Klarna CEO Raps on Stage… but Guess Which Real Rapper Invested Early?
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
Let’s wrap up the week on a lighter note.
Earlier this week, I shared that video of Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski rapping and dancing at the company’s big bash in Stockholm.
Let’s just say… the LinkedIn comments section made it clear most of you think he should probably stick to BNPL instead of bars 🤣
But it got me thinking—about the actual rapper who backed Klarna early on. Fun fact: I’ve been a fan of his since I was a teenager.
So here’s my Friday question for you: Do you know which rapper invested in Klarna back in the day?
👉 Find out the answer here. And then tell me—were you right, or totally surprised?
Enjoy the weekend, and don’t worry, there’s plenty of serious FinTech news waiting for you just below. 👇
Cheers,
PODCAST
🎤 Lex Sokolin on Robo-Advisors, MetaMask, and Stablecoins. In the latest episode, DashDevs CEO Igor Tomych sits down with Lex Sokolin to explore his influential journey through FinTech, from launching one of the first U.S. robo-advisors in 2009 to scaling MetaMask to over 100 million users. Watch the full podcast here
Robot Money Is Here
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇵🇹 CellPoint Digital showcases One Source Orchestration at World Aviation Festival. Next week, CellPoint will attend the World Aviation Festival in Lisbon as a sponsor of one of the travel industry’s premier events. It will spotlight its OSO platform, which enables travel merchants to orchestrate, optimise, and manage the full payment journey, empowering agile, offer-driven commerce.
🌍 payabl. joins the European Payments Initiative to expand Wero access for merchants and PSPs. By integrating as a direct acquirer, payabl. enables merchants, as well as other payment service providers, across Europe to offer instant, secure account-to-account payments, cutting costs at checkout while giving customers the speed and convenience they demand.
🇬🇧 Ecommpay reinforces its retail credentials with a Silver win at the eCommerce Awards and a shortlisting in the RTIH Payments Innovation Awards. The eCommerce Awards aim to recognize initiatives and products that drive progress in the online retail sector. Ecommpay's Silver award highlights features it has added to its payment journey, including a 'Try again' option for failed payments and a dynamic listing of currency choices.
🇬🇧 Payments unicorn Zeller expands into the UK market. Zeller, a Melbourne payments start-up valued at $1 billion, will spend $20 million over the next year to fund an aggressive expansion into the United Kingdom, its first international market. Keep reading
🇬🇧 Corpay joins the UK’s elite faster payments service, a milestone that reinforces Corpay’s commitment to enhancing its global payments infrastructure while delivering faster and more efficient service for clients operating in GBP. With this new capability, clients can now directly benefit from Faster Payments within the UK.
🇨🇦 Mastercard launches Small Business Navigator in Canada to enable small business resilience. The suite of resources offers free economic insights, cost-saving opportunities, and cybersecurity resources, reinforcing Mastercard's commitment to the small business community that goes far beyond payments.
FINTECH RUNNING CLUB
🌟Introducing Stockholm's Host! We're excited to share more about Ihor Harkusha, host to the FinTech Running Club family. 🙌 Get ready to run, connect, and grow the community together. 👉 Join the next run in Stockholm!
OPEN BANKING NEWS
🇬🇧 Ecommpay launches Scalable Open Banking Suite. Ecommpay has launched a new open banking ecosystem, offering instant, secure, and scalable payment solutions with 85% coverage across the EEA and UK. The suite includes three products: Standard A2A, Open Banking Advanced, and Open Banking Select.
🇪🇸 Getnet CEO shares insights in the Capgemini World Payments Report 2026. His perspective highlights how these innovations help merchants scale securely, expand globally, and enhance customer experiences. Getnet remains committed to driving innovation and shaping the future of payments.
REGTECH NEWS
🇬🇧 Revolut receives more fraud complaints than any other bank for the third year running. Revolut customers have submitted a total of 3,208 fraud complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service as of 2025 to date, according to a Freedom of Information request.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🌍 Trade Republic introduces child savings products in France and Spain. In France, the new Child Savings Plan offers free ETF savings plans and passes on the full ECB interest rate of 2% annually, with certain Vanguard ETF fees reimbursed until the child turns 18. In Spain, the Child Account mirrors the same conditions as adult accounts, offering unlimited savings at 2.02%, positioning Trade Republic ahead of local rivals.
🇧🇷 Neon and Creditas report losses in the first half of the year; PicPay and C6 increase profits. Expanding credit portfolios, rising revenues, and cost management are highlights for non-publicly traded FinTechs in the first six months of 2025. Continue reading
🇿🇦 Capitec hits 25 million clients as profits surge 26%. The Bank announced headline earnings that surged 26% to R8 billion for the six months ending August 2025, capping off another period of impressive growth that has left traditional competitors scrambling to keep pace.
🇪🇸 BBVA lets customers use Apple AI to create their own card designs. BBVA customers in Spain with an iPhone 15 Pro or a newer model can head to the cards section in their banking app, select the Visa card they want to personalise, and either use one of their own images as a base or describe the image they want to create.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇬🇧 BVNK will host a new episode of Currency LIVE: Crypto crime – myths vs reality featuring Chris Harmse in conversation with Simone Maini, CEO of blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, which recently secured a strategic investment from HSBC. The session will explore key crypto myths, the implications of blockchain transparency, and how to manage financial crime risks in the age of stablecoins. Register Here
🇬🇧 BVNK surpasses $20bn in annualized processing volume. BVNK CEO Jesse Hemson-Struthers stated that the company is turning stablecoin-powered payments into a reality, highlighting that in just four years, BVNK has built infrastructure enabling businesses and their customers to transact securely and seamlessly across borders.
🇧🇷 Binance and Mastercard Launch Crypto Card in Brazil. The Binance Mastercard allows registered users to make purchases using cryptocurrencies from their wallets at over 150 million Mastercard-accepting establishments worldwide. Through a streamlined process, users can use the Binance platform to convert cryptocurrencies.
🌍 BBVA teams with SGX FX to launch retail crypto trading in Europe. The integration, marking a first for the European market, the companies said, will initially support bitcoin and ether, offering 24/7 trading with the same framework BBVA uses for foreign exchange.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇦🇪 Nium and Emirates NBD Expand Real-Time Payments in the UAE and Plan Saudi Launch. Yousuf Saeed Mohd, Group Head of Priority and Personal Banking and Retail Banking Sales at Emirates NBD, emphasized the bank’s commitment to innovation, stating that its growing partnership with Nium enhances the delivery of fast, secure, and affordable remittance services across multiple markets.
🇬🇧 Yeeld and WealthKernel team up to simplify money management and investing. Through this partnership, Yeeld will use WealthKernel’s API-first infrastructure, including account wrappers such as ISAs, GIAs, and SIPPs. Keep reading
🌍 MoneyGram and Plaid expand open banking partnership to Europe. Following its successful U.S. launch, the integration now enables MoneyGram customers in Europe to easily connect and authenticate their bank accounts through Plaid's trusted open banking technology, providing a new seamless and secure option to fund international payments across key European markets.
🇸🇦 Thunes and Banque Saudi Fransi ally to revolutionize cross-border payments. This collaboration will enable BSF consumers and businesses to send fast, affordable, and secure international money transfers with real-time speed and an enhanced customer experience.
🇨🇳 Worldline and YeePay sign a strategic partnership to unlock cross-border payment opportunities in China’s aviation and travel sector. Travellers, in turn, will be able to pay using their preferred methods, whether local card schemes, international credit cards, or digital wallets, reducing friction and supporting the growth of cross-border air travel.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇮🇩 Honest expands equity funding to $100M. The company will use the new capital to expand its flagship Honest Card into corporate and co-branded cards, drawing inspiration from Nubank, Ramp, and Imprint in the Americas, but designed for Asia.
🇬🇧 Thought Machine lands £45M funding round after losses widen. “The funding supplements the company’s cash position and will be used to finance the company’s growth and continued investments in its product development,” the firm said in a statement.
🇧🇷 Kanastra raises $30 million series B from F-Prime to spearhead Brazil's private credit infrastructure development. The new capital will be used to accelerate product development, deepen automation across the private credit funds lifecycle, and expand Kanastra's client base.
🇺🇸 Better Tomorrow Ventures closes $140M and remains bullish on FinTech. Sheel Mohnot, co-founder of BTV, believes FinTech remains a strong investment opportunity, citing the sector’s vast untapped potential in financial services that are still not fully digitized. He aims to accelerate this transformation.
🇺🇸 Baselane announces $34M in new funding, debuts AI-powered tools to automate banking and bookkeeping for real estate investors. Baselane will use the new round of funding to scale its go-to-market efforts and accelerate product innovation, transforming how individual real estate investors operate and make decisions.
🇨🇭 Swiss Teylor lands €150M to scale its pan-European SME financing platform. This new funding will power the expansion of Teylor’s factoring business across seven European countries, strengthening its role in making SME financing more accessible and technologically advanced.
🇺🇸 DualEntry has raised a $90M Series A. Built from the ground up with AI, DualEntry aims to disrupt the legacy ERP market with a modern platform offering a full accounting suite, including general ledger, accounts receivable and payable, bank integrations, audit controls, and FP&A tools.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🌍 Backbase makes wealth management push with Senior hires in the US, Asia, and Europe. Joseph Sullivan has joined as Senior Director of Strategic Accounts in the US. In Singapore, Kai Jebens has been named Regional Sales Director, and Piotr Wybieralski has been appointed Senior Sales Director in Switzerland, based in Geneva.
🇬🇧 SumUp names Luke Griffiths UK CEO. Griffiths will oversee SumUp’s strategic expansion into new verticals and champion the rollout of an ever-broader product ecosystem designed to empower merchants of all sizes. Read more
🇸🇬 Banking Circle appointed Kirit Bhatia as its new Chief Digital Assets Officer. His leadership will support the development of embedded digital asset solutions, enabling clients to manage fiat and digital assets side by side, with secure, 24/7 treasury services and competitive yields across major currencies.
🇦🇺 John Cox has been appointed CEO of Sydney-based payments company Linkly. He said Linkly appealed to him as it combines technology, banking, and retail, aligning perfectly with his career background, and noted the company’s widespread presence in everyday transactions.
🇦🇪 ADCB poaches Emirates NBD's digital Chief, Pedro Sousa Cardoso. Cardoso brings extensive international experience, having previously worked at Portuguese digital bank Banco Best, Denmark's Saxo Bank, and in various digital leadership roles at Standard Chartered across multiple markets.
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