Allica Bank Secures $155M And Enters Unicorn Territory
Hey Digital Banking Fanatic!
Allica Bank has raised $155m in a Series D round.
Valuation: $1.2bn. Unicorn status secured.
Pre-tax profit climbed 86% to £29.9m. Lending surpassed £1bn. This didn’t come out of nowhere.
This has been building for some time. Back in October, Allica acquired Kriya to strengthen its SME and embedded finance capabilities.
I also broke that move down in my newsletter: 👉 Allica Bank Acquires UK’s Kriya to Boost SME Lending
Five years ago, four big banks controlled 90% of SME lending. Today, challengers hold 60%. Allica leaned into what incumbents walked away from.
Now it joins Monzo, Revolut, and Starling in the UK unicorn tier. Profitable. Acquisitive. Scaling.
Targeting £1bn in working capital finance over the next three years.
More signals unfolding. I’ll break down the next ones tomorrow.
Keep scrolling, and I'll be back tomorrow with the stories you can't miss! 👇
Cheers,
INSIGHTS
🌎 Overview of Neobanks in Latin America
Ranked by total active users in 2025👇
NEWS
🇬🇧 Allica Bank joins FinTech unicorn club after £100m injection. The challenger bank is said to have netted $155m (£111m) in a Series D fundraise, which will take the firm’s valuation to $1.2bn and over the billion-pound mark to declare unicorn status.
🇮🇪 Revolut says access-to-cash laws risk stifling its Irish expansion. Revolut has warned it would be discouraged from expanding in Ireland if it were forced to help preserve access to cash. The FinTech also said new laws risk damaging Irish consumers’ ability to access savings products that pay better interest rates.
🇬🇧 Revolut weighs share sale later this year on pre-IPO demand. Revolut’s investors have been pushing for a new process that would value the firm at least $100 billion. Deliberations are at an early stage, and no decisions over the size or timing of a share sale have been taken.
🇬🇧 Revolut is recruiting the number two at La Banque Postale, Perrine Kaltwasser, to help it obtain its banking license. The hire completes a key step in Revolut’s effort to secure a French banking license, strengthening its executive team with experienced leaders from traditional banking.
🇧🇷 Neon announces Fabíola Marchiori as the new CTO to lead technology. At Neon, she will be responsible for leading an integrated technological structure, with the goal of repositioning engineering as an engine for scale, operational efficiency, and financial sustainability.
🇧🇷 Nubank releases 2025 results. Estimate for the fourth quarter points to revenues of $4.581 billiom, implying a year-on-year growth of 55.7%, while adjusted net profit would be $918 million, with an increase of 55% compared to the same period of the previous year.
🇺🇸 Klarna reaches 55 million monthly app users as usage surges 53% year over year. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said the growth reflects Klarna’s shift toward becoming a global digital bank for everyday money management. Recent launches are driving increased daily usage and positioning the app as a central hub for consumer finances.
🇺🇸 PLDT seeks US and Philippine listings for FinTech unit Maya. Maya’s foreign shareholders want the payment platform and digital bank operator to be listed in the US, PLDT Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Manuel Pangilinan said. “But we’re insisting on dual listing, here on PSE,” he added, referring to the Philippine Stock Exchange.
🇨🇴 Addi, a Colombian digital lending FinTech company, secures US$89M in financing to expand its lending options. The CEO of the FinTech company stated that the company continues to expand its capital markets platform, this time through a partnership with Citi and the strengthening of its strategic alliance with Fasanara Capital.
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