Funding

Clutch Raises $65 Million to Turn Credit Unions into Fintechs

Clutch Raises $65 Million to Turn Credit Unions into Fintechs
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Clutch raised $65 million Series B funding, bringing its total raised to over $106 million.
  • The investment, which will offer Clutch 200 months of cash runway, comes from Alkeon Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, TruStage Ventures, and Peterson Partners.
  • Clutch was founded in 2020 to provide digital account and loan opening tools that enable over 135 credit unions to compete with big tech by enhancing user experiences without overhauling existing systems.

California-based Clutch recently announced it raised $65 million in Series B funds. The round, which boosts Clutch’s total raised to more than $106 million, was led by Alkeon Capital Management with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, TruStage Ventures, and Peterson Partners.

Clutch was founded in 2020, the year that started financial services’ digital transformation wave. With its digital account opening and digital loan opening tools, the company helps credit unions create a modern experience to help them compete with big tech companies while improving the user experience. Clutch is partnered with 31 out of the 33 credit union leagues and has over 135 credit union clients that leverage its digital origination platform to offer their users a better loan and deposit experience.

Clutch CEO and Co-founder Nicholas Hinrichsen attributes the company’s success to its involvement in the credit union space. “Deeply understanding the nuances of the credit union’s business and technology helps us solve the right problems, the right way. We are all-in on credit unions because generic technologies that serve banks and Fintechs alike fail to promote the unique way that credit unions do business — it’s the uniqueness of credit unions and their mission that helps deliver exceptional value to members.”

According to Hinrichsen, today’s investment brings Clutch more than 200 months of cash runway. Clutch will use the funds to support its growth plans and product innovation. The company is investing in AI and expanded platform capabilities to help credit unions compete in an increasingly digital world.

“We strongly believe that we can best serve the credit union movement by partnering with the existing technology providers and thereby leveraging the investments our credit union clients have already made,” said Clutch Chief Product Officer and Co-founder Chris Coleman. “No credit union leader wakes up in the morning, wanting to kick off a two-year long LOS conversion. Replacing your LOS will cost you two years — two lost years with no real progress. Real progress happens when you work with companies like Clutch that enable you to serve your members like a Fintech while getting the most out of your existing systems,” added Clutch Head of Product Tamanna Kottwani.

As consumer expectations for seamless, digital-first experiences continue to rise, it is critical for financial institutions to stay ahead of the curve. This is especially challenging for credit unions, which often face constraints in funding and technical talent. This gap presents an opportunity for third-party fintechs like Clutch, which can help empower credit unions to level the playing field.

Photo by Porapak Apichodilok

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Method Financial Raises $41.5 Million to Compete with Plaid, MX, and Finicity

Method Financial Raises $41.5 Million to Compete with Plaid, MX, and Finicity
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Method Financial
  • Method Financial has raised $41.5 million in Series B funding.
  • The funding round, led by Emergence Capital and joined by investors like avra and Samsung Next, brings Method’s total funding to $60 million.
  • The company plans to use the funds to enhance loan refinance automation, expand card network integrations, and deepen banking relationships.

Financial connectivity API provider Method Financial has raised $41.5 million. The Series B round was led by Emergence Capital. New investors avra and Samsung Next also participated, along with existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Y-Combinator, and Ardent Venture Partners.

Today’s round more than doubles Method Financial’s previous funding total, bringing the company’s total funding to $60 million. The company will use today’s round to accelerate delivery of its loan refinance automation and expand into other use cases that leverage card network integrations. It will also deepen its banking relationships to deliver more competitive products and expand credit card network integrations to streamline checkout.

“Our latest round of funding will help us build on Method’s already strong growth trajectory. Our team takes immense pride in supporting millions of Americans on their financial journeys while helping lenders and fintechs increase conversion with better user experience and engagement,” said Method CoFounder and CEO Jose Bethancourt. “As we serve new markets with our growing data and payment capabilities, we are thrilled to collaborate with Emergence and avra, as well as our existing investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, YC, and other leading stakeholders in fintech.”

Method was founded in 2021 to provide real-time, permissioned read/write access at 15,000 financial institutions, without requiring a consumer’s username and password. The company’s APIs power end-to-end refinance experiences, real-time account data access, and one-click checkout for over 60 fintechs, lenders, and FIs including Aven, Upgrade, SoFi, and PenFed. Since launch, Method has enabled 30 million passwordless account connections for 4 million consumers and has facilitated over $500 million in liability repayments.

“Method’s strength lies in the broad usability of its data and payment products across a wide range of industries and verticals,” said avra Managing Partner Anu Hariharan. “Initially, Method enabled lenders to offer competitive financial products by providing real-time visibility into consumer debts. Now, they are increasingly expanding their reach, supporting new use cases like card linking and new verticals like retail and travel.”

Method recently launched a new credit card connectivity solution called Card Connect, which offers transaction-level data. Since launching Card Connect, Bilt Rewards saw two million users connect 10 million cards to earn points on their eligible purchases.

Method recently demoed at FinovateSpring 2024, where it showcased its Connect, Data, and Pay APIs. During the demo, Method explained how the tools essentially serve as a single sign on (SSO) for all of a user’s liabilities without exposing their personal information.

Method Financial fits into the growing ecosystem of financial connectivity providers like Plaid, MX, and Finicity. However, Method differentiates itself with its unique focus on liabilities and its write capabilities that enable integration and real-time updates. Overall, Method is suited to feed the increasing demand for open banking APIs as consumers, banks, and fintechs continue to seek real-time data aggregation.

Photo by Brett Sayles

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Conversational AI Innovator eSelf Secures $4.5 Million in Seed Funding

Conversational AI Innovator eSelf Secures $4.5 Million in Seed Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, eSelf.AI, Funding
  • Face-to-face conversational AI innovator eSelf has raised $4.5 million in seed funding.
  • The round was led by Explorer Investments, and featured participation from Ridge Ventures, as well as strategic angel investors.
  • Based in Israel, eSelf won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023 in New York.

Here’s some alumni funding news that slipped beneath our radar: eSelf, which offers a platform that enables businesses to build face-to-face conversational AI agents, has secured $4.5 million in seed funding. eSelf won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023. The company announced its successful seed round in December.

The funding was led by Explorer Investments with participation from Ridge Ventures and strategic angel investors, including Eyal Manor, former VP of Engineering at YouTube and current Chief Product & Engineering Officer at Twilio.

Along with its funding announcement, eSelf unveiled its platform for building conversational AI agents. These customized AI agents can have face-to-face video conversations with customers, and seamlessly integrate with existing business systems and processes. eSelf provides a self-service studio in which businesses can configure their virtual agents’ personality, knowledge base, and capabilities — without needing any specialized skills or technical expertise.

“We’ve developed a unified engine that processes speech, understanding, and visual elements simultaneously, allowing us to achieve response times of under one second which is crucial for natural conversation,” eSelf Co-Founder and CEO Alan Bekker explained. “Unlike other solutions that simply animate faces for voice responses, our platform is a complete visual comprehension engine. This means (that) our AI agents can actively engage with visuals in real-time — showcasing property tours, educational content, or presentation slides during conversations. By enabling businesses to create sophisticated, customized agents through our self-service studio, we aim to transform how they engage with customers at scale.”

Use cases for eSelf’s virtual agents have been diverse. Christie’s uses the agents as a first point of contact for potential buyers at its real estate brokerage firm in Portugal. Brazilian digital bank, AGI Bank, deploys the agents to help its 10 million customers access the institution’s digital banking services. Hong Kong-based financial services company DL Holdings leverages eSelf’s technology to provide financial advice to its customers in both English and Mandarin. eSelf reports that its technology currently powers “millions of real-time conversations.”

eSelf made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023. At the conference, the company won Best of Show for a demonstration of its virtual agent technology that serves as an additional workforce for sales and customer success teams. eSelf’s virtual agents bring face-to-face communications to large language models, providing a human-like experience and a positive user journey that enhances the sales process and minimizes human involvement.

eSelf recently announced that its face-to-face conversational engine produces responses faster than ChatGPT Voice as well as other conversational AI technologies. “Shorter latency means smoother, more natural interactions — no awkward pauses, just real-time conversations that feel human,” Bekker wrote on the eSelf LinkedIn page last month. “This is just the beginning. We’re building toward instant replies with immersive, visually rich outputs that redefine human-machine interaction.”

Headquartered in Israel, eSelf was founded in 2022.

Photo by Angela García

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LeapXpert Secures $20 Million in Round Led by Portage

LeapXpert Secures $20 Million in Round Led by Portage
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Funding, LeapXpert

Business communications innovator LeapXpert has raised $20 million in new funding this week. The Series B round was led by Portage, and featured participation from existing investors, including Rockefeller Asset Management, Uncorrelated Ventures, and the Partnership Fund for New York City.

“At LeapXpert, we’re seeing greater and greater demand for our platform, driven in part by the three-year crackdown by global regulators on off-channel communications,” LeapXpert Founder and CEO Dima Gutzeit said. “This is now expanding beyond regulated enterprises into non-regulated sectors, as the DOJ in the U.S. enforces stringent requirements for preserving and governing business-related communications taking place on digital channels.”

The funding will enable the company to scale its footprint to address essential governance needs in the financial sector as well as in other industries. The proliferation and popularity of modern communications technology has put a new strain on companies that need to balance engagement and relationship-building on the one hand, and governance, compliance, and security on the other. LeapXpert’s cloud-based solution supports seamless and governed communications across modern communications channels, maintaining enterprise control while meeting the organization’s data retention, security, and regulatory needs. LeapXpert integrates with popular messaging solutions including iMessage, WhatsApp, SMS, Telegram, and WeChat on the customer side, and with enterprise platforms including Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Salesforce.

“Looking ahead, customers are also excited about the unfolding potential of communication intelligence and its contribution to workforce productivity,” Gutzeit added. “By unlocking actionable insights from governed conversations, our platform is set to drive new levels of efficiency and innovation in the way teams collaborate and operate.”

LeapXpert’s funding news comes in the wake of its recognition as a Visionary in Gartner’s new Magic Quadrant for Digital Communications Governance and Archiving (DCGA). A member of Deloitte Fast 500 list of America’s fastest-growing tech companies for 2024, LeapXpert recently announced partnerships with financial markets compliant communications solutions provider IPC and with Hong Kong-based media and telecommunications firm HKT. Last fall, the company unveiled its messaging security suite which is equipped with AI-powered impersonation detection — an industry first. Part of LeapXpert’s new Messaging Security Package, the additional functionality leverages AI to spot impersonation attempts over channels such as WhatsApp, WeChat, iMessage, and SMS in real-time.

“As organizations increasingly rely on platforms like WhatsApp, iMessage, and other messaging applications to conduct critical business communications, safeguarding these channels from threats becomes essential,” Gutzeit said. “With our AI-driven Messaging Impersonation Detection, antivirus, anti-malware, and CDR solutions, enterprises now have a comprehensive toolkit to ensure data governance and security across these channels.”

Founded in 2017, LeapXpert most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall 2022 in New York. At the conference, the company demonstrated its new app for Microsoft Teams that provides a comprehensive digital record of company conversations.

Photo by Temo Berishvili

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Nevermined Raises $4 Million for Decentralized AI Payments Protocol

Nevermined Raises $4 Million for Decentralized AI Payments Protocol
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • 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

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Infinant Secures $15 Million in Series A Funding

Infinant Secures $15 Million in Series A Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Funding, Infinant

Digital banking solutions provider Infinant has raised $15 million in Series A funding. The round was led by FINTOP Capital and JAM FINTOP BankTech, and featured participation from Raido Capital Partners, Woodforest Financial Group, and Bankers Helping Bankers.

“Financial institutions are realizing significant and responsible growth by diversifying their deposit gathering and payment channels by decoupling from the core and distributing their products across new platforms,” Infinant CEO Riaz Syed said. “FINTOP’s and JAM FINTOP’s partnership is a strong market indicator of the solution fit for Infinant in the market and will allow us to continue to grow to meet the needs of financial institutions.”

Infinant offers Interlace: a cloud-based platform that empowers banks to launch and scale their digital and embedded banking solutions. Interlace gives banks and other financial institutions greater operational and regulatory control with a platform — owned by the bank — that allows them to launch their solutions independent of the core provider or a sidecar core. Infinant supports initiatives including launching digital banks in new markets, embedding financial products and services into business applications, delivering new solutions to small businesses and commercial partners through sub-accounting, and more.

John Philpott, FINTOP partner and member of JAM FINTOP Banktech’s investment committee, credited Infinant’s embrace of what he called “a dramatic shift in the market and the approach to embedded banking and banking-as-a-service.” Noting that this new growth opportunity comes with greater oversight requirements for banks, Philpott praised the company for “meeting this need to provide banks with a platform that allows them to scale their programs while aligning to the evolving regulatory landscape.”

Infinant will use the capital to expand its product offering which currently includes Infinant’s Interlace Console for customer and account management, Settlement Ops for ledger and reconciliation management, Payments Hub for centralized payments for ACH, wire, and FedNow, as well as the company’s Card Platform that provides card issuance and processing directly to Visa DPS.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and founded in 2020, Infinant came to the attention of Finovate audiences courtesy of FinovateFall 2024. Since then, the company has forged partnerships with Missouri-based First Bank of the Lake and, most recently, with North Texas-based Legend Bank. Both financial institutions will deploy Infinant’s Interlace platform to enhance their growth strategies.

“Infinant’s deep experience in banking technology and their advanced platform tailored to bankers were key factors in our decision to select them as our partner,” Legend Bank Fintech Strategic Partnerships Lead John Michael Davis said. “The Interlace platform is flexible and adaptive to a wide variety of business models, yet also minimizes the technical burden upon us as a bank.”

Photo by Danny George

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Finovate Alums Raised More Than $132 Million in Q4; More Than $553 Million in 2024

Finovate Alums Raised More Than $132 Million in Q4; More Than $553 Million in 2024
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Funding, Quarterly Funding

Seven Finovate alums raised more than $132 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, and more than $553 million for the full year. The figures trail those from 2023, in which 11 alums raised more than $307 million in Q4 and approximately $1.2 billion for the year. This data also reflects the ongoing funding challenges faced by fintech companies at a time of high interest rates and industry consolidation.

Previous Annual Comparisons

Looking specifically at the fourth quarter of this year, we see a wide range in funding levels, from Wallit’s modest $1.4 million raise to Zopa’s year-ending $87 million score. It is also worth noting that the amount of one investment, the October funding for CardFlight, the level was not disclosed.

Previous Quarterly Comparisons

  • Q4 2023: More than $1.2 billion raised by 11 alums
  • Q4 2022: More than $380 million raised by 15 alums
  • Q4 2021: More than $1.2 billion raised by seven alums
  • Q4 2020: More than $472 million raised by 17 alums
  • Q4 2019: More than $876 million raised by 21 alums

This year’s fourth quarter funding tally is the lowest Q4 in many years, representing less than half of what was raised in 2022. Q4 2024 did see a pickup in funding relative to the previous quarter, both in terms of investment total and the number of alums funded, and is slightly higher than the amount Finovate alums raised in the first quarter of the year (nine alums raising more than $113 million).

Top Quarterly Equity Investments

The top three quarterly equity investments for the quarter were Zopa’s $87 million funding in December, interface.ai’s $20 million fundraising in October, and MODIFI’s $15 million fundraising in November. These three investments combined represent more than 92% of the total funding raised by all alums in Q4 2024.

Here is our detailed alum funding report for Q4 2024.

October: More than $22 million raised by three alums

November: More than $16 million raised by two alums

December: More than $94 million raised by two alums

If you are a Finovate alum that raised money in the fourth quarter of 2024, and do not see your company listed, please drop us a note at research@finovate.com. We would love to share the good news! Funding received prior to becoming an alum not included.

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BVNK Raises $50 Million for its Stablecoin Infrastructure Platform

BVNK Raises $50 Million for its Stablecoin Infrastructure Platform
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • 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.

Photo by Nicolas Postiglioni

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Current Bags $200 Million in New Capital

Current Bags $200 Million in New Capital
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Digital challenger bank Current raised $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.”

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Themis Lands $9.2 Million to Scale its Governance, Risk, and Compliance Platform

Themis Lands $9.2 Million to Scale its Governance, Risk, and Compliance Platform
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Themis

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?'”

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Zopa Caps Off 2024 with $87 Million in Funding

Zopa Caps Off 2024 with $87 Million in Funding
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Zopa
  • U.K.-based digital bank Zopa raised $87 million in an equity round led by A.P. Moller Holding and existing investors.
  • The round boosts Zopa’s total funding to $1.067 billion.
  • Despite declaring plans for a 2022 IPO during its 2021 funding round, Zopa has decided to wait for better market conditions.

Digital bank Zopa seems to be impervious to the downturn in the fintech funding environment. The U.K.-based fintech has just raised $87 million (€80 million), boosting its total raised to $1.067 billion. The equity round was led by A.P. Moller Holding and existing investors. 

While the investment comes at a time during which many fintechs are experiencing a funding dry spell, this is not the first time Zopa has beaten the odds. In February 2023, Zopa raised an impressive $92 million (£75 million) from existing investors as well as an undisclosed lead investor. At the time, the company said the round “cements and enhances” its unicorn status. 

Zopa, which originally launched as a peer-to-peer lending platform in 2005, pivoted to become a digital bank in 2020, when it received its full banking license from the Financial Conduct Authority. Today, the company holds more than £5 billion in deposits for its 1.3 million customers. Zopa’s platform aims to help users improve their financial health via savings tools, lending products, credit card offerings, and various vehicle financing tools. To date, Zopa has lent more than $16.6 billion (£13 billion) to consumers in the U.K. and currently has £3 billion in loans on its balance sheet. 

“Today’s fundraise validates our financial performance and growth potential,” said Zopa CEO Jaidev Janardana. “Since launching our bank in 2020, we’ve consistently offered financial products that offer great value and ease to our customers, supporting our vision to build Britain’s best bank. We are thrilled to have investors who share our excitement at the opportunity to serve more customers across more product categories as we aim to become the go-to bank for millions of consumers.”

Notably, while Zopa billed its 2021 funding round as a “pre-IPO round,” declaring plans to go public by the end of 2022, it appears that plans have changed. The company told TechCrunch that it is not currently pursuing an IPO. “We will wait for the markets to revive and be more positive,” said Janardana in an interview. Interestingly, Klarna, another fintech that delayed its IPO plans, recently filed to go public in 2025. The results of Klarna’s public offering at that time will either convince Zopa that it’s time to IPO or help to cement its decision to continue operating as a private company.

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interface.ai: Fighting Deepfakes, Training Bots, and Raising Capital

interface.ai: Fighting Deepfakes, Training Bots, and Raising Capital
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Funding, Interface.ai

Agentic AI solutions provider for community banks and credit unions, interface.ai, has introduced a pair of new tools to help fight deepfake fraud. The company has launched two flagship products — device biometric authentication and Generative AI (GenAI) bot training — designed to help financial institutions defend themselves and their customers from fraud and unauthorized access.

interface.ai’s device biometrics solution uses device-based fingerprint and facial recognition technology to authenticate users over voice and chat AI. The new technology builds on the company’s risk-based, multi-factor authentication system, combining device and voice biometrics, AI-driven analysis, and caller anti-spoofing to protect users against evolving fraud threats while minimizing friction.

“Security in financial services demands constant innovation,” interface.ai CEO Srinivas Njay said. “With device biometrics, we are not just offering a new authentication method — we are enhancing our already formidable security framework, offering financial institutions the perfect balance of frictionless access and robust protection.”

interface.ai also unveiled a new, proprietary GenAI capability that enhances the speed of training highly capable AI-powered bots. Training AI bots typically involves manual scripts that delineate every question and response. This process is time-consuming and inefficient, insofar as much of the information a bot will provide already exists on the company’s website or within other readily available company resources. Instead, interface.ai’s new offering directs the AI to the company’s content where it automatically learns from the data and is able to provide accurate responses to customers on day one. Further, the AI bots continuously scan company content for updates to ensure that responses are accurate and current, all without requiring manual intervention.

“Our latest Generative AI capability provides a game-changing solution for financial institutions looking to scale their AI capabilities quickly and effectively,” Njay said. “By streamlining the chatbot training process, we are empowering banks and credit unions to harness the full potential of AI at a fraction of the cost and effort, while providing a more dynamic, conversational experience that resolves more queries.”

interface.ai won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at our all-digital conference, FinovateWest 2020. The company most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2023, introducing Sphere, interface.ai’s GenAI-powered, multimodal, ChatGPT-like AI assistant for financial institutions. The solution is available in two iterations: Sphere for Customers and Sphere for Employees. The former replaces online mobile banking with an AI assistant that provides intelligent guidance and personalized assistance. The latter replaces up to 15 applications typically managed by frontline staff, boosting efficiency by 10x.

interface.ai’s latest launches are part of the company’s fall 2024 product release, which also features an expansion of its biometric consent options now offering integrations with DocuSign, IMM eSign, and Acrobat Sign. interface.ai also announced enhancements to its platform’s content organization that improve both efficiency and ease of use. This includes support for direct synchronization with SharePoint.

In other recent big news for the company, interface.ai secured $30 million in funding last month in a round led by Avataar Venture Partners. The first major investment for the bootstrapped-since-inception firm, the funding makes interface.ai “the most valuable AI company in banking” the company noted in a statement.

“This funding will allow us to accelerate the transformation of self-service in banking through agentic AI, delivering unified and hyper-personalized experiences that empower financial institutions’ customers and employees,” Njay said. “Our AI agents don’t just react — they anticipate needs, providing tailored advice and autonomously guide individuals toward long-term financial wellness.”

Headquartered in Covina, California, interface.ai was founded in 2019.

Photo by Mike Bird

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