British fintech Freetrade announced its imminent launch into Sweden's retail investor market.
Anyfin is based in Sweden and allows users to refinance existing loans using a photo of a loan statement; the round was co-led by Accel and Northzone and included Rocket Internet’s Global Founders Capital along with other angel investors; Anyfin is currently only available in Sweden but they have ambitions to expand further into Europe. Source
iZettle has raised 60 million euros ($63.46 million) in a Series D funding round and hired a new chief financial officer; the firm is now valued at more than $500 million; says an initial public offering is one scenario it is considering for its next growth phase; the payment processing firm is comparable to US-based Square, offering card readers and credit financing for merchants; iZettle is based in Sweden and provides its service in 12 markets with market transactions led by the UK. Source
The world's oldest central bank is now looking to the future; Riksbank is looking to issue a national digital currency as they have seen a 40% drop in use of notes and coins since 2009; they do not view the digital currency as a replacement for notes; the new currency would be viewed as complementary; challenges lie ahead as there is no blueprint for this; Cecilia Skingsley, deputy governor at the Riksbank, told the Financial Times, "This is as revolutionary as the paper note 300 years ago. What does it mean for monetary policy and financial stability? How do we design this: a rechargeable card, an app or another way?" Source
This week, we cover these ideas:
The nature of digital identity, and the difference between a representation at some moment of time vs. a record of your being
The launch of the DeFi Passport by Arcx and how it can be useful for underwriting
The European Digital Wallet, and the implication of such a development for CBDCs and government services
China’s CBDC, Sweden’s BankID, and other existential crises
If you want to go deeper on this topic, we strongly recommend our conversation with Michael Cena of the Ceramic Network here. Whereas Michael started working on the identity problem by trying to add labels to people, where he ended up is creating a protocol that tracks historic software activity and interactions between actors. In thinking about the Ship of Theseus, this is the solution that says — your identity is your journey through the river of time itself, and not any particular stop you make along the way.
Swedish fintech Klarna Bank has launched a free P2P payments service; the new service is called Wavy and is available for consumers across 31 European markets; the service allows for simplified payment redemption with the receiver able to redeem the funds directly to their bank account. Source
Stockholm, Sweden has announced it will be opening a fintech hub; leading developers of the Stockholm Fintech Hub include Matthew Argent of BLC Advisors, KPMG, NFT Ventures and Invest Stockholm; the Stockholm Fintech Hub is currently seeking partners and will be led by a steering committee including the Fintech Hub's developers; motivation from the developers for a fintech hub was driven by an ecosystem of fintech startups and high growth companies in the country; according to lead developer, Matthew Argent, the Stockholm Fintech Hub will seek to maintain standards and evolve the support ecosystem that provides resources for fintech companies. Source