Weekly update #134

The latest news from the fintech and VC ecosystem

Jun 01, 2026

Welcome to this edition of the weekly newsletter. The idea behind this is to gather all the information in the startup ecosystem in one place, with a special focus on the fintech market and the VC industry.

No episode of Builders has been released this week, but you can always check the last episode, where I sit down with Bhavin Shah, founder and CEO of Sherlocq. You can watch the full episode here on YouTube, or listen to it here on Spotify or here on Apple Podcast.

Bhavin is the Founder and CEO of Sherlocq, an AI-powered regulatory intelligence company helping compliance professionals, law firms, and regulators navigate complex global regulations with greater speed, accuracy, and security. With more than 20 years of experience across the U.S., UK, Middle East, and Asia, Bhavin has built a global reputation in financial crime, compliance, investigations, and governance.

Before launching Sherlocq, he held senior leadership roles at Deloitte, PwC, EY, Roland Berger, Forensic Risk Alliance, and Secretariat, advising global banks, sovereign institutions, private equity firms, and digital platforms on high-stakes regulatory matters. Bhavin is also a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, a recognised thought leader in AI and compliance, and an advisor on financial and regulatory innovation.

With him, we will talk about the fintech market in the MENA region, how regulations are shaping this market, but also the differences between investing in fintech in different parts of the world.

Coming back to us, I’ve been reading a very interesting report this week, the “State of European accounting tech 2026” by Chift API. The report is the outcome of a Europe wide survey to SMEs, where Chift actually asked companies how they manage their finances and accounting services, from tools used to integration of AI. Here my main takeaways:

Accounting software is evolving from a standalone system into a core part of a wider financial ecosystem. While high pricing remains the main pain point overall, limited integrations are now the second biggest issue and the top concern for larger SMEs with 101 to 200 employees.

Across Europe, connectivity is becoming a decisive factor. In half of the countries surveyed, lack of integrations is seen as a greater problem than pricing. Denmark stands out, with 40% of respondents dissatisfied with the integration capabilities of their current accounting software. Other markets, including the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Sweden, also show strong frustration around limited connectivity.

This shift is affecting customer loyalty. Although accounting software has traditionally been considered difficult to replace, 32% of respondents changed provider in the past 12 months. Switching is even more common among companies using multiple financial tools, suggesting that better integrations can play a key role in reducing churn.

Across Europe, companies spend an average of €5,650 per year on accounting software, based on 1,400 responses from accountants and finance professionals. However, budgets vary significantly by country, with Northern European markets generally allocating more than Southern European ones.

The Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden report some of the highest average budgets, while Spain records the lowest at €4,755. The gap is also visible at the higher end of spending: only 8% of Spanish SMEs spend more than €10,000 annually, compared with 22% in Denmark.

Company size is another key factor. Larger SMEs with 101 to 200 employees spend around 40% more than smaller businesses, reflecting more complex operations, broader software needs and greater reliance on multiple financial tools. These figures are self-reported and may not fully represent total accounting costs or actual vendor billing.

Accounting platforms are moving beyond bookkeeping and becoming broader financial hubs for SMEs. Businesses increasingly expect core services to be embedded directly into their accounting tools, including business bank accounts, requested by 47% of respondents, invoicing at 44%, and financing or lending solutions at 32%, rising to 40% among larger SMEs with 101 to 200 employees.

This demand is especially strong in Northern Europe, where interest in financing reaches 42% to 45%. Denmark stands out with particularly high demand for business bank accounts at 61% and invoicing at 63%.

E invoicing is also accelerating the need to pay supplier invoices directly from accounting platforms. Once invoices arrive structured and pre booked, payment becomes the next logical step. This requires bank connectivity and automatic reconciliation.

Financial software stacks are becoming more modular as SMEs move away from relying on a single system to manage every financial workflow. Instead, companies are adopting specialized tools for specific needs, including payroll, invoicing, payments, expense management, forecasting and sector focused operations.

As a result, accounting software is no longer the only system managing financial data. It now sits within a broader ecosystem where information is created across multiple platforms before being reconciled in the ledger.

This shift reflects wider digital adoption across Europe. Around 43% of EU enterprises use ERP software, 26% use CRM systems and 15% use business intelligence tools. Our survey also shows that SMEs use an average of three additional financial tools alongside accounting software.

Also, this week it’s Money20/20 time again! I will be attending and speaking in a couple of panels, happy to catch up if you are attending too!

I will also be recording a special episode of #Builders live with Martina Weimert , CEO of EPI Company, the corporate behind popular payment method Wero.

But let’s take a closer look at the main news of the last seven days. Anthropic raised a stunning $65B round at almost $1T valuation, Banca Sella it’s the first italian bank to provide crypto services under Micar, Monzo launched mobile plans in UK, Cash App roll out stablecoins to users in the US, and Revolut launched F24 payments in Italy. But also, CDP Cassa Depositi e Prestiti increasing its stake in Nexi Group, MoonPay is enabling users to acquire crypto in ChatGPT, SoFi acquires Peach finance, TrueLayer acquires in3 and Airwallex closes a new round at $12B valuation. In the VC ecosystem, BAI Capital holds a first $600M closing for its new $800M fund, Transition Ventures closes a $150M fund II, Marvelous launches a $20M deeptech fund and byFounders closes a $130M+ fund III. And finally, some very interesting funding rounds from startups like Harmoney, Robbin, Palenca, Didit (YC W26), Otomato.xyz, Capchase, NALA, Luffa and many others.

Let’s take a closer look:

And here some useful resources for everyone involved in the ecosystem:

Events you don’t want to miss

Money 20/20 | Amsterdam - 02-04 June (Link here)
SuperReturns | Berlin - 08-10 June (Link here)

You have a cool event you want to mention or to sponsor? Feel free to send me a DM.

Founders to watch in fintech

I also wanted to start shining a light on the most interesting fintech founders out there, so I thought to start sharing how I look for ideas to invest on. Every week, I will start sharing the most interesting founders in fintech, divided per area.

This week, in honour of Money20/20, I am taking a look at the most interesting founders in fintech in Amsterdam, Netherlands. And you can already see a couple of interesting founders in stealth!

I usually use Spectre to scout for new ideas, the team is great and they also give me a free account once they learned I was a fan of the product. So if you wanna take a look at it, you can find it here.

VCs and PEs raising new funds now

I would like to leave this part of the newsletter as space for VC and solo GP that are launching new funds right now. I frequently speak with GPs and LPs, and I like the idea of giving them a showcase where to announce what they are doing. Here the new funds raising right now that I have been talking with:

Parallax Ventures, a fintech VC fund focused on Latam. They closed Fund I with a strong +50% IRR and 0.7x DPI, and are now raising Fund II. Take a look here if you want to know more or reach out directly to the GP at gennari@parallax.vc for details.
Founder Factor, VC focused on YC companies, that just closed investments on the latest YC W26. They are expanding the current vehicle to double down on the current batch. You can take a look here if you are interested.
RedFish Capital Partners, a private equity investor focused on Italian SMEs in growth and mature capital phases, with a track record exceeding 40% IRR and with over €200M in Assets. Currently raising its brand new AIF, which has already secured a soft commitment from the European Investment Fund (EIF). You can check them out at redfish.capital or contact the team at investor.relations@redfish.capital.

Overall, very interesting to see where the VC ecosystem is heading recently, between new emerging managers, solo GP and micro funds.

Always happy to support if I can! If you are raising a fund and you want to be listed here send me a message on Linkedin.

And finally, take also a look at the last edition of the newsletter, Weekly update #133

Weekly update on Fintech by Michele Mattei

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