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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Blockchain data platform Chainalysis has acquired web3 security solutions provider Hexagate.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition aligns with Chainalysis’ mission to build trust in blockchain ecosystems by integrating Hexagate’s machine learning-based threat detection and prevention technology, benefiting chains, protocols, and exchanges.
Blockchain data platform Chainalysis has acquired web3 security solutions provider Hexagate this week. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Hexagate’s security solutions detect and mitigate real-time threats, including cyber exploits, hacks, and governance and financial risks to help chains, protocols, asset managers, and exchanges keep their funds secure. The Israel-based company monitors blockchain networks and leverages machine learning to identify suspicious patterns and transactions in real-time. Hexagate’s customers include Coinbase and Consensys.
“I have long believed that in order to advance the Chainalysis mission to build trust in blockchains, we would need to expand our business beyond investigations and into prevention,” said Chainalysis Co-founder and CEO Jonathan Levin.
With billions of dollars in crypto stolen each year, Chainalysis anticipates that Hexagate will help create a safer financial platform that fosters trust in solutions. Levin added that protecting the crypto ecosystem will only become more crucial as smart contracts facilitate more value and the use of stablecoins grow. He also noted that governments are increasing the monitoring of smart contracts associated with illicit funds.
Chainalysis was founded in 2014 and has raised $537 million. Among its offerings are automated cryptocurrency transaction monitoring software, investigation software for tracing the flow of funds across blockchains, and profiles of cryptocurrency businesses. Today’s deal marks the company’s third acquisition, following its purchase of Transpose in 2023.
U.K.-based stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK secured a $50 million Series B round, boosting its valuation to $750 million.
The round was led by Haun Ventures with participation from Coinbase Ventures and Tiger Global.
BVNK plans to launch in the U.S. next month with offices in New York and San Francisco.
As living proof that the stablecoin revolution is underway, stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK has raised $50 million. The investment is the U.K.-based fintech’s first round since 2022 and boosts its valuation to around $750 million.
Haun Ventures led the Series B round, which also included participation from Coinbase Ventures and existing investor Tiger Global. Notably, Haun Ventures is also an investor in stablecoin infrastructure startup Bridge, which was acquired by Stripe for over $1 billion in October of this year.
“Every competitor of Stripe is coming to us saying, ‘Stripe’s done this, how can we get involved in the space now?'” BVNK cofounder and CEO Jesse Hemson-Struthers told Fortune.
Stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat or a physical asset, have the potential to bring significant value to users. That’s because they are both instant and inexpensive, unlike payments made via traditional payments rails such as SWIFT. Stablecoins have exceptional potential for cross-border payments and remittances. They offer greater accessibility compared to traditional banking systems, while also mitigating the volatility typically associated with other cryptocurrencies.
Stablecoin infrastructure companies like BVNK and its competitor Bridge are key players in the stablecoin space, as they serve as on-and-off ramps for converting fiat into stablecoins and back.
BVNK was founded in 2021 and currently processes an annualized volume of $10 billion. The company integrates with established banking networks like SWIFT and SEPA to provide real-time settlement and the ability to operate outside of standard banking hours. BVNK has historically focused on the European and Asian markets, but plans to launch in the U.S. next month, opening offices in New York and San Francisco.
Capitalise, a business finance platform based in the U.K., has forged a strategic partnership with data and open finance network Plaid.
The collaboration integrates Plaid’s open banking services with Capitalise’s Instant Offers to simplify and streamline small business funding.
Capitalise made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2016. Plaid has been a Finovate alum since 2014.
U.K.-based business finance platform Capitalise has announced a strategic collaboration with fellow Finovate alum Plaid. The partnership is designed to simplify business funding, leveraging Open Banking to offer pre-approvals to 150,000 small businesses. Capitalise will integrate Plaid’s Open Banking services into its Instant Offers solution to enable businesses to secure pre-approvals from multiple lenders. Businesses will be able to accept offers and receive funding in minutes rather than days or weeks.
The partnership enhances Capitalise’s lending origination service by removing friction from the funding process. It will also help boost conversions thanks to faster decision-making that relies on accurate, real-time data. The collaboration comes at a time when a growing number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the U.K. are embracing open banking technology. Plaid reported that adoption of open banking by U.K.-based SMEs has increased by 18% year-over-year.
“Open Banking sits at the core of SME credit decisioning and brings confidence to underwriting risk assessments,” Capitalise Co-Founder Ollie Maitland said. “These advances, in tandem with the huge growth in private credit markets, can bring down the high cost of non-bank lending. This is good news for U.K. small businesses.”
Open banking brings faster application processes, access to real-time financial data to accelerate approvals, and the ability to offer personalized rates, which can lower costs for borrowers. Challenger banks and alternative lenders have become huge players in the market for SME lending, representing more than 60% of new SME lending in the U.K. This has led to more options for small businesses looking for funding, and more competition between those looking to fund them.
“Pre-approvals have been the perfect use-case for Open Banking as a win for business owners browsing and great pre-qualification for lenders looking to lend,” Maitland said. “Plaid was a natural choice with their experience in SME lending plus their global presence.”
Founded in 2013 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Plaid offers an international data and open finance network that helps make payments simpler and lending more accessible. With more than 100 million global users in more than 18 countries, Plaid’s technology helps institutions take advantage of open banking and open finance connectivity to grow revenues and fight fraud. Plaid has partnered with more than 12,000 companies — including members of the Fortune 500 — to help them provide their customers with greater choice and control over their financial lives.
Capitalise made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2016. At the conference, Maitland and co-founder Paul Surtees demonstrated how the company’s platform uses behavioral data to match and rank lenders and algorithms to compare more than 2,500 data points to find the most appropriate funding solutions for businesses. Today, the firm’s lending marketplace features 100 lenders, including 10 integrated Open Finance lenders on its Instant Offers framework.
Interested in demoing at FinovateEurope 2025 in London? Applications are still being accepted from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today to learn more.
Digital challenger bank Currentraised $200 million, boosting its total funding to over $600 million.
Current plans to use the funding to enhance and scale its accessible financial products that promote inclusion.
As part of today’s announcement, Current reported a 90% revenue increase this year and welcomed new investors General Catalyst and Cross River Bank.
Digital bank Current received $200 million in fresh capital this week. Along with the announcement, the New York-based company revealed that it experienced a record-breaking year, seeing a 90% increase in revenue.
The company has raised just over $600 million, inclusive of today’s round. Current plans to use the funds to build more accessible financial solutions.
Existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Wellington Management, and Avenir contributed to the round. Two new investors, General Catalyst and Cross River, also participated. Current expects General Catalyst’s investment will drive member acquisition and fuel profitability. The company also said that Cross River Bank is extending warehouse funding to support Current’s Paycheck Advance product and credit-building card offering.
“Millions of Americans are struggling with affordable access to liquidity and credit,” said Current CEO and co-founder Stuart Sopp. “This new capital provides us the most efficient way to scale these solutions, including providing even higher limits of our earned wage access product to more people and setting our company on the best path to long-term success, including reaching profitability in 2025.”
Current was founded in 2015 to create a banking system that’s more affordable, accessible, and innovative. The company has a credit-building card, early paycheck advance product, fee-free overdraft, crypto trading platform, as well as a high-yield savings account with a transaction round-up savings feature.
“Current’s tremendous growth this year showcases the true product-market fit it has unlocked,” said General Catalyst’s Roy Mabrey. “We are excited to invest in the future of Current because of its demonstrated ability to scale with great unit economics and the key gap it is stepping up to fill in the market for millions of Americans who are struggling to make ends meet. We look forward to supporting Stuart and the team as they continue to grow and be at the forefront of product innovation.”
As both a conference producer and a news outlet, we’re always paying close attention to the topics that resonate most with you — our audience of fintech and banking professionals. To wrap up 2024 and brace ourselves of what to expect for 2025, we analyzed readership data to gain valuable insights into the stories, trends, companies, and products that mattered most to the industry this year to create the top 10 posts of 2024.
This list is compiled of posts published in 2024 that garnered the highest number of views and engagement in 2024. From breaking news to big IPOs, these were the stories you found most compelling. So, without further ado, here’s a countdown of the top 10 posts that captured your interest over the past year.
Winter officially begins at the end of the week for many of us, and the seasonal, end-of-year holidays are right around the corner.
This week in the Fintech Rundown we start off with news of a major acquisition in the supply chain finance space, and a handful of fundraisings in fields ranging from wealth management to crypto.
Travel and expense management company Mesh Payments has selected SoFi as its sponsor bank and has tapped SoFi-owned Galileo Financial Technologies as its payment processor.
Mesh Payments is an all-in-one corporate payments platform for travel and expense that integrates corporate cards, expense management, and travel bookings on a single platform. Mesh Payments offers SaaS enterprises cardless payments capabilities that enable full visibility, control, and intelligence to help them orchestrate, manage, reconcile, and ultimately reduce spending. The company, which processes more than $1 billion in annual payment volume, was founded in 2018.
Under the partnership, Mesh Payments’ expense and card infrastructure will tap SoFi’s financial framework and Galileo’s customizable, API-based payments processing platform. Mesh Payments anticipates that leveraging both SoFi as its sponsor bank and Galileo as its processing platform will help it offer more streamlined enterprise expense management, reduce inefficiencies, and bring solutions to market more quickly.
“We’re excited to partner with SoFi and Galileo, as both companies share our vision of delivering the most modern and innovative financial solutions for businesses,” said Mesh CEO Oded Zehavi. “They are the ideal partners to support our mission to provide companies with an efficient, forward-thinking approach to corporate travel and expense management.”
Founded in 2001, Galileo offers a payment processing platform that allows third-party fintechs and businesses to build and scale their own financial services offerings. The company’s client list includes DailyPay, Bluevine, Dave, MoneyLion, Monzo, and others. Galileo was acquired by SoFi in 2020 in a $1.2 billion deal.
Founded in 2011, SoFi has evolved from a lending platform into a nationally chartered bank that offers checking and savings accounts, investing tools, and insurance plans. The company landed its first sponsor bank deal in April of 2024 when it partnered with small business banking platform Rapid Finance.
“SoFi is proud to provide the financial backbone for forward-thinking solutions like Mesh Payments,” said SoFi Bank President Paul Mayer. “With SoFi and Galileo under one roof, we empower partners like Mesh Payments to harness Galileo’s advanced cloud-based banking core, enabling them to launch new products faster, scale seamlessly, and stay ahead of their customers’ ever-changing needs.”
Community banks and credit unions have long been the cornerstone of local economies. As technology and consumer preferences evolve, however, so must their revenue strategies.
Today’s Streamly video highlights a conversation I had with Rob Thacher, CEO at BankShift, a banking-as-a-service platform. During our conversation, Thacher and I discussed embedded finance, leveraging data to create personalized products, fintech partnerships, subscription services, and BankShift’s Brand on Banking.
BankShift built a business model all around the credit union space because they give dividends back to their members. And so we built a Brand on Banking ecosystem that enables community banks and credit unions to be different and have a new revenue stream. Financial institutions can embed their own technology inside that brand for revenues, for loyalty, and control.
BankShift creates a digital banking platform that helps community banks and credit unions generate new revenue streams, enforce control, and build loyalty. The company’s SDK provides low-code tools that help financial institutions create a branded, a unified app with a single login and a money transfer tool. The Oregon-based company was founded in 2020.
Correction: This post previously incorrectly reported that Atlanta, Georgia-based Themis raised funds. Today’s round is actually attributed to U.K.-based Themis.While both companies operate in the regtech realm, the former, a Finovate alum that recently won Best of Show, offers a platform that streamlines compliance and collaboration between fintechs and banks, bringing regulatory insight to help banks and fintechs more effectively manage compliance. The latter is a digital financial crime platform that helps businesses manage their financial crime risk exposure.
Regtech platform Themis raised over $9.2 million (£7.25 million) in its scale-up round.
The round, which is expected to close on December 16, 2024, exceeds Themis’ initial target by a significant margin.
Themis will use the funds to leverage AI to continue to democratize due dilligence.
Regtech is rising across the fintech sector, and to prove it, financial crime risk management platform Themis has pulled in more than $9.2 million (£7.25 million) in a scale-up round that surpasses its target.
“Exceeding our funding target reflects not only the confidence of our investors but also the strong financial fundamentals and scalability of our business,” said Themis CFO Simon Samuel. “This additional capital provides us with the financial runway to strategically invest in key areas like AI innovation, market expansion, and operational efficiencies, ensuring long-term sustainable growth.”
The investment, which is expected to close on December 16th of this year, exceeds Themis’ initial target of $3.8 million to $6.3 million (£3 million to £5 million). Once finalized, the funds will add to the U.K.-based company’s existing $6 million (£4.8 million) raised, totaling more than $15 million.
“Surpassing our Scale-Up Funding target by such a significant margin demonstrates the strength of Themis’ vision and its relevance in today’s financial landscape,” said Themis CEO Dickon Johnstone.
Themis was founded in 2018 to help reduce the global impacts of financial crime. The company’s platform, which helps clients identify and manage their specific financial crime risks, leverages KYC and AML data to help companies verify the true identity of their clients while remaining compliant. Themis will use this most recent round to pursue its mission to democratize due diligence by leveraging AI advancements with its financial crime expertise.
Financial services has experienced a surge in regtech adoption, driven by the growth of AI and machine learning, as well as an evolving regulatory landscape. In 2025, regtech is poised to further enhance compliance processes with real-time risk management, automated reporting, and enhanced collaboration between banks and regulators. According to Angela Strange, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, regulation will become code.
“Today, banking and insurance regulations span tens of thousands of pages; SBA lending documentation alone exceeds 1,000 pages,” said Strange. “For businesses, keeping on top of these codes requires byzantine workflows and many hours spent hiring and training staff. Imagine, instead, that those lengthy documents — including text, images, and case precedents — could be used to train regulation-specific LLMs. Suddenly, compliance would become as simple as a Google query. ‘Is [X] compliant? What modifications need to be made?'”
With only a few weeks to go until 2025, it is time to take a look at some of the trends we can expect to see more of in the next 12 months. There are a handful of topics that seem to be dominating the conversation in fintech as we wrap up 2024, and here’s what you’ll need to know as we head into 2025.
Crypto
I have to apologize for this one, because I know that many readers don’t want to hear anything about crypto. It does, however, need to be considered.
Why it’s big: After a dip and many volatile few years, crypto is entering a more mature phase. The conversation is no longer just about Bitcoin and speculative trading. Instead, we’re seeing increased institutional adoption and clearer regulatory frameworks emerging across the globe. With this, major players are poised to enter (or re-enter) the crypto space, which positions crypto as no longer a fringe technology, but a part of the financial ecosystem.
What you need to do about it: If you haven’t already, now is the time to educate yourself and your organization about crypto. Go beyond the basics and evaluate how blockchain technology might be relevant to your own operations. Also, stay informed about regulatory changes, as they are sure to change as crypto continues to evolve.
Stablecoins
This technically fits into the crypto category, but it deserves a highlight all on its own because of the potential. Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency pegged to a fiat currency or a commodity, such as gold.
Why it’s big: Stablecoins bridge the gap between the volatility of traditional cryptocurrencies and the stability of fiat currencies. They have been successfully used in cross-border payments, remittances, and payroll for global workforces because they enable instant payouts at rates much cheaper than funds sent via traditional banking rails.
What you need to do about it: Organizations operating in payments should investigate the costs and benefits of integrating stablecoins into their offerings. In particular, if your firm services businesses with international clients or cross-border supply chains, you should explore how stablecoin adoption could help service your commercial clients.
Open banking/ Section 1033
For U.S. readers, open banking made its debut in the form of a CFPB ruling in October of this year. Firms with the largest assets have until 2026 to comply, and those with assets between $10 billion and $250 billion have until 2027. There may be benefits to early compliance.
Why it’s big: The new open banking rule shifts data ownership from the financial institution to the individual consumer. This shift creates more opportunities for innovation, improved transparency, and more personalized services. The U.K. and Australia, which are early leaders when it comes to open banking, have already proven that giving consumers control over their own data is beneficial to multiple parties.
What you need to do about it: Even though some firms have until 2027 to prepare, start preparing now, as you may need to invest in infrastructure upgrades such as developing new APIs. Early compliance could give you a competitive edge by offering you time to create new products and services tailored to your customers.
Honorable mentions
Condensing fintech down into three topics does not capture the widespread nature of the industry, so here are some honorable mentions.
Agentic AI You may notice I did not include AI, which is a notoriously hot topic, among the top three trends. That is because the industry has finally moved beyond talking about AI as the technology to implement, and now considers it as the enabling technology that it is. Agentic AI, however, has its own role to play, especially in wealth management and back office automation. AI that can act independently to make decisions based on customer preferences or operational needs will play a large role in shaping fintech’s future.
BNPL With Klarna’s IPO taking place in 2025, we can expect to see interest in the BNPL space surge to new heights. However, it won’t reach 2020 levels because questions about regulation and profitability remain, especially as interest rates vacillate. However, BNPL continues to evolve with new players entering the space and existing ones expanding into adjacent markets like subscriptions and services.
Regtech The ongoing fallout from the Synapse failure has created a renewed focus on regulatory compliance. Banks are rethinking their regtech strategies, while new regtechs are leveraging tools such as large language models and GenAI to meet demand for automated compliance tools and fraud detection solutions.
Real-time payments The adoption of real-time payment systems has been gaining momentum across the globe, especially since the launch of the Federal Reserve’s FedNow service in 2023. While more businesses and consumers are slowly becoming accustomed to instant transactions, banks have shown hesitancy to send real-time payments.
Pay-by-bank In many ways, pay-by-bank goes hand-in-hand with open banking, which is fueling the growth in pay-by-bank. Direct, bank-to-bank payments are popular with merchants because of the lower fees and faster settlement times. Consumers, however, may be hesitant to use pay-by-bank unless they receive a monetary incentive at the point of purchase.
The new suite is powered by Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service, which gives developers REST API access to OpenAI’s language models.
The GenAI Financial Crime Detection Suite enables financial institutions to improve AML efforts, streamline compliance, and proactively manage risk indicators.
Financial crime detection company ThetaRayannounced it is collaborating with Microsoft in the launch of its new product, GenAI Financial Crime Detection Suite.
The new suite integrates Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service, a service that gives developers REST API access to OpenAI’s language models, such as o1-preview, GPT-4o, and GPT-4. The service allows clients to adapt the models to their specific task or use case.
ThetaRay reports that teaming up with Microsoft will allow it to bring firms a GenAI-powered case manager that will detect financial crime, adapt strategies over time, and meet legal reporting standards. ThetaRay reports that its collaboration with Microsoft will enable it to deliver a GenAI-powered case manager designed to detect financial crimes, refine detection strategies, and ensure compliance with regulatory reporting standards. With the launch of its new GenAI Financial Crime Detection Suite, ThetaRay aims to enhance risk assessment, streamline operational workflows, and strengthen anti-money laundering (AML) reporting to reduce fraudulent activity, such as money laundering and terrorist financing.
“ThetaRay’s integration with Azure OpenAI Service delivers a solution that empowers financial institutions to enhance key components of their AML efforts, like oversight, reporting, and risk catalogue processes,” said Azure AIat Microsoft Corp. Vice President Yina Arenas. “By integrating generative AI in their financial crime detection solutions, organizations can mitigate risk, drive exceptional efficiencies, and elevate regulatory standards.”
Along with today’s release, ThetaRay is also unveiling a new, GenAI-driven risk catalogue to enable financial institutions to add risk indicators. “Our technology has already established us as a leader in AI, and now with our newest risk catalogue solution, we’re empowering organizations to proactively manage risks, streamline compliance, and make more informed decisions,” said ThetaRay CEO Peter Reynolds. “We are excited to continue to deepen our collaboration with Microsoft, using their Azure OpenAI Service to enhance our vision of enabling trusted transactions across the financial ecosystem.”
Founded in 2013, ThetaRay offers transaction monitoring, transaction and customer screening, and customer risk assessment suites to help firms fight financial crime. The Israel-based company helps its 100+ institutional clients leverage AI to monitor 15 billion transactions valued at $20 trillion on an annual basis.
LexisNexis Risk Solutions has signed an agreement to acquire document authentication and fraud detection solutions provider IDVerse. Terms were not disclosed.
The acquisition will enhance LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ ability to combat emerging threats such as AI-generated fraud and deepfakes.
As OCR Labs, IDVerse won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateAsia 2017.
LexisNexis Risk Solutions has agreed to acquire AI-powered automated document authentication and fraud detection solutions provider IDVerse. The company, which introduced itself to Finovate audiences at FinovateAsia 2017 as OCR Labs, will become a part of LexisNexis Risk Solutions Business Services.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
IDVerse leverages regenerative AI to fight fraud and deep fakes. The company’s technology is powered by a deep neural network which verifies the authenticity of more than 16,000 types of identity documents globally. Additionally, with consumer consent, IDVerse applies biometric algorithms for identity verification and liveness detection to identify potential fraud. With IDVerse’s technology, businesses can verify identities in seconds using just the applicant’s face and their smartphone.
“LexisNexis Risk Solutions has been at the forefront of enabling compliance and lowering risk for businesses worldwide for decades,” IDVerse CEO John Myers said. “We’re looking forward to seeing the impact our combined solutions and technology can make in improving outcomes for our clients against a fast-changing risk landscape.”
Thanks to a pre-existing alliance agreement, IDVerse’s solutions are already available via LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ platform. The acquisition will integrate IDVerse’s functionality across solutions and boost customer preparedness to manage emerging fraud threats. LexisNexis Risk Solutions has provided document authentication solutions since 2005, and its acquisition of IDVerse will add to the firm’s ability to combat new challenges such as AI-generated fraud.
“AI-powered solutions are necessary to counter the threat of AI-generated fraud attacks, including deepfakes,” said Rick Trainor, CEO of Business Services for LexisNexis Risk Solutions. “Integrating IDVerse’s advanced and complementary technology will further enhance our ability to provide the risk insights our clients need to defend against bad actors today and into the future — regardless of where our clients are in the world or where they do business.”
Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, and founded in 2017 as OCR Labs, the company won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateAsia 2017. The firm rebranded as IDVerse in 2023. With applications for account opening, KYC/AML, passwordless login, fraud prevention, and more, IDVerse’s solutions serve businesses in industries ranging from financial services and insurance to crypto and telecommunications. The company’s Zero Bias AI technology puts regenerative AI to work to help mitigate the potential for discrimination based on ethnicity, age, and gender. In addition to enhancing the ability to combat fraud and deepfakes, IDVerse’s Zero Bias AI technology significantly lowers associated risks.
Last month, IDVerse announced that it had signed a new identity infrastructure partnership with London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). The partnership will help LSEG scale global coverage and fight digital fraud during the customer onboarding process. In October, IDVerse announced it had onboarded iGaming identity verification and compliance solutions provider GlobalCheck and regulatory compliance solutions company BetComply. That month, IDVerse also announced that Hastings Direct Loans had automated its loan decisioning and identity verification processes using IDVerse’s identity tools.
