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? News Highlight: African Fintech Flutterwave raised $250 million in a Series D round that tripled the company’s valuation to over $3 billion in just twelve months.
⚡ Just in Danish challenger bank Lunar has added a bit of Hollywood glamour to its investor roster with Will Ferrell backing the fintech.
⭐ Also, The organization, Black Angel Group, now features 35 Black leaders and operators inside of Alphabet, including from Google, GV, CapitalG, YouTube and Gradient Ventures. Their primary focus is “figuring out the best deals in order to create generational wealth” for its members.
?? Furthermore, After surveying 2,000 pay later shoppers, Barclays found 30 per cent were overwhelmed by the amount of buy now, pay later bills they had racked up. Meanwhile, 25 per cent were concerned about their ability to repay the buy now, pay later bills coming in.
? Insights: In an article in Financial IT, Kathy Mitchell-Stares, Executive Vice President, North America, for Provenir, provides insight on the critical role alternative data plays in both BNPL and financial inclusion, and why data, AI and real-time decisioning will be key areas of investment in 2022.
? M&As: MoneyGram International has inked a definitive agreement to be acquired by private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC (MDP) in an all-cash deal worth around $1.8 billion.
? Partnerships - São Paulo-based Banco Itaú Private Bank International has partnered with US paytech Rêv Worldwide to release a multi-currency digital wallet for its international private banking customers.
? Funding rounds & investments:
- Funding Societies | Modalku Group, a Southeast Asian SME digital financing platform which goes by Modalku in Indonesia, announced that it has raised US$144 million in an oversubscribed Series C+ equity round.
- Stitch has sealed a $21 million Series A funding round led by The Spruce House Partnership, with investments from TrueLayer and PayPal Ventures among others.
- delt.ai (YC W20) announces it is expected to raise the equivalent of $25M in debt financing through Truefit, a DeFi lending platform designed by TrustToken, to fund its corporate credit lines in 2022.
- Happy Money announced it has closed a Series D-1 capital raise to accelerate its growth and empower more people to use money as a tool for happiness.
- Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is a key investor in a new digital bank called D360, being established in the kingdom with a capital of 1.65 billion riyals ($440 million).