Jonathan Bredo

Spain's Banktrack secures €2M Seed round Banktrack, a Spanish treasury management software for SMEs, has extended its funding round to €2M. The capital raised in this funding round will be used to enhance the functionalities of the treasury monitoring software, as well as to expand the customer service and sales teams, with the goal of accelerating growth in Spain before expanding to other international Markets. Banktrack aims to offer more control over expenses and revenues for small and medium-sized enterprises, startups, and freelancers. The tool provides control of current and future income and expenses, as well as a financial alerts service via WhatsApp and email. Since launch, Banktrack has acquired 500 clients and expects to reach 2,000 clients by the end of the year. The round was led by Kfund, 4 Founders Capital, and LifeX Ventures, with participation from around twenty business angels experienced in founding tech companies and support from ENISA. In 2022, entrepreneurs David Álvarez de la Torre, Nacho González Barros, and Carlos Perez Gonzalez founded Banktrack with an initial investment of €1M. "The funding round will allow us to drive our growth to validate the business model in Spain this year. Once achieved, the goal in 2025 will be to start operations in other European countries," said co-founder Nacho González-Barros. "We have identified a real demand for software that enables small business owners to manage their treasury much better, thus saving them time. At Banktrack, we are solely focused on helping SMEs control their expenses and revenues, so we have dispensed with other complex accounting-related functionalities that many do not need because their accounting firms already handle them. Precisely, this focus on a specific area allows us to be highly competitive and offer a much simpler and more intuitive user experience." Subscribe for more insights https://lnkd.in/d94JgWBU Source Tech EU #fintech #banking #payments

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How Revolut uses data to protect you from fraud So that you don't lose money. Revolut analyzes your transaction history and other activity. This makes it possible to understand your normal behavior. So when abnormal behavior occurs (fraud), they can identify and prevent it. By doing this, they protect your account and your money. And protect themselves. Because they are responsible for your money. Data has the power to help financial institutions. It's up to us to implement these projects. And create a better financial system. #data #analytics #ai

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Excellent visualization of the payment process👍🏼

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Persistence is the key to unlock growth 💹 Dogged determination helps #Revolut remove regulatory roadblock UK regulators finally overcame concerns, to realise their ambitious objective of fintech challenging main street banks hegemony. Revolut’s banking licence application was stalled by a series of setbacks including the departure of senior executives, accounting problems and concerns about its ownership structure. *️⃣ Former head Storonsky’s temperamental and volatile nature didn't help either. Super successor Francesca Carlesi tried to shake off Revolut’s image as a fast-moving, sometimes reckless start-up, focused on growth at all costs, to that of a mature regulated bank, with a more conservative approach towards risk. She sought to improve bank’s compliance culture by taking approval for every new feature launched. *️⃣ The company also addressed concerns that the bulk of its 2021 revenues “may be materially misstated”. A clean audit opinion on its 2023 accounts, published for the first time in two years, was one of the final steps to securing the PRA’s approval. The accounts showed Revolut had swung to pre-tax profit of £438mn in 2023, from a £25mn loss in 2022. *️⃣ It also met a Bank of England demand to simplify its share structure, which in turn prompted a battle with Japanese investor SoftBank. *️⃣ Revolut also stepped up a charm offensive with British politicians, attending a 50 executive Labour party election event with the now prime minister and chancellor, to discuss plans for the economy and regulation. The licence opens multiple opportunities: unlock new growth; challenge UK’s biggest domestic banks especially, in mortgages; international expansion to become a global super-app; and justify its $45bn valuation to complete the sale of $500mn of existing shares. At that market cap, it would rival Barclays as UK’s third-most-valuable bank — just behind HSBC and Lloyds, and ahead of NatWest. Once the restrictions — which include a £50,000 total deposits limit — are lifted Revolut can operate as a bank, meaning each of its 9mn UK customers can protect up to £85,000 of their deposits, in the event of bank failure. But a bank failure is the last thing which we want from Revolut. 🤞 Starting from now, there is no looking back! The fintech was informed that the restrictions will be lifted in an year.

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Not sure about that. Retail banking is being regulated and fee capped all over. Ie it’s a utility. I think most global banks actually subsidise their retail operations. Not the other way around as often supposed. Hsbc and Citibank no longer have huge global operations. Retails is detail and very market focused. Not easy to transfer scale as IT systems and compliance don’t really scale. Hence terrible cost to income ratios.

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🚨 𝙅𝙐𝙎𝙏 𝙄𝙉: Exciting news from Revolut as they near a deal to sell about $500 million worth of employee-owned shares at a valuation of $45 billion, reports The Wall Street Journal Already the world’s second most-valuable FinTech startup after Stripe, Revolut is in discussions to sell these shares to new shareholders like Coatue Management and existing investors including Tiger Global Management. If finalized, this deal could be announced in the coming days, potentially paving the way for an initial public offering (IPO) in the future. This stock sale would mark a significant increase in Revolut’s valuation by more than a third from $33 billion in 2021 when they raised $800 million from investors led by Tiger and SoftBank Group’s Vision fund unit. Notably, Japan’s SoftBank is not participating in this latest offering. For more details, check out the full report at: https://lnkd.in/da7ZP5RJ

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Revolut is launching personal loans for it's 2 Million customers in Italy 🇮🇹 as part of its strategy to become the “primary bank account for customers,” according to Maurizio Talarico. The new offering allows customers to apply for a loan between €1,000 and €50,000 with a repayment plan spanning from six months to seven years. Everything is handled through the app, where users can also adjust their repayment schedule by changing the monthly payment date or paying off the loan early, all via smartphone. In the early stages of the product rollout, Talarico explains, the average loan amount was €6,000, and the average age of borrowers was under 35. Given the near-instant loan approval process, the bank relies heavily on data analysis to assess customers’ credit profiles. This leads to placing borrowers into a risk category that significantly influences the interest rate. The fixed annual interest rate (APR) ranges from 5.45% to approximately 15.5%, and the overall annual percentage rate (APR) ranges from 5.57% to 16.99%. “We believe our pricing is competitive,” Talarico emphasizes, adding that there are no additional fees or processing costs. Italy is the ninth market where Revolut offers personal loans, following successful launches in Lithuania, Ireland, Romania, Poland, France, Germany, Spain, and Portugal. More info/source article: https://lnkd.in/etE4EMuB Find this helpful? [ 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 ] Anything to add about this subject? [𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁] Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ] 

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🚨 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗙𝗹𝗮𝘀𝗵: FinTech unicorn 🦄 Zilch announced its first month of operating 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁, surpassing a $𝟭𝟯𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 revenue run rate. This achievement comes just four years after launching its consumer payment platform. Additionally, Zilch appointed Mark Wilson, former CEO of Aviva, to its Board. Zilch’s rapid profitability aligns it with European fintech leaders like Revolut and Starling Bank, which also achieved similar revenue milestones within a few years. By comparison, industry data shows that it takes the average tech company 8-10 years in the US to break through the $100m revenue ceiling, 15 years in Europe and 17 years in the UK. Philip Belamant, CEO and co-founder of Zilch, said: "This milestone fundamentally changes the game for us. Profitability is something that a lot of fast-growing businesses are struggling to achieve, and I am hugely proud of the team for reaching this mark, ahead of plan. While many have cut their way to profit, we’ve doubled our revenue year on year, expanded our team, saved our 4 million customers over half a billion dollars in fees and interest costs, and generated over $3 billion in new sales for merchant partners through our ad-subsidised payments network.” Find this helpful? [ 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 ] Anything to add about this subject? [𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁] Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ]

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N26, a Berlin-based banking startup, faced regulatory scrutiny from BaFin, resulting in a cap on new customer signups in 2021. This cap, initially set at 50,000 customers per month and later increased to 60,000, will be lifted on June 1, 2024. N26 incurred a €9.2 million fine for reporting shortcomings in 2022 and has invested €100 million in compliance improvements. The company has added savings accounts, loans, crypto and stock trading, and insurance products to its offerings. N26 reported a €100 million loss in 2023 and expects to achieve monthly profitability in the second half of 2024. For the latest secondary coverage and trading SaxonWeber | ShareWell #secondaries #saxonweber

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Just in: Revolut has secured its UK Banking license. This will allow it to offer overdrafts, loans, and savings products to its more than 9m UK consumers. 🧠 This is a huge moment for Revolut and UK Fintech. Revolut has talked a big game on the license for at least 5 years. Constant compliance and audit issues created delays, but it seems they finally got over the line. 🧠 A massive congratulations to everyone who's worked there. Notably, their UK CEO, Francesca Carlesi, has been there for just 9 months and appears to have made a massive difference. A well-known, credible UK CEO goes a long way in the eyes of regulators. 🧠 Note this is "with restrictions." The UK regulator (PRA) has a two step process to getting a full banking licence. "With restrictions" allows the bank to begin to mobilize and prove their operations, before moving to the full banking licence phase. 🧠 How many US Neobanks are looking on with envy? The US does not have a multi-phase process for granting de novo charters. Imagine if it did. #fintech #revolut #banking

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🚀 Breaking: Revolut Secures UK Banking License After a long wait since 2021, the UK-based fintech giant Revolut has obtained a full banking license in its home country! Having over 45 million global customers, with 9 million in the UK, the company already holds an EU banking license. This milestone, along with improved financial transparency, marks a significant step in Revolut's evolution from fintech startup to established financial institution. From a VC perspective, I'm curious: 1. What lessons can other fintechs learn from Revolut's journey? 2. Could this accelerate fintech adoption in more traditional banking markets like Japan? (really hoping that's the case) What's your take on Revolut's future and its implications for our industry globally? #Revolut #FinTech #Startups #VentureCapital

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Chargeback prevention is actually shockingly complex. 80% of your chargeback prevention alerts will resolve without a hitch. You can easily match transactions, issue the refund and bosh it's done. But it's the 20% that will cause all of the pain and time sink. Things like: 1. When transactions don't match up 2. When issuers send multiple alerts for the transactions 3. When alerts come in for transactions that were already refunded 4. When alerts come in for transactions that were already disputed 5. When issuers send alerts for a transaction but converted the currency 6. When your descriptors suddenly changed so you stop receiving alerts 7. When you payment processor suddenly starts sending transactions on different acquiring BIN/CAIDs 8. Making sure to cancel the underlying subscription when refunding the transction 9. Making sure you refund the payment within the allocated time frame 10. And the list goes on... At ChargebackStop we've built a world-class chargeback prevention platform. For almost all our customers it's a completely hands off experience. They connect their merchant account and specify the rules. We do the rest. It's a fully managed experience where our customers know that it will *just work* every single time. If you're a high volume merchant with hundreds or thousands of alerts you will almost never have this experience with anyone else.

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🚨 BIG NEWS: Revolut secures UK banking licence (plus what it means for traditional banks) Revolut has finally secured a UK banking licence after three years. 🎉 This is a game-changer! They can now offer more services like loans and deposits, giving customers more options and trust. Revolut already has licences in Europe and Mexico, but the UK licence is key for their growth. With 9 million UK customers and over 45 million globally, they’re aiming to boost their valuation to $40 billion. Right now, Revolut is in the 'mobilisation' stage, building out their banking operations. 🌟 For the fintech world, this is huge. It shows that fintech companies can get regulatory approval and compete with traditional banks. This success will inspire other startups to push for similar achievements, driving innovation and competition. It’s also a wake-up call for traditional banks. Francesca Carlesi, UK CEO of Revolut, said, “This is a significant step forward for Revolut and our customers. We will work relentlessly to offer products and services that improve the financial lives of everyone who uses Revolut.” 🔔 Time for traditional banks to focus more on the customer experience and adopt new technologies. And looking at the figures, they have some catching up to do (source: Citi). Congrats to the Revolut team! 👏

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Lookout Square, Dojo and SumUP. The Revolut Terminal in the UK and Ireland is coming. Naturally, the merchant acquisition strategy for them is much easier with their banking services baked into the offering if they can continue to deliver a seamless experience. This also creates a path for other acquiring banks to move towards better merchant facing payment products. Referring vs reselling merchant facing products will be a shift in approach but worth it for most banks when they can capture the deposit relationships. Either way $6 trillion in transaction value exists in the European acquiring market so plenty of opportunity to replace legacy infra with modern in person solutions. Value added and integrated verticalized merchant solutions for the win.

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Is Revolut a 5x better business than Wise? Both UK fintechs made net profits of c.$450m last year but Wise's share price fell under £7 today -30% in 3 years and its market capitalisation is $9bn versus Revolut's recent valuation of $45bn. Revolut is a better, faster growing, more diversified biz with optionality from its UK banking license but is it 5x better? Wise and Revolut have similarities: - Revenues excluding interest income of £1,052m for Wise vs £1,210m for Revolut. - Geography - Both Wise and Revolut generate only 30% of revs excl. interest income from the UK. - Gross interest income of £485m for Wise and £500m for Revolut. 25% of this interest is passed back to customers by Wise but only 8% for Revolut. Wise and Revolut have differences: - Revolut has more product diversification and arguably a deeper moat with less reliance on cross-border FX and more revenues from cards, interchange and subscription fees. That said, how high PE is Revolut's crypto trading revenues and Wise makes 25% of its revenues outside of FX in areas like cards. - Revolut is faster growing. Last year Revolut's revenues excluding interest income were up 50% while Wise only grew at just under half this pace. - Revolut has a lot of heavy lifting to do on compliance with the UK Ombudsman saying it got more fraud complaints than any other UK bank. Conclusion: Both Revolut and Wise are fantastic businesses with visionary leaders. Revolut's valuation is a private fund-raising round, which may have all sorts of preferential terms and Tiger Global has a colourful track record of big hits and big flops. Revolut has optionality with its banking license as Marc Rubinstein quantified a few weeks ago and better growth but this valuation difference illustrates the challenge we face in the UK. Lots of white papers, listing regime rule changes have occurred but should the UK lower CGT on newer companies coming to market rather than raise it as it as is rumoured? The only sector of local brands, which can change the makeup of the FTSE100 into a higher growth index is fintech. Let's be clear Nik Storonsky will not go first - why should he? The UK needs to IPO Monzo, Starling, OakNorth and re-rate Wise. Perhaps even a Checkout IPO before Revolut would bite... The good news for the UK is we have time: - Revolut is highly profitable, - Storonsky is taking a couple of hundred million dollars out at a high valuation and shouldn't be a rush, - Revolut is a strong brand in the UK, Ireland + Continental Europe but it will take time for them to try to crack the super competitive US market. If they succeed big it's "Hasta la vista, baby" but if not the valuation is unlikely to exceed $45bn in an IPO and London needs to ready to pounce - a trailing PE of 20x on Wise is not a great advert for UK fintech. If you like this post subscribe to my substack link in comments below… #fintech #stocks #banks

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Revolut seeks $40bn valuation through share sale – FT "...Sources with knowledge of the plans told the FT that the fintech is working with Morgan Stanley to sell about $500 million worth of existing shares, including those held by employees, to reach this valuation. This comes after an investor revaluation earlier this year placed Revolut’s valuation at $25.7 billion, which was still down from its 2021 valuation of $33 billion..." #valuation #sharesale #neobank Financial Times Finextra _________________________________ If you want to immediately see new content that I curate 👉🏻 Ring my bell (🔔) and follow #informationbanker or if you want to get the posts that got noticed in my weekly What’d I miss newsletter, subscribe here: "https://lnkd.in/d5_KvWwu"

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For fintech companies, it takes at least 6 months to see who will end up as a high-value customer. But that's 6 months already too late. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝘆: - Optimize for the 7-day window conversion for sign-ups or account opens. - No visibility on how to convert bottom-of-the-funnel metrics. - Gain insights AFTER the campaign is already finished. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘄𝗮𝘆: - Gain insights BEFORE and WHILE the campaign is ongoing. - Know who your most profitable accounts are from Day 1. - Optimize your campaigns continuously for better ROI. How? The data is right there. - Customers who take on loans. - Customers who opted for cash advances. - Customers who opened a savings account. You can use bespoke AI models to process all this data. Determine the segments and ICPs that result in high LTV. And in real time, you can optimize your campaigns for them. Which would you prefer? #artificialintelligence #strategy #VBB

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