Monzo is exploring a new fundraising round at a £7.5 BILLION valuation

Hey FinTech Fanatic!

Monzo is going back to venture capital.

According to the Financial Times, the UK neobank is exploring a new fundraising round at a valuation of around £7.5 billion.

It’s been quite a journey to get here. Nubank explored buying Monzo for around £10 billion, but those talks fell apart. Monzo then discussed selling a stake of up to 15% to private equity firms, reportedly at an £8 billion valuation. Those talks have stalled too.

The new money would help fund Monzo’s European expansion, and there’s plenty to fund. Monzo now has more than 16 million customers and recently launched in Ireland and Spain.

What I find interesting is that the business itself looks strong. In the year to March 2026, revenue grew 39% to £1.7 billion. And even at £7.5 billion, Monzo would be valued well above the £4.5 billion it was worth in 2024.

So the question was never really whether investors want in. It’s at what price.

The big question now is whether this round is Monzo’s last stop before an IPO. Definitely one to watch.

Anyway, plenty more happened in FinTech today.

Let’s dive in, and I’ll be back in your inbox on Monday!

Cheers,

Marcel

FINTECH RUN CLUB

🏃♂️ New York, we're running again! FinTech Run Club is teaming up with Rain, Monk, and JPMorgan for a fun morning along the Hudson. We've got three pace groups, plenty of great FinTech company, and coffee and pastries waiting at Hungry Llama afterwards, courtesy of our partners! ☕ 

Come for the run, stay for the conversations, and bring a friend along! Save your spot. See you there! 🙌 

INSIGHTS

💡 Triple-A Stablecoin Payments for Gaming Platforms: How to Reach More Paying Players. Triple-A explores how stablecoins can help gaming platforms expand their customer base, reduce payment costs and accelerate global payouts. With more than 700 million digital currency holders worldwide, stablecoin payments offer an alternative for players who lack access to traditional cards. According to Triple-A, these customers spend 25% more per order, while stablecoin transactions can cost less than 1% compared with 2–7% for international card payments. The guide also examines checkout integration, app store restrictions and how gaming marketplaces G2G and OffGamers achieved a 190% year-over-year increase in stablecoin transaction volume. Explore the full guide here

FINTECH NEWS

🇺🇸 TransPerfect launches new Bablic website translation platform for SMEs. The updated platform lets businesses translate websites without coding, manage multilingual SEO and integrate with major CMS and e-commerce platforms. Pricing is based on website traffic rather than word counts.

🇳🇬 OPay halts its US IPO after a Chinese regulatory inquiry. The Nigeria-focused payments firm and its underwriters terminated the roughly $300M offering hours after pricing. OPay cited an inquiry in a jurisdiction immaterial to its operations. The company has no operations or revenue in China.

🌎 Mercado Libre's Q3 revenue rises 45% YoY to $10.75B. On an FX-neutral basis, net revenue and financial income grew 41%. Net income reached $448M, while operating income fell 6% to $676M amid higher shipping and marketing spend.

🇬🇧 Zilch's FY26 revenue rises 36% to £147.5M. GMV grew 28% YoY to £2.4B in the year to March 2026, with an adjusted loss before tax of £5.3M. Zilch has also agreed to acquire Fjord Bank in Lithuania, subject to regulatory approval.

🇲🇾 Philippine digital lender Skyro launches loans in Malaysia. New customers can borrow up to RM1,000 for up to four months at a fixed 1.5% monthly rate, after Skyro secured online moneylending approval in September. The firm has more than 7 million registered users at home.

🇬🇧 FCA to launch quantum computing experimentation group to tackle financial crime. Starting in Q1 2027, the Quantum Experimentation Group will explore how quantum machine learning could detect money laundering and fraud using an FCA synthetic dataset. Firms can register interest until 31 December.

🇪🇺 Plumery reports 6x ARR growth as banks adopt its AI development platform. The banking technology firm, led by former Mambu CTO Ben Goldin, says the number of banks onboarded rose fivefold over the past year. A new product is due for formal announcement in the new year.

🇺🇸 Global Payments' Q3 adjusted net revenue rises to $3.18B. Adjusted EPS grew 10% YoY to $3.58, and normalised adjusted net revenue, including Worldpay, grew over 4%. The company raised its Worldpay synergy target to $650M and reaffirmed its 2026 outlook.

PAYMENTS NEWS

🇸🇬 Finmo launches multi-currency Business Account for cross-border SMEs. Businesses can collect in more than 45 currencies, hold over 27 and pay to more than 195 countries and territories. Finmo, backed by PayPal Ventures and Citi Ventures, holds 11 licences across eight markets.

🇸🇬 Pyvio secures Major Payment Institution licence from MAS. The licence, in effect since 1 November, covers account issuance, domestic and cross-border transfers, merchant acquisition and e-money issuance, laying the foundation for licensed operations in Singapore.

🇬🇧 Amazon launches Seller Wallet in GBP for UK sellers. Sellers can make fast and free transfers to UK bank accounts and send international payments in more than 20 currencies. The service follows USD and EUR versions launched in 2022 and 2025.

🇸🇬 PayPal says Singapore businesses average 135,000 daily cross-border transactions. Gaming, fashion and digital goods led the top categories between July 2025 and June 2026, according to PayPal's internal data. Pay Later baskets averaged 2.4x the size of other orders.

🇧🇩 VEON's Banglalink launches Mukto Pay in Bangladesh. The digital payments platform lets users send money, pay bills, top up mobile accounts and pay at more than 9,500 merchants. Banglalink received its PSP licence from Bangladesh Bank in August. 

🇸🇬 Visa sets up six global technology hubs in Singapore. Around 1,500 staff at a new Paya Lebar Green centre will work on agentic AI, next-generation payments including stablecoins, and cybersecurity, with solutions deployed across Visa's global network.

#FINTECHREPORT

💡 Wise: Q2 FY27 Results: Cross-Border Volume Reaches $71.7B as Business Transfers Grow 32%. Wise reported 12.5M active customers (+20% YoY), $71.7B in cross-border volume (+22%) and $739.1M in net revenue (+21%). Business cross-border volume grew 32% to $22.3B, outpacing the 18% growth in personal transfers. At the same time, the cross-border take rate declined to 49bps from 52bps a year earlier, while 78% of transfers were completed instantly. Wise also raised its FY27 net revenue growth outlook to 17.5–20% on a constant-currency basis. Read the full Q2 results breakdown here

DIGITAL BANKING NEWS

🇸🇪 Klarna rolls out anti-scam call verification globally. The Call Status Detection feature, launched in the Nordics in September, shows a green or amber in-app banner during calls. It is on by default for iOS users in all 26 markets.

🇫🇷 Crédit Mutuel Arkéa confirms cyberattack enabled fraudulent transactions. The French bank says no customers will lose money but has not confirmed the $133M figure that ZachXBT traced through crypto exchange withdrawals. Some transactions were temporarily suspended and some funds frozen.

🇧🇷 Nubank only US-listed Brazilian FinTech to beat the market after Lula's win. Brazil Reports says Nu was the only one of seven US-listed Brazilian FinTechs to outperform after Lula won the 25 October runoff against Flávio Bolsonaro.

🇺🇸 Chime's Q3 revenue rises 32% YoY to $718M. The neobank posted net income of $44M, its third straight GAAP-profitable quarter, as Active Members grew 20% to 10.9 million. Chime raised its Q4 and full-year 2026 outlook.

🇧🇷 Revolut uses the São Paulo Grand Prix to push into Brazil. The company is promoting a limited-edition card around Brazilian driver Gabriel Bortoleto's home race. Revolut, which entered Brazil in 2023, aims for a full banking licence, subject to central bank approval. 

PODCAST RECOMMENDATION

💡 Incognia: The AI Agent Is Verified. What Can Go Wrong? In a webinar with About Fraud, Incognia CEO André Ferraz, Fifth Third Bank Fraud Director Magesh Nepolian and About Fraud Co-Founder PJ Rohall explore the emerging risks of AI-driven banking. The discussion highlights why verifying an agent and its permissions isn't enough: even authorized agents can be manipulated into making fraudulent payments. Key topics include transaction intent, recipient risk, device intelligence, physical-world relationships and when banks should require additional customer verification. The central takeaway: banks must assess whether an agent's actions make sense for the customer, not simply whether the agent is legitimate. Explore all the details here 

BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS

🇺🇸 Morgan Stanley begins tokenising US stocks and Treasuries via DTCC. The bank is among the first to use DTCC's Tokenization Service, which launched on 28 October on Canton Network and Hyperledger Besu. More than 20 firms, including JPMorgan and Citi, have signed on.

 🌐 Binance and Polymarket propose Polygon hard fork to recover $6.8M in stolen POL. The proposal covers about 70.49 million POL already frozen by block producers. It requires governance approval and testnet trials on Amoy, with no date set for a mainnet fork.

🇮🇳 CERT-In warns AI-assisted hacker group is targeting Indian crypto and FinTech firms. The critical advisory says the group, dubbed CRAFTY FALCON, stole crypto exchange wallet keys and triggered unauthorised transfers through payment APIs. No affected firms or losses were disclosed.

🇰🇷 South Korea proposes a fourth delay to its crypto gains tax, now to 2029. Finance Minister Lee Hyoung-il said the government will consult lawmakers on postponing the 22% tax on annual gains above ₩2.5M, currently due to start in January 2027.

🇺🇸 Anchorage Digital applies for CFTC swap dealer registration. The application for Anchorage Digital Swap Dealer is under NFA review. If approved, the firm plans to offer European-style bitcoin and ether options with maturities of up to one year.

STABLECOINS NEWS

🇸🇬 Triple-A CEO says stablecoins will complement traditional payment networks. Eric Barbier estimates stablecoins could reach 15–20% of cross-border payments but does not expect them to replace SWIFT, citing Farfetch's stablecoin customers spending 56% more per order.

PARTNERSHIPS

🇦🇪 Wio Bank and Masdar City Free Zone sign MoU on digital banking. More than 2,800 organisations in the Abu Dhabi free zone will gain access to Wio Business accounts and payroll, while employees can use Wio Personal salary banking. No launch date was given.

🇪🇬 Industrial Development Bank and ElTarek sign deal on co-branded Mastercard credit cards. The Titanium, Platinum and World Elite cards will be offered to ElTarek's new car buyers and service centre customers in Egypt, supporting IDB's retail banking strategy.

🇵🇱 Revolut launches BLIK Global for customers outside Poland. Around 2.2 million customers abroad with an active PLN wallet can now use BLIK to pay in Polish shops and withdraw cash at Polish ATMs. It does not extend to in-store payments abroad.

🌐 Yuno adds Ecommpay to expand payment methods in Europe and Asia-Pacific. Through a single Yuno integration, enterprise retail and subscription merchants can access Ecommpay's cards, instant payments, Open Banking in 11 European markets and more than 100 local methods.

🇺🇸 American Express takes NBA and WNBA partnerships to international markets. Starting with the 2026-27 season, the multi-year expansion will include NBA Global Games in Mexico City, Paris and Manchester, alongside a new agreement with USA Basketball.

🇦🇪 ADIB launches 24/7 real-time EGP transfers to Egypt via Visa Direct. Customers can send money through the ADIB Mobile App to eligible bank accounts across Egypt, including on weekends and public holidays. ADIB is the first UAE bank to offer this through Visa Direct.

🇬🇧 Experian and Vanquis sign multi-year strategic partnership. The lender will use Experian's data, analytics and fraud tools, including Hunter and CrossCore, to improve eligibility assessment and fraud prevention across its credit card and vehicle finance operations.

🇺🇸 Forter and Marqeta bring pre-authorisation risk intelligence to card issuers. Issuers on Marqeta's platform can use Forter's risk signals alongside Marqeta's Real-Time Decisioning and AI-powered Risk Score to reduce fraud and false declines. No go-live date was given.

🇺🇸 Tabs launches embedded payments with Adyen. Adyen is the first payments partner behind the new Tabs Pay, which lets finance teams bill, collect and reconcile card and ACH payments. It is available to new and existing Tabs customers.

🇺🇸 Cash App Pay goes live on GoFan high school sports ticketing. The PlayOn Sports platform is the first national high school ticketing provider to offer Cash App Pay, now available nationwide. The deal includes marketing across PlayOn brands such as MaxPreps.

🇺🇸 Global Payments becomes NASCAR's official merchant services provider. The multi-year deal covers payments and merchant services for ticketing across 12 NASCAR-owned racetracks, including Daytona International Speedway. Global Payments serves 160 stadiums and venues worldwide.

🇺🇸 Global Payments named commerce technology provider for the University of Memphis Tigers. Its Genius point-of-sale platform will run food and beverage operations at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, handling order and payment volumes during peak game-day periods.

🌐 Hadron by Tether partners with RedStone on tokenised asset infrastructure. Issuers on Hadron gain access to RedStone's price and NAV feeds and RedStone Settle, which enables T+0 settlement and liquidity for eligible tokenised assets through an auction mechanism.

🇪🇸 CaixaBank extends AI cybersecurity partnership with Palo Alto Networks to 2030. The agreement focuses on AI-driven cyber defence, including joint active defence working groups, within CaixaBank's €5B technology investment plan. No new spending was disclosed.

DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS

🇪🇸 Kabilio raises €10M to put AI agents inside accounting firms. Picus Capital and Visionaries led the round for the Barcelona startup, with CDTI joining. Kabilio now serves just over 500 accounting firms, and its AI agent enters beta in November.

🇬🇧 Monzo explores new fundraising round at £7.5B valuation. The UK digital bank is reportedly considering fresh venture capital funding to support its European expansion. With more than 16 million customers and growing revenue, the potential round would value Monzo above its £4.5B valuation in 2024.

🇧🇷 Paraná Banco raises R$600M through financial notes. The Brazilian bank's eleventh public issuance of financial notes included an additional R$100M allotment, split across two-, three- and four-year series.

🇰🇿 Kazakhstan reportedly invests $100M in crypto funds. According to a post circulating on X, Brevan Howard Digital is among the recipients. The National Bank of Kazakhstan and Alem Crypto Fund have not confirmed the report.

M&A

🇬🇧 Corpay completes sale of UK vehicle maintenance business to OEConnection. The Francisco Partners portfolio company acquired the business for an undisclosed sum. It is Corpay's second Vehicle Payments divestiture this year and is expected to be neutral to its 2026 cash EPS outlook.

AI DEVELOPMENTS

🇺🇸 Visa's new agentic commerce benchmark finds AI models fail 43% of shopping tests. The first round of the Visa Agentic Commerce Benchmark tested 22 models from 12 labs on 15 shopping challenges, with pass rates from 28.9% to 82.2%. Checkout testing will follow.

🇺🇸 Q2's AI assistant earns AIUC-1 certification. Q2 says it is the first digital banking provider to achieve the independent AI agent standard for Q2 Assistant, which will undergo quarterly adversarial testing. Grant Thornton supported the assurance work.

🇬🇧 Early Revolut employees launch AI wealthtech Haido. Co-founders Veronique Barbosa and Tom Reay have opened a waitlist for the consumer wealth app. Backers include Eileen Burbidge and Revolut's first head of risk, Laurence Twelvetrees.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

🇺🇸 NCR Voyix promotes Darren Wilson to President. Previously head of Retail and Payments, Wilson takes on broader leadership responsibilities, while former Candescent chief Brendan Tansill returns to the company as President of Retail and Payments, succeeding Wilson in that role.

🇺🇸 U.S. Bank names Lauren Massuci and Jose Quevedo to payments sales leadership. Massuci, formerly of PNC and Citi, becomes head of Financial Institutions Group Sales, while Quevedo leads Diversified Industries Sales. Both report to Peter Geronimo, head of PMI Sales Distribution.

🇬🇧 Deutsche Bank hires BofA's EMEA rates sales head Plamen Balchev. Balchev, who joined Bank of America in June 2025 after 12 years at JPMorgan, is understood to be joining after gardening leave, eFinancialCareers reports. Both banks declined to comment.

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