The FGB Digest brings you the latest news on the world’s fastest growing direct-to-consumer and challenger brands. In today’s edition: Lunar extends Series B round; Azimo partners with Siam Commercial Bank; and HaMuch funding to scale tradespeople comparison service. 

Lunar extends Series B round

Lunar, the Nordic challenger bank that started out life as a personal finance manager app (PFM) but since acquired a full banking license last year, has extended its Series B round with an additional €20m in funding. It brings the Series B total to €46m, having disclosed €26m in August last year.

The mobile-only bank is also announcing that Ole Mahrt, Monzo’s former head of product from 2015-2019, is joining the company’s board of directors. 

Having acquired a banking license, Lunar launched its new bank in March, which it says it built from scratch. Accounts are offered for free, alongside a subscription-based service Lunar Premium. In the coming months, the challenger bank says it plans to launch other new financial products including credit facilities, loans and “sustainability driven services,” in a bit to become a fully-fledged alternative to incumbent banks in the Nordics.

Lunar also offers “Lunar Business,” catering for small business banking, including accounting software integrations, loans and more. Meanwhile, Lunar claims more than 150,000 users in the Nordics. The bank has offices in Aarhus, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo, and currently has just over 120 employees.

Azimo partners with Siam Commercial Bank

Azimo, the London-headquartered international money transfer service, has partnered with Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) to deliver instant payments for its customers from Europe to SCB bank accounts in Thailand.

According to the World Bank, Thailand is one of the top remittance destinations globally, with USD$6.7bn received from abroad each year, and Azimo says it remains one of the most expensive countries to send and receive money. That’s something the UK fintech wants to help change as it continues to expand to Asia as a key corridor.

Specifically, the SCB tie-in takes advantage of “PromptPay,” which comprises a real-time clearing and settlement infrastructure to enable instant transfers to Thai bank accounts. For reference, it is similar to the UK’s Faster Payments.

In addition, the new service uses RippleNet, the global payment network that harnesses blockchain to let users track funds, delivery time, and status.

Meanwhile, the SCB partnership follows news in February that Azimo had secured €20m in debt from the European Investment Bank, the lending arm of the European Union.

HaMuch funding to scale tradespeople comparison service

HaMuch, a business which lets homeowners compare tradespeoples’ prices online, is funding on Crowdcube.

Over 12,000 tradespeople have uploaded prices and a subscription model was launched in August 2019, and now HaMuch aims to scale. HaMuch was launched with a £100k sponsorship deal from Grundfos. The team has experience in the trades market having built a national plumbing business and provided digital marketing services to Travis Perkins, HomeServe and Rated People.

Checkatrade, who only list tradespeople (no price comparison), alone has 36,000 subscribers paying est £36m per year. Funds raised will be used to grow HaMuch and take a bite out of the £55bn UK renovation market.

Founder Tarquin Purdie says “The trigger to start HaMuch occurred when thousands of pensioner homeowners, enquiring for Warmfront grants, overwhelmed our plumbing business' phone lines. Most callers did not qualify and it made us think about different ways to inform these homeowners of who qualified before they phoned us.”

Want this in your Inbox? Sign up to our newsletter here!