This Week in Fintech: Redefining Wealth, Payments, and Growth
This week’s deals spotlight the fintech revolution in full swing. From digital wealth platforms empowering millennials and Gen Z to navigate a €13.9T low-yield landscape, to AI agents breaking barriers in commerce by sidestepping pesky captchas, innovation is reshaping how money moves and grows. Embedded lending is unlocking capital for SMEs via marketplaces, while AI-native platforms are ditching clunky legacy ERPs for fast-growing firms. Plus, pension-backed funds are shaking up venture capital with bold bets on Europe’s growth.
Dive into the action and don’t miss our exclusive Q&A with Giuseppe Ettorre, Co-Founder & CEO of Alomana, who’s building the AI banker of the future. Ready to see what’s next in finance? Keep reading!
Building the AI Banker – A Q&A with Giuseppe Ettorre, Co-Founder & CEO of Alomana
Giuseppe Ettorre is the Co-Founder and CEO of Alomana, a startup transforming how financial institutions adopt artificial intelligence. With experience in data and statistics teams at Bloomberg and the European Central Bank, Giuseppe has dedicated his career to solving complex problems with innovative solutions.
Alomana was born from a clear idea: banks, asset managers, and large enterprises need highly customized AI agents—agents that can reason, collaborate, and adapt to unique workflows—rather than relying on generic copilots. Their multi-agent platform not only delivers tailored automation but also provides ROI transparency, enabling organizations to measure the tangible impact of AI on time, cost, and accuracy.
In this interview, Giuseppe shares the vision behind Alomana, the challenges enterprises face when scaling AI, and how his team is building “the AI Banker” for the next generation of financial institutions.
1- Tell us a bit about yourself, and how you got the idea for Alomana.
I’m Giuseppe Ettorre, co-founder and CEO of Alomana. Prior launching our company, I have worked in the data and statistics teams of Bloomberg, European Central Bank. During that time, I contributed to several solutions now used by millions of organizations and market operators worldwide. Today, financial decision-making still relies on fragmented documents and data, manual work, and siloed teams. And because every institution works differently, the needs are highly custom.
That’s where the idea for Alomana came from: creating a kind of “company brain”, AI agents that don’t just chat, but can adapt, reason, collaborate, and take on complex workflows the way a trusted banker or advisor would.
Read more from the interview here: http://www.fintechforum.de/building-the-ai-banker-a-qa-with-giuseppe-ettorre-co-founder-ceo-of-alomana/
Deal highlights
Finary is on to something with their clear target market, and it will be interesting to see how they expand their customer base as well as expand into other products. We are keenly watching the wealth management, investment and advice space shake out between traditional private banks / wealth managers, digital advisors, neo-brokers, neo-banks as well as add-on / digital wealth and investing enablers working together with traditional (retail) banks.
Finary, the Paris-based FinTech tackling wealth management with a tech-first, transparency-led approach, has raised a €25 million Series B round to fuel expansion and enhance its product suite… With the new capital, Finary plans to deepen its offering through Finary One, its private-wealth service, and launch AI-driven wealth management tools tailored to the evolving financial habits of Europeans. Finary’s timing is strategic. European investors are navigating a challenging landscape, with €13.9 trillion currently tied up in accounts yielding less than inflation, ageing pension systems under pressure, and a massive generational wealth transfer on the horizon. The startup sees its role as a facilitator for millennials and Gen Z inheriting assets – 87% of whom are expected to change their financial adviser by 2030.
The agentic AI commerce space continues to see both new enabling players and fundamental protocol creation, from teams with amazing founder-market fit.
Soon, most economic transactions will be executed by AI agents. These new economic actors will buy your groceries, book your flights, and manage the inventories and balance sheets of entire companies. However, legacy systems have been designed to keep agents out. We know this particularly well given Crossmint co-founder Alfonso was formerly the PM behind Google’s “I’m not a robot,” reCAPTCHA, designed to block automated use. Agents will need new systems that don’t require them to circumvent captchas, two-factor prompts, and manual approvals designed for human users. This is why we’ve adapted our APIs to cater to this new and rising class of consumer. Our wallet, payment, and credential APIs now let agents securely hold funds, trade assets, and purchase goods and services. Crossmint’s GOAT SDK is the most downloaded open-source library for connecting AI agents to blockchain protocols, with 150,000 downloads in the past two months.
Circuit & Chisel, an innovative company developing an agentic commerce platform, has raised $19.2 million in seed funding. This substantial investment will be used to launch their groundbreaking creation, ATXP, a new web-wide protocol… The foundation of Circuit & Chisel was laid by CEO Louis Amira, formerly Stripe’s Head of Crypto & AI Partnerships, and CTO David Noel-Romas, who previously served as Stripe’s Head of Crypto Engineering. Together, they are focused on building the fundamental technologies necessary to facilitate agentic payments and seamless movement across the internet.
We like the approach of Defacto going via marketplaces (reminds me of Banxware in Germany), enabling (lower cost) access to SMBs along with access to rich, real-time financial and business data. Ditto achieves similar economies of scale by focusing on the construction value chain and deep understanding of the industry players.
French embedded ending platform Defacto has raised €16 million in a Series B funding round led by Citi Venture and La Maison Partners…Defacto provides embedded lending via API, allowing businesses on B2B marketplaces and e-commerce platforms to offer short-term credit to their customers. The firm plans to use the capital to significantly increase its lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across Europe.It is targeting a tenfold increase in its lending volume, aiming to reach €10 billion over the next four years by expanding services to more industrial companies.
Pillar closes €3.2M to revolutionize financial management for construction companies…The founders saw firsthand the gap between the complexity of construction finance and the potential of fintech, and set out to build software tailored to builders’ needs. Pillar gives construction companies a precise, real-time view of where money goes, tracking revenues, expenses, and margins at both the company level and for each project. Designed to be simple and intuitive, the platform uses AI to automate controls, reconcile bank transactions, and flag anomalies before they become real problems.
Power to Light, and other players trying to solve the finance and CFO problem that plagues early- and even growth-stage players in Europe. Loved the quote “ERP was built for factories. Light is built for the fastest-growing companies of the 21st century.”
Light raises $30 million to replace legacy finance systems with AI-native platform… The investment comes as the company reports 30x growth over the past 12 months, with customers reducing finance operations time by 84% after switching from legacy ERPs…Where legacy systems fail at processing 1 million records, Light handles 280 million in under a second. Balance sheets generate instantly. Multi-entity accounting, global payments, and expense management happen automatically across jurisdictions. The platform’s AI matches human accuracy while catching errors that professionals often miss…ERP was built for factories. Light is built for the fastest-growing companies of the 21st century.”
Great thinking behind a fund looking to bring in pension funds into VC funds and fast-growing companies, with a team that brings the right experience and mindset.
Prague’s Aspire11 has announced the launch of its inaugural €500 million pension-backed fund, led by Pavel Mucha, long-term VC investor in the CEE region to open new pathways for European pension funds to increase their exposure to VC funds and growth companies… According to the European Central Bank, EU pension funds allocate just 0.02% of total assets to venture capital, compared with almost 2% for US pension funds…Mucha is joined by Rentea and LP The Partners Group, as well as Tülin Tokatli as a partner to build and curate the Tribes portfolio, drawing on her track record in evaluating VC investors as a former investor at the European Investment Fund (EIF).
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
SkySparc Receives Majority Growth Investment from Bregal Milestone
SkySparc, a Stockholm, Sweden-based provider of digital transformation solutions for treasury and finance organizations, received a majority growth investment from Bregal Milestone.
The amount of the deal was not disclosed.
The company intends to use the funds to accelerate its global reach and expand its role as a strategic partner to clients and leading software providers.
SkySparc is a provider of digital solutions for finance and treasury organizations worldwide. Combining deep domain expertise with its proprietary platform OmniFi, the company helps treasurers and CFOs globally automate processes, improve cash visibility, and gain actionable insights through AI and advanced analytics.
Founded in 2002, it is used by corporates and financial institutions across Europe, North America, and Asia.
https://www.finsmes.com/2025/09/skysparc-receives-majority-growth-investment-from-bregal-milestone
Rekord raises $2.1M to power the future of credit decisioning
The company builds an AI-native orchestration platform for credit decisioning, helping lenders design, manage, and optimize seamless credit workflows.
Dublin-based Rekord has raised $2.1 million in pre-seed funding to advance its AI-native platform for credit decisioning. The round was led by Point Nine Capital, with participation from Octopus Ventures, Hello World, Baseline, and angels including Eugene Danilkis, co-founder of Mambu.
Founded in 2024 by longtime friends Christopher Lynch (CEO) and Mark Noone (CTO), who met at university and later built large-scale infrastructure at AWS, Rekord emerged from the founders’ own 2023 home-buying experiences, which were marked by manual, opaque, and conflicting requirements. They set out to modernize how lenders balance regulation, risk, and customer expectations.
https://tech.eu/2025/09/22/rekord-raises-2-1m-to-power-the-future-of-credit-decisioning
Stripe alumnus launches AI-powered business account for European startups
A former senior executive at Stripe has raised $3 million in pre-seed funding to build an AI-powered business account for European startups.
Seapoint is the brainchild of Sean Mullaney, who was previously European CIO at Stripe, CTO at AI unicorn Algolia, and has advised the ECB and the Bank of England.
He argues that European companies with 10 to 250 employees are poorly served by today’s financial institutions. They are too big for neobanks, who cater to consumers and the smallest businesses, but not big enough for traditional corporate banking – they are stuck in the middle with no clear financial home.
Pillar closes €3.2M to revolutionize financial management for construction companies
The funding will fuel product development, faster go-to-market execution, and team expansion in a market of strategic importance to Italy and the wider European economy.
Milan-based Pillar, a fintech digitizing construction finance, has closed a €3.2 million pre-seed round. Emblem led the investment, joined by international backers Pareto, Plug and Play, and Kima Ventures, as well as Italian investors B Heroes, Vento, Eden Ventures, and IAG.
Prominent entrepreneurs also participated, including the founders of Aria, Convelio, Mobile First Company, 1000farmacie, Sibill, Futura, and Lexroom, alongside business angels such as Paola Bonomo, Ignazio Rocco Da Torrepadula, and Enrico Pandian.
Predicti closes $4.2M to scale predictive AI for finance
The company is expanding its AI platform to predict customer life events, helping financial institutions deliver timely, personalized offers and scale proactive engagement across channels.
Danish fintech Predicti has secured $4.2 million in funding led by TX Ventures and Dreamcraft Ventures, with participation from Plug and Play, to accelerate growth and advance its AI platform.
Predicti builds a fully API-enabled system that helps financial institutions anticipate customers’ next moves and act at the right moment. By combining a broad range of public-registry data with machine learning, the platform enriches client data and predicts life events, such as property purchases or relocations, then turns those signals into timely product recommendations across digital channels and advisor workflows.
https://tech.eu/2025/09/22/predicti-closes-42m-to-scale-predictive-ai-for-finance
a16z crypto-backed Shield raises $5M to help facilitate international business transactions in crypto
Crypto neo-bank Shield announced on Monday that it has raised a $5 million seed round led by Giant Ventures.
The company launched in 2022 and pivoted to payments in 2024. It allows exporters and importers to conduct cross-border transactions in U.S. cryptocurrencies, while also providing compliance screenings, such as addressing sanctions and money-laundering threats.
Emmanuel Udotong, co-founder and CEO, said he and his team started Shield because they were “disappointed by the lack of competing mainstream use cases for crypto.” Meanwhile, “bad actors” kept filling the space — and the headlines.
“We wanted to help bring blockchain technology into the real economy by solving real problems,” Udotong told TechCrunch.
Stablecorp Secures $5M to Accelerate the Rollout of Canada’s First Stablecoin
Earlier this year, we reported on Toronto-based fintech firm Stablecorp raising $2.5 million to expand and upgrade QCAD, its Canadian dollar-denominated stablecoin, in a round led by Coinbase Ventures and Side Door Ventures.
“Stablecoins are the most efficient rail ever devised to move money both domestically and globally, and it’s time that Canadians get the benefit of this financial services superconductor,” Alex McDougall, President of Stablecorp, remarked at the time.
This week, Stablecorp unveiled an additional $5M in capital.
The follow-on investment was led by FTP Ventures with participation from existing shareholders as well as new investors.
Fred Pye, Founder of FTP Ventures, says his firm’s vision is “to build the foundational rails for the future of finance in Canada.”
https://www.fintech.ca/2025/09/24/stablecorp-secure-accelerate-rollout-canada-stablecoin
Divine raises $6.6M to expand Credit lending protocol
The undercollateralized lending system plans global growth after surpassing 175,000 loans in less than a year
Divine has raised $6.6 million in seed funding to expand Credit, its undercollateralized lending protocol designed for borrowers without access to traditional credit.
The round, announced Thursday, was led by venture firm Paradigm with participation from Nascent and angel investors. Credit launched in December 2024 and has since issued more than 175,000 loans to over 100,000 unique borrowers, according to Divine’s announcement.
Unlike traditional lenders that require collateral or credit histories, Credit evaluates repayment capacity through borrower behavior. The protocol begins with small loan limits that expand to as much as $1,000 for users who repay on time.
https://blockworks.co/news/divine-raises-6-6m-to-expand-credit-lending-protocol
Tilt Raises $7.1M Seed Round to Launch AI-Powered Direct Indexing Platform
Funding will accelerate Tilt’s mission to commoditize direct indexing and transform wealth management into a preference-driven collaboration
MIAMI–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Tilt, the AI-powered direct indexing platform, has raised a $7.1 million Seed round led by Portage and Lerer Hippeau, with participation from Golden Ventures, Real Ventures, Cumberland Investments, and FJ Labs. The company will officially launch the platform behind a waitlist on September 22nd at Portage’s Confluence event.
Tilt is pioneering a new approach to wealth management by enabling advisors, TAMPs, and RIAs to deliver scalable, zero-minimum indices with real-time tax optimization, starting at 3 basis points. With Tilt’s platform, anyone can build an index for anything in minutes through an AI-driven thematic research process—democratizing access to institutional-grade indexing and personalization.
CommerzVentures backs AI reporting platform Sunhat
CommerzVentures has led a €9.2 million Series A funding round for Sunhat, a German AI-native compliance platform that helps enterprises automatically validate and share ESG and vital non-financial data.
Sunhat’s AI platform helps companies turn ESG and compliance data into instant, verified, ready-to-send proof for customers, investors, lenders, and regulators.
The startup cites recent research showing that employees spend an average of 360 hours every year searching for documentation, while half of digital workers say they cannot easily locate what they need to do their jobs.
Sunhat says that enterprises face constant demands from stakeholders for data and documentation to back claims. Whether it’s policies, certificates, audit records, ESG data, or compliance records, they all require verifying, approving and presenting in the exact format each stakeholder requires.
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/46635/commerzventures-backs-ai-reporting-platform-sunhat
Goodvest raises €12M to expand economic and social impact offerings
This funding will fuel Goodvest’s growth through new partnerships, enhanced products, and targeted hiring.
The responsible investment platform Goodvest has closed a €12 million Series B, two years after its Series A. The round was led by Serena, with participation from business angels and existing investors Ring Capital, Polytechnique Ventures, ALM Innovation (AG2R LA MONDIALE’s innovation fund), and Globivest.
Founded in 2020 by Joseph Choueifaty, Antoine Bénéteau, and Aurore Pinon-Jacques, Goodvest positions itself as the first fintech to offer investment solutions fully aligned with the Paris Agreement. Its product suite includes life insurance (including children’s policies), retirement savings plans, savings accounts, and private equity.
https://tech.eu/2025/09/24/goodvest-raises-eur12m-to-expand-economic-and-social-impact-offerings
Raiku raises $13.5 million to bring ‘guaranteed’ transactions on Solana
Quick Take
- Raiku has raised $13.5 million across seed and pre-seed rounds from investors including Pantera Capital, Jump Crypto, and Lightspeed Faction.
- The firm says its tools will bring “guaranteed” transactions on Solana by coordinating blockspace with validators.
Crypto startup Raiku has raised $13.5 million to build infrastructure that it says will make Solana SOL +1.23%
transactions predictable and “guaranteed,” tackling one of the blockchain network’s biggest challenges under heavy demand.
The funding includes an $11.25 million seed round led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Jump Crypto, Lightspeed Faction, HashKey Capital and others, and a $2.25 million pre-seed round co-led by Figment Capital and Big Brain Holdings, with support from Reciprocal Ventures and Anagram. Notable angel investors — including Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, Austin Federa, Kash Dhanda, and Julien Bouteloup — also joined.
https://www.theblock.co/post/371969/raiku-solana-project-funding
French fintech Defacto raises €16 million
French embedded ending platform Defacto has raised €16 million in a Series B funding round led by Citi Venture and La Maison Partners.
Defacto provides embedded lending via API, allowing businesses on B2B marketplaces and e-commerce platforms to offer short-term credit to their customers.
The firm last raised $16 million in June 2022 and secured a $167 securitization line in July 2023 with Citi and Viola Credit.
Prior to this Series B round, Defacto had raised over $30 million in total funding, according to Dealroom.
The firm plans to use the capital to significantly increase its lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across Europe.
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/46641/french-fintech-defacto-raises-16-million
Grvt Raises $19M to Pioneer Privacy-First Onchain Finance and Unlock Trillion-Dollar Markets
Grvt, the preeminent DEX (decentralized exchange) for onchain financial privacy that is powered by zero-knowledge (“ZK”) technology, today announced the close of a $19 million Series A funding round. This investment strengthens Grvt’s pioneering position as the global blueprint for the future of finance, accelerating its mission to disrupt the fragmented onchain finance ecosystem by addressing longstanding industry challenges, including privacy vulnerabilities, security, scalability and accessibility.
As Wall Street embraces blockchain technology, the next chapter of global finance is being written, and it’s happening onchain. In August, Ethereum’s onchain volume reached over $320 billion, its highest level since mid-2021. Research also projects the DeFi sector to surge from $32.36 billion in 2025 to over $1.5 trillion by 2034.
Circuit & Chisel: $19.2 Million Secured And ATXP Launched
Circuit & Chisel, an innovative company developing an agentic commerce platform, has raised $19.2 million in seed funding. This substantial investment will be used to launch their groundbreaking creation, ATXP, a new web-wide protocol. This funding round saw significant participation from leading investors, with Primary Venture Partners and ParaFi Capital co-leading the investment. Additional support came from prominent names in the tech and blockchain industries, including Stripe, Coinbase Ventures, Solana Ventures, Samsung Next, and Polygon Labs. A select group of influential angel investors also contributed to the round, including Solana co-founders Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal, Edith Cooper, a board director for both Amazon and PepsiCo, Rich Widmann, who is the Global Head of Strategy for Web3 at Google Cloud, Michael Tannenbaum, the CEO of Figure, and Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO at Kraken.
https://pulse2.com/circuit-chisel-19-2-million-secured-and-atxp-launched/amp/
Finary gets serious: Paris FinTech lands €25 million for AI-powered wealth tools and expand across Europe
Finary, the Paris-based FinTech tackling wealth management with a tech-first, transparency-led approach, has raised a €25 million Series B round to fuel expansion and enhance its product suite.
The latest funding brings in heavyweight backer PayPal Ventures alongside returning investors Y Combinator, Speedinvest, Kima Ventures, LocalGlobe, Hedosophia, and angel investors including Harsh Sinha (CTO of Wise), Axel Weber (former president of the German central bank and former chairman of UBS), Steve Anavi, Alexandre Prot (Qonto), and Eric Demuth (Bitpanda).
“At Finary, our mission is to give power to investors and help them achieve their financial goals. By combining financial tools and education at scale, we’re removing the barriers that prevent Europeans from investing. This Series B funding gives us even more resources to accelerate our work by investing heavily in AI, Engineering and Growth. We’re delighted to welcome PayPal Ventures on board,”,” said Mounir Laggoune, CEO and Co-founder at Finary.
WealthTech Zilo secures $27 million investment
London-based WealthTech firm Zilo has raised $27 million in a Series A2 funding round.
The funding, raised at a higher valuation to the £25 million Series A announced in January 2024, was led by Portage with participation from newly contracted customer State Street, existing shareholders, and management.
Zilo launched its SaaS technology platform for global transfer agency services in 2023, promising asset and wealth managers a modern, cost-efficient alternative to expensive and inefficient legacy systems.
The funding will be used will be used for product development, drive user acquisition, reach into new markets and pursue strategic partnerships that will broaden Zilo’s service offerings.
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/46639/wealthtech-zilo-secures-27-million-investment
Light raises $30 million to replace legacy finance systems with AI-native platform
Light, the AI-native finance platform that processes 280 million records in under a second, today announced $30 million in Series A funding led by Balderton Capital.
The investment comes as the company reports 30x growth over the past 12 months, with customers reducing finance operations time by 84% after switching from legacy ERPs.
Atomico, Cherry, Seedcamp, and Entrée participated in the round alongside notable angels, including Thomas Wolf (Co-founder and Chief Science Officer, Hugging Face), Charles Songhurst (Board Member, Meta), and several customers-turned-investors. The funding brings Light’s total raised to $43 million.
Numeral raises $35M to automate sales tax with AI
Sam Ross, the co-founder and CEO of Numeral, came up with the idea for his sales tax compliance startup while traveling the world after having worked as a product manager at Airbnb.
“This was early 2018, where you didn’t have remote work like you do today,” he told TechCrunch in an interview. Direct-to-consumer businesses were a big trend then, so he supported his travel dreams by running several self-funded e-commerce brands from the road. He operated an online jewelry store and still maintains a vitamin DTC site.
While he loved the freedom his businesses offered, Ross (pictured above, left) was perpetually annoyed by the complex and bureaucratic process of handling sales tax on the merchandise he was selling.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/18/numeral-raises-35m-to-automate-sales-tax-with-ai
Cardless raises $60m
Embedded credit card platform Cardless has raised $60 million in a Series C growth round led by Spark Capital.
The round – which brings Cardless’s total funding to $170 million – was joined by Activant Capital, Industry Ventures and Pear VC.
The Cardless platform includes APIs and prebuilt components that enable companies to design every touchpoint — from application to cardholder experience — for their own in-house credit cards without taking on the risk or complexity themselves.
The firm says its customer data and AI applications power smarter decisioning, faster iteration, and more relevant offers. Cards can be launched in as little as 90 days, compared to the 18-month timelines of legacy banks.
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/46633/cardless-raises-60m
WeTravel lands $92M to develop AI tools for multi-day trip operators
WeTravel, a booking and payments specialist for multi-day trips, has secured $92 million in Series C funding.
The investment was led by Sapphire Ventures with participation from Left Lane Capital, Base10, Cross Creek and other angel investors.
The company said the round, which triples its valuation, will go towards further developing its platform to expand its payment infrastructure and build artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools to drive automation. WeTravel is also planning to expand a number of its global offices and grow its B2B partner network.
“This funding round is a milestone for the operators who trust us to power their business,” said Ted Clements, CEO of WeTravel.
https://www.phocuswire.com/wetravel-series-c-funding
Crypto startup Zerohash raises $104 million from Morgan Stanley, SoFi, Apollo and others
Key Points
- Crypto infrastructure startup Zerohash has raised $104 million in funding with backing from financial firms including Morgan Stanley and SoFi, CNBC has learned.
- The round was led by Interactive Brokers, the global automated trading firm, and includes strategic investors who are also clients of Zerohash, founder and CEO Edward Woodford told CNBC.
- Zerohash provides banks and fintech firms with the ability to offer blockchain-based products in three major areas: crypto trading, stablecoins and tokenization.
Crypto infrastructure startup Zerohash has raised $104 million in funding with backing from financial firms including Morgan Stanley and SoFi, CNBC has learned.
The Series D round was led by Interactive Brokers, the global automated trading firm, and includes strategic investors who are also clients of Zerohash, founder and CEO Edward Woodford told CNBC in an interview. The company is valued at $1 billion, he said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/23/startup-zerohash-raises-104million-morgan-stanley-sofi-apollo
SME credit platform Triver lands £100m to boost growth
A digital start-up which promises to give small businesses credit decisions within minutes has secured close to £100m of new funding to accelerate its growth.
Sky News understands that Triver, which was founded in 2023, will announce on Wednesday the completion of a £14m Series A equity fundraising led by US-based investor AlleyCorp.
The equity-raise also includes backing from existing investors, with funds including Axeleo Capital, Inkberry Ventures and Stride VC all participating.
Triver has also secured £35m in debt financing from HSBC Innovation Banking – the division of the banking giant which includes what was Silicon Valley Bank UK – with a further £35m lined up from the same lender in future subject to credit approval.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/sme-credit-platform-triver-lands-113700709
Fnality raises $136m to expand blockchain settlement systems
Fnality, a financial market infrastructure firm that operates next generation wholesale payment systems regulated by central banks, has raised $136m (£99.7m) in a Series C funding round.
The round was led by WisdomTree, Bank of America, Citi, KBC Group, Temasek and Tradeweb, with participation from existing investors Banco Santander, Barclays, BNP Paribas, DTCC, Euroclear, Goldman Sachs, ING, Nasdaq Ventures, State Street and UBS.
Fnality is building a global settlement network underpinned by distributed ledger technology, designed to connect wholesale markets with the growing world of tokenised institutional assets.
The company launched the Sterling Fnality Payment System in the UK in December 2023 and is now working to broaden its network to cover more currencies, improve liquidity management, and provide interoperability for innovations including stablecoins and tokenised deposits.
https://fintech.global/2025/09/23/fnality-raises-136m-to-expand-blockchain-settlement-systems/
AppZen Raises $180 Million Growth Round Led by Riverwood Capital to Take the Next Step in Autonomous Finance
New funding will support AppZen’s innovative Mastermind AI Studio with AI Agents, and accelerate go-to-market growth globally
SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — AppZen, the leading Agentic AI platform for finance teams, announced it raised $180 million in growth funding. This round was led by Riverwood Capital, one of the leading investment firms solely dedicated to technology growth and scalability.
AppZen is the AI-native platform for autonomous finance. Powered by proprietary ZenLM models and the Mastermind AI Automation Platform, AppZen’s domain-trained AI Agents streamline end-to-end workflows across T&E, accounts payable, and corporate card programs, transforming finance teams.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/appzen-raises-180-million-growth-130000715
Crypto Giant Tether Seeks Funding at $500 Billion Valuation
The El Salvador-based company is seeking between $15 billion and $20 billion in exchange for a roughly 3% stake through a private placement, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Another person involved in the process cautioned that those are top-end targets and eventual numbers could be significantly lower. Talks are in early stages and details of the proposed investment may change, said the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly.
Depending on the stake offered, the deal could value the company at around $500 billion, putting it into the same league as OpenAI and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, an extraordinary achievement for the lightly regulated crypto business even as rivals multiply and falling US interest rates threaten its windfall earnings.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/crypto-giant-tether-seeks-funding-014105919
Moove sets sights on $2 billion valuation with new funding
Moove, the African vehicle-financing startup backed by Uber, is targeting a valuation exceeding $2 billion in its latest funding round, aiming to raise over $300 million in fresh equity.
Moove, founded in 2020 by Nigerian entrepreneurs Ladi Delano and Jide Odunsi, has grown swiftly, providing automobile finance to drivers without traditional credit.
“Our proprietary credit-scoring model enables drivers to acquire vehicles for ride-hailing, logistics, and delivery, repaid via a percentage of weekly earnings,” Moove’s approach underlines the firm’s innovative edge.
Moove’s imminent funding could elevate the company to the ranks of Africa’s most valuable firms, a reflection of the rapidly expanding tech sector on the continent.
https://techpression.com/moove-sets-sights-on-2-billion-valuation-with-new-funding/
Argyle secures funding to accelerate open finance infrastructure for verifications
New investment expands access to real-time, consumer-permissioned income, employment and asset data
NEW YORK CITY, N.Y., Sept. 23, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Argyle, the leading verification platform for direct-source income and employment data, today announced a strategic investment round with new participation from Mastercard alongside continued support from current investors Bain Capital Ventures, Checkr, Rockefeller Asset Management and SignalFire. The investment reflects growing market demand for modern, consumer-permissioned verifications.
“This investment is more than capital—it’s validation,” said Shmulik Fishman, CEO of Argyle. “We’re deepening our ability to serve customers with a comprehensive verification platform built on real-time payroll connections and open finance capabilities. By combining these strengths, we’re eliminating friction from verification workflows and giving lenders, fintechs and tenant screeners a smarter path to faster, more accurate decisions.”
Crossmint: Announcing a strategic investment from Circle Ventures
This investment is just one of the ways we’re deepening our commitment to bring stablecoin-powered payments to billions of everyday companies, users and AI agents.
We’re thrilled to announce a strategic investment from Circle Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Circle Internet Group, Inc. (Circle).
This investment is just one of the ways we’re deepening our commitment to bring stablecoin-powered payments to billions of everyday companies, users and AI agents.
From helping MoneyGram reimagine remittance flows, to building the next great fintech product, to enabling agentic payments with Google — stablecoins sit at the core of the Crossmint stack.
https://blog.crossmint.com/announcing-a-strategic-investment-from-circle-ventures
Recent funding round: https://blog.crossmint.com/crossmint-raises-23-6m-led-by-ribbit-capital/
PayPal invests in Stable layer 1 blockchain
PayPal Ventures has made a strategic investment in Stable, the layer 1 blockchain network for stablecoin transactions.
PayPal’s investment comes as part of Stable’s $28 million seed funding round, which saw participation from Bitfinex and Hack VC.
In addition to the investment – the size of which was not disclosed – Stable users will be able to use PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin for commerce and financial transactions on the Stablechain.
“This work with Stable reflects our commitment to expanding PYUSD’s utility across multiple blockchain ecosystems and driving adoption. Stable’s focus on fast, seamless financial transactions using stablecoins removes traditional friction points for users,” says David Weber, head, PYUSD ecosystem, PayPal.
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/46638/paypal-invests-in-stable-layer-1-blockchain
FUNDS
Japan’s Credit Saison Launches $50M Blockchain-Focused Onigiri Capital Fund
Japan’s Credit Saison has launched a new venture capital vehicle dedicated to blockchain, joining a growing number of financial institutions targeting the sector despite market volatility.
The fund, branded Onigiri Capital, was set up through the company’s Singapore-based corporate venture capital subsidiary and announced last week.
It aims to raise $50 million, with $35 million already committed, according to a company statement.
Onigiri Capital will target early-stage startups working in blockchain applications for the financial industry.
Its mandate focuses on five areas: stablecoins, payments, asset tokenization, decentralized finance (DeFi), and financial infrastructure.
The fund will use a rigorous screening process to select portfolio companies that align with its strategy and long-term growth goals, per the announcement.
Founded by brothers, Shapers launches $75M fintech fund with checks up to $5M to back Europe’s most promising startups
Shapers, a Portuguese fintech-focused investment firm founded by brothers Philippe and Thomas Teixeira da Mota, has launched its $75 million Fund I. The fund targets early-stage fintech companies, with cheque sizes ranging from $500,000 to $5 million.
The fund has already made eight investments across Europe, backing companies such as Deblock, Diligent, Chift, Ferovinum, and Klearly. One notable early win came when Ember, another portfolio startup, was acquired by Starling Bank. Shapers are drawn to opportunities in wealth management, payments, regtech, and increasingly, crypto and stablecoins, categories they see as defining forces in the next decade of finance.
Ventech Closes €175M Sixth Fund to Back Europe’s NextWave of Tech Startups
– Ventech, the pan-European multi-sector early-stage venture capital firm, announces the final closing of its sixth flagship fund, Ventech Capital VI, at €175 million, the largest fund in the firm’s 26-year history.
– 95% of LP renewal rate in the new fund
– The new fund focuses on five key sectors of investment: Vertical AI, Digital Health, Industrial Software, Cyber Security and Sovereignty.
– With €1.1 billion fund raised[1],Ventech has built a cross-border investment platform with 320+ investments, 185 exits and 19 IPOs.
Notable investments include Believe (BLV.PA), Vestiaire Collective, Withings, Arteris, Webedia, Prewave, and Veo.
Czech VC Aspire11 launches inaugural €500 million global fund to bring venture-style returns to European pensioners
Prague’s Aspire11 has announced the launch of its inaugural €500 million pension-backed fund, led by Pavel Mucha, long-term VC investor in the CEE region to open new pathways for European pension funds to increase their exposure to VC funds and growth companies.
Aspire11 launches with a barbell approach consisting of two strategies, named Tribes and Eternals. Mucha is joined by Rentea and LP The Partners Group, as well as Tülin Tokatli as a partner to build and curate the Tribes portfolio, drawing on her track record in evaluating VC investors as a former investor at the European Investment Fund (EIF).
That’s all for this week’s fintech highlights! Stay tuned for our next issue—wealth tech, AI agents, and embedded finance are racing ahead, and we’ll keep you in the loop with the latest deals and insights.