Lithuanian account-to-account (A2A) payments fintech kevin. raised $65 million in a series A round, the company announced Tuesday.

Founded in 2018, kevin. facilitates card-free payments between banks and merchants and posits itself as a “leader” in web- and app-based A2A payments in Europe, according to a release. The fintech’s solution is API-based and does not require complex technology on the part of merchants, instead using existing point-of-sale terminals and near-field communication (NFC) technology to support encrypted contactless payments. The funding will be used for hiring and business expansion, Tadas Tamosiunas, chief executive and co-founder, said in the announcement.

“We will use this investment to continue expanding our international team of experts and developing products that are changing the payment industry,” Tamosiunas said. “We have big plans for the future.”

Kevin. plans to “secure” 35% of European payment terminals by the end of 2022 and 85% by the end of 2023, Tamosiunas said, pointing to the low cost and scalability of A2A retail payments.

The round was led by Accel and joined by Eurazeo and a range of existing investors. Kevin. has raised $78.9 million over eight rounds, according to Crunchbase.

Neo Financial raises $145M, reaches unicorn status

Calgary-based digital bank Neo Financial is Canada’s newest fintech unicorn after a $145 million series C financing announced Thursday.

Founded in 2019, Neo Financial is the latest in a line of Canadian fintech unicorns, including Blockstream, Clearco and Dapper Labs. The digital bank offers comprehensive financial services, including investments, loyalty cards, and credit and lending offerings. Its customers include H&R Block and Home Depot.

Neo Financial’s team stands at 650 employees, and the bank is actively recruiting for more than 100 additional positions throughout Canada. Participants in the latest round included Valar Ventures, Tribe Capital, Maple VC. The digital bank has raised $236.6 million over six rounds, according to Crunchbase.

AI-based SaaS platform Abaka secures $11.5M series A

London-based Abaka raised $11.5 million in a series A round, the company announced Friday.

Abaka offers machine learning and AI-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions for financial institutions, with a focus on retirement and savings. The fintech offers a recommendation engine for predicting and automating customer engagement and natural language processing-based conversational AI for personalized messaging.

The round was led by Lingfeng Capital, with participation from Thames Trust and MassChallenge. Abaka has raised $14.8 million over seven rounds, according to Crunchbase.

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