January fintech VC roundup: Checkout.com’s $1 billion raise continues the payments spending spree

This year has so far been marked by a wobbly performance from fintechs on the public market. But for those still under wraps in the private sector, January has kicked the year off with a bang. In January, fintechs raised $10.7 billion globally — a 45% increase from the previous year. 

The award for largest fintech raise so far this year goes to Checkout.com's monster $1 billion — a raise that helped the payments subsector once again take the crown for fintech investors. $2.3 billion went into payments fintechs in the first month of 2022. 

Read on for a closer look into January’s fintech funding frenzy — divided into the five biggest raises across wealthtech, banking, lending and financial management. 

Payments 

Payments fintechs in the UK took center stage in January. 

Payments processor Checkout.com raised $1 billion to become Europe’s second most valuable fintech at a valuation of $40 billion. The extra cash will be used to expand its efforts in the US and develop web3 capabilities. 

One-click checkout company Bolt raised $355 million in Series E financing, giving the fintech company an $11 billion valuation. BlackRock, Activant Capital and Schonfeld took part in the funding round. 

Global Processing Services, a company that provides the backend technology for embedded finance, raised $100 million from Temasek and MissionOG. 

India’s FPL Technologies raised $75 million in a round led by QED Investors, Janchor Partners, Sequoia Capital India, Matrix Partners and Hummingbird Ventures. The company issues credit cards that operate through its in-house credit scoring system. 

M2P, a payments infrastructure startup based in India, raised $56 million in a round that valued the company at $605 million. 

Wealthtech 

This month, alternative asset wealthtechs and wealthtechs targeted at financial professionals drew attention from investors. 

Alternative asset platform CAIS announced a $225 million investment round led by Apollo and Motive Partners. 

iTrust Capital, a startup that enables users to buy cryptocurrencies along with traditional assets through retirement accounts, raised $125 million at Series A. 

Facet Wealth, a wealthtech advisor, raised $100 million in Series C funding. Durable Capital Partners, TeleSoft Partners and Warbrug Pincus took part in the round. 

Canalyst, a company that provides data on public companies for financial professionals, raised $70 million in Series C financing. The round was led by Dragoneer. 

UK investment platform MoneyFarm raised $60 million in a round led by M&G plc. Along with an app, the company offers stocks and share individual savings accounts (ISAs) and pensions. 

Financial management 

2022 really is the year of the tiger for financial management startups. Investment firm Tiger Global led three of the five biggest raises in the sub-sector in January. 

Payfit, a fintech company that simplifies payroll and other HR irks for SMEs, raised $291 million in a round led by General Atlantic. Eurazeo, BPI France and Accel participated in the round. 

Moss, a spend management fintech for SMEs, raised $85 million in a round led by Tiger Global. Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures also took part in the round. 

Just seven months after its previous round, India’s Refyne raised $82 million in a round led by Tiger Global. Refyne is building an earned wage access platform that enables workers to have real-time access to their salaries. 

BukuKas, a bookkeeping and social commerce startup, raised $80 million in a round led by (you guessed it) Tiger Global. Along with announcing funding, the startup has also changed its name to Lummo. 

France’s Pennylane, an accounting and financial solution for SMEs, tapped $57 million in funding this month. Sequoia Capital, Global Founders Capital and Partech took part in the round. 

Banking and banking-as-a-service

Neobanks for small and medium enterprises took big funding hauls on both sides of the Atlantic with huge raises from France’s Qonto and US’ Novo. 

Qonto, the French neobank for SMEs and freelancers, raised a $486 million funding round led by Tiger Global and TCV. It plans to use the extra dosh to reach one million SME customers by 2025, it says. 

Novo, an American neobank for SMEs, raised a $90 million Series B round led by Stripes. The neobank is now valued at $700 million. 

Israeli BaaS startup Personetics has raised $85 million in a round led by Thoma Bravo. The startup has created an AI-based technology that helps legacy banking players adapt to the demands of consumers increasingly looking for personalized banking solutions. 

MyInvestor, a Spanish neobank specializing in investment products, closed an investment round of $23 million. 

Brankas is a BaaS bringing open banking to the Southeast Asian region. It closed a $20 million Series B led by Insignia Ventures earlier this month. 

Lending 

Looks like investors' love affair with buy now pay later fizzled out in January — this is the first roundup that hasn’t included a BNPL firm. Fintech raises in the lending sector have instead concentrated on challenger credit cards and alternative lending so far this year. 

Creditas, a Brazilian lending outfit that provides consumer loans, raised $255 million at a valuation of $1.75 billion. The round included investors such as SoftBank and QED. 

Credit card challenger Petal has raised a $140 million Series D led by Tarsadia Ventures. In lieu of a credit score, the startup says it has created its own technology that analyzes an individual’s banking history — income, spending and savings — to assess eligibility. 

Esusu, a fintech that provides rent reporting and data solutions for credit building in the US, raised a $130 million round led by SoftBank. It’s one of a small group of black-owned startups that have reached unicorn status globally. 

India’s DMI Finance, a full-stack lending platform, raised $47 million in January. The round was led by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank. 

Savvy Money, a credit scoring platform, raised $45 million in a round led by Spectrum Equity. 

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