📈How FinTech Performs: Last Week in 5 Charts
Hey FinTech Fanatic,
If you’ve ever wished you could skip the endless earnings reports and still sound smart at dinner with a VC, I’ve got you covered. 📈
Every week, I publish How FinTech Performs — a sharp, chart-packed recap of how the biggest publicly listed FinTechs moved on the markets. Think: Klarna’s IPO buzz, Revolut’s valuation whispers, PayPal’s latest swings — all boiled down into just 5 clean charts.
It’s quick, visual, and designed to keep you in the know without needing a Bloomberg terminal.
Scroll down for today’s FinTech news, and if you haven’t subscribed yet… what are you waiting for? 😉
Cheers,
FINTECH NEWS
🇺🇸 Klarna lets employees sell shares early in IPO window. In an email, the buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) giant informed staff that it was bypassing the standard six-month lockup period, which normally restricts insiders from selling. The email said vested restricted stock units (RSUs) would be converted into tradable shares.
🇮🇳 Microsoft CEO-backed Groww to make a public filing for India IPO. The firm is seeking to raise between $650 million and $800 million at a valuation of up to $8 billion. If the valuation holds, Groww would become India’s largest brokerage by market value.
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇬🇧 Is the Merchant of Record (MoR) model right for your business? By Andrey Kononenko, Head of Merchant Operations, Solidgate. A Merchant of Record is a third-party provider that takes on full legal responsibility for handling payments, tax compliance, and fraud management on behalf of a business. Read the full article
🇨🇳 Alipay Tap! has rapidly grown its user base to 200 million since its launch in China in June 2024 🤯
The milestone comes just months after surpassing 100 million users in April 2025.
OPEN BANKING NEWS
🇿🇦 EBANX launches integration with Capitec Pay, enabling open banking for cross-border e-commerce in South Africa. Through EBANX, global merchants from verticals such as online retail and subscription services, including streaming, gaming, and Saas, can now offer this cutting-edge payment method to their customers.
REGTECH NEWS
🇪🇺 EU bank watchdogs must be bold in simplifying rules. Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said a further suggestion to bundle various capital buffers for banks is intended to simplify regulation within the existing system of national and European authorities, rather than annul that division of responsibilities.
🇬🇧 Rippling secures FCA authorisation as an Electronic Money Services Institution. This authorization enables Rippling to issue electronic money and provide customers in the United Kingdom with payroll, contractor wallet services, and bill pay, all within its unified workforce platform.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇺🇸 UK FinTech Starling Shifts focus to New York IPO after key hire. Starling is part of a raft of UK FinTechs that are looking to expand to America to rapidly grow their customer base and take advantage of US President Donald Trump’s plans to usher in an era of financial deregulation.
🇦🇷 Nubank recalculates its return to the country due to the "election effect" and reorganizes its plan to compete with Mercado Pago. Inconsistencies in the money supply and the unstable political and economic context that worsened after the election results in the province of Buenos Aires ultimately halted the return to Argentina of Latin America's largest online bank.
🇺🇸 Dave Introduces CashAI v5.5. v5.5 nearly doubles CashAI’s feature set versus prior models and optimizes around Dave’s new fee structure. Dave expects this latest model to deliver expanded access to ExtraCash™ for Dave members, as well as improvements to credit performance and gross profit expansion.
🇬🇧 Revolut is building AI agents for sales, customer service, and more. In its bid to become the go-to financial superapp, it has pursued an ambitious product map with commitments to roll out a wide range of new products, including private banking, crypto derivatives, and rewards-based credit cards.
🇿🇦 Discovery Bank emerges as one of South Africa’s fastest-growing digital banks. Total clients grew by 30% year-on-year, reflecting continued adoption of the bank’s digital-first model and integration with Discovery’s broader ecosystem. Deposits expanded by 26%, supported by its competitive savings offerings, while loan advances grew by 39%, showing increased demand for its credit solutions.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇬🇧 Crypto crime: myths vs reality Event by BVNK. Led by Julia Morrongiello, Head of Corporate Development & Strategy, the event will feature a discussion with Simone Maini, CEO of Elliptic, a global authority in blockchain analytics with roots at Deutsche Bank and Kroll. Click here to register
🇺🇸 Kraken introduces Perps to let traders bet on crypto futures. Kraken has integrated perpetual futures trading directly into its flagship app, aiming to translate a complex, high-risk instrument into an accessible tool for its vast retail user base, not just professional traders.
🇺🇸 The IPO crypto exchange Gemini was over 20 times oversubscribed. Gemini and its bankers have stopped taking new orders for shares, and, in an unusual move, the IPO proceeds will be capped at $425 million. Any further price increase will instead reduce the number of shares sold.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇺🇸 Upwork partners with Wise Platform to enhance international payment infrastructure for global freelancers. This collaboration strengthens Upwork’s payment capabilities by adding Wise Platform as an infrastructure partner, supporting rapid international transfers for freelancers to select markets.
🇩🇪 Sumsub partners with Constructor University on AI research to combat digital fraud. The collaboration aims to develop AI-based solutions to address risks to democratic institutions and digital identities, and to counter synthetic fraud. Continue reading
🇸🇪 Zimpler connects with Swish. With Zimpler’s direct participation, businesses of all sizes can now access Swish faster, at lower cost, and with greater stability. With account-to-account (A2A) payments growing rapidly across Europe, Swish’s opening to new types of operators could accelerate competition with card networks and change the role of banks in the payment ecosystem.
🇵🇭 LemFi & GCash team up to help 94 million Filipinos receive Instant remittances. With this partnership and the now-concluded integration, Filipinos in North America and Europe (including the United Kingdom) can send money directly to their GCash wallets right within the LemFi app.
🇸🇻 Tether's USDT0 on X Layer and OKX: A step toward unified stablecoin liquidity. The integration brings USDT0 to millions more across the OKX ecosystem and beyond, unifying stablecoin liquidity across some of the most widely used chains in DeFi.
🇿🇦 Binance Pay and Zapper partner to bring crypto payments to 31,000 South African merchants. Merchants are now able to accept crypto via Binance Pay, which means crypto can now be part of everyday routines, from grabbing a quick meal to buying essentials, or filling up at a petrol station.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇺🇸 Eloquent AI raises $7.4M in Seed Funding. The company intends to use the funds to grow its engineering team in San Francisco and expand its AI Operator capabilities into new verticals, including fraud, payments, lending, and onboarding. Keep reading
🇿🇦 Street Wallet raises R6.2M to accelerate digital payments for informal vendors. With the investment, the company plans to invest in marketing and outreach efforts to increase user acquisition and expand its services to reach more vendors and small businesses in South Africa.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🇲🇦 British bank Revolut recruits a lobbyist to work in the kingdom. The British online bank has selected Hatim Benjelloun to represent its interests and assist in establishing its presence in Morocco. Read more
🇺🇸 Thread Bank appoints Dan Chang as Chief Compliance Officer. In a statement, Thread says its latest hire will "serve as the key legal and compliance advisor to the executive team and board", managing all legal affairs while overseeing the bank's partnerships and compliance framework.
🇮🇳 FinTech platform BillCut appoints Anupam Bhat as CFO. “The opportunity to leverage technology and financial expertise to make a tangible difference in how millions of Indians manage and reduce their debt is truly inspiring. I look forward to helping BillCut scale responsibly with accessible and affordable solutions,” Bhat said in a prepared statement.
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