News
LONDON — British financial technology start-up TrueLayer says it’s raised $70 million in fresh funding, highlighting continued appetite from investors for fast-growing fintech firms.
TrueLayer lets fintech apps like Revolut and Freetrade connect with customers’ bank accounts using technology known as APIs, or application programming interfaces. This means users of those apps can then make payments from their bank or view balances and transactions from different accounts.
The company said its latest investment round was led by Addition, the venture capital firm founded by former Tiger Global partner Lee Fixel. Existing investors Anthemis Group, Connect Ventures, Mouro Capital, Northzone and Singapore’s Temasek also invested.
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Andium, Inc., a NYC-based provider of Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) remote-field monitoring and communications technologies, closed a $15m Series A funding.
The round was led by OGCI Climate Investments with participation from existing investors Tom Miglis, former Chief Information Officer of Citadel, and Talis Capital.
The company intends to use the funds for product growth and innovation, strategic investment in talent, and deployment of proprietary Video Solutions product lines for flare monitoring, tank telemetry, and object detection.
Led by Jory Schwach, CEO, Andium provides Industrial Internet of Things monitoring products for oil and gas companies to get access to real-time information from remote locations for emission reductions and the achievement of environmental, social and governance goals (ESG).
Tripledot Studios, a London, UK- and Minsk, Belarus-based mobile games company, secured $78m in Series A funding.
Backers included Eldridge, Access Industries and Lightspeed Venture Partners. In conjunction with the funding, Danny Cohen, President of Access Entertainment, will be joining Tripledot’s board.
The company intends to use the funds to expand operations by acquiring studios and rollout the next generation of Tripledot titles later this year.
Founded in 2017 by Lior Shiff, Akin Babayigit and Eyal Chameides, Tripledot Studios creates mobile games such as Solitaire, Woodoku and Blackjack. The company also has several innovative titles in production, which are due to be released later this year.
Tripledot currently has more than 90 employees reaching more than $100 million revenue run-rate as of the beginning of 2021.
Facebook has been in the crosshairs of most privacy watchdogs ever since the infamous Cambridge-Analytica data scandal. This time, the company is facing flak as data of 533 million FB users was recently posted online on a low level hacking forum for free. This personal user data includes names, mobile numbers, email ids, country, city, along with more sensitive information.
The latest massive data leak of Facebook’s user information is actually not that recent. The social media website tells Insider that it is data scraped back in 2019, soon after which they claim to have fixed the vulnerability. The data was posted on a forum for free and has been verified online to reveal that it is actually a real data leak.
The massive trove of user data reportedly fetched $30,000 (approx £21,784) when it was first sold online. It has now been posted by a member of the aforementioned forum for free to gain some site ‘credits,’ which is apparently some form of currency on the forum. Data sold online at high prices could be resold later at a lowered price or made available publicly like the current case, for earning some reputation amongst hackers.
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Atterley, the online marketplace for fashion independents, has completed a £3m funding round with Maven Capital Partners and has revealed a Q1 sales leap of 200%.
The investment, which also includes commitments from Scottish Enterprise and existing shareholders will allow Atterley to execute its planned growth strategy with a key focus on developing its international footprint, particularly in the US.
Existing investors in the platform, which was founded by entrepreneur Mike Welch in 2016, include Sir Terry Leahy the former CEO of Tesco and Graeme Bissett the former Chairman at Blackcircles.com, a trailblazing e-commerce marketplace for the tyre industry also founded by Welch.
Atterley has grown to house 250 independent retailers from across the UK, Europe and US, and has around 3,000 brands. It ships both men’s and womenswear to 94 countries.
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The UK's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) today launched its Digital Markets Unit (DMU) watchdog, which aims to regulate large online platforms like Google and Facebook, and create rules governing their conduct with users and advertisers.
First announced last November, the DMU is based in the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which already regulates the activities of the tech sector, particularly with respect to mergers and acquisitions. DCMS described the body as part of a "pro-competition" regulatory regime, and has been tasked with improving competition, giving customers "more choice and control" over their data, and intervening in unfair practices.
The DMU has already started operations while it waits to be granted statutory powers by law. Or, put plainly, it's toothless until Parliament says otherwise.
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Helsinki-based, Airbnb rival, Bob W has recently announced to have raised a total of €10 million in seed funding. Last year around June 2020, the tech-driven hospitality company raised around €4 million in its first round of seed funding and now has closed €6 million more.
The recent investment was led by byFounders VC and private equity firm Finnish Industry Investment (Tesi). The raise also saw participation from Kaamos, Superangel, United Angels, and NREP via its 2150 investment wing.
As per the company press release, the funding will expand to multiple new markets across Europe, including the UK, to further develop an autonomous hospitality platform and grow the team.
Niko Karstikko, CEO and co-founder, also informed UKTN that Bob W will launch the first property in the UK around Q1-2022, after securing its first apartments in London.
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Proptech company Cubic Lease secures early stage funding to digitise the property and letting process.
The global pandemic has accelerated the need for paperless, contactless application processes. The ‘new normal’ has changed the face of business administration and digitised forms are set to replace paper based customer onboarding.
Enter Cubic Lease, the early stage mobile app that automates letting and property purchases by verifying photo ID, AML, soft credit checks, and Open Banking API’s that assess affordability and proof of funds.
Cubic Lease was co-founded in October 2019 by financial services and property professional James Owusu, an alumni of the annual Cornerstone scale-up programme which is hailed as the first black and diverse accelerator in Europe. After participating in the 9-week programme, James successfully won first prize at the closing demo day competition, paving the way for investment from the Cornerstone angel syndicate.
Cubic Lease continued their fundraising efforts by securing investment from SFC Capital, one of the most active seed investment funds in the UK. Their investments include Onfido, Jack & Bry and ETIQ AI.
The £545k round includes, amongst other funders, angel investors Richard Harley and Samantha Tubb, Founder and investor respectively of ScholarPack, an education management software business based in Lincoln.
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Otrium raises £87M from London VCs Index Ventures, BOND and the early investor in Alibaba
Otrium, an online fashion outlet marketplace with hundreds of designer stores all in one place has recently raised $120 million (approx £87 million) in a Series C funding co-led by London VCs — BOND and Index Ventures. Eight Road Ventures, also a London-based global venture capital fund, participated in the round, which is also an early investor in e-commerce tech giant Alibaba.
This funding comes ten months after it raised $26 million (approx £18 million) from Eight Roads Ventures, Index Ventures, and Hans Veldhuizen. Post the latest funding round, the company values at roughly £653 million.
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London-based Manual has closed a series A round totalling $30 million.
Existing investors Felix Capital and Cherry Ventures took part, as well as new additions Sonoma Brands and Waldencast.
According to a National Pharmacy Association study nine in ten men would rather endure an illness or health problem rather than visit a doctor. Manual is on a mission to change this staggering statistic. The platform offers access to advice, free medical support, diagnostic tools, blood tests, and a range of treatments.
With a team of 30 members, over the past 12 months, Manual has quadrupled its revenue and expanded beyond UK borders, now operating in Brazil as well.
“We’ve been encouraged to see men of all ages increasingly turning to Manual to solve multiple health problems, with almost half of our customers seeking help for more than one issue,” comments Manual founder and CEO George Pallis.
“There is still much work to be done to remove the taboo when it comes to men looking after their wellbeing and talking openly about health concerns. But we’re starting to see a shift happen amongst consumers. Men of all ages are coming to Manual for help, showing the importance of an authentic brand, built on passion and community. Manual is challenging modern masculinity and we’re excited to continue to support them as they address this issue globally,” adds co-founder and partner at Felix Capital Antoine Nussenbaum.