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

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: List series
This week I'm looking at a trio of stories from the wealthtech beat: SS&C's completed acquisition of Calastone, the emergence of a new UK-based wealthtech, and a look at two, not-quite-contrasting interpretations of funding for wealthtechs in Q3 2025. SS&C Technologies completes $1 billion acquisition of Calastone Initially reported in July, SS&C Technologies announced this week that it has completed its acquisition of Calastone. The company purchased Calastone, a London-based, international funds network and provider of technology solutions to wealth and asset managers, from global investment firm Carlyle for a price of £766 million ($1.03 billion). The transaction was funded via a combination of debt and cash. "Calastone's network and technology further strengthen SS&C's leadership across global fund operations," Chairman and CEO of SS&C Technologies Bill Stone said. "Together, we will accelerate innovation for our clients, expand our reach, and continue to simplify the way the industry operates." The acquisition…

Read more →

Data Privacy Management Software Provider Basis Theory Secures $33 Million

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Basis Theory, Funding
Data management and payments infrastructure company Basis Theory has raised $33 million in Series B funding in a round led by Costanoa Ventures, along with Stage 2 Capital and Moneta VC. The investment, which takes the company's total capital raised to $50 million, will be used to help expand its payment vault for merchants, as well as fuel the company's innovations in agentic commerce. Founded in 2020, Basis Theory made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022 in San Francisco. Colin Luce is CEO. Data management innovator Basis Theory has secured $33 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Costanoa Ventures alongside Stage 2 Capital and Moneta VC. The investment also featured participation from existing investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Kindred Ventures, Box Group, and Offline Ventures. The Series B takes Basis Theory's total capital raised to $50 million, according to Crunchbase. "This funding represents more than capital,"…

Read more →

Charity Bank Turns to Sandstone Technology to Power Mobile Savings App

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Sandstone
Ethical, UK-based savings and loan Charity Bank announced a strategic partnership with digital banking solutions provider Sandstone Technology to power development of its mobile savings app. Charity Bank and Sandstone Technology have been collaboration partners for more than a decade. Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, Sandstone Technology made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2012, and most recently demoed on the Finovate stage at FinovateEurope 2016. Charity Bank has forged a strategic partnership with Sandstone Technology to power development of its new mobile savings app. The app will offer a variety of enhanced, self-service capabilities, feature robust security, and provide a suite of modern tools to help meet the needs of Charity Bank's customers. The technology supports seamless updating, rapid product launches, and a consistent user experience. The app is expected to be available to Charity Bank customers in the spring of 2026. "Partnering with Charity Bank on this initiative is both…

Read more →

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

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: 1Kosmos, Best of Show, Casap, Corsound AI, David's column, Herd Security, Illuma Labs, Keyless, Trulioo
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month in the US—although those in fintech and financial services can be forgiven for feeling as if every month is cybersecurity awareness month. This is not to say that the threat of fraud and financial crime is any less important in health care, consumer technology, or any other sector of the economy. But the facts are hard to ignore. According to the New York Federal Reserve, financial services companies face 300x more cyber attacks compared to companies in other industries. After all, that's where the money is—to say nothing of a treasure trove of data on banking customers, borrowers, investors, and more. Additionally, the impact of fraud and financial crime on financial services companies and their customers can be significantly greater, as well. Estimates indicate that the average breach cost in the financial sector is more than $6 million, compared to the global average of…

Read more →

Redefining the Small Business Banking Experience: Insights from U.S. Bank’s Shruti Patel

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Interview, US Bank, Women in Fintech
This article is brought to you in collaboration with Gregory FCA. AI and personalization are redefining the rules of engagement in business banking. As Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer for Business Banking at U.S. Bank, Shruti Patel (pictured) brings a unique lens to the discussion, drawing from her deep experience in banking, payments, and fintech. Following her appearance at FinovateFall 2025, we sat down with Shruti to discuss the evolving needs of business customers, the transformative role of AI, and the growing importance of partnerships between banks and fintech. Tell us a little bit more about your role at U.S. Bank, your title, and what you're responsible for. Shruti Patel: I am the Executive Vice President, Chief Product Officer for Business Banking at U.S. Bank. In this role, I oversee services for our small business customers, ranging from $100,000 to up to $50 million in annual revenues, across banking, payments…

Read more →

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Fintech Rundown, Yodlee
As the week begins, we're checking in on news of big funding in fraud prevention and cross-border payments, major developments on the crypto front for both Citi and JPMorgan, as well as new report from Alessa on how AI stands to enhance AML processes in 2026. Be sure to check back all week long for the latest in fintech news here on Finovate's Fintech Rundown! Payments Cross-border payments company Routefusion raises $26.5 million in Series A funding. Payment solution provider and acquirer Paystrax acquires UK fintech Nochex. International payments platform LemFi unveils Send Now, Pay Later service combining credit and remittances. Stax Payments goes live with Stax Processing, a full-stack end-to-end payments processor. Crypto and DeFi Crypto payments company MoonPay integrates with crypto trading, earning, and exploring terminal, Axiom. Crypto wallet Cake Wallet announces integration of xStocks, new functionality that enables users to invest in tokenized stocks and ETFs via…

Read more →

Bankjoy and InvestiFi Bring Investing Options to Community Banks and Credit Unions

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Bankjoy, InvestiFi
Digital banking platform Bankjoy has teamed up with digital investment solutions provider InvestiFi. The partnership will enable customers and members of community banks and credit unions to invest in stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies directly from their checking accounts. Michigan-based Bankjoy most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall 2023. InvestiFi made its Finovate debut as CryptoFi at FinovateFall 2022 and rebranded in 2024. Digital banking platform Bankjoy has forged a strategic partnership with fellow Finovate alum InvestiFi, a provider of digital investment solutions. The partnership will enable community banks and credit unions that use Bankjoy's digital banking platform to offer their customers and members the ability to invest in stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies directly from their checking accounts. The partnership comes as a growing number of fintechs are empowering smaller, more community-focused financial institutions to directly offer investment services. Last week we noted the partnership between two-time…

Read more →

Splitit to Help AI Agents Pay in Installments

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, SplitIt
Splitit launched its Agentic Commerce Partner Program that enables AI agents to offer card-linked installment payment options directly within merchant checkout flows without requiring new lines of credit. The program is designed to align with emerging standards like Google’s AP2 and OpenAI’s Agentic Commerce Protocol, ensuring interoperability as autonomous shopping ecosystems evolve. As AI-driven commerce accelerates, Splitit aims to make flexible pay-later options a native part of agent-powered purchases starting with a pilot in the fourth quarter of this year. Embedded BNPL solutions provider Splitit announced yesterday that it launched a partner program that will allow AI agents to take advantage of pay-later capabilities when making payments on behalf of their users. Called the Agentic Commerce Partner Program, the new initiative will allow autonomous shopping agents to make payments using card-linked installments. AI agents that have registered with Splitit can request real-time installment options directly within the merchant's checkout flow.…

Read more →

Finovate Global India: Inclusion, Digital Asset Innovation, and a Salute to Our Indian Alums

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Ripple, Wise
This week's edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech headlines from India. RBI pushes financial inclusion; launches digital currency sandbox Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra used the occasion of the 6th Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai to encourage technologies to emphasize financial inclusion as well as better trust and efficiency as they help build the future of the country's financial ecosystem. Fintech will be able to participate by joining the sandbox directly or via their partner banks. Malhotra credited Indian fintech for a range of innovations that have been the envy around the world. "India's world-class digital public infrastructure, as symbolized by systems such as UPI, Aadhaar, and DigiLocker, has not only enhanced efficiency and service delivery, but also ensured that millions of Indians enjoy easy access to a wide range of financial services." UPI is India's real-time payment system that enables instant fund transfer between…

Read more →

BVNK Lands Funds from Citi Ventures for Stablecoin Infrastructure

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
BVNK has received a strategic investment from Citi Ventures, adding to its $90+ million in funding to accelerate its multi-rail payments infrastructure. BVNK has doubled transaction volumes in the past year and is competing with Circle, Ripple, and Stellar networks to bridge fiat and digital assets with enterprise-grade stablecoin settlement solutions. Stablecoins are rapidly becoming core financial infrastructure, with supply surpassing $180 billion and on-chain settlement volumes reaching trillions as businesses seek faster, cheaper cross-border payments. Multi-rail payments infrastructure platform BVNK announced this week that it has scored a strategic investment from Citi Ventures. The amount of the funds is undisclosed, and adds to the $90+ million in funding BVNK has raised from investors such as Visa, Haun Ventures, Tiger Global, and others. "Stablecoins are seeing increased interest in use for settlement of on-chain and crypto asset transactions," said Citi Ventures Head Arvind Purushotham. "We were impressed by BVNK’s enterprise-grade infrastructure, and…

Read more →

FIS Integrates Glia’s Customer Interaction Tech into its Digital One Banking Platform

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, FIS, Glia
Global financial technology company FIS has announced a strategic partnership with AI-powered customer interactions platform Glia. The partnership will integrate Glia's multi-channel digital interaction solution into FIS's Digital One online banking platform. FIS made its first Finovate appearance at FinovateFall 2010. Glia is a 10-time, Finovate Best of Show award-winner. FIS has forged a strategic partnership with AI-powered customer interactions platform Glia. The partnership will integrate Glia's AI for All digital interaction solution into FIS's Digital One online banking platform. The goal is to deliver superior experiences for banking customers via a combination of AI-enabled service and high-touch human support. AI agents will be able to respond quickly to routine inquiries 24/7 while also intelligently routing more complex queries and issues to human agents. This will reduce resolution times and provide more personalized service that adapts instantly to customer needs. Embedding these AI capabilities directly into FIS's digital banking infrastructure…

Read more →

From Rate Wars to Real Value: How Wysh is Redefining Deposit Strategy through Protection

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2025, Speaker series, Streamly, Wysh
With more banking options available than ever before, winning customers and their deposits has become increasingly difficult. Differentiation is not only harder to achieve, it’s also more essential for banks and credit unions seeking growth. Yet for many institutions, finding a truly distinct value proposition can feel elusive. This is where Wysh's embedded life insurance product comes in. I spoke with Wysh CEO and Founder Alex Matjanec at FinovateFall last month about how his company helps banks differentiate their offerings by adding life insurance protection. The unique benefits help firms build loyalty, retention, and deeper customer relationships while also helping grow deposits. "The main problem that we're solving is that in America, there's a massive underinsured gap where many Americans don't have enough insurance. And the way they get it is actually going away, so they're looking for new avenues to do so. On the other side, banks are looking…

Read more →