We are finally all caught up with the backlog from the slow summer weeks, and last week’s news round-up is particularly light.
“The ICO days are back”, but with serious institutional backing.
VanEck and Brevan Howard Digital are leading a relatively small round into Legion, a startup with pretty large ambitions. According to an announcement on Wednesday, Legion is looking to rewrite the rules of capital formation, this time involving the small-time retail traders traditionally exempted from the IPO process. In other words, the ICO days are back — but with professional assistance, ideally.
The only company enabling stablecoin wallets to live alongside other payment methods – enabling seamless recurring billing and instant checkout to grow merchant sales globally…Global acceptance with local settlement: Merchants can accept stablecoins from consumers in 150+ countries and settle in their local currency, instantly and seamlessly… In Q2 2025 alone, our transaction count increased by 344% compared to the same period last year… Over $250 billion in stablecoins are in circulation today, across hundreds of millions of global holders and growing 2x year-over-year
Interesting to see the excitement about “using private capital to juice performance”, while nearly half of retirees in a poll being skeptical about opening up US retirement savings plans – 401(k)s – to alternative assets such as real estate, cryptocurrency and private equity.
When President Trump issued his executive order on alt assets in 401(k) plans, one of the people cheering most loudly was Abdul Al-Asaad, CEO of a fintech startup called Basic Capital. Basic Capital, which lets workers use private credit to leverage their 401(k) accounts, today is announcing $25 million in Series A funding led by Forerunner and Lux Capital. Other backers include Henry Kravis, SV Angel, Box Group, HOF Capital, Inspired Capital, and Westbound Equity Partners…Trump and Al-Asaad share a common mission for 401(k) plans — using private capital to juice performance — albeit via very different methods. Basic Capital essentially wants to provide workers with a way to leverage appreciating assets (i.e., equity-heavy retirement accounts), rather than just for depreciating assets like homes and cars.
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, reach out to Samarth Shekhar or Frank Schwab.
VanEck and Brevan Howard Digital lead $5 million round into startup Legion looking to revamp ICOs
Quick Take:
- VanEck and Brevan Howard Digital are leading a relatively small round into Legion, a startup looking to bring small-time investors into the capital formation process using blockchain.
- Exchanges Coinbase, Crypto.com, and Kraken are also participants.
VanEck and Brevan Howard Digital are leading a relatively small round into Legion, a startup with pretty large ambitions. According to an announcement on Wednesday, Legion is looking to rewrite the rules of capital formation, this time involving the small-time retail traders traditionally exempted from the IPO process.
Like other blockchain-based crowdfunding initiatives — beginning with the unstructured playing field of initial coin offerings (ICOs) in 2017 to today’s more mature platforms like CoinList and Echo, brought to you by Crypto Twitter’s “Cobie” — Legion is offering a platform where startups can sell tokens to small-time traders.
The round of Inciador, a PIX infrastructure that showcases the potential of Open Finance
Iniciador — a startup that provides the technological infrastructure for companies to make Pix via biometrics, automatic Pix, and intelligent Pix available — has just raised a round of R$32 million, further demonstrating the potential of open finance .
The fundraising was led by Valor Capital and included the participation of big bets, Alter, Actyus and Norte Ventures.
This is the second round of Iniciador, founded in 2021 by Marcelo Martins, an entrepreneur who has founded and sold a startup before.
The previous round, shortly after the startup was founded, was RS 1.2 million and was made with industry experts, such as Edson Santos, and entrepreneurs like Andres Bilbao, the co-founder of Rappi.
Loop Crypto raises a strategic round to power stablecoin acceptance
The only company enabling stablecoin wallets to live alongside other payment methods – enabling seamless recurring billing and instant checkout to grow merchant sales globally.
Loop Crypto is at the forefront of stablecoin payment acceptance helping merchants in AI, cloud infrastructure, creator services, and data grow their global customer base. Companies like OpticOdds, Antimetal, Helius, Kaito, Privy, and Phala Network choose Loop because we help them go default global and boost sales by making it easy to accept stablecoin payments from customers in 150+ countries. Our merchants have sold into twice as many countries with crypto as with fiat, earning more and growing faster. In Q2 2025 alone, our transaction count increased by 344% compared to the same period last year.
UK payments platform Onerway raises $10 million
UK-founded global payments infrastructure provider ONERWAY has closed a $10 million series A+ funding round, with a valuation approaching $200 million.
The round was led by Yunqi, with participation from all series A investors Lanchi Ventures, Eminence Ventures and Enlight Growth Partners, underscoring sustained investor confidence in its mission to streamline global financial transactions. The new capital will accelerate its global expansion, enhance cross-border payment infrastructure for faster and more cost-effective processing, and improve its current product matrix with new solutions such as stablecoin, agentic payment and other AI-driven products.
https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/106763/uk-payments-platform-onerway-raises-10-million
Tote.ai Raises $22.6M in Funding
Tote.ai, a Redwood City, CA-based AI-native point-of-sale system for fuel and convenience stores, raised $22.6M in funding
The round was led by Cota Capital, with participation from Storm Ventures and Cervin Ventures.
The company intends to use the funds to accelerate hiring, market expansion and product features.
Founded in 2022 and led by Shyam Rao, Tote.ai is a provider of an AI-native POS system for fuel and convenience stores. Its “one customer, one cart” architecture creates a shopping experience from forecourt to store.
Using Tote, managers or executives can make changes to menus, promotions, prices and products with a few clicks and without requiring IT assistance, greatly improving flexibility and enabling stores to quickly adapt and capture revenue opportunities as they arise.
https://www.finsmes.com/2025/08/tote-ai-raises-22-6m-in-funding.html
Basic Capital raises $25 million to reinvent 401(k)s
When President Trump issued his executive order on alt assets in 401(k) plans, one of the people cheering most loudly was Abdul Al-Asaad, CEO of a fintech startup called Basic Capital.
Driving the news: Basic Capital, which lets workers use private credit to leverage their 401(k) accounts, today is announcing $25 million in Series A funding led by Forerunner and Lux Capital. Other backers include Henry Kravis, SV Angel, Box Group, HOF Capital, Inspired Capital, and Westbound Equity Partners. “It’s like we got a green light from the administration,” Al-Asaad tells Axios. “It’s not going to litigate if you attempt to reinvent how 401(k) plans work … We wouldn’t have had a different business plan had [Kamala] Harris won, but it would have been much more challenging.”
https://fintech.global/2025/08/19/401k-platform-basic-capital-secures-25m-series-a/
AI-Native Loan Origination Platform Casca Raises $29 Million to Replace Legacy Lending
Top SBA lenders and investors back company mission to redefine lending
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Casca, the first AI-native loan origination platform, today announced it raised $29 million in its Series A, bringing its total in funding to-date to $33 million.
Only 15 months after its pre-seed raise, Casca is leapfrogging the competition with superior functionality and dramatically faster loan processing–funding commercial loans up to 10 times faster than other fintechs and 30 times faster than industry averages. Casca will use this funding to scale its operations, expand its team, and accelerate go-to-market efforts–making the platform more accessible to additional financial institutions.
Wellth Raises $36M in Oversubscribed Series C as Health Plans Embrace Daily Care Motivation
Wellth, the only digital health solution combining daily motivation with proven behavior change strategies to deliver measurable health outcomes, announced it has closed a $36 million Series C financing. The March 2025 funding round was oversubscribed, demonstrating investor confidence in Wellth’s differentiated model and expanding market opportunity.
The financing was led by Mercato Partners, who has found, funded, and collaborated with high-growth companies to help them achieve transformative growth and long-term value for almost two decades, with participation from FCA Venture Partners, Comcast Ventures, and existing investors SignalFire, NY Life, and CD-Venture. Wellth will use the funds to expand access to its app across Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, D-SNP, and other high-need populations, while accelerating product innovation and partner growth.
IVIX raises $60 million Series B to combat financial crime with AI
The startup maps hidden financial networks, helping tax, security, and enforcement agencies worldwide detect money laundering, trafficking, and sanctions evasion.
IVIX, a platform that helps governments worldwide combat large-scale financial crime, has raised $60 million in a Series B funding round. The investment brings the company’s total funding since its founding to $85 million.
The round was led by O.G. Venture Partners, with participation from Insight Partners, Citi Ventures, Team8, Disruptive AI, Cardumen Capital, and Cerca. All of the funds will go directly into the company’s operations.
Founded in 2020 by CEO Mattan Fattal and CPO Doron Passov, both with backgrounds in mathematics, IVIX has quickly established itself in the fight against financial crime. Fattal, also a co-founder of Silverfort, previously served as its CEO and president.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/h1o7ndefe
Midas Secures $80 Million Series B, Marking Turkey’s Largest-Ever Fintech Investment
ISTANBUL, Aug. 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Midas, Turkey’s leading investment platform, has raised $80 million in its Series B funding round, the largest investment ever secured by a Turkish fintech company. This brings Midas’ total funding to date to more than $140 million.
Midas serves 3.5 million investors by providing access to Borsa Istanbul, U.S. stock markets, mutual funds, and cryptocurrencies through a single platform. The company will use the new capital to further strengthen its security infrastructure to international standards and to accelerate the launch of advanced products designed for active traders.
Global Fintech Investors Back Midas’ Vision
That’s a wrap for this edition of Deal Highlights.
Stay tuned for more insights and funding news in our next issue — the fintech ecosystem keeps moving fast, and we’ll keep you updated.