What Will Happen to Open Banking Regulation if the CFPB is Torn Down?

What Will Happen to Open Banking Regulation if the CFPB is Torn Down?

If you’ve been paying attention to the open banking conversation in the US, you are aware that it is currently on the cusp of a major shift. In July, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a surprise motion to pause the legal battle over its Section 1033 data access rule. The Bureau then announced its plans to rewrite the rule altogether, and initiated a call for public comments.

The purpose of Section 1033 is to align principles on how consumers access and share their financial data. The rule essentially stands as the legal backbone of open banking in the US. For its part, the CFPB’s role is to define the technical and legal framework behind the mechanics of consumer data access. The Bureau is tasked with creating standards for data access, consent, and security.

The public comment period ends tomorrow, October 21, but writing a new rule will likely be anything but smooth. Aside from the various viewpoints from opposing stakeholders, which complicates the CFPB’s effort to write a fair ruling for all parties, there is now another wrinkle in the story. Last week, White House budget director Russell Vought said on a podcast that he wants to close down the CFPB. If the CFPB were indeed dismantled, would open banking stall or survive?

When the public comments period ends tomorrow, the CFPB will begin drafting the new open banking proposal. Further complicating the matter, the rewrite is unfolding alongside ongoing litigation over the original rule. The Financial Technology Association (FTA) is defending the rule in court after the Trump administration moved to overturn it back in May. In September it argued against an effort by the Bank Policy Institute to keep the rule on hold indefinitely, saying that big banks are trying to limit how much authority the CFPB has over open banking in hopes of shaping what the new version of the rule will look like.

Between the drafting of the new rule and all of the litigation, the next six-to-twelve months are pivotal in steering the open banking conversation. And yet, even as the rule is being rewritten and argued over in court, a much bigger question looms: what happens if the CFPB itself disappears? If Vought’s comments are correct and the CFPB is indeed completely dismantled there are a few likely scenarios of what may happen moving forward:

Regulatory limbo

With no agency to finalize or enforce 1033, the rule could be delayed or stalled indefinitely. This delay would slow technological adoption and would make open banking once again driven by the market, instead of regulation.

In fact, for years, banks and fintechs have been building API-based data-sharing frameworks and forming independent networks such as FDX, which unifies the financial industry around a common standard for the secure and convenient access of permissioned consumer and business data.

In the absence of regulatory guardrails, however, big banks could set the terms of data access and possibly introduce unreasonable fees or restrictive policies. Additionally, smaller fintechs could be squeezed out, which would ultimately reduce consumer choice. As a result, the US would have a more industry-controlled version of open banking instead of a consumer-centric model.

Reassignment

The authority to shape, finalize, and enforce 1033 could shift to other agencies such as the FCC or OCC. Swapping agencies, however, may create jurisdictional confusion since neither agency has a direct consumer-data mandate. This confusion may lead to slower adoption and reduced technological innovation.

If federal leadership falters, however, individual states may step in to organize their own regulations. States like California or New York may end up writing their own data-sharing laws. This would result in a patchwork of regulations, increasing compliance costs and complexity, especially for new fintechs seeking to compete. In theory, Congress could pass national open banking legislation, but bipartisan agreement on financial regulation (or any regulation) is rare.

Wiping out the CFPB will not wipe out the underlying law, Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. However, even though the law would continue to stand on its own two feet, the rulemaking, enforcement, and coordination around the law could be thrown into disarray. If the rulemaking is stalled for too long, it is likely that we will see individual states take matters into their own hands.


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An IPO Alternative: Revolut’s $75 Billion Valuation and $3 Billion Funding Round

An IPO Alternative: Revolut’s $75 Billion Valuation and $3 Billion Funding Round
  • Revolut is rumored to be raising capital and selling previously repurchased shares at a higher valuation in a creative alternative to going public.
  • Staying private gives Revolut more flexibility as it expands into new markets and adds roughly one million customers every 17 days, without the scrutiny of quarterly earnings reports.
  • The company is likely delaying its IPO until it secures a full UK banking license, but strong investor demand and ample private funding mean Revolut can continue scaling without listing on public markets.

Global banking fintech Revolut is nearing the threshold of two major milestones. The UK-based company is currently seeking to close a $3 billion funding round, marking a $75 billion valuation.

According to Bloomberg, which broke the news, Revolut has spent months putting the round together and has been informing investors about the allocation of shares they’ll receive as part of the oversubscribed round. The investment will bring in cash and offer early backers and employees liquidity.

Revolut declined to comment, but according to people familiar with the matter, Revolut will use the funds as fuel to enter dozens of new markets across the globe in the coming years. Revolut already operates in the European Economic Area (EEA), Australia, Brazil, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, the UK, and the US, as well as a handful of small territories. Expanding its geographical reach will allow Revolut to deepen its customer base, diversify revenue streams, and strengthen its position as a global financial “super app.”

In August, Revolut bought back some of its own shares from existing investors in a tender offer deal that paid investors for their shares based on the company valuation of $45 billion. Revolut is now considering selling some of the same shares it just bought back to new investors. Notably, this sale would be conducted at a much higher valuation of $75 billion, meaning Revolut could profit significantly from the difference. In addition to selling these existing shares, Revolut may also issue new shares to raise new funding which would bring additional cash into the company as opposed to simply transferring ownership of existing shares.

Sources noted that Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky encouraged early employees to sell some of their stock in order to allow the company to offer more shares to eager new investors. Despite this effort, demand was far greater than supply, so many investors could only buy a small amount. This strong demand showcases Revolut’s rising valuation and positions it well for raising more capital.

This complicated song and dance around share shifting may sound more complicated than simply going public. But many analysts argue that an IPO isn’t ideal for Revolut at the moment. The company is expanding rapidly, adding around one million customers every 17 days, and staying private offers it more flexibility to pivot, experiment, and grow without the quarterly pressure and scrutiny that come with being a public company.

Perhaps the biggest aspect holding the company back is that it has not received its full UK banking license. While the UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) awarded Revolut a banking license in 2024, it did so with restrictions. Regulators have been reviewing the company’s application for years, and not having a banking license significantly decreases both revenue potential and investor confidence. In fact, going public before securing the license could lower Revolut’s valuation or limit interest from institutional investors.

Fortunately for Revolut, private funding is still plentiful. Since the company was founded in 2015, it has been able to raise a large amount of capital privately, and at valuations similar to or higher than what it may get in public markets.


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Making Small Business Lending Faster and Fairer: Our Q&A with Adlon Adams of Casca

Making Small Business Lending Faster and Fairer: Our Q&A with Adlon Adams of Casca

The business of helping small businesses secure the capital they need in order to grow is one of the areas in finance where fintech innovation has been most constructive.

In this Women in Fintech interview, conducted in partnership with William Mills Agency, we hear from Adlon Adams, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Revenue Officer at business lending innovator Casca. Adams talks about the importance of making financing easier to access for small businesses, and why developing real relationships with customers is key to understanding how to best help them solve their problems and overcome pain points.

Adams also talks about being a woman in leadership in a male-dominated industry and shares her advice for women who are building their careers in similar spaces.

Founded in 2023 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Casca won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2024 in San Francisco, and returned to the Finovate stage the following year for FinovateSpring 2025 in San Diego. The company’s loan origination platform is used by leading SBA lenders and FDIC-insured banks across the US, including institutions like Live Oak Bank and Huntington Bank.

In August, Casca secured $29 million in Series A funding in a round led by Canapi Ventures. The investment raised the company’s total capital to $33 million.


Tell us about your role at Casca. What drew you to the fintech space, and what excites you about this industry?

Adlon Adams: I serve as both COO and CRO at Casca, which means I support operations, sales, and strategy. It’s the vision of the founders and potential of this company that drew me into fintech.

The U.S. has seen a 45% jump in small business formation over the last decade, but capital access hasn’t kept pace. Casca’s mission is to help fix a broken system—to make business lending faster, fairer, and more accessible. Thanks to the work we’ve done with some of the nation’s leading SBA lenders, small businesses can access capital in a matter of days instead of months. This means businesses can go to their local bank and get what they need from a trusted source and avoid predatory rates and daily payments. I’m motivated by work that makes a tangible difference. 

On a personal note, I’m also proud to work alongside a team of fellow alumni and Stanford graduates. Our AI engineers and banking technology experts have built the first AI-native loan origination system that automates more than 100 manual steps out of old, dated processes.  We get to reimagine financial services in ways that change lives and build dreams.

What has it been like joining a startup in a new industry as one of the first executive hires, especially as a female now holding two leadership roles? What advice would you give to others stepping into executive roles at early-stage startups or in unfamiliar industries?

Adams: As one of Casca’s founding executive members, I’ve worn many hats, and have been stretched in ways I never expected. I’ve felt the weight of being one of the few female voices in leadership conversations. That can be daunting, but it’s also an opportunity to set an example for others and contribute fresh perspectives.

I constantly prioritize and reprioritize business needs, and must be comfortable making decisions with incomplete information. My advice: focus on what truly moves the needle each day, lean into curiosity, and trust that you deserve to be in the room—even if you’re new to an industry. Ask the right questions, surround yourself with people who help you learn, and stay focused on making an impact.

It’s both a challenging and incredibly rewarding experience. Pushing myself outside of my comfort zone is exhilarating; it ensures growth both for me personally and the company.

I understand you’ve spent a lot of time working on-site with banks, seeing their processes and challenges up close. As someone new to fintech, has that hands-on experience helped you learn the space more quickly? Would you recommend that approach to others entering the space?

Adams: That’s a resounding “yes!” I recommend anyone entering fintech get as close as possible to their end users on all levels, including those in the weeds of the day-to-day processes. Immerse yourself in their world, listen, and ask questions. Understanding their processes will enhance your technical knowledge and instill empathy for the people who use your product. The best solutions are built with close partnerships and collaborations like this.

For me, that means working alongside bankers, underwriters, credit analysts, and small business owners. It is invaluable to sit alongside loan officers, watching their workflows, and hearing their frustrations. Working hand-in-hand with banks like Live Oak Bank, the nation’s #1 SBA lender, gave me a front-row seat to how SBA lending works in practice. The experience also shaped Casca’s approach. By sharing in the frustrations of bankers, we designed a system that directly addresses their challenges. When you see how legacy systems force long timelines and delays to capital access, you understand the urgency of enabling same-week approvals and faster closings.

Why did Casca choose to focus on SBA lending? What gaps are you aiming to fill, and where do you see the greatest opportunities and challenges for financial institutions in this space?

Adams: SBA lending is a lifeline for small businesses, but it’s also one of the most complex and underserved segments of financial services. Traditional loan origination systems weren’t designed for SBA programs, leaving banks with slow, manual processes that limit their ability to serve this market. Alternative lenders saw this and built faster options, but often at the cost of predatory interest rates, burdening entrepreneurs with unsustainable debt. It is time to disrupt this market. Our AI-driven platform automates the hundreds of manual steps in SBA workflows and enables banks to serve entrepreneurs with fair, community-based rates at fintech-level speed.

The opportunity for financial institutions is enormous—commercial lending demand has grown 65% in the past decade. By streamlining SBA lending for traditional institutions, entrepreneurs can rely on their trusted financial partners for long-term success. Strengthening these local businesses helps the banks and their local communities in the process.

In your conversations with small business owners and entrepreneurs, what pain points or unmet needs are coming up most often?

Adams: The themes I hear most often are speed and simplicity. Business owners frequently feel forced into high-interest loans because they can’t wait months for a traditional bank process to finish. Start-ups often win new business because of their agility and grit, and they need access to capital to execute at the speed with which they do business. Others describe the SBA application process as overwhelming, with documentation and compliance requirements that take focus away from running their business. They simply don’t have the capacity to tackle such a challenging process.

Thankfully, we can alleviate these pain points, providing small business owners a sustainable path to growth. The impact is evident—banks using Casca are closing loans in days, which simply wasn’t possible with legacy systems.

How do you see small business lending evolving over the next few years, especially as AI continues to advance and gain traction?

Adams: We’re at a pivotal moment. AI is shifting small business lending from being manual and reactive to intelligent and proactive. In the coming years, I expect banks to use AI not just for faster loan processing, but also to better assess risk, personalize offerings, and expand access to credit for underserved groups.

Casca is already showing what’s possible: analyzing thousands of pages of financials in minutes and enabling banks to launch new products in weeks instead of years. With a pace of change this fast, we’ll soon begin to see a growing divide between institutions that embrace modern, AI-driven infrastructure and those still tied to legacy systems.

The winners will be the ones who use AI thoughtfully—enhancing transparency and fairness rather than replacing human judgment. My hope is that this evolution will give small business owners the fast, reliable access to capital they need to focus on building their businesses, rather than financing them. This has the potential to bring a new wave of innovation to the world.

Looking ahead, what’s next for Casca? Are there plans to expand beyond SBA lending? How do verticals like nonprofits and other underserved markets factor into the broader vision?

Adams: Looking ahead, Casca is focused on significant expansion across multiple dimensions. On the product side, the company plans to extend well beyond small business and commercial lending into additional loan categories and products. This expansion will be supported by continued platform enhancements, particularly around automation capabilities with deeper integrations into banking core systems. To support this growth, Casca is scaling its engineering, product, and customer success teams to accelerate product development and improve onboarding capabilities for financial institutions.

Any final advice for women entering fintech or stepping into leadership roles in male-dominated industries?

Adams: Trust your expertise and speak up confidently. You earned your seat at the table—own it. Don’t diminish your contributions or wait for permission to share your insights. Your perspective is valuable precisely because it may differ from the majority voice in the room.

Build genuine relationships, not just networks. Focus on creating authentic connections. The best advocates for change are often those who actively use their influence to amplify others.

Don’t do it alone. Seek out other women in fintech and adjacent industries. These relationships provide not just support, but strategic insight into navigating challenges that may be unique to your experience.

Lead with your values, but be strategic. You can push for change while being pragmatic about how you do it. Pick your battles, but don’t compromise on what matters most to you and your team.

Celebrate your wins—and help others celebrate theirs. In male-dominated spaces, women’s achievements are often overlooked. Make it a point to recognize your own successes and spotlight other women rising in the industry.

Finally, bring others up with you. As you advance, actively mentor, sponsor, and advocate for the next generation of women in fintech. Real change happens when we create pathways for those who follow.


Photo by Kampus Production

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

The week begins as platforms, websites, and applications around the world are reeling from a major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage. The impact, which affected more than 500 companies and generated millions of outage reports according to Downdetector, is among the most significant Internet disruptions since the Crowdstrike incident in 2024.

Meanwhile, here on Finovate’s Fintech Rundown, we’re looking at a handful of newly announced partnerships in payments and a pair of announcements in the crypto commerce space. Be sure to check back all week long for the latest in fintech headlines!


Payments

Payment orchestration platform Gr4vy announces collaboration with Mastercard.

Worldpay inks deal to provide payment processing services for food retailer Kroger.

Emerging markets payment orchestration platform MoneyHash teams up with Saudi Arabia-based financial services app Tabby.

Coinbase launches the Coinbase One credit card.

CellPoint Digital launches One Source Orchestration, a payment optimization platform that meets the demand of OOSD retailing models.

Salt Edge and Sola partner to power instant payments across Europe.

Digital identity

IDenfy unveils new email and SMS verification tools.

Open banking

Bill sharing and expense app Splitwise expands its partnership with Tink to bring Pay by Bank to more markets in Europe.

Insurtech

Insurtech bolt launches boltAI for Agencies, a conversational and workflow AI agent that brings automation to property and casualty (P&C) insurance firms.

Crypto and DeFi

Coinbase introduces new business payment tools.

Crypto payments company MoonPay launches crypto commerce platform.

Lending

First Internet Bank goes live with Parlay Finance’s Loan Intelligence System.

Digital banking

Financial intelligence platform Monit announces expanded integration and partnership with digital banking solutions provider Q2 Holdings.

YouTube star MrBeast files trademark indicating a planned move to expand into finance.


Photo by Alice Kotlyarenko on Unsplash

FIS Launches Smart Basket to Keep Pace with Agentic Payments

FIS Launches Smart Basket to Keep Pace with Agentic Payments
  • 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

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

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

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

Copla Partners and Buck4Bug Combine Automated Compliance with Ethical Hacking

Copla Partners and Buck4Bug Combine Automated Compliance with Ethical Hacking
  • Lithuanian cybersecurity platform Copla has teamed up with Baltic-based bug bounty platform Buck4Bug.
  • The partnership will enable Copla clients to leverage Buck4Bug’s team of ethical hackers to identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities before attackers have the chance to exploit them.
  • Rebranding from CyberUpgrade earlier this year, Copla made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2025 in London.

ICT security and compliance automation platform Copla announced a partnership with Baltic-based bug bounty platform Buck4Bug. The partnership will enable Copla customers to request and manage offensive testing directly inside the platform, launching scoped engagements for web, mobile, API, and cloud, or running continuous bounty programs.

“Real security isn’t just about controls, it’s about continuous proof,” Copla noted on its LinkedIn page announcing the partnership. “That’s why we’re partnering with Buck4Bug to bring together two powerful forces: automated compliance and monitoring from Copla and crowdsourced testing from a trusted network of ethical hackers. Together, we’re making it easier for companies to move beyond checklists and into real resilience.”

Buck4Bug combines deep manual expertise with focused tooling to discover security vulnerabilities that scanners often miss. The company connects organizations with ethical, “white hat” hackers to find and fix cybersecurity vulnerabilities before attackers do, validating and documenting each issue to ensure reproducible remediation. Courtesy of the newly announced partnership, Copla will convert Buck4Bug’s findings into action: prioritizing tasks, tracking fixes, scheduling retests, and providing evidence that enables teams to seamlessly move from discovery to demonstrable risk reduction.

“Modern security isn’t about snapshots, it’s about feedback loops,” Buck4Bug founder Paulius Šliavas said. “Together with Copla, we’re turning every pentest into actionable risk reduction and measurable compliance outcomes. Our hackers surface the hard-to-find issues; Copla makes sure fixes stick, risks trend down, and auditors see the story.”

Based in Vilnius, Lithuania, and founded in 2024, Buck4Bug offers bug bounty programs, penetration testing, and auction-based IT audits—all via a single platform. The company’s partnership news with Copla comes in the wake of Buck4Bug’s announcement that it has joined the Startup Lithuania Accelerator, powered by Plug and Play Tech Center, and launched its first public bug bounty program in collaboration with Fjord Bank.

Founded in 2023 and headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania, Copla made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2025. At the conference, the company demonstrated its ICT security and compliance automation platform that provides a full cybersecurity and compliance department at a subscription cost. The platform combines CoreGuardian, which ensures compliance with frameworks such as DORA; an AI-powered co-pilot to provide real-time education, assessments, and alerts to boost accountability; and VendorGuard, which simplifies vendor management by handling risk assessments, incident planning, and prioritization.

Formerly known as CyberUpgrade, the company rebranded earlier this year in a move designed to reflect its evolution beyond cybersecurity.

“After years of growing, evolving, and helping organizations secure their digital environment, we’re stepping into an exciting new phase,” the company noted on its LinkedIn page. “We are now Copla—our new name, our new vision, and our next stage of evolution. Why Copla? Because we’re no longer just about cybersecurity. COmpliance PLAtform reflects everything we do today: empowering organizations to manage compliance, risk, and security with one intelligent platform. Same team. Bigger vision. A name that matches our mission.”


Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

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

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

Wealthtech at Work: SS&C Acquires Calastone, Clover Emerges from Stealth, and More!

Wealthtech at Work: SS&C Acquires Calastone, Clover Emerges from Stealth, and More!

This week I’m looking at a trio of stories from the wealthtech beat: SS&C’s completed acquisition of Calastone, the emergence of a new UK-based wealthtech, and a look at two, not-quite-contrasting interpretations of funding for wealthtechs in Q3 2025.


SS&C Technologies completes $1 billion acquisition of Calastone

Initially reported in July, SS&C Technologies announced this week that it has completed its acquisition of Calastone. The company purchased Calastone, a London-based, international funds network and provider of technology solutions to wealth and asset managers, from global investment firm Carlyle for a price of £766 million ($1.03 billion). The transaction was funded via a combination of debt and cash.

“Calastone’s network and technology further strengthen SS&C’s leadership across global fund operations,” Chairman and CEO of SS&C Technologies Bill Stone said. “Together, we will accelerate innovation for our clients, expand our reach, and continue to simplify the way the industry operates.”

The acquisition will bolster SS&C’s solutions for fund administration, transfer agency, AI, and intelligent automation. The union will also facilitate the launch of a unified, real-time operating platform to lower costs, complexity, and operational risk for fund industry participants while providing enhanced distribution, investor servicing, and operational scalability.

Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Windsor, Connecticut, SS&C Technologies provides mission-critical, cloud-based solutions to more than 22,000 companies in financial services and healthcare. A member of the Fortune 1000 and a publicly traded firm on the NASDAQ under the ticker SSNC, SS&C Technologies is the largest independent hedge fund and private equity administrator, and the largest mutual fund transfer agency, in the world.

Calastone runs the largest global funds network, linking more than 4,500 financial organizations worldwide across 57 markets. The company processes more than £250 billion ($334 billion) of investment value each month, and maintains offices in Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore, New York, and Sydney. With the completed acquisition, Calastone’s 250 employees will join SS&C Global Investor & Distribution Solutions, effective immediately.

“This is an exciting new chapter for Calastone,” company CEO Julien Hammerson said. “Joining SS&C gives our clients and employees access to greater scale, investment, and opportunity. We’re proud of what we’ve built and look forward to contributing to SS&C’s continued growth and global success.”


UK wealthtech Clove emerges from stealth

London-based wealthtech Clove has emerged from stealth with €12 million ($14 million) in pre-seed funding in its coffers. The round, which was led by Accel, is regarded as one of the largest early-stage financings for a European startup this year. Kindred Capital VC and Air Street Capital also participated in the investment, along with a handful of angel investors.

“With Clove, we are seeking to break the traditional economics of financial advice by combining the expertise of human advisers with the efficiency of AI,” Co-Founder Alex Loizou said. “Our goal is to make financial planning more accessible, affordable, and effective than ever before, for everyone from young professionals and aspiring entrepreneurs, to growing families and those starting to think about retirement.”

Clove was launched by Loizou and fellow founder Christian Owens at a time when the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has determined that professional financial advice can make a significant difference—as much as 10%—in financial outcomes compared to those who do not have access to this advice. Loizou and Owens see an opportunity to provide this advice via a combination of human insight and AI intelligence.

“Our aim is to make it possible to deliver high-quality, personalized advice at an unprecedented scale,” Owens wrote on the Clove blog. “As we started exploring this problem we discovered that most of what financial advisers do isn’t actually advice, it’s admin. By using AI to reduce that burden, we hope to give advisers more time to do what they are trained to do: help people make better decisions.”

Clove will use the funding to hire additional talent ahead of a full launch in 2026, subject to FCA authorization.


Smaller, but busier? Wealthtech deal activity up, total funding down in Q3 YoY

According to FinTech Global Research, wealthtech investments in the US dropped significantly year over year in Q3 2025. Deal activity was robust by comparison, with 71 deals in Q3 2025 compared to 62 deals in Q3 2024, but total funding dropped to $861 million this year in the third quarter compared to $1.8 billion raised in Q3 2024. The average deal value also declined, falling to $12.1 million this year from an average of $28.8 million in Q3 2024.

The analysts cited “persistent macroeconomic uncertainty” and, interestingly, “evolving wealth management technologies” for what it said was a cautious, “lower-risk” approach by investors.

To that final point, there may be reason for optimism. Looking out over a longer time frame, the CB Insights State of Fintech Q3’25 Report noted that wealthtech funding was “maintaining momentum” and on track to double 2024 totals, having already topped 2024 levels. In fact, CB Insights highlighted “strong confidence in digital-first wealth management solutions” and vigorous hiring as positive signs. The report noted that financial advisor productivity tools, wealth management banking and lending platforms, and AI investment intelligence platforms were among the top sectors in fintech in terms of headcount growth year-over-year.


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Data Privacy Management Software Provider Basis Theory Secures $33 Million

Data Privacy Management Software Provider Basis Theory Secures $33 Million
  • Data management and payments infrastructure company Basis Theory has raised $33 million in Series B funding in a round led by Costanoa Ventures, along with Stage 2 Capital and Moneta VC.
  • The investment, which takes the company’s total capital raised to $50 million, will be used to help expand its payment vault for merchants, as well as fuel the company’s innovations in agentic commerce.
  • Founded in 2020, Basis Theory made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022 in San Francisco. Colin Luce is CEO.

Data management innovator Basis Theory has secured $33 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Costanoa Ventures alongside Stage 2 Capital and Moneta VC. The investment also featured participation from existing investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Kindred Ventures, Box Group, and Offline Ventures. The Series B takes Basis Theory’s total capital raised to $50 million, according to Crunchbase.

“This funding represents more than capital,” company Co-Founder and CEO Colin Luce wrote on the Basis Theory blog this week. “It validates our mission of giving merchants control over their payments data and the flexibility to innovate on their own terms.”

Basis Theory lives at the intersection of technology and commerce. The company’s PCI Level 1, SOC2 type II, and ISO 27001-compliant vault offers fintechs and merchants broad flexibility and customization as they build their payment infrastructures and create payment stacks that suit their individual needs. As merchants look for superior ways to manage payment data across a growing number of payment service providers, Basis Theory offers a technology that enables them to tokenize and manage sensitive payment data while maintaining complete control over how that data is accessed both within their own systems as well as when it is shared with third parties. This week’s funding will help Basis Theory expand its enterprise-grade payment vault for merchants around the world, as well as power the company’s work in agentic commerce.

“The payments ecosystem is changing rapidly, and merchants no longer want to be locked into rigid platforms,” Luce said. “We’re giving control back by making payments data as accessible and programmable as any other data type so it can fuel growth, intelligence, and automation across the entire business.”

Basis Theory’s payment vault, which is independent of any payment processor or orchestration layer, also serves as a foundation for agentic commerce and the Agentic Commerce Consortium. Launched last month by Basis Theory, the consortium is a network of more than 20 companies that are collaborating to define the standards and infrastructure that will enable AI agents to become trusted buyers. This will empower merchants to embrace agentic commerce safely and at scale.

In a statement introducing the consortium, Luce acknowledged that other entities have also articulated agentic AI standards, such as Google with its Agent Payments Protocol (AP2). At the same time, Luce suggested that the underlying infrastructure must be improved first. “Our view is that we must start by modernizing the existing underlying foundational infrastructure via APIs, but done in a way where AP2 or MCP or KYA or any other protocol can be built on top of or wrapped around it,” Luce wrote. “It’s too early to know which protocols will gain adoption or whether who is behind the protocol will dictate said adoption.”

Founded in 2020, Basis Theory made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022. At the conference, the company introduced its tokenization platform and showed how its data tokenization API offers a developer-first approach to ingesting and managing high-risk data such as credit cards or personally identifiable information (PII). The technology’s use cases extend from fintech, e-commerce, and the creator economy, to subscription platforms, vertical SaaS, and digital health.


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Charity Bank Turns to Sandstone Technology to Power Mobile Savings App

Charity Bank Turns to Sandstone Technology to Power Mobile Savings App
  • Ethical, UK-based savings and loan Charity Bank announced a strategic partnership with digital banking solutions provider Sandstone Technology to power development of its mobile savings app.
  • Charity Bank and Sandstone Technology have been collaboration partners for more than a decade.
  • Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, Sandstone Technology made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2012, and most recently demoed on the Finovate stage at FinovateEurope 2016.

Charity Bank has forged a strategic partnership with Sandstone Technology to power development of its new mobile savings app. The app will offer a variety of enhanced, self-service capabilities, feature robust security, and provide a suite of modern tools to help meet the needs of Charity Bank’s customers. The technology supports seamless updating, rapid product launches, and a consistent user experience. The app is expected to be available to Charity Bank customers in the spring of 2026.

“Partnering with Charity Bank on this initiative is both exciting and rewarding,” Sandstone Technology Chief Customer Officer Jennifer Harris said, “Mobile is now the channel of choice across all demographics, and this solution reflects the importance of delivering banking experiences that are intuitive, flexible, and future-ready. Our collaboration is built on trust and innovation, and this project showcases our shared vision for the next generation of digital banking.”

Charity Bank is an ethical savings and loan wholly owned by charitable foundations, trusts, and social purpose organizations. The institution uses savers’ deposits to provide loans to organizations in the UK that are working toward positive social change for individuals, communities, and the environment. Since 2002, Charity Bank has lent more than £600 million to charities and social enterprises across the UK.

Sandstone Technology is a long-time technology partner of Charity Bank, having collaborated for more than a decade. The current partnership to develop the institution’s mobile app represents the latest milestone in Charity Bank’s digital transformation journey designed to enhance the customer experience and make access to ethical banking available to more banking customers.

“We are thrilled to take this next step with Sandstone Technology,” Charity Bank Director of Operations and Savings Justin Hort said. “Launching a mobile app is a major milestone that reflects our commitment to evolving with our savers’ needs. We’re focused on delivering a seamless, modern and intuitive experience—and with Sandstone’s proven track record, we knew they were the right partner to bring this vision to life.”

Headquartered in Sydney, Australia and founded in 1996, Sandstone Technology made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2012. The company, which offers solutions for loan origination, digital banking, and digital onboarding, most recently demoed on the Finovate stage at FinovateEurope 2016. Abhish Saha was appointed CEO in 2022 after previously serving as the Executive General Manager of the company’s Digital Banking & Elevate business unit. Saha replaced Michael Phillipou, who had been Sandstone Technology’s CEO since December 2020.

More recently, Sandstone Technology earned recognition for its partnership with UK-based Chetwood Bank, helping the institution deploy its digital savings platform that has contributed to a 39% increase in customers completing the application process and opening a savings account.


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Cybersecurity Awareness Month: The State of Fraud in 2025 and Best of Show Fraud Fighters

Cybersecurity Awareness Month: The State of Fraud in 2025 and Best of Show Fraud Fighters

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month in the US—although those in fintech and financial services can be forgiven for feeling as if every month is cybersecurity awareness month.

This is not to say that the threat of fraud and financial crime is any less important in health care, consumer technology, or any other sector of the economy. But the facts are hard to ignore. According to the New York Federal Reserve, financial services companies face 300x more cyber attacks compared to companies in other industries. After all, that’s where the money is—to say nothing of a treasure trove of data on banking customers, borrowers, investors, and more.

Additionally, the impact of fraud and financial crime on financial services companies and their customers can be significantly greater, as well. Estimates indicate that the average breach cost in the financial sector is more than $6 million, compared to the global average of $4.9 million. In fact, the financial services sector is second only to healthcare when it comes to the average cost of a data breach.

Released in the first half of the year, Alloy’s 2025 State of Fraud Report noted that a sizable number (60%) of financial institutions and fintechs reported fraud growth across both consumer and business accounts over the past year. The good news is that, unlike in AI, where there remains some skepticism about the potential benefits versus costs and risks, Alloy observed that 87% of institutions queried believed that investing in fraud prevention—especially via deploying identity risk solutions, building in-house anti-fraud solutions, and adding talent to fraud teams—outweighed the costs.

More recent reports on fraud and financial crime underscore additional challenges. The Kroll 2025 Financial Crime Report, which surveyed 600 international executives, noted that a growing number of executives fear an acceleration in financial crime, with 71% believing financial crime risks will increase in 2025 compared to 67% in 2023. Alarmingly, the executives also confessed a sizable gap between their concerns about the accelerating pace of financial crime and their own organization’s preparedness to fight it, with only 23% of those surveyed believing their compliance programs were up to the task.

As for the question of whether AI is an effective tool to fight financial crime or a new and dangerous weapon in the hands of fraudsters, the answer, unsurprisingly, is “yes.” Just over half of those executives surveyed (57%) believe AI is a benefit to fighting financial crime while just under half (49%) believe AI represents a significant risk and vector for fraud.


Best of Show winners lead the fight against financial crime

With fraud and financial crime threats on the rise, it is no surprise to see a growing number of companies on the Finovate stage whose innovations are dedicated to fighting fraud, scams, and other financial crime. In fact, 2025 was the first year since COVID that featured a fraud fighter in every Best of Show winning cohort: FinovateEurope, FinovateSpring, and FinovateFall.

Here’s a look at some of our Best of Show winning alums from recent years who are innovating in the field of financial crime and fraud prevention.

Casap – Offers a co-pilot and collaboration platform that fully automates dispute management and empowers financial institutions and fintechs to more effectively fight first-person fraud.

Herd Security – Leverages AI-driven detections, training content, phishing simulations, and exercises to make users an active and engaged part of defending their companies and organizations from fraud and cybercrime.

Keyless – Equips companies with biometric authentication technology that reduces account takeover (ATO) fraud by up to 80%, and verifies a user’s genuine identity in addition to their device in 300ms or less.

Illuma – Offers a real-time voice authentication solution that replaces traditional knowledge-based authentication, enhances the caller experience, and improves operational efficiency while preventing fraud in contact centers.

Corsound AI – Leverages 200+ patents to provide voice-to-face and real-time deepfake detection. The company’s technology leverages the unique correlation between voice and facial features to authenticate identities accurately.

1Kosmos – Combines identity proofing, credential verification, and strong authentication to enable remote identity verification and passwordless multi-factor authentication to enable workers, customers, and residents to securely utilize digital services.

Trulioo – Covering 195 countries, Trulioo offers an identity platform that verifies more than 14,000 ID documents and 700 million businesses, while checking against more than 6,000 watchlists.


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