Venture funding

Klarna Bank is in talks to raise new equity at a valuation as low as $6 billion, a fraction of the $45.6 billion it commanded last summer as it became Europe’s most valuable startup, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The buy now/pay later startup Zilch has raised a further $50 million, upping the total raise for its Series C fundraising to $160 million as it plans bolster U.S. expansion plans. 

Rakefet Russak-Aminoach, who led the Israeli bank for seven years, now funds and helps build fintechs that work with other fintechs and banks.

Codat, a software startup that connects small businesses with financial institutions, raised $100 million in an equity funding round led by JPMorgan Chase’s growth-equity arm.

Deserve, a credit card technology startup, said it secured a $250 million credit facility from banks led by Goldman Sachs Group. 

Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures Management is leading a $185 million funding round for Canada’s Neo Financial Technologies, propelling it to a valuation of more than $1 billion as it plans expansion into mortgages.

Celebrities on the investor roster include Ashton Kutcher, Justin Bieber, Steve Aoki and Gwyneth Paltrow. 

Circle Internet Financial, the issuer of USD Coin, the second-largest stablecoin, landed $400 million in funding from a group that includes BlackRock and Fidelity Management and Research, a sign of traditional finance’s growing acceptance of the exploding cryptocurrency industry.

Ramp, a startup that offers corporate cards and other finance tools to businesses, raised $750 million in a funding round that valued the fintech at $8.1 billion.

Gauntlet, a financial-risk modeling platform for crypto lending, raised a new round of funding that pushed its valuation to $1 billion.

Revolut’s Chief Revenue Officer Alan Chang is leaving the U.K. financial technology startup for a new cryptocurrency venture and is seeking to raise roughly $100 million in financing.

Zeta Services, a banking and credit card technology unicorn, has raised $30 million from investors including Mastercard, and the two announced a five-year collaboration to help customers launch credit card services.  

The U.K. financial technology startup GoCardless raised $312 million in new funding to speed up its expansion in open banking across products and geogrophies.

Esusu, a financial technology company that aims to help bridge the racial wealth gap by reporting rent payments to credit agencies, has become one of only a few Black-owned startups to reach a valuation of $1 billion after closing a Series B round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Innovation Banking hired Ryan Enriquez from JPMorgan Chase as executive director, part of an expansion of the unit’s New York office.

Truepic, which helps companies like banks and insurers fight fraud by verifying images, raised $26 million in a funding round led by Microsoft’s M12 venture capital arm.

The size of the financial commitments was not disclosed, but they add to a $425 million fundraising round that the data aggregator announced earlier this year.

Upgrade, a lending startup that counts former LendingClub executive Renaud Laplanche as a co-founder, raised $105 million in a funding round that values the company at more than $3.3 billion.

Revolut raised $800 million from investors including SoftBank Group’s Vision Fund 2 and Tiger Global Management at a $33 billion valuation, the latest sign of investor demand for fintechs.

N26 GmbH is holding discussions with investors to raise several hundred million dollars in a fundraising that could value the German fintech at about $10 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.