fintech digest
Alternative Finance key for SMEs, Fasanara & Sygnum tokenize private debt & More
Research Team
3 November 2023
Alternative finance was a lifeline for 70% of UK SMEs reveals Sonovate
Traditional banks and lenders have often found it difficult to digitise and keep up with the offerings of new alternative fintechs. In fact, 40 per cent of UK small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) have found it easier to gain financing from alternative lenders, meaning a drop in customers for incumbents reveals Sonovate, an alternative finance and payment solutions provider.
BNPL fintech Tabby lands $200m Series D at $1.5bn valuation ahead of planned IPO
Middle Eastern buy now, pay later (BNPL) fintech Tabby has secured $200 million in its Series D funding round led by Wellington Management, more than doubling its valuation to $1.5 billion.
The equity funding round also saw participation from Bluepool Capital, and existing investors STV, Mubadala Investment Capital, PayPal Ventures and Arbor Ventures.
Following the fresh fundraise, Tabby claims it has become the region’s first fintech unicorn, ahead of its planned initial public offering (IPO) in Saudi Arabia, where it is now headquartered. The fintech firm last raised $58 million in the beginning of this year as part of its Series C, and was then valued at $660 million.
How fintech lending helps SMEs access bank funding
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in any country routinely face hurdles in securing bank loans for the usual reasons: They can’t provide collateral to secure loans; they appear to be riskier borrowers than larger firms; or regulators have stricter norms for bank lending to them. But there is a sweet spot where SMEs and banks can work together, with fintech lenders playing a matchmaker, according to a new paper by experts at Wharton and elsewhere titled, “Collateral Effects: The Role of FinTech in Small Business Lending.”
Sygnum, Float & Fasanara join forces to tokenise private debt markets
Sygnum, the world's first digital asset bank, today announces an innovative new private debt asset token with Float, a Stockholm-based Capital-as-a-Service company. Fasanara Capital, one of Europe's largest credit funds in fintech, is acting as senior lender.
Large Language Model (LLM): Disruption of chatbots
To understand the disruption and demands Large Language Models will place on the Conversational AI/UI ecosystem going forward, considering the recent past helps and what vulnerabilities have emerged.
Tokenized U.S. treasury market grows nearly 600% to $698M as crypto's RWA race intensifies
Ethereum has toppled Stellar as the top blockchain for tokenized government bonds while more recent entrants Solana and Polygon also grew.
Tokenized versions of U.S. Treasuries grew nearly seven-fold so far in 2023 as competition between investment offerings and blockchain venues intensified.