and protection platform for the Japanese market.

The round was led by Saison Capital, the venture arm of Credit Saison, the financial services firm with over 30 million retail customers in Japan. Apis Insurtech Fund I and Anthemis Group also participated.

SJ Mobile Labs was founded by Samantha Ghiotti (CEO) and Liam McCance (chief creative officer).

“With over $18 trillion of zero yielding assets and being ranked the world’s second largest insurance market by premium, the Japanese consumer segment represents a huge opportunity for financial technology entrants,” comments McCance.

“We plan to provide a positive financial experience and appeal to a segment looking for simple products, readily accessible and with radically transparent, genuine, financial advice.”

The start-up has recently appointed Yasunori Kume as chief operating officer, who was previously at BNP Paribas Cardif, and compliance officer Koshi Watanabe, previously from Lloyds Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

Trace Finance founding team

Trace Finance, a Brazilian fintech that focuses on cross-border banking for start-ups, has announced a $4.3 million seed funding round.

The investment is led by HOF Capital, with participation from Circle Ventures and The Chainsmokers (via their fund Mantis VC).

The round was oversubscribed, with 30+ funds and individuals participating. Stellar Development Fund also joined the round, along with 2TM (the venture arm of Mercado Bitcoin) and BlockFi Ventures and its CEO Zac Prince. Marcelo Sampaio of Hashdex, Miguel Fernandez of Capchase, Oliver Jung (who invested in Nubank, Brex, and Airbnb), and founders of Rappi, Coinmarketcap, and Quantstamp also contributed.

Trace Finance will focus on the US and Brazil markets. It says it currently has over 30 enterprise clients including Noh, Condoconta, Pomelo, Zippi, The Coffee, and Big Bets, as well as “a big waitlist” for the US banking product.

UAE-based digital bank Zand has raised undisclosed funding from Franklin Templeton and Aditya Birla Group, plus a number of other international backers.

Start-up Zand is gearing up for launch this year targeting domestic retail and business clients.

Founded by Dubai businessman Mohamed Alabbar, Zand received regulatory approval from the country’s central bank last year.