Salmon raises $140 million to expand lending in the Philippines

Hey FinTech Fanatic!

The Philippines is becoming a serious growth market for digital finance, and Salmon is doubling down with another $140 million in funding.

The banking and lending platform will use the money to scale its existing credit products and roll out new ones, including motorcycle and MSME lending. In less than four years, Salmon has built a business serving millions of Filipinos through its app, backed by a licensed rural bank and a financing company.

One interesting part is its AI-powered credit engine, which can make lending decisions within minutes, including for customers with limited credit histories. The app has reached 9 million downloads and a 4.8 rating on both the App Store and Google Play.

Salmon’s bet is that there’s still plenty of room to expand access to banking and credit in the Philippines, and it’s raising the capital to move faster.

And if you’re not in Vegas for Money20/20 USA, don’t worry. I’m following the event live and bringing you the launches, partnerships, and announcements worth your attention. 👇

Scroll down to see what caught my eye today.

See you tomorrow! 

Cheers,

Marcel

🔴 LIVE FROM MONEY20/20 USA

Not in Vegas? I’ve got you covered.

Money20/20 is always a lot to keep up with. New launches, partnerships, deals, and the occasional announcement that makes you raise an eyebrow.

I’m keeping tabs on what’s happening and bringing you the stories that stand out.

Here’s what caught my eye today:

1. 🌎 Mastercard introduces risk intelligence to enable more secure stablecoin payments. Stablecoin Security launches in North America with Borderless. xyz and Keyrails as initial partners. It flags fraud, scam and sanctions risk before funds move on-chain.

2. 🇺🇸 zerohash launches AUTH to simplify onchain movements. Users can link accounts directly instead of using wallet addresses. AUTH offers 600+ connections reaching about 250 million users across 190+ countries.

3. 🇸🇬 Thunes and Coinbase partner to drive next generation global payments. Coinbase will integrate Thunes' Direct Global Network for payouts to local clearing systems. Thunes will use Coinbase's stablecoin infrastructure for its global network.

4. 🇺🇸 Proof and Circle demo AI agents that verify identity and pay in USDC. At Money20/20, an AI agent will complete an identity gated purchase. It presents a Proof credential over x401, then pays in USDC over x402.

5. 🇺🇸 Matera, Payfinia and Solana Foundation demonstrate new U.S. QR code payment standard at Money20/20. Customers can pay invoices over FedNow, RTP, or USDC on Solana. Funds arrive within seconds and invoice records update automatically.

6. 🇺🇸 TomoIQ launches Money Finder at Money20/20, bringing agentic finance to mainstream consumers. The AI agent from the TomoCredit platform helps consumers lower everyday expenses and explore financial products. It also offers personalized plans to manage debt and prioritize payments.

7. 🇺🇸 World unveils World ID for banking and finance at Money20/20. The suite uses cryptographic proofs such as Proof of Human to enable AI safe experiences, including interactions with AI agents. Bain Capital, Pantera Capital and VanEck Funds are among the initial design partners.

8. 🇺🇸 Comviva and Aduna showcase network intelligence for financial services at Money20/20. The companies will demonstrate how network APIs can strengthen identity verification and detect SIM swaps. Capabilities such as number verification aim to support faster, lower friction onboarding and KYC journeys.

9. 🇺🇸 Fuze Finance partners with Modern Treasury's payments infrastructure for U.S. expansion. The integration provides access to named U.S. accounts in over 100 countries, alongside ACH, FedNow and RTP payment rails. It also enables transfers between U.S. dollars and stablecoins, supporting Fuze's expansion into the U.S. market.

And that’s a wrap!

I’ll be back tomorrow with more from Money20/20. Something tells me there’ll be plenty more to talk about 😉

INSIGHTS

💡 How AI Is Changing the Economics of Fraud Farms, by Incognia CEO André Ferraz. AI is making fraud operations more scalable by automating account creation, app manipulation and account management. In one bank investigation, Incognia linked around 200 devices and more than 4,500 mule accounts to a single apartment. The article explains why banks need to look beyond individual accounts and connect device, location and account activity to identify the infrastructure behind fraud, and make it harder for the same operation to return. Read the full article here

FINTECH NEWS

🇬🇧 Zilch will open a new London HQ at 40 Grosvenor Place, in Victoria. The 33,160 sq ft space will more than double its London office capacity. Zilch expects to move in spring 2027, committing £77 million over 10 years. Keep reading

🇪🇬 Egypt’s FRA approves six FinTech firms to provide non-banking financial services. The approvals support the expansion of digital financial services under the regulator’s framework, broadening the range of FinTech-enabled offerings in Egypt. 

🇮🇳 PhonePe evolves its Share.Market broking platform into PhonePe Invest and launches Portfolio Optimiser. The platform pairs stocks, IPO, mutual fund and F&O offerings with a tool that helps users build, review and optimise portfolios.

🌍 Sumsub expands its Know Your Agent framework with a new KYA Module for MCP. The module lets businesses define exactly what their AI agents can access inside company systems. It strips personally identifiable data before it reaches the agent.

🇸🇪 SEB agrees to pay $33 million to New York’s financial regulator over historical anti-money laundering deficiencies. The investigation focused on customer due diligence and transaction monitoring in its Baltic operations between 2015 and 2019. Read more.

PAYMENTS NEWS

🌎 dLocal data shows local payment methods can lift merchant transaction growth by up to 55%. One merchant in Brazil saw total volume rise 55% within five months of adding Pix. In Peru, Yape overtook cards and drove total transaction volume up more than 25% over six months.

🇦🇷 Clara launches commercial operations in Argentina, as part of its expansion across Latin America. The corporate payments and spend management platform also introduced Clara Global in the country and opened the search for a Country Manager. Clara Global automates between 80% and 90% of expense approvals and rejections.

🇺🇸 Fiserv makes Commerce Hub globally available for enterprise merchants. The platform gives businesses a single integration to access local payment methods, acquiring and commerce services across markets. Commerce Hub is growing more than 100% YoY and offers unified settlement, reconciliation and reporting.

🇮🇹 Satispay launches its Red debit card without a subscription for over 6.5 million users. The release follows nearly 100,000 card requests within weeks of the initial launch, as Satispay surpasses 650,000 IBANs. The account also offers free instant SEPA transfers and interest free installments with Paga in 3.

🇧🇹 StoneX launches Bhutanese Ngultrum payments on its global network, expanding frontier market access. Eligible StoneX Payments clients can facilitate transactions in local currency. The network covers more than 140 currencies and 180 countries.

🇺🇸 NewtekOne's bank subsidiary launches Zelle for small businesses, adding instant payment options. Eligible clients can send and receive payments through the Newtek Advantage portal. Newtek Bank also joined the FedNow and RTP receiving networks.

🇬🇧 Apple faces a potential legal battle in the UK over iPhone tap-to-pay rules. The Competition and Markets Authority plans to require Apple to give competing payment providers access to its digital wallet technology, potentially widening competition in contactless payments. 

🇿🇦 South Africa will open its national payments system to FinTechs, retailers and telecoms in 2027. The reform will allow non-bank providers to connect directly to payment infrastructure, reducing reliance on banks as intermediaries. 

DIGITAL BANKING NEWS

🇺🇸 Equifax expands its open banking solutions with Mastercard  Open Finance insights. Lenders and FinTechs can now use Cashflow Analytics, Payment Risk Insights and Transaction Report alongside Equifax credit data. The move aims to broaden credit access for 76.1 million thin file consumers in the U.S.

🇨🇴 Mexican FinTech Kapital gets initial approval for a bank in Colombia, expanding beyond business lending. The approval would let it offer deposit accounts, savings, and credit. Kapital serves about 350,000 customers and holds a $2B valuation.

🇲🇽 Plata reaches $1B in annualized revenue 3.5 years after launching in Mexico. September revenue of $85M set a $1B annual run rate, CEO Neri Tollardo said. Plata operates as a full bank and has 3.5M active credit card customers.

🌍 Revolut hits a $121.2 billion valuation mark, as IPO talk turns serious. Forge Global marked its shares at $2,125 on October 15, up from a $115 billion secondary sale in July. CEO Nik Storonsky says a public listing is now about two years out. Read more

BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS

🇬🇮 Revolut secures Gibraltar crypto licence to support international expansion. The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission granted a DLT provider licence to a new entity. Revolut Global Digital Assets Limited will support its international crypto services.

🇺🇸 JPMorgan brings its JPM Coin deposit token to Ethereum for institutional clients. Representing US dollar deposits held at the bank, the token enables 24/7 transfers within seconds and can support blockchain payments and settlement of tokenised assets. 

🇺🇸 Proof launches x401, an open protocol letting websites verify who AI agents represent. Consumers can authorize wire transfers, purchases and payment mandates through Proof's agent identity wallet. Its MCP server works with Grok and Claude.

STABLECOINS NEWS

🌎 MoneyGram launches a single global experience for moving and managing money. The updated app and website combine digital money movement, cash access through its retail network and stablecoin powered capabilities. In select markets, consumers can also hold a stable, dollar denominated balance.

🇲🇾 Monfi Bank launches Monfi USD (MUSD), the only regulated stablecoin issued by a bank. It gives institutions and qualified private clients a digital dollar redeemable at par, powered by Estable and Hadron by Tether.

PARTNERSHIPS

🌍 Mastercard partners with Moovn to expand digital payments across East Africa. The five-year collaboration will extend prepaid cards, digital wallets, merchant acceptance and cross-border transfers across the region. Read more 

🌎 Mastercard partners with Extend to bring modern spend management to issuing banks. Extend joins Mastercard's financial operations platform partners in the US and Canada. Banks can offer virtual cards and automated reconciliation on existing card programs.

🇺🇸 Klarna expands its Fiserv partnership to enterprise merchants, after going live at 100,000 U.S. locations via Clover. Klarna will be available on Commerce Hub for the first time, both in store and online. Merchants in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and select European markets will be able to offer pay in 30 days or interest free installments.

🇰🇷 Airwallex and ONE Store sign an MOU to advance a strategic partnership. The agreement aims to support the Korean app marketplace's international expansion and its global developer ecosystem. Both companies will explore ways to simplify global payments for game developers and publishers.

🌍 Santander teams with Nvidia to build new AI banking capabilities. Santander's AI lab is developing tools to evaluate which AI models and agents suit each banking task. The bank is moving toward smaller, specialised models.

🌍 Getnet partners with PingPong to support its expansion into Iberia. The collaboration combines PingPong's cross border B2B infrastructure with Getnet's European acquiring and access to local payment methods like Bizum and MB WAY. PingPong supports over 750,000 businesses and processes over $300bn annually.

🇺🇸 Block selects Marqeta to enable Square Credit Card on the American Express Network. Square will consolidate debit, prepaid, and credit programs on one platform. Existing Square Card accounts will migrate without disrupting cardholders.

🇺🇸 Euronet and Fireblocks extend their partnership to bring stablecoins into card issuing. Banks and FinTechs can launch stablecoin funded card programs on Euronet's Ren and CoreCard platforms. Fireblocks provides the embedded wallet infrastructure that holds and moves the underlying balances.

🇳🇱 Dutch banks and firms are launching a digital ID wallet called MyCheck. Backed by ABN AMRO, Rabobank, ASN Bank, KPN, Achmea and Deloitte, the app will let people prove their identity, verify age and sign documents.

🌎 Mesh partners with Visa to make stablecoin and crypto balances spendable at 175M merchants. Consumers can pay directly from existing wallet app balances across more than 200 countries and territories.

🇵🇭 Paymentology secures a strategic deal to power Asia United Bank's digital payments in the Philippines. Its issuing and real-time processing platform will support AUB's HelloMoney wallet, mobile banking and QR Ph.

🇩🇰 Saxo Bank partners with nine global athletes, including Lando Norris, Gareth Bale and Aryna Sabalenka. The Danish bank will explore their mindset and habits to examine how these principles translate into investing. The initiative is the first of its kind under new owner J. Safra Sarasin, which acquired Saxo this year.

🇬🇧 Morgan Stanley enters the UK savings market through a partnership with Raisin. The bank will offer savings products to UK customers through Raisin’s deposit marketplace, expanding its retail funding beyond its traditional wealth management business.

🇺🇸 Skyfire and Forter partner to strengthen trust in AI-powered commerce at checkout. The collaboration combines Skyfire’s infrastructure for AI agent payments with Forter’s fraud prevention and decisioning technology to help merchants identify trusted AI-driven transactions. Read more.

DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS

🇵🇭 Salmon secures $140 million to double down on growth in the Philippines. The financing will fund scaling its credit line and in store lending plus a nationwide rollout of motorcycle and MSME lending. Its app has 9 million downloads.

🇫🇷 Profitable French accounting company Dougs raises €50 million to accelerate AI automation. The company, based in Lyon, delivers regulated accounting and financial management services to small businesses. Keep reading 

🇺🇸 Credit analytics startup Prism Data raises $20M in Series A funding. The company helps lenders assess credit risk using bank transaction data. Traditional credit reports can miss changes in borrowers' income and spending.

🇬🇧 Digital wallet provider Hyperlayer secures £20 million in funding. The round, led by Flintlock Capital, values the company at £195 million. Led by former Morgan Stanley executive Rob Rooney, Hyperlayer plans to expand its product and engineering teams and grow across the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

🇺🇸 ScribeUp raises $13 million in a Series A round led by Curql Collective. The recurring bill service lets customers identify, cancel and update recurring payments within their bank's app. It serves more than 60 financial institutions, including credit unions, FinTechs and neobanks.

🌍 IFC proposes $7.5M investment in Cauris Finance's Third Wave Fund, backing African FinTech lenders. The senior loan runs five years, with up to 48 months of grace. The fund will channel 60% to MSME working capital lenders.

🇸🇦 Saudi FinTech Vrtx raises $3.6 million in preseed funding. The company builds embedded finance infrastructure for wallets, card issuing, transfers, payouts and transaction processing. Vrtx has received in principle approval for an Electronic Money Institution licence from the Saudi Central Bank.

🇰🇷 South Korea's Devdi raises a follow on round from MYSC to expand rent card payments. The undisclosed round backs Zipup Pay, which lets tenants pay rent by credit card. Devdi will extend into commercial leases and deepen B2B integrations.

M&A

🇰🇷 Finda is set to become the first Korean FinTech to acquire a savings bank. The loan comparison platform agreed in June to buy Daewon Savings Bank for about 12 billion won ($9 million). Finda plans to turn the lender into an AI native bank.

🌎 KORT Payments agrees to acquire AptPay, expanding real time payments and payment orchestration across North America. AptPay offers a single integration across rails including Interac e-Transfer, RTP, FedNow and ACH. The deal extends KORT beyond card acceptance into A2A payments and disbursements.

AI DEVELOPMENTS

🇸🇬 Edvance and CWG launch RealRelay FinTech, bringing tested and rated AI agents to finance. It is the third vertical on RealRelay.ai, where organisations build, test and run AI agents without writing code. Fraud detection is the first use case.

🇺🇸 FXC Intelligence launches an MCP server built on Amazon Web Services. The server uses Amazon Bedrock to connect clients' AI tools directly to its benchmarking and market intelligence datasets. FXC Intelligence plans to add automated regulatory monitoring over the next two years.

🌍 Emirates NBD becomes first MENA bank to run OpenAI GPT models on local infrastructure. The bank is harnessing OpenAI's sovereign AI infrastructure. Its GPT models run on infrastructure hosted inside the country.

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