Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

Ramp Valued at $32 Billion After $300 Million Financing Round 

Ramp Valued at $32 Billion After $300 Million Financing Round 
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Ramp raised $300 million at a $32 billion valuation, bringing its total funding raised to $2.3 billion.
  • The company surpassed $1 billion in annualized revenue, doubled customers year-over-year, and is scaling AI-driven automation across its platform.
  • Ramp is evolving from a corporate card provider into a more holistic finance operations engine, which raises the bar for value creation in corporate spend management.

Corporate card and expense management platform Ramp is unveiling an updated valuation this week after a new funding round. The New York-based company closed $300 million in funding, boosting its valuation to $32 billion and bringing its total raised to $2.3 billion in equity.

The investment was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with continued support from existing investors Founders Fund, D1 Capital Partners, Coatue, GIC, Avenir Growth, Thrive Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures, T. Rowe Price, Khosla Ventures, ICONIQ, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Soma Capital, Emerson Collective, 8VC, Lux Capital, Definition Capital, 137 Ventures, General Catalyst, Box Group, Kultura Capital, Pinegrove Venture Partners, Anti Fund, and Stripes. New investors, including Alpha Wave Global, Bessemer Venture Partners, Robinhood Ventures, 1789 Capital, Epicenter Capital, and Coral Capital also participated.

Ramp’s all-in-one solution offers corporate cards with expense management, bill payments, procurement, travel booking, treasury, and automated bookkeeping to help organizations save time, reduce costs, and focus on their core competencies. Ramp was founded in 2019 and has since experienced notable growth. As of November 1, the company has:

  • Generated more than $1 billion in annualized revenue
  • Served over 50,000 customers, doubling the number year-over-year
  • Grown its enterprise customer base by 133% year-over-year, with over 2,200 customers contributing $100,000 or more in annualized revenue.

This growth comes shortly after a busy year of development for Ramp. In January, the company launched Ramp Treasury to hold users’ cash deposits in partnership with First Internet Bank of Indiana. Later in the year, Ramp unveiled multiple Agentic AI solutions, including Agents for Controllers and Agents for AP.

It is clear that Ramp isn’t using Agentic AI simply because it is a buzzword. In October alone, the company’s AI made 26,146,619 decisions across over $10 billion in spend.

These adoption metrics, paired with Ramp’s accelerating AI-powered automation, underscore how the company is positioning its platform as a growth and efficiency engine rather than a traditional spend-control tool. According to Ramp CEO and Co-founder Eric Glyman, “Our goal is to make every customer more profitable. On average, companies that switch to Ramp spend 5% less and grow 12% faster—results that outpace nearly every benchmark. The most disciplined and fastest-growing teams choose Ramp because it helps them scale more efficiently. We are working hard to bring that advantage to every business.”

Ramp’s upward trajectory shows that corporate card fintechs are now competing on more than simply card issuance. In order to win in this space, fintechs must create value beyond cards and expense management to materially improve operational outcomes throughout a client’s organization. As procurement, treasury, travel, and automated accounting converge, Ramp is staking its claim as a leader in the space while raising competitive pressure on both incumbents and newer players alike.

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JPMorgan on Data Access Agreements: “The Free Market Worked”

JPMorgan on Data Access Agreements: “The Free Market Worked”
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Julie's Column, Thought Leadership

In July, JPMorgan Chase (JPMC) began notifying fintech data aggregators that it intended to begin charging significant fees for access to its customers’ bank account information. The shift triggered concern among aggregators about their business models, stirred interest among other banks eyeing similar moves, and raised red flags with regulators concerned about the broader economic fallout. Now, nearly five months later, the bank and its fintech partners have struck a deal on those fees, according to CNBC.

JPMC spokesperson Drew Pusateri said that the bank has updated contracts with aggregators that make up more than 95% of the data pulls on its systems, including Yodlee, Morningstar, and Akoya. Plaid was the first player to mutually agree on a new data access contract, inking a deal in September.

“We’ve come to agreements that will make the open banking ecosystem safer and more sustainable and allow customers to continue reliably and securely accessing their favorite financial products,” Pusateri said in a statement. “The free market worked.”

In this “free market” that Pusateri referenced, JPMC ultimately agreed to charge data aggregators a lower and more predictable price than what was initially proposed in July. While still a paid model, the fact that the terms were negotiated within four months indicates that market pressure, bargaining power, and competitive dynamics shaped the final outcome without the need for regulation.

While the parties declined to disclose specific details regarding the price, as well as the term of the agreements, it is clear that the revised agreements preserve commercial viability for the aggregators while allowing JPMC to monetize the data access.

By agreeing on reasonable terms, aggregators are able to operate with certainty when it comes to data sharing and open banking as the formal agreement brings clarity to open banking operations at a time when the CFPB has paused to revise Section 1033 of Dodd-Frank.

Importantly, today’s announcement marks a sea change in financial services. JPMC, which has historically been a leader in many aspects of banking, has signaled to other firms that they can generate a new revenue stream by leveraging their consumers’ financial data. And given JPMC’s scale and market influence, the move to charge fees will not be an isolated event. Other major banks are now positioned and incentivized to adopt comparable fee structures.

Regardless of the time frame it takes others to adopt a similar strategy, the potential of a new revenue stream will reshape the economics of US open banking over the next 12 to 24 months.

Photo by Savvas Stavrinos

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Trulioo Expands into Credit Decisioning

Trulioo Expands into Credit Decisioning
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Trulioo
  • Trulioo is launching a new credit decisioning tool, adding financial, credit, and risk insights to its global identity platform.
  • The update unifies identity, fraud, risk, and credit intelligence into one workflow, enabling faster, more accurate onboarding powered by AI-driven models.
  • With this expansion, Trulioo shifts from ID verification to full-stack onboarding and risk assessment, putting it in direct competition with Alloy, Prove, Experian, Equifax, and Bureau.

Digital identity platform Trulioo is launching credit decisioning this week. The new capability offers financial, credit, and risk insights through Trulioo’s global identity platform, its tool that connects to hundreds of international data sources to instantly verify people and businesses in nearly every country.

Trulioo’s credit decisioning tool will facilitate smarter evaluation, routing, and decision-making during the onboarding process by bringing identity, fraud, risk, and credit intelligence into a single workflow. The company will leverage its global identity platform to bring these insights into AI-driven models that not only accelerate onboarding but also improve decision accuracy.

“Trulioo is the only solution global enterprises need for KYB,” said Trulioo Chief Product Officer Zac Cohen. “We continue to push the boundaries of innovation, building the most sophisticated engine for onboarding businesses, understanding their risk profiles and driving faster, more confident growth. With credit decisioning, we’re uniting identity, fraud, and credit intelligence to redefine what streamlined, trusted onboarding looks like on a global scale.”

Adding credit decisioning to its identity and fraud intelligence suite, Trulioo is extending itself beyond identity verification. It’s positioning itself as an end-to-end onboarding and risk-assessment platform. This move pushes Trulioo into more direct competition with global decisioning and underwriting players such as Alloy, Prove, Experian, Equifax, and Bureau, while differentiating itself through its broad international coverage.

The credit decisioning tool sits alongside Trulioo’s existing identity verification and fraud intelligence solutions that cover 195 countries and can verify more than 14,000 identity documents and 700 million business entities while checking against more than 6,000 watchlists.

Headquartered in Canada and founded in 2011, Trulioo has raised $475 million. The company has demoed at 10 Finovate events, most recently showcasing its identity platform at FinovateEurope 2023.

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Building Trust: How PrivacyGuard Translates Identity Protection into Diversification

Building Trust: How PrivacyGuard Translates Identity Protection into Diversification
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Speaker series, Streamly

With hundreds of unique fintech solutions available to help diversify your offerings, identity protection may not be at the top of the list. However, as identity fraud becomes increasingly common, differentiating your firm with an identity protection solution may be beneficial for both your firm and your customer.

In this video interview, recorded at FinovateFall 2025 in New York, we explore how PrivacyGuard is turning validation into a competitive edge. I spoke with Christopher D’Aprile, Director of PrivacyGuard, who joined us in a conversation where he explored the latest trends in identity protection, its relevance for banks and credit unions, and actionable strategies for implementation.

“You want to find new products and services to bring to your customers,” said D’Aprile, “but let me be honest with you. Your customer does not want to buy a magazine subscription from a bank. They want something relevant. Identity theft protection is exactly that. If you can adopt that solution, we already have the recipe to turn it into a non-interest revenue-generating machine.”

Connecticut-based PrivacyGuard was founded in 1991 and offers a comprehensive suite of credit reporting, credit monitoring, and identity theft protection services. The company offers alerts from all three credit bureaus and scans the dark web for users’ personal details. PrivacyGuard offers three plans: Identity Protection, Credit Protection, and Total Protection.

D’Aprile serves as Director of PrivacyGuard. He is well-seasoned in the importance of digital identity, having previously held an executive position at Allstate Identity Protection. With more than 30 years of experience driving growth across financial services, insurance, and technology sectors, he specializes in building partnerships with banks and credit unions to deliver identity theft protection solutions that both safeguard consumers and open new non-interest revenue streams.

Photo by Pixabay

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Cash App Debuts 151 Upgrades, Including Stablecoin Support

Cash App Debuts 151 Upgrades, Including Stablecoin Support
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Block’s Cash App rolled out its largest update ever, adding 151 new features spanning banking, bitcoin, payments, and AI-driven automation.
  • The app will soon let Cash App’s 58 million users send and receive stablecoins, automatically converting between fiat and crypto to bypass legacy payment rails.
  • A new Moneybot feature delivers personalized financial insights, while Cash App Green expands banking perks like 3.5% APY savings and fee-free overdrafts.

Block-owned Cash App unveiled its Fall Release this week. The move marks the brand’s most significant product expansion since it was founded in 2013. The new release brings 151 new features across banking, bitcoin, commerce, peer-to-peer payments, and AI and automation on the platform. 

Among the releases, one of the most relevant is the new stablecoin capability. When it goes live early next year, Cash App’s 58 million customers will receive a blockchain address that will allow them to send and receive stablecoins directly on the platform. When users receive stablecoins, they are automatically converted to fiat currency within the app. Conversely, fiat dollars sent out convert back to stablecoins on-chain. Leveraging the blockchain to transfer funds will help Cash App bypass ACH, card networks, and correspondent banking.

Other notable releases among the 151 announced are:

Cash App Green

Arguably the second most significant piece of the new launch is Cash App Green, a flexible banking program that expands banking tools to more than eight million qualifying customers. Cash App is positioning the banking program as a benefits program, and will pay 3.5% APY on savings, offer free overdraft coverage of up to $200, facilitate no-fee cash withdrawals from in-network ATMs, extend higher borrowing limits, offer free overdraft protection, and lend up to $500 without a credit check. Users can unlock these benefits by spending $500 or more with their card or depositing $300 or more in paychecks each month.

Moneybot

This AI-powered feature offers users real-time insight and personalized suggestions within the app. The feedback, which is based on in-app activity, helps customers budget smarter, identify trends, and build financial confidence. 

Expanded access to credit

Cash App’s lending product, Borrow, is now available to eligible customers in 48 states. This expansion targets underserved populations with low credit scores. Cash App disclosed that 70% of Borrow users have credit scores below 580, while repayment rates remain above 97%.

Expanded teen savings and safety features

Cash App’s teen accounts for users 13 to 17 year of age now earn 3.5% APY on their savings balances. Additionally, the company is releasing new parental controls to allow the primary accountholder to set spending caps, limit features, and approve contacts.

Making bitcoin everyday money

In addition to the stablecoin capabilities mentioned above, Cash App customers will be able to spend, send, and hold bitcoin. When users select USD as a currency for Lightning QR Code payments, they can make the payment without spending or holding bitcoin. Additionally, customers can access a new map to find and pay nearby merchants who accept bitcoin. 

Cash App was founded in 2013. At the time, Cash App most directly competed with Braintree’s Venmo. Twelve years on, Cash App still has its roots in peer-to-peer payments, but has since diversified into a more robust digital banking platform that enables users to hold funds, deposit their paychecks, spend their money, invest, manage their bitcoin, and file their taxes.

Today’s announcement, which comes four months after Cash App launched a group payment feature called Pools, is a clear statement that the company is seeking to compete in the challenger banking arena.

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Gusto Taps SymphonyAI to Protect Small Businesses

Gusto Taps SymphonyAI to Protect Small Businesses
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Gusto
  • Gusto is partnering with SymphonyAI to bring enterprise-grade financial crime protection to its 400,000+ small and mid-sized business clients.
  • SymphonyAI’s risk intelligence platform gives Gusto’s clients faster detection, deeper visibility, and fewer false positives across fraud, AML, and sanctions monitoring.
  • The partnership marks Gusto’s evolution beyond payroll, strengthening its risk management capabilities and expanding its role as a full-scale financial operations platform.

Payroll, benefits, and HR management solutions company Gusto is bringing new benefits to its small business customers today. The California-based company is teaming up with SymphonyAI to offer its small business clients another tool to fight financial crime.

SymphonyAI’s financial crime and risk intelligence platform offers financial crime detection, investigation, and reporting capabilities to more than 2,000 enterprise customers across the globe, including 200 of the top financial institutions. The tools give compliance teams a synchronized view of risk across fraud, AML, and sanctions. As a result, organizations benefit from faster investigations, fewer false positives, and greater transparency.

“Small businesses deserve enterprise-grade protection, and SymphonyAI helps us deliver exactly that,” said Gusto’s Head of Financial Crime Compliance and AML/BSA Officer John Wiethorn. “Their platform gives our team deeper visibility and faster insight so we can stay ahead of risk and keep our customers’ operations safe and seamless.”

SymphonyAI’s financial crime platform enables Gusto’s compliance team to analyze massive transaction volumes, identify risks faster, and minimize false positives on its 400,000+ small- and mid-sized business clients.

“Gusto’s implementation shows how vertical AI delivers tangible, immediate impact,” said SymphonyAI President of the Financial Services Division John Edison. “Our platform automates the entire financial crime lifecycle—from detection and investigation to compliance and reporting—unifying processes that have historically been fragmented. This end-to-end automation is transforming how institutions fight financial crime, improving speed, accuracy, and operational efficiency.”

Gusto, originally known as ZenPayroll, was founded in 2011 to provide a cloud-based payroll, benefits, and HR management solution. The company’s tools help businesses track time and attendance, onboard new employees, manage existing talent, and more. Earlier this fall, Gusto acquired retirement specialist Guideline.

Adding SymphonyAI’s capabilities to its lineup will strengthen Gusto’s risk management framework and mark another step in its evolution from payroll processor to full-scale financial operations platform.

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Fintech Rundown

We have two more weeks until the holiday season slowdown, but the fintech news pulse is already beginning to slacken. So far this week, we’re seeing a lot of news in the fraud and compliance spaces, as well as the payments subsector, with Visa and Mastercard reaching a revised $38 billion settlement with merchants. Here is some of the biggest news from this week so far. We’ll continue adding news to this post throughout the week, so stay tuned!

Fraud and security

Agent IQ enhances fraud prevention capabilities with integrated risk-based authentication platform from IDScan.net.

P1FCU strengthens security and member experience with IllumaSHIELD’s Voice Authentication.

Compliance

Solutions By Text launches its first customer with Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging.

Payments

PayPal brings no-fee Buy Now Pay Later offering to Canada.

Block enables Bitcoin payments for millions of Square sellers.

Visa, Mastercard reach new swipe fee settlement with merchants.

Back Office

Digits automates the monthly close with AI bank reconciliations.

DeFi

Coinbase launches new platform for early access to digital tokens.

Photo by Karola G

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Paystand Acquires Bitwage to Boost Stablecoin Settlement Capabilities

Paystand Acquires Bitwage to Boost Stablecoin Settlement Capabilities
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, PayStand
  • Paystand has acquired Bitwage to create a Global Autonomous Finance Network that combines accounts receivable, accounts payable, FX, and treasury management into one decentralized system.
  • The deal strengthens Paystand’s stablecoin capabilities, enabling instant global payments, on-chain treasury management, and lower transaction costs for businesses operating across borders.
  • As stablecoin adoption surges, today’s deal validates that stablecoins are not speculative assets, but rather reliable, programmable payment instruments.

Cloud-based billing and payment platform Paystand is acquiring blockchain payments company Bitwage this week. The California-based company will leverage Bitwage to build a Global Autonomous Finance Network to offer a decentralized, programmable foreign exchange and treasury engine.

Bitwage was founded in 2014 and has since helped more than 90,000 workers and 4,500 businesses send and receive payments across almost 200 countries. The company facilitates stablecoins, bitcoin, and fiat currencies, linking both sides of the ledger in one programmable platform.

Founded in 2013, Paystand was created to eliminate fees, digitize the cash cycle, and create a self-driving money experience for businesses. The company offers B2B payments and billing capabilities, helping businesses leverage the blockchain to securely record their payment history by certifying and notarizing payments on the blockchain. Over the past few years, Paystand has connected 1+ million businesses and processed billions in volume.

Bringing on Bitwage’s technology will enable Paystand to help businesses scale their stablecoins operations. Specifically, clients will be able to make global payments instantly within Paystand’s accounts receivable (AR)/accounts payable (AP) network, handle treasury management with on-chain settlement, maintain compliance, and lower costs. Notably, the integration will also offer a more connected finance stack that merges AR, AP, payouts, foreign exchange, and treasury in a single, borderless system.

“This is how modern business should move money, from manufacturers in China, to suppliers in Argentina, to developers in Kenya, and everywhere in between,” said Paystand CEO and co-founder Jeremy Almond. “From invoices to payroll, from spending to earning, we’re building a financial system that works like software: 24/7, decentralized, and borderless.”

Paystand selected Bitwage because it has been using the company for years to pay international vendors and contractors in stablecoins. Some employees, including Almond, even received portions of their paycheck and bonuses in Bitcoin.

Logistically, Bitwage employees will join the Paystand team.

The acquisition comes at a time when stablecoin usage and regulation are rising. According to Paystand, the value of stablecoins in circulation has grown by more than 50% since early 2023, while over $7 trillion in stablecoin transactions were processed last year, surpassing even PayPal’s volume. At the same time, new legislation such as the GENIUS Act in the US and MiCA in the EU are offering regulatory clarity.

When mainstream adoption and policy momentum are converging, digital dollars are becoming a core part of global commerce. Paystand’s purchase of Bitwage validates that stablecoins are not speculative assets, but rather reliable, programmable payment instruments that can lower costs, reduce settlement times, and connect businesses and workers across borders in real time.

Photo by Ihsan Adityawarman

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Breaking Through the Verification Barrier: How Middesk Simplifies Risk & Identity

Breaking Through the Verification Barrier: How Middesk Simplifies Risk & Identity
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2025, Middesk, Speaker series

Digital businesses in the modern era span geography, product types, and regulatory regimes, making the process of verifying identities and assessing risk difficult. Today, we’re highlighting a conversation that digs into how platforms can assess risk at scale by embedding identity and risk intelligence into a single workflow.

At FinovateFall earlier this year, I spoke with Kate Young, Marketing Manager at Middesk, a company specializing in identity verification and onboarding automation. During our conversation, Kate discussed identity and onboarding challenges, how platforms distinguish legitimate enterprises from fraudulent ones, and the importance of embedding risk intelligence and KYB tools into the onboarding and lending processes. The interview touches on real-world use cases, ROI metrics, and what it takes to move from spreadsheets to APIs.

“There’s still this… trust gap between all of the businesses and the changes that they make both legitimately and illegitimately and the understanding of those financial institutions of those businesses. So there’s a wide gap between that business identity data and financial institutions being able to trust it…. We can actually bring that [gap] much closer and financial institutions can get much closer to trusting those businesses and saying yes to them more confidently and honestly growing their portfolio with those businesses once they truly trust who they are.”

Founded in 2018, Middesk’s identity and business verification platform provides APIs for verifying B2B customers, reducing fraud risk, and automating underwriting. With features such as entity resolution, beneficial-owner monitoring, and embedded data flows, Middesk enables platforms to streamline onboarding, reduce fraud, and scale reliably by offering up-to-date, verified data about their business users and clients.

Photo by Lisa from Pexels

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Walmart’s OnePay Selects DriveWealth to Power Embedded Investing

Walmart’s OnePay Selects DriveWealth to Power Embedded Investing
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, DriveWealth
  • Walmart’s OnePay digital banking platform is partnering with DriveWealth to launch OnePay Invest, giving users access to stock and ETF trading within their existing app.
  • Since acquiring fintechs Even and ONE, Walmart has built OnePay into a full-service app offering savings, credit-building, BNPL, and now investing.
  • Integrating DriveWealth’s brokerage-as-a-service APIs, OnePay lowers the barrier to entry for first-time investors and strengthens Walmart’s bid to become a one-stop financial hub for everyday consumers.

Digital trading and brokerage company DriveWealth scored a partnership this week with Walmart’s digital banking platform OnePay, which will leverage DriveWealth’s brokerage-as-a-service offering to launch OnePay Invest.

Walmart launched OnePay in January 2021 through a partnership with Ribbit Capital. In January 2022, Walmart expanded OnePay’s capabilities by acquiring two fintech platforms, Even and ONE, which helped Walmart create a more comprehensive financial services app. Since then, Walmart has been actively building up OnePay to compete with top fintech startups by adding features such as a high-yield savings account, credit-building tools, and BNPL capabilities.

DriveWealth will give OnePay users a new way to invest in stocks and ETFs. OnePay Invest will offer users access to trading tools within the same mobile app they already use to save, spend, and borrow.

“OnePay puts everyday money decisions in one place. By embedding DriveWealth’s investing technology directly into that experience, we are giving millions of Americans simple, reliable access to invest where they already save and spend,” said DriveWealth CEO Naureen Hassan. “This partnership moves our shared mission forward: make investing available to anyone, anywhere.”

Many OnePay customers may be new to investing, and embedding DriveWealth’s tools directly into the OnePay app lowers the barrier to entry. By enabling users to explore stock and ETF investing within the same platform they already use to manage savings, spending, and borrowing, OnePay creates a simple on-ramp to wealth building.

The move also helps OnePay differentiate itself from competitors such as Chime and Dave, which both cater to similar underbanked populations but have yet to integrate investing capabilities. In combining everyday money management with access to the markets, OnePay is positioning itself as an all-in-one financial hub for the mass-market consumer.

Today’s partnership isn’t Walmart’s first attempt this month to bolster the capabilities of OnePay. On October 3, the company announced plans to offer crypto trading and custody in its mobile app, allowing users to buy, hold, and trade Bitcoin and Ether. 

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. Earlier this year, the New York-based company teamed up with Moment Technology to make fixed-income investing more accessible to a broader range of investors.

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Barclays to Acquire Lending Company Best Egg

Barclays to Acquire Lending Company Best Egg
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Barclays, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Barclays’ US consumer banking subsidiary, Barclays Bank Delaware, is acquiring Best Egg for $800 million.
  • Barclays aims to use the purchase to diversify its US consumer business and strengthen its presence in unsecured lending.
  • The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026.

Barclays‘ US consumer banking subsidiary, Barclays Bank Delaware, unveiled plans this week to expand its US footprint, acquiring personal loan origination company Best Egg. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026 for $800 million.

Best Egg offers a direct-to-consumer personal loan origination platform that specializes in lending to prime borrowers. Since it was founded in 2013, the Delaware-based company has facilitated over $40 billion in personal loans to more than two million customers. By the end of this year, Best Egg will have facilitated more than $7 billion in personal loan originations.

Best Egg currently services approximately $11 billion in personal loans which are funded through structures such as securitization programs and forward flow arrangements provided by a range of alternative asset managers. The company generates fee-based income from its loan origination and servicing activities.

Best Egg CEO Paul Ricci said the acquisition marks a major milestone in the company’s mission to help consumers achieve financial confidence through modern lending products. “At Best Egg, we are driven by a mission to empower people with financial confidence and flexibility through our suite of lending products and financial health tools,” said Ricci. “Joining forces with Barclays marks a pivotal moment in our journey—one that amplifies our ability to reach even more people through innovative lending solutions that truly make a difference. This transaction is a testament to the strength of the incredible business we’ve built over the past 12 years, our talented team, and the trust we’ve earned from our customers. Together with Barclays, we’re excited to accelerate our growth and continue shaping the future of consumer finance in ways that are both meaningful and impactful.”

Barclays’ US Consumer Bank will leverage Best Egg’s digital and risk capabilities to enhance its credit card business that provides unsecured personal lending to customers by partnering with co-brand card partner programs. Buying Best Egg provides the bank an on-ramp into a well-established lending platform with proven underwriting and distribution capabilities. It also signals Barclays’ intent to diversify beyond credit cards and move into unsecured lending.

Barclays Group Chief Executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan described the acquisition as a key growth opportunity within the bank’s long-term US strategy. “The deep and sophisticated US consumer finance market offers rich prospects for growth at Barclays,” said Venkatakrishnan. “The transaction will strengthen our US Consumer Bank and offers an exciting opportunity to significantly bolster our capabilities in personal lending.”

Once the acquisition is complete, Barclays plans to leverage this same model while retaining a small portion of Best Egg’s new lending flow on its balance sheet.

Denny Nealon, CEO of Barclays US Consumer Bank, said the move supports the company’s broader goal of diversification and scale in US retail banking. “This acquisition represents a significant step forward in our strategy to grow and diversify our US consumer banking business,” said Nealon. “As a leader in the personal loans market, Best Egg gives us the ability to reach more US consumers through a proven platform that has been successful for over a decade. We look forward to welcoming Best Egg’s customers as well as its talented and experienced management team and colleagues upon closing in 2026.”

Photo by YUSUF ARSLAN

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Thredd Taps LoanPro for New Credit Offering

Thredd Taps LoanPro for New Credit Offering
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, LoanPro

Digital payment solutions company Thredd has teamed up with lending and credit platform LoanPro this week. The UK-based company will leverage LoanPro’s credit platform to underpin its new suite of credit solutions, which will allow it to deliver full-stack embedded issuing and processing capabilities.

Thredd was founded in 2007 and offers real-time card issuing and processing capabilities to help clients personalize and differentiate their credit offerings. Integrating LoanPro’s composable credit infrastructure into its offerings will help Thredd expand further into the credit and lending space, enabling clients to launch and manage credit programs with greater flexibility and speed.

Commenting on the partnership, Thredd CEO Jim McCarthy emphasized the growing importance of credit-led innovation in embedded finance. “Credit-based value propositions drive not only more opportunities for both B2B and B2C verticals, but also generate more revenue for issuers, fintechs, and enterprises,” said McCarthy. “LoanPro’s platform solves much of the inherent complexity in providing truly differentiated credit, allowing us to offer our clients the tools to build sticky, profitable credit products, while maintaining compliance and operational efficiency.”

Founded in 2016, LoanPro has helped 600+ lenders launch 2,000 unique credit programs, upgrading their borrower, agent, and back-office operations. The Utah-based company’s composable architecture, built on a modern lending core, allows lenders to enhance their origination, servicing, payments, and collections operations.

LoanPro Co-Founder and CEO Rhett Roberts said that the partnership combines the strengths of both companies to accelerate how credit products are designed and deployed. “There is a massive opportunity to launch credit products in the U.S. and globally in a way that truly meets consumers and businesses where they are,” Roberts said. “The future of finance is personalized. Thredd brings together the entire ecosystem needed to launch revolving credit products, and with LoanPro’s modern, composable platform, clients can personalize and differentiate their offerings at scale in a way that drives share of wallet. We’re proud to support Thredd’s vision for global credit innovation.”

The partnership highlights how embedded finance providers are converging around full-stack, credit-enabled platforms. As banks, non-banks, and fintechs continue to embed lending and credit capabilities into their platforms, partnerships like this one blur the lines between payment processing, issuing, and credit management. Teaming up with LoanPro will place Thredd at the intersection of modern card issuing and next-generation credit infrastructure.

LoanPro has participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr 2021, and demoed its loan management system at FinovateSpring 2021.

Photo by Monstera Production

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