This edition arrives at a particularly charged moment. Artificial intelligence is no longer a promise on the horizon; it is actively reshaping how institutions process claims, open accounts, move money, and manage compliance. Meanwhile, stablecoins are quietly becoming the yield infrastructure of a new financial order, and prediction markets are attracting institutional gravity at a scale few anticipated.
Inside this issue, Samarth Shekhar spotlights three companies rewriting the rules of B2B fintech — each attacking a different layer of the financial stack, each backed by investors who understand that infrastructure is destiny. Frank Schwab then turns his lens on the $15.7 trillion transformation underway in banking, asking the harder questions about governance, talent, and what it truly means to build AI-first.
In our Q&A of the week, Omer Rimoch (co-founder of Advance) shares how his team is turning idle insurance premiums into strategic yield while streamlining operations for intermediaries. Finally, we celebrate the latest cohort of founders and investors who continue to push boundaries, securing significant capital to bring ambitious projects to life.
These stories remind us that the future of finance belongs to those who combine deep domain expertise with fearless execution. We invite you to read on, draw inspiration, and stay ahead of what’s next.
A Q&A with Omer Rimoch from Advance on Turning Insurance Premiums Into Yield
In the fast-evolving world of fintech, where innovation meets the intricacies of insurance finance, few stories capture the entrepreneurial spirit quite like that of Omer Rimoch and Gal Dreiman, co-founders of Advance. Omer, serial entrepreneur and former co-founder of PayEm (acquired after rapid scaling), and Gal, seasoned software engineer and AI specialist, have built a platform purpose-built for insurance intermediaries.
Just days ago (February 5, 2026), Advance closed its $8.55M seed round —completing an offering that already saw $7.3M in late 2025— led by nvp Capital with participation from Crystal Ventures, Vesey Ventures, Mensch Capital and strategic angels including Assaf Wand (ex-CEO & founder of Hippo Insurance). The capital will accelerate the rollout of their banking infrastructure that turns idle premium float into yield while automating reconciliation and remittances.
In this exclusive Q&A, Omer and Gal share how they’re solving one of insurance’s most persistent pain points and the macro trends that make this moment perfect for their solution.
1- Tell us about yourself / your co-founder(s)
Advance was founded by Omer Rimoch (former co-founder of PayEm) and Gal Dreiman (experience software engineer and entrepreneur). Together they bring deep experience and expertise in algorithmic development, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.
Read more from the interview: Transforming Insurance Payments Into Strategic Value
B2B FinTech @Scale – Deal Highlights
Samarth Shekhar highlights startups that can help scale financial services or unlock new customer segments or product offerings via B2B partnerships.
Astrada: Real-time data layer consolidating all three major card networks + banking data into single API for AI-driven finance workflows. $3.8M Seed | Bain Capital Ventures, QED Investors, Visa (strategic)
The Scaling Opportunity: FIs launch AI agent products (spend management, risk modeling, trading) without integration complexity. Scales from finance platforms (Workday, Zoho) to all banks/insurers adding autonomous workflows. FI Partnership: Direct enabler; Visa/Mastercard validate distribution model.
As finance workflows become increasingly AI-driven, autonomous agents require clean, normalized, real-time financial data to make decisions reliably across banks, cards, and payment networks. That creates a large infrastructure opportunity adjacent to players like Plaid, Marqeta, and MX, but optimized for AI-native finance operations rather than consumer fintech connectivity. As AI agents begin initiating and managing transactions directly, Astrada has the potential to become the default “data layer” powering autonomous finance systems across enterprise software, spend management, and embedded finance platforms. Strategic backing from Visa and Mastercard validates Astrada’s position deep within the payments ecosystem while accelerating network access and enterprise credibility.
InstaSwitch: White-label embedded account activation infrastructure for guided business banking onboarding flows | $4.7M Seed | Chicago Ventures, Unit/Square/PayPal alumni.
The Scaling Opportunity: Banks accelerate account opening (weeks vs. months) → faster customer acquisition → deposit/AUM growth. Scales from regional/community banks → banking-as-a-service platforms → international expansion. FI Partnership: Embedded SDK model; every new account increases NRR.
While opening a business account has become relatively seamless, actually migrating payroll, vendors, recurring payments, and receivables remains deeply manual and error-prone. InstaSwitch is addressing the opportunity around account activation and switching workflows. It could become the embedded “activation layer” for banks and fintechs,-reducing onboarding friction and improving conversion and retention, but needs to be wary of larger embedded banking platforms build native switching capabilities over time.
OpenTrade: Stablecoin infrastructure + institutional yield management for fintechs and DeFi platforms | $17M | Mercury Fund, Notion Capital, a16z crypto.
The Scaling Opportunity: Regulated fintechs launch custodial stablecoin products with institutional yields. Scales from fintechs → banks exploring tokenized RWAs → emerging market cross-border rails. FI Partnership: Banks white-label infrastructure; volume expanding to $1B+ annualized (2026 YTD).
OpenTrade is building infrastructure for one of the fastest-growing areas in digital finance: yield-bearing stablecoins backed by real-world assets (RWAs). As stablecoins evolve from payment rails into programmable savings and treasury products, OpenTrade enables fintechs and platforms to offer embedded USD and EUR yield products without building their own custody, compliance, or investment infrastructure. The opportunity is significant as stablecoin supply surpasses $300B globally, positioning OpenTrade as a potential “yield infrastructure layer” for fintech and DeFi. Risks include regulatory uncertainty around yield-bearing stablecoins, infrastructure commoditization, and competition from larger financial and crypto platforms expanding into embedded yield products.
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.
The rise of AI is a $15.7 trillion economic catalyst
It is projected to boost global GDP by 1.2% annually as it redefines the fundamental DNA of modern banking. This transformation shifts the technology from a simple tool to an independent financial manager capable of providing hyper-personalized, “invisible” banking services. To manage this shift, boards must establish governance that mitigates algorithmic bias and uses robust data frameworks to uphold the bedrock of consumer trust. Organizations must strategically invest in specialized talent and infrastructure to successfully transition from legacy operations to an AI-first architecture, proving that the future can be shaped.
Read more: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7458391507440533504/
VENTURE FINANCING
Astrada Raises Seed Round to Build the Data Layer for Autonomous Finance
Bain Capital Ventures, QED Investors, and Nyca Partners lead the round, with strategic investment from Visa and Mastercard
SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Astrada, the data layer for autonomous finance, today announced the close of its $3.8 million seed funding round. The round was led by Bain Capital Ventures, QED Investors, and Nyca Partners, with a strategic investment from Mastercard and follow-on participation from existing investor Visa.
Since launching in 2024, Astrada has processed more than $750 million in card spend and over three million transactions across all three major card networks through a single API. Early customers include Workday, Zoho, Payhawk, and Miter.
InstaSwitch Raises $4.7M in Seed Funding
InstaSwitch, a NYC-based provider of an account activation infrastructure for business banking, raised $4.7M in Seed funding.
The round was led by Chicago Ventures, with participation from 8-Bit Capital, Better Tomorrow Ventures, Panache Ventures, and executives from Unit, Square, PayPal, and Plaid.
The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its development efforts.
Founded by CEO Daniel West, InstaSwitch is a provider of an account activation infrastructure for business banking, which builds the guided flow that gets income, payroll, spend, vendors, and clients moved and confirmed to a new account, deploying as a white-labeled embedded SDK and as a hosted flow for institutions at every stage.
https://www.finsmes.com/2026/05/instaswitch-raises-4-7m-in-seed-funding.html
Forward Industries and RockawayX Co-Lead Strategic Investment in OnRe to Accelerate Onchain Reinsurance on Solana
Investment Advances Forward’s Strategy to Build Shareholder Value Through Active Participation in Tokenized Real-World Assets and Solana’s Growing RWA Ecosystem
AUSTIN, TX, May 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Forward Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: FWDI) (the “Company” or “Forward”), the leading Solana treasury company, today announced a strategic investment in OnRe, a regulated onchain reinsurance company, alongside RockawayX, the global multi-strategy digital asset investment firm. The two firms co-led OnRe’s $5 million Series A round. Separately, Forward intends to deploy up to $25 million into ONyc, OnRe’s yield-bearing token on Solana.
OnRe is a Bermuda-licensed reinsurance company regulated under both the Bermuda Insurance Act and the Digital Asset Business Act. Its yield-bearing real-world asset (RWA) token, ONyc, gives onchain participants exposure to a diversified portfolio of underwritten reinsurance risk, an asset class that has historically been the domain of large institutional allocators.
Spring Labs Raises $5M to Help Compliance Teams Scale Like Modern AI-Powered Engineering Teams
Funding led by BankTech Ventures and Haymaker Ventures will accelerate Spring Labs’ expansion from AI complaint and dispute agents into a broader compliance workflow and agent orchestration platform for banks, sponsor banks, and fintechs.
MARINA DEL REY, Calif., May 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Spring Labs, an AI-native compliance and operations platform for financial institutions, today announced it has raised $5 million in funding led by BankTech Ventures and Haymaker Ventures.
The new capital will support Spring Labs’ mission to improve the quality, consistency, and scalability of compliance across financial services. The company is building an agentic AI platform purpose-built for regulated financial institutions, combining advanced AI models with enterprise-grade security, workflow management, human oversight, and full agent control and observability within customer-defined policies and controls.
AI Real Estate Platform Davis Raises $5.5 Million Pre-Seed
Davis, an artificial intelligence firm in the real estate sector, has announced a $5.5 million pre-seed in funding. According to a note from the firm, the funding was led by Heartcore Capital and Balderton Capital, with participation from Evantic, Yellow VC and Entrepreneurs First. Other angels participated in the round.
Davis states that its service accelerates early-stage real estate development from months to days by generating feasibility studies, designs, and more, sharing information with developers and investors. Davis aims to disrupt the property sector, which it sees as one of the world’s largest industries, but also one of the slowest.
Davis was founded by Mehdi Rais and Amine Chraibi. Rais grew up in Morocco in a family of architects, providing exposure to the inefficiencies of real estate development. Chraibi, also from Morocco, is an AI researcher from École Polytechnique specializing in generative models for structured data.
Insurtech firm Wopta secures a €5 million hybrid funding round
The scale-up has completed two acquisitions, taking over Zanni Broker in Brescia and GM Insurance Broker in Bergamo
Wopta Assicurazioni, an insurtech company founded to protect families, businesses and professionals from everyday risks, has announced that it has closed a €5 million funding round, bringing the total raised since 2022 to over €20 million and valuing the company at over €100 million. The transaction was carried out with the support of Make Your Credit, an Italian fintech company specialising in credit advances and structured finance, and is therefore not entirely equity-based.
The capital raised in previous years was subscribed by over 70 Italian families and business angels through five investor club deals, including: Holding B3 (Calzedonia Group), Guido Fucina, Giorgio Gori, Carlo Fagioli, Alcide Leali (Lefay Resort), Guidotti (Azimut), the Macchi family, the Cammi family, Ettore Riello, Davide Parenti, Massimo Ambrosini and Cristina Parodi.
Five raises $6M to bring palm based payments to market
London based #fintech startup #Five, founded by former Revolut alumni Maria Marti and Thibaut Genevrier, has secured $6 million in fresh funding to develop biometric #payment technology using palm recognition. The company is building a payment system that allows users to authenticate and complete transactions with the palm of their hand, aiming to remove the need for cards, phones, or PINs. The round marks an early step in Five’s ambition to modernize in-person payments through biometric identity, positioning itself within a growing segment that combines fintech and advanced authentication technologies.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/michele-mattei_fintech-five-payment-activity-7458070642874183680-hKfX
OpenTrade Raises $17 Million to Meet Stablecoin Infrastructure Demand
Stablecoin infrastructure platform OpenTrade has raised $17 million in new funding.
The strategic round brings the U.K.-based startup’s total funding to more than $30 million and gives OpenTrade “the runway to scale at the pace the market is demanding,” as the company said in a post on LinkedIn Wednesday (May 6).
Mercury Fund and Notion Capital led the round, with participation from a16z crypto, AlbionVC and CMCC Global.
“The demand for yield infrastructure is growing rapidly. That demand is what’s driving our growth,” OpenTrade said in the post.
That post outlined examples of that growth: the company’s total value locked has just surpassed $200 million, while transaction volumes last year were more than $250 million. For the first four months of this year, it said, OpenTrade has processed more than $300 million, with north of $1 billion projected for the full year.
Reserv Announces $125 Million Series C Financing Led by KKR to Accelerate AI-Driven Transformation of Insurance Claims
NEW YORK & LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Reserv Inc. (“Reserv”), the parent company of Reserv Claims Analysis, LLC – the Property and Casualty (P&C) Insurance industry’s largest AI-native third-party administrator (“TPA”) – and Reserv Technologies, LLC – a claims intelligence provider – today announced a $125 million Series C funding round led by KKR, with participation from existing investors including Bain Capital Ventures and Flourish Ventures, as well as select strategic partners and clients.
Founded in 2022, Reserv provides TPA services and technology to nearly 200 insurers, corporate captives, MGAs, and brokers. The company has achieved strong commercial traction, with annual recurring revenue (ARR) reaching $100 million and rapid year-on-year growth as it scales its platform.
Corgi Raises $160 Million Series B to Continue Expanding Its Full-Stack Insurance Platform Into New Verticals
SAN FRANCISCO, May 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Corgi announced today it has raised $160 million in Series B funding at a $1.3 billion valuation, advancing its mission to build the first AI-native, full-stack insurance platform for startups. The company was founded by Emily Yuan and Nico Laqua.
The round was led by TCV, with participation from both existing and new investors including Oliver Jung, Leblon Capital, Kindred Ventures, Repeat VC, Zone 2 Ventures, Audeo Ventures, Quadri Ventures, First Order Fund, Vocal Ventures, Maiora Ventures, Nordstar, Seven Stars Ventures, Hexa Capital, Alpha Square Group, GSBackers, OurCrowd, Alumni Ventures, Global Growth Fund, and other strategic investors.
https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/corgi-raises-160-million-series-160000034.html
Santander invests in Ebury
Banco Santander has taken part in a $550 million funding round in payments vendor Ebury.
The firm, which provides cross-border payment services for SMEs, has raised the fresh financing from a group comprising Centerbridge Partners alongside reinvesting shareholders Santander,Vitruvian Partners and 83North.
Santander invested £50 million and remains Ebury’s majority shareholder, although the size of its stake falls from 66% to 55%.
An original plan to go public in 2025 was derailed by the market volatility caused by President Donald Trump’s global tariffs regime.
Ebury serves more than 27,000 businesses worldwide, enabling payments in over 140 currencies across 160 countries. The company has grown its revenues over 30% per annum since Santander invested in 2020.
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/47676/santander-increases-stake-in-ebury
Kalshi Raises $1 Billion at a $22 Billion Valuation as Institutional Adoption Accelerates
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Prediction market Kalshi today announced a $1 billion Series F round at a $22 billion valuation, led by Coatue, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, IVP, Paradigm, Morgan Stanley, and ARK Invest.
This raise comes amid the start of institutional demand. Over the past six months, institutional trading volume has increased 800%.
Kalshi has emerged as the clear leader in the category, with over 90% of U.S. prediction market activity, as well as the majority of global volume. Over the past six months, annualized trading volume has more than tripled, growing from $52 billion to $178 billion.
VENTURE FUNDS
Haun Ventures Raises $1 Billion Fund for the Intersection of Crypto and AI Agents
Haun Ventures announced Monday that it has raised $1 billion in new capital, a significant bet that the foundational plumbing of global finance is on the verge of a structural overhaul driven by digital assets and artificial intelligence.
The firm, led by Katie Haun—a former Justice Department prosecutor who later served as an independent director at Coinbase and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz—outlined three areas it plans to prioritize with the new funds: next-generation financial infrastructure, tokenized assets and new markets, and the agentic economy, in which AI systems increasingly transact on behalf of humans.
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/haun-ventures-raises-1-billion-203203740.html
Apis Partners Announces Final Close of $1.23 Billion Fund III, Double its Predecessor
LONDON & DUBAI & SINGAPORE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Apis Partners Group (UK) Limited (“Apis”), a private equity firm investing in tech-enabled businesses in financial infrastructure and services, today announced the final close of Apis Global Growth Fund III and Apis Growth Markets Fund III (the “Funds” or “Fund III”), with combined commitments of $1.23 billion excluding co-investments, more than double its predecessor, Apis Growth Fund II, at $563 million.
The Funds closed 23% above target. Reflecting the strong performance of previous funds, which have already generated in excess of $1 billion in realisations to date, over 70% of existing LPs have re-upped and increased on their previous fund’s commitments, accounting for around 50% of the total capital raised in Fund III. The significant increase in fund size allowed Apis to welcome a number of new investors to its global institutional investor base, including sovereign and supranational investors alongside banks, insurers, pension funds, funds of funds and foundations.
As crypto cools, a16z crypto raises a $2.2B fund
In a blog post that lays out a vision for crypto’s future, ranging from a “new financial system” to warnings about “opaque” AI, a16z crypto announced a new $2.2 billion fund. This is the VC firm’s fifth fund and brings the total raised to date to $9.8 billion, it says.
In addition, the fund also promoted its CTO, Eddy Lazzarin, to general partner, bringing the GP investing team to four people. Lazzarin joins Chris Dixon, Ali Yahya, and Guy Wuollet. The fund has backed standout companies like Coinbase, Kalshi, and Solana Foundation.
The timing of this news is a bit ironic, with crypto trading in such a slow period that Coinbase announced on the same day it was laying off 14% of its workforce. March was the slowest trading-volume month across crypto exchanges since November 2023, crypto data and news site CoinGecko reported.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/05/as-crypto-cools-a16zcrypto-raises-a-2-2b-fund
Illuminate Financial Closes $135M Early Growth Fund to Back the Next Generation of AI & Fintech for Financial Services
- Illuminate Financial, a venture capital firm specialising in financial services technology, has raised $135 million for its Early Growth Fund, backed by major institutions including BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche Börse, HSBC, Jefferies, RBC, S&P Global, and TD Securities.
- The fund is Illuminate’s fourth and first to target Series B+ stage companies, focusing on Enterprise AI and Fintech firms at the point between proven technology and institutional scale, with four investments already made in Pliant, TransFICC, Zocks, and Endowus.
- Founded in 2014, Illuminate has now raised $500 million across four funds, invested in 55 companies, and completed 14 exits, with its 2015 vintage fund ranked the top European venture fund for distributions by Cambridge Associates.
Earlybird VC Raises €360M for New European Tech Funds
Key Takeaways
- Earlybird VC raised €360M to invest in early-stage European startups.
- The fund targets sectors like AI, fintech, and enterprise software.
- It aims to support founders from diverse and emerging regions in Europe.
Earlybird Venture Capital has successfully completed its 8th early-stage fund (Fund VIII) at €360m. The new raise is the largest in its 29-year history and highlights a shift in focus to the architecture of AI and deep technology.
This oversubscribed fund comes at a time of real need for European venture capital. Earlybird has weathered the world economic storms that have taken place and has kept up its normal four-year cycle. Each three to four years the firm has raised a new one; since it launched in 1997, each fund has increased the size of the firm’s AUM to €2.5 billion.
https://ventureburn.com/earlybird-vc-raises-e360m-for-new-european-tech-funds/
As the lines between technology, capital, and human ingenuity continue to blur, one truth remains clear: the most impactful innovations in finance are born at the intersection of bold ideas and patient capital.
We hope this edition has sparked fresh perspectives, whether through the infrastructure plays highlighted by Samarth, Frank’s vision for an AI-native banking era, or the entrepreneurial journeys captured in our Q&A and funding rounds.
The future is being written by builders who refuse to accept legacy constraints. Thank you for being part of this journey with us. Stay curious, stay bold, and we look forward to seeing you in the next edition—where the next chapter of fintech is already taking shape.
Until then, keep building what’s next.