This week, we sat down with Sinah Truffat and Jonas Torland of 7Analytics, specialists in flood risk modeling, to get their take on the latest trends and challenges in the field. In our Q&A, they share insights on how advanced analytics is reshaping risk assessment and what financial firms should watch next.
After the interview, we take you through this week’s most exciting deals across private markets, fintech, digital assets, and health tech — from Pascal AI’s latest funding to Birches Health’s fight against gambling addiction.
Flood Risk, Explained: A Q&A with Sinah Truffat & Jonas Torland
Flooding is not only the most common natural disaster—it’s also the most costly, with economic losses soaring into the hundreds of billions every year. While the risk grows due to urbanization and climate change, insurance coverage remains low and risk modelling often lacks the precision needed to close the gap. That’s where 7Analytics comes in.
Founded in Bergen, Norway—the rainiest city in Europe—by Helge Jørgensen, Jonas Aas Torland, Rolf Monsen, and Werner Svellingen, the team applies deep expertise in geoscience and fluid flow modelling to deliver the most detailed flood risk insights available. In this conversation, the founders share how their journey from exploration geologists to climate tech entrepreneurs is shaping a new standard for resilience.
1. Tell us a bit about yourself and your co-founders, and how you came across the idea for 7Analytics.
We are four co-founders that originally started working together more than 10 years ago as exploration geologists in a highly innovative Oil&Gas company. That’s where the original idea began to take shape: applying our deep expertise in fluid flow modelling and dataprocessing across complex terrains to surface water and flooding. Five years later we were all back in Bergen, Norway, the rainiest city in Europe, and 7Analytics was born.
Read more from the interview here: http://www.fintechforum.de/qa-with-sinah-truffat-and-jonas-torland-of-7analytics-specialist-flood-risk-modeling/
Deal highlights
This week’s deals shine a light on how technology is reshaping finance—and even tackling some unexpected challenges. From AI platforms streamlining private market research, to digital assets reaching regional banks, and health startups addressing gambling addiction, investors are backing solutions that promise efficiency, insight, and real-world impact. Here’s a closer look at the movers and shakers making waves right now:
Private Markets are ca. 12% of Public Equity but there are 25x more privately held firms globally (Source: HarbourVest). This makes private markets data harder to obtain and (feasibly) analyze at scale, and a slew of players have raised funding to take on this space:
Pascal AI Raises $3.1 Million to Accelerate Autonomous Investment Research Workflows.
Pascal AI is already deployed by more than 25 financial firms across the U.S. and APAC, including $2 billion private equity funds and a top-three global asset manager with over $1 trillion in assets under management. With secure, native connectors out of the box, Pascal AI provides data on more than 16,000 public companies across 27 markets.
F2 Spins Out of Arc with $10 Million Equity Round, Emerging as the AI Leader in Private Markets
Originally built to automate Arc Capital Markets’ ~$10 billion debt placement business, F2 has become the AI platform of choice for dozens of the world’s leading private credit funds, commercial banks, and private equity teams…
At the core of F2’s differentiation is its ability to convert raw excel, PDF and powerpoint files from data rooms into structured, audit-ready insights, unlocking significant time savings….
Just as Bloomberg transformed investing in the public markets, F2 is transforming how private market investors underwrite, analyze, and execute deals.
The stablecoin and digital asset juggernaut rolls on in the US following the Genius Act, and with Stablecore it is now “coming to a theater bank near you!”
Stablecore Raises $20M to Bring Stablecoins, Tokenized Deposits and Digital Assets into Banks and Credit Unions
The platform integrates with existing banking cores and digital banking services, enabling financial institutions to offer digital asset products without changing their technology infrastructure… the new funding allows Stablecore to grow its customer base within the 8,000+ regional and community banks and credit unions in the U.S. and hire additional talent to support them…From instant global payments and treasury management with stablecoins, to digital asset custody and exchange, to digital asset-backed lending and more, Stablecore opens up new revenue streams, increases deposit bases, and allows financial institutions to attract new customers and retain account primacy.
Not quite FinTech, but with the direct impact addictions have on finances, and the shockingly high percentage affected, makes us think hard about the impact on mental, physical and financial health.
Birches Health Announces $20M Investment From AlleyCorp, General Catalyst, and Will Ventures to Lead Fight Against Gambling Addiction…According to a recent American Psychiatric Association poll, 28% of American adults have a daily habit of gambling online….In addition to gambling addiction, Birches Health also treats video gaming, sex, pornography, and internet addictions through convenient and effective online care.
Read on for more on the founders and investors in the news last week. If you 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.
Y Combinator-backed Rulebase wants to be the AI co-worker for fintech
Y Combinator-alum Rulebase is betting that the next wave of automation in financial services won’t be about flashy AI interfaces but rather the unglamorous back-office tasks like compliance.
The startup, founded in 2024 by Gideon Ebose and Chidi Williams, two Nigerian engineers who met in London, just raised a $2.1 million pre-seed round led by Bowery Capital, with participation from Y Combinator, Commerce Ventures, Transpose Platform VC, and several angels.
Financial services firms spend enormous amounts of effort on support tickets, resolving disputes, ensuring quality assurance, and regulatory compliance. Rulebase’s software, which it calls an agent co-worker, replaces much of the manual grunt work in these tasks. Its AI agent can evaluate customer interactions, flag regulatory risks, and trigger the right follow-ups across tools like Zendesk, Jira, and Slack without losing the human-in-the-loop oversight that financial firms demand.
Nestimate Closes $3M Funding Round
Nestimate, a Lincoln, NE-based provider of an analytics platform that empowers 401(k) plan fiduciaries to implement income solutions, raised $3M in funding.
The round was led by S3 Ventures, with participation from PruVen Capital, TIAA Ventures, and Invest Nebraska.
The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its development efforts.
Led by CEO Kelby Meyers, Nestimate provides analytics, evaluation, and modeling solutions to help plan fiduciaries evaluate retirement income strategies with precision. The company serves retirement plan advisors, consultants, plan sponsors, recordkeepers, and insurers.
https://www.finsmes.com/2025/09/nestimate-closes-3m-funding-round.html
Pascal AI Raises $3.1 Million to Accelerate Autonomous Investment Research Workflows
Funding Fuels U.S. Expansion, Bringing AI-Powered Autonomous Workflows to Private Equity Firms, Asset Managers and Institutional Investors
NEW YORK, Sept. 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Pascal AI Labs, a company building a vertical platform for agentic investment research workflows, today announced it has raised a $3.1 million seed round led by Kalaari Capital with participation from Norwest, Infoedge Ventures, Antler and leading angel investors.
The funding will be used to accelerate product development of its autonomous investment workflows, expansion into the U.S. and strategic data partnerships. Pascal AI is already deployed by more than 25 financial firms across the U.S. and APAC, including $2 billion private equity funds and a top-three global asset manager with over $1 trillion in assets under management.
uiAgent raises $4.6m to boost AI agents for accounting
uiAgent, a technology company specialising in AI agent automation for accounting firms, has closed a $4.6m seed round to expand its platform.
The investment was led by Marathon Management Partners, with additional backing from Rerail. As part of the deal, Marathon founding partner Chase Packard has joined uiAgent’s board of directors.
Founded to serve the accounting sector, uiAgent provides a dedicated automation platform powered by AI agents. The system enables end-to-end automation in a matter of days rather than months, supporting both on-premise and cloud-based deployments. Its agent library covers workflows across areas such as audit and client accounting services.
https://fintech.global/2025/09/16/uiagent-raises-4-6m-to-boost-ai-agents-for-accounting/
Eloquent AI raises $7.4m to automate FS customer support
Eloquent AI, a startup focused on customer support automation for financial services, has launched its AI Operator platform and closed a $7.4 million seed round.
The round, led by Foundation Capital with participation from EJF Ventures, Duke Capital Partners, Zeno Ventures and Y Combinator, closed in just three days and was 12x oversubscribed.
Founded by entrepreneur Tugce Bulut and machine learning professor Dr Aldo Lipani, Eloquent AI is building an AI Operator designed to automate customer operations for regulated financial institutions.
Unlike traditional chatbots or generic AI agents that are limited to addressing FAQs, Eloquent AI’s Operators claims to automate entire workflows end-to-end — including tasks like fraud investigations, dispute resolution, and KYC/AML reviews — with full auditability and compliance.
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/46583/eloquent-ai-raises-74m-to-automate-fs-customer-support
Birches Health Announces $20M Investment From AlleyCorp, General Catalyst, and Will Ventures to Lead Fight Against Gambling Addiction
NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Birches Health, the leading national provider of gambling addiction treatment, announced today that it had raised $20 million in combined Series A and Seed funding. The Series A was led by AlleyCorp, and the Seed was led by General Catalyst, with ongoing participation from Will Ventures, defy.vc, Haystack, Operator Partners, and many others. The funding will accelerate Birches Health’s investments in clinical excellence, expanding the provider network, growing insurance and state Department of Health partnerships, and scaling the infrastructure to meet the growing demand for specialized clinical treatment. In addition to gambling addiction, Birches Health also treats video gaming, sex, pornography, and internet addictions through convenient and effective online care.
F2 Spins Out of Arc with $10 Million Equity Round, Emerging as the AI Leader in Private Markets
Backed by top Arc investors, F2’s spin-out is scaling an AI platform already powering leading private credit funds, banks, and PE funds
NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — F2 AI, Inc. (“F2”), the new standard in AI for private markets investors, today announced its official launch as an independent company, spinning out from Arc Technologies. Backed by an oversubscribed funding round led by Arc’s existing investors including NFX, Left Lane Capital, and Y Combinator, the spin-out brings Arc and F2’s combined capital raised to nearly $200 million. The show of support signals strong conviction in F2’s momentum and potential to deliver AI-native infrastructure for modern finance teams across private credit, private equity, and commercial banking.
FinTech platform Extend raises $20m in fresh funding
Extend, a spend and expense management platform, has raised $20m in a new funding round as it pushes ahead with expansion plans.
The latest round included both debt and equity, with equity investment led by B Capital. Other backers included March Capital, Point72 Ventures, FinTech Collective, and newcomer Commerce Ventures.
The FinTech enables businesses to streamline payments and expenses without changing their existing bank card programmes. Extend’s technology allows companies to generate virtual cards for vendor and employee use while incorporating tools for approvals, receipt capture, and automated reconciliation.
Funds from the new round will support the launch of Extend’s paid SaaS offering and help scale its issuer partnerships.
https://fintech.global/2025/09/18/fintech-platform-extend-raises-20m-in-fresh-funding/
Stablecore Raises $20M to Bring Stablecoins, Tokenized Deposits and Digital Assets into Banks and Credit Unions
Fintech powering community, regional banks and credit unions with digital asset solutions secures funding from Norwest, Coinbase Ventures, Curql, BankTech Ventures and others
DALLAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Stablecore, the platform enabling community and regional banks and credit unions to offer stablecoins, tokenized deposits and digital asset products, today announced $20 million in funding. Led by Norwest and with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Curql, BankTech Ventures, Bank of Utah, EJF Ventures, Bankers Helping Bankers Fund and others, which represent more than 290 limited partner banks and credit unions, this news comes at a crucial time following the passage of the GENIUS Act in July 2025.
Kredete Secures $22M in Series A Funding to Revolutionize Remittances and Credit Building for African Immigrants
Kredete, a financial platform that empowers African immigrants to build credit while sending money back home, has secured $22M in a Series A funding round. This round was led by AfricInvest Group, with investment through its Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund (CAIF) and the Financial Inclusion Vehicle (FIVE). Additionally, the round saw participation from existing seed investor Partech and new investor Polymorphic Capital.
Founded in 2022 and based in Nigeria, Kredete addresses two significant challenges faced by the African diaspora: the high cost of remittances and the difficulty of building a credit history in a foreign country. The company’s platform allows users in North America and Europe to send affordable payments to Africa, while simultaneously using their transaction history to report positive payment data to credit bureaus in their country of residence.
Aleph Secures $29 Million Series B to Shape and Lead the Future of AI-Native FP&A
Led by Khosla Ventures with continued participation from Picus Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, and Y Combinator, bringing total funding to $46 million to accelerate AI adoption for the Office of the CFO
NEW YORK, Sept. 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Aleph, the AI-native FP&A platform, today announced it has raised a $29 million Series B round led by Khosla Ventures, with continued participation from Picus Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, and Y Combinator, bringing the company’s total funding to $46 million.
Finance is entering a new era where speed and intelligence will define impact, but trust and accuracy remain paramount. Aleph’s goal from day one has been to reimagine FP&A software around the needs of modern finance teams.
Brale*, a fintech building stablecoin infrastructure and digital asset protocols, raised $30 million to expand R&D, support global regulatory efforts, and grow incubation and M&A opportunities.
Brale has raised $30M to support our continued development.
The round was led by Lightspeed (Aaron Frank, Bejul Somaia, Ravi Mhatre), with participation from NEA (Scott Sandell), Refract (Ayo Omojola), Matthew Prince (Cloudflare), Steve McLaughlin (FT Partners), The FinTech Fund (Nik Milanović), Foundation Capital (Rodolfo Gonzalez, Gracie Zaro) Alan Curtis (Eigen Labs), Farooq Malik (Rain), Liam Horne (Tempo), Daniel Lev (Coinflow), Naveen Jain (Tari), AJ Nelson (Rain), Kanyi Maqubela (Kindred Ventures), Jonathon Triest (Ludlow Ventures), Tanner Taddeo (Stable Sea), Tej Dhawan, and others who wish to remain anonymous.
The capital will allow Brale to invest with conviction in research and development while supporting our global regulatory efforts.
https://brale.xyz/blog/new-capital
WorkFusion Raises $45 Million in Funding to Fuel Growth for Agentic AI for Financial Crime Compliance
Funding furthers the company’s focus on delivering AI agents that streamline operational efficiency for anti-money laundering, sanctions, KYC and fraud compliance
NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — WorkFusion, a pioneer in AI agents for financial crime compliance (FCC), today announced it raised $45 million in funding. The round was led by Georgian, a growth-stage B2B investor helping companies scale faster via its AI Lab. The new investment furthers the company’s focus on delivering agentic AI to the burgeoning $155 billion FCC operations industry.
Leveraging the company’s rich decade-long automation and intelligent document processing (IDP) history, WorkFusion restructured its business in 2022 to focus on delivering AI Agents that automate the highly manual, error prone and document-heavy work processes for financial crime compliance operations.
PayNearMe Secures $50M to Advance the Future of Payment Experience Management
Investment supports market expansion and platform development, enabling PayNearMe’s clients to derive strategic advantage from payment experience
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Today, PayNearMe, a leading fintech transforming the payment experience for non-commerce businesses and their customers, announced a $50 million Series E investment from AVP (Atlantic Vantage Point) through its Growth Fund I. The investment will accelerate PayNearMe’s expansion into new markets and fuel ongoing investment in products that simplify the end-to-end payment experience for its clients.
“PayNearMe has redefined what it means to deliver a modern payment experience. The company is uniquely positioned to solve challenges in a space long underserved and overlooked,” said Elizabeth de Saint-Aignan, General Partner and Head of Growth Fund, North America at AVP.
AI finance platform Tabs raises $55m Series B
Tabs, the New York–based AI-native revenue platform designed for modern finance teams, has announced the close of a $55m Series B funding round.
The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from General Catalyst, Primary Venture Partners, and World Innovation Lab (WiL). With this latest investment, Tabs has now raised more than $91m in total funding.
Founded in 2023, Tabs provides automation tools for finance teams across the entire contract-to-cash lifecycle. The platform eliminates manual work by using AI agents to handle billing, collections, revenue recognition, and reporting.
Its offering aims to address inefficiencies in revenue management, which continues to rely heavily on manual ERP workflows and fragmented systems despite significant innovation in payments and payroll.
https://fintech.global/2025/09/17/ai-finance-platform-tabs-raises-55m-series-b/
SEON Closes $80 Million Series C Led by Sixth Street Growth to Scale Command Center for Fraud Prevention and AML Compliance as Digital Fraud Set to Exceed Billions Annually
SEON to Accelerate Global Expansion and Real-Time, AI-Powered Fraud Prevention Innovation
AUSTIN, Texas and BUDAPEST, Hungary, Sept. 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — SEON, the command center for fraud prevention and AML compliance, today announced the close of its $80 million Series C round of funding. The investment was led by Sixth Street Growth with participation from existing investors IVP, Creandum and Firebolt, and new investors including Hearst. This round brings SEON’s total funding to $187 million and accelerates already rapid adoption in North America alongside further global expansion. SEON will advance its AI-powered product development and support strategic talent acquisition.
HALA raises $157m in one of the Middle East’s largest fintech Series B rounds, led by TPG and Sanabil Investments
HALA has rapidly scaled to serve over 142,000 businesses and now processes more than $8 billion of annual transactions, cementing its position as the region’s MSME focused fintech leader.
Riyadh, Sept. 15, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — HALA, Saudi Arabia’s leading fintech and provider of embedded financial services to micro, small and medium enterprises, has raised $157 million in a Series B investment round — officially one of the largest fintech Series B funding rounds in the Middle East.
The funding round is led by The Rise Fund, TPG’s multi-sector global impact investing strategy, and Sanabil Investments, a wholly owned company by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), with participation from QED, Raed Ventures, Impact 46, Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), Isometry Capital, Arzan VC, BNVT Capital, Kaltaire Investments, Endeavor Catalyst, Nour Nouf Ventures, Khwarizmi Ventures, and Wamda Capital.
Standard Chartered Eyes $250M Digital Asset Investment Fund
Key Takeaways
- Standard Chartered’s venture capital arm is planning a $250 million raise for a digital asset investment fund.
- The banking giant is a key player in Hong Kong’s stablecoin push.
- SC plans to launch the new fund in 2026.
The venture capital arm of multinational behemoth Standard Chartered (SC) is eyeing a $250 million raise to launch an investment fund for digital assets.
Betting Big
As per Bloomberg, SC Ventures is preparing to raise $250 million for a crypto fund focused on digital assets in the financial services sector.
The firm intends to launch the fund in 2026 and secure backing from Middle Eastern investors.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/standard-chartered-eyes-250m-digital
DeFi Oracle Network RedStone Acquires Credit Rating Firm Credora
RedStone, a DeFi oracle network, has acquired Credora, an on-chain credit rating platform backed by Coinbase Ventures, S&P, and Hashkey. The transaction is subject to customary approvals.
Operating under the new brand Credora by RedStone, the combined platform introduces an oracle-powered risk rating framework for assets and yield strategies, providing DeFi protocols with real-time pricing and risk data. Data shows that the growth of rated DeFi strategies (i.e., Morpho Vaults) outpaces unrated strategies by as much as 25%.
DeFi lacks a standardized method to measure and communicate protocol risk. Traditional rating agencies have been slow to assess decentralized systems, and their adopted conventional models conservatively characterize risks.
That’s a wrap for this week’s deal highlights. Keep an eye out for our next issue—fintech and private markets are moving fast, and we’ll be here to bring you the latest insights and funding news.