TurnKey Lender, FairPlay, Bloom & more

Our weekly round-up for you to get the latest fintech funding news from around the world. Featuring TurnKey Lender, FairPlay, Bloom, Inveztor, Hardbacon and Dufrain.

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Global B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS) company TurnKey Lender has raised $10 million in a new funding round led by OTB Ventures.

The round, a mix of equity financing and debt, also saw participation from DEG and Vertex Ventures.

TurnKey Lender says it will use the new funds to “take advantage” of new opportunities in embedded lending adoption macro trends across North America, Europe and Southeast Asia.

It has also appointed former Intel corporate vice president Christian Morales as chairman of the board.

Morales brings over 40 years of senior experience in leading global tech institutions. In his new role, he will work to ensure the company continues its growth in revenue, hiring, strategic partnerships and client relationships.

Founded in 2014, TurnKey Lender offers a SaaS platform that automates the digital lending process in developing and developed markets.

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California-based FairPlay, which provides an algorithmic decision-making solution for credit lending, has secured $10 million in Series A funding.

The round was led by Nyca Partners with participation from Cross River Digital Ventures, Third Prime, Fin Capital, TTV, Nevcaut Ventures, Financial Venture Studio and Jonathan Weiner.

Launched in 2020, FairPlay uses AI “fairness techniques” to reduce algorithmic bias for people of colour, women and other historically disadvantaged groups.

FairPlay claims its solution enables lenders to identify and mitigate bias in their credit models, increasing profitability and financial inclusion.

“Fairness-as-a-service is growing fast,” says Kareem Saleh, founder and CEO of FairPlay. “Lenders use FairPlay because they believe, as we do, that fairness is good for people, profits and progress.”

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Sudan-based fintech Bloom, which offers “fair and inclusive” financial services in East Africa, has bagged $6.5 million in a seed funding round.

The funding saw participation from Y Combinator, Global Founders Capital, Goodwater Capital, Visa and VentureSouq, alongside a number of angel investors.

The company says it will use the fresh money to recruit “world-class” talent, improve customer experience and offer new financial services to its members in Sudan and the wider East Africa region.

The digital banking firm is the first Sudanese company to join Visa’s Fintech Fast Track Programme.

Founded in 2021 and having recently graduated from Y Combinator’s 2022 batch, Bloom claims to have more than 100,000 users signed up on its waitlist for access to its app.

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London-based start-up Inveztor has raised £1.3 million in an oversubscribed pre-seed fundraising round.

The round saw participation from 17 investors. Marcus Everard (via Skye Capital) and StemFinancial led the round, with Portfolio Ventures and other angels taking part.

Inveztor is a fintech firm providing software to agents and market participants in debt capital markets.

The company says it is building a digital platform where deal teams can collaborate and manage debt securities including bonds and escrows. The platform brings together issuers, advisors and legal counsel to allow agents to intelligently manage deals in a real-time environment.

Inveztor says it will launch its product in September.

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Hardbacon, a Canadian personal finance application, has secured $706,000 in funding from more than 500 investors through the FrontFundr equity crowdfunding portal.

It first launched the equity crowdfunding campaign back in May. With the new funding, Hardbacon’s total financing has now reached more than $3.1 million since its founding.

The investment will be used to boost the company’s growth. Currently, Hardbacon says it has 232,000 monthly unique visitors and it plans to double its reach by the end of the year.

Hardbacon helps Canadians plan, budget and invest, while also enabling users to compare different financial services such as credit cards, bank accounts, online brokers, robo-advisors, mortgages and crypto exchanges.

Looking ahead, Hardbacon announced that it intends to go public in 2023.

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Dufrain, a data management services and data analytics consultancy, has secured an undisclosed investment from Phoenix Equity Partners, a UK growth-focused private equity firm.

The company says the move is intended to fuel the next stage of its growth as part of a management buyout.

Founded in 2010, Dufrain helps its financial services and banking clients discover, manage and optimise data to gain insights and make informed business decisions.

It employs over 170 data experts from its offices in Edinburgh, Manchester and London.

Dufrain claims to have seen year-on-year revenue growth of 40% over the past two years. It adds that the investment will allow the business to continue its growth by expanding its footprint across multiple geographies and sectors as well as further developing its in-house technology solutions.