Juni, a Swedish-based banking platform for e-commerce and online marketing companies, has secured US$52 million in funding led by EQT Ventures, to add to the US$21 million already raised from their Series-A round in late June this year. This boosts Juni’s Series A round to US$73 million and takes the total funding to date to US$76 million. EQT Ventures joins Partners of DST Global, Felix Capital, FJ labs and Cherry Ventures in backing Juni. The company will use the funds to triple the number of its employees by recruiting 120 more employees in the next 12 months to build their…

Latvia’s Board of the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC) has issued a license to SIA DN Operator, the legal company that runs the Debitum investment platform. This license is for the provision of investment and ancillary services, allowing Debitum to continue to grow as an investment platform as well as develop and offer asset-backed securities to the public market. During the transitional period of three months after obtaining a license, the Debitum platform will make a key transition away from offering investments by purchasing claim rights and towards offering financial instruments―specifically, asset-backed securities (ABS). During this transition, Debitum will…

Anyfin, the Stockholm based startup that enables consumers to refinance existing loans and take control of their financial health, announced that it has secured US$52 million of fresh funding, bringing the total equity capital raised by the firm to US$101 million. The funding round was led by New York-based investor Fintech Collective joined by existing investors Accel, EQT Ventures, Northzone, and Global Founders Capital (GFC). Two new investors joined the fundraise including  Quadrille Capital in France, and Augmentum FinTech in the UK. In addition, the company has raised over US$500 million of debt capital from a diverse group of undisclosed…

TransferGo announced that it has secured US$50 million during a Series C funding round, bringing its total funds raised to US$77 million so far. The funding round was led by Elbrus Capital Fund III and Black River Ventures and joined by new investor Unlimint and existing investors which include Hard Yaka, VEF, SmartHub and Milano Investments. The firm said that the funds will be used to help expand its customer base, mainly migrants looking to send and receive money across Europe. It also has plans to develop its product offering in support of its goal to grow 5 times in the…

Minna Technologies, a Sweden-based subscription management tool for retail banks, announced that it is launching a London-based hub. This move comes on the heels of a recent partnership with London-based open banking platform Bud. As part of the commitment to the market, Minna is also announcing strategic hires including the appointment of Mike Davies as Chief Commercial Officer, the appointment of Steve Hoy as Head of Strategic Partnerships and the transfer of Minna’s Chief Financial Officer Navpreet Randhawa, from Sweden to London. Mike has been working in the payment industry for the majority of the last 20 years with senior…

Nordic neo insurer Hedvig announces that it closed a US$45 million Series B funding round led by Anthemis following its recent launch into Denmark. The Series B investment was led by Anthemis Partner, Ruth Foxe Blader, and Managing Director, Matthew Jones. Blader previously led AllianzX’s investment into US insurer, Lemonade. Matthew Jones, Managing Director at Anthemis will also be joining the Hedvig Board of Directors. The round also saw participation from existing investors Cherry Ventures, Obvious Ventures, CommerzVentures, along with Swedish Novax, Nineyards Equity, Jonas Kamprad and Mathias Kamprad. With this new round of funding, Hedvig is accelerating its European…

Lithuanian fintech SME Finance announced that it has raised a 120 million euro investment from an alternative asset management company in the United Kingdom. The company is planning to increase its loan portfolio to 200 million euros this year with this new investment. A year earlier, the European Investment Bank (EIB) backed SME Finance with a funding of EUR 80 million. It is said to be the largest investment awarded by EIB to a fintech lender. This year alone, the organisation reported that its loan portfolio grew by 70% – from 94 million to 160 million euros. According to Mindaugas…

Estonia has seen soaring success with e-governance initiatives. In the UN’s 2020 E-Government Development Index, the country ranked third out of a total of 193 countries. The index assesses how countries use information technologies to promote access and inclusion. Estonia also ranked first worldwide in a supplementary survey on e-participation. This survey focused on the use of online services for e-information sharing by governments to citizens, e-consultation between stakeholders, and engagement via e-decision making. Moreover, 99% of Estonia’s public services are digitised. The country has pioneered the use of technologies such as a Government Cloud, to integrate siloed legacy public IT…

Mastercard has revealed the 15 tech startups that will be joining the fall edition of its Lighthouse FINITIV programme from Sweden, Estonia and Finland. This fall, the programme kick off in Stockholm, Helsinki and Tallinn while utilising the benefits of a hybrid setup between physical and digital interactions. Mastercard launched Lighthouse FINITIV programme to build lasting partnerships with the goal of strengthening the financial ecosystem in the Nordic and Baltic regions. In 2020, Lighthouse expanded to a second programme, MASSIV, which focuses on scaling impact technology startups globally. Six of the selected companies are startups that are founded or led…

Ageras Group, a group of companies backed by Investcorp Technology Partners (ITP) that offers a range of software solutions to small businesses, announced that it has acquired Zervant, a Finland-based online invoicing software. The group is known for their online marketplace Ageras.com, helping business owners save time and money by comparing quotes from qualified accountants, Meanwhile, Zervant was founded in 2010, and after rapid expansion across Europe, has grown to more than 700,000 registered users who use the software to run their business by issuing invoices, tracking payments and getting paid faster in an intuitive interface. Ageras Group has recently…

EstateGuru, an Estonian marketplace for short-term, property-backed loans, announced the successful closure of its €5.8 million Series A funding round, with investments coming from Switzerland, United Kingdom, Czechia, Austria, Germany, and Cyprus. The lead investor for the round is TMT Investments Plc, a UK-based venture firm, and a public company that was also an early investor in both Bolt and Pipedrive. Other investors joining the round include Swiss venture firms Verve Ventures and Swiss Immo Lab, and J&T IB and Capital Markets, the investment banking arm of the Czech investment bank J&T. This follows a successful equity fundraising round on…

Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group which owns and operates IKEA stores, has invested US$22.5 million in US-based Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) firm Jifiti, for a minority stake in the company. Ingka Group and Jifiti have a long-standing commercial partnership with the latter acting as a facilitator of IKEA Retail’s and consumer financing services. IKEA, with their local banking partners in Spain, France, Portugal and Belgium have already been offering financing in their stores via the Jifiti platform since 2019 and are now rolling out into other countries. The aim is to have the Jifiti platform facilitate…

Norwegian digital identity company Signicat has acquired Dokobit, a Lithuanian electronic authentication solutions provider with a presence in Estonia, Latvia and Iceland, for an undisclosed sum. This marks the third acquisition by Signicat following that of Encap Security, a Norwegian mobile authentication and security solution provider, and Spain’s Electronic IDentification (eID). Like Signicat, Dokobit is reportedly a Qualified Trust Service Providers (QTSP) on the EU Trust List, ensuring the strictest of assurance for validation of electronic signatures. This acquisition further strengthens Signicat’s product portfolio and expands their market reach into the Baltic countries, helping propel it into Eastern European markets.…

The Estonian Financial Supervision Authority (Finantsinspektsioon) has officially granted an insurance broker license to Herrmann, Huebner & Partner to set up NOMADS INSURE in the country. The firm said that it has emerged as the first e-Residency company to receive this license following an application process of 1.5 years. The two founders, Markus Herrmann and Christoph Huebner, together have accumulated more than four decades of experience in the health insurance sector. Since 2010, they have both been working in their Germany-based company, Leni, Leon & die Luchse, a specialised insurance broker for children’s health insurance consisting of a team of…

Stockholm-based fintech company Invoier, who has built and established a marketplace for fair and transparent trading of invoices, has secured a EUR 4.1 million equity funding from the European Innovation Council’s (EIC) Fund. Invoier’s marketplace enables SMEs to convert invoices into working capital. The marketplace is built on a unique AI-based risk assessment method, making it possible for professional investors to enter a new asset class and bid in real time. The aim is to change the behaviour and challenge the EUR 3,000 billion factoring market by creating a fair and transparent marketplace through technological innovation. The EIC Fund investment…

Newly-established Danish small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) bank kompasbank announced their go-live on Mambu’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) banking platform. On Mambu’s cloud-native banking platform, kompasbank said that it was able to build fast and flexible customer onboarding, loan and deposit processes. The challenger bank claimed to be “the first cloud-only bank in Denmark and embraces a fully digital architecture to differentiate its service and products”. kompasbank had secured its banking license from Denmark’s Financial Supervisory Authority in March earlier this year to serve the SME segment. Carsten Smith, COO of kompasbank said, “We think Mambu is the right choice to help…

Nets, a payment services provider based in Denmark, has extended their long-term partnership with Estonia’s LHV Bank, while adding new issuing services for the latter’s British subsidiary, LHV UK Limited. ​The extended partnership will see Nets continue to deliver full acquiring services for LHV in Estonia, including terminal rental, payment authorisations and clearing, e-commerce capabilities, dispute management and fraud prevention. In the UK, Nets will support LHV with issuing services including CMS systems, issuer processing, tokenisation services, fraud prevention with AI, dispute and chargeback services, customer service and cards personalisation. The long-term agreement has already entered into force. Andres Kitter,…

Stockholm-based Checkin.com Group announced that it has acquired GetID, an Estonian identity verification software provider, for EUR 8.1 million. Completion of the transaction is expected to take place during August 2021. Checkin.com provides a software that combines multiple UX-systems, data sources, and identity solutions to instantly configure the best possible experience for each end-user at the point of check-in. The acquisition is the first step in Checkin.com’s strategy to add technologies and strong teams by acquisitions, within areas that strengthens its SaaS-software for check-ins. After the acquisition is completed all key personnel and shareholders in GetID will own approximately 3.2%…

Voyager Digital, a publicly-traded cryptocurrency platform in the United States, announced the acquisition of Denmark-based cryptocurrency payment platform Coinify. According to CoinDesk, the deal valued at about US$84 million in stock and cash. Under the terms of the share purchase agreement, the consideration to Coinify shareholders will consist of 5,100,000 of newly issued shares of Voyager Digital Ltd. common stock and US$15 million in cash. As part of the agreement, the company will retain US$5.5 million of cash on the Coinify balance sheet. Voyager will retain substantially all current Coinify employees, entering into employment agreements with key members of the…

Estonian ride hailing app Bolt announced that it has closed a €600 million funding round, increasing its valuation to more than €4 billion. The firm said that the funds will be used to boost its new grocery delivery service Bolt Market as well as accelerate its expansion of existing mobility and delivery products. The funds were raised from a range of investors including Sequoia, Tekne, and Ghisallo, G Squared, D1 Capital, and Naya. Bolt Market will be launched in 10 European countries over the next few months, including the Baltics and Central Europe, Sweden, Portugal, Croatia, and Romania. “After seven…