Welcome to this edition of our newsletter, where we dive into the bold innovations and structural shifts redefining global finance. This week, we kick off with an exclusive Q&A with Kentaro Sohara, founder of Piece, who is breaking down barriers in real estate by bringing BaFin-regulated asset tokenization to retail investors for as little as €100.
In our expert analysis, Samarth Shekhar breaks down four B2B FinTech powerhouses—Saible, Pact Labs, Zero Delta, and Skalar—unpacking how strategic partnerships and tech infrastructure unlock entirely new distribution models. Meanwhile, Frank Schwab tackles the macroeconomic landscape, analyzing how geopolitical realignment and technology rivalries are transforming international banking strategy from a distant background risk into a core operational variable.
Finally, we celebrate the innovators driving capital forward in our Venture Financing roundup, showcasing the standout companies securing transformative funding to scale what’s next in finance. Dive in and get inspired!
A Q&A with Kentaro Sohara from Piece on Tokenizing Real Estate for Everyday Investors
Long before “tokenization” became a fintech buzzword, Kentaro Sohara was already betting on the idea that real estate didn’t need to stay illiquid, opaque, or reserved for those with deep pockets. After a successful exit in Japan’s edtech space and stints at McKinsey and Bain Capital, Sohara moved to Europe and, together with co-founder Riccardo Momigliano, launched Piece in 2023 — a Milan-born platform that lets retail investors buy into already-rented, income-generating properties for as little as €100.
No construction risk, no property management headaches, just fractional ownership of real assets, wrapped in a fully BaFin-regulated structure. With €4.4 million raised to date and a recent cross-border pilot bringing Japanese real estate to European investors, Piece is quietly building the infrastructure for what could become one of fintech’s more durable trends: the tokenization of real-world assets. We sat down with Sohara to talk regulation, distribution, and why real estate’s next chapter might be written in fractions.
1-Tell us about yourself / your co-founder(s).
I’m Kentaro Sohara, a serial entrepreneur originally coming from Tokyo, now based in Europe. I had a successful prior exit in an educational tech company back in Japan, and have a background at Bain Capital and McKinsey. I started Piece since 2023 after seeing untouched opportunities in Real Estate Securitization market in Italy and in Germany.
Read more from the interview here: Democratizing Real Estate Through Asset Tokenization
B2B FinTech @Scale Deal Highlights: Saible, Pact Labs, Zero Delta & Skalar.
Samarth Shekhar highlights startups that can help scale financial services by unlocking new customer segments or product offerings via B2B partnerships.
Saible: banks have balance sheet appetite for construction lending but no clean way to originate it – Saible’s DiPPA trust model can be the missing distribution and compliance layer. A bank that white-labels the payment account infrastructure becomes the regulated guardian of project funds, earning fee income on every payment released while generating a pipeline of creditworthy contractor relationships. The Commercial Payments Bill can be the regulatory support that makes Saible’s model the path of least resistance for public sector procurement teams.
Pact Labs: The $10 trillion US payroll system is a massive recurring transaction flow that banks touch but don’t control- funds clear through them but the relationship belongs to the payroll processor. Pact Labs’ on-chain earned wage access infrastructure gives a bank a way to offer daily pay as a retention product to employer clients, converting payroll processing into a daily deposit relationship. The USA₮ integration also opens a stablecoin-native payroll product for employers with internationally distributed workforces- a new segment banks currently can’t serve competitively.
Zero Delta / Glacis Labs: Banks and broker-dealers looking to offer clients digital asset settlement currently face a fragmented multi-chain environment where a stablecoin payment confirmed on one chain takes hours to net and settle across counterparty systems. ZeroDelta’s non-custodial clearing layer sits between execution and settlement, giving a bank the ability to offer institutional-grade digital asset prime brokerage without building multi-chain settlement infrastructure in-house.
Skalar: German mid-market businesses are chronically under-served by their banks on financial advisory because the economics of serving a €5M-revenue SME with bespoke tax and accounting support don’t work at branch level. Skalar’s AI-native firm changes that equation — a regional bank or Sparkasse that distributes Skalar’s services as a bundled offering to SME clients adds a fee-generating advisory layer without hiring tax professionals, while deepening the data relationship that improves credit underwriting for those same clients.
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.
Geopolitical shifts are no longer a background risk for banks
by Frank Schwab
They are becoming a core strategic variable.
Power is rebalancing, and financial flows are increasingly shaped by rivalry, sanctions, trade fragmentation, digital currencies, and technological competition.
China’s share of global GDP at purchasing power parity rose from 3.2% in 1990 to 18.5% in 2020, illustrating how deeply the global economic map has changed.
By 2035, deglobalization, regional trade blocs, competing technology ecosystems, and digital settlement networks may drive more localized financial systems and regional banking alliances.
VENTURE FINANCING
Saible raises £2.9m to protect UK construction payments
Saible, a Birmingham-based construction FinTech developing software to prevent project funds being delayed, withheld or trapped before reaching suppliers, has secured £2.9m in funding from angel investors. The funding comprises £2.1 million already raised and a further £800,000 angel round. Saible’s Digital Parallel Payment Account (DiPPA) holds project funds in a trust with regulated banking partner Griffin, while Saible supplies the platform handling approvals, verification and auditing. Money is distributed simultaneously to approved companies across every tier of the supply chain, rather than trickling down from contractor to subcontractor. Project owners pay a 0.25% fee on payment value; the supply chain pays nothing. Construction has recorded more insolvencies than any other UK sector for four consecutive years — 4,450 firms failed in 2025 and a further 1,180 in Q1 2026 alone. Saible is piloting the model on a public-sector footbridge project with the Environment Agency and BAM Nuttall. CEO Jarvey Moss: “Late payment in construction goes beyond the balance sheet. It creates pressure that runs through businesses, workers and families.”
Source: https://fintech.global/2026/07/15/saible-raises-2-9m-to-protect-uk-construction-payments/
Tether Backs Pact Labs to Put Digital Dollars in Every American Paycheck
SAN FRANCISCO, July 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Pact Labs today announced its Series A financing, anchored by a strategic investment from Tether, the world’s largest company in the digital asset ecosystem, with participation from Blockchange Ventures and Lasagna. The $7 million round will accelerate the buildout of infrastructure bringing USA₮, a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital Bank N.A., to payroll, earned wage access, credit, and payments for millions of American workers. America’s $10 trillion payroll system still runs on rails built decades ago — workers wait weeks for money they’ve already earned, and paid over $12 billion in overdraft fees last year waiting. Pact Labs builds the core wallet, data, payment, and smart contract architecture that connects the PACT Protocol to real-world fintech platforms and their end users. Its integrations have facilitated over $1.9 billion in credit across emerging markets and now power compliant on-chain payroll infrastructure in partnership with Payactiv. Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether: “Workers in emerging markets have used USD₮ to bridge payroll gaps for years because their domestic systems failed them first. We are now building the same capability into the U.S. market.”
Glacis Labs Raises $6.8 Million Seed Round to Scale ZeroDelta, the Clearing Layer for Digital Assets
NEW YORK, July 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Glacis Labs, the crypto infrastructure company building the clearing layer for digital assets, today announced the close of a $6.8 million seed funding round led by Lightspeed Faction, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, Again (formerly IDC Ventures), Protein Capital, and Techni Ventures. The investment will scale hiring, expand operations, and accelerate go-to-market for ZeroDelta, the company’s flagship product — a multichain clearinghouse that has settled over $1 billion in digital asset volume and operates at a $1.5 billion annualized run rate across more than 40 chains. ZeroDelta is a non-custodial platform that matches and nets asset flows across multiple blockchain networks, enabling financial institutions to execute large-scale trades with atomic delivery, zero slippage, and embedded protocol-level compliance. CEO Jacob Blish, a former JPMorgan executive: “The next decade of finance is going to settle onchain, but the rails to do it at an institutional scale do not exist yet.” Franklin Templeton’s participation signals the platform is being evaluated as a customer relationship as much as an investment.
Skalar snaps €12M from Headline to build a tax and accounting firm designed around AI
Munich-based Skalar has raised €12 million in combined pre-seed and seed funding led by Headline, with participation from futurepresent, QED Investors, Repeat Ventures, MS&AD Ventures, Foreword Fund, and several angel investors. Founded in 2025 by Björn Goß — who previously sold loyalty card startup Stocard to Klarna for €110 million — Skalar is building a tax and accounting firm designed around AI from the ground up, rather than layering AI onto existing software. AI agents handle routine work in bookkeeping, payroll, and tax consulting alongside human tax experts who retain professional liability and client relationships. The company received more than 1,000 inquiries in its first three months of operation and has assembled a team of 25+ employees. Proceeds will fund further automation of tax advisory processes, AI technology development, expanded services, and hiring across tax advisory, engineering, and operations. The German market faces a particularly acute shortage: more than 30% of German tax advisors are over 61 and nearing retirement.
Source: https://techfundingnews.com/skalar-raises-12m-headline-ai-accounting-firm/
Feathery Raises $30M to Scale the AI Operating & Decisioning System for Financial Services
SAN FRANCISCO, July 14, 2026 (Business Wire) — Feathery, the AI operating and decisioning system for financial services, announced today that it has raised $30M in total funding, including its recently completed Series A, from Portage Ventures, Index Ventures, Allstate Strategic Ventures, Clocktower Ventures, Erie Strategic Ventures, and Bain Capital Ventures. The company is one of the fastest-growing AI platforms for financial services, serving more than 300 firms across insurance and wealth management. Feathery was built with the understanding that financial service firms don’t have one workflow problem — they have hundreds, spread across different client segments and product offerings. Its AI Decisioning System analyzes business data flowing through the platform, surfaces strategic insights and recommendations, and continuously feeds those learnings back into workflows to drive greater automation and efficiency. Feathery meets firms where they are today, without forcing them to replace what already works. The typical Feathery client launches dozens of workflows across client onboarding, proposal generation, account opening, and account maintenance. Today, Feathery processes tens of millions of monthly submissions across mission-critical workflows. CEO Peter Dun: “Feathery turns those challenges into opportunities for each firm to sharpen their competitive edge, create personalized client experiences and scale operations.”
Hadrius Raises $27 Million to Build Agentic Compliance Infrastructure
NEW YORK, July 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Hadrius, the agentic compliance infrastructure for financial services firms, today announced $27 million in seed and Series A funding led by CRV, with participation from Y Combinator, Pathlight Ventures, and the founders of Altruist, Jump AI, and FINNY. The funding will accelerate Hadrius’ vision to consolidate compliance into a single AI-native workflow. More than 500 financial institutions and investment firms already run their compliance programs on Hadrius. In 2026, artificial intelligence is widening the gap between what compliance teams need to review and what legacy compliance solutions are capable of reviewing. With two-thirds of investment advisers currently using AI, the volume of communications, marketing content, and trades are growing rapidly. By consolidating the compliance lifecycle into one AI-native system of record, Hadrius today reduces false positives by 95%, manual compliance work by 70%, and saves 20+ hours per week. By the end of 2026, Hadrius plans to extend AI capabilities across the full compliance spectrum — marketing review, communications surveillance, personal trading monitoring, trade surveillance, and branch inspections.
American Growth Insurance Launches Specialty Insurance Brokerage Growth Platform
ATLANTA, July 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — American Growth Insurance (AGI) today announced its launch as an AI-enabled insurance brokerage growth platform with nearly $70 million in committed equity funding. Backed by Rockbridge Growth Equity and Atomic, Atlanta-based AGI is a retail brokerage in the specialty market serving commercial and personal lines clients. AGI’s strategy is to acquire independent insurance agencies and brokerages across the United States and rebuild them as AI-native operations under a national platform, while preserving their local identities and client relationships. Ahead of its first acquisition, AGI partnered with 10 agencies over the past year to develop and test its AI-first operating model, lifting average agency profitability by more than 50% through revenue growth and productivity improvements. With its first acquisition closed, the company plans to complete several more to surpass $10 million in revenue by the end of 2026. CEO Brian Morgan: “American Growth Insurance is building out the next-generation, national insurance brokerage platform.”
Cover Genius Raises USD $100M Backed by Vista Credit Partners, Reaching USD $1.9 Billion Valuation as it Advances AI-First Platform and Global Expansion
SAN FRANCISCO, July 14, 2026 (Business Wire) — Cover Genius, the global infrastructure for embedded protection, today announced a USD $100M capital raise, backed by Vista Credit Partners, a subsidiary of Vista Equity Partners. The raise values the business at USD $1.9 billion. Cover Genius operates a B2B2C embedded protection platform that connects 200+ partners with 50+ global insurance carriers to protect over 70 million end customers at the point of sale across travel, retail, ticketing and logistics. Unlike traditional insurers, Cover Genius dynamically adapts product design, pricing, and presentation in real time to match each merchant’s unique customer journey and geography mix. Cover Genius will deploy the capital across three priorities: deepening enterprise partner relationships through enhanced integration capabilities; scaling AI capabilities including hyper-personalization engines and agentic distribution of embedded protection; and investing in platform scalability and selective strategic acquisitions. The embedded insurance market is projected by Boston Consulting Group to grow from $13 billion to over $70 billion in gross written premiums by 2030. In 2025, Cover Genius grew revenue 50% year-over-year and crossed USD $3+ billion in cumulative gross written sales.
Alpaca Raises $135 Million to Scale Agent-First Brokerage Infrastructure for Tokenized Markets and AI-Native Financial Services
July 16, 2026 — Alpaca announced a $135 million raise led by Peak XV, with major participation from Elefund. Additional new and returning investors included Opera Tech Ventures, the venture capital arm of BNP Paribas Group, and Unbound. The new financing totals $435 million, inclusive of debt financing primarily from Payward, the parent company of global digital asset platform Kraken, and BMO. Alpaca provides agent-first brokerage and API-first prime brokerage infrastructure for fintechs, banks, broker-dealers, wealth managers, algo firms, active traders, and crypto-native platforms. Its stack powers investing products that span traditional securities and tokenized assets across onchain and offchain markets. Monthly active API users grew nearly four times in the six months to mid-2026. Alpaca supports over 10 million brokerage accounts across 40+ countries and has doubled revenue for three consecutive years. CEO Yoshi Yokokawa: “Demand is growing for regulated infrastructure as tokenization reshapes access to global markets and AI creates new financial applications.”
Digital Asset Raises $355 Million to Accelerate Canton’s Role as Onchain Infrastructure for Capital Markets
NEW YORK, June 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Digital Asset (DA), the creator of Canton, announced a $355 million funding round led by a16z crypto, with participation from 7RIDGE, ABN Amro, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Apollo Funds, BNP Paribas, Broadridge, Citadel Securities, CME Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Hanwha Investment & Securities, HSBC, iCapital, Liberty City Ventures, Optiver, Polychain, R136 Ventures, S&P Global, SBI Group, Smash Capital, SoFi, Tradeweb, and William Blair. FT Partners served as exclusive strategic and financial advisor. The round valued the company above $2 billion. Canton is a layer-one blockchain built to address a central barrier to blockchain adoption in finance: enabling institutions to use shared infrastructure while preserving the privacy, compliance, and control required in regulated markets. The network has more than 700 ecosystem participants. JP Morgan’s Kinexys has initiated a phased rollout to issue JPM Coin natively on Canton throughout 2026. HSBC successfully simulated issuance and atomic settlement of its tokenised deposit service on the network in April. CEO Yuval Rooz: “Blockchain adoption will be defined by practical, production-grade applications in the world’s largest markets.”
Whether through democratizing real estate, deploying AI to solve systemic labor shortages, or laying down on-chain infrastructure for traditional capital markets, the companies featured in this edition prove that financial innovation is moving faster—and deeper—than ever before. As global markets pivot toward localized alliances and tokenized liquidity, execution and regulatory compliance remain the ultimate differentiators.
Thank you for reading and growing with our community of 20,000+ leaders. Keep pushing boundaries, building durable solutions, and shaping the future of finance—we’ll see you in the next edition!