This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.
Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
FinovateFall may have wrapped up last week, but the fintech news cycle continues to roll on. Check out the latest happenings in banking and fintech below. We’ll continue adding news to this post throughout the week, so stay tuned!
We are thrilled to unveil the winners of the 2025 Finovate Awards! This is our opportunity to recognize companies driving fintech innovation forward and individuals bringing new ideas to life across 26 categories.
The finalists
This year’s Finovate Awards brought together leading banks, fintech firms, and individuals across 26 categories. After reviewing hundreds of applications, we first announced our finalists last month. Now, after weeks of deliberation, our expert judging panel has selected the winners.
The judges
Our awards are meaningful because they are decided by a panel of industry experts, representing a diverse range of perspectives across banking, fintech, investing, and technology. This group of fintech experts has had the difficult task of selecting the final winners, and their work is now complete.
The winners
Without further ado, here are the 26 winning companies of the 2025 Finovate Awards. Congratulations to all! These companies and leaders represent the best of fintech innovation today. Which winner are you most excited about? Join the conversation and share your thoughts on social.
ID.me raised $340 million in a Series E investment plus a credit facility, which boosts its valuation to over $2 billion and brings its total funding to $1.1 billion.
The funding will accelerate secure, reusable digital identity solutions and combat AI-driven fraud, which cost the US up to $521 billion annually.
ID.me now counts 152 million users, totaling 60% of US adults, with adoption across 20 federal agencies, 45 states, and 600+ brands.
Digital identity network ID.merevealed this week that it has raised $340 million in a Series E financing round plus a credit facility. The round values ID.me at more than $2 billion.
Ribbit Capital led the investment, while existing investors Ares Credit Funds and Moonshots Capital, as well as new investors, including Positive Sum, also participated. ID.me will use the funding to accelerate its mission to expand access to secure, reusable digital identity and to stop AI-driven fraud.
The funds, which bring ID.me’s total raised to $1.1 billion, come at a time of rising fraud across the globe. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the US government lost up to $521 billion annually to fraud between 2018 and 2022. The increase in fraud is fueled by stolen identities and deepfakes, both of which are increasing vulnerabilities faster than ever.
“Fraud is evolving at the speed of AI—and so are we,” said ID.me Founder and CEO Blake Hall. “Secure identity is foundational to AI ecosystems that will depend on memory, context, and authentication, and ID.me is leading the charge. This funding strengthens our ability to expand secure digital access, protect privacy, and innovate faster to stay ahead of criminal networks.”
ID.me was founded in 2010 to serve as a digital identity wallet that helps users prove and share their identities online without disclosing additional personal information. The company maintains a digital identity network that includes 20 federal agencies, 45 state agencies, and 600+ retail brands, all of which use ID.me to verify customers’ identities and affiliations. ID.me’s ID wallet helps users prove they belong to certain affiliated groups, such as teachers, students, first responders, or military veterans.
Last year, ID.me added 20.4 million new wallets, which breaks down to over 55,000 each day. That same year, it also powered more than 409 million successful logins, representing a 44% increase year-over-year. In total, ID.me counts 152 million users, representing nearly 60% of adults in the US.
“We believe the AI revolution will reshape the global economy, and identity will be its foundation,” said Ribbit Capital General Partner Justin Saslaw. “As AI agents become ubiquitous, trusted identity tokens will enable secure, seamless interactions between people, organizations, and machines. ID.me has built one of the most advanced and widely adopted digital identity wallets in the world, giving it a durable advantage in creating and scaling the identity tokens that will power this new era. We’re excited to partner with Blake and the ID.me team as they expand their leadership in the token-driven AI economy.”
Payroll and HR platform Gusto plans to acquire retirement plan provider Guideline, expanding its small business benefits offerings.
While terms of the deal were not disclosed, Guideline was valued at $1.15 billion in 2021, and given that fintech valuations have compressed by around 26%, is estimated to be worth around $851 million today.
The combined companies aim to simplify retirement plan access for tens of thousands of small businesses, especially as states increasingly mandate employer-sponsored retirement options.
Payroll, benefits, and HR management solutions company Gusto unveiled plans to acquire retirement plan provider Guideline.
While financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, Guideline had a $1.15 billion valuation in 2021 and claimed an annualized revenue of $140 million as of January 2025. Generally speaking, fintech valuations have been compressed by about 26% on average since 2021, so it is roughly estimated to be valued at $851 million today.
Gusto, originally known as ZenPayroll, was founded in 2011 to provide a cloud-based payroll, benefits, and HR management solution. The company’s tools help businesses track time and attendance, onboard new employees, manage existing talent, and more. In 2015, Gusto added to its small business offerings by offering health insurance and workers’ compensation, and a year later launched 401(k) retirement plans via a partnership with Guideline. Today, the San Francisco-based company serves more than 400,000 small businesses and is now valued at $9.3 billion.
Founded in 2015, Guideline helps businesses offer 401(k) and IRA retirement benefits to their team in a simplified approach. The California-based company works with small-to-mid-size businesses, franchises, and self-employed individuals across multiple industries, with dentist offices being the top category.
While Guideline has a direct-to-business approach, it also offers its plans via distribution partnerships with ADP, Block, Intuit, Paylocity, TriNet, and Rippling—all competitors of Gusto. Interestingly, Guideline plans to maintain integrations with those partners even after the acquisition closes.
Together, the two will serve tens of thousands of small businesses, offering them an integrated approach to adding retirement benefits, no matter the size of their team. Today’s deal will help Gusto serve its customers with more of Guideline’s services without having to worry about revenue sharing.
“We’re going to have the ability, in the right moment at the right time, to help [small business customers] if they want. It’s never going to be something they have to do—it’s always their choice—but help them understand that they can actually go provide retirement benefits to their team,” said Gusto CEO and Co-Founder Josh Reeves. “And so one thing I’m really, really excited about is I think we’re going to have a chance to help a lot more companies with retirement benefits by being together than if we had stayed separate.”
The acquisition is especially salient for Gusto, given that some states have passed mandates that now require businesses to provide their employees with retirement plans. The move also helps Gusto differentiate itself from competitors like ADP and Paychex by owning more of the retirement infrastructure directly, rather than relying solely on partnerships. In doing so, Gusto is strengthening its full-service appeal as the go-to HR and benefits provider for small businesses.
After the CFPB withdrew its lawsuit over Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act, the bureau stated that it would begin a new, “accelerated” rulemaking process with an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) within three weeks. That three-week period ended last week, on August 22nd, when the CFPB published its Personal Financial Data Rights Reconsideration, effectively kicking off the new rulemaking process.
Much is riding on how this rule takes shape, not only for banks, but for fintechs and consumers alike. Visa’s recent move to abandon its US open banking initiatives underscores just how high the stakes are. In its latest release, the CFPB asked for comments and data to guide its decisions on four critical issues tied to Section 1033. Below, we’ll walk through each issue and explore the potential impact.
Representatives: who deserves access to the data?
The first of the four issues is defining who can serve as a representative on behalf of the consumer. The question essentially asks who can make a request to access the consumer’s data on their behalf. Today, this includes not only the consumer themselves, but also third-party aggregators and fintechs, as well. If the CFPB decides to narrow this scope, it could potentially block third-party services from accessing consumer data, limiting it to the consumer and the bank itself.
The latter would favor incumbents as it allows them ultimate control. For fintechs, this would create a risky environment. The uncertainty would make it risky to invest and build APIs that could be restricted in the future.
Fee structures: who pays for data access?
The second of the four issues seeks to determine the optimal amount of fees that banks should be able to charge in response to a customer-driven request. As a result, data access may no longer be free for aggregators, which may require them and fintechs to reshape their business models in response.
Charging for data would allow banks to recoup compliance costs for API access, but may receive negative attention from fintechs and consumers. Additionally, fintechs with already thin margins may be forced to look for an exit.
Data security: weighing threats vs. benefits
The third of the four issues the CFPB spotlighted is the threat and cost-benefit analysis for data security associated with complying with Section 1033. If the Bureau requires compliance with tighter security requirements, all stakeholders will feel the repercussions of tighter security expectations.
With tighter compliance, small fintechs that previously had limited compliance requirements may now need to step up to higher standards. This could ultimately lead to consolidation, since large, well-resourced firms would be able to more easily meet compliance.
Data privacy: the cost of protection
The final of the four issues the CFPB spotlighted is the threat landscape surrounding data privacy associated with Section 1033 compliance. The Bureau may set new limits on how fintechs are allowed to monetize consumer data in an effort to maintain their privacy.
With new guardrails on how they are allowed to monetize consumer data, fintechs may face limitations on using data for personalized marketing or other secondary data uses. As a result, innovation may slow down, but consumers may gain more confidence.
Your turn to comment!
The CFPB’s recent call for comments is more than regulatory housekeeping. It is highly consequential and will determine the future of open banking in the US. The Bureau’s questions signal real costs, risks, and opportunities.
It is important to make your voice heard on these issues! In the six days that the comment period opened, only seven comments have been submitted. Send your comments to the CFPB by October 10, 2025 at 11:59 pm EST.
Ant International, Standard Chartered, and Swift have launched a new bank-to-wallet solution linking Swift’s 11,500-institution network with Alipay+’s 1.7 billion digital wallet accounts across 36 providers.
The service offers faster, regulated alternatives to stablecoins, with ISO 20022 backing to ensure interoperability, compliance, and scalability for cross-border payments.
Beyond speed, the initiative aims to boost financial inclusion, giving underbanked consumers access to funds through wallets they already use while allowing banks to stay relevant in wallet-first markets.
Global payments and fintech provider Ant International, international banking group Standard Chartered, and provider of secure financial messaging services Swift are banding together this week to launch a bank-to-wallet payment solution.
The three are leveraging Swift’s network of over 11,500 financial institutions in more than 200 countries and territories, as well as Ant International’s global wallet gateway service Alipay+. The new payment solution will connect Swift’s network to the 1.7 billion user accounts on the 36 global digital wallets in Alipay+’s ecosystem.
“We are very excited to be part of this ground-breaking multilateral collaboration with Swift, banking leaders, and Alipay+ e-wallet partners to facilitate bank-to-wallet transactions on a global scale,” said Ant International General Manager of Global Remittance Jacques Xu. “Ant International will continue to support such cross-sector collaboration with fintech innovations, to build a more connected payment and financial ecosystem for businesses and consumers with ever higher standards of transparency and security, as part of our focus on promoting global interoperability and inclusion.”
The digital wallet can also create an onramp into the traditional financial system. That’s because wallets connected to banks via Swift create a bridge that allows users to build transaction histories, potentially improving access to credit, insurance, and other financial services. Additionally, it has the potential to help unbanked and underbanked consumers because the bank-to-wallet capabilities allow them to receive money directly into a wallet they already use, circumventing the barriers to opening a bank account.
“In a world of fast-moving innovation with a growing number of ways to move value, consumers and businesses expect more choice and optionality in their international payments experience,” said Swift Chief Executive, Asia Pacific, Kevin Wong. “Swift is at the forefront of providing a best-in-class experience with greater flexibility and choice. This collaboration with Ant International and Standard Chartered reflects that strategic commitment to faster, frictionless payments across multiple networks.”
The first transactions on the new payments solution have already been successfully completed between a Standard Chartered Bank customer account and a partner e-wallet.
The launch of the new bank-to-wallet solution comes as stablecoin capabilities gain traction as an alternative for cross-border payments. However, while stablecoins promise fast, low-cost settlement, regulatory uncertainty and fragmentation have limited their adoption at scale. By contrast, today’s initiative shows how banks and fintechs can deliver many of the same benefits through established, regulated rails. Backed by the ISO 20022 messaging standard, the model also ensures interoperability and compliance with global payment systems, giving it a more durable foundation than many of today’s experimental stablecoin frameworks.
This partnership is a great example of how traditional banks and infrastructure services are collaborating with international tech players, moving from competition to interoperability. By linking Swift’s rails with Alipay+’s wallet ecosystem, the bank-to-wallet solution not only brings underbanked consumers into the financial system, but also strengthens cross-border payments. For Standard Chartered, it offers a chance to remain as a central player in markets where digital wallets dominate. The launch is also validating for fintechs that digital wallets have now gone mainstream.
“We are pleased to be the bank of choice to conceptualize, test, and deliver this innovation,” said Standard Chartered Global Head of Transaction Banking Michael Spiegel. “It is testament to the versatility of our banking platform and our strategic relationship with both Swift and Ant International. We will continue to push the boundaries of finance to shape the future of our industry, securely and in compliance with regulatory requirements.”
Pipe is partnering with Airwallex to expand its global reach, leveraging Airwallex’s infrastructure for same-day and next-day payouts to SMBs in need of fast working capital.
Airwallex’s global network supports local collections in 60+ countries and transfers in 21+ countries, which will help Pipe deliver seamless, localized financial services as it scales.
Pipe is already live in the UK and Canada with Airwallex, and is preparing to launch in Australia by year’s end.
Global trading platform for recurring revenue streams Pipe has selected global commercial payments and financial platform Airwallex to help Pipe grow globally.
The partnership enables Pipe to tap into Airwallex’s tools for delivering same-day and next-day payouts to small businesses that rely on accessing working capital quickly. Combining Airwallex’s extensive international coverage with Pipe’s local payment rails will help Pipe scale its platform globally while ensuring its clients enjoy seamless, localized financial experiences.
Pipe was founded in 2019 to provide businesses with access to working capital and financial tools. The company helps business owners who want to have the option of launching in multiple markets, saving them the hassle of selecting different partners and infrastructure providers.
“Our goal at Pipe is to enable software platforms that are serving SMBs to unlock revenue potential through embedded financial tools—no matter where they operate,” said Pipe CEO Luke Voiles. “With its broad global coverage and deep product capabilities, Airwallex gave us the support to launch in our first international market in weeks, not months. That speed and scale are critical for us as we look to expand our global footprint.”
Airwallex provides alternative accounts to help businesses manage their funds, access capital, control their spending, and embed financial services. The company helps businesses collect funds like a local in 60+ countries and make local transfers in 21+ countries. Founded in 2015, the Melbourne, Australia-founded company now processes $200 billion each year.
Pipe has already demonstrated momentum in its partnership with Airwallex, launching in the UK in late 2024 and entering Canada earlier this year. The California-based company is set to expand further, with plans to go live in Australia before the end of this year and a vision to enter markets across Europe and Asia Pacific in 2026.
“Pipe is bringing innovative embedded financial solutions to global markets with remarkable speed, and we’re proud to help power that momentum,” said Airwallex CRO Kai Wu. “Our global payments infrastructure was built to help leading businesses like Pipe reach new heights, expand access to new markets and verticals, and help them better serve their customers around the world.”
Today’s partnership is a testament to the fact that embedded financial services and offering global payments infrastructure are no longer optional but essential, especially for firms that want to scale. For Pipe’s business customers, this could make the difference between competing locally and thriving globally.
Chime is partnering with Workday to integrate Chime Workplace into Workday Wellness, expanding access to financial wellness tools through employers’ existing HR systems.
Chime Workplace helps employees manage money, save, and build credit, while giving employers insights into overall financial health and benefit usage.
The move positions Chime beyond consumer banking, signaling its push into the employer-driven financial wellness space.
Chime announced its latest move to build up Chime Workplace, the financial wellness suite it launched in March of this year. The company has partnered with HR solutions company Workday, becoming a Workday Wellness partner for financial benefits.
Chime will integrate Workday Wellness into Chime Workplace to bring financial wellness into its employee benefits suite. Chime Workplace offers employers a single platform with financial wellness tools and an aggregated view of employee financial health. The platform helps employees manage their money, track their savings, build their credit, and more.
Workday was founded in 2005 to provide HR tools as a service to businesses across industries. Today, in addition to offering a wide range of HR tools, the company also offers AI tools such as agents, financial tools such as payroll and financial management, legal tools such as contract intelligence, supply chain management solutions, and more.
Under the partnership, organizations using Workday can turn on benefits for their employees using Chime Workplace directly through Workday Wellness in their existing HR systems. Workday’s Workday Wellness solution offers its clients insights into which benefits their employees want and use, helping them to improve their programs and add appropriate new offerings, all in the Chime Workplace dashboard. Chime Workplace will be available via the Employer Benefits Selection Portal for Workday customers.
“Employees today are increasingly looking to their employers for competitive financial wellness benefits,” said Workday General Manager, HCM, Workforce Management and Payroll Cristina Goldt. “Our partnership with Chime makes it easy for Workday customers to provide their workforce with financial wellness tools directly through Workday Wellness. This ultimately helps them manage money, build credit, and save—fostering a more financially confident and resilient workforce.”
The integration is Chime’s latest move to differentiate itself as a competitor in the challenger banking field. The company was founded in 2012 and formed Chime Enterprise in 2024 after acquiring employee rewards and loyalty platform Salt Labs. Chime has more than 8.7 million members. By embedding its workplace tools into HR platforms like Workday, the company is positioning itself not just as a consumer bank alternative, but as a partner in the employee benefits ecosystem. This shift may indicate that Chime intends to grow beyond direct-to-consumer banking and capture a larger share of the employer-driven financial wellness market.
FinovateFall is just around the corner (taking place September 8 through 10 in New York), and we can’t wait to welcome fintech leaders, bank executives, investors, and analysts back to our flagship show. With discussion sessions, networking opportunities, and 60+ demos packed into three days, it’s important to have the right tools at your fingertips to help you navigate the event. That’s where the ConnectMe event app comes in.
You can think of the app as your personal conference assistant. It gives you everything you need to maximize your time at FinovateFall, starting today and continuing after the event.
Plan Ahead
With the app, you can browse the full agenda, bookmark the sessions and demos that matter most to you, and build a personalized agenda to manage your on-site schedule. Whether you want to see the latest fintech demo on stage or catch a discussion on open banking, you’ll know exactly where you need to be and when.
Connect with the Right People
Networking has always been a cornerstone at Finovate, and the app makes it even easier. Use the attendee directory to see who else will be in the room, send messages, and set up meetings in advance. The app features an AI-powered matchmaking feature that highlights the people and companies most relevant to you, making it easy for you to make the high-impact connections you’re looking for.
Stay in the Loop
From last-minute speaker updates to location details, the app keeps you informed in real-time so you don’t miss a thing. You can also engage in live polls and Q&A during sessions, making the event more interactive and getting your voice heard.
Keep the Conversation Going
Your FinovateFall experience doesn’t end when the conference does. The app remains open after the event, giving you continued access to contacts, content, and discussions. Whether you missed a meeting or wanted to follow up with a contact you met on the networking floor, the app makes it easy to keep building relationships and follow up on new opportunities.
To download the FinovateFall ConnectMe app, keep an eye on your email inbox for a link and a code to get in. Be sure to set up your details within the app ahead of the show in order to hit the ground running. Whether this is your first Finovate or your fifteenth, the app is the best way to ensure you can maximize your event experience.
Handpoint was founded in 1999 to provide in-person payments tools. The company helps its customers accept payments on smartphones, tablets, and handhelds, and enables merchants to accept card payments securely. In addition to hardware, Handpoint also offers an embedded payments platform, a card-present gateway, and provides real-time transaction data that gives merchants in-depth reporting. Before today’s announcement, Handpoint had raised a total of $8 million, most recently pulling in $2.4 million in 2021.
Handpoint demoed at FinovateFall 2012 and FinovateEurope 2012, at the height of the mobile payment acceptance wave that Block (then Square) kicked off in 2010.
Electronic Payments was founded in 1998 and offers a network of POS value-added resellers (VARs), agent banks, sales agents, and independent sales offices (ISOs) to businesses across multiple industries. Among the company’s products are Cygma, a full-stack authorization and clearing platform; Exatouch, a full-featured point-of-sale device; and ProCharge Gateway, a virtual terminal that helps process and manage payments from one central location.
Handpoint will give Electronic Payments an immediate European presence, as Handpoint maintains offices in the UK, Iceland, and Spain, new territories for Electronic Payments. Integrating Handpoint’s tools could allow US merchants that require cross-border capabilities to tap into a single payments partner on both sides of the Atlantic. Additionally, Electronic Payments could integrate Handpoint’s embedded payments platform with its Cygma clearing system, which would facilitate a more omnichannel approach.
Purchasing Handpoint will also help Electronic Payments strengthen its mobile and embedded payments offerings. This will help it compete with the self-service model that new players, like Stripe and Square, offer.
Each year at FinovateFall, the conversations on stage showcase some of the newest and most compelling ideas in fintech. But the story isn’t just limited to the stage. Just steps away from the general session, we have an energy-filled video studio that provides a space where fintech founders, thought leaders, and influencers can share their insights in front of the camera.
Working in collaboration with Informa’s video platform Streamly, the video studio has become an integral part of the Finovate experience because it offers speakers and sponsors a unique channel through which they can highlight their vision, discuss the impact of their technology, and connect with a broader audience long after the event itself. Between sessions, you’ll see us interviewing founders, executives, and thought leaders in the studio to extend the reach of both their thoughts and the show.
Here’s what you can expect from this year’s recordings:
Executive interviews: one-on-one conversations with fintech founders and bank executives about where particular industry subsectors are headed.
Company spotlights: Conversations that dive deeper into the solutions showcased on the demo stage and in the networking hall.
Expert insights: Analysis from industry experts on the latest industry trends like AI, open banking, digital identity, and more, as heard from the show floor.
Once recorded, our team of experts will produce, polish, and publish them on Streamly, YouTube, and the Finovate blog and promote them across social channels. Our goal is to ensure that the ideas shared at FinovateFall resonate beyond the conference itself, and will ultimately help shape conversations across the industry.
For both attendees and followers not in attendance, the videos offer another way to access insights from some of the brightest minds in fintech, even if they can’t be in every session live. Check out some of the videos from past events, and stay tuned later this fall to watch the freshly recorded sessions from FinovateFall 2025.
Starling Bank has agreed to acquire Ember with plans to integrate Ember’s tax and bookkeeping tools into its business banking platform, giving small businesses streamlined support for invoicing, expenses, payroll, and tax submissions.
Ember’s software currently serves customers of major UK banks, but will become exclusive to Starling customers in 2026.
The move positions Starling to help businesses comply with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC’s) Making Tax Digital mandate by April 2026.
UK-based Starling Bankannounced this week that it will acquire fellow UK fintech Ember, a tax and bookkeeping platform. Starling will build Ember’s resources into its banking platform to provide small business owners with tools they need to manage their transactions and tax submissions. Terms of the acquisition are undisclosed.
Ember was founded in 2019 to give small businesses a human accountant to work with throughout the year to offer real-time insights into their finances and automated bookkeeping. The company offers tools for invoicing, expense management, payroll, tax optimization, and more to do the heavy lifting of tax and VAT compliance while maximizing companies’ visibility into their finances.
“Ember’s platform is beautifully designed to simplify complex accounting tasks through a user-friendly interface,” said Starling Bank Managing Director of SME Banking Adeel Hyder. “As Starling ramps up the roll-out of best-in-class solutions for small businesses, we will continue to build, partner, or buy as best meets customers’ needs.”
Ember currently serves thousands of UK-based small businesses, including customers of HSBC, Revolut, Barclays, and Lloyds. Under the agreement with Starling, however, the company’s software will be exclusively available to Starling Bank customers starting in 2026. Also, as part of today’s deal, Starling will discontinue Ember’s accountancy advisory services.
This is a key move for Starling and strategic timing, given that His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has mandated a Making Tax Digital requirement starting in April of 2026. Starling’s integration of Ember’s tools will help the many businesses that aren’t prepared for online tax reporting to integrate Ember’s HMRC-recognized software by the end of 2025.
The integration of Ember will be available to Starling’s business customers as part of a suite of business services. Among the bank’s other commercial customer tools are Spaces, a tool that allows business owners to put money aside for designated purposes; Bills Manager, which helps businesses pay suppliers on time; and Spending Intelligence, an AI-powered spending tracker.
“We are a natural fintech consolidator, so targeted acquisitions like Ember will form a key part of our strategy as we continue to develop Starling Bank in the UK and Engine by Starling overseas,” said Starling Group Chief Financial Officer Declan Ferguson. “Just as Fleet Mortgages has flourished since we bought it in 2021, I’m confident that Ember’s best-in-class tools will become a fantastic addition to Starling Bank’s offering.”
