Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

SoFi Enters the Enterprise Banking World with Crypto-Native Infrastructure

SoFi Enters the Enterprise Banking World with Crypto-Native Infrastructure
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, SoFi
  • SoFi is entering commercial banking with a 24/7 model that combines fiat accounts, crypto rails, and its own tokenized deposit, SoFiUSD, to enable real-time money movement.
  • The company is taking a “stablecoin sandwich” approach, converting fiat to SoFiUSD and back again to enable instant settlement while keeping deposits on its balance sheet.
  • SoFi is positioning itself between banks and fintechs, aiming to deliver the speed of crypto-native players and the trust of a regulated bank in a single platform.

Lending and wealth management fintech SoFi is joining the commercial banking world with the launch of SoFi Big Business Banking, its new set of enterprise banking tools. The new offering comes with both fiat and crypto-native infrastructure that allows for 24/7 money movement.

The launch comes as part of SoFi’s new focus on integrating into the blockchain. Most recently, the company launched its own tokenized deposit, SoFiUSD, to settle its crypto trading business, offer faster settlement around the clock, power international remittances, and more.

“To be competitive businesses today must operate in a global, always-on environment 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, while legacy banks typically still operate 9 to 5, Monday to Friday,” said SoFi CEO Anthony Noto. “SoFi Big Business Banking is changing that by combining the strength and regulatory foundation of a nationally chartered bank with the speed, scale, and flexibility companies need to move and manage money or digital assets in real time.”

SoFi’s new business offering will help companies make payments, access funds, and operate in real time with a fully chartered bank. At launch, SoFi’s Big Business Banking comes with deposit accounts, fiat, crypto, and SoFiUSD payments. By leveraging digital currencies, SoFi is enabling businesses to transact outside of traditional banking hours. The company is taking the “stablecoin sandwich” approach, allowing businesses to convert from fiat to SoFiUSD, then back to fiat, enabling real-time settlement without relying on external rails, while ensuring deposits remain on SoFi’s balance sheet.

By combining fiat accounts, payments, and digital asset infrastructure into a single regulated platform, SoFi is positioning itself as the bank for a world where money moves 24/7 and across formats. While fintechs like Ramp are building the operating systems for how companies spend money, SoFi is making a play to own where that money lives—and increasingly, how it moves between traditional and on-chain systems.

SoFi’s Big Business Banking is already live. Initial clients include Cumberland, Bullish, BitGo, B2C2, Fireblocks, Wintermute, Galaxy, Jupiter, Mesh Payments, and Mastercard. 

Competition in the business banking space has been steadily rising for the past six years, and the use of blockchain rails is intensifying the pressure. Banks are piloting tokenized deposits and blockchain-based settlement, while payments firms like Stripe and Checkout.com are adding stablecoin capabilities to support faster global commerce. Crypto-native players, such as Circle and Coinbase, continue to offer 24/7 settlement outside the banking system entirely. SoFi is attempting to bring these models into a single offering that delivers the speed of stablecoins with the trust of a regulated bank. And because it has its own stablecoin, it doesn’t rely on external infrastructure.

Photo by DS stories

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How Raiffeisen Bank International is Thinking About Digital Catch-Up

How Raiffeisen Bank International is Thinking About Digital Catch-Up
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2026, Speaker series

As the push into AI continues, many banks are still struggling to modernize their digital foundations without simply recreating their existing platforms. For institutions operating across multiple markets, that challenge becomes even more complex, as firms need to balance local autonomy with the need for standardization, speed, and scalability.

In a recent conversation with Vanja Tokic of Raiffeisen Bank International, Tokic explained that the real work of transformation is happening in how banks rethink processes, align teams, and prepare their data and systems for what comes next. He also talked about what it takes to actually get started.

“There is still a lot of overhype on the GenAI topic. Banks and people in general are underestimating what it takes to put those things into real processes, into real production… It looks really simple when you start prompting, but when you actually have to do it in a regulated environment, then it’s really difficult to get it done.”

Tokic serves as Head of Digital Channels and Conversational AI and previously led retail digital transformation strategy at Raiffeisen Bank International. With more than two decades of experience in digital banking, he focuses on translating high-level strategy into execution by aligning teams across markets, driving adoption of reusable platforms, and building what he describes as a “digital bank with a human touch.”

Raiffeisen Bank International is an Austria-based banking group that operates across Central and Eastern Europe, serving millions of customers through a network of subsidiary banks. The organization functions as both a central institution for the Raiffeisen Banking Group and a holding company for its international operations, offering retail and corporate banking services across the region.

Photo by Ron Lach

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Five Companies Powering Financial Wellness and Consumer Engagement

Five Companies Powering Financial Wellness and Consumer Engagement
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateSpring 2026, List series

For financial institutions, growth involves deepening relationships with existing customers. At a time when switching financial institutions comes at a low cost and fintechs offer many of the same benefits as traditional banks, customer engagement and financial wellness have become strategic priorities.

For traditional financial institutions whose offerings can seem static, providing personalized experiences that help customers save smarter, build better financial habits, and feel more in control of their financial lives can help retain and win over clients. The banks that succeed will be those that can embed themselves into customers’ day-to-day financial decisions.

At FinovateSpring 2026, five companies are focused on helping banks do exactly that. From savings and financial wellness tools to engagement platforms and next-generation consumer experiences, these solutions are designed to drive loyalty, increase product adoption, and deliver measurable value to both customers and institutions.

Plinqit

Business HYS by Plinqit helps banks compete for deposits while giving small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) more effective ways to manage their cash. The platform is designed to drive deposit growth by offering high-yield savings experiences tailored to business customers, an area where many traditional banks have struggled to differentiate.

Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan and founded in 2015, Plinqit enables financial institutions to attract and retain SMB deposits without overhauling their existing infrastructure which ultimately helps level the playing field to compete against larger competitors and digital-first challengers.

Goodfin

Goodfin is expanding access to alternative investments by opening institutional-grade opportunities to a broader range of investors. Its platform is designed to help financial institutions and fintechs offer differentiated wealth-building tools such as private equity, venture capital, and pre-IPO deals that go beyond traditional stocks and bonds.

Founded in 2022 and headquartered in San Francisco, Goodfin enables banks to meet growing customer demand for access to alternative assets, while positioning themselves as gateways to more sophisticated investment opportunities.

Level

Level helps auto lenders reduce losses by identifying and recovering missed value in total loss insurance claims. Its AI-powered claims management platform centralizes workflows into a single portal, enabling lenders to detect undervalued claims and dispute them at scale.

Backed by licensed claims experts, Level combines automation with human oversight to increase recoveries, reduce deficiency balances, and accelerate time to payment. Headquartered in New York and founded in 2023, the company offers banks, credit unions, and lenders a way to improve operational efficiency while directly impacting the bottom line.

BankUniverse

BankUniverse delivers a privacy-first intent engine that helps financial institutions identify and convert high-value prospects without relying on sensitive personal data. By analyzing user intent signals rather than personal identifiers, the platform enables banks to drive digital sales while maintaining strong data privacy standards.

Founded in 2024 and headquartered in Greece, BankUniverse helps institutions increase conversion rates while navigating growing regulatory and consumer expectations around data protection.

Bluum Finance

Bluum Finance provides a unified platform for embedded investing, combining brokerage, custody, and reporting into a single API. Its infrastructure allows financial institutions and fintechs to launch fully compliant investment offerings quickly, without the complexity and cost typically associated with building these capabilities in-house.

Founded in 2025 and headquartered in Los Angeles, Bluum enhances its offering with AI-powered advisory tools that deliver personalized investment experiences. The platform is built for a wide range of providers looking to bring investing into their existing customer journeys.

Why banks should care

Financial wellness and engagement are quickly becoming primary drivers of growth instead of nice-to-have features. Banks are under pressure to increase deposits, deepen relationships, and create new revenue streams while competing with fintechs that are often more agile and user-focused. Platforms that help customers save more effectively, access new investment opportunities, or receive more personalized financial guidance can translate directly into higher balances, stronger loyalty, and increased product usage.

At the same time, these tools enable banks to expand their role in customers’ financial lives without significantly increasing operational complexity. Whether it’s embedding investing capabilities, improving digital acquisition, or unlocking overlooked sources of value in existing portfolios, financial wellness platforms offer a practical way for institutions to drive both customer outcomes and business performance.

Photo by www.kaboompics.com

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Tempo’s Payments Infrastructure and Protocol Goes Live

Tempo’s Payments Infrastructure and Protocol Goes Live
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Tempo has launched its Mainnet and Machine Payments Protocol (MPP) to support AI-driven commerce, combining blockchain infrastructure with a standardized way for agents to initiate and manage payments across rails.
  • The protocol also introduces “session-based” transactions that remove the need for traditional checkout flows and enable real-time, pay-per-use models.
  • As agentic commerce and stablecoin adoption grow, Tempo is positioning itself at the forefront of development.

Payments blockchain Tempo unveiled its Mainnet this week, alongside a new payments standard designed for AI-driven commerce. Tempo Mainnet focuses on serving needs specifically in the payments space, offering instant settlement, low fees, and high throughput for transactions across the globe.

In addition to the Tempo Mainnet infrastructure, the company also released its Machine Payments Protocol (MPP), an open standard for agentic payments. MPP is payment agnostic and is able to work with stablecoins, cards, Affirm, Klarna, and other payment methods. While Tempo Mainnet provides the underlying blockchain infrastructure for settlement, MPP acts as the coordination layer that enables agents to initiate and manage payments across different networks and payment methods.

“We decided to launch MPP as an open standard so that machine payments can work consistently across services and payment rails,” the company said in a blog post announcement.

MPP provides a standardized way for AI agents and services to initiate, authorize, and settle payments programmatically. While traditional platforms build their own billing and checkout flow, MPP allows a service to request payment from an agent, which can then approve the transaction and complete it instantly from its wallet.

The protocol also introduces “sessions,” which enable continuous, streaming payments that allow agents to pay incrementally for usage (such as in an API call) without requiring a separate transaction each time. Because it brings the payment logic into a shared standard, MPP enables agents to transact across different services and payment methods.

Creating a standardized approach to agent-led payments is increasingly important as developments and interest in agentic payments, combined with the increased use of stablecoins, skyrocket. Traditional checkout flows and billing systems are too slow and fragmented to handle a future in which AI agents purchase services, access data, and execute workflows autonomously. Tempo’s standardized way of enabling machines to request and settle payments across rails positions the company on the leading edge of agentic commerce.

Tempo, which has been trialing MPP since December of 2025, leverages partnerships with Anthropic, DoorDash, Mastercard, Nubank, OpenAI, Ramp, Revolut, Shopify, Standard Chartered, and Visa to bring global payments, cross-border remittances, embedded finance, and tokenized deposits use cases.

The California-based company also revealed plans to introduce more features designed to support enterprise payment workloads, and disclosed it will have “more to share” in the coming months.

Photo by KATRIN BOLOVTSOVA

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How Gradient Labs is Thinking About the Shift to Agentic Banking

How Gradient Labs is Thinking About the Shift to Agentic Banking
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Speaker series

The agentic banking future brings a lot of uncertainty. While some experts predict the user interface will be visual, others imagine a screen-free, voice-based user experience.

At FinovateEurope 2026, we sat down with Dimitri Masin, CEO of Gradient Labs, to discuss the evolution from mobile-first banking to agentic banking, as well as how banks should think about the build vs. buy decision in the age of AI.

Masin contends that while banks have spent the last decade perfecting digital interfaces, a major operational challenge still remains: the complexity of customer operations.

“Even though fintechs have created amazing apps, the second half of the problem remains unsolved. These companies still require gigantic human organizations to power those accounts… and that’s the source of many bad customer experiences today,” said Masin.

According to Masin, we are now entering a second major transformation in banking in which AI agents can take on complex, nuanced workflows that traditional automation couldn’t handle.

“With traditional automation, you just can’t automate many of the things banks need to do—they require judgment and nuance…. Now, with advances in AI, you can automate those messy processes that were only doable by humans before,” he added.

Dimitri Masin has spent more than a decade in fintech and banking, including early experience at Monzo, where he helped scale customer operations. His work focuses on applying AI to automate complex financial workflows and improve operational efficiency.

Founded in 2023, London-based Gradient Labs enables banks to embed AI agents directly into their systems to automate customer operations and complex workflows. By moving beyond rule-based automation, the company helps financial institutions reduce operational burden, improve customer experience, and prepare for an AI-first future.

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Robinhood Ventures Invests in Stripe and ElevenLabs

Robinhood Ventures Invests in Stripe and ElevenLabs
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Robinhood Ventures Fund I made early investments in Stripe and ElevenLabs, expanding its portfolio of private fintech and AI companies.
  • The fund, which began trading earlier this month on the New York Stock Exchange, gives retail investors access to private market opportunities traditionally reserved for institutional and accredited investors.
  • As part of its push to become a financial super app, Robinhood is building infrastructure to package and distribute private assets.

Robinhood Ventures’ first fund, Robinhood Ventures Fund I (RVI), announced it has closed investments in Stripe and ElevenLabs, just days after the fund began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RVI.

Last week, RVI purchased $14.6 million of Class B common stock of Stripe in secondary transactions, and days later bought $20 million of Series D preferred stock of ElevenLabs in a primary transaction. Founded in 2010, Stripe enables businesses to accept payments, manage billing, and embed financial services into digital platforms. UK-based ElevenLabs is an AI research and product company focused on audio, voice, and realistic speech.

Robinhood launched Robinhood Ventures to enable its users to invest in private companies. The portfolio now includes Airwallex, Boom, Databricks, ElevenLabs, Mercor, Oura, Ramp, Revolut, and Stripe. Robinhood plans to add more private companies in the future.

“We’re excited to add Stripe and ElevenLabs to Robinhood Ventures Fund I and are proud to offer retail investors access to these frontier companies,” said Robinhood Ventures Fund I President Sarah Pinto. “They are helping shape the future of fintech and AI, and reflect RVI’s focus on investing in innovative companies operating at the forefront of their industries.”

In an era when valuable tech companies are staying private for longer, it is difficult for everyday investors to tap into that value. Instead, access has traditionally been limited to wealthy and institutional investors. But because Robinhood doesn’t require investors to be accredited or charge performance fees like traditional venture funds do, a wider variety of investors are able to participate.

Expanding its investment infrastructure is a key piece for Robinhood, which has recently disclosed its goal of becoming a financial super app. The California-based company is offering more than just investment access. It is building the rails to package, price, and distribute traditionally illiquid assets to everyday investors. If this infrastructure model proves successful, Robinhood could expand beyond venture equity into other private market categories such as credit, real estate, and tokenized assets.

Photo by Magda Ehlers

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Mastercard Acquires Stablecoin Infrastructure BVNK for $1.8 Billion

Mastercard Acquires Stablecoin Infrastructure BVNK for $1.8 Billion
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, MasterCard, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Mastercard is acquiring stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK for up to $1.8 billion to bridge fiat and on-chain payments within a single network.
  • The deal positions Mastercard to connect cards, bank rails, stablecoins, and tokenized deposits to create a unified, multi-rail payments ecosystem.
  • While competitor Visa relies on a partnership-led approach to stablecoin integration, Mastercard is seeking to own the infrastructure layer outright.

Mastercard is making a move to own the rails that bridge stablecoins and fiat this week. The payments giant is acquiring stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK for up to $1.8 billion, including $300 million in contingent payments. 

The announcement comes at a time when the current stablecoin market capitalization exceeds $316 billion, a figure that is up 2.5x from 2023. It also comes as users across the globe are increasingly open to holding stablecoins. In a recent survey of over 4,000 stablecoin and crypto holders, BVNK found that 56% of participants expressed plans to acquire more stablecoins within the next 12 months.

This increased utility of stablecoins is creating a need in the traditional financial space as users require a bridge between fiat and stablecoins. As a result, banks and fintechs need to offer their customers payment options enabled by stablecoins and tokenized deposits.

Mastercard anticipates that acquiring BVNK’s stablecoin infrastructure will allow it to become the bridge between fiat and stablecoins. The company will connect stablecoin rails to its own network to offer consumers the accessibility and interoperability they have come to expect in the traditional finance realm.

“We expect that most financial institutions and fintechs will in time provide digital currency services, be it with stablecoins or tokenized deposits. We want to support them and their customers with a best-in-class, highly compliant, interoperable offering that brings the benefits of tokenized money to the real world,” said Mastercard Chief Product Officer Jorn Lambert. “This acquisition reinforces what we have always done, using innovation and technology to power economies and empower people. Adding on-chain rails to our network will support speed and programmability for virtually every type of transaction.”

Mastercard isn’t the first traditional card network making a move to establish a foothold in the stablecoin space. Visa has formed partnerships with Circle and Bridge to support USDC payments and enable on-chain settlement flows. Mastercard, however, is taking things a step further. Instead of relying on a partnership-led approach, the network giant is acquiring the stablecoin infrastructure outright. Bringing the infrastructure in-house will allow Mastercard to connect traditional finance, on-chain assets, and enterprise payment flows within a single network.

BVNK was founded in 2021 and currently processes over $25 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 partnership is about complementary strengths: Mastercard brings 200+ countries and territories, institutional trust and settlement rails. BVNK brings proven stablecoin infrastructure, deep expertise and an enterprise customer base,” said BVNK Co-founder and CEO Jesse Hemson-Struthers in a post on LinkedIn. “More trust attracts more users. More users attract more businesses. More businesses attract more developers. And suddenly, moving money on stablecoin rails becomes as routine as moving money on traditional rails—accessible to everyone.”

Once the acquisition is finalized later this year, Mastercard will be able to offer a single network to connect cards, bank rails, stablecoins, and tokenized deposits. The new, multi-rail approach will let customers choose the solutions that work best for them without tying them down to a single platform.

“This deal brings together complementary capabilities to define and deliver the future of money,” said Hemson-Struthers. “Together, we’re able to deliver an unprecedented infrastructure for digital currency-based financial services.”

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What BVNK’s Report Reveals About How Consumers Are Using Stablecoins

What BVNK’s Report Reveals About How Consumers Are Using Stablecoins
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Report series

Multi-rail payments infrastructure platform BVNK recently published a report on stablecoin utility that examines how consumers actually use stablecoins. The report found that consumers’ desire to obtain stablecoins is rising, and that stablecoins are becoming a fixture of consumers’ savings portfolios.

Published in partnership with YouGov, Coinbase, and Artemis, the report is the result of a survey of 4,658 crypto and stablecoin holders across 15 countries. Here are four major findings from the survey:

Stablecoin holdings increasing

Of the stablecoin holders surveyed, almost half (49%) increased their holdings within the past 12 months, while only 7% of people decreased their holdings. More than half (56%) of crypto or stablecoin holders expressed plans to acquire more stablecoins in the next 12 months. This shows that stablecoins are transitioning from a niche tool into a mainstream asset.

Crypto owners are diversifying

The report also surveyed crypto holders who do not yet own stablecoins. Among this subset of non-owners, 13% said that they intend to acquire stablecoins in the next 12 months. In low and middle income economies such as Africa, consumers showed a higher interest in acquiring stablecoins for the first time. In fact, in Africa in particular, 76% of respondents said that they plan to acquire stablecoins in the next 12 months. This is a reflection of the utility of stablecoins in lower income regions.

Stablecoins and crypto are becoming a core element of savings

The stablecoin and crypto holders surveyed reported allocating around one-third (34%) of their savings to crypto and stablecoins. Almost half (48%) of respondents allocate up to a quarter of their savings to stablecoins and crypto. This shows that many consumers are beginning to treat digital assets not as speculative, but as a meaningful component of their long-term savings strategies.

Stablecoin holders are relatively young

Not surprisingly, more than half (54%) of those surveyed who own stablecoins are aged 18 to 34 years old. Of the respondents in the older age bracket of 55+, only 8% said that they currently hold stablecoins, while 17% of people in that age range said that they plan to acquire crypto within the next 12 months. This shows that stablecoin adoption is being driven largely by younger consumers who are more comfortable incorporating new financial technologies into their everyday financial lives.

Overall, the findings suggest that stablecoins are evolving beyond their early role as a trading tool within crypto markets and are beginning to function as a practical financial instrument for everyday users. As access to digital wallets and crypto infrastructure improves, stablecoins are increasingly positioned to bridge traditional finance and digital assets by offering consumers a way to store value, move money globally, and participate in global markets with lower barriers than traditional finance.

Photo by DS stories

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Ramp Acquires Guest and Travel Expense Company Juno

Ramp Acquires Guest and Travel Expense Company Juno
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Ramp is acquiring travel and expense startup Juno to expand its capabilities in managing complex travel spending, particularly for non-employees.
  • Integrating Juno’s platform will help Ramp coordinate booking, payments, reimbursements, and reconciliation for guest travel alongside employee expenses within a single platform.
  • The new capabilities will help Ramp compete with other business finance software tools like Brex.

Corporate card and expense management platform Ramp is buying Colorado-based Juno, a travel and expense management company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2024, Juno helps businesses coordinate complex travel and expenses. Organizations can book travel, reimburse out-of-pocket expenses, and reconcile travel payments quickly. Juno’s platform is particularly helpful for organizations that pay for travel for non-employees.

“We’ve spent the better part of a decade working on the guest travel problem,” said Devon Tivona, co-CEO and founder of Juno. “These aren’t anonymous business travelers. They’re candidates, customers, partners. The trip is part of the impression. Ramp has the platform, the customers, and the ambition. That’s why we’re here.”

Ramp will use Juno to expand its travel and expense capabilities, especially for companies that manage travel for contractors, partners, and other non-employees. Integrating Juno’s technology into its platform will allow Ramp to streamline the coordination, payment, and reconciliation of guest travel alongside employee expenses. These new capabilities give Ramp a more comprehensive travel solution that will help businesses manage a wider range of travel-related spending within a single financial operations platform.

“Guest travel is a hard problem. It’s messy, operationally heavy, and has real business consequences,” said Ramp co-founder and CTO Karim Atiyeh. “A bad candidate travel experience can cost you a hire. Juno built something strong in a category that matters. Our job now is to give them leverage and stay out of the way.”

Business finance software heated up earlier this decade, receiving hundreds of millions in VC investment during a time when the rest of fintech was in a funding downturn. To keep competitive, corporate card and expense platforms such as Ramp and Brex have increasingly added travel capabilities, while travel-focused companies like Navan have expanded into expense management. By adding guest travel capabilities through Juno, Ramp is positioning itself to manage an even broader category of corporate travel spending.

Ramp was founded in 2019 and has experienced notable growth, most recently fueled by a $300 million financing round that valued it at $32 billion. The company powers over $100 billion in purchases annually for its more than 50,000 customers, which range from family farms to space startups.

Photo by Gustavo Fring

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Ualá Taps DriveWealth to Launch of US Stock Investing in Mexico

Ualá Taps DriveWealth to Launch of US Stock Investing in Mexico
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, DriveWealth
  • Mexican neobank Ualá has tapped DriveWealth’s fractional investing infrastructure to launch “Acciones,” enabling Mexican customers to invest in US stocks.
  • The offering aims to expand investment access in Mexico, where only 4.4% of the population currently invests in financial instruments.
  • For DriveWealth, the partnership continues to expand the reach of its brokerage infrastructure across Latin America.

Latin American neobank Banco Ualá has selected digital trading and brokerage company DriveWealth for its new launch called Acciones (Stocks) that will enable Mexican consumes to invest in US equities.

Leveraging DriveWealth’s brokerage-as-service platform that allows for fractional investing, Ualá allows users to invest in corporate shares starting at $1.12 ($20 MXN), enabling Mexican investors to own shares of companies like Apple, Amazon, and Tesla.

This new accessibility is a big deal in Mexico, a region in which only 4.4% of the population currently invests in any financial instrument. This low participation rate is partly due to the perceived complexity of investing and the assumption that investing is only available to those with significant capital. However, thanks to DriveWealth’s fractional investing infrastructure, Ualá can now allow customers to purchase fractions of US equities. This not only lowers barriers-to-entry, but it also allows investors to build diversified portfolios with smaller amounts of capital.

For DriveWealth, the launch is evidence of global demand for investment access to new markets. By powering fractional US stock investing for Ualá in Mexico, the company continues to expand the reach of its brokerage infrastructure across Latin America.

“DriveWealth was built to democratize access to financial independence and expand access to financial markets through trusted, regulated brokerage infrastructure,” said DriveWealth CEO Naureen Hassan. “Partnering with Ualá allows us to bring US equities to a broader population of investors in Mexico through a secure, fractional investing experience. We’re committed to working together to offer innovative investment solutions to Ualá customers, and helping make investing simple and inclusive, while maintaining the highest standards of execution, custody, and investor protection.”

Ualá’s Acciones (Stocks) onboards users after they answer a series of questions to determine their risk profile and receive portfolio recommendations. Investors will have the choice of three portfolio options, including US stocks and ETFs. To make investing even more approachable, the neobank will not charge any account opening or transaction fees.

“With the launch of Acciones, we are opening the doors of the global market to millions of Mexicans who previously saw these opportunities as unattainable,” said Ualá Regional Director of Wealth Management  Pablo Savoldelli. “Now, starting from 20 pesos and with just a couple of clicks, our clients will be able to protect their savings, obtain dividends, and participate in the growth of the world’s largest companies.”

Ualá’s move is an example of how digital banks are expanding beyond payments and into broader financial tools such as lending and wealth-building. As more neobanks seek to deepen customer relationships and increase engagement, offering investment access is a natural next step.

DriveWealth was founded in 2012 to allow third parties to enable access to US equities, fixed income, and other asset classes through scalable, compliant solutions via its suite of APIs. Last year, the New York-based company teamed up with Moment Technology to make fixed-income investing more accessible to a broader range of investors, and partnered with Walmart’s OnePay to power the neobank’s embedded investing tool.

Photo by Erol Ahmed on Unsplash

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Squarespace Launches Balance to Bring Business Banking In-House

Squarespace Launches Balance to Bring Business Banking In-House
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Squarespace is launching Squarespace Balance, a new financial account that lets merchants manage earnings, spending, and cash flow directly within Squarespace Payments.
  • Balance builds on Squarespace’s growing suite of financial tools that help entrepreneurs run and scale their businesses online.
  • Bringing business banking capabilities into its platform helps Squarespace compete with companies like Ramp and Shopify.

Website building and hosting platform Squarespace unveiled its latest tool to help entrepreneurs run their businesses online. The New York-based company is debuting Squarespace Balance this week, a new account designed to help merchants manage business finances and earn rewards.

Balance sits within Squarespace Payments, the company’s payment solution that integrates with a business’ online store, allowing merchants to accept payments through Squarespace. With Balance, merchants can access funds within hours, earn rewards on their balances, and spend using their Squarespace Visa Commercial card. Balance offers a unified view of a business’ earnings, spending, and cash flow management on the same platform as the rest of the business.

“Squarespace Balance rounds out our suite of financial tools by offering a native financial account that helps merchants manage their business finances and earn rewards, all in one place,” said company SVP of Commercial Dan Chandre. “It reflects our belief that financial services should feel like a natural extension of running a business, not another system entrepreneurs have to manage.”

Because it brings banking capabilities in-house, Balance allows merchants to receive and spend their money in the same platform where they run their business, without needing external banking integrations. The move will help Squarespace compete with other software platforms that are embedding financial services directly into their products. Companies such as Ramp, Shopify, and Stripe have all expanded into financial accounts, corporate cards, and cash management tools that keep businesses operating inside their ecosystems.

Offering a native financial account alongside payments and financing tools like Squarespace Capital, Squarespace is positioning itself to capture more of the financial activity of its existing customers while simplifying financial management for small businesses that would otherwise rely on multiple providers.

Squarespace Balance is currently available to new users in the US and will be expanded to the company’s existing users in the coming months.

Squarespace launched Payments in 2023, and has since been focused on growing its financial tools available to support small businesses. As part of this expansion, the company launched Squarespace Capital in 2025 to offer merchants flexible financing to help them grow their business. Additionally, Squarespace offers tools such as Pay Links, which helps merchants accept payments via links; Tap to Pay, which allows merchants to accept in-person payments without additional hardware, as well as shipping tools, invoicing capabilities, and more.

Originally founded in 2003, Squarespace’s platform has helped millions of customers across more than 200 countries build and run their businesses online. In addition to payments capabilities, the company also offers websites, domains, marketing tools, and appointment scheduling.

Photo by MART PRODUCTION

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Bilt Acquires Travel Commission Management Platform Sion for $30 Million

Bilt Acquires Travel Commission Management Platform Sion for $30 Million
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Bilt is acquiring travel commission platform Sion for $30 million, marking the company’s second acquisition in less than a year.
  • Bilt expects that the deal will strengthen its travel rewards offering.
  • Integrating Sion’s technology will help Bilt connect travel advisors to its hospitality platform, helping members book travel experiences while creating a more differentiated rewards program.

Loyalty platform Bilt has acquired commission management platform Sion for $30 million to strengthen its travel rewards. Today’s acquisition marks Bilt’s second acquisition in under a year.

Founded in 2018, Sion offers commission reconciliation for travel agencies. The New Jersey-based company manages more than $7 billion in travel booking revenue, helping more than 8,000 travel advisors get paid faster and operate more efficiently.

“Travel businesses don’t need another intermediary trying to compete with them,” said Sion Co-Founder Irving Betesh. “They need modern infrastructure and software that solves real operational problems. Sion has built a best-in-class experience around one of the biggest pain points in travel, commissions. We’re excited to join the Bilt team, allowing us to further accelerate what we can deliver for travel businesses and advisors serving travelers around the world.”

Bilt will leverage Sion’s technology and team to further extend its hospitality platform to travel advisors which will be used to build a network of advisors who can deliver travel experiences for Bilt Members. The company said that buying the commission reconciliation platform helps Bilt build a hospitality platform that offers a more robust rewards experience for cardholders. What started with housing payments and neighborhood services now extends to travel.

Through Sion, travel advisors will be able to leverage Bilt’s platform to manage their workflows, serve clients, and grow their businesses. Advisors will also have access to commission reconciliation and tracking, invoice follow-up automation, and new tools for managing bookings and payments more efficiently.

“Bilt’s hospitality platform already helps properties and merchants deliver their best customer experience, and with Sion, we’re extending that to travel advisors,” said Bilt Founder and CEO Ankur Jain. “By giving travel advisors the tools to run their entire business more effectively, we’re building a network of the world’s best travel advisors, and our members benefit from that. This is what building a membership truly centered around where you live looks like.”

As the popularity of embedded banking rises, so does competitive pressure in the space. Loyalty platforms are evolving beyond simple credit card points programs into robust ecosystems that influence how consumers book, shop, and experience services. By bringing travel advisor infrastructure into its platform, Bilt is positioning itself to play a larger role in how its members plan for and purchase travel, which ultimately creates a more differentiated and sticky rewards experience.

Once the acquisition closes, Sion will operate independently under the leadership of its co-founders. The company will maintain its existing clients and services.

Bilt was founded in 2021 to offer a loyalty rewards program and credit card that allows renters to earn points when they pay their rent, building credit with every payment. With no annual fee, the Bilt Mastercard credit card also allows cardholders to earn points on select dining experiences, rideshare purchases, and travel purchases. These points can be redeemed for travel, fitness classes, home decor, and even a down payment on a future home.

Photo by Jessica Bryant

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