The company says trading is booming following fivefold annual growth through 2022 and the expansion of the business into three additional European markets: Norway, Finland and Germany.
According to Anyfin, customers save 50% on average loan costs using its platform.
The company plans an even bigger role for personal financial services with discounts to undercut traditional lenders. The key is likely to be in service delivery – no start-up wants to fall into the trap of negative media coverage of debt.
This Series C funding brings Anyfin’s total equity funding to $131 million, but that’s in addition to €500 million in debt facilities agreed to help Anyfin grow its loan book.
“With the current cost of living crisis putting increasing pressure on household finances, what we do is more valuable than ever for consumers, and this new capital will enable us to continue improving the scope and scale of our offering.”
Anyfin CEO and co-founder Mikael Hussain said.
He further said that the investment shows that the financial industry is undergoing a significant restructuring where the financial well-being of consumers is paramount.
With this capital, Anyfin will focus its internal resources on new product features, and aims to accelerate growth in its four operating markets.
]]>Qubit is building a drug discovery platform using the NVIDIA QODA programming model for hybrid quantum-classical computers and the startup’s Atlas software suite.
“By combining NVIDIA’s computational power and leading-edge software with Qubit’s simulation and molecular modeling capabilities, we are confident in our ability to dramatically reduce drug discovery time and cut its cost by a factor of 10. This unique collaboration should enable us to develop the first quantum physics algorithms applied to drug discovery”,
said Robert Marino, president of Qubit Pharmaceuticals.
Founded in 2020, the Paris and Boston-based company is a member of NVIDIA Inception, a program that offers go-to-market support, expertise and technology for cutting-edge startups.
Qubit has one of France’s largest GPU supercomputers for drug discovery, powered by NVIDIA DGX systems. The startup aims for pharmaceutical companies to begin testing their first drug candidates discovered through its GPU-accelerated research next year.
]]>“EdTech demands technical know-how but also creativity. And I am very proud that Europe is willing to lead in this field”,
Said Maria Gabriel
Here’s what else Maria Gabriel shares in an article for Delano about EdTech.
In 2021, Europe was one of the fastest growing regions on the global EdTech scene. It was the year in which the first so-called EdTech unicorn emerged, a private company with a valuation exceeding $1bn. And by mid-2022, the total investment has reached more than $7.5bn.
EdTech demands technical know-how but also creativity. And I am very proud that Europe is willing to lead in this field.
The EdTech sector has also proven how solidary and values-driven a business they are: During the pandemic, companies opened their EdTech services free of charge to learners, teachers and educational staff. They did so again for Ukrainian refugees. The New Ukrainian School Hub, which gives access to education resources for displaced learners, is an EU co-funded initiative that I stand strongly behind.
And still, EdTech faces a number of challenges to consolidate its position in the evolving digital education ecosystem in the EU. Fragmentation across national markets and cultures, or difficulties to build effective partnerships with ministries, schools and universities are only some of the hurdles EU EdTech entrepreneurs face today.
Time to deliver on bold vision
In July 2021, I set up a group of European EdTech companies to understand the industry and its needs better. During roundtable discussions, we exchanged thoughts on experiences since the pandemic, on the state of EdTech in the EU and on possible avenues for further cooperation.
The outcome was a common vision the sector created for its future, presented during the first Digital Education Stakeholder Forum I hosted in March 2022. It is a bold vision. And I believe that now is the moment for the sector to act upon this vision and deliver.
The first and crucial step is to prove to those teachers and learners who still doubt the quality of many EdTech solutions. EdTech tools are not an extension of entertainment software. Pedagogy and learners’ needs come before commercial success. They can lead to better education processes and outcomes, they truly can prepare learners for success in our digitalised world.
While I am a strong believer in the potential of EdTech, I do not expect this young sector to complete its journey alone. As outlined in our Digital Education Action Plan, driving European digital education forward should not happen in isolation. We need everyone to be on board and we need a high-performing digital education ecosystem.
That is why I decided to continue the roundtable discussions with European EdTech with a third meeting on 8 November. For the first time, we addressed the topics of quality assurance and effective public-private partnerships, and how we can tackle these challenges together.
Let me share some of my takeaways.
First, when developing their tools, many European EdTech companies assess schools’ official curricula to see how they can best support the attainment of learning objectives through their tools. This is very smart and welcome. But to close the loop it is then important that EdTech companies also follow up on the impact of their tools. Have they been as effective as hoped? This can be assessed through graduate tracking, and by collaborating with research institutions on measuring the learning outcomes in the long-term.
Second, extra efforts are necessary to ensure good and smooth cooperation between public education systems and private companies, especially when they are start-ups or SMEs. Both sides can benefit greatly from working together, but I realise that it is still a bit unusual. Things have simply never been done this way. I am confident that over time, we will be able to build an environment of trust, transparency and innovation.
Funding programmes
And we are not starting from scratch. Good practices such as joint creation, continuous collaboration, and procurement targeted at EdTech startups already exist. They pave the way to expanding cooperation and building partnerships.
It is clear, addressing these topics is essential to move forward and I welcome the commitment of the EdTech companies I met. The success stories are already there, but I have understood that we need a more coordinated and ambitious approach.
And I am committed to help.
We have various funding programmes in the EU that offer opportunities to the EdTech sector. With Erasmus+, the EU flagship programme for education, we will support the sector as of 2023 with funding opportunities to EdTech projects that form effective public-private partnerships. And Horizon Europe, for example, proposes funding the sector to take its solutions even further through the European Innovation Council and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology.
]]>The journey of Education Technology is only starting. And I am very much looking forward to being there along the way, offer support and admire how their creative and entrepreneurial spirit will drive the journey of education towards quality and inclusion for all in a not-so-distant future.
Bezos made an early investment of $250,000 in Google in 1998, four years after he started Amazon.com. Google now operates under its parent company, Alphabet Inc. Later on, he invested over $1 million in the company, citing its future growth potential. Bezos also founded an investment company, Bezos Expeditions, in 2005, that mainly manages his personal investments.
Jeff Bezos has made a number of investments through Amazon.com, Inc., his personal wealth, Bezos Expeditions, and Nash Holdings LLC, a private company owned by him. Some of the sectors that he invests in include real estate, technology, media, travel, and charitable trusts and foundations. Along with this, he also invests in biotech companies to treat serious chronic illnesses, agricultural tech, and finance companies.
In August 2013, Bezos bought The Washington Post, an American daily newspaper, in a deal worth $250 million. At that time, the company was struggling financially. The acquisition was made through Nash LLC.
In 2008, he made an investment of nearly $15 million in Twitter. Along with this, some of his most famous investments also include Airbnb, Inc, Business Insider and Uber Technologies, Inc.
Recently, Jeff Bezos invested in an Indonesian e-commerce start-up, Ula. The company mainly offers technology solutions to retailers and expects to expand its operations in other regions as well. Currently, the billionaire is investing in a number of private companies as well.
]]>The Foundry accelerator concluded at its Demonstration Day event at Tramshed Tech.
Highlights from this year’s programme include:
Featuring a cohort of eight companies – Wagonex, Zing Cover, Sero, Yimba, Voltric, ShipShape, Laytrip and Viaduct – the 12 week, non-funded programme took founders and their teams on a ‘whistlestop tour’ of the Welsh FinTech ecosystem. Through this, the cohort were connected with 42 supporting companies and organisations and more than 100 seasoned mentors from business, venture capital, academia and the public sector. Sarah Williams-Gardener, CEO of FinTech Wales, said:
“With Cardiff having recently been highlighted as an emerging cluster in the UK Strategic Fintech Review led by Ron Kalifa. Fintech Wales through our first Accelerator programme are delighted to to showcase these amazing Fintech’s all of which are embracing Open Banking, driving innovation and demonstrating the strength of the cluster here in Wales. We will build on this inaugural programme as we drive to establish Wales as a globally recognised Fintech Hub of excellence.”
Over the course of the programme, the companies in the inaugural cohort, which were selected from more than 150 applicants across 27 countries, have participated in a meet and greet with Economic Secretary to the Treasury John Glen MP, a private pitching event with regional investors, and attended over 30 bespoke workshops from the likes of EY, Microsoft, IBM, Confused.com, Stripe, Capital Law and the Welsh Government, designed to support the ventures in their business development, marketing and fundraising.
Under the banner of ‘Scale In Wales’ the FinTech Wales Foundry negotiated in excess of £400,000 of credits that can be spent by the cohort to help reduce the cost of critical cloud software products such as Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services. Founders of the companies have also benefited from additional support from mentors, including the use of free office space at locations around Wales and office hours from multiple legal experts and technology specialists. Foundry partner Ellie Marsh, Insight Lead at Admiral Pioneer said:
“It’s been a great first year with the FinTech Wales foundry. We’ve had the privilege of getting to know and working with some amazing start-ups and it really feels like we’ve kickstarted the FinTech ecosystem in Wales. We’re looking forward to continuing to work with the companies we’ve sponsored into the programme and cannot wait for next year where I’m sure we’ll continue to grow the start-up ecosystem here and work with even more exciting start-ups.”
In total, the FinTech Wales Foundry facilitated 132 introductions to various key stakeholders in the fintech ecosystem and helped to elevate the status of the companies in the cohort, resulting in two closing their fundraising rounds and others securing possible business agreements of various sizes during the course of the programme.
Half the cohort companies have announced expansion plans with new jobs opening over the next few months as they continue to explore multiple commercial opportunities with various Foundry partners.
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