Sifted - Europe's most profitable fintechs

Good morning there,

European fintechs have had a tough time lately. 

Faced with mounting compliance demands and rising interest rates, VC funding for the sector fell from a high of $29bn in 2021 to $8.8bn last year, with investors prioritising profitability over growth-at-all-costs. 

But of the 50 fintech unicorns operating in Europe today, Sifted analysis reveals just 13 of them have achieved profitability. We dug into the latest financial accounts to find out which of Europe's fintechs are enjoying life in the black.

Elsewhere today:

• Exclusive: 2150 raises €197m for second fund
• Europe’s most active venture debt providers in 2024
• Do founders need VC-backed wellness programmes?

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🚗 Autonomous vehicles startup Oxa has partnered with tech giant Nvidia to train its AI models. 

🇪🇺 Swedish nonprofit Norrsken has launched a Brussels hub to help startups access EU lawmakers. 

🏢 2150, the venture arm of private investment firm Urban Partners, has raised €197m for its second fund.

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💰 Less than a quarter of Europe’s fintech unicorns are profitable. We dug into the latest company account filings to find out which fintech unicorns are in the black. 

🧘 A recent Sifted survey found 56% of founders received no support for their physical or mental health from investors. Do founders need VC-backed wellness programmes?

🏦 Meet Europe’s most active venture debt providers in 2024.

Barcelona, Spain-based Factorial, which provides an all-in-one HR cloud software for SMEs, raised $120m in funding from General Catalyst.

Prague-based Flowpay, which automates funding applications for SMEs via embedded finance, raised €30m in debt funding. Techstars, Soulmates Venture and Depo Ventures participated in the round.

Cologne, Germany-based Buynomics, which provides AI-powered revenue optimisation, raised $30m in Series B funding. Forestay Capital led the round and was joined by Anais Ventures, VI Partners, Insight Partners, Seedcamp, DvH Ventures and Tomahawk Ventures.

Bergamo, Italy-based Resilco, which has developed technology for transforming industrial into secondary raw materials, raised €5m in Series A funding. 360 Capital led the round and was joined by investors including CDP Venture Capital and Tech4Planet.

Kuopio, Finland-based Capalo AI, which uses AI to maximise the value of the energy storage systems, raised €3.8m in seed funding. VentureFriends and Profounders led the round and were joined by investors including Inventure and Innovestor.

Cologne, Germany-based peopleIX, an AI-powered HR intelligence platform, raised €2.3m in pre-seed funding. Earlybird-X led the round and was joined by investors including Neoteq Ventures and TS Ventures.

Utrecht, the Netherlands-based Withthegrid, an asset monitoring platform for energy infrastructure, raised €2m in equity funding from Move Energy and €1.5m in debt from investors including Rabobank and Nationaal Groenfonds.

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