Investment & FundingEuropean digital investment platform Bitpanda has closed a $52 million series A funding round led by Valar Ventures. The large-scale investment will drive Bitpanda’s expansion, as well as ‘position the company as a leader in transforming Europe’s financial industry’. In addition, it will be used to recruit ‘some of the world’s leading talent’. Following the investment, Valar Ventures founding partner, Andrew McCormack will join the Bitpanda board.Regtech data company Acin says it will ‘rapidly accelerate its proposition’ after securing $12 million in series A funding with Fitch and Notion Capital. Acin was advised by independent investment bank Zelig, with further support from international law firm Withers.PayCargo, the payments network for the global supply chain industry, is excited to announce a $35million investment led by private equity firm Insight Partners. It says it will use the capital to expand global adoption of its electronic payments network, as well as accelerate investments in its technology.Commercial lines insurtech platform Insurwave has raised £5 million to drive continued growth. Led by existing shareholders, the funds will be invested in expanding the features of the platform.Finally, fintech SME lending platform Capify has closed an £8 million equity round. In addition, Capify is actively seeking partnerships with companies with large SME customer bases to provide financing.LaunchesPPRO, the local payments platform-as-a-service, expands global offering with top Indonesian payment methods DOKU and OVO. According to PPRO, the development marks a significant milestone in its expansion across the Asia Pacific region. PPRO’s integrations feature a total of four payment types: e-wallet, internet banking, bank transfers, and cash.Lender Distribution Finance Capital Holdings – the niche lender focusing on manufacturers – has secured a licence by Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). As well as proposing a new name – DF Capital Bank Ltd, the company will offer ‘competitive online savings accounts’.German fintech Deposit Solutions will launch a savings marketplace in the US. The SaveBetter portal offers US banks national reach for distribution of their retail deposit products. While, consumers can deposit money in all products listed on SaveBetter.com without having to open a new account with every bank.Marqeta says it is the first modern card issuing platform to open its technology to any legacy card issuer looking to instantly provision existing cards into mobile wallets. The card issuing platform has unveiled its new tokenisation-as-a-service product, which it says opens up huge new possibilities for companies who are looking to innovate quickly, but don’t have access to modern technology.iQSTEL, the US cloud-based telco solution provider, has unveiled a new fintech division. It says the expansion will help it widen its product and digital financial services offerings for global markets.For the first time, European customers of cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer can access the Japanese Bitcoin market. bitFlyer says it is the first cryptocurrency exchange that is licensed to operate in Japan, the EU, and the US combined. In addition, it is the first to facilitate cross-border access to ‘prized Japanese Yen liquidity’.PartnershipsHuawei offers contactless digital payment with the launch of Mondia Pay on its Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) ecosystem. The partnership will increase Huawei’s reach in countries across Africa and the Middle East. In addition, Mondia Pay will also market Huawei’s games content in Egypt.Spanish neobank Bnext enlists global fintech as a service company Rapyd for Latin American expansion. As well as allowing Bnext customers to make cash deposits to their accounts in 30,000 locations in Mexico, the partnership will expand to interbank deposits later via Rapyd’s global payments network.Business lender White Oak has chosen Provenir Cloud technology to support its digitisation