Trading and Investment Network eToro Files for IPO

Trading and Investment Network eToro Files for IPO
  • Social trading platform eToro has confidentially filed to go public in the U.S. later this year.
  • The IPO potentially values eToro at over $5 billion, marking its second attempt at a public debut after a failed SPAC deal in 2022.
  • eToro’s IPO aligns with a renewed optimism in fintech, dubbed “fintech spring,” as companies like Klarna also signal plans to go public, signaling a resurgence in confidence and investment.

Social trading and investment network eToro is taking its multi-asset trading platform to the public markets. According to a report from The Financial Times, eToro confidentially filed a U.S. IPO later this year.

The IPO, which could value eToro at over $5 billion, won’t count as the company’s first attempt at going public. In 2021, eToro announced plans to merge with FinTech Acquisition Corp. V, a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), in a deal worth $10 billion. The deal would have listed eToro on the NASDAQ, but the two parties agreed to end the deal after eToro’s valuation was cut by 15% in 2022, and the company failed to go public by the deadline specified in the SPAC arrangement.

By March 2023, eToro raised $250 million at a $3 million valuation. “Our 2023 to 2025 strategy focuses on scaling our brokerage business in our key markets and increasing profitability via revenue growth and cost management,” said company Founder and CEO Yoni Assia at the time of the fundraising. “eToro will continue to focus on profitable growth while helping to drive progress towards a world where everyone can invest in a simple and transparent way.”

Since that time, eToro launched $Cashtags on what was then Twitter, announced it would pay interest on users’ idle cash, and began publishing educational content on X.

eToro was founded in 2007 and has since raised $693 million in funding. With more than 35 million registered users and investors on its trading and investing platform, the company offers trading and investing tools more accessible and collaborative. eToro launched in the U.S. market in 2019, entering a space where Robinhood had already established a six-year presence.

The IPO filing announcement comes as fintech is entering what analysts are calling “fintech spring,” a hopeful time during which investors are more willing to invest and organizations are more willing to take risks. Many predicted that 2025 would see a lot of fintech IPOs. Klarna kicked things off, announcing last November that it is planning a 2025 IPO.


Photo by George Morina

From AI to AR: U.S. Bank’s Innovation Leaders Share Key Takeaways from CES 2025

From AI to AR: U.S. Bank’s Innovation Leaders Share Key Takeaways from CES 2025

The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) took place last week, and U.S. Bank sent its Chief Innovation Officer Don Relyea and Head of Applied Foresights Todder Moning to take a look at the future of innovation across industries. The pair went to explore how emerging trends like AI, automation, and extended reality can enhance the customer experience.

In our interview with Relyea and Moning, the two shared their key takeaways from the event, including insights into the newest AI advancements, the evolution of immersive technologies, and the practical applications they plan to bring back to U.S. Bank.

Did you see any innovations at CES that inspired ideas for how U.S. Bank might improve its customer experience?

Don Relyea: Yes, inspirations for new innovations were everywhere. A few examples across industries: This year, we saw more foreign banks demoing their innovations than we ever have before. Several Asian banks were showcasing AI-powered venture portfolio tools, as well as AI-powered banking applications that are more along the lines of “Do It for Me” opposed to the current digital standard of “Do It Yourself.” This is a trend we follow closely. Samsung’s SmartThings Pro, which extends its smart home technology to business environments, is very interesting for optimizing and personalizing consumers’ retail experiences. When you think about the branch of the future and how branches will evolve, there are interesting things that could be done with a space that is environmentally aware of who and how many people are in it, etc.

Todder Moning: At CES 2025, it was apparent how technology is advancing convenience, safety, and new forms of value across all areas of consumers’ lives. For companies exhibiting in recent years, it’s been about adding sensors to products and connecting them to the cloud via consumers’ WiFi connections. We have also seen how new channels of human computer interaction are making it into the mainstream – from voice interaction to the emergence of new audio/visual interaction with glasses and AR/VR headsets. This year, it was all about taking that data and using AI to make products and services smarter and more capable. And we’re in the very early innings of this trend to help people traverse their worlds with smarter, more ambient, and more ‘auto-magical’ products and services. U.S. Bank has been doing the same thing in connecting customers and their money, payments, and transaction capabilities, embedding them in more areas across their lives and businesses. I think the work we’ve been doing in both embedding and machine learning/AI will be a vector that will expand further based on what we saw at this year’s CES.

How do you think the advancements in AI and automation showcased at CES could influence the future of banking in general?

Relyea: We saw a lot of AI at the show, but many of the things were just companies branding things with AI in the name versus harnessing AI’s full potential. However, we did begin to see clever use cases where companies are leveraging AI for consumer automation with good customer-centered design – once again, “Do It for Me” type use cases. This trend will eventually raise the bar for consumer expectations as consumers become more comfortable ceding control to agentic AI. These are market signals we are keeping an eye on as we prepare for this shift in consumer expectations.

Moning: While AI is not new and has always been at CES, it was overwhelmingly the primary focus this year. It reminded me of a few years back when Alexa voice interaction was put into everything from eyeglasses to grills to pet bowls. However, there were some big announcements and creative uses of AI too. We’re currently seeing AI move from simpler use cases of language and content creation using Large Language Models to the next phase of AI agents using Large Action Models, where chatbots and GPTs will be able to reason more and take permissioned action on your behalf. Instead of just reviewing a PDF for you and helping to craft an email, AI agents will enable digital actions such as making reservations or paying your monthly bills.

What was exciting to me, after years of following IoT and autonomous driving for U.S. Bank, was finally seeing the emergence of tools that will enable what some call physical AI, moving us closer to fully realized autonomous driving, more automated factories and warehouses, and more functional general robotics. Digital twins and Large World Models (mapping physical environments and learning the physics and rules of how to function in those environments) will enable consumers and enterprises to improve their lives and their businesses, respectively. It’s a big opportunity and should create many new kinds of jobs. We believe that banks will need to enable customers and their AI agents with transaction services, payments, lending and investing. This will be a large and exciting trend to explore over the next few years.

Were there any discussions at the conference about the metaverse, AR/VR, and immersive experiences? Do you see a role for these technologies in banking or financial services?

Relyea: The metaverse was somewhat more subdued at CES this year with companies perhaps realizing more fully they are not sure how it will play out. We didn’t see anything groundbreaking in the metaverse space. In fact, we saw several of the same things from last year’s show. That said, the smart glasses space is evolving and miniaturizing at a nice pace. AR glasses are getting more visibly appealing, as well as getting more functionality packed into the smaller form factors, including holographic displays on the lenses. The technology is not ideal yet, but it is getting closer. We believe the metaverse/immersive AR/VR experiences will hit their tipping point when these wearable devices are ubiquitous and always with us – like our phones are today. When this happens, we will be ready with embedded financial services.

Moning: Extended reality, including AR and VR, continues to simmer on the stove, so to speak. CES lets us see how different technologies are developing laterally across dozens of industry sectors and longitudinally over multiple years. It’s clear that AR/VR is improving but still has a way to go before it moves from simple heads-up displays (which can be highly useful for certain use cases, like closed captioning for the hearing impaired) to being a more immersive interaction layer over the world. Some vendors have started creating capabilities for 3D commerce, anticipating those markets as they evolve. We did see a few “metaverse companies,” although they’re not well-known names and will depend on more advancements and partnerships to break through. However, self-driving cars and semi-trucks, autonomous agricultural vehicles, and autonomous construction/mining vehicles are using 4D sensors (the fourth D is velocity) and digital twins in their own metaphorical version of a metaverse to bring us closer to the fully realized self-driving future we’ve all been waiting for.

NVIDIA’s announcements were of particular note, with its Blueprint agentic AI platform, AI-embedded computer, and Omniverse and physical AI platform that enable AI training for vehicles, factories, robotics, and more for the real world. So, the metaverse, which many think of as only a “virtual world,” is likely to be more of a merging between the virtual and real world. As you can imagine, the way U.S. Bank currently enables both physical and digital economies will be prevalent in such a future as it emerges.

What insights or lessons from CES do you plan to bring back to U.S. Bank’s innovation strategy?

Relyea: Companies that are more mature in their customer experience practices displayed solutions that are ambient, predictive, adaptive, and accessible. Much of this is powered by AI, either traditional or agentic. This was the year of agentic AI, and we think it will begin to usher in the age of “Do It with Me” and “Do It for Me” style experiences. From a customer experience perspective, the team will be focused on defining the art of possible in these spaces.

Moning: Seeing the AI announcements and AI-embedded products and services in so many was impactful to me. The same way that we’ve been testing to safely use traditional and generative AI in the enterprise, consumers will be using AI bots and soon more functional AI agents in their own lives. I believe the way people now manage a constellation of connected devices in their life, they’ll soon have a constellation of AI agents helping them manage the many things they do – from getting dressed in the morning to managing their active busy families to getting life-enhancing medical care to being fully-engaged employers and employees, and, of course, managing their financial lives.

We already have a multi-language capable virtual assistant in our mobile app, so how do we safely plug the value and service U.S. Bank provides to help our customers in other ways? How do we provide it when interacting with their AI agents? If there are eight billion people, of which let’s say one billion or so are active working professionals, that means that there will be many billions of AI agents those folks will be using and with which companies will be interacting. That feels like a pretty big opportunity.

What was the coolest non-fintech technology or tool that you saw there?

Relyea: Small personal aircrafts are getting really cool – think big drones with cockpits. We also saw many autonomous robots for vacuuming, mowing, cleaning pools, and a ton of other uses. I was able to shake hands with a robot for the first time at this CES, which was pretty cool but also a little terrifying when you think about it.

Moning: After petting and high-fiving a robotic dog last year, I shook hands with my first humanoid robot this year. It was a kind of “first contact” with the robotic future. But what I found most thrilling was being able to dig in Arizona using a large Cat Excavator I was operating remotely from the CES floor in Las Vegas. It was like being a drone pilot but for construction/mining equipment. This kind of remote control is the important “human-in-the-middle” stage between no autonomy and fully autonomous vehicles.

Amazon to Acquire India-Based BNPL Fintech Axio

Amazon to Acquire India-Based BNPL Fintech Axio
  • Amazon has announced plans to acquire India-based BNPL company Axio.
  • The deal is reportedly worth over $150 million, pending approval from the Indian central bank.
  • The acquisition builds on Amazon’s previous financial services deals, having previously held an equity stake in Axio and acquiring Emvantage Payments, PayFort, and Tapzo.

Online retail giant Amazon plans to acquire buy now, pay later (BNPL) company Axio, as announced on the India-based fintech’s blog. According to TechCrunch, the deal is expected to close for over $150 million, pending approval from the Indian central bank.

Founded in 2013, Axio is a consumer finance company that has provided money management, pay later, and personal credit services. The company’s offerings are three-tiered. The finance planning tool allows users to review their expenses, maintain a budget, track bills, and split expenses. The BNPL offering facilitates instant credit and allows users to pay in installments while rebuilding their credit. Axio’s personal loans offer users simple registration with timely approval.

Axio has raised $226 million in funding over 14 rounds from investors including Peak XV Partners, Ribbit Capital, and Elevation Capital.

Today’s announcement comes six years after Amazon first took an equity stake in Axio. With a mission to make credit available to everyone, Axio has served over 10 million customers, noting that Amazon has been an invaluable partner in the journey.

“This means reaching more under-served customers, diversifying our offerings to address more unmet needs, and continuing to strike the right balance of customer experience, risk management, and affordability as we strive to responsibly expand access to credit across the country,” the company said in a blog post.

Amazon offers a range of payments services on its platform, including Amazon Pay, a payment service that includes Amazon Pay Express and Amazon Pay UPI; Checkout by Amazon; Amazon Flexible Payments Service; and Pay with Alexa. Among the retailer’s previous acquisitions in the financial services space are India-based Emvantage Payments, Dubai-based PayFort, and Tapzo, which the company later shuttered.


Photo by cottonbro studio

2025 is the Year of Fintech Spring: 5 Trends to Watch at FinovateEurope

2025 is the Year of Fintech Spring: 5 Trends to Watch at FinovateEurope

If you haven’t heard, 2025 is the year of fintech spring. The chill has been taken out of the industry as investors regain confidence, new startups can launch with less risk, and established players are doubling down on new technologies to meet evolving customer demands. From fresh AI applications to the new uses for embedded finance, fintech is experiencing a renewed momentum.

Fortunately, catching up on what’s new and what’s next is as easy as attending FinovateEurope, which is taking place 25 through 26 February in London. The agenda not only features keynote presentations from the region’s top thought leaders, it will also showcase the latest technology available on the market today with live demos from more than 30 fintechs. Register today to get a discount and secure your spot!

To maximize your time spent, each session will highlight some of the newest themes and trends in the industry today. Here are some of the major trends you can expect to see unfolded and explained on stage.

Embedded finance matures

Why it matters:
Embedded finance has been trending upward in fintech over the past few years, and for good reason. It helps organizations add seamless, contextual financial experiences for their customers, but it has also added the potential for banks and financial services companies to add a new revenue stream through Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS). Best of all, it allows both companies and banks to focus on their core competencies while enriching the user experience.

What’s happening:
Embedded finance has proven its utility in the payments and lending worlds, allowing businesses to embed payments tools and lending capabilities into their existing website or mobile app. Now, embedded finance is moving beyond payments and lending into sectors like insurance, healthcare, and logistics.

Where you’ll see it:
Over the course of the two-day FinovateEurope conference, multiple conversations on embedded finance and BaaS will take the stage. Be sure to check out:

  • This executive briefing on embedded finance titled, “How financial institutions can capture the huge opportunity of embedded finance & embedded banking in both retail & commercial banking.” The session will discuss opportunities for banks to expand their distribution footprint at a relatively low cost, consider risks in BaaS, how to find a competitive strategy, and more.
  • This power panel titled, “BaaS powered embedded lending is on the rise and is moving beyond buy now pay later – how can financial institutions capture the opportunity?” The panel will look at the rise of lending integrations, the role of AI in risk assessment, embedded finance regulation, and more.

Organizations navigating the impact of the EU AI Act

Why it matters:
The EU AI Act is set to be one of the most comprehensive AI regulations in any region. The regulation went into force in August of 2024 and is poised to shape how banks and fintechs develop and deploy artificial intelligence. The act focuses on transparency, accountability, and controlling risks, especially when it comes to AI’s applications in areas such as credit scoring and fraud detection.

What’s happening:
Fintechs leveraging AI are finding that they need to adapt (and quickly) in order to comply with the new rules while continuing to create and develop new, AI-centric products. While the new requirements might lead to an increase in operational costs, they also might bring new opportunities for organizations to build trust and differentiate their offerings by incorporating ethical AI practices.

Where you’ll see it:
FinovateEurope is sure to be packed with fresh AI use cases and regulatory guidance. Here are just a few of the sessions that will inform and educate on AI application:

  • This keynote presentation titled, “Artificial intelligence – are we overestimating the short term impact & underestimating the long term impact?.” During the keynote, Tracey Follows will discuss how AI is a long-term trend line and will look at what this means for financial services.
  • This session titled, “What is the state of play for GenAI in financial services? Assessing leading use cases, challenges, barriers to adoption and how to navigate the roadblocks.” Forrester Analyst Aurélie L’Hostis will help organizations break down practical steps to get started in AI.
  • This AI power panel titled, “Strategies for successful AI adoption & digital transformation and why achieving success will go beyond the tech.” The panel will bring insight into how the EU AI Act may guide future thinking on the topic. It will also discuss governance, data privacy, security, compliance, and ethical implications about the application of AI.

The rise of AI-powered personalization

Why it matters:
Fintech has sought to help banks personalize the user experience for over a decade. By applying AI and machine learning, firms can help drive hyper-personalized financial products and services.

What’s happening:
Fintechs and banks are enhancing the user experience to help boost engagement and retention, differentiating themselves in a crowded market.

Where you’ll see it:
Just as personalization permeates various subsectors of fintech, the topic will also be present among multiple sessions at FinovateEurope. There will also be a couple of sessions dedicated exclusively to the topic of personalization, including:

  • This keynote address titled, “Enabling hyper-personalization: fusing functionality, data, and strategic partnerships” that discusses how to deliver hyper-personalized experiences. The conversation will also explore how banks can leverage data, advanced API integrations, and AI-driven insights to offer the right products to the right customers at the right time.
  • This power panel titled, “The CX revolution – how can FIs compete in a hyper personalized world?” in which panelists will talk about how customers view the world, what lessons can be learned from other verticals, and how to keep up with customer expectations.

Payments get faster and smarter

Why it matters:
Payments are not only getting cheaper, but they are also happening faster, which means that fraud is happening at an increasing rate.

What’s happening:
Global trade and personal remittances, along with everyday transactions, are being shaken up by stablecoins and CBDC experiments, which may help create more transparent payment solutions.

Where you’ll see it:
At this year’s FinovateEurope conference, payments will permeate many of the conversations on stage. Here are two particular panels that will address the top concerns:

  • Payments power panel titled, “The payments market is estimated at $2.85 trillion in 2024 and is expected to reach $4.78 trillion by 2029 – how can banks reimagine payments and capture this growth opportunity?” The panelists will consider the opportunity available in payments, as well as regulatory concerns and risk.
  • Keynote address titled, “Authorized push payment fraud losses across Europe may be as high as €2.4 billion, increasing by 20% to 25% annually; how are regulators addressing it?” The presentation will look at payment fraud risk and potential regulatory changes that may address authorized push payment fraud.

Regtech redefined by real-time compliance

Why it matters: Without regtech, banks and fintechs would be on their own to figure out and comply with an ever-changing set of rules. Leveraging a third party regtech provider not only helps organizations reduce compliance costs, it also facilitates faster adherence to new rules.

What’s happening: Regtech solutions can create real-time monitoring tools to keep up with evolving regulations. This is particularly important around crypto and AI regulations as they are very fast-moving fields.

Where you’ll see it:
FinovateEurope will host an entire stage dedicated to discussing banking regulation and risk. Among the presentations taking place are:

  • Keynote Address titled, “A whistlestop tour of EU regulation – what financial services providers need to know about DORA; FiDA; eIDAS, and DMA?” that will brief the audience on these current and future regulations and look at how regulators are cracking down on risk management.
  • Power Panel titled, “Banking risk and resilience: meeting the challenges of new regulations, emerging tech, rising banking fraud and new cyber security threats” that will consider digital identity, risks of using AI and cloud risks, managing third party risks, and more.

Photo by Fer Troulik on Unsplash

Nevermined Raises $4 Million for Decentralized AI Payments Protocol

Nevermined Raises $4 Million for Decentralized AI Payments Protocol
  • Nevermined has raised $4 million to power AI-to-AI transactions.
  • The Switzerland-based company now counts $7 million in total funding, which it is using to build the “PayPal for AI,” enabling seamless payments between AI agents.
  • The round was led by Generative Ventures, while Polymorphic Capital, NEAR, Halo Capital, Factor Capital, Lyrik Ventures, and Arca also contributed.

AI payment infrastructure provider for AI-to-AI transactions Nevermined has raised over $4 million. The round boosts the Switzerland-based company’s total funds to $7 million.

Generative Ventures led the round, which also saw participation from Polymorphic Capital, NEAR, Halo Capital, Factor Capital, Lyrik Ventures, and Arca. In addition, Nevermined saw contributions from David Minarsch and Oak from Valory, the builders of Olas, Richard Blythman and Mark Schmidt from Naptha, and Ben Fielding from Gensyn.

“The future of commerce isn’t just about humans trading with humans anymore. It’s about AI agents transacting with other AI agents, and we need entirely new payment systems to facilitate that,” said Nevermined CEO Don Gossen.

Web3-based AI-commerce represents a shift in how transactions occur. While traditional banking and payment systems facilitate transactions between humans, AI-commerce layers in automation. With AI-commerce, AI agents interact, negotiate, and transact autonomously. The new commerce method complements the existing payments infrastructure, enabling faster, smarter, and more personalized solutions for industries like logistics, supply chain, and digital marketplaces. This agentic layer unlocks new opportunities for creativity and efficiency in both human and AI-driven economies.

Nevermined will use today’s funding to accelerate its go-to-market strategy, expand the team, and strengthen partnerships within the AI ecosystem. “This funding will allow us to accelerate our mission of building the financial rails for the emerging AI economy,” added Gossen.

Nevermined was founded in 2022 to develop what it calls the “PayPal for AI,” a system that facilitates payments between AI agents with its payments protocol built for decentralized AI tech stacks. With its AI-commerce tools, Nevermined helps AI developers manage payments, usage tracking, and credit systems for payment applications built within their own app or website. Among the company’s partners are Olas, Naptha, peaq, FLock, and Combinder.

“Current payment infrastructure was built for static transactions, like selling t-shirts on the internet, where the price of a small shirt doesn’t change over time,” said Nevermined CTO Aitor Argomaniz. “AI agents are dynamic and require an equally dynamic payments system that can respond instantly to new requests. We’ve built the foundation already, and now we want to grow user adoption from both AI builders and AI agents.”


Photo by GuerrillaBuzz on Unsplash

How Do JP Morgan’s New POS Terminals Stack Up Against the Competition?

How Do JP Morgan’s New POS Terminals Stack Up Against the Competition?
  • J.P. Morgan Payments introduced two new branded payment terminals, Paypad and Pinpad.
  • The new payment hardware terminals offer touchless, biometric payment capabilities and help expand J.P. Morgan’s omnichannel commerce ecosystem.
  • Both Paypad and Pinpad will launch in the U.S. later this year and internationally after that.

JP Morgan Payments launched two new payment terminals this week, J.P. Morgan Paypad and J.P. Morgan Pinpad. The two new hardware terminals will complement J.P. Morgan’s existing omnichannel payments solutions that offer in-store, online, and embedded payments solutions for a wide variety of merchants.

While both products are expected to launch in the latter half of this year in the U.S. and internationally after that, they have different purposes. Paypad is an all-in-one tablet terminal that enables merchants to accept payments with a built-in biometric palm and facial technology that allow users to conduct touchless transactions. Available in an eight-inch touch screen, the portable terminal is set up to accept payments via chip, contactless, swipe, QR code, and biometric authentication via wi-fi or 5G connection.

Like Paypad, Pinpad also accepts chip, contactless, swipe, QR code, or biometric payments. And while the device is only the size of a traditional pinpad, it also offers touchless transactions via palm and facial recognition with a built-in infrared camera.

While J.P. Morgan already supported merchants with a suite of POS terminals, mobile payment solutions, and integrations for card-present transactions, the hardware was provided through Chase Payment Solutions, J.P. Morgan’s merchant services division. In contrast, this week’s launch provides in-house, branded hardware that complements J.P. Morgan payments’ existing commerce ecosystem.

How do the J.P. Morgan’s new Paypad and Pinpad stack up against the competition? Here’s a look at how some of the major POS hardware players in the space compare.

Square

While Square’s offerings provide similar portability, J.P. Morgan’s solutions likely provide better integration for larger enterprises.

Clover

Clover is known for flexibility and a rich app marketplace. It also caters more to small businesses. In contrast, while J.P. Morgan offers tools for small businesses, it tends to target more enterprise customers.

Stripe

Stripe’s POS terminals are known for their strong, developer-centric API integrations. By contrast, JPMorgan’s omnichannel payments solutions offer more support for non-tech-savvy businesses.

Overall, J.P. Morgan’s new Paypad and Pinpad offer enough differentiation from competition in the point of sale realm. What will truly help the firm exceed in its new launch, however, are both its solid reputation and its relationships with its existing customer base.

Why Youth Banking is Set to Surge in 2025

Why Youth Banking is Set to Surge in 2025

The youth banking market has seen growth over the past decade, but it still has a long way to go. Throughout the years, banks have focused much of their efforts on chasing the customers with the most money. Higher net worth customers can increase a bank’s deposits, be willing to take advantage of more of the bank’s product offerings, and often come with lower risk of default. Children and teens, however, are less appealing of a market, as they generally do not add a lot of assets and can come with additional headaches, such as special regulatory requirements.

That said, 2025 may be a breakout year for youth banking, which is set to experience significant growth as enabling technologies, evolving customer needs, and market opportunities create a perfect storm.

FinTok is making finance cool

Short form video platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram have evolved from places to post fun dance videos to become hubs for financial education and empowerment. This is especially true for Gen Z users, who spend a lot of time on these social platforms. The financial niche of TikTok, FinTok, has turned into a channel in which influencers simplify financial concepts, share savings and investing tips, and make financial education entertaining.

Banks and fintechs have yet to fully embrace this style of communication, largely because of the regulatory implications. Whether or not they are trying to reach out to clients on the social platforms, however, the fresh content is working to promote new interest in finance among younger generations. In 2025, banks that embrace the FinTok trend could stand out as financial partners for a new generation of financially curious consumers.

Financial education is on an upswing

The U.S. historically has been poor at integrating financial literacy in education systems, but that is rapidly changing. Schools, nonprofits, fintechs, and banks have increasingly prioritized financial education, integrating it into curricula and offering free resources to both parents and children. We’ve also seen a rise in apps that gamify learning about savings, budgeting, and investing. For banks, this means that now in 2025, young consumers not only have interest in the financial ecosystem, but they are also starting off with a strong foundation and a greater appetite for digital financial tools.

Youth-centric features are increasingly common

Gone are the days when “youth banking” meant a basic savings account with parental oversight. In 2025, you can expect to see these platforms include a wider range of features, including gamified savings goals, allowance management, safe spending controls, and even investment tools tailored to teenagers.

Banks and fintechs that prioritize these youth-centric tools with intuitive design elements will create stickier products. Many are doubling down on youth-friendly offerings via partnerships with companies such as Greenlight, which partners with a wide range of banks, including U.S. Bank, to empower families with financial tools.

Youth banking tools offer a means of differentiation

With the fintech landscape becoming increasingly crowded, youth banking tools provide an opportunity for differentiation. By offering new, unique features for traditionally underserved kids and teens, firms can stand out while capturing an untapped market segment.

Youth-focused offerings also serve as a way to engage the entire family, as parents will likely appreciate tools that not only educate their children about money, but also offer a starting point for them to establish their financial standing. As the banking landscape becomes more crowded in 2025, we can expect to see more youth tools that serve as a differentiator.

The great wealth transfer is already underway

The great wealth transfer, the impending movement of $84 trillion in wealth from Baby Boomers to Millennials and Gen Z is one of the most significant financial shifts of our time. In fact, the funds transfer is already underway as some Millennials and Gen Z have already started receiving inheritance. As organizations seek to capture this wealth, marketing to children and teens will allow firms to capture some of the wealth from those who are just starting their financial journeys.

Millennial parents are seeking to break the cycle

Millennials experienced financial hardship during the 2008 recession and some are still reeling from a combination of that downturn and burdensome student loans. The majority of Millennials are now parents, and because many feel like they were shortchanged in financial education and opportunities, they are are determined to equip their children with better financial habits.

Unlike previous generations, many Millennials are actively seeking to teach their kids about money management from a young age. Youth banking platforms, with features like savings goals and educational resources, align well with this parental mindset.

For banks and fintechs, 2025 is a great time to take advantage of dual opportunity. Not only can they capture the next generation of customers, but they can also strengthen relationships with their existing customer base of Millennial parents.


Photo by Kindel Media

Clearwater Analytics to Buy Investment Management SaaS Platform Enfusion for $1.5 Billion

Clearwater Analytics to Buy Investment Management SaaS Platform Enfusion for $1.5 Billion
  • Clearwater Analytics is acquiring portfolio management and risk systems provider Enfusion for $1.5 billion.
  • The acquisition expands Clearwater’s market reach, leveraging Enfusion’s expertise in hedge funds, its strong international presence, and a $1.9 billion increase in its total addressable market, while also aiming to save $20 million through operational efficiencies.
  • Enfusion will benefit from Clearwater’s infrastructure and AI expertise.

Investment management solutions company Clearwater Analytics is acquiring Enfusion, a portfolio management and risk systems provider. The deal, advised by J.P. Morgan Securities, is expected to close for $1.5 billion.

“Today’s announcement is about creating a future where our clients benefit from the synergy of two highly complementary, innovative software leaders, paving the way for a unified, cloud-native, front-to-back platform that’s primed to serve institutional investors like never before,” said Clearwater Analytics CEO Sandeep Sahai.

Illinois-based Enfusion was founded in 1998 to help investment managers generate higher returns for their investors. The company’s cloud-based software, analytics, and middle/back-office managed services help institutional investment managers, hedge funds, and family offices build cultures of real-time, data-driven intelligence mixed with collaboration to make faster, more informed decisions while scaling their operations effectively.

“This transaction marks an exciting new chapter for all of Enfusion’s key stakeholders. Since our inception, we have proven that the versatility, scale, and depth of our solutions captures the hearts and minds of both traditional and alternative investment managers,” said Enfusion CEO Oleg Movchan. Together with Clearwater, our shared passion for building innovative technologies and enriching every aspect of the client journey will now accelerate and enhance our combined ability to support our clients’ evolving needs — whether they are expanding into new strategies, asset classes, or geographies.”

Clearwater Analytics automates the entire investment lifecycle with portfolio planning, performance reporting, data aggregation, reconciliation, accounting, compliance, risk, and order management. The Idaho-based company’s clients use its single instance, multi-tenant investment reporting software to aggregate, reconcile, and report on more than $7.3 trillion in assets across thousands of accounts every day.

Clearwater is acquiring Enfusion to advance its goal of creating a comprehensive, cloud-native platform that serves the entire investment management lifecycle. By integrating Enfusion’s front-office capabilities with its own middle and back-office solutions and client reporting tools, Clearwater aims to deliver a seamless end-to-end solution. The acquisition also expands Clearwater’s reach, leveraging Enfusion’s strong international presence as well as its expertise in the hedge fund market, which alone is expected to increase the total addressable market by $1.9 billion.

Enfusion stands to benefit significantly from the partnership, as well. Clearwater’s advanced execution infrastructure and expertise in generative AI are expected to enhance Enfusion’s operational efficiency and improve unit economics. Furthermore, Clearwater anticipates achieving $20 million in cost savings over the next two years, largely through streamlining general and administrative expenses.

“We expect to accelerate growth based on our increased right-to-win, higher back-to-base sales, greater presence across key geographies, and increased total addressable market. Coupled with our operating rigor and use of Generative AI, we have high confidence that we can drive meaningfully improved unit economics at Enfusion while also growing its emerging managed services business. Most importantly, this acquisition enables seamless data management from the front office to the back office, unlocking powerful network effects that amplify client value,” added Sahai.

Clearwater’s purchase price for Enfusion is $11.25 per share, which will be delivered in an equal mix of cash and stock. Clearwater has also agreed to pay $30 million to terminate Enfusion’s tax receivable agreement.


Photo by Mikhail Nilov

Transcard Brings its Payment Orchestration Capabilities to Canada

Transcard Brings its Payment Orchestration Capabilities to Canada
  • Tennessee-based Transcard is expanding to Canada.
  • Transcard has partnered with Xodus Travel Services to enhance digital payment experiences with its SMART Suite platform.
  • The expansion into Canada comes a month after Transcard earned authorization from the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to serve as a payment institution in the U.K. 

Tennessee-based Transcard is bringing its payment orchestration capabilities north of the border this week. The company recently went live with its first Canada-based customer, Xodus Travel Services. Xodus is leveraging Transcard’s SMART Suite to facilitate payment orchestration and enhance its digital payment experience.

“We’re excited to partner with Transcard as they expand their payment solutions in Canada,” said Xodus President and CEO David Rivelis. “By enabling their fast, secure, digital payment solutions, Xodus Travel Services will offer policyholders an improved claims experience with payment optionality and real time payment options.”

Transcard’s SMART Suite offers a range of tools to help banks, businesses, and fintechs make and receive digital payments and share payment data with their customers and suppliers. The embedded payment capabilities facilitate any payment type over any payment rail using any originating bank account. They work for both single and mass payments and can take place in real-time or be scheduled.

Transcard supports international payments across multiple currencies and languages, including Canadian French. Its solutions are designed to comply with global regulations, such as GDPR, RPAA, and PIPEDA, ensuring robust data protection standards.

“Launching in Canada marks a significant milestone in the company’s mission to enhance digital payment solutions worldwide,” said Transcard CEO Greg Bloh. “We’re excited to expand our capabilities, build more strategic partnerships and support customers in Canada.”

Transcard said that it plans to go live with more Canadian bank connections later this year. The company will also introduce real-time payment options including the Interac payment rail, virtual card capabilities, and push to debit.

Today’s news comes about a month after Transcard was granted authorization by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to serve as a payment institution in the U.K. 

Transcard was founded in 2012 and debuted a payments disbursement capability, Panuver, at FinovateSpring 2016. The company, which serves more than 500 companies with over 50 separate payment functions, offers solutions that combine multi-rail capabilities, embedded workflows, system of record integration, and reconciliation to support both B2B and B2C payments.


Photo by Andre Furtado

Streamly Snapshot: Unpacking the Impact of Automation in Finance

Streamly Snapshot: Unpacking the Impact of Automation in Finance

Automation has helped the financial services industry advance rapidly. It not only helps firms save costs and better serve users, but it has also influenced everything from customer service to regulatory compliance. However, as the industry continues to embrace automation, what should financial institutions consider to ensure innovation doesn’t overshadow empathy and trust?

In this Streamly video, Finovate Research Analyst David Penn and ShareFile Director of Sales for Financial Services Matt Geiger speak about the transformative effects of automation on the finance sector. They explore the opportunities, challenges, and the balance required to implement automation effectively while maintaining a human touch.

“In some ways, automation is awesome because we can take these workflows and have our people focus on more specialized activity… The place that we need to find when we’re talking about automation is to find the balance between [automation and manual activity]. What should I automate and what should I have as a personalized customer experience that’s not automated where humans can interact with each other? And we need to have a balance of both of those things.”

ShareFile provides secure document sharing and workflow automation solutions for companies in a range of industries. Founded in 2005, the North Carolina-based company helps its financial services clients document workflow automation, enhance and simplify their client collaboration, and it also aids them in regulatory compliance.

Matt Geiger has been with ShareFile for three years and currently serves as the company’s Director of North American Sales. With over 20 years in tech sales, Matt develops go-to-market strategies that deliver exceptional value. Before ShareFile, he spent 13 years in the partner community, building strategic alliances and driving success. Matt began his career as a teacher and coach, shaping his leadership style and commitment to team development.


Photo by Pavel Danilyuk

FinovateEurope 2025: Exploring the Future of Fintech with Top Futurist Tracey Follows

FinovateEurope 2025: Exploring the Future of Fintech with Top Futurist Tracey Follows

FinovateEurope 2025 takes place in London on February 25 and 26. Register to attend and save up to £400.

Now that 2025 is well underway, we’re starting to get a better picture of what this year’s FinovateEurope event will look like. Taking place in London on 25 and 26 February, the two-day event will feature live demos from 30+ companies, as well as panel discussions on the hottest fintech topics and keynote presentations from major industry thought leaders.

The headliner keynote address, titled Artificial intelligence – are we overestimating the short term impact & underestimating the long term impact?, will be delivered by Professor Tracey Follows. AI was quick to establish itself as a long-term trend line. Will everything in this decade be defined by AI? And what does this mean for financial services?

Follows, who Forbes listed as one of the Top 50 Female Futurists in the World, will address these questions and offer her thoughts into what else the future has in store for banks.

Follows teaches strategic foresight at London Business School to Senior Executive Leadership and Corporate Management programs globally. She is also Visiting Professor in Digital Futures and Identity at Staffordshire University. She writes a regular AI/Innovation column in Forbes and speaks regularly at AI conferences; her expertise is highly regarded. She is also the CEO of futures consultancy Futuremade, working with the world’s biggest global brands and businesses. Recent clients include Coca-Cola, Tesco, PZ Cussons, Snapchat, Google, Diageo, Sky, Lego, Farfetch, Conde Nast, BT, Telefonica, the IAB, Women’s Business Council and Virgin.

In an interview with Thinking Differently, when asked what a futurist does on a day-to-day basis, Follows said that she is always on the lookout for signals of change. She said that she spends a lot of time at the frontiers of technologies, art, and science.

Follows describes herself as an “anxious optimist” because she is optimistic about the future, but she is anxious that situations might not always turn out to meet the optimistic expectations.

For more details about FinovateEurope, visit the homepage, take a look at the demoing companies, and check out the agenda.


Photo by Pixabay

doxo Launches doxoBILLS to Further Facilitate Consumer Billpay

doxo Launches doxoBILLS to Further Facilitate Consumer Billpay
  • doxo launched doxoBILLS, a new platform that combines six key features to help consumers manage household finances more effectively.
  • Among the new tools are all-in-one bill pay, real-time bank balance insights, credit score protection, $1 million in identity theft protection, and utility usage tracking.
  • While doxoBILLS offers standard features for free, premium options like identity theft protection and overdraft safeguards are available through the doxoPLUS subscription, priced at $5.99 per month.

Online billpay fintech doxo released its latest tool to help consumers stay on top of their household finances. The Seattle-based company launched doxoBILLS today, a single platform that offers six key features that aim to give consumers insight into and control of all of their household bills in a single place.

“We’re proud to introduce doxoBILLS, the next generation of our all-in-one bill pay product. doxoBILLS is the first and only solution to incorporate all six essential elements of paying bills into one simple and safe platform,” said doxo CEO and Co-Founder Steve Shivers. “This is a huge step for our continued mission to empower consumers in organizing and paying their household bills, which represent the most fundamental financial obligations of every American household. Legacy bill pay systems are fragmented – almost always organized around individual billers or individual financial institutions – but doxoBILLS puts the consumer in the driver’s seat, enabling a simple view of all bills and due dates, the ability to pay any bill with any financial institution, and integrates essential financial protections to improve credit, help reduce late fees and overdraft fees, and protect online security.”

doxoBILLS is built on doxo’s Bill Pay Operating System (Bill Pay OS), the company’s flagship service that enables payment management. doxoBILLS adds to this capability by bringing together not only all-in-one billpay, but also a wallet that keeps customers’ payment credentials hidden from billers, a bank balance feature that helps mitigate bank overdrafts by showing the consumer their current account balance in real time, credit score insight and protection, $1 million in identity theft protection, and utility usage insights.

Users can access doxoBILLS on the doxo mobile app and website. doxo offers its standard benefits for free, including the ability to pay any bill for free with a linked bank account. Users seeking premium features, such as identity theft protection, credit score protection, and overdraft protection, can sign up for a doxoPLUS subscription, which currently costs $5.99 per month (plus tax, where applicable).

Founded in 2008, doxo allows U.S. consumers a single place to pay over 120,000 billers using a standard checkout and secure payment experience. doxo leverages Plaid to securely access the consumer’s bank account, a feature that allows users to keep their account data secure. To date, 10 million people have used doxo’s billpay experience.

The new doxoBILLS product creates a recurring revenue stream for the company while also giving users more reasons to engage with their accounts. Features like identity protection and credit score monitoring will encourage existing users to log in more often and attract new users to the platform.


Photo by Mikhail Nilov