Like the internet in the 1990s or social media in the early 2000s, NFTs will go down in history as one of the most significant things to happen in modern technology and culture at large. Big statement — I know — so let me tell you why I’m so excited.
Finance
Osu Raises £2.25M for its Payment Management App for Self Employed Individuals and Freelancers
Self-employed workers tend to sporadic income streams and managing cash flow is critical. With the advent of Open Banking, there are new opportunities to help these individuals optimize their balance sheets. Osu is a payment app built for the needs of the self-employed. The app lets businesses collect instant payments, invoice, and generate payment reminders all without any transaction fees. The company only charges a simple, flat monthly fee without the need for any hardware; Osu’s platform is able to collect payments via SMS. London TechWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Noam Nevo to learn more about the opportunity to support self-employed individuals with automation and smart solutions, the company’s future plans, and recent round of funding from investors that include Creandum, Ada Ventures, Charles Delingpole, Will Neale, and Michael Pennington.
BCB Group Raises $4.55M to Provide Institutional Banking Services to Serve The Crytocurrency Economy
As concerns grow over inflation and increasing interest rates, the cryptocurrency market has been looked at as a natural hedge to preserve capital. This popularity has led to more and more institutions looking to build exposure to blockchain and cryptocurrency. BCB Group, a provider of crypto banking services, makes cryptocurrency more accessible for cryptocurrency exchanges, market makers, funds and corporate traders, and cryptocurrency-specific projects. The company provides a host of services including exchange services, treasury management, custodial, wealth management, interest accounts, and foreign exchange. London TechWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie to learn more about the inspiration behind the company, the state of the cryptomarkets, the company’s future plans, latest funding round from investors that include North Island Ventures, Blockchain.com Ventures, Pantera Capital, L1 Digital, and Pack Capital. This is best described as a seed follow-on or pre-Series A raise.
Countingup Raises £9.1M to Make Currents Account and Tax Management Seamless Through Automation
Small businesses spend an average of 120 working days per year on administrative tasks. To help alleviate the accounting portion of this burden, most modern accounting software integrates directly with your bank thanks to open banking protocols. Countingup takes it one step further. It’s a business current account with an integrated tax management and accounting platform so that small businesses can manage and plan their finances in one app, simplifying both bookkeeping and taxes. London TechWatch caught up with CEO, repeat entrepreneur, and Founder Tim Fouracre (Founded Clear Books) to learn more about the company’s traction, future plans, and latest funding round from investors that include Framework Venture Partners, Gresham House Ventures, and Sage.
Ember Raises £1.6M to Empower Small Businesses with Automated Accounting and Tax Solutions
Small business owners are often the jacks and jills of all trades, especially when teams are small and operations are lean. But for many businesses, the time spent handling administrative functions could be better spent building the business. Ember is an accounting and tax platform that streamlines these functions with automation, freeing up valuable time. The platform uses machine learn and has integrated open banking so that businesses can manage all aspects of taxes and accounting from a single platform. Users are able to view the business’s finances in real-time, get support from qualified experts, and optimize, pay, and file taxes with HMRC, which recently made it possible to file digitally. London TechWatch caught up with Cofounder and CEO Aaron Shaw to learn more about the company’s progress since we covered their pre-seed round in late 2019, fundraising during the pandemic, the company’s latest funding round from investors that include Anthemis, Spring Ventures, and Innovation Nest, and much, much more…
TapSimple Raises £900K for its Digital Platform to Help Charities Fundraise and Move into the Digital Era
The pandemic has pushed countless industries towards the rapid adoption of technology to survive in a contactless world and non-profits are no different. Traditional methods for fundraising have largely been impacted by COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns. TapSimple is a digital payment and infrastructure platform that enables charities to these new realities by equipping them with a robust set of tools to manage their fundraising efforts. Charities can leverage contactless solutions, host video giving events, build landing pages, sell tickets, and generate QR codes seamlessly from the platform. At a time when things are so difficult for so many, TapSimple is empowering the organizations that are helping the most vulnerable. London TechWatch caught up with Cofounder Alex Coleridge to learn more about how the team’s work to help homelessness in London inspired the business, the company’s expansion plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include Ecclesiastical, Lord Michael Spencer, Lord Mervyn Davies, Dominic Burke, Anthony Bolton, and Sir Martyn Lewis.
Local Payments Platform PPRO Raises $188M to Become London’s Newest Unicorn
The pandemic has accelerated e-commerce by an estimated 5 years according to a recent report by IBM. This global seismic shift has been possible since reliable payment solutions are available, ready to be deployed regardless of country, currency, or language. PPRO is the local payments infrastructure platform that powers some of the industry’s leading solutions including Citi, Mastercard Payment Gateway Services, PayPal, and Worldpay. As companies rush to serve a global, digital market, PPRO’s technology ensures that merchants are able to accept payments globally with customer’s preferred payment methods on payment platforms that they already use. London TechWatch caught up with CEO Simon Black to learn more about the company’s impression traction, expansion plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include Sprints Capital, Eurazeo Growth, Wellington Management.
How High Can Bitcoin Go? A $1 Million 10-Year Price Target (Or $1 per dSAT) Actually Looks Reasonable
I know many will laugh at me. And maybe they’re right. But I’m not writing this to convince the naysayers. This is for the growing community of people (including Michael Saylor, Paul Tudor Jones, Stanley Druckenmiller, Bill Miller….) who have seen the crypto light. And I’ve been laughed at before for making seemingly outlandish predictions and been proven right.
10 Predictions for the Tech Industry in 2021
Chris Cunningham of C2 Ventures offers some predictions for what 2021 will bring to tech, covering AR, privacy, insurtech, and much, much more…
Cledara Pulls in Another $3.4M to Centralize SaaS Spend and Management
Software may be eating the world but software spend may be eating your runway.
The average employee uses eight SaaS applications; companies with 50 or less employees have a total of 40 applications while larger companies with 1000+ employees have over 200 different subscriptions on average. Cledara is the SaaS purchasing and management platform that centralizes a company’s cloud software subscriptions, providing transparency into spend and usage. The pandemic has created a frenzied acceleration for digital transformation and the associated software needed and this trend has fueled massive growth for Cledara; the company has grown 20x in 2020 alone.
London TechWatch caught up with Cofounder and CEO Cristina Vila to learn more about the company’s platform, expansion plans, and latest round of funding from Nauta Capital and Anthemis.