This week’s edition dives into the forces quietly reshaping the future of fintech — from tokenised money and AI-led dealmaking to new models of wealth creation designed for a changing generation.
We open with Samarth Shekhar’s Deal Highlights, where he unpacks three signals worth watching closely: Ubyx, building interoperable stablecoin settlement inside the regulatory perimeter; Onsetto, helping banks win primary business relationships through faster, smarter onboarding; and GrowthPal, using AI to turn M&A from relationship-driven guesswork into a precision growth engine.
We then move to Frank Schwab’s sharp analysis, challenging the idea that digital transformation is a cost centre — and arguing instead that a bank’s technology strategy is the single biggest constraint on long-term profitability.
This edition also features our latest Q&A with Belong, a behavioural-science-led wealth platform rethinking how a new generation engages with investing, at a moment when policy, regulation, and demographics are converging in powerful ways.
We close with a snapshot of the companies securing fresh capital across payments, stablecoin infrastructure, brokerage APIs, and financial wellness — funding stories that don’t just track momentum, but offer a glimpse into where fintech is heading next.
A Q&A with Avion Gray from Belong on the Future of Wealth-Building in the UK
At a time when traditional wealth-building models are failing a new generation, Belong is rethinking what it means to invest — and who investing is really for. Founded at the intersection of behavioural science, fintech innovation, and human-centred design, the company is tackling one of the UK’s most urgent financial challenges: turning passive cash savers into confident, long-term investors.
In this Q&A, Avion Gray shares the thinking behind Belong’s AI-native platform, the behavioural insights shaping its product, and why the UK is approaching a pivotal moment for wealth creation. From regulatory shifts to cultural change, this conversation offers a rare look at how the next generation of wealth platforms is being built — and why now is the moment to pay attention.
1- Tell us about yourself / your co-founder(s)
My co-founder and I were introduced by the late Nick Hungerford, who founded Europe’s first robo-advisor, Nutmeg. Nick was resolute that outsized success in the wealth space would be anchored in a deep understanding of human behaviour. As a founding team, we bring the winning combination of “rational” and “behavioural” to tackle one of the most urgent challenges of our time.
I started my career as a leveraged finance banker, followed by more than 10 years in fintech. Most recently, I led the U.S. launch and global expansion of Clover, as a Product and Commercialisation leader. I helped scale Clover from pre-revenue to 6 markets and $1.5 B of ARR.
My co-founder Samantha is a published economist and behavioural scientist, with expertise in financial decision making. She previously founded and scaled a retail fashion brand in South Africa.
Paul, our Head of Engineering, is a master architect and experienced wealth tech CTO, who previously led SelfTrade’s tech journey from startup to 200K customers. He has led engineering teams at Interactive Investor, RBS and 10x Banking.
Read more from the interview: Belong on the Future of Wealth-Building in the UK
Deal Highlights
by @Samarth Shekhar
Most large banks have announced or launched closed-loop “tokenized deposit service” that mirror actual bank balances without replacing the underlying deposit ledger, rather than “real” stablecoins. These are fully regulated bank money, but with near-real-time and 24/ 7 settlement, enabling better liquidity and cash management for the banks’ clients (only).
Barclays’ investment into Ubyx is a step into an interoperable, open clearing and acceptance network, where users can deposit stablecoins from many issuers / multiple currencies into existing bank accounts and receive full value—i.e., multi-issuer redemption/acceptance.
I like their picks-and-shovels move vs. another “in-house only” initiative. I am also looking at players that address the midsize to small banks who won’t be able to build this in-house.
Barclays has bought a stake in U.S. stablecoin-settlement company Ubyx, its first such investment and part of its plans to explore “new forms of digital money”, the British bank said on Wednesday.
Ubyx, which launched in 2025, is a clearing system for stablecoins – cryptocurrencies pegged 1:1 to mainstream currencies – which aims to reconcile tokens created by different issuers.
Barclays said in a statement that it and Ubyx were committed to developing “tokenised money within the regulatory perimeter”. Barclays was one of 10 banks, including Goldman Sachs and UBS, which in October said they had formed a group to explore the possibility of jointly issuing a stablecoin pegged to G7 currencies.
I see the midmarket/ corporate segment as the emerging battleground for scaling corporating banking using technology, or between FinTechs and incumbent banks. Onsetto’s solution can accelerate business account switching and help banks take on deposits and primary relationships.
Onsetto: $2.2 Million Seed Raised To Speed Product Development And Expand Go-To-Market. The company’s platform is designed to automate what Onsetto described as a historically manual and fragmented process for business customers moving their primary operating relationships. By identifying core operating account components and guiding transitions across payroll, accounts receivable and payable, and other operating flows, the platform aims to help financial institutions move payments faster, fund new accounts earlier, and surface treasury opportunities sooner in the onboarding lifecycle.
While there is no dearth of company databases, marketplaces and SaaS tools focused on companies looking to sell (or even the first AI-enabled investment bank for SMBs), interesting to see an M&A copilot that helps buyers identify targets based on an acquisition thesis. Apart from large and mid-size firms, corporate development divisions, and PE firms with roll-up strategies, expect GrowthPal to be of interest to startups and VC firms looking to scale via acquisitions.
GrowthPal’s platform acts as an intelligent M&A copilot. When a buyer defines a growth objective – like acquiring a specific capability or entering a new geography – the system translates that goal into a structured acquisition thesis. Its AI agents then scan an enriched database of more than four million technology companies using signals from public filings, web activity, hiring trends, funding history, and other indicators. The result is a short list of precision-fit, often off-market targets that align closely with the buyer’s mandate, rather than broad lists of loosely relevant companies. The company was founded to address a structural gap in the market…many acquirers struggle to find the right targets efficiently, particularly for transactions under $70 million that fall below the focus of traditional investment banks.
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.
Show Me Your Tech Stack, and I’ll Tell You Your Profit Margin
by @Frank Schwab
Digital transformation is often viewed as a cost center. But after analyzing the world’s most profitable banks, my hypothesis is different: Your technology strategy is the primary ceiling on your net profit.
The industry is divided into two camps:
- The Tenants: Banks that “rent” their core and innovation layers (SaaS).
- The Sovereigns: Banks that own their ecosystem and proprietary stack.
FUNDING ROUNDS
Barclays buys into stablecoin-settlement company Ubyx
Jan 7 (Reuters) – Barclays (BARC.L), has bought a stake in U.S. stablecoin-settlement company Ubyx, its first such investment and part of its plans to explore “new forms of digital money”, the British bank said on Wednesday.
Ubyx, which launched in 2025, is a clearing system for stablecoins – cryptocurrencies pegged 1:1 to mainstream currencies – which aims to reconcile tokens created by different issuers.
Various banks and other financial institutions have announced plans involving stablecoins in the past year, as soaring crypto prices and U.S. President Donald Trump’s support for the sector revived interest in using blockchain in the mainstream financial system, for example by issuing stablecoins or creating blockchain-based tokens to represent financial assets. Still, many banks’ blockchain-related projects remain in the early stages.
Barclays said in a statement that it and Ubyx were committed to developing “tokenised money within
Onsetto: $2.2 Million Seed Raised To Speed Product Development And Expand Go-To-Market
Onsetto, a Minneapolis-based fintech building a white-label platform to help banks and credit unions capture and retain primary business banking relationships, has raised $2.2 million in a Series Seed financing. The round was led by EJF Ventures, the early-stage fintech investing platform of EJF Capital. Additional participants included Idea Fund of La Crosse, The Perch Fund, and Minneapolis-based angel investors Daren Cotter and Bobby Astrup.
Onsetto said the funding follows a strong quarter of commercial momentum in which it signed a double-digit number of financial institutions under contract, highlighting demand for technology that can streamline business account switching and accelerate deposit funding.
https://pulse2.com/onsetto-2-2-million
GrowthPal raises $2.6M to turn M&A from relationship-driven guesswork into an AI-led growth engine
As companies increasingly rely on acquisitions to drive growth, deal sourcing remains slow, opaque, and dominated by in-market opportunities. GrowthPal is using AI to help teams surface off-market targets and move from strategy to action in days, not months.
Singapore, Jan. 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — For most companies, inorganic growth depends on timing, context, and access. Yet M&A deal origination from mid-market and early stage companies, has changed little in decades, still driven by banker networks, static databases, and fragmented research workflows. Buyers often see only what is already on the market, while high-quality, off-market opportunities remain hidden. GrowthPal, co-founded by Maneesh Bhandari, Shalu Mitruka and Amaresh Shirsat, was built to change this dynamic. Today, the company announced a $2.6 million funding round to accelerate its AI-powered M&A copilot for deal sourcing and execution.
Klearly raises $14 million Series A led by PayPal Ventures to expand restaurant payments platform
The fintech startup is nearing $1 billion in annual payment volume as it scales across Europe.
Fintech company Klearly, which provides a payments platform for restaurants, bars, and clubs, has raised $14 million in a Series A round led by PayPal Ventures, the investment arm of payments giant PayPal. The round included participation from the Italian Founders Fund and existing investors Global PayTech Ventures, Antler Elevate, and Shapers. The financing brings Klearly’s total funding since its founding to $24 million.
Klearly was founded in 2023 by Sam Koekoek (CEO), who immigrated to Israel from Amsterdam, together with Edan Dil (Chief Strategy Officer) and two additional co-founders from the Netherlands. After moving to Israel, Koekoek joined fintech company UNIPaaS, founded by David Avgi, the former CEO of SafeCharge.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/h1xqrdxrwl
VelaFi Raises $20M Series B to Expand Global Stablecoin Infrastructure
DALLAS & MEXICO CITY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–VelaFi, a stablecoin-powered financial infrastructure platform under Galactic Holdings, today announced the completion of its $20 million Series B financing, led by XVC and Ikuyo, with participation from Alibaba Investment, Planetree, existing shareholder BAI Capital, and other global investors. This round brings VelaFi’s total funding to over $40 million.
Founded in 2020, VelaFi has deep roots in Latin America and a proven track record in real-world payment infrastructure, serving enterprises across complex and underserved markets. The company has since expanded its coverage to the United States and Asia, enabling businesses to access a unified platform that connects local banking rails, global transfer networks, and major stablecoin protocols.
Alpaca raises $150m Series D at $1.15bn valuation
Alpaca, a US-headquartered provider of brokerage infrastructure APIs, has raised significant new funding to accelerate its global expansion.
The company has closed a $150m Series D funding round led by Drive Capital, valuing Alpaca at $1.15bn. Alongside the equity raise, Alpaca also secured a $40m line of credit to further bolster its balance sheet.
As part of the transaction, Drive Capital co-founder and partner Chris Olsen will join Alpaca’s board of directors.
In addition to Drive Capital, the round attracted a broad group of strategic and financial investors. These included Citadel Securities; Opera Tech Ventures, the venture capital arm of BNP Paribas; MUFG Innovation Partners; Flat Capital, backed by Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski; DRW Venture Capital; Kraken; Altered Capital; X&KSK; Bank Muscat; and Endeavor Catalyst.
https://fintech.global/2026/01/14/alpaca-raises-150m-series-d-at-1-15bn-valuation
Rain hits $1.95bn valuation with $250m Series C
The funding round pushes Rain’s total capital raised to date to over $338 million, and comes shortly after its $58 million Series B secured four months ago.
Rain, a stablecoin-focused payments infrastructure platform based in the US, has raised $250 million in a Series C funding round led by ICONIQ, bringing its valuation to $1.95 billion.
The round also drew participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Galaxy Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, FirstMark, Sapphire Ventures, Dragonfly, Lightspeed, and Norwest.
The Series C round brings Rain’s total funding to date to over $338 million since its inception in 2021. It follows a $58 million Series B secured just four months ago, and a $24.5 million Series A secured ten months prior.
https://www.fintechfutures.com/venture-capital-funding/rain-hits-1-95bn-valuation-with-250m-series-c
Broadridge Invests in DeepSee, Further Harnessing Agentic AI to Transform Post-trade Operations
Investment accelerates innovation in capital markets, enhancing efficiency, compliance, and client service– starting with AI-powered email orchestration
NEW YORK, Jan. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Building on its strategy to harness AI and harmonized data to optimize global post-trade operations, global Fintech leader Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc. (NYSE: BR), today announced a strategic investment and expanded partnership with DeepSee, a leader in agentic AI technology based in Utah, U.S. The agreement includes Broadridge taking a minority ownership stake in DeepSee and marks a significant milestone in Broadridge’s strategy to leverage AI and harmonized data to optimize global post-trade operations.
M&A
PROG Holdings completes $420m acquisition of Purchasing Power
Purchasing Power, which offers over 70,000 financial wellness products to seven million US employees, will now operate alongside PROG Holdings’ existing brands, including Progressive Leasing, Four Technologies, and Build.
PROG Holdings, a fintech holding company headquartered in Salt Lake City, has completed its acquisition of Purchasing Power, an Atlanta-based employee benefit programme, to enhance its flexible payment solutions portfolio.
Per the terms of the deal, PROG Holdings has paid $420 million in cash, financed through a mix of cash reserves and debt, to acquire Purchasing Power.
Founded in 2001 and led by CEO Trey Loughran, Purchasing Power provides access to over 70,000 financial wellness products and services to over seven million employees across the US, including payroll-deduction purchase programmes for consumer goods and services.
https://www.fintechfutures.com/m-a/prog-holdings-completes-420m-acquisition-of-purchasing-power
Fintech doesn’t move in straight lines — it evolves through ideas, infrastructure, and founders willing to challenge what’s considered “normal.” Each week, we bring you the signals that matter, the analysis that sharpens perspective, and the stories that inspire what comes next.
If you found value in this edition, explore our past issues and stay with us — there’s always more beneath the surface, and we’re just getting started.