Key Takeaways
- • CredibleX secures $15 million Series A funding led by Mubadala Investment Company with participation from Further Ventures, bringing total capital raised to $170 million since its 2023 founding, positioning the UAE lendtech as a major embedded finance player in the SME segment.
- • Five, a UK-based biometric paytech, raises $6 million in seed funding to commercialize palm-pattern recognition technology for payments, founded in 2024 by former Revolut executives Maria Marti and Thibaut Genevrier.
- • CredibleX expands infrastructure and partner distribution across 70+ distribution partners including Mastercard, Network International, and Neopay, with Series A capital designated to scale lending and non-lending business lines plus technology and data capabilities.
- • CredibleX demonstrates rapid institutional investor appetite with $100 million senior secured credit facility secured approximately one year after $55 million seed round in December 2024, signaling confidence in embedded finance infrastructure for SMEs.
Summary
The fintech funding landscape continues to attract significant institutional capital, with two notable deals anchoring this week's round-up. UAE-based lendtech CredibleX has secured $15 million in Series A funding led by prominent Middle Eastern investor Mubadala Investment Company, joined by Further Ventures. Founded in 2023, CredibleX operates in the embedded finance space, delivering working capital solutions to small and medium-sized enterprises across multiple verticals including SME insurance finance, B2B channel finance, point-of-sale finance, and invoice finance products.
CredibleX's trajectory reflects robust institutional demand for fintech infrastructure in underserved SME lending markets. The company's capital raises have accelerated significantly: it closed a $55 million seed round in December 2024, followed approximately one year later by a $100 million senior secured credit facility, and now this $15 million Series A, bringing total capital deployed to $170 million. The firm operates an established distribution network spanning over 70 partners, including payment giants Mastercard and Network International alongside fintech platforms like Neopay, providing significant distribution leverage for its lending products.
The Series A capital will be deployed toward expanding both lending and non-lending business lines while strengthening the company's embedded finance infrastructure. CredibleX intends to scale its lending marketplace, accelerate partner distribution expansion, and enhance technology and data capabilities to improve transaction processing speed and financing efficiency—core competitive factors in the embedded finance sector.
Separately, Five, a London-based paytech startup founded in 2024, has raised $6 million in seed funding to advance its biometric payments solution. Co-founded by former Revolut employees Maria Marti and Thibaut Genevrier, Five's technology reads and encrypts palm-pattern data to facilitate transactions, representing an emerging category of biometric authentication methods in payment processing.
CredibleX's trajectory reflects robust institutional demand for fintech infrastructure in underserved SME lending markets. The company's capital raises have accelerated significantly: it closed a $55 million seed round in December 2024, followed approximately one year later by a $100 million senior secured credit facility, and now this $15 million Series A, bringing total capital deployed to $170 million. The firm operates an established distribution network spanning over 70 partners, including payment giants Mastercard and Network International alongside fintech platforms like Neopay, providing significant distribution leverage for its lending products.
The Series A capital will be deployed toward expanding both lending and non-lending business lines while strengthening the company's embedded finance infrastructure. CredibleX intends to scale its lending marketplace, accelerate partner distribution expansion, and enhance technology and data capabilities to improve transaction processing speed and financing efficiency—core competitive factors in the embedded finance sector.
Separately, Five, a London-based paytech startup founded in 2024, has raised $6 million in seed funding to advance its biometric payments solution. Co-founded by former Revolut employees Maria Marti and Thibaut Genevrier, Five's technology reads and encrypts palm-pattern data to facilitate transactions, representing an emerging category of biometric authentication methods in payment processing.
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