This week’s edition brings a sharp look at the signals shaping the future of finance. We open with Samarth Shekhar’s analysis of the companies redefining how capital flows through construction, asset-backed lending and SME finance. We also spotlight Frank Schwab’s reflection on why the quiet news often reveals the most about where the industry is heading.
Our Q&A features Salim Benabbes of Yield, who shares how the company is building meaningful value for the FinTech ecosystem. Finally, we close with a curated overview of the funding rounds powering the next generation of innovators—teams whose ambition and execution continue to guide and inspire the sector.
A Q&A with Salim Benabbes from Yieldy on Elevating Digital Engagement in Wealth Management
This week, we sit down with Salim Benabbes, Co-Founder and CEO of Yieldy, a fast-growing GenAI platform reshaping how wealth managers connect with clients online. With a founding team rooted in deep financial, technical, and AI expertise, Yieldy tackles one of the sector’s most persistent challenges: turning digital visitors into engaged, long-term clients.
From hyper-personalized onboarding to real-time behavioral insights, Yieldy is building a new standard for advisory engagement—secure, compliant, and designed for scale. In this conversation, Salim takes us inside their vision, traction, and the industry shifts shaping the next wave of digital wealth management.
1- Tell us about yourself / your co-founder(s)
We are a complementary founding team combining deep financial, technical, and AI expertise.
I spent more than 12 years in global investment and private banking, advising over €2B in assets and working closely with wealth managers and institutional clients. I’m a Registered Investment Advisor with a background from HEC Paris and Paris Dauphine.
My co-founder Said is a senior IT architect with 20+ years of experience leading large-scale financial technology projects, including serving as Solution Head Architect at a cloud-native core banking platform. He brings deep mastery of secure, scalable infrastructure.
Arslane, our Chief AI Officer, is a specialist in GenAI and full-stack development. He has hands-on experience building and deploying machine learning models and integrates AI systems with real-world applications.
Read more from the interview here: Yieldy on Wealth Management Digital Engagement
This week’s deal highlights
by @Samarth Shekhar
A pain point right under our noses – we all know somebody who’s gone nuts paying contractors in advance but waiting weeks to get work done! Great to see SME specialist fund @altitude is joining the round (“With 3 million construction SMEs operating across the EU”) along with our friends at @SeedX and others. We think their “financial backbone for the sector” makes sense and have invested with that thesis e.g. in @Diesta which targets the cash-flows across insurance intermediaries.
Dutch startup Renno launches with €1 million targeting construction cash-flow issues…According to the company, builders often finance entire projects from personal savings or credit cards – 95% do so – while waiting weeks or months for payments. Homeowners, on the other hand, are routinely asked to front large deposits with little protection or clarity on how work is progressing. This model has reportedly led to over €280 billion being drained annually from the sector in delayed payments, with nearly all projects – 92% – facing delays due to cash flow constraints.
Interesting product for valuing asset-backed finance (a fast-growing, $6 trillion market!) that includes a performance warranty insurance.
Barker is redefining how loan collateral is priced and protected. Traditional appraisals for complex assets—from private jets to art, equipment, and GPUs—often lack the accuracy and enforceability lenders require. Barker addresses this critical gap by providing accurate, insurer-backed valuations. Uniquely, Barker warranties valuations, backed by Munich Re’s aiSure performance guarantee insurance. If an asset sells for less than the AI predicted, the error gap is covered.
This can get really interesting. A slew of challenger banks try to target SMBs and scale across Europe with different levels of success, embedding business overdraft into ERP systems, B2B marketplaces, accounting platforms and partner financial institutions could be “just what the doctor ordered” / beachhead product- potentially giving them or their partners to upsell larger, higher margin products.
Bourn launches Flexible Trade Account after £3.5m raise. Bourn aims to close the SME funding gap by embedding overdraft-style flexibility directly into the banking and financial platforms businesses already use. Its infrastructure model enables seamless distribution of receivable-backed funding at scale, reducing operational complexity for financial partners while increasing SMEs’ access to productive capital. The FTA’s embedded nature allows it to be integrated directly into ERP systems, B2B marketplaces, accounting platforms and partner financial institutions, providing on-demand access to working capital within existing workflows. Bourn positions itself as the infrastructure layer for embedded SME finance, ensuring funding partners can deploy flexible, dynamic capital solutions efficiently.
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.
@Frank Schwab: “More often than not, it’s the quiet news that points to the future.”
💡 70 % — that’s by how much foundation-company registrations rose year-on-year in Cayman Islands at the end of 2024, reaching over 1,300 (vs. 790 in the prior year). 📈 More than 400 new registrations have already been added in 2025, as DAOs and Web3-projects increasingly use these structures for legal compliance and liability protection. 💵 At least 17 of these foundations reportedly manage treasuries exceeding US$100 million each and collectively hold roughly US$10 billion in assets.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/frankschwab_dao-web3-caymanislands-activity-7402250127198875648-ZFR9
FUNDING ROUNDS
Dutch startup Renno launches with €1 million targeting construction cash-flow issues
Renno, an Amsterdam-based FinTech startup building financial infrastructure for Europe’s renovation industry, has launched with €1 million in pre-Seed funding to replace the payment methods plaguing the €850 billion renovation market.
Founded by Mark Slaughter and Mourad Chennaoui, the company ahas raised funding from āltitude, Angel Invest Ventures, SeedX Ventures, TipTop VC, and several angels.
“Float drains contractors. Factoring punishes them. Deposits leave homeowners unprotected. Renno replaces all of this with a protected, milestone-based payment flow that works for both sides,” said Mark Slaughter, CEO and Co-Founder of Renno. “We secure the full project balance in escrow and release funds only when milestones are verified. It is the payment model the industry should have had from the start.”
AI InsurTech Liablix secures €1.2m pre-seed funding
Italian startup Liablix, an AI-driven InsurTech specialising in automated motor-claims analysis, has secured €1.2m as it looks to scale its technology internationally.
The company, founded by Davide Castellucci, Filippo Begani and Davide Moricoli, landed the fresh backing in a round led by DFF Ventures, with participation from FJ Labs, Plug&Play and a select group of angel investors, according to Beinsure.
Liablix’s platform transforms crash images and incident data into detailed 3D reconstructions that map accident dynamics and assess liability with a level of consistency that human adjusters cannot always match.
By automatically checking damage compatibility and assessing whether reported injuries align with the physics of an incident, the software helps insurers reduce errors, speed up decisions and avoid the costly phenomenon of loss creep.
https://fintech.global/2025/12/03/ai-insurtech-liablix-secures-e1-2m-pre-seed-funding/
Barker Secures $3.5 Million to Scale Warrantied AI Valuations for Asset-Backed Lending
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Barker, a pioneering Fintech firm that transforms illiquid asset valuations into insurance-backed instruments, secured $3.5 million in funding led by Walkabout VC. The new capital will accelerate expansion of Barker’s agentic valuation system, delivering real-time, enforceable hard asset valuations across asset-backed finance.
Barker is redefining how loan collateral is priced and protected. Traditional appraisals for complex assets—from private jets to art, equipment, and GPUs—often lack the accuracy and enforceability lenders require. Barker addresses this critical gap by providing accurate, insurer-backed valuations. Uniquely, Barker warranties valuations, backed by Munich Re’s aiSure performance guarantee insurance. If an asset sells for less than the AI predicted, the error gap is covered. This transforms once subjective opinions into enforceable instruments, unlocking confidence and capital.
Bourn launches Flexible Trade Account after £3.5m raise
Bourn, the UK FinTech focused on modernising business overdrafts for the growth economy, has raised £3.5m in fresh capital to accelerate the expansion and adoption of its Flexible Trade Account (FTA).
The funding round drew support from NatWest Group, McPike Global Family Office, Haatch, Love Ventures, Portfolio Ventures and Aperture.
The latest tranche will help Bourn scale its offering and expand its market reach, enabling the company to deepen the functionality of its FTA, enhance its team capacity, and grow through new financial services and platform partnerships.
The investment will also support the firm’s mission to deliver more accessible, embedded working-capital solutions to SMEs traditionally underserved by mainstream finance.
https://fintech.global/2025/12/02/bourn-launches-flexible-trade-account-after-3-5m-raise/
Philippines fintech Higala raises $4m to digitalize rural banks
Higala, a Philippines-based banking infrastructure provider, has closed a US$4 million seed funding round to expand digital services for rural banks and microfinance institutions.
Investors in the round include Talino Venture Studios, Chemonics International, Kadan Capital, Tenco Capital, and 1982 Ventures.
The funding aims to enhance digital connectivity and financial inclusion for underserved communities.
Higala’s SynerFi platform allows smaller financial institutions to join the InstaPay payment network.
Participating banks on SynerFi include Rural Bank of San Antonio, Inc., Rural Bank of Lipa City (Batangas), Inc., Progressive Rural Bank, Inc., Banco Abucay, Inc., Rural Bank of Hermosa (Bataan), Inc., Money Mall Rural Bank, Inc., First Philippine Partners Bank, Inc. (A Rural Bank), and Lagawe Highlands Rural Bank, Inc.
https://www.techinasia.com/news/philippines-fintech-higala-raises-4m-to-digitalize-rural-banks
Swiss cyber firm Saporo bags €7m Series A round
Swiss cybersecurity company Saporo, the graph-native identity security specialist, has secured €7m in fresh investment as it accelerates its expansion across Europe and into the US.
The Series A round was led by TIN Capital, with participation from G+D Ventures, CDP Venture Capital through its Corporate Partners I – ServiceTech fund, XAnge, Lightbird VC and Session VC. Each backer is set to support Saporo’s market development efforts, from strengthening its network in Northern Europe to helping pursue German and Italian opportunities. Advisory firm Trachet acted as the fundraising advisor.
Saporo, which enables security teams to view enterprise identity landscapes in the same way attackers assess them, focuses on reducing the risk of identity-driven intrusions.
https://fintech.global/2025/12/04/swiss-cyber-firm-saporo-bags-e7m-series-a-round/
Home equity FinTech Nada closes $10m Series A
Home equity investment platform Nada, a financial technology company offering tools for homeowners to access and manage their home equity, has secured fresh investment to accelerate its growth.
The company has raised $10m in a Series A funding round led by Interlock Partners. Other investors included LiveOak Ventures, which returned after leading Nada’s Seed round, and Riverwalk Capital Partners. Nada also expanded its venture debt facility with Nomura Strategic Ventures, bolstering its institutional position with additional capital support.
Founded to modernise the way homeowners access their equity, Nada provides a digital platform that enables people to unlock and invest in home equity through debt-free financial products. The company has developed an integrated homeowner finance platform, pairing capital from both institutional and individual investors.
https://fintech.global/2025/12/03/home-equity-fintech-nada-closes-10m-series-a/
Stablecoin payments firm Fin secures $17m funding round
Fin, a next-generation payments company, has secured fresh funding to accelerate the launch of its stablecoin-powered transactions platform.
The company, which specialises in instant, high-value global payments, is aiming to simplify the way large sums are moved across borders.
The business has raised $17m in a Series A round led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Sequoia Capital and Samsung Next. Fin said the new investment will support its initial product rollout and enable the hiring of additional specialists to scale the company.
Fin offers a digital payments system designed to handle large transactions for corporates and financial institutions.
https://fintech.global/2025/12/04/stablecoin-payments-firm-fin-secures-17m-funding-round/
Niobium raises $23m for quantum-resilient chip tech
Niobium, a custom silicon provider specialising in fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) platforms, has secured more than $23m in new funding following what the firm described as an oversubscribed follow-on round.
The raise attracted returning backers Fusion Fund, Morgan Creek Capital, Rev1 Ventures and Ohio Innovation Fund, alongside fresh capital from strategic investor Blockchange Ventures. New supporters also include ADVentures, the corporate venture arm of Analog Devices Inc, Korea Development Bank, JobsOhio Ventures, Rev1 Angels and Silicon Catalyst Ventures.
The company develops hardware designed to enable computing directly on encrypted data, removing the need for decryption and providing mathematically guaranteed privacy. Market momentum behind Niobium’s proposition reflects confidence in FHE as a core building block for securing information in a future where AI, blockchain systems and quantum computing fundamentally alter trust and confidentiality.
https://fintech.global/2025/12/04/niobium-raises-23m-for-quantum-resilient-chip-tech/
Pine launches AI agent as it secures $25m Series A
Pine, an AI-driven consumer digital-chore automation company, has secured $25m in a Series A funding round led by Fortwest Capital.
The new product investment is driven by the growing frustration consumers face when dealing with long hold times, repetitive transfers and ineffective customer service. Pine said its “ask-and-it’s-done” AI is designed to return time, money and peace of mind to users by taking over these tasks entirely.
Pine operates an AI-powered platform that handles calls, emails and software interactions on behalf of consumers. With bank-level security and transparent privacy controls, the service is engineered to automate time-consuming administrative processes and secure more accurate and efficient outcomes for users.
https://fintech.global/2025/12/03/pine-launches-ai-agent-as-it-secures-25m-series-a/
imper.ai raises $28m to fight AI impersonation attacks
Imper.ai, the cyber-intelligence-led impersonation prevention platform, has officially launched with backing from several major investors, reflecting rising concern about AI-driven identity attacks.
The firm has secured $28m in funding from Redpoint Ventures and Battery Ventures, with participation from Maple VC, Vessy VC and Cerca Partners.
Built by veterans of elite cyber units, imper.ai focuses on preventing impersonation threats in real-time. Its technology monitors behaviour and system indicators across widely used enterprise platforms including Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Slack. The company said it analyses multiple digital markers to spot malicious intent that conventional security filters fail to detect.
https://fintech.global/2025/12/05/imper-ai-raises-28m-to-fight-ai-impersonation-attacks/
Nevis bags $35m to build AI for wealth management
Nevis, an AI platform for wealth management, has emerged from stealth with fresh backing as it looks to overhaul how financial advisors work.
The company, founded less than a year ago, develops technology aimed at freeing advisors from time-consuming administrative tasks.
The firm has secured $35m in a Series A round led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from ICONIQ and Ribbit Capital, bringing its total funding to $40m. The raise reflects growing investor appetite for automation and AI tools in the rapidly expanding WealthTech space.
Nevis builds AI systems that automate end-to-end workflows for Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs). The business already supports advisors managing more than $50bn in client assets across some of the fastest-growing wealth management firms in the US.
https://fintech.global/2025/12/02/nevis-bags-35m-to-build-ai-for-wealth-management/
Sokin secures $50m Series B to scale payments platform
Sokin, a London-based global business payments provider known for its multi-currency capabilities and cross-border financial infrastructure, has secured $50m in Series B funding to accelerate its next phase of expansion.
The company said the new investment will be used to accelerate global market expansion, strengthen its financial infrastructure and enhance product capabilities as demand for scalable and efficient business payments grows.
The Series B round was led by Prysm Capital, with participation from Watershed Ventures and continued backing from funds managed by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, Aurum Partners and several strategic angels including Gary Marino and Mark Britto, both former PayPal executives.
https://fintech.global/2025/12/01/sokin-secures-50m-series-b-to-scale-payments-platform/
AI security firm Zafran secures $60m Series C
Zafran Security, which develops technology to help organisations automate exposure management, has secured fresh backing from investors as demand for intelligent defence tools accelerates.
The firm has raised $60m in a Series C investment round led by Menlo Ventures. Existing backers Sequoia Capital and Cyberstarts took part, along with PSP Growth, Vintage Investment Partners, and Knollwood Investment. This latest injection takes Zafran’s total funding to $130m.
Zafran specialises in threat exposure management powered by agentic artificial intelligence. Its technology supports large enterprises in mapping assets, detecting vulnerabilities, analysing risk and orchestrating remediation workflows autonomously.
According to the company, the new funding will be used to accelerate product innovation and support international expansion.
https://fintech.global/2025/12/04/ai-security-firm-zafran-secures-60m-series-c/
Flex raises $60m Series B to scale AI private bank
Flex, the AI-native private banking platform for high net worth middle-market business owners, has secured $60m in a Series B equity round led by Portage, bringing its total equity raised to $105m.
The round also had participation from CrossLink Capital, Spice Expedition, Titanium Ventures, Wellington, Companyon Ventures, Florida Funders, FirstLook Partners, Tusk Venture Partners and others.
The fundraise comes as the company responds to accelerating demand from business owners who struggle with fragmented financial workflows. Running a profitable middle-market company requires navigating numerous disconnected systems, and Flex aims to replace this complexity with a unified finance platform.
https://fintech.global/2025/12/04/flex-raises-60m-series-b-to-scale-ai-private-bank/
Nothing launches Community Investment 3 on Crowdcube
Crowdcube, Europe’s largest private market investment platform, has supported consumer tech disruptor Nothing to launch the company’s latest funding round, Community Investment (3).
Crowdcube operates a platform that enables both retail and institutional investors to buy equity in private companies, supporting businesses from early-stage growth through to late-stage and pre-IPO opportunities.
Nothing, which has shipped millions of devices and surpassed $1bn in total sales, is using this round to allow retail and high-net-worth investors to invest alongside its institutional backers. These include Tiger Global, Google Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures. The new raise follows Nothing’s $200m Series C, led by Tiger Global, which valued the business at $1.3bn.
https://fintech.global/2025/12/03/nothing-launches-community-investment-3-on-crowdcube/
Kalshi launches Series E after new prediction product boom
Kalshi, the world’s largest prediction market, has announced a landmark Series E funding round that values the company at $11bn.
The company raised $1bn in a round led by Paradigm, with commitments also coming from Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Meritech Capital, IVP, ARK Invest, Anthos Capital, CapitalG, and Y Combinator.
Founded in 2018, Kalshi, which established prediction markets as a recognised financial asset class, operates a platform where users can trade on real-world outcomes. The firm positions itself as a regulated and trusted marketplace offering accurate, real-time expectations on the future and is now used both by institutional players and everyday consumers.
https://fintech.global/2025/12/03/kalshi-launches-series-e-after-new-prediction-product-boom/
DEBT FINANCING
Wholesale Banking unit expands lending portfolio with EUR 12.5million secured loan to leading Baltic Fintech Placet Group
Zug, 03 November 2025 – Multitude AG, a listed European FinTech company, offering digital lending and online banking services to consumers, small and medium-sized enterprises, and other FinTechs (WKN: A40VJN, ISIN: CH1398992755) (“Multitude”, “Company” or “Group”) announces that its Wholesale Banking business unit expanded its loan portfolio with two committed secured credit facilities totaling €12.5 million granted to Placet Group OÜ, a leading Estonian Fintech.
The secured facilities will support Placet Group’s continued growth in Estonia. The transaction was arranged by Multitude Bank’s Wholesale Banking division, which continues to grow its portfolio of structured financing and embedded payment solutions across Europe.
VENTURE FUNDS
London’s Expedition Growth Capital raises €323 million Fund III to back bootstrapped European companies
Expedition Growth Capital, a British software-specialist growth equity firm, today announced that it has raised its third fund of €323 million ($375 million), continuing its focus on partnering with European companies without venture capital.
The oversubscribed raise was completed in four months, with more than half of commitments from US investors. Typical initial investments are €8.6 million ($10 million) to €21.5 million ($25 million) in size
Oliver Thomas, Founder and Managing Partner at Expedition, said: “We are grateful to our existing and new LPs for their trust and support. They share our conviction that Europe’s domain-expert, bootstrapped founders are ideally placed to build durably valuable companies – fusing the power of software and AI with a deep understanding of the industries they serve.”
Indian VC firm Nexus closes $700 million fund to back AI and consumer startups
Dec 4 (Reuters) – India’s Nexus Venture Partners announced on Wednesday that it closed a $700 million fund that will back AI, enterprise software, consumer and fintech startups.
The venture capital firm has previously made investments in the likes of logistics provider Delhivery (DELH.NS), opens new tab and mortgage lender India Shelter Finance (IDNI.NS), opens new tab, as well as consumer startups like Zepto and ride-hailing app Rapido.
Through the fund, Nexus is betting on a growing consumption boom in the world’s fourth-largest economy, where e-commerce sales as well as quick commerce – which promises deliveries like iPhones and groceries in 10 minutes – are growing.
As the year accelerates toward its close, the themes emerging this week remind us that innovation rarely makes noise before it changes everything. From infrastructure reshaping the renovation economy to AI-powered underwriting and embedded finance for SMEs, these founders are building the systems tomorrow’s financial world will rely on.
Thank you for reading, and for being part of a community that stays curious, connected and ahead of the curve. Until next week.