NextGen Nordics will bring together multiple stakeholders – the banking community, central banks, public authorities and trade and business beneficiaries – to generate community discussion, explore the benefits and offer practical advice on activating the opportunities of new technologies in the Nordic region. Register for the event here.

Green bitcoin mining farm planned in Sweden

Genesis Digital Assets announced its plan to launch a new self-hosted Bitcoin mining data centre in Sweden. The new data centre expects to have up to 100 MW megawatts online by 2024. The company reported that the energy used for this centre will come from 100% clean energy sources. Coindesk was told that the energy mix will be 54.5% hydro, 42.8% nuclear and 2.7% wind.

Neobank Lunar secures €70 million in fresh funding

Danish neobank Lunar has raised €70 million in capital while it prepares for the launch of its new crypto trading and B2B payments products. This funding round is a top-up to the bank’s €210 million Series D in July 2021. The firm has now raised €345 million in total and now commands a valuation just shy of €2 billion.

“The new funding will enable us to keep momentum in our Nordic expansion,” said Ken Villum Klausen, founder and CEO of Lunar. “In the first months of 2022 we launched our new Nordic crypto platform, enabled our business customers to accept and track card payments in their webshop, and we anticipate M&A activities to complement our Nordic offering.”

Their new crypto platform will allow users to trade and cash out Ethereum, Cardano, Polkadot and Dogecoin in the Lunar app.

Visa acquires Tink

Visa announced this week it has completed the acquisition of the Swedish open banking platform Tink. Tink is already integrated with more than 3,400 banks and financial institutions across Europe.

“Digital tools are driving the new economy, and the combination of Visa and Tink will support greater choice and quality of digital money services as the lines between commerce, financial services and payments continue to converge,” said Charlotte Hogg, CEO of Visa Europe.

Daniel Kjellén, CEO and co-founder of Tink, added: “Visa will help Tink increase its connectivity to more than 15,000 financial institutions, utilising Visa’s consumer trust and brand recognition to develop the future of financial services, that we can together offer to clients throughout Europe, and around the globe.”

In the near term, Tink will operate as a standalone subsidiary of Visa. Tink CEO and co-founder Daniel Kjellén and the existing management team will continue to lead the organisation.

Cardlay secures $6 million in capital

Danish end-to-end spending management company Cardlay has received a $6 million (DKK 40 million) investment from its current investors which will be used to finalise an integrated solution for commercial payments, add another large international bank into its portfolio, and deliver a large order to a German customer.

The company additionally announced the appointment of their new IT director Morten Gade Christensen, previously working with Bankdata and Energinet, and European CIO of the Year 2019.

Cardlay's CEO, Jørgen Christian Juul added on this investment boost: “The capital injection will be used to complete an integrated solution for commercial payment that makes it easier for companies to integrate budgets, authorisation processes, payments and reconciliation in a safe, simple and automated flow, minimising errors and fraud. Finally, we are to integrate another large international bank into the portfolio and deliver a large order to a German customer.”

Pleo appoints new chief people officer

Danish smart cards company Pleo announced the appointment of Mette Hindborg Gade, functioning as chief people officer. Gade is a former partner at McKinsey and has already been working with Pleo in an advising capacity to help build, introduce, and rollout the company’s new operating model.

The company reports this new operating model will enable Pleo to enter 15 markets by the end of 2022, hire 500+ new team members globally in the same period, and enhance individual career growth, inclusion, and impact for its 500+ current employees.