From construction finance to digital identity and AI adoption, innovation continues to reshape the infrastructure that powers modern business. This week’s deal highlights showcase founders not just creating products, but building the systems and platforms that enable trust, liquidity, and efficiency across industries.
Billd is unlocking new financial solutions for commercial subcontractors, providing early-pay programs and working capital tools that stabilize the cash flow of a historically underserved segment. Lettuce is catering to high-earning solopreneurs with a one-stop platform for accounting, payroll, benefits, and tax compliance, reflecting the growing demand for integrated solutions among independent professionals. Meanwhile, Portal26 is guiding enterprises through generative AI adoption, offering visibility, governance, and analytics to manage AI safely and strategically. On the blockchain frontier, CMT Digital’s latest fund backs the next generation of crypto-native infrastructure, re-architecting finance for global markets.
In our Q&A, Irene Hernandez, founder of Gataca, provides a compelling perspective on the evolving landscape of digital identity. Her company is building the missing layer of trust online with ID Wallets that prioritize compliance, user experience, and privacy. Irene shares how Gataca is helping regulated industries verify identities seamlessly, the trends driving global adoption, and the vision guiding her next steps in scaling secure, privacy-first solutions.
Together, these stories illustrate how financial technology and digital infrastructure are converging — from stabilizing capital flows to enabling secure digital identities and governing AI — shaping the backbone of tomorrow’s economy.
The future of identity: a Q&A with Irene Hernandez of Gataca
In an increasingly digital world, trust is the most valuable currency. Verifying someone’s identity online remains costly, cumbersome, and vulnerable to fraud. Gataca was born to change that. From her early days at MIT to becoming a leader in digital identity solutions, Irene shares how her passion for technology turned into a mission: building the identity layer the Internet has been missing. In this interview, we explore the problem Gataca solves, how their unique focus on ID Wallets redefines user experience, and where the company is heading in the coming years.
1. Tell us a bit about yourself, and how you got the idea for Gataca.
From programming on an MS-DOS computer as a child to advising multinationals on IT strategy for over a decade, technology has always been at the heart of my life and career. The idea for Gataca was born at MIT, where I was researching decentralized architectures to fight online identity fraud. What began as an academic project quickly turned into a mission: to build the Internet’s missing identity layer.
Read more from the interview here: Redefining Identity: Insights from Irene Hernandez
DEAL HIGHLIGHTS
We are back with this week’s deal highlights.
Checks my tick-boxes on understanding the industry value chain (construction), the target segment with pain (subcontractors) and the beachhead solution (early pay credit / working capital).
Billd, a FinTech specialising in financial solutions for commercial subcontractors, has secured $7.3m in strategic funding to accelerate its new early pay programmes…Founded in 2018 by industry veterans with backgrounds in construction and finance, Billd provides tailored financial tools that help subcontractors manage the chronic cash flow instability common in the construction sector. The company offers flexible credit and working capital solutions to cover material and labour costs, helping clients mitigate the risks associated with delayed payments.
The mass affluent / HNWI solopreneur is an underserved target segment, despite the rise of offerings for freelancers and gig workers, and Lettuce seems to have the “one-stop-shop” mindset this demanding segment is looking for.
Lettuce Financial, A Fin-Tech Platform Targeting Solopreneurs, Raises $28 Million And Acquires A Benefits Startup….Ran Harpaz, founder and CEO of Lettuce, said the company wants to address a gap in the marketplace for infrastructure to support solopreneurs such as physicians, therapists, content creators, consultants, and fractional executives, who have typically had to piece together business and financial tools from multiple providers…(It) targets self-employed professionals with an accounting, payroll, benefits, and tax compliance platform. Lettuce has focused much of its attention on higher-earning independent professionals who are in a position to benefit from its offerings, according to Harpaz. Recent research by MBO Partners found that the number of self-employed professionals earning $100,000 or more increased by 53% since 2020 to 5.6 million.
With the (mostly justified) angst and feet-dragging of financial institutions adopting GenAI, a clear market has emerged for handholding and managing GenAI rollouts from risk assessment, governance to analytics. Watching this space and how incumbent (Gen)AI governance players adapt or have adapted their product and positioning.
Portal26 raises $9m to expand GenAI adoption platform. Portal26, a GenAI Adoption Management Platform helping enterprises manage and measure artificial intelligence implementation, has secured $9m in a Series A funding round. The funding was led by Shasta Ventures, with participation from Fusion Fund and the venture arm of a Fortune 500 financial services institution. The company had previously raised $6m in seed funding in 2022. Portal26 provides visibility, governance, and strategic analytics to help businesses adopt and manage generative AI securely and effectively. Its platform allows enterprises to detect and manage Shadow AI, enforce policy, perform forensic audits, manage AI risks, and educate employees.
Quite the journey, with well-articulated phases and industry-defining investments in each. Fund IV is surely one to watch.
CMT Digital Closes $136 Million Fund IV to Invest in the Next Phase of Crypto Adoption…Veteran crypto venture firm with over $600 million in AUM launches fourth fund to back the next generation of founders building the future with blockchain…A Decade of Evolving with the Industry
Phase of crypto adoption:
- Fund I – Establishing Access: Backed the first platforms that gave retail and institutions credible entry points into crypto.
- Coinbase, Circle, BitGo, Figure, FalconX, Strike
- Fund II – Building Onchain Infrastructure: Focused on the core rails for on chain capital movement— wallets, data, on chain credit markets, and emergent opportunities like gaming.
- Consensys, dYdX, Pyth, Maple, Sky Mavis
- Fund III – Expanding Utility: Invested in payments, decentralized infrastructure, and consumer applications moving crypto beyond speculation.
- Ethena, EtherFi, Superstate, Hypernative, Coinflow, Andrena
- Fund IV – Re-architecting Finance: Backing founders building blockchain-native infrastructure for global markets.
- 10 investments to date, including FortyTwo, 1Money, D2X, Winston Artory Group, Odysseus, Zylu
Read on for more on the founders and investors in the news last week. If you are building or backing “what’s next in finance” and want to spread the word with our network of 20K+, reach out to Samarth Shekhar or Frank Schwab.
FUNDING ROUNDS
MidLyr closes $2.5 million pre-seed to advance MENA expansion plans
US-based fintech MidLyr has raised $2.5 million in pre-seed funding led by Silicon Badia, with participation from Wedbush Ventures, Hustle Fund, DCG, and Story Ventures.
Founded in 2025 by Wael Elsahhar and Ruochen Ren, MidLyr enables banks to translate policy text into compliant AI workflows, connecting directly to internal data to automate processes such as issue resolution, risk reviews, and marketing compliance—all within regulatory boundaries.
With the new funding, MidLyr will accelerate product development, expand its partnerships with banks and fintechs, and hire talent across the US and the Middle East, leveraging regional expertise in engineering and data science as a long-term differentiator.
https://www.wamda.com/2025/10/midlyr-closes-2-5-million-pre-seed-advance-mena-expansion-plans
Hawala Raises $3 Million to Build Financial Infrastructure Connecting Emerging Markets Across MENA and the World.
NEW YORK – October 30, 2025 — Hawala Technologies, Inc. (“Hawala” or the “Company”), a financial technology company building the modern infrastructure and platform connecting emerging markets across MENA with the global economy, today announced a $3 million funding round led by Pharsalus Capital, with participation from Alumni Ventures. The round also included prominent angel investors such as Naguib Sawiris (Chairman, Orascom Development Holding), Hany Rashwan (Co-Founder & CEO, 21.co), Arnold Lee (Co-Founder & CEO, Sphere Labs), Carl Lin (Founding Engineer, Solana), among others.
Hawala is leading the development of the infrastructure that connects MENA’s financial systems to the global economy, unifying fragmented local networks into a single, modern framework for cross-border payments and global access.
https://usehawala.com/newsroom/3m-series-seed-funding
Construction FinTech Billd raises $7.3m funding
Billd, a FinTech specialising in financial solutions for commercial subcontractors, has secured $7.3m in strategic funding to accelerate its new early pay programmes.
The round was led by growth equity firm MissionOG, known for its focus on FinTech and lending, with additional participation from existing investors HighSage Ventures and RJT Credit.
Founded in 2018 by industry veterans with backgrounds in construction and finance, Billd provides tailored financial tools that help subcontractors manage the chronic cash flow instability common in the construction sector. The company offers flexible credit and working capital solutions to cover material and labour costs, helping clients mitigate the risks associated with delayed payments.
https://fintech.global/2025/11/06/construction-fintech-billd-raises-7-3m-funding/
Portal26 raises $9m to expand GenAI adoption platform
Portal26, a GenAI Adoption Management Platform helping enterprises manage and measure artificial intelligence implementation, has secured $9m in a Series A funding round.
The funding was led by Shasta Ventures, with participation from Fusion Fund and the venture arm of a Fortune 500 financial services institution. The company had previously raised $6m in seed funding in 2022.
Portal26 provides visibility, governance, and strategic analytics to help businesses adopt and manage generative AI securely and effectively. Its platform allows enterprises to detect and manage Shadow AI, enforce policy, perform forensic audits, manage AI risks, and educate employees.
The new funding will be used to accelerate Portal26’s growth and continue advancing its product innovations.
https://fintech.global/2025/11/05/portal26-raises-9m-to-expand-genai-adoption-platform/
EPIC Raises $10M Series A to Expand Auto Loan Fintech
TL;DR
EPIC, a Dallas fintech company, received $10 million in Series A funding led by FM Capital to expand its digital loan payoff platform. The company will use the funds to innovate its platform for the automotive ecosystem and extend its services to the powersports and RV markets, streamlining processes for dealers, lenders, and insurers.
Key takeaways
- Dallas-based financial technology company EPIC has secured $10 million in Series A funding, according to Dallas Innovates
- The investment round was led by FM Capital, with participation from Automotive Ventures and other strategic industry investors
- EPIC, a loan payoff clearinghouse for the automotive ecosystem, plans to utilize the capital for market expansion and platform innovation
https://www.heartspace.ai/news/0e5f3a69-7465-41f4-9d4e-c025efbbaadb
Truffle Security raises $25m to boost AI-driven protection
Truffle Security, the firm behind the popular open-source project TruffleHog, has raised $25m in a Series B funding round to accelerate its work in protecting NHIs and their secrets across enterprise environments.
The round was led by Intel Capital and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from Abstract, Lytical Ventures, and industry figures including Casey Ellis, founder of BugCrowd, Emilio Escobar, CISO at Datadog, and Haroon Meer, founder and CEO of Thinkst.
Truffle Security, known for its flagship product TruffleHog, provides enterprises with advanced tools to detect, verify, and remediate exposed secrets and credentials within their software ecosystems. Its technology helps organisations safeguard against data breaches by scanning for compromised credentials across codebases and cloud environments.
https://fintech.global/2025/11/07/truffle-security-raises-25m-to-boost-ai-driven-protection/
Teleskope raises $25m to scale agentic data security
Teleskope, a company redefining data security for the AI era, has raised $25m in Series A funding led by M13, with continued backing from Primary Venture Partners and Lerer Hippeau.
The new capital brings its total funding to $32.2m and will fuel expansion, product innovation, and go-to-market growth.
The company has built what it calls the first agentic data security platform—an AI-driven system that mimics human security teams by automatically identifying, classifying, and protecting sensitive data across cloud, SaaS, and hybrid environments. It also takes real-time, autonomous action to remediate risk and enforce compliance.
https://fintech.global/2025/11/05/teleskope-raises-25m-to-scale-agentic-data-security/
Lettuce Financial, A Fin-Tech Platform Targeting Solopreneurs, Raises $28 Million And Acquires A Benefits Startup
Lettuce Financial, a San Francisco-based fintech platform for solopreneurs, has secured $28 million in additional funding to accelerate the expansion of its AI-powered operating system, soloOS, which targets one-person businesses focused on growth, the company announced today.
Lettuce — which targets self-employed professionals with an accounting, payroll, benefits, and tax compliance platform — also announced it has acquired Besolo, a benefits startup, to bring its subscribers access to more robust healthcare options and other benefits. Lettuce will also bring on advisor Molly Loftus, formerly a Cigna executive, chief actuary at Mercer and CEO of Consortium Healthplans.
Zeev Ventures led the funding round. The venture capital fund has also backed companies such as Houzz and exited from Audible, Chegg and Next Insurance.
Canada’s Flare bags $30m to boost TEM innovation
Flare, a Canadian cybersecurity company specialising in TEM has announced a $30m funding round to accelerate its growth.
The Series B extension includes $15m in equity led by Inovia Capital’s Growth Fund, alongside participation from existing investors Base10 Partners and White Star Capital. It also features $15m in debt financing from BMO. The new investment brings Flare’s total funding to $60m over the past year.
Flare’s platform focuses on Identity Exposure Management within the broader TEM landscape, helping organisations reduce risks associated with compromised credentials and account takeovers. The company’s solutions combine dark web monitoring, exposure validation, and digital risk protection to enable proactive cybersecurity strategies.
https://fintech.global/2025/11/06/canadas-flare-bags-30m-to-boost-tem-innovation/
Retirement tech firm Human Interest nets $100m, valued at $3b
Human Interest, a San Francisco-based 401(k) platform, has raised over US$100 million, bringing its valuation to US$3 billion.
The funding round included existing investors Baillie Gifford, BlackRock, Marshall Wace, Morgan Stanley, and TPG, up from its previous valuation of US$1.3 billion in mid-2024.
Human Interest serves small and mid-sized businesses seeking to offer retirement plans, a segment often overlooked by larger 401(k) providers.
The company expects to reach around US$200 million in annual recurring revenue by the end of 2025.
https://www.techinasia.com/news/retirement-tech-firm-human-interest-nets-100m-valued-at-3b
Daylight bags $40m to expand AI-native security platform
Daylight, a cybersecurity company pioneering agentic AI-driven managed protection, has secured $33m in a Series A funding round, bringing its total funding to $40m.
The investment was led by Craft Ventures, with additional backing from Bain Capital Ventures, Maple VC, and several renowned cybersecurity founders and angel investors. These include Assaf Rappaport of Wiz; Ofer Smadari, Leonid Belkind, and Eldad Livni of Torq; Tamar Bar-Ilan and Yotam Segev of Cyera; Yevgeny Dibrov and Nadir Izrael of Armis; and Ofir Ehrlich of EON.
Founded by Unit 8200 veterans Hagai Shapira and Eldad Rodich, Daylight has rapidly grown to serve enterprises across the U.S. and Europe, including The Motley Fool, Cresta, and McKinsey Investment Office.
https://fintech.global/2025/11/05/daylight-bags-40m-to-expand-ai-native-security-platform/
Ripple reaches $40bn valuation following $500m funding round
The raised valuation follows the continuous expansion of Ripple’s payment network, six major acquisitions over two years, and the successful launch of its USD-backed stablecoin RLUSD.
Digital asset infrastructure provider Ripple has achieved a $40 billion valuation following a $500 million funding round led by investment firms Fortress Investment Group, Citadel Securities, Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, Brevan Howard, and Marshall Wace.
The valuation represents significant growth from Ripple’s 2019 Series C funding of $200 million at a $10 billion valuation and the subsequent $15 billion assessment in 2022 when the company repurchased those shares. This latest cash injection follows what Ripple describes as its “strongest year to date” and a recent $1 billion tender offer at the same $40 billion valuation.
VENTURE FUNDS
CMT Digital Closes $136 Million Fund IV to Invest in the Next Phase of Crypto Adoption
Veteran crypto venture firm with over $600 million in AUM launches fourth fund to back the next generation of founders building the future with blockchain
CHICAGO, Nov. 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — CMT Digital, a leading global venture capital firm focused on early-stage investments that accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology, today announced the close of its fourth venture fund at $136 million. Fund IV will invest in founders building the infrastructure and applications driving the next phase of crypto adoption, at a time when regulators are clarifying digital asset frameworks and institutional participation is expanding.
M&A
Net Purpose and SDI AOP unite to drive sustainable investing
Net Purpose has announced its acquisition of SDI AOP, the platform founded by leading asset owners to identify and measure investments contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The deal will create one of the largest independent providers of sustainable development data, serving clients representing more than $40tn in assets under management.
The partnership aims to establish a unified global standard for sustainable investing, enabling investors to better assess how their portfolios contribute to positive social and environmental outcomes. SDI AOP’s founding members—APG, PGGM, AustralianSuper, and British Columbia Investment Management Corp (BCI)—will continue to shape the platform’s strategy through representation on the Net Purpose board.
https://fintech.global/2025/11/03/net-purpose-and-sdi-aop-unite-to-drive-sustainable-investing/
As fintech, AI, and digital identity continue to reshape industries, these founders are not just building companies—they’re redefining the infrastructure of tomorrow. Stay tuned for more insights, deals, and stories from the innovators shaping the future of finance and technology.