The future of finance is not a single breakthrough — it is a hundred quiet decisions made by founders who refused to accept the world as it was.
This week, we bring you a conversation with Portal 26’s Neil Cohen, a company that saw the governance crisis of agentic AI coming years before it became everyone’s problem — and built the infrastructure to solve it. Their story is a masterclass in timing, conviction, and the compounding advantage of building before the crowd arrives.
Alongside that, Samarth shines a light on three companies redefining what it means to serve financial institutions in 2026: Zazume, bringing rental lifecycle data into the banking stack; Cense, finally bridging the gap between crypto-native clients and traditional compliance infrastructure; and Aveni, making AI-assisted financial advice both scalable and regulatorily sound.
Frank Schwab takes us into the infrastructure war no one is talking about loudly enough yet — the battle between Visa, Mastercard, and Coinbase to become the default payment layer for autonomous AI agents. The stakes could not be higher.
And in this week’s deal flow, the market sent a clear signal: capital is moving with conviction toward AI-native operations, agentic payments, and compliance tooling built for a world where machines are already transacting. From seed rounds to nine-figure raises, the momentum is undeniable.
Read on. The builders are ahead of the headlines — and so are you.
A Q&A with Portal 26’s Neil Cohen Portal26 on Turning AI Governance into Competitive Advantage
In the fast-moving world of enterprise technology, true visionaries are those who recognize shifting tides long before the crowd does. Founded in 2019 as pioneers in advanced data security, Arti Raman (CEO), Pakshi Rajan (Chief Product/AI Officer), and Karthick Mariappan (VP of Engineering) executed a decisive, visionary pivot in 2022—well before GenAI became a global boardroom obsession. Recognizing the imminent friction between rapid AI adoption and corporate vulnerability, this powerhouse founding team channeled their deep security expertise from giants like Symantec, Verizon, and DataRobot to build Portal 26, the industry’s most mature AI Adoption Management Platform.
Today, as organizations rush to deploy autonomous agents and large language models, Portal 26 stands as the essential bridge between defense and offense—helping Fortune 500 companies and highly regulated financial institutions secure their data while accelerating real ROI.
In this candid Q&A, Neil Cohen, VP of Marketing at Portal 26, shares powerful insights on visibility, governance, ROI realization, and the exploding opportunities—and risks—of agentic AI.
1-Tell us about yourself / your co-founder(s).
Our co-founders, CEO Arti Raman, Chief Product/AI Officer Pakshi Rajan, VP of Engineering, Karthick Mariappan, have deep leadership experience in security, AI/Machine learning and product development with companies like Symantec, Data Robot, Verizon and Yahoo. They had all worked together previously before starting the company together in 2019. They are in my opinion visionaries who understood the challenges of AI user consumption before anyone else. As the author of this Q & A, I came to the company as a consultant to assist with marketing, and now serve as VP of Marketing – my previous background is as marketing executive with companies from Fortune 500 to startups. The opportunity to be part of this amazing time in history first hand was too compelling not to join this team and company. Fun fact – all the members of the team have run a marathon.
Read more from the interview: Portal 26 on Securing and Scaling Enterprise AI Adoption
B2B FinTech @Scale Deal Highlights: Zazume, Cense & Aveni
Samarth Shekhar highlights startups that can help scale financial services by unlocking new customer segments or product offerings via B2B partnerships.
Zazume owns a high-friction rental event that simultaneously triggers financial and insurance needs for both landlords and tenants. This presents interesting opportunities for banks e.g. to embed landlord credit products or a renter deposit financing in the onboarding flow, or – in the longer-term – even a mortgage conversion funnel built on rent payment history.
For insurers, Zazume‘s real-time payment data can enable risk pricing e.g. for rental guarantee insurance, home contents and liability policies for tenants etc. Sabadell Venture Capital is already on the cap table, making Banco Sabadell the obvious first call.
Cense is solving the single biggest blocker for banks looking to onboard crypto-active clients- the inability to assess and evidence on-chain exposure through existing AML/KYC infrastructure. Rather than competing head-on as a blockchain analytics engine, Cense is specifically addressing documentation and evidence layer for traditional banks — translating on-chain activity into structured, auditable outputs that fit existing bank compliance processes.
For banks, this unlocks a growing segment of HNWIs, crypto funds, and institutional allocators currently stuck or rejected in onboarding, and creates a pathway to extend credit, custody, or prime brokerage to clients they today can’t risk-assess.
Aveni can help banks and insurers monitor and assure AI agent interactions at scale, enabling them to push more customer journeys — mortgage affordability conversations, protection advice, investment suitability. This can help them expand the addressable served market: the mass market and mass affluent segments that are today underserved because fully advised models are uneconomical at that ticket size.
For insurers specifically, AI-assisted claims handling and renewal conversations become viable at a compliance-assured quality level, reducing leakage and improving retention. It will also help firms evidence conduct assurance to the FCA, move faster on AI rollouts, and turning regulatory compliance into a competitive advantage in customer acquisition and cost-to-serve.
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 Next Money War: Visa, Mastercard, and Coinbase Compete for Agentic Payment Infrastructure
by Frank Schwab
A new infrastructure race is emerging around how AI agents will pay. Visa and Mastercard are extending trusted card-based rails into agentic commerce, while Coinbase’s x402 protocol is positioning stablecoin payments as a low-cost, machine-native alternative for API access, compute, data, digital content, and software services.
The key question is no longer only who processes human payments, but who becomes the default payment layer when autonomous agents start transacting at scale.
Read more here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/3signals-tuesday-june-9th-2026-frank-schwab-yjlze
VENTURE FINANCING
Zazume Secures €2.5M to Grow Rental Property Management Business
Zazume has raised €2.5 million in a new funding round to support its expansion strategy and accelerate the acquisition of residential property management portfolios across Spain. The round was led by Nordstar and Global Tech Ventures, with participation from existing investors including Sabadell Venture Capital and several family offices.
Zazume has developed a platform that digitises the residential rental lifecycle by combining proprietary technology, artificial intelligence, and financial services. The company works with property owners and real estate agencies to streamline rental management, offering tools designed to improve operational efficiency and enhance the rental experience.
https://proptechconnect.com/zazume-secures-e25m-to-grow-rental-property-management-business
Hypernova Raises $3M Pre-seed
Hypernova raises $3M in pre-seed funding to scale its on-chain proprietary trading platform built on Hyperliquid.
Hypernova, a developer of an on-chain proprietary trading platform built on Hyperliquid, has secured $3 million in pre-seed funding.
Investors
The funding round was led by Lemniscap, with participation from CMS Holdings, Very Early Ventures, Pivot Global, and various angel investors from the Hyperliquid ecosystem.
Hypernova Use of Funds
The company plans to use $1 million of the raised capital to establish a payout reserve, ensuring instant on-chain payouts for traders. The remainder of the funding will support platform development as the company prepares for its public launch.
https://www.thesaasnews.com/news/hypernova-raises-3m-pre-seed
Glassnode spinout Cense raises €6.5 million seed round to transform crypto compliance for banks
Cense, the crypto compliance platform built on Glassnode’s on-chain analytics foundations, has raised €6.5 million in a seed round co-led by G+D Ventures and Rabo Investments.
G+D Ventures and Rabo Investments have co-led a €6.5 million seed round in Cense, the crypto compliance and evidence platform for financial institutions and a 2023 spinout of Glassnode. The round was joined by a group of angel investors and will support the continued European expansion of the Cense platform.
This is a notable moment for Glassnode. Cense is the first venture to be spun out of the company. The decision reflected a clear conviction: one of the largest unmet needs in digital asset markets is the operational gap between crypto-native activity and the traditional banking system. That problem required a dedicated company, led by the same founders and powered by the same on-chain analytics foundations that Glassnode has spent years developing.
https://research.glassnode.com/glassnode-spinout-cense-raises-seed-round
Paypercut Raises EUR 5M Seed Round to Grow the Next Generation of Payments for Online Merchants Across Central and Eastern Europe
Round co-led by Concentric, Passion Capital, and Araya Ventures brings total funding to EUR 7M, accelerating market expansion, new product development, and the company’s EMI license application with the Central Bank of Ireland
SOFIA, Bulgaria, June 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Paypercut, a European fintech payments platform enabling online merchants to accept payments across Central and Eastern Europe through a single integration, today announced a EUR 5M seed round co-led by Concentric, Passion Capital, and Araya Ventures. The round also saw participation from SMOK Ventures, Portfolio Ventures, BrightCap Ventures, BlackWood, SABAH.fund, MFG Invest, Main Set and payments entrepreneur Matt Doka, bringing Paypercut’s total funding to EUR 7M.
Gradient Labs raises fresh $13M
Gradient Labs has picked up new investors Octopus Ventures and CommerzVentures.
An AI startup that has developed AI agents to help financial businesses eliminate repetitive tasks across customer operations has raised a fresh $13m in funding, doubling its Series A raise to $26m, it said today.
Founded by executives from Monzo, Gradient Labs has developed a suite of AI agents to automate operations across areas like customer service and processes such as lending, disputes, and Know Your Customer (KYC) checks.
The $13m Series A extension was led by new investors Octopus Ventures and CommerzVentures with follow-on backing from Redpoint Ventures and Exceptional Capital. It follows Gradient Labs’ Series A $13m raise in April last year, led by Redpoint Ventures. Gradient Labs has raised around $30m in total.
https://tech.eu/2026/06/01/gradient-labs-raises-fresh-13m
Lloyds and Nationwide-backed AI fintech Aveni raises £12 million
AI fintech Aveni has raised a £12 million funding round led by PXN Ventures, and supported by existing investors Puma Growth Partners, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide and Scottish Enterprise.
Founded in 2018, Aveni originated as a University of Edinburgh start up venture. Its products Aveni Assist, an AI productivity solution for advisers and operations teams, and Aveni Detect, its AI compliance monitoring tool – are deployed across some of the UK’s leading banks, wealth managers and financial advisers. Underpinning both is FinLLM, Aveni’s proprietary suite of specialist small language models built for and utilising UK financial services data.
The new funding will be put to the development of a new product, Agent Assure, built to tackle regulatory concerns about AI governance by enabling firms to monitor and manage the conduct risk of AI agents alongside human interactions, in a single unified view.
Natural Raises $30M Series A
Natural, an agentic payments startup, raises a $30M Series A round at a $150M valuation to advance its AI agent payment solutions.
About Natural
Natural is an agentic payment startup focused on the complex domain of letting AI agents move money. Their technology addresses difficult questions about identity, permissions, and accountability in AI-driven financial transactions.
https://www.thesaasnews.com/news/natural-raises-30m-series-a
Honeycomb Insurance Raises $40M to Accelerate its Rise to Category Leadership in Commercial Real Estate Insurance
The financing round led by Zeev Ventures brings AI-native Honeycomb to $95M in total funding, as Honeycomb proves precision underwriting at scale, insures over $100B in assets, widens its product offerings, and expands across the U.S
CHICAGO, IL / ACCESS Newswire / June 4, 2026 / Honeycomb Insurance, a fast-growing digital insurer specializing in apartment buildings and condo associations, announced today that it has raised an additional $40 million in funding. The round was led by Zeev Ventures, with participation from existing investors Ibex Investors, and new investors Peakline, Alpha Partners, Meitar Partners, Practical VC, and former San Francisco 49ers NFL champion Harris Barton. This brings Honeycomb’s total funding to date to $95 million. The new capital will be used to accelerate geographical coverage, improve agent-facing tools, expand product offerings, and further enhance Honeycomb’s proprietary AI-driven underwriting platform.
Forage raises additional $40M to help low-income families save on groceries
SAN FRANCISCO, June 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Forage, the mission-driven financial infrastructure platform, today announced a $40 million Series B funding round. The Series B was led by Mouro Capital, with participation from Nyca Partners, PayPal Ventures, Long Journey Ventures, Intuit Ventures, NextLadder Ventures, Pivotal Ventures, and FJ Labs. Forage also recently launched its new consumer app, a free tool that helps low-income families securely check their EBT balances and get rewarded for everyday purchases. Forage will use this new funding to scale the app and expand the company’s payments infrastructure.
“The cost of groceries is the number-one financial stressor in America,” said Ofek Lavian, co-founder and CEO of Forage. “At Forage, we’re building a network for affordability, making it easy for low-income Americans to save on groceries. At the same time, we’re helping retailers grow by better serving the affordability needs of today’s price-conscious shoppers.”
Pace Raises $46 Million Series B to Build the Next Century of Insurance
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Pace, the AI operations partner for the world’s leading insurers, today announced its $46 million Series B, co-led by Thrive Capital and Sequoia Capital, with participation from Emergence Capital and Pruven Capital.
Pace partners with several public insurers and brokers to provide its cutting-edge technology, including The Mutual Group, Newfront, Prudential, and WTW. Since launching last year, Pace has autonomously completed more than a quarter of a million critical insurance workflows with AI agents for the world’s leading insurers.
“At Pace, we are on a mission to insure more of the world’s risk,” said Jamie Cuffe, founder and CEO of Pace. “Closing the $9 trillion protection gap starts with AI-native operations and Pace agents are purpose built for that work.”
Corgi raises $106m in Series B1 round at $2.6bn valuation
US insurance technology company Corgi has secured $106m in a Series B1 round that values the business at $2.6bn, just weeks after its previous fundraising.
The round was led by TCV, with backing from Prime Capital, Zone 2 Ventures, Oliver Jung, Leblon Capital and Kindred Ventures. 8188 Capital, First Order Fund, GSBackers, Nordstar, Repeat Ventures, Quadri Ventures, Vocal Ventures and other investors also took part.
Corgi said the fresh capital will be used to expand its full-stack insurance platform and support its move into additional segments of the commercial insurance market.
The latest raise follows the company’s Series B announcement on 6 May, when it disclosed $160m in funding at a $1.3bn valuation.
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/corgi-raises-106m-series-b1-113412248.html
Twinco Capital, co-founded and led by women, raises €165M to institutionalise purchase order finance for the first time
Dutch-Spanish fintech Twinco Capital has closed €165M in combined funding, a €15M Series B led by FMO and a landmark €150M securitisation facility led by Banco Santander.
The Santander-backed securitisation is the first of its kind globally: institutional capital structured around purchase order finance, a financing stage the industry had long considered too early and too operationally complex to securitise.
Twinco has processed over $1B in transactions since 2019 with zero losses, the track record that made the securitisation possible.
Trade finance has spent two decades digitising the invoice. Twinco Capital decided to go further upstream, to the moment a purchase order is issued, before a single item is made. That bet just attracted €165 million and the backing of Banco Santander, one of the largest banks in the world.
AlphaSense Raises $350M at $7.5B Valuation, and Surpasses $600M in Annual Recurring Revenue
New funding round led by Vitruvian Partners, Accenture Ventures, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, D. E. Shaw Ventures, and Pinegrove Opportunity Partners, alongside existing investors CapitalG, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, and Viking Global Investors
NEW YORK – June 3, 2026 – AlphaSense, the AI platform redefining market intelligence for the business and financial world,today announced the close of a $350 million funding round valuing the company at $7.5 billion – nearly double its most recent $4 billion valuation and bringing its total funding to well over $1 billion. This new financing follows AlphaSense’s rapid enterprise adoption and strong business momentum, with the company exceeding $600 million of annual recurring revenue in Q1 2026, up from $500 million in October 2025.
Ramp Raises Series F at $44 Billion Valuation
Raises $750 Million to invest further in AI advancements for customers
NEW YORK, June 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Ramp announced a $750 million primary financing round led by ICONIQ, GIC, and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, valuing the company at $44 billion. New investors include Goldman Sachs Alternatives, D.E. Shaw & Co., Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Generation Investment Management, Insight Partners, and BroadLight Capital. Previous investors who participated are Founders Fund, Lightspeed Venture Partners, D1 Capital Partners, T. Rowe Price, General Catalyst, Alpha Wave Global, 137 Ventures, Thrive Capital, Coatue, Sands Capital, Khosla Ventures, 1789 Capital, Avenir Growth, BoxGroup, 8VC, Pinegrove Venture Partners, Definition Capital, and Stripes.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ramp-raises-series-f-at-44-billion-valuation-302791103.html
Kpler Announces Strategic Growth Equity Investment from Sixth Street
Brussels, June 3, 2026 – Kpler, a leading provider of global physical trade intelligence data and analytics, today announced it has secured a minority strategic growth equity investment of over $1 billion from Sixth Street, a leading global investment firm. As part of the transaction, management will remain majority owners of the business, Insight Partners will remain a shareholder and roll a portion of its original investment, and Five Arrows will exit its position in the company.
Founded in 2014, Kpler collects and analyzes physical asset data from a variety of proprietary and wide-ranging third-party sources to drive market transparency and deliver real-time insights to customers across commodities, maritime, and defense end markets.
Kpler will partner closely with Sixth Street to achieve its strategic goals as the company expands further into adjacent markets, continues to pursue its targeted growth strategy, and accelerates new product development.
Every edition, we ask the same quiet question beneath all the noise: where is finance actually going?
This week offered some compelling answers. AI governance is becoming a competitive moat. Crypto compliance is finally meeting banking infrastructure halfway. Agentic payments are no longer theoretical — they are already being built into the rails. And capital, as always, follows the signal before the crowd does.
Whether you are building, backing, or simply trying to stay ahead of the curve, we hope this edition gave you something worth thinking about — and perhaps a call worth making.
If you are working on what comes next in financial services and want to reach our network of 20,000+ readers, get in touch with Samarth Shekhar or Frank Schwab. This newsletter exists because the best ideas in fintech deserve an audience that understands them.
Until next week — keep building forward.