Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

OnePay Becomes Infrastructure for Agent-Led Commerce

OnePay Becomes Infrastructure for Agent-Led Commerce
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • OnePay has joined Google’s Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), moving the Walmart-owned fintech from traditional payments into providing infrastructure for agent-led, AI-driven commerce.
  • Unlike networks such as Mastercard, PayPal, and American Express that provide payment rails within AP2, OnePay is joining as a credential provider that will define how AI agents store credentials, interpret user intent, select payment instruments, and disclose financing options.
  • By positioning itself upstream of transactions, OnePay is aiming to govern the rules and guardrails of autonomous payments.

OnePay, the Walmart-owned digital banking platform, announced yesterday that it is joining Google’s Agent Payments Protocol (AP2). The partnership moves OnePay from offering traditional payments to becoming infrastructure for agentic payments.

Google launched AP2 in September 2025 to provide an open, standardized framework for digital payments. AP2 connects banks, fintechs, and merchants with its protocol that creates a common language for how AI agents can transact on behalf of users.

While OnePay joins heavyweights such as Mastercard, PayPal, and American Express in enlisting in AP2, it will not serve in the same capacity as the payments players, which are providing the payment rails. Instead, OnePay is joining as a credential provider, meaning the company will focus on how payment credentials are stored, secured, and reused by AI agents, how the user intent is expressed, how agents choose between different payment instruments, and how financing options are disclosed. Essentially, OnePay is taking on the role of defining the rules and guardrails that govern agent behavior.

For OnePay, joining AP2 positions the company as critical infrastructure for agent-led commerce. By acting as a credential provider within AP2, OnePay helps solve how agents securely store, select, and reuse payment credentials while respecting user constraints like spending limits, merchant rules, and financing preferences.

“We’re excited to collaborate with Google and the broader ecosystem to bring these ideas to life,” said OnePay CTO Moe Matar. “As AI begins handling more of the everyday work in commerce, consumers deserve a payments infrastructure that is fast, trustworthy, and aligned with their intent.”

Notably, this move positions OnePay upstream of payments. Since it was founded in 2020, the company has focused on facilitating transactions. Today’s announcement indicates OnePay has much bigger plans as it broadens its scope into governing how autonomous commerce decisions are made.

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How Citi is Thinking About Fintech Funding Trends with Mary Joseph

How Citi is Thinking About Fintech Funding Trends with Mary Joseph
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Speaker series

As the macroeconomic landscape changes and startup valuations adjust, financial services companies face new questions about where to spend their funds. Both investors and founders find themselves asking questions about what future funding will look like, which fintech niches are the most promising, and how startups can thrive with tighter funding restrictions.

At FinovateFall 2025 in New York, Citi’s Senior Vice President of Strategic Investments, Mary Joseph, shared her perspective on these trends with William Mills, CEO of The William Mills Agency. During the conversation, Joseph shared her outlook on current funding dynamics, sector leadership, and what founders should consider as they build resiliency and relevance into their businesses.

I think there was a time when companies could raise and raise and raise and spend and spend and spend, and the view was that, you know, at some point in the future, investors would be able to recoup that investment, right? Because the IPO market was hot, we were seeing more mergers and acquisitions. That’s not the case now, right? So we need to see companies that are really strong in terms of what they’re offering to the market.

Mary Joseph leads Citi’s global investments in fintech and B2B SaaS startups, focusing on opportunities that enhance Treasury and Trade Solutions and broaden the bank’s technology ecosystem. Before her current role, she worked within Citi’s Investment Banking fintech M&A advisory team and also served as a venture investor at GreenHouse Capital, where she focused on early-stage fintech innovation across Africa and the Middle East. She holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a BA from Columbia University.

Citi is a strategic player in fintech investment. Through its strategic investments arm, Citi aims to partner with companies that complement its core banking and corporate finance services, while also helping startups gain access to enterprise scale and regulated banking capabilities.

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko

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SoFi Launches SoFiUSD Stablecoin, But Could it Actually be a Tokenized Deposit?

SoFi Launches SoFiUSD Stablecoin, But Could it Actually be a Tokenized Deposit?
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, SoFi, Thought Leadership
  • SoFi has launched SoFiUSD, a fully reserved US dollar token issued by SoFi Bank, positioning itself as a stablecoin infrastructure provider for banks, fintechs, and enterprises seeking faster, always-on settlement.
  • Although branded as a stablecoin, SoFiUSD’s cash-only backing and on-demand redemption model place it closer to a tokenized bank deposit.
  • SoFi’s approach aligns more closely with JPMorgan’s JPM Coin than with non-bank stablecoins like KlarnaUSD, underscoring a growing divide between bank-issued tokenized deposits and fintech-issued stablecoins as programmable money adoption grows.

Lending and wealth management fintech SoFi is entering the stablecoin market today. The San Francisco-based lending and wealth management company has launched SoFiUSD, a fully reserved US dollar token issued by SoFi Bank.

The new tool blurs the line between a traditional stablecoin and a tokenized bank deposit. The distinction between these two terms matters, as banks and fintechs are increasingly taking different approaches to bringing regulated money onto blockchain rails.

SoFiUSD will allow SoFi, an OCC-regulated insured depository institution, to serve as a stablecoin infrastructure provider for banks, fintechs, and enterprise platforms with an aim to streamline operations with the faster and more efficient money movement that stablecoins offer. SoFi’s new stablecoin will enable partners to leverage SoFi’s framework to issue white-labeled stablecoins or integrate SoFiUSD into their own settlement flows.

SoFiUSD will be used for:

  • Settling SoFi’s crypto trading business
  • Offering third parties such as card networks, retailers, or businesses faster, safer settlement 24/7
  • Powering SoFi Pay for international remittances and point-of-sale purchases
  • Serving as an alternative form of payment for Galileo’s partners
  • Acting as a secured dollar-denominated asset for companies operating in countries with volatile currencies

“Blockchain is a technology super cycle that will fundamentally change finance, not just in payments, but across every area of money,” said SoFi CEO Anthony Noto. “With SoFiUSD, we’re using the infrastructure we’ve built over the last decade and applying it to real-world challenges in financial services. Companies today struggle with slow settlement, fragmented providers, and unverified reserve models. SoFi is helping address these gaps by combining our regulatory strength as a national bank with transparent, fully reserved on-chain technology to provide a safer and more efficient way for partners to move funds.”

While SoFi is calling SoFiUSD a stablecoin, its reserve model acts more like a tokenized deposit. That’s because the token is fully backed by cash held at SoFi Bank and redeemable on demand, representing bank deposits on-chain. This structure removes liquidity and credit risk and positions SoFiUSD as regulated bank money rather than a crypto instrument.

SoFi may be using the term “stablecoin” for three reasons. The first is market familiarity, as the term “stablecoin” is more widely recognized than tokenized deposits. The second is regulatory ambiguity, since US regulators have yet to formally define how tokenized deposits should be treated. The third is interoperability, with “stablecoin” indicating compatibility with today’s on-chain payment rails.

By launching what is effectively a tokenized deposit, SoFi joins a small but growing group of regulated banks experimenting with blockchain-based bank money, most notably JPMorgan Chase, which launched JPM Coin in November. Like JPM Coin, SoFiUSD keeps reserves inside the banking system and uses on-chain rails to modernize settlement rather than to create a parallel form of money.

The tokenized deposits approach stands in contrast to KlarnaUSD, Klarna’s recently announced stablecoin, which is issued by a non-bank and backed by reserves held outside the issuer’s balance sheet. While KlarnaUSD is designed to improve payments efficiency for cross-border commerce, SoFiUSD’s approach leverages a bank charter to embed stablecoins directly into deposits, lending, and treasury workflows.

As banks and fintechs experiment with programmable money, the distinction between bank-issued tokenized deposits and non-bank stablecoins may prove critical in determining which models scale beyond payments into the core of financial services.

Photo by Dawid Sokołowski on Unsplash

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Visa Launches USDC Settlement in the US

Visa Launches USDC Settlement in the US
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, VISA
  • Visa has launched USDC stablecoin settlement in the US, enabling issuers and acquirers to settle transactions in Circle’s dollar-denominated stablecoin using blockchain infrastructure.
  • Cross River Bank and Lead Bank are piloting the capability to deliver faster, always-on settlement and improved treasury efficiency while remaining compatible with existing payment rails.
  • The move signals stablecoins’ shift from experimentation to bank-ready infrastructure.

Visa unveiled today that it has launched stablecoin settlement in the United States. The payments giant is partnering with Circle’s USDC dollar-denominated stablecoin to enable US issuers and acquirers to settle with Visa in USDC.

USDC settlement relies on blockchains to offer issuers faster money movement and seven‑day settlement windows that will improve both speed and liquidity, modernized treasury management with automated treasury operations, and interoperability between traditional payment rails and blockchain-based payments.

“Visa is expanding stablecoin settlement because our banking partners are not only asking about it— they’re preparing to use it,” said Visa’s Global Head of Growth Products and Strategic Partnerships Rubail Birwadker. “Financial institutions are looking for faster, programmable settlement options that integrate seamlessly with their existing treasury operations. By bringing USDC settlement to the US, Visa is delivering a reliable, bank‑ready capability that improves treasury efficiency while maintaining the security, compliance, and resiliency standards our network requires.”

Piloting the launch are Cross River Bank and Lead Bank, which are leveraging the Solana blockchain to settle with Visa in USDC. Visa is planning broader availability in the US in 2026. Cross River Bank, a leading infrastructure provider that offers embedded financial solutions, reinforces the importance of true interoperability. “Fintech and crypto innovators increasingly ask us to bring stablecoins into their existing product suite,” said Gilles Gade, Founder, President and CEO of Cross River. “A unified platform that natively supports both stablecoins and traditional payment networks is the foundation for how value will move globally. As one of the first US banks to enable USDC settlement with Visa, we’re demonstrating how a tech-forward, deeply integrated banking partner can connect blockchain networks and legacy systems at scale.”

Today’s announcement comes the same week that Visa Consulting & Analytics launched its Stablecoins Advisory Practice to offer education and guidance on market fit and implementation. VyStar Credit Union and Pathward are early participants in the program, which they will use to find new opportunities in the $250 billion stablecoin market.

Visa, which became one of the first major payment networks to settle in stablecoins in 2023, has been positioning itself at the forefront of the stablecoin revolution. Last month, the company’s monthly stablecoin settlement volume passed a $3.5 billion annualized run rate threashold.

Visa’s move to bring USDC settlement to the US shows that the early momentum in stablecoin activity this year is set to continue into next year as the payment rail moves from experimental to a bank-ready settlement tool. By embedding stablecoin settlement directly into its network, Visa is making programmable, always-on settlement a practical option for traditional banks seeking to improve liquidity management, shorten settlement cycles, and bridge existing payment rails with blockchain infrastructure.

Photo by Jonathan Borba

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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

Making headlines this December morning is the launch of Sam Altman’s World, a self-proclaimed “super app” that offers crypto payments and encrypted chat functionality. Check out other fintech headlines as they break throughout the week below. We’ll continue to add more announcements as the week progresses.

Core banking and digital transformation

British Caribbean Bank goes live with Finastra Essence to transform core banking.

Capital Bank advances digital transformation with Diebold Nixdorf’s multivendor self-service software.

Thread raises $30.5 million to continue building the future of embedded banking.

Payments

YouTube launches option for US creators to receive stablecoin payouts through PayPal.

Maxio launches Maxio MCP to accelerate AI-forward finance with governed access to billing and revenue data.

Nayax partners with Unipaas to launch integrated card-present payments solution for UK SaaS platforms.

AI

Arcesium unveils new suite of AI features in Aquata to help institutional investors scale their AI strategies.

Crypto

Sam Altman’s World launches its “super app” that includes crypto pay and encrypted chat features.

Intiuit and Circle partner to enable USDC capabilities for faster, lower-cost, and global financial experiences across Intuit TurboTax, QuickBooks, and Credit Karma.

Business Solutions

Payroll, HR, and tax compliance solutions Greenshades Software to embed OnePay’s financial wellness tools right inside its platform. 

Basware acquires Australian provider of Accounts Payable (AP) automation software Redmap.

Lending

The MANTL–Alloy partnership surpasses 2 million processed applications.

U.S. Bank Avvance expands embedded financing network with three new partners.

Photo by Cristina Glebova on Unsplash

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Business Payments Unite: Mollie to Acquire GoCardless

Business Payments Unite: Mollie to Acquire GoCardless
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Mollie plans to acquire GoCardless in a move that creates a unified European payments platform that combines card payments, bank-to-bank transfers, and local payment methods for more than 350,000 businesses.
  • GoCardless strengthens Mollie’s recurring payments and open banking capabilities, helping merchants reduce failed payments, customer churn, and cross-border complexity.
  • The deal reflects a broader shift in payments, as merchants increasingly favor full-stack platforms that integrate payments, fraud, financing, and analytics while making bank payments and open banking rails core infrastructure rather than optional add-ons.

Payments platform Mollie unveiled this week that it plans to acquire business payments platform GoCardless. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Combined, the two providers will serve over 350,000 businesses with a holistic solution that offers card payments, local payment methods, and bank payments into a single solution.  

“We’re incredibly excited to join forces with Mollie,” said GoCardless Co-Founder and CEO Hiroki Takeuchi. “This deal brings together two highly complementary businesses that have built best-in-class products across Europe and beyond.  By combining our expertise in card, bank and hyperlocal payments into one provider, we can better serve our customers, accelerate growth and raise the bar for the industry. It’s a win for European fintech and we’re confident that the new company will be greater than the sum of its parts.”

GoCardless, which won Best Enterprise Payments Solution at the 2021 Finovate Awards, was founded in 2011. The UK-based company’s technology helps merchants collect recurring and one-off payments from customers via ACH transfers. GoCardless’ APIs help businesses automate payment collection and reconciliation billing for subscription and invoice payments. Last year, the company acquired NuPay, which helped expand GoCardless’ services through partners and intermediaries, including Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Payment Service Providers (PSPs). 

Mollie’s platform powers online and in-person payments, reconciliation, fraud prevention, and working capital loans with flexible repayment options across 30+ European markets and the UK. Founded in 2004, Mollie has raised $928 million.

“Mollie’s mission has always been to make money management effortless,” said Mollie CEO Koen Köppen. “We were founded on the vision to eliminate financial bureaucracy for every business. We see that bureaucracy creates challenges, especially for businesses with recurring revenue. A card-only approach has its limits, leading to high costs due to failed payments and customer churn. GoCardless built the definitive solution to optimize this process with its global bank payment network. By bringing them into Mollie, we take a huge step towards fulfilling our vision and creating one complete platform for sustainable growth.”

Mollie anticipates that the deal will give businesses access to a broad suite of tools that will offer financing, fraud monitoring, and analytics from a single place. The integration will also allow Mollie to offer recurring revenue management, more options for SaaS and vertical software vendors, local onboarding and reporting, and an easier on-ramp to international expansion.

Mollie’s acquisition of GoCardless marks a major consolidation in Europe’s payments landscape as unified platforms that combine cards, bank payments, and hyper-local payment options become more popular. As card failure rates, churn, and cross-border complexity continue to challenge merchants, Mollie is positioning itself as a full-stack alternative to fragmented payment tooling. The added capabilities offer merchants fewer integrations, stronger recurring revenue management, and a single provider for payments, fraud, financing, and analytics across Europe and the UK. The move also shows that bank-to-bank payments and open banking rails are becoming a core necessity for high-growth digital businesses.

The deal is expected to close by mid-2026.

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko

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Enova to Acquire Grasshopper Bank for $369 Million

Enova to Acquire Grasshopper Bank for $369 Million
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Enova is acquiring Grasshopper Bank for $369 million, creating a full-stack digital financial services provider that blends online lending with modern API-driven banking.
  • Grasshopper brings $1.4 billion in assets, $3 billion in deposits, and a growing sponsor-bank portfolio, strengthening Enova’s infrastructure, deposit base, and fintech capabilities.
  • The deal show the benefits of digital lenders that move up-market by acquiring bank charters to stabilize funding, expand product suites, and compete in the next phase of fintech.

It may be mid-December, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late to announce a bank acquisition. Online financial services company Enova International revealed that Grasshopper Bancorp has agreed to be acquired in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $369 million.

Grasshopper Bank, which offers small business banking and lending tools, as well as embedded finance and BaaS, was founded in 2019 and currently holds more than $1.4 billion in total assets as of September 2025. In addition to small business banking, the digital-first bank focuses on startup banking, venture and tech-forward SMB tools, digital treasury management, and high yield business checking and savings products. Grasshopper Bank is also a sponsor bank, working with fintechs such as Pocketbook, Manifest, and Sydecar. The bank, through its direct banking and BaaS product offerings, holds $3 billion in total deposits.

“We’re thrilled to join forces with Enova, a market leader in digital lending and a true innovator in the use of technology and analytics in the financial services sector,” said Grasshopper CEO Mike Butler. “This combination of enhanced digital lending and banking will enable us to serve an even broader set of customers while expanding and strengthening the product offerings for our current clients.”

Enova anticipates that this transaction will combine its consumer and small business online lending capabilities with Grasshopper’s digital banking infrastructure to help it become a stronger, more diversified financial services provider. With more than 13 million customers, Enova’s portfolio has seven brands, including OnDeck, Headway Capital, The Business Backer, CashNetUSA, NetCredit, Simplic, and Pangea.

“Acquiring and partnering with Grasshopper creates a powerful digital bank that positions us to offer a more comprehensive suite of financial solutions across more states to empower consumers and small businesses with the products they need to succeed,” said Enova Chairman and CEO David Fisher. “Our complementary capabilities and shared customer-first mindset mean we can grow and innovate faster, together. We’re excited to welcome the Grasshopper team to Enova.”

Once the deal is finalized, Enova will be formed as a bank holding company with Grasshopper Bank as its subsidiary. Butler will stay on as President of Grasshopper Bank, reporting to Steve Cunningham, who will be appointed CEO of Grasshopper Bank and will assume the role of Enova CEO on January 1, 2026.

The deal creates a vertically integrated fintech–bank hybrid that combines Enova’s scale in online consumer and SMB lending with Grasshopper’s modern, API-driven banking infrastructure, giving Enova a foothold in embedded finance. The announcement also offers a clue of how digital lenders and digital banks are converging to compete in the next phase of financial services. We may see other digital lenders move up-market by acquiring bank charters to stabilize funding and expand their product sets.

Photo by Roberto Carlos Blanc Angulo

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Chimney’s Blueprint for Financial Wellness: How Chase Neinken Is Reimagining the Digital Banking Experience

Chimney’s Blueprint for Financial Wellness: How Chase Neinken Is Reimagining the Digital Banking Experience
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Chimney, FinovateFall 2025, Speaker series

Today’s financial landscape is steered by rising consumer expectations, requiring banks to search for ways to deliver more personalized, actionable guidance to their customers. While fintech has always discussed financial wellness, it is not always easy to deliver it in a way that is embedded, intuitive, and with low friction. The banks that will take the lead in the customer journey in 2026 are the ones that will turn complex financial decisions into simple, interactive experiences that help users understand their options in real time.

Today, we’re highlighting a conversation with Chase Neinken, CRO and co-founder of Chimney, which offers banks personalized tools to help them improve the customer experience and ultimately improve their financial wellness. Recorded at FinovateFall 2025, this interview features Neinken’s thoughts on how banks can use interactive tools to deepen engagement, increase transparency, and empower consumers to make smarter financial decisions within their trusted banking channels.

But I think over the next few years, what you’re going to see, especially with AI and automation and some of the intelligence tools that are coming out, is that the winners are going to separate themselves by moving from the application layer to the infrastructure layer. So owning that data and being able and prepared to take advantage and act on it. So [consider] how you take advantage of all of the accountholder data that you have within your existing systems, not relying on third parties to do that, and then analyze that data, act on that data, and give that to the accountholders in a very convenient experience that helps your teams be more efficient and helps you grow the balance sheet in a meaningful way.

As a co-founder of Chimney, Chase Neinken brings a commercial mindset shaped by years of working with banks and fintechs to solve real consumer pain points. Neinken’s focus is on transforming static, outdated digital banking experiences into dynamic tools that guide users toward financial wellness.

Founded in 2021, Chimney is helping banks change the role they play in consumers’ financial lives by providing interactive financial tools that power more personalized, data-driven experiences within the banks’ existing channels. Chimney’s tools help users explore scenarios such as mortgage affordability and home-equity planning. For financial institutions, the New York-based company offers a plug-and-play way to increase engagement, build trust, and drive conversions without overhauling their core.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya

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Fifth Third Bank Embeds Brex’s Payments Infrastructure

Fifth Third Bank Embeds Brex’s Payments Infrastructure
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Brex and Fifth Third Bank have entered a multiyear partnership that uses Brex Embedded to power the bank’s new commercial card, bringing modern spend management and AI-driven automation to Fifth Third’s commercial clients.
  • The integration gives businesses access to Brex’s finance platform, enabling real-time payments, automated expense workflows, corporate card issuance, and AI agents that streamline closing the books and controlling spend.
  • The partnership is strategically significant for both sides. It expands Brex’s reach into established commercial banking while helping Fifth Third differentiate itself with an AI-powered alternative to legacy expense management tools.

Corporate card and expense management fintech Brex announced a new partnership with Fifth Third Bank this week. In the multiyear agreement, Fifth Third will leverage Brex Embedded, Brex’s API-driven payments infrastructure to power the Fifth Third Commercial Card.

Through the integration, Fifth Third’s commercial clients will gain access to Brex’s finance software platform that will enable them to issue corporate cards, automate expense management, and make secure, real-time payments. Customers can also use Brex’s AI agents that automate complex workflows to close the books faster, reduce manual review, and control spending.

“The future of business demands financial platforms that do more than process payments—they must power growth,” said Fifth Third Chairman, CEO, and President Tim Spence. “Our partnership with Brex is a commitment to redefine how companies leverage financial technology. By combining the strength of a leading bank with Brex’s AI-driven innovation, we’re creating intelligent solutions that simplify complexity, drive efficiency, and enable businesses to scale globally with confidence.”

For a long-standing, traditional financial institution like Fifth Third, this partnership will bring modern, AI-powered technology into its commercial banking business. The new commercial card will become the default commercial card solution for the bank’s commercial clients.

“This partnership changes everything. By combining Fifth Third Bank’s financial strength with Brex’s AI-driven technology, we’re delivering an intelligent platform that automates workflows, enhances visibility and eliminates manual processes,” said Fifth Third’s Head of Commercial Payments Bridgit Chayt. “Businesses gain real-time insights, global scalability and finance tools that work proactively on their behalf—freeing teams to focus on strategy, not spreadsheets. We’re introducing a new standard for speed, accuracy and control in commercial finance.”

Brex was founded in 2017 to create a digital-first business banking solution. The company offers business bank accounts with credit cards that have built-in rewards, spend controls, and expense tracking. The accounts provide businesses access to their online revenue, billpay tools, and integration with popular accounting tools.

Brex quickly rose to prominence in the fintech space after positioning itself as a digital bank account and card offering for startups. The company sought to solve pain points that often come with corporate cards, including lengthy approval processes and restrictive credit limits. Within just two years, Brex managed to raise billions of dollars in funding and achieve unicorn status.

In 2022, however, as Brex sought to expand its client base from small businesses to larger, venture-backed firms, the company experienced a downward shift. In pivoting toward this target market, Brex discontinued some of its services geared toward small businesses, many of which were the fintech’s original customers. This pivot required some of Brex’s original small business clients to leave to seek alternative solutions.

Despite the dip, Brex remains a major player in the fintech space, serving “tens of thousands of businesses” ranging from small private companies to large public brands, including Airbnb and ClassPass.

For Brex, the partnership is strategically significant. After years of repositioning toward larger, venture-backed firms, embedding its technology inside a major US bank gives the company a new distribution channel and a path to reach established commercial clients. For Fifth Third, the partnership serves as a differentiating factor from peers that still rely on dated expense management tools and manual workflows. Overall, the partnership raises expectations across the commercial banking category.

Photo by Karola G

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Showcase Your Tech on Fintech’s Most Influential Stage: Apply to Demo at FinovateEurope 2026

Showcase Your Tech on Fintech’s Most Influential Stage: Apply to Demo at FinovateEurope 2026
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2026, Marketing

FinovateEurope returns to London on March 10 through 11, 2026. Taking place at the O2 Intercontinental in London, the event brings together 1,000+ senior-level attendees (including an impressive 600+ from banks and other financial institutions), decision-makers, investors, and creators shaping the future of financial services. If your organization is building technology that can transform banking, payments, wealth management, fraud prevention, or the broader digital finance ecosystem, now is the time to put it in front of the industry’s most powerful audience.

For more than 15 years, Finovate’s demo format has earned its reputation as the launchpad for the next generation of fintech solutions. No slides. No long pitches. Just seven minutes to show the world what your technology can do. It’s fast, high-impact, and built specifically to elevate companies that are ready for growth.

Why demo? Visibility, credibility, and real business outcomes

FinovateEurope is attended by senior leaders from top banks, tier-one investors, and global fintech brands looking for the ideas, partnerships, and capabilities that will define the next wave of financial innovation. Demos routinely lead to commercial deals, strategic investments, media exposure, and accelerated market traction.

Whether you are an early-stage startup seeking your breakthrough moment or an established provider launching your latest product, Finovate offers unmatched visibility.

Experience the Finovate effect

Previous demoing companies have leveraged the stage to enter new markets, secure funding, and close deals with some of Europe’s largest financial institutions. Past participants are now among the top names making waves in fintech. Here’s what some of our alumni demo companies have been up to recently:

Locking in capital

LeapXpert kicked off the year by raising $20 million in Series B funding to revolutionize business communications.
FISPAN followed suit midyear, securing $30 million in Series B funding to expand its embedded ERP banking solutions.
Scalable Capital made headlines with a record-breaking €155 million funding round to enhance its digital wealth management and investing platform.
Forging big bank partnerships

Taulia partnered with Lloyds in Q1 to issue Visa-enabled virtual cards for SAP Business Suite solutions.
Personetics joined forces with KeyBank in Q2 to deliver personalized financial insights to customers.
Wio Bank PJSC and Xero teamed up in Q3 to simplify accounting operations for SMEs in the UAE.
Leading fintech innovation

News heated up in June when Fiserv announced plans to launch its own stablecoin, FIUSD, further advancing the payments landscape.
By July, AutoRek unveiled a new platform to streamline data management and reconciliation for cryptocurrency and digital assets.
And fintech pioneer PayPal unveiled PayPal World, a new platform connecting global payment systems and digital wallets.

Be part of fintech’s next big moment

Applications to demo at FinovateEurope 2026 are now open. The earlier you submit, the more visibility you’ll have with our selection committee and also the fintech community once the first wave of companies is announced.

Don’t wait to introduce your innovation to the people who can help you scale it. Apply now and take your place on Europe’s most trusted fintech stage.

Photo by Fox

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eToro Brings Stock Lending to the UK

eToro Brings Stock Lending to the UK
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news, eToro

Social trading and investment network eToro unveiled that it will begin rolling out its stock lending program in the UK. The capability, which is available in Europe and the UK, enables eligible users to lend out their stocks.

Stock lending isn’t new. In fact, it has long been a passive revenue generator for large brokers and hedge funds. Bringing this capability to an alternative platform like eToro gives the fintech a competitive edge as it brings more transparent, value-added services to the retail trading market. As investor expectations increase, platforms that provide passive-income engines, improved liquidity, and greater control over their portfolios may gain more interest in an ever-crowded market.

Facilitating the launch are global financial services company BNY and stock lending program EquiLend. Under these partnerships, BNY is acting as custodian and clearing provider, while EquiLend identifies borrowers and facilitates the lending process. eToro anticipates that the new program will allow its investors to put their portfolios to work while retaining their investments.

As with most stock lending programs, borrowers post collateral, and investors can still sell their positions at any time. By partnering with institutions such as BNY and EquiLend, eToro aims to ensure operational safeguards that offer retail users institutional-grade risk management.

“Launching stock lending in the UK is a key step in our mission to make passive income opportunities available to every investor,” said eToro VP of Execution Services Yossi Brandes. “With the ability to lend not just US but also global stocks, we are maximizing the potential for our clients to generate additional revenues, and this rollout sets the stage for further expansion into new markets.” 

Launching in the UK expands eToro’s partnership with BNY, which it leverages for clearing and custody services for its stock and ETF offering across 19 global exchanges.

“We are delighted to extend our relationship with eToro, delivering an integrated solution encompassing clearing, settlement, custody, foreign exchange and cash management to UK investors,” said BNY Executive Platform Owner of Global Clearing Victor O’Laughlen. “By combining the capabilities of eToro and EquiLend with the scale and deep expertise of BNY’s leading Global Clearing platform, this initiative aims to equip retail investors with an institutional-grade solution to support their investing journey.”

Israel-based eToro said that the move marks the next step in the company’s plan to expand stock lending access to retail investors worldwide.

For eToro, today’s launch is more than a feature. The expansion is a signal of the company’s strategic move into deeper monetization and institutional-grade services. Leveraging BNY’s clearing and custody infrastructure places eToro closer to the operational standards of traditional brokers while maintaining its core social-trading product. Adding features like these in partnerships with traditional financial institutions could help eToro attract more sophisticated retail investors looking for passive-income tools and greater flexibility.

Founded in 2007, eToro 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 that are more accessible and collaborative. eToro launched in the US market in 2019, entering a space where Robinhood had already established a six-year presence.

eToro began 2025 with its public debut in May. The company is now listed on Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker ETOR. eToro has a current market capitalization of $3.5 billion.

Photo by John Angel on Unsplash

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Business Financial Management Heats Up as Airwallex Brings in $330 Million

Business Financial Management Heats Up as Airwallex Brings in $330 Million
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Airwallex has raised $330 million at an $8 billion valuation, boosting its total funding to $1.5 billion and setting up a major US expansion with a new San Francisco headquarters.
  • The company’s business performance is rising, with annualized revenue surpassing $1 billion, transaction volume doubling to $235 billion, and half of its customers using multiple Airwallex products.
  • The company is positioning itself as the backbone of global, AI-powered finance, expanding regulatory coverage to 80 licenses worldwide.

Global commercial payments and financial platform Airwallex has captured fintech’s attention with its new funding round today. The Singapore-based company closed a $330 million Series G round at an $8 billion valuation, which is 30% higher than its valuation six months ago at its Series F round.

Led by Addition with participation from T. Rowe Price, Activant, Lingotto, Robinhood Ventures, and TIAA Ventures, the round boosts Airwallex’s total funding to $1.5 billion and will allow the company to create AI agents and fuel product development. The company will also use the investment to fuel its global growth, including in the US.

As part of this, Airwallex has established a second headquarters location in San Francisco and will invest $1 billion from 2026 to 2029 to scale its US operations, attract new employees, and expand its physical footprint and brand awareness.

“We believe the future of global banking will be borderless, real-time, and intelligent,” said Airwallex CEO and co-founder Jack Zhang. “Legacy providers are fundamentally incompatible with how modern businesses operate, and our investors understand that we’re pulling ahead in the race to define this category. We’re building a modern alternative, a single platform that powers global banking, payments, billing, treasury, and spend on top of proprietary financial infrastructure. This capital will accelerate our growth, extend our technical leadership, and strengthen our position in the U S and across key markets worldwide.”

Airwallex’s new round comes during a time of not only geographical expansion, but also significant growth in business performance and platform adoption. The company’s annualized revenue surpassed $1 billion in October, marking 90% year-over-year growth, while its annualized transaction volume doubled to more than $235 billion. Product depth is also increasing, with approximately half of all customers now using multiple Airwallex products, a sign of expanding product-market fit and stickiness.

Airwallex has also strengthened its global regulatory footprint, holding 80 licenses and permits that enable customers to operate in 200+ countries and regions and support multi-currency checkout at scale. In 2025 alone, the company extended its regulated and local capabilities across 12 new markets, securing licenses and launching products in France, the Netherlands, Israel, Canada, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brazil, Mexico, the UAE, and more.

As Airwallex scales its infrastructure, footprint, and product suite, investors see the company as a foundational layer for the next era of global business banking. Addition’s Lee Fixel captured this shift, noting that “Airwallex is reshaping the global business banking landscape. The traditional financial system wasn’t built for borderless businesses, and Airwallex is uniquely equipped to solve this challenge. With its global financial infrastructure, software and AI capabilities, the company is exceptionally well positioned to lead the future of global business banking.”

As mentioned earlier, part of today’s investment will help Airwallex build a team of AI agents for financial workflows to eventually create a fully autonomous finance department. The agents will leverage behavioral and transactional data to automate multi-step operations such as expense approvals, policy checks, and end-to-end task orchestration. The company estimates that it will employ hundreds of agents across its platform.

“As AI lowers software costs, infrastructure and data become the ultimate differentiator,” Zhang added. “Airwallex connects the full spectrum of a customer’s financial operations – money in, money out, and everything in between, giving our agents the contextual data to execute with precision. This proprietary visibility, built on our scalable financial infrastructure, is what powers agentic finance.”

Photo by Mikhail Nilov

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