The palm-powered checkout revolution and a pivotal week for AI-driven finance
This week, we turn our attention to the next frontier of payments innovation. In our Q&A, Oskars Lakšēvics, CRO of Handwave, explains how the Latvian fintech is pioneering palm-based payments that merge identity, age verification and loyalty into a single gesture — a vision that may redefine how consumers interact with physical commerce.
Beyond biometrics, the week’s highlights underscore a broader shift in fintech’s foundations. Paid, founded by Outreach’s Manny Medina, is positioning itself at the heart of the agentic AI economy with a new model of results-based billing, replacing the legacy of SaaS subscriptions. Mesta, led by a former PayPal and Uber executive, is taking on SWIFT with a hybrid network combining fiat and stablecoin rails. Meanwhile, Bite Stream continues to accelerate the “retailization” of private markets through its end-to-end investment platform.
Together, these developments reveal a fintech landscape in motion — one where infrastructure, incentives, and interfaces are being rewritten for an AI-powered financial era.
The future of wallet-free, phone-free, PIN-free payments. A Q&A with Oskars Lakšēvics, CRO of Handwave.
Handwave: the future of wallet-free, phone-free, PIN-free payments
In Riga, Latvia, a new generation of biometric payments is taking shape. Handwave, the fintech founded by Jānis Stirna and Sandis Osmanis-Usmanis, aims to make the in-store shopping experience as seamless as possible: paying, verifying age, and activating loyalty programs with a single hand gesture.
In-store checkout has barely evolved in decades, yet consumers are ready for something faster, simpler, and more secure. From this need, Handwave was born, redefining the checkout process through palm-based biometrics: a single scan that activates benefits, confirms age, and completes payment in seconds.
With €4.75 million in seed funding, strategic partnerships with Visa, and a rapidly growing team, Handwave is positioning itself as one of Latvia’s most promising startups in the European payments and digital identity ecosystem.
In this interview, Oskars Lakšēvics, Handwave’s Chief Revenue Officer, explains how the combination of palm geometry and vein recognition promises to reduce checkout lines, eliminate friction, and usher in a new era of device-free payments. The company’s ambitious goal: make “no wallet, no phone, no card — just a Handwave” the standard of the future.¡
1-Tell us a bit about yourself, and how you got the idea for your company.
The spark was simple: checkout in stores is still a hassle for both: consumers and merchant’s employees. We asked, “What if the whole checkout experience – juggling loyalty cards and apps, verifying your age for age-restricted items, choosing the payment method – could feel instant, done in one move?” That insight became our mission – make in-store checkout experience as simple as a handwave. No wallets, no phones, no cards, no PINs. Just handwave.
Our founders, Jānis Stirna and Sandis Osmanis-Usmanis, came from the payments industry – former colleagues at Worldline. Music is their shared hobby: before the pandemic they dreamed up a festival and thought, “Instead of tickets or wristbands that get lost, why not scan your palm?” Then COVID hit. In hindsight, it was the push to go bigger. From a local festival idea, Handwave is now positioned to become the largest Latvian-born fintech for in-store payments and verified identity.
Read more from the interview here: http://www.fintechforum.de/the-palm-powered-checkout-revolution-a-qa-with-oskars-laksevics-cro-of-handwave/
Deal highlights: Paid, Mesta, and Bite Stream.
The future of AI agents means payments needs to evolve from the unlimited use SaaS subscription fees (or client/ server buy and install fees). Paid is making a bid to lead software’s move to results-based billing – a move, by the way, that all (SaaS) investors need to be watching.
Paid, the AI agent ‘results-based billing’ startup from Manny Medina, raises huge $21M seed… The company doesn’t offer agents. It offers a way for agent makers to charge their customers for these worker algorithms, based on the value their agents provide. This is a growing theme in AI, sometimes called “results-based billing.” Per-user fees don’t work because agent makers pay usage fees to the model providers as well as to cloud providers. Unlimited use could drive them into the red…Paid promises to help agent makers “start charging for points of margin saved by their customers,” Medina describes. This is instead of the unlimited use, per-user fees of the SaaS era, or the unlimited use, buy-it-once-and-install-it fees of the client/server era.
With a founder who is ex-Paypal, and spearheaded the Uber Global Payment Network (which facilitated billions in transactions across 70+ countries) Mesta is going after SWIFT.
Mesta Secures $5.5 Million Seed Round To Redefine Cross-Border Payments. Since its launch just 11 months ago, Mesta has cemented itself as one of the fastest growing cross-border payment networks, combining the reliability of fiat rails with the efficiency of stablecoin rails. The company has processed more than $140 million in total payment volume (TPV) to date, with transaction volumes scaling more in the last two months than the first nine combined. Today, Mesta executes an average of $3 million in daily volume and is on track to surpass $300 million in TPV by year-end.
There is plenty going on in the “retailization of private markets” space on both sides of the Atlantic, and Bite Stream is doubling down on the alts space.
Bite Stream Secures Funding from NewSpring Capital… a top provider of technology solutions for the alternative investments sector, today announced that they have secured $25 million in strategic growth capital from NewSpring Growth…Bite Investments’ flagship product, Bite Stream, is an end-to-end, modular platform that provides a single, cloud-based hub for managing every stage of the investor journey. The solution streamlines investor onboarding and investor communication, offering a singular portal for limited partners and retail investors alike to view all of their holdings in one place.
Check out this post from Frank comparing the relative size of asset classes:
Ever wondered how small Bitcoin still is compared to the world’s asset classes? Let’s look at the global “wealth universe” in USD trillions 🌍
🏠 Real Estate: 350
💵 Bonds: 140
📈 Equities: 125
💰 Money (cash & deposits): 120
🥇 Gold: 26
🎨 Art: 8
🧡 Bitcoin: 2
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
Fintech startup Ignosis raises $4 million from PeakXV’s Surge, others
Synopsis
Ignosis, an Account Aggregator and financial data intelligence startup, has successfully raised $4 million in a funding round led by Peak XV Partners’ Surge program. Founded in 2022, the company aims to address credit underserved consumers and MSMEs by providing advanced analytics and AA infrastructure to over 125 BFSI clients.
Ignosis, a startup focused on Account Aggregator (AA) and financial data intelligence, has raised $4 million in a funding round led by Peak XV Partners’ Surge programme.
The round also saw participation from Force Ventures, Razorpay Ventures, and other investors, including Cred founder Kunal Shah.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/funding/fintech-startup-ignosis-raises-4-million-from-peakxvs-surge-others/articleshow/124229600.cms
3 World Global Raises USD 5 Million in Seed and Angel Funding to Accelerate Global Compliance and Payment Infrastructure
HONG KONG, Sept. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — 3 World Global today announced it has raised nearly USD 5 million across its seed and angel rounds within three months of founding. The capital—backed by a mix of strategic and institutional investors—will be used to expand the company’s global compliance footprint, advance payment technology R&D, scale its team, and deepen ecosystem partnerships. The funding strengthens 3 World Global’s position as a next-generation provider of global financial infrastructure.
“Our mission is to build seamless, efficient, and compliant global payment and financial infrastructure,” said Kit Chu, Co-Founder and CFO of 3 World Global. “This financing marks a key milestone in our international expansion. By partnering closely with our investors and ecosystem, we will enable enterprises to embed banking-grade financial services at scale—redefining cross-border payments and asset management.”
Lunos AI is on a mission to tame the ‘Wild West’ of accounts receivable
Announces launch and $5m pre-seed round led by General Catalyst and Cherry Ventures
NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Lunos AI, a fintech startup building AI agents for accounts receivable (AR), today announced its public launch along with a $5 million pre-seed funding round led by General Catalyst and Cherry Ventures.
Lunos AI is tackling one of the most entrenched inefficiencies in the modern economy: the way businesses get paid. While most consumers pay upfront with seamless checkouts, roughly $100tn of B2B trade is settled after goods and services are provided. Despite decades of advances in software and payments, this system still runs on the manual labor of millions of people in finance teams around the world. It’s an endless stream of emails and PDFs.
Mesta Secures $5.5 Million Seed Round To Redefine Cross-Border Payments
Mesta, the Global fiat + Stablecoin Payment Network, today announced it has raised a $5.5 million seed round led by Village Global, with participation from Circle Ventures, Paxos, and WTI – Western Technology Investment. Existing backers including Garuda Ventures, Canonical Crypto, Everywhere Ventures, and Inventum Ventures also reaffirmed their support.
Mesta will deploy this capital to expand its global payment features, strengthen its international teams, and accelerate growth worldwide.
Since its launch just 11 months ago, Mesta has cemented itself as one of the fastest growing cross-border payment networks, combining the reliability of fiat rails with the efficiency of stablecoin rails.
Maximor raises $9m to expand AI finance automation
Maximor, a financial automation company using artificial intelligence to cut down on accounting grunt work, has secured $9m in seed funding.
The round was led by Foundation Capital, with backing from Gaia Ventures and Boldcap. The investor list also includes several notable angels such as Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity, Tien Tzuo, CEO of Zuora, alongside finance leaders from Ramp, Gusto, Opendoor, MongoDB and the Big Four.
The San Francisco-based firm develops AI agents that connect to ERPs, payroll, billing, banking and other operational systems. These agents are designed to automate repetitive accounting tasks while producing audit-ready outputs by default. The company positions its platform not as a point solution but as a unified command centre for finance operations.
https://fintech.global/2025/09/30/maximor-raises-9m-to-expand-ai-finance-automation/
Zania Raises $18M Series A Led by NEA to Reinvent Enterprise Risk & Compliance with AI Agents
SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Zania, an agentic AI company for security governance, risk, and compliance (GRC), today announced it has closed an $18 million Series A funding round led by NEA (New Enterprise Associates). The oversubscribed round includes participation from Anthology Fund (backed by Menlo Ventures and Anthropic), Palm Drive Capital, and a syndicate of senior executives from Amazon, Airbnb, PayPal, ByteDance, Reddit, Roblox, and PwC.
As regulatory complexity intensifies, compliance teams face mounting pressure. According to a 2024 Fineksus report, global anti-money-laundering enforcement penalties reached a record $19.3 billion in 2024. A study from Oxford Economics found that 95% of organizations have increased compliance budgets by roughly 12% year-over-year.
Remitee secures $20m to power embedded remittances
Remitee, a cross-border payments infrastructure provider focused on embedding remittance and financial services into existing platforms, has announced the completion of a new funding round.
The company has raised $20m in fresh capital. The round was led by Krealo, alongside a consortium of strategic and institutional investors who support Remitee’s vision of modernising the remittance market.
Founded to address the inefficiencies of traditional money transfer services, Remitee embeds international payments directly into the platforms that banks, retailers and FinTech firms already use. This approach allows customers to send funds without leaving their ecosystem or downloading additional applications. Its infrastructure also supports direct payments for services such as healthcare, utilities and education, in addition to prepaid cards and mobile top-ups.
https://fintech.global/2025/10/03/remitee-secures-20m-to-power-embedded-remittances/
Paid, the AI agent ‘results-based billing’ startup from Manny Medina, raises huge $21M seed
Manny Medina, previously best-known as the founder of sales automation startup Outreach ($4.4 billion valuation), has wowed investors with his young startup, Paid.
Paid just closed an oversubscribed $21.6 million seed round led by Lightspeed. With the €10 million pre-seed round it raised in March, London-based Paid has already raised $33.3 million and hasn’t even hit its Series A yet. A source familiar with the deal says the startup’s valuation is over $100 million.
Paid came out of stealth in March offering an interesting contribution to the AI agentic world: The company doesn’t offer agents. It offers a way for agent makers to charge their customers for these worker algorithms, based on the value their agents provide. This is a growing theme in AI, sometimes called “results-based billing.”
Bite Stream Secures Funding from NewSpring Capital
Bite Stream, Bite Investments’ flagship software platform, strengthens its position as a leader in private market innovation
LONDON, Sept. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Bite Investments, a top provider of technology solutions for the alternative investments sector, today announced that they have secured $25 million in strategic growth capital from NewSpring Growth, NewSpring Capital’s dedicated growth equity strategy investing in fast-growing, industry-transforming technology companies.
The funding represents a significant milestone in Bite Investments’ goal to streamline the investor experience and democratize access to alternative investments. With this new investment, the firm will continue to scale its technology platform, further expand its team, and enhance services for asset managers and investors globally.
Kanastra Raises $30 Million Series B from F-Prime to Spearhead Brazil’s Private Credit Infrastructure Development
SÃO PAULO, Oct. 1, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Kanastra, a financial technology company providing technology infrastructure and services for private credit funds and securitizations, today announced a $30 million Series B round led by F-Prime, with contributions from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s investment arm, as well as follow-on investments from current investors Kaszek, Valor Capital, Quona Capital and Itaú, Latin America’s largest bank. The new capital will be used to accelerate product development, deepen automation across the private credit funds lifecycle, and expand Kanastra’s client base.
Private credit has become one of the fastest-growing sources of financing for companies in Brazil. Over the last five years, private credit funds have grown by 230% as businesses increasingly turn to asset-backed facilities outside of traditional banks. Yet the infrastructure to support this market has remained fragmented, manual, and costly to scale.
AI accounting start-up Light targets US expansion with $30m Series A
The round was led by Balderton Capital – an early backer of Revolut, GoCardless and Wagestream – and follows a $13 million round closed in June 2024.
Danish fintech start-up Light has raised $30 million in a Series A funding round to grow its team and expand its AI accounting automation platform to businesses in the US. The round was led by Balderton Capital, an early backer of the likes of Revolut, GoCardless, and Wagestream, and brings Light’s total funding to $43 million.
Cherry, Seedcamp, and Entrée participated in the round alongside angels Thomas Wolf, co-founder of Hugging Face, Charles Songhurst, board member at Meta, and “several customers-turned-investors”, according to a company statement.
Southeast Asia’s digital bank Yup raises $32m in C-1 round
Yup, a digital bank often referred to as the “Nubank of Southeast Asia”, has raised $32m in fresh funding as part of its C-1 equity round.
The round was backed by US investment firms Moore Strategic Ventures, Spice Expeditions and Platanus, alongside other institutional investors and existing shareholders.
Founded in 2021, Yup has positioned itself as one of Southeast Asia’s most promising FinTech platforms. The company now serves millions of credit card holders and has reported consistent financial growth, with revenues doubling annually for the past three years. It expects to reach break-even by the end of 2025, citing operational discipline and strong demand in the region.
https://fintech.global/2025/09/30/southeast-asias-digital-bank-yup-raises-32m-in-c-1-round
Baselane Announces $34M in New Funding, Debuts AI-Powered Tools to Automate Banking and Bookkeeping for Real Estate Investors
- Following 900% growth, Baselane has raised a $20M Series B to scale its financial platform
- Company debuts Baselane Smart, a new AI-powered subscription suite for real estate investors
NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Baselane, the banking and financial platform purpose-built for real estate investors, today announced it has raised a total of $34.4 million in new funding, including a recently closed $20 million Series B led by Thomvest Ventures and a previously unannounced $14.4 million Series A led by Matrix Partners. The funding milestone coincides with the launch of Baselane Smart, a subscription-based suite of AI-powered automation tools designed to give landlords greater control, efficiency, and insight into their rental property finances.
Viamericas Raises $113.6 Million to Expand Global Remittance Network Serving 95 Countries
Funding round led by Old National Bank supports expansion of cross-border payments and digital services for families worldwide
CORAL GABLES, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Viamericas, a leading provider of remittance and international money transfer services, announced it has raised $113.6 million to accelerate expansion of its global remittance network and enhance digital payment platforms serving families across 95 countries.
The company’s extensive network reaches more than 300,000 payout locations in 95 countries, with direct account deposits to more than 2,700 major banks and 107 mobile wallets worldwide. This infrastructure gives families greater flexibility and security when sending money to loved ones across borders.
Andre Cronje’s Flying Tulip raises $200 million at $1 billion token valuation
Quick Take
- Andre Cronje’s new crypto project, Flying Tulip, has raised $200 million at a $1 billion token valuation and aims to raise up to another $800 million through a public sale.
- All investors in both private and public rounds will get an “onchain redemption right” to redeem up to their original principal at any time.
Flying Tulip, the new crypto project founded by DeFi veteran Andre Cronje, has raised $200 million in a private seed funding round to build an onchain exchange that spans “all of DeFi” — including spot, derivatives, lending, stablecoins, and insurance under one system.
https://www.theblock.co/post/372787/andre-cronje-flying-tulip-funding-crypto-token-valuation
Valor PayTech Announces Strategic Investment from Lovell Minnick Partners to Accelerate Growth
PHILADELPHIA & LOS ANGELES & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Valor PayTech (“Valor”, or “Company”), a leading innovator in point-of-sale software and payment technology, today announced a strategic investment from funds managed by Lovell Minnick Partners (“LMP”), a private equity firm focused on investments in financial services, business services, and financial technology companies.
The transaction represents the first institutional capital raised by Valor and signals the beginning of a new chapter for the fast-growing fintech firm. With LMP’s investment and operational support, this partnership will empower Valor’s merchants, independent software vendors (ISVs), independent sales organizations (ISOs), and channel partners with enhanced capabilities, greater efficiency, and a more seamless payments experience.
UK lender Triver bags £114m to scale SME financing
Triver has secured £14 million in equity through an AlleyCorp-led Series A round and up to £100 million in debt financing from HSBC Innovation Banking and Avellinia Capital.
Triver, a London-based working capital provider for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), has secured up to £114 million in combined debt and equity financing to support its goal of providing £1 billion in annual funding to UK small businesses.
The financial package includes £14 million in equity through a Series A round led by AlleyCorp, with participation from Axeleo Capital, Inkberry Ventures, and Stride VC, among others. This brings Triver’s total venture capital investment to £21 million to date, building on a £7 million fundraise closed in April 2023.
VENTURE FUNDS
Better Tomorrow Ventures closes $140M, remains bullish on fintech
Sheel Mohnot, co-founder and general partner of Better Tomorrow Ventures (BTV), has one simple answer for anyone claiming that investing in fintech has lost some of its attractiveness.
“The world of finance is huge. About 20% of global GDP is financial services, and it’s still not digital enough,” he told TechCrunch.
Many financial transactions are still handled manually, and Better Tomorrow Ventures — led by Mohnot (a former general partner at 500 Startups) and NerdWallet co-founder Jake Gibson — aims to help change that.
“The massive digitization opportunity is still ahead of us,” Mohnot told TechCrunch. The firm’s limited partners seem to agree.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/01/better-tomorrow-ventures-closes-140m-remains-bullish-on-fintech
Notion Capital Closes Third Growth Fund
Notion Capital closes third Growth Fund and announces two Partners to lead the fund and growth investing strategy
Notion Capital is a European venture and growth investor with more than $1bn under management. This latest growth fund is $130m (€114m), 50% larger than its predecessor and sits alongside Notion’s 5th venture fund (€300m). This continues Notion Capital’s proven strategy of backing Europe’s very best business software companies through venture and growth stages.
- Two Partners will be dedicated to leading this fund, and developing the firm’s growth strategy: Jess Bartos, a new hire from Salesforce Ventures; and Stephanie Opdam, an existing partner now dedicating her time to Notion’s growth strategy.
https://www.notion.vc/resources/notion-capital-closes-third-growth-fund
British VC Concept Ventures raises €75 million to create Europe’s biggest dedicated pre-Seed fund
London-based Concept Ventures is today announcing the close of an €75 million Fund II to back the UK and Europe’s most promising early-stage tech talent – allegedly positioning it as the largest dedicated pre-Seed fund in Europe.
The raise was backed by LPs including Aldea Ventures, Top Tier Capital Partners, Marktlink Capital, Dominus, and Granite Capital Management. 80% of the funds’ institutional investors are US-based. In addition, over 70% of Concept Ventures’ portfolio Founders have also joined as LPs in this latest fund, including ElevenLabs CEO and Co-founder, Mati Staniszewski. The fund was oversubscribed, with the first close completed in three weeks.
London’s Evantic Capital debuts with €341 million to back B2B AI trailblazers
Evantic Capital, a freshly launched British VC firm, has emerged on the scene with more than €340 million in capital, aiming to power a new wave of B2B AI startups across Europe, the United States, and Israel.
Founded by former Sequoia partner Matt Miller, the fund has hit the ground running with five initial investments and a community-led model.
Backed by an exclusive network of 140 seasoned founders, operators, and investors collectively known as “The Legends,” the firm’s structure is designed to create direct alignment between startup success and stakeholder involvement by allocating up to 50% of investment carry to those Legends who actively support the portfolio companies.
From palm-based checkout to AI-driven billing and cross-border rails built on hybrid infrastructure, this week’s stories point to a broader convergence in fintech: identity, intelligence, and infrastructure are fusing into one continuous layer. As software learns to bill for outcomes, payments learn to move without devices, and private markets open to a wider class of investors, the boundaries between finance and technology continue to blur — and opportunity follows those who can see where they dissolve first.