Nordic Fintech Snippets – January
The first month of 2021 came with both good and confusing news. While the world’s focus has been on shutting the spread of the new Covid-19 mutations, the financial world has seen some fairly strange times.
The new-gen Z investors, who during last year rushed into trading platforms such as Robinhood and eToro, have found the power of the internet, and through online communities such as Reddit have joined forces to inflate stocks such as Gamestop and AMC. While these stocks have normally been small and thinly traded “penny stocks”, this week they found Nokia.
Astonishingly, Nokia’s market cap temporarily increased by 130% from €24B to €55B. Nokia was the first European company under this kind of manipulation.
Will this be temporary or change things for good? We are quite sure that the regulators are racking their brains. Certainly, this seems to be an auspicious time for investment analysis software developers to start including more social media to their sources 😉
In the currently more conservative-looking investment area, venture capital, the year has started with a positive vibe, as multiple Nordic fintech companies already announced new funding rounds.
Talking about events, next month is very interesting as we will see both STHLM Fintech Week and RegTech Day showcasing what is next for finance and fintech.
This is Nordic Fintech Snippets, the combined effort of all the Nordic Fintech Hubs, sharing the most important and latest news in fintech and digital finance from each country.
Nordic highlights
Trustly, a Swedish payments firm is reportedly plotting a second quarter IPO that could value the company at €9 billion. Like other payments processors in Europe, Trustly is riding a wave of investor interest as the Coronavirus pandemic pushes more transactions online.
Wolt, a Finnish food delivery and payment startup has raised €440 millions in a round led by ICONIQ Growth to expand its speedily-growing retail delivery service faster and further. “The opportunity is to equip brick and mortar stores to compete with Amazon and Alibaba — and be better than them,” says Wolt CEO Miki Kuusi.
Minna Technologies, a subscription management tool for banking customers, raises $18.8M in Series B fundraising from Element Ventures, MiddleGame Ventures, Nineyards Equity and Visa, to expand its open banking technology to banks globally.
Country specific news
Finland
Finnish food delivery and payment startup Wolt raises 440M€
Fintech companies LVS Brokers, Enfuce and Fennoa made it to the Deloitte Fast 50 list
Nordea: No deployment of CBDCs in 2021 but greater clarity is coming
Nokia stock went 133% up in a week after being discussed on Reddit’s Wall Street Bets
Denmark
Copenhagen Fintech released their updated overview of the Danish Fintech Startup Scene
SimCorp SFTR solution goes live at Denmark’s ATP
Pleo’s been named Startup of the Year at the Global Startup Awards!
The Danish Industry Foundation released a report about Copenhagen Fintechs cluster development
Iceland
Lucinity adds Head of Legal and Compliance and Global Head of Sales
Sweden
Nordic payments project P27 appoints chairman
Swedish banks formalise AML information sharing pact with police
Minna Technologies, a subscription management tool for banking customers, raises $18.8M
Sweden’s Trustly sets course for potential €9 billion IPO
Buy Now Pay Later space is getting more competitive in Europe, as new startups chase Klarna’s crown
Fidesmo and Visa enter a collaboration
Norway
NCE Finance Innovation released a report: AI in the Norwegian Banking Sector
Future events
11.2. The Future of Nordic Retail Banking
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