Latest news with #AndreyPetrov
Daily News Egypt
08-07-2025
- Business
- Daily News Egypt
Egypt's Al-Sisi meets Rosatom chief as new Dabaa plant deals are signed
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi met with the head of Russia's state atomic energy corporation Rosatom on Tuesday in the city of New Alamein to discuss developments on the Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant project, the presidency said. The meeting with Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev came as the two countries signed supplementary agreements aimed at accelerating the construction of the plant. Also present at the meeting were the president of Rosatom's engineering division Atomstroyexport, Andrey Petrov, the Russian Ambassador to Cairo, Georgy Borisenko, as well as Egypt's Minister of Electricity and the head of its Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA). Separately on Tuesday, Egyptian and Russian officials held a signing ceremony for the new agreements at the electricity ministry's headquarters in Alamein. Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Mahmoud Essmat, and Rosatom's Likhachev signed a supplementary protocol to the intergovernmental deal on the plant's construction and its physical protection systems. The two officials then witnessed the signing of a related supplementary contract covering the plant's design, procurement, and construction, which was signed by the head of the NPPA, Sherif Helmy Mahmoud, and Atomstroyexport's Andrey Petrov. A statement from the electricity ministry said the agreements were signed as part of both sides' keenness to speed up the project's implementation according to the set timetables. It added that the project is part of Egypt's strategy to rely on clean energy and achieve its updated national energy strategy goals for 2040. 'The cooperation and partnership between Egypt and Russia embody the strong political will of the two friendly countries,' Essmat said in the statement. 'Today's signing… represents an important step towards completing the Dabaa nuclear plant project in its various stages and reflects the fruitful cooperation between Egypt and Russia.' Likhachev affirmed Russia's firm commitment to supporting Egypt's efforts in building its first nuclear power plant. 'We are proud of our strategic partnership with Egypt and look forward to continuing joint cooperation to implement this ambitious project, which will contribute to enhancing energy security in Egypt and achieving sustainable development goals,' he said.
Finextra
23-06-2025
- Business
- Finextra
Dutch fintech Finom secures €115 million in Series C funding
Finom, the Amsterdam-based financial management platform for SMEs and freelancers, has closed a €115 million Series C funding round led by AVP, with participation from new investor Headline Growth and existing investors General Catalyst, Northzone, and Cogito Capital. 1 Combined with a recent €92.7 million million growth investment from General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund, Finom has now raised over €300 million in total funding to accelerate its European expansion. The company has set an ambitious target to reach one million European business customers by the end of 2026. It currently serves over 125,000 customers with local IBAN accounts in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands. Finom offers a comprehensive set of financial tools that enable business owners to quickly open an account and efficiently manage their finances. The platform simplifies online financial management, payments, invoicing, and expense tracking. The company also recently entered the lending market with credit lines for Dutch businesses. Since its €50 million Series B round in February 2024, Finom has doubled revenue in 2024 and grown its team to over 500 employees. Andrey Petrov, CEO and co-founder of Finom, says: 'This funding helps us go faster, not just in technology, but in earning the trust of a million entrepreneurs across Europe.'
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SMB-focused Finom closes €115M as European fintech heats up
While funding may be scarce for some, Europe's fastest-growing startups still have their pick. The latest beneficiary of that investor appetite is Finom, a five-year-old, Amsterdam-based challenger bank that targets small and medium-size businesses across Europe. The company, which claims to have doubled its revenue in 2024, just closed a €115 million Series C equity round (around $133 million), TechCrunch learned exclusively. This comes only a few weeks after it landed $105 million in growth funding from General Catalyst, its backer since 2021. Finom's business model centers on providing European SMBs with a financial platform that combines banking, invoicing, and a growing range of features, including AI-enabled accounting. 'Because theoretically, entrepreneurs don't need to have an accountant at all,' said CEO Andrey Petrov (on the far left in the picture). The startup's ambitious growth targets reflect this vision. While Petrov says Finom's goal of having one million business customers by the end of 2026 is motivational and not set in stone, its new funding makes that target slightly more attainable. This belief that Finom could serve a fair share of Europe's 26 million SMBs is also reflected in its Series C. The round was led by AVP (formerly AXA Venture Partners), with participation from new investor Headline (formerly through Headline Growth. Existing investors Cogito Capital, General Catalyst, and Northzone also joined the round. Despite this momentum, the startup may find it easier to win clients over from legacy banks — its current plan — than from other fintechs. Even after its Series C brought its total funding to roughly $346 million, Finom has far less external capital than Monzo, N26, Revolut, or Wise, which all raised more than $1 billion. Its funding to date is more comparable to the approximately $700 million raised by Finom's closest peer, French unicorn Qonto — though the comparison isn't perfect. What makes Finom's funding structure particularly interesting is its non-traditional component. Unlike typical VCs, General Catalyst took no equity in Finom with its non-traditional round; the capital from its Customer Value Fund (CVF) can only be used for growth, which is how it plans to get its money back. Combined with the Series B, this non-traditional funding round would have been enough for the Dutch company to reach profitability, according to chairman and co-founder Kos Stiskin (on the far right in the picture). But Finom was also hoping to raise equity by the end of the year, and get a 'good and nice' new valuation in the process. What it didn't anticipate was closing both deals so close to each other. 'One took longer than expected, and one was much faster than expected,' Stiskin told TechCrunch. He declined to disclose the updated valuation, stating only that it is twice the (also undisclosed) valuation associated with its 2024 $54 million Series B. The timing may have worked in Finom's favor. Since the company doesn't publicize its unit economics — apart from its user base of 125,000 — the fact that General Catalyst took a look under the hood likely helped boost interest and speed up the funding. That vote of confidence — and its direct interest in recouping its money — may have been the signal that got investors to hurry up and write checks. Beyond the signaling effects, getting the Customer Value Fund to finance Finom's marketing efforts without giving up equity may seem like a good deal for its Series C backers — which include General Catalyst itself. However, the Series C will also fund riskier efforts than customer acquisition through marketing. According to Petrov, one of its uses could be strategic, opportunistic acquisitions that would allow it to expand either its customer base or its product portfolio. That represents a shift in strategy, given that Finom has only acquired one company so far — in 2022, when it purchased Kapaga, a British cross-border payment service when Finom was considering expanding into the U.K. Since then, Finom has shifted its focus to some of Europe's largest markets, where it sees greater opportunity than in the U.K. The company believes these markets have fewer challenger banks competing for SMBs and that traditional banks are doing a poor job serving small businesses. Like many neobanks, however, it only operates with an electronic money institution (EMI) license in most of its main markets: the Netherlands, France, Italy, and Spain (though not Germany, where it partnered with Solaris, which has a full banking license). Despite these licensing limitations, it was able to add lending in the Netherlands, which it sees as a testing ground for its credit offering — something Petrov sees as a must-have for any fintech and for business customers. This lending initiative is also in line with Finom's efforts to expand its product line both horizontally — with deposits and loans — and vertically, 'starting from a banking account and ending in paying taxes, reports, and everything.' AI is involved as well, and not just on the product side. The company is also leveraging AI internally. With a team of 500, it expects to make some business- and tech-related hires, though not so much to scale its operations. 'We're adding some people, but mostly we're adding new types of AI agents to work with internally,' Petrov said. 'So we are hiring less than we need, and we see good output in terms of using AI and AI agents to automate part of [our] routine tasks.' Finom's leadership structure has also evolved. The split of duties between Finom's four co-founders has gone through some changes over the years, with Petrov now the sole CEO — a role he once shared with Yakov Novikov, who is now an advisor alongside Oleg Laguta. The three of them previously created Russian digital bank Modulbank. But this time, Finom's focus is on Europe and its entrepreneurs who are, in Stiskin's words, 'the backbone of the European Union economy.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
TechCrunch
23-06-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
SMB-focused Finom closes €115M as European fintech heats up
While funding may be scarce for some, Europe's fastest-growing startups still have their pick. The latest beneficiary of that investor appetite is Finom, a five-year-old, Amsterdam-based challenger bank that targets small and medium-size businesses across Europe. The company, which claims to have doubled its revenue in 2024, just closed a €115 million Series C equity round (around $133 million), TechCrunch learned exclusively. This comes only a few weeks after it landed $105 million in growth funding from General Catalyst, its backer since 2021. Finom's business model centers on providing European SMBs with a financial platform that combines banking, invoicing, and a growing range of features, including AI-enabled accounting. 'Because theoretically, entrepreneurs don't need to have an accountant at all,' said CEO Andrey Petrov (on the far left in the picture). The startup's ambitious growth targets reflect this vision. While Petrov says Finom's goal of having one million business customers by the end of 2026 is motivational and not set in stone, its new funding makes that target slightly more attainable. This belief that Finom could serve a fair share of Europe's 26 million SMBs is also reflected in its Series C. The round was led by AVP (formerly AXA Venture Partners), with participation from new investor Headline (formerly through Headline Growth. Existing investors Cogito Capital, General Catalyst, and Northzone also joined the round. Despite this momentum, the startup may find it easier to win clients over from legacy banks — its current plan — than from other fintechs. Even after its Series C brought its total funding to roughly $346 million, Finom has far less external capital than Monzo, N26, Revolut, or Wise, which all raised more than $1 billion. Its funding to date is more comparable to the approximately $700 million raised by Finom's closest peer, French unicorn Qonto — though the comparison isn't perfect. Techcrunch event Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW What makes Finom's funding structure particularly interesting is its non-traditional component. Unlike typical VCs, General Catalyst took no equity in Finom with its non-traditional round; the capital from its Customer Value Fund (CVF) can only be used for growth, which is how it plans to get its money back. Combined with the Series B, this non-traditional funding round would have been enough for the Dutch company to reach profitability, according to chairman and co-founder Kos Stiskin (on the far right in the picture). But Finom was also hoping to raise equity by the end of the year, and get a 'good and nice' new valuation in the process. What it didn't anticipate was closing both deals so close to each other. 'One took longer than expected, and one was much faster than expected,' Stiskin told TechCrunch. He declined to disclose the updated valuation, stating only that it is twice the (also undisclosed) valuation associated with its 2024 $54 million Series B. The timing may have worked in Finom's favor. Since the company doesn't publicize its unit economics — apart from its user base of 125,000 — the fact that General Catalyst took a look under the hood likely helped boost interest and speed up the funding. That vote of confidence — and its direct interest in recouping its money — may have been the signal that got investors to hurry up and write checks. Beyond the signaling effects, getting the Customer Value Fund to finance Finom's marketing efforts without giving up equity may seem like a good deal for its Series C backers — which include General Catalyst itself. However, the Series C will also fund riskier efforts than customer acquisition through marketing. According to Petrov, one of its uses could be strategic, opportunistic acquisitions that would allow it to expand either its customer base or its product portfolio. That represents a shift in strategy, given that Finom has only acquired one company so far — in 2022, when it purchased Kapaga, a British cross-border payment service when Finom was considering expanding into the U.K. Since then, Finom has shifted its focus to some of Europe's largest markets, where it sees greater opportunity than in the U.K. The company believes these markets have fewer challenger banks competing for SMBs and that traditional banks are doing a poor job serving small businesses. Like many neobanks, however, it only operates with an electronic money institution (EMI) license in most of its main markets: the Netherlands, France, Italy, and Spain (though not Germany, where it partnered with Solaris, which has a full banking license). Despite these licensing limitations, it was able to add lending in the Netherlands, which it sees as a testing ground for its credit offering — something Petrov sees as a must-have for any fintech and for business customers. This lending initiative is also in line with Finom's efforts to expand its product line both horizontally — with deposits and loans — and vertically, 'starting from a banking account and ending in paying taxes, reports, and everything.' AI is involved as well, and not just on the product side. The company is also leveraging AI internally. With a team of 500, it expects to make some business- and tech-related hires, though not so much to scale its operations. 'We're adding some people, but mostly we're adding new types of AI agents to work with internally,' Petrov said. 'So we are hiring less than we need, and we see good output in terms of using AI and AI agents to automate part of [our] routine tasks.' Finom's leadership structure has also evolved. The split of duties between Finom's four co-founders has gone through some changes over the years, with Petrov now the sole CEO — a role he once shared with Yakov Novikov, who is now an advisor alongside Oleg Laguta. The three of them previously created Russian digital bank Modulbank. But this time, Finom's focus is on Europe and its entrepreneurs who are, in Stiskin's words, 'the backbone of the European Union economy.'
Egypt Today
18-04-2025
- Business
- Egypt Today
Egypt to Receive First Reactor Core for Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant in November
Egypt's Minister of Electricity, his delegation meet with Director General of Rosatom Alexey Likhachev, President of Atomstroyexport Andrey Petrov, and other officials in Russia on April 18, 2025- press photo CAIRO – 18 April 2025 – Egypt is set to receive the first reactor core for its under-construction Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) this November, according to a statement issued Thursday by the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy. The announcement was made during the visit of Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mahmoud Esmat to Russia, where he met with Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom, and Andrey Petrov, President of Atomstroyexport. Minister Esmat confirmed that the first reactor will arrive at the Dabaa site in early November, highlighting that special procedures and preparations are underway for the delivery. During the meetings, both parties discussed progress on the next phases of the project, emphasizing their joint commitment to the agreed-upon timelines and schedules for completing all stages of the strategic power generation initiative, including integration into Egypt's unified electrical grid. Located in Matrouh Governorate on Egypt's northwestern coast, the 4.8 GW Dabaa plant is being developed in cooperation with Russia's state-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom and Egypt's Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA). Scheduled for full operation by 2030, the plant is expected to meet around 10 percent of Egypt's total electricity demand, generating up to 37 billion kilowatt-hours annually. Rosatom, contracted in 2015, is responsible for both the construction and the supply of nuclear fuel. In January 2025, the Egyptian House of Representatives approved the Energy and Environment Committee's report on Presidential Decree No. 515 of 2024, which ratifies a protocol amending the intergovernmental financing agreement between Egypt and Russia. The amendment secures an export loan from Moscow to support the construction of Egypt's first nuclear facility. The decree was reviewed by a joint parliamentary committee comprising members of the Energy and Environment Committee, along with representatives from the Planning and Budget, Economic Affairs, and Foreign Relations Committees. Over the course of three sessions, the committee examined the decree, its accompanying explanatory memorandum, and input from relevant government officials before recommending its approval.
