Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

FIS Launches Smart Basket to Keep Pace with Agentic Payments

FIS Launches Smart Basket to Keep Pace with Agentic Payments
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, FIS
  • FIS launches Smart Basket, a checkout solution that uses real-time, item-level intelligence to optimize payment methods, rewards, and savings for each purchase.
  • The platform blends FIS’ payments, loyalty, and spend technologies to give shoppers granular payment choices, including HSAs, and help merchants reduce costs while boosting loyalty.
  • The launch positions FIS in the agentic AI payments race, turning checkout into a proactive decision engine that anticipates consumer needs and personalizes outcomes.

Fintech giant FIS announced its latest planned launch, Smart Basket, this week. The new tool aims to enhance the payment experience at checkout with real-time, item-level adjudication.

The new transaction gateway analyzes an individual’s shopping behavior and applies optimal rewards and payment methods at checkout. The proactive, automated approach helps shoppers save money and earn rewards while increasing brand loyalty for the merchant.

The solution combines FIS’ real-time payments gateway, its loyalty platform, and its filtered spend technologies to differentiate its payment network. Notably, Smart Basket will allow shoppers to select which payment method to use for each individual item they are purchasing. In addition to using traditional debit, credit, and prepaid cards, Smart Basket will allow flexible healthcare spending accounts to be used as payment methods. FIS anticipates that this will lower payment costs while enabling customized loyalty and rewards programs at highly targeted levels.

“Smart Basket represents a significant leap forward in how money can be moved and put to work during the search and shopping experience,” said FIS President Jim Johnson. “By leveraging real-time, item-level intelligence, Smart Basket is seeking to deliver personalized value and frictionless savings to consumers while providing retailers and brands with increased sales and insights they need to optimize their strategies. This will be a game-changer for the industry, and we are excited to bring more value to buyers, sellers, and brands wherever money flows.”

Launching Smart Basket positions FIS within the emerging agentic AI payments landscape. In the past few months we’ve seen a handful of big tech and fintech companies, including Walmart, OpenAI, Google, and Splitit, launch payments capabilities that transform payments into an embedded capability rather than a separate checkout destination.

By leveraging real-time, item-level data to make proactive decisions about payment methods, loyalty redemptions, and savings opportunities, Smart Basket will optimize the checkout experience from a passive endpoint into a dynamic, automated decision engine. This shift aligns with growing consumer expectations around seamless, smart payments that anticipate needs, maximize value, and personalize outcomes.

Photo by Content Pixie

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Breaking Past Fragmentation: How Qolo Simplifies Payments for Banks and Businesses

Breaking Past Fragmentation: How Qolo Simplifies Payments for Banks and Businesses
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2025, Qolo, Speaker series, Streamly

Many businesses approach fintech in a fragmented way. They are forced to stitch together multiple payment systems, APIs, banking partners, and integrations just to achieve basic functionality.

Patricia Montesi, Founder and CEO of Qolo, explains in a FinovateFall video interview how her platform is solving that complexity for banks, fintechs, and enterprises. Qolo offers a unified payments stack through a single API that enables institutions to modernize their payments infrastructure without expensive and risky rip-and-replace of legacy systems.

In the video, Montesi delves into embedded ledgers, real-time rails, and how Qolo can overlay existing cores in under nine months while positioning clients for the next generation of payments, such as stablecoins and novel rails.

“We set out to build an entire, comprehensive payments stack that includes ledger, card, payments, virtual account management—everything all available through a single API served up to you so that you can then focus on your customers.”

Patricia Montesi is a seasoned payments veteran with over 20 years of experience across banking and fintech. Prior to Qolo, she held leadership roles driving innovation in payments and scaling complex platforms. Her deep domain expertise across card processing, FX, bank partnerships, and regulatory environments gives her insight into the pain points that banking partners face when retrofitting modern payments capabilities.

Qolo was founded in 2018 with the aim to simplify payments by offering a comprehensive payment stack, including an embedded ledger, card issuing, money movement, real-time reconciliation, and cross-rail connectivity on a single API. Rather than forcing banks to rip out their core, Qolo overlays its platform directly atop existing systems, enabling deployment in under nine months. This sidecar-oriented architecture lets institutions adopt new payment rails without disrupting core banking operations.

Photo by Tim Samuel

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Upgrade Raises $165 Million, Sees Valuation Rise to $7.3 Billion

Upgrade Raises $165 Million, Sees Valuation Rise to $7.3 Billion
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Upgrade has raised $165 million in a Series G round, boosting its total funding to $750 million and valuing the fintech at $7.3 billion.
  • Founded by Lending Club pioneer Renaud Laplanche, Upgrade has served 7.5 million customers, facilitated $42 billion in credit, and continues to grow profitably with a multi-product strategy spanning loans, cards, BNPL, and savings tools.
  • The late-stage round positions Upgrade near a potential IPO inflection point, signaling strong investor confidence in alternative lending models and the company’s ability to compete with both challenger and traditional banks.

It’s time for mobile banking and lending fintech Upgrade to get an upgrade of its own. The California-based fintech announced today that it landed a $165 million equity investment to enhance its credit and banking products aimed at retail customers. The round boosts the company’s total funding to $750 million since inception.

The Series G Preferred Round, which was led by Neuberger, indicates that this is a late-stage financing event, given that Upgrade has matured significantly in revenue, consumer adoption, and market presence. LuminArx Capital Management also contributed, and existing shareholders, including DST Global, Ribbit Capital and others, also increased their investment. While this stage and type of round could indicate that Upgrade is preparing for an IPO, it could also signal that the company is planning to delay its IPO, offering liquidity to prepare for a later exit.

According to Upgrade CEO and Co-Founder Renaud Laplanche—who previously founded and led early fintech pioneer Lending Club—Upgrade’s valuation now sits at $7.3 billion.

Founded in 2017, Upgrade is a digital banking platform headquartered in California. The company offers checking and savings accounts, personal loans, credit cards, and rewards programs that focus on low fees and responsible credit usage to help consumers improve their financial lives. Upgrade has served 7.5 million customers and has facilitated over $42 billion in credit with tools such as its Upgrade Card, which encourages customers to pay off balances quickly and avoid revolving debt and build credit responsibly.

In 2024, Upgrade launched the Flex Pay brand, which it rebranded from Uplift. The BNPL tool serves 750 travel and retail brands, helping them to increase their customer engagement, loyalty, and consumer spending by offering more flexible payment options. Upgrade also offers cashback rewards, competitive savings rates, and credit monitoring tools, positioning itself as a customer-friendly alternative to traditional banks.

As part of today’s deal, Neuberger Head of Specialty Finance Peter Sterling is joining Upgrade’s Board of Directors.

“Upgrade presents an unmatched opportunity in fintech,” said Sterling. “As many companies in the space struggle with acquisition costs and monetization strategy, Upgrade has sustained profitable growth through a multi-product, multi-channel strategy that relies on low-cost, proprietary distribution channels to acquire new customers and its ability to monetize users through multiple products. We have known Renaud and the Upgrade founding team for over a decade and are very excited to expand our partnership.”

Upgrade’s growth momentum has continued to build, reflected in several major milestones. The company has surpassed $2 billion in cumulative home improvement financing just three years after launching the product, and has already exceeded $1 billion in auto financing within two years of that product’s debut.

“We are thrilled to expand our relationship with Neuberger and welcome Peter as a new board member,” said Laplanche. “We are planning to use the new equity capital to keep developing new products and expand distribution to achieve our goal of helping more mainstream consumers get the banking and credit products they need today, while improving their financial and credit standing in the long run.”

Upgrade’s raise is a great indication that there is still consumer and investor appetite for alternative consumer lending options. Upgrade has managed to sustain profitable growth while scaling to millions of users. The company’s diversified product lineup positions it to compete with both challenger banks as well as traditional banks. Upgrade’s $7.3 billion valuation, combined with leadership from a seasoned founder who helped define the early fintech era places Upgrade at an IPO inflection point.

Photo by Jungwoo Hong on Unsplash

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Splitit to Help AI Agents Pay in Installments

Splitit to Help AI Agents Pay in Installments
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, SplitIt
  • Splitit launched its Agentic Commerce Partner Program that enables AI agents to offer card-linked installment payment options directly within merchant checkout flows without requiring new lines of credit.
  • The program is designed to align with emerging standards like Google’s AP2 and OpenAI’s Agentic Commerce Protocol, ensuring interoperability as autonomous shopping ecosystems evolve.
  • As AI-driven commerce accelerates, Splitit aims to make flexible pay-later options a native part of agent-powered purchases starting with a pilot in the fourth quarter of this year.

Embedded BNPL solutions provider Splitit announced yesterday that it launched a partner program that will allow AI agents to take advantage of pay-later capabilities when making payments on behalf of their users.

Called the Agentic Commerce Partner Program, the new initiative will allow autonomous shopping agents to make payments using card-linked installments. AI agents that have registered with Splitit can request real-time installment options directly within the merchant’s checkout flow. The payments take place on existing payment rails using the users’ existing payment cards, and do not require new lines of credit.

While the agentic commerce landscape is still in its early days of development, Splitit built its Agentic Commerce Partner Program to align with emerging industry frameworks like Google’s AP2 and OpenAI’s Agentic Commerce Protocol to ensure flexibility and interoperability across future agent ecosystems.

“Agentic AI will fundamentally reshape how consumers and businesses buy,” said Splitit CTO Ran Landau. “Splitit’s mission is to ensure that seamless, transparent installments are built into this new paradigm from day one, not bolted on later. We look forward to partnering with leading merchants, platforms, networks, and banks in developing meaningful use cases that can be beneficial to shoppers and brands.”

Splitit’s new feature aims to keep up with the newest evolutions in agent-powered shopping. According to Adobe, 53% of consumers plan to use AI for product research and 40% plan to use AI for purchasing recommendations this holiday season, especially as shoppers are turning to Gen AI for deal-hunting, recommendations, and gift inspiration.

By embedding installment payment functionality directly into agentic commerce flows, Splitit is positioning itself at the cutting edge of autonomous shopping. As agentic ecosystems mature, the integration will allow merchants and platforms to offer more flexible, seamless payment options at the point of decision. Splitit’s Agentic Commerce pilot program will roll out in Q4.

Photo by Magda Ehlers

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BVNK Lands Funds from Citi Ventures for Stablecoin Infrastructure

BVNK Lands Funds from Citi Ventures for Stablecoin Infrastructure
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • BVNK has received a strategic investment from Citi Ventures, adding to its $90+ million in funding to accelerate its multi-rail payments infrastructure.
  • BVNK has doubled transaction volumes in the past year and is competing with Circle, Ripple, and Stellar networks to bridge fiat and digital assets with enterprise-grade stablecoin settlement solutions.
  • Stablecoins are rapidly becoming core financial infrastructure, with supply surpassing $180 billion and on-chain settlement volumes reaching trillions as businesses seek faster, cheaper cross-border payments.

Multi-rail payments infrastructure platform BVNK announced this week that it has scored a strategic investment from Citi Ventures. The amount of the funds is undisclosed, and adds to the $90+ million in funding BVNK has raised from investors such as Visa, Haun Ventures, Tiger Global, and others.

“Stablecoins are seeing increased interest in use for settlement of on-chain and crypto asset transactions,” said Citi Ventures Head Arvind Purushotham. “We were impressed by BVNK’s enterprise-grade infrastructure, and their proven track record.”

BVNK was founded in 2021 and currently processes over $20 billion each year on behalf of enterprises and payment service providers. The UK-based company leverages stablecoins to enable businesses to move value instantly across borders and networks. Through its partnerships with global licensing bodies and Tier 1 banks, BVNK serves clients such as Worldpay, Deel, and dLocal.

“This investment reinforces our mission to accelerate the global movement of money,” said BVNK Co-Founder and CEO Jesse Hemson-Struthers. “Our platform enables companies to harness stablecoins to move money quickly across borders and launch innovative financial products with enterprise-ready security and compliance.”

Citi Ventures’ strategic investment comes as stablecoins are working their way to becoming a key piece of financial infrastructure. The total supply of stablecoins has exceeded $180 billion in 2025, with on-chain settlement volumes now reaching trillions of dollars each year as businesses make the swap to faster, cheaper alternatives to traditional banking.

This surge has helped to fuel BVNK, which has doubled its transaction volumes in the past year and has expanded its partnerships across the globe. The fintech’s biggest rivals, which include Circle, Ripple, and Stellar-powered payment networks, are all seeking to build top-tier infrastructure that bridges the gap between fiat and digital assets. Citi’s financial and strategic support will help BVNK differentiate itself in the race to build the enterprise-grade, multi-rail payments platform needed to make stablecoin settlement a mainstream tool for global commerce.

Photo by Brett Sayles

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From Rate Wars to Real Value: How Wysh is Redefining Deposit Strategy through Protection

From Rate Wars to Real Value: How Wysh is Redefining Deposit Strategy through Protection
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2025, Speaker series, Streamly, Wysh

With more banking options available than ever before, winning customers and their deposits has become increasingly difficult. Differentiation is not only harder to achieve, it’s also more essential for banks and credit unions seeking growth. Yet for many institutions, finding a truly distinct value proposition can feel elusive.

This is where Wysh’s embedded life insurance product comes in. I spoke with Wysh CEO and Founder Alex Matjanec at FinovateFall last month about how his company helps banks differentiate their offerings by adding life insurance protection. The unique benefits help firms build loyalty, retention, and deeper customer relationships while also helping grow deposits.

“The main problem that we’re solving is that in America, there’s a massive underinsured gap where many Americans don’t have enough insurance. And the way they get it is actually going away, so they’re looking for new avenues to do so. On the other side, banks are looking to differentiate themselves by capturing new deposits to beat digital institutions… and we think layering in protection is the way to do so and we make it very easy to do that.”

Alex Matjanec is a serial entrepreneur with deep roots in fintech and digital product leadership. Before founding Wysh, he co-founded MyBankTracker.com, which has been called “the Expedia of banks,” and was involved in other startup ventures focused on financial tools and mobile apps. Under his leadership, Wysh has scaled from a small team to over 50 employees, expanding into dozens of US states, and forging partnerships with banks and fintechs to embed protection into deposit accounts.

Wysh was founded in 2021 to help banks increase deposits while adding value and improving customer retention. The company’s flagship solution, Life Benefit, allows banks, credit unions, and fintechs to embed micro life insurance directly into deposit accounts without requiring underwriting, opt-in steps, or extra bureaucracy.

Photo by Nita

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Coupa Acquires Supplier Discovery Platform Scoutbee

Coupa Acquires Supplier Discovery Platform Scoutbee
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Coupa has acquired AI-powered supplier discovery platform Scoutbee to enhance transparency and efficiency in supplier sourcing, onboarding, and transactions.
  • The move expands Coupa’s procurement ecosystem, adding Scoutbee’s collaborative tools and AI-driven supplier intelligence to Coupa’s $8 trillion spend management platform.
  • As competition in AI-enabled procurement heats up, Coupa’s acquisition positions it to better compete with SAP’s Ariba and JAGGAER in building a dynamic, resilient global supply chain network.

Spend management platform Coupa revealed today that it has acquired supplier discovery platform Scoutbee for an undisclosed amount.

Coupa anticipates that integrating Scoutbee’s tools into its platform will offer business clients greater transparency and efficiency in supplier discovery, onboarding, and transactions.

Scoutbee was founded in 2015 to connect buyers and suppliers through its AI-powered procurement platform, which includes a robust supplier database and collaboration tools. The California-based company has raised $76 million in funding to help organizations discover new, relevant suppliers and unlock new opportunities.

“We founded Scoutbee with the premise that AI can transform real-time sourcing and procurement by enabling buyers and suppliers to seamlessly connect, collaborate, and transact,” said Scoutbee co-founder and CEO Gregor Stühler. “Joining Coupa allows us to bring our mission to a global stage, and provide an exceptionally data-rich and comprehensive buyer-supplier network and B2B marketplace at scale.”

Coupa launched its AI platform for total spend management in 2006. The company’s platform contains a community-generated, $8 trillion dataset and brings autonomous AI agents, 10 million buyers and suppliers, and apps to automate the buying process. In 2022, Coupa was acquired by Thoma Bravo for $8 billion in cash.

“Coupa and Scoutbee share a fundamental belief that better data leads to better AI, better decisions, and ultimately, a better world through more resilient supply chains,” said Coupa Chief Product and Technology Officer Salvatore Lombardo. “Together, we are creating the world’s most comprehensive, dynamic, and data-rich network. This acquisition enables us to deliver a truly effortless buyer-supplier matching experience and further enhances our network that will power the future of global trade.”

Bringing Coupa and Scoutbee together under a united front will help fortify Coupa’s position in the race to dominate the AI-powered procurement and supplier intelligence space. With rivals like SAP’s Ariba Network doubling down on AI-enabled sourcing and JAGGAER investing heavily in autonomous commerce, Coupa’s move will deepen its supplier intelligence capabilities, reinforcing its position as a data-rich, network-first procurement ecosystem.

Photo by Tiger Lily

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From Demo to Deal: FinovateEurope Alumni Turn Innovation into Acquisition

From Demo to Deal: FinovateEurope Alumni Turn Innovation into Acquisition
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Finovate Marketing, FinovateEurope 2026, Mergers & Acquisitions

Each year, FinovateEurope brings together the brightest innovators in fintech to demo the future of financial technology. But for many companies, demoing their technology on the Finovate stage is more than just a moment in the spotlight, it’s a launching pad for growth.

Over the past 15 years, dozens of FinovateEurope alumni have captured the attention of major industry players, leading to high-profile acquisitions and partnerships. Below, we highlight some of the companies that turned their Finovate demo into their next big deal.

These success stories underscore how FinovateEurope has helped fintechs showcase their newest fintech innovation and connect it with the institutions and investors ready to scale it. From early-stage disruptors to industry leaders, the companies that have taken the Finovate stage prove that a seven-minute demo can spark partnerships, acquisitions, and growth.

As we look ahead to FinovateEurope 2026, we’ve already started to help the newest wave of fintechs prepare to take the spotlight. If the past 15 years are any indication, the ideas you will see on stage next February could be the ones reshaping fintech in the years to come.

Join us for FinovateEurope 2026 on February 10 through 11 in London. Tickets are available today at a discount, so register today and save!

Photo by Cytonn Photography

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BILL Launches High-Yield Cash Account for SMBs

BILL Launches High-Yield Cash Account for SMBs
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Bill.com, Daily news
  • BILL has launched a high-yield Cash Account for its SMB clients, offering 3% returns with no fees or minimum balance requirements.
  • The account provides enterprise-grade features like FDIC insurance up to $200 million, next-day ACH payments, and integrated cash management tools.
  • With nearly 500K small business clients and $266 billion in processed payments, BILL aims to help SMBs grow funds and optimize cashflow.

Small business financial software provider BILL launched a cash account that will offer high-yield savings opportunities to its small-and-medium-sized business clients. The BILL Cash Account will help SMBs earn a higher yield on their idle cash.

The California-based company is launching the new account to help its nearly half a million small business clients use manage their money with higher returns and stronger cashflow.

“Idle cash sitting in low-or no-yield checking accounts not only costs businesses time and money—it costs them opportunity to grow,” said BILL EVP, GM of Payments and Financial Services Mary Kay Bowman. “With Cash Account, we’re bringing growing businesses the same enterprise-grade capabilities normally reserved for Fortune 500 companies—combining high APY on an operational account with fast speed, seamless software integration, and security all in one simple account.”

BILL’s new Cash Account offers enterprise-grade tools to help businesses grow their funds confidently, with FDIC insurance coverage of up to $200 million. The high-yield account pays 3% returns, which is 42 times the national average of 0.07%. Unlike many competitors, BILL doesn’t require businesses to hold a minimum amount of funds in their accounts and does not charge fees. Users also benefit from next-business-day ACH payments and cash management tools.

‍‍Founded in 2006, BILL helps its small business clients automate their financial operations and has processed $266 billion in payments volume. The company, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BILL, went public in 2019 and has a market capitalization of $5.54 billion.

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko

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Mastercard Launches Mastercard Commerce Media to Leverage Consumer Data

Mastercard Launches Mastercard Commerce Media to Leverage Consumer Data
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, MasterCard
  • Mastercard Commerce Media has launched to leverage consumer-permissioned transaction data, giving 25,000 advertiser partners smarter targeting and delivering up to 22x ROAS across industries like retail, travel, and dining.
  • Mastercard’s partnerships with Citi, American Airlines, Microsoft, and WPP will expand scale, reach, and brand integration.
  • Retail media networks are surging, with spending projected to hit nearly $100 billion by 2028. Chase Media Solutions, which launched in 2024, is an example of how financial institutions are monetizing first-party data to serve personalized offers.

Mastercard announced that it will begin leveraging consumer-permissioned data via its new digital media network, Mastercard Commerce Media. The new media network will give Mastercard’s 25,000 advertiser partners access to transaction data from the 500 million enrolled consumers in order to power smarter, personalized commerce.

Through Mastercard’s proprietary Offers platform, advertisers can deliver tailored campaigns, such as cashback, discounts, and incentives, to audiences defined by their business goals. Using insights from consumer-permissioned data, Mastercard identifies the right customers and delivers relevant advertising content. Consumers can then activate offers on their enrolled card and complete the purchase, with Mastercard directly attributing the transaction to the campaign.

Beyond traditional cashback, Mastercard Commerce Media helps publishers strengthen brand loyalty by enabling programs where consumers earn rewards in a brand’s own cash currency, giving shoppers more purchasing power and brands deeper engagement. Looking ahead, Mastercard plans to expand distribution to new channels and deepen integrations across its broader services portfolio beginning in 2026.

Mastercard processed more than 160 billion transactions in 2024, and its new media network will deliver proprietary insights from transactions like these processed by Mastercard. Mastercard Commerce Media currently delivers a return on ad spend (ROAS) of up to 22 times for advertisers across retail, travel, entertainment, dining, and more.

“We understand how to connect advertisers to consumers and consumers to the products, services and experiences they value,” said Mastercard Chief Services Officer Craig Vosburg. “Mastercard Commerce Media is a natural extension of the trusted connections we’re known for and the work we already do across our unique suite of services. That means we’re not just well-positioned to bring a full-scale commerce media network to life—we’re best-positioned.”

Mastercard Commerce Media is launching in partnership with  Citi, which will help the program grow faster, reach more users, and deliver more value. Mastercard already has ongoing ties with Citi, which will give Mastercard’s media network a head start in leveraging Citi’s infrastructure, customer base, and channels. Mastercard is also partnering with American Airlines, Microsoft, and WPP, which will help extend its footprint and connection to brands in the traditional media space.

As the use of consumer-permissioned data gains popularity across fintech subsectors, so too has the adoption of retail media networks. These networks allow institutions to monetize their first-party data by connecting brands with highly targeted audiences through trusted digital channels.

According to eMarketer, retail media networks will expand in the coming years. The firm estimates that retail media network spending will reach nearly $100 billion through 2028, reflecting both advertiser demand and consumer engagement with personalized content. An early trailblazer in the space is Chase Media Solutions, which launched in 2024 to leverage its transaction and cardholder data to serve personalized offers and marketing to its 80 million customers.

Photo by Collis

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Former PayPal and Intuit CEO Bill Harris Launches New Wealthtech Evergreen Wealth

Former PayPal and Intuit CEO Bill Harris Launches New Wealthtech Evergreen Wealth
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Bill Harris, fintech pioneer and former CEO of Intuit, PayPal, and founder of Personal Capital, has unveiled a new digital RIA focused on affluent and high-net-worth investors.
  • Evergreen Wealth combines agentic AI advice with fiduciary advisors, offering Dynamic Portfolios designed for hyper-personalization and advanced tax optimization.
  • Moving beyond early roboadvisors, Evergreen Wealth blends human expertise, AI analytics, and tax-efficient strategies to meet changing expectations of younger, affluent clients.

Serial entrepreneur Bill Harris unveiled his newest fintech yesterday. The new wealthtech, Evergreen Wealth, is a digital Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) that provides investment management with a tax-forward mindset.

The launch builds on Harris’ long track record in both wealth management and tax innovation. On the wealthtech side, he founded Personal Capital in 2009, one of the first hybrid roboadvisors, which grew to manage $23 billion in assets before selling to Empower in 2020 for $825 million upfront. On the tax side, Harris led TurboTax and later served as CEO of Intuit in the late 1990s. He also briefly served as an early CEO of PayPal in 1999, cementing his reputation as a serial fintech entrepreneur.

Harris said that the launch comes at a time of changing market environment and consumer expectations. “Younger, affluent investors want more than traditional products and quarterly meetings—more than half don’t want their parents’ advisors,” said Harris. “They demand sophisticated tax and investment services, available on their schedule. We built Evergreen Wealth for this generation of investors.”

As a new wealthtech in the AI era, Evergreen Wealth offers agentic AI-powered financial advice to affluent and high-net-worth clients. The company is differentiating itself with its Dynamic Portfolios that contain hundreds of individual securities that can be tax-optimized and hyper-personalized to match the clients’ goals.

Tax optimization is a key focus for Evergreen Wealth. The company leverages multiple tax strategies, such as direct indexing, to help offset, reduce, defer, and even eliminate taxes on their investments. This is important for high-income taxpayers in high-tax states when they are trying to beat the market.

Along with its emphasis on tax efficiencies, Evergreen Wealth also focuses on offering a high-touch approach. The company’s advisors are fiduciaries that leverage research from Evergreen Intelligence, the company’s financial knowledge base, in order to deliver personalized advice to their clients. These tools allow advisors to offer each client personalized insights and advice.

“We combine human expertise with AI analytics to create a new model for financial advice,” said Harris. “It’s the best of both worlds—experienced advisors plus advanced technology.”

Today’s launch solidifies an era of change in the wealthtech space. While early wealthtechs leveraged the roboadvisory strategy, today’s consumers want an even deeper approach when it comes to managing their wealth. By offering a tax-forward mentality combined with agentic AI tools and a high-touch, personal approach, Evergreen Wealth is adapting to consumers’ changing preferences.

Photo by Trace Hudson

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Watch the 63 Live Demos from FinovateFall 2025

Watch the 63 Live Demos from FinovateFall 2025
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Best of Show, FinovateFall 2025, Marketing

Two weeks ago, 63 companies took the stage at FinovateFall 2025 to demonstrate their newest offerings live in front of our audience. Whether or not you were in attendance, you can now watch all of the seven-minute demo videos for free online. That’s more than seven and a half hours of fintech content, available for free.

Don’t know where to start? We’ve highlighted the six Best of Show-winning demos below to get you started.

Casap

eko

Krida

LemonadeLXP

LendAPI

Vertice AI

You can find all of the videos on the Finovate website and on Finovate’s YouTube channel.

If you don’t want to miss out on the live action next time around, be sure to register for FinovateEurope, taking place February 10 through 11 at the O2 Intercontinental in London.

Photo by Gloire Bingana on Unsplash

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