Checkout.com Selected by Microsoft for Digital Payment Performance
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
Checkout.com and Microsoft are making a collaboration, and this one really caught my eye.
The global digital payments provider announced that it has been selected by Microsoft to power digital payments across key products in the EMEA region.
This sees Checkout.com deliver card acceptance for a wide range of Microsoft business lines, including Xbox, Microsoft 365, and Microsoft Azure.
“Microsoft has been at the forefront of every major technological shift – from the rise of personal computing to the cloud, and now AI,” said Guillaume Pousaz, CEO and Founder of Checkout.com.
On another note, my beloved team, Ajax Amsterdam, is opening up one of the biggest sponsorship opportunities in European football.
With Ziggo leaving after the 2026/27 season, will a FinTech logo be on the front of the jersey next season? If you think so, hit reply and let me know your thoughts.
See what else is shaping the FinTech industry. 👇See you on Monday!
Cheers,
#FINTECHREPORT
📊 Wise ended FY26 with strong momentum, reaching 11.3 million active customers and £29.4 billion in customer holdings. Despite lowering its take rate, the company continued to grow volumes and revenue, highlighting its strategy of using lower prices to drive adoption. The quarter also marked a major milestone with Wise’s Nasdaq listing. Read the full article here
FINTECH NEWS
🌍 Airtel Africa faces a $515 million deadline as the Airtel Money London IPO race enters its final six weeks. If the IPO is not completed by July 31, the company could face investor put-option obligations estimated at around $515 million, increasing pressure to move forward with one of Africa’s most anticipated FinTech listings.
PAYMENTS NEWS
🌍 Mollie commits €350 million to European expansion. With full coverage of all 30 EEA markets, the company is doubling down on a hyper-localization strategy that combines local payment methods, native-language support, and streamlined onboarding to help businesses expand across Europe more easily.
PODCAST RECOMMENDATION
🎤 DashDevs: Agentic payments explained: the next FinTech shift already started. In episode 151 of the FinTech Garden Podcast, host Igor Tomych and Dumitru Condrea explore the rise of agentic payments, systems that can initiate and execute transactions autonomously. The discussion covers the key challenges around trust, regulation, and adoption that will shape the future of autonomous financial infrastructure. Watch the full podcast here
DashDevs: Agentic Payments Explained: The Next FinTech Shift Already Started
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇭🇰 JPMorgan Chase cuts off Anthropic access for its Hong Kong staff. The decision is linked to licensing and usage restrictions for Greater China, highlighting the growing regulatory and compliance challenges surrounding AI adoption in global financial institutions.
🇦🇺 HSBC Australia caught napping on scams. The proposed AU$35 million penalty follows findings that the bank failed to adequately address rising impersonation scams, with more than 1,000 reports of unauthorized transactions totaling AU$34.6 million and significant delays in resolving customer complaints.
🌍 Revolut’s goal: 20 million retail customers by the end of 2026. Revolut has appointed Wiktor Stopa to lead Growth and Marketing across Central and Eastern Europe and to coordinate activities in Western Europe. Revolut's focus is to deepen market penetration and evolve from a daily spending app into the primary banking relationship for millions of users.
🇮🇪 FinTech platform Revolut adds 100,000 Irish customers. Revolut added 100,000 customers in Ireland during the first half of the year, bringing its total Irish customer base to 3.4 million. The company also reported growing adoption of savings and investment products.
🇵🇷 FV Bank expands beyond digital banking: launches a unified FinTech platform for stablecoins, payments, and programmable finance. The first launch, Stablecoin Invoicing, allows businesses to generate invoices and accept payments in USDC and PYUSD, while upcoming products will include agent-ready virtual cards, API-managed accounts, and stablecoin-powered cross-border payments.
ARTICLE OF THE DAY
📰 5 mobile adoption plays banks are using in 2026 by AppsFlyer. As more than 2 billion people are expected to bank via mobile in 2026, tactics such as web-to-app journeys, email deep linking, branch QR codes, SMS engagement, and onboarding recovery campaigns are helping institutions drive app adoption and strengthen customer relationships. Read the full article here
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇺🇸 Figure Technology secures a $250M funding arrangement with Cross River Bank for crypto-backed loans. The deal provides Figure with additional lending capacity and highlights growing institutional acceptance of digital assets as collateral for traditional credit products.
🇺🇸 BitGo stock surges on $50 million share buyback as value languishes 65% below IPO price. The announcement sent the company's stock up as much as 20%, signaling management's confidence in its long-term outlook despite shares remaining significantly below their IPO price earlier this year.
PARTNERSHIPS
🌍 Noah partners with Aurea Hub to power next-gen European payments. By using stablecoin settlement rails, the partnership aims to reduce FX costs, accelerate settlement from days to minutes, and improve transparency for global commerce.
🇬🇧 Checkout.com selected by Microsoft for digital payment performance. By connecting directly into Microsoft’s Payments API, Checkout.com enables the company to route payments through a single, adaptable system, ensuring a consistent, trusted and high-quality payment experience for millions of consumers and businesses worldwide.
🇩🇪 Mastercard partners with ryd on digital fleet payments platform. The solution combines Mastercard’s virtual card technology with ryd’s mobility platform, enabling drivers to pay for fuel, charging, and vehicle-related expenses while giving fleet managers greater spend control, real-time visibility, and simplified expense management.
🇩🇪 BBVA Germany launches its first credit card for customers in Germany in partnership with Mastercard. This new card is free for active users and offers an initial six-month fee-free trial period for new cardholders to experience its benefits without a fee, while delivering state-of-the-art security features and no foreign exchange fees (FX) worldwide.
🇺🇸 Broadridge joins Anthropic’s Project Glasswing. As part of the initiative, participants will use Claude Mythos Preview, Anthropic’s unreleased frontier model, to strengthen defensive security efforts across foundational systems that represent a significant portion of the world’s shared cyberattack surface.
🇨🇳 Payful launches cloud-based Visa Charge Card Programme via BPC SmartVista. Built on BPC’s SmartVista platform, the solution provides virtual Visa charge cards, real-time transaction visibility, and digital spending controls, supporting businesses with more flexible and scalable payment capabilities.
🇨🇦 EQ Bank launches EQ Bank Business Card, a smart way for Canadian small business owners and entrepreneurs to spend, save, and grow. The card offers high interest and cashback without annual fees, standing firmly on the side of small businesses in a landscape where business payment options often force a trade-off between access, cost and value.
🌍 Payfuture and Atlantic Partners Asia partner to expand cross-border payments. The agreement gives APA and its clients direct access to Payfuture’s local payment infrastructure through a single integration, allowing businesses to move funds into high-growth economies without the need to establish and manage multiple local banking relationships.
🇺🇸 Alchemy's AI-driven identity and payment service gains access to the Visa network. The integration allows AgentCard, a virtual ID and spending card for AI agents, to access Visa Intelligent Commerce to book a vacation, order groceries, or renew a subscription, without the consumer ever touching a checkout screen.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
💰Over the last week, there were eight FinTech deals in Europe, totaling €187m in disclosed funding, including three transactions in the UK, two in France, and one each in Ireland, Poland, and Belgium.
🇺🇿 Tencent-backed FinTech Uzum plans a new funding round as it accelerates growth ahead of a potential IPO within the next two to three years. The Uzbekistan-based FinTech plans to raise additional capital by the end of the year to support its expansion strategy.
🇺🇸 Advertising FinTech Flyweel nabs $2.41 million pre-Seed. The startup offers embedded financing, spend cards, and bill-pay tools that help businesses fund and manage advertising campaigns, and plans to launch its financial products in the U.S. after already processing more than $110 million in ad spend.
🇺🇸 Karta raises $15 million to bring WhatsApp-run U.S. credit cards to global travelers. The startup aims to fill the gap left by the scaling back of American Express’ International Dollar Card program, offering high-credit-limit Visa cards managed through WhatsApp and distributed via private banks and wealth managers.
🇵🇭 K2 Investments injects Pre-Series C Funding into Tonik Digital Bank. The investment comes after Tonik reached cash-flow profitability and surpassed a $60 million annualized revenue run rate. Read more
🇧🇪 Warren raises €10M to reshape retirement savings. The newly raised capital will support Warren’s continued expansion in Belgium and prepare the company for entry into additional European markets. It will also be used to grow its team, further develop its pension and financial coaching products, and scale its platform to serve a larger employee base.
🇨🇭 Range raises $8.3M Series A to unify treasury, risk, and compliance across stablecoins and fiat, Chainwire. The capital that usually underwrites payments rails, banking infrastructure, and compliance software is now underwriting financial infrastructure that spans stablecoins and fiat.
🇸🇬 Apis Partners backs BIPO with a $50m growth investment. The capital injection will be used to accelerate BIPO’s push into key international markets, particularly emerging and high-growth economies, while also funding targeted M&A activity aimed at broadening the company’s global capabilities.
M&A
🇿🇦 Lesaka’s R1.1-billion and Bank Zero deal is delayed. The deal is expected to give Lesaka full banking capabilities and strengthen its position in South Africa’s digital banking market. Continue reading
🇳🇱 Wise acquires Expatica as it deepens support for people living internationally. The deal adds trusted guidance on housing, healthcare, immigration, and local administration to Wise’s ecosystem, reflecting a broader FinTech shift toward becoming a comprehensive partner throughout a customer's international journey rather than just a financial service provider.
🇺🇸 Deluxe to acquire Celero Commerce. The deal strengthens Deluxe’s shift toward higher-growth payments and data services, expands its merchant payments capabilities, and broadens its reach among small and mid-sized businesses through a larger network of banking, software, and distribution partners.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🇬🇧 Klarna appoints Eamon Howard as Group Head of Financial Crime Compliance. The appointment reinforces Klarna’s focus on strengthening anti-financial crime, regulatory compliance, and risk management capabilities as it continues to expand its global financial services platform.
🌏 BitGo appoints Angela Ang as Managing Director of APAC and President of BitGo Singapore. In this role, Ang will lead BitGo’s business growth, market development, and operating infrastructure across Asia-Pacific, with a focus on expanding institutional access to secure, regulated digital asset infrastructure.
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