SoFi Pushes Further Into AI-Powered Investing

Hey FinTech Fanatic!

SoFi has acquired Composer, a startup that helps investors build and automate trading strategies using AI.

The deal comes as more investment platforms look for ways to bring sophisticated investing tools to retail customers, something that was traditionally reserved for professional traders and institutions.

We're already seeing this trend accelerate. Robinhood recently introduced AI-powered investing tools, and now SoFi is making its move through acquisition.

The question is no longer whether AI will become part of investing. It's how quickly investors will start using it.

And speaking of companies building financial infrastructure at scale, keep scrolling for a side-by-side comparison of Mastercard and Visa. The numbers show two very different strategies behind two of the world's largest payment networks.

See what else is shaping the FinTech industry. 👇 See you tomorrow!

Cheers,

Marcel

#FINTECHREPORT

📊 Mastercard 🆚 Visa

Two of the world's largest payment networks. Here is a comparison of 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘀👇

FINTECH NEWS

🇮🇳 Kalshi adds India to the restricted list after the prediction market ban, preventing users in the country from trading event contracts. The move follows regulatory pressure from Indian authorities, which recently warned that prediction market platforms may be operating illegally and sought to restrict access to such services.

🇿🇦 Capital.com enters South Africa with dual local licences: an Over-the-Counter Derivatives Provider (ODP) licence and a Category 1 Financial Services Provider (FSP) authorisation. The ODP licence allows the broker to operate as a market maker, while the lower-tier FSP licence is for marketing and promotional activities.

🇳🇬 Cardtonic adds stablecoin funding to its virtual dollar cards, enabling near-instant cross-border payments. The update lets users move from holding stablecoins to spending in dollars almost instantly, without routing through traditional banking rails or exchange fees.

PAYMENTS NEWS

🇪🇺 Digital Euro clears key hurdle to rollout in EU parliament. The proposed legislation supports both online and offline versions of the digital currency, keeping the European Central Bank’s target of launching a digital euro by 2029 on track. Keep reading

DIGITAL BANKING NEWS

🇳🇿 FinTech Revolut launches a business platform for New Zealand SMEs aiming for 'north of 50,000' business customers over the next five years. The company aims to address pain points faced by SMEs by offering a unified platform for payments, payroll, cards, and expense management. 

🇳🇱 bunq opens banking-as-a-service to industry. The platform enables businesses to build financial products on top of bunq’s API, leveraging the neobank’s banking, security, and payments capabilities while expanding its reach across the European technology ecosystem.

🇮🇹 bunq focuses on Italy with the launch of the Italian IBAN. Users can now have an Italian IBAN alongside five other European IBANs (Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, and Ireland), giving them complete freedom to manage every part of their financial life through fully functional accounts in one app.

BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS

🇱🇺 Ripple secures a preliminary MiCA CASP License, enabling full-scale payment services across Europe. The CASP license, combined with Ripple’s existing EU Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence, will mean that European banks, FinTechs and corporates can access Ripple’s full cryptoasset and stablecoin payments infrastructure through a single integration for the first time.

🇺🇸 Bullish becomes the first centralized exchange to list SoFiUSD, SoFi's bank-issued US dollar stablecoin. The move brings the first stablecoin issued by a U.S. national bank into institutional crypto markets, highlighting the growing convergence of regulated banking and digital assets.

🇺🇸 Anchorage aims to bring banks on-chain with a new tokenized deposit platform. The platform is designed to help financial institutions offer 24/7 payments and settlement services, reflecting growing interest in bringing regulated bank money onto blockchain-based rails without replacing existing core banking systems.

🇺🇸 U.S. Senate passes housing bill that carries a four-year ban on a Fed CBDC. While the Fed was not actively pursuing a CBDC, the provision reflects growing political opposition to central bank digital currencies in the U.S. Read more

🇬🇭 A Ghanaian-founded crypto exchange is exploring a new equity raise after completing a seed funding round that valued the company at several million dollars. Hyro Exchange is in discussions with international investors as it seeks capital to support regulated expansion across Ghana and other African markets.

PARTNERSHIPS

🇲🇩 The Government of the Republic of Moldova and Mastercard launch a digital country partnership. This initiative is designed to accelerate the country's digital agenda by leveraging Mastercard's global expertise, innovative payment technologies and data-driven insights to expand inclusion, empower businesses, and enhance the efficiency and accessibility of public services.

🇦🇪 HSBC and Mastercard accelerate growth of digital B2B payments with launch of mobile virtual card solution. The new solution connects businesses to a comprehensive range of benefits through Mastercard’s mobile virtual card app, which enables virtual commercial cards to be effortlessly added to digital wallets.

🇺🇦 Mastercard and PrivatBank complete Ukraine’s first payment executed by an AI agent. Mastercard’s agentic framework process brings AI agents into the payment flow as visible, governed participants, ensuring that every transaction is secure, transparent, and trusted.

🌍 PayPal Cooperates with PPRO to add 30+ local payment methods, helping merchants convert more international shoppers. The expansion helps merchants better serve international shoppers by offering the payment options people already know and trust in their local markets.

🇸🇬 BitGo Singapore & dtcpay forge a regulated payments deal. Under the arrangement, dtcpay will use BitGo Singapore's infrastructure to support its payment network, improve asset security and strengthen operational resilience. The partnership is intended to help businesses and institutions add digital assets to payment flows while meeting regulatory requirements.

🌎 Nilos and VelaFi connect live payment rails across Asia, Europe, LATAM and the U.S. The partnership combines regulated payment infrastructure on both sides of a transaction, helping businesses access global settlement and payout networks without establishing local banking relationships.

🇺🇸 Intercontinental Exchange and OKX establish a joint venture. Subject to certain regulatory approvals, it is expected that the joint venture will operate as a U.S. registered broker dealer and FCM for the purpose of enabling OKX’s customers in the U.S. and overseas to access ICE futures and NYSE tokenized equities markets.

DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS

💰 Over the last week, there were twelve FinTech deals in Europe, totalling €255.6m in disclosed funding, including three transactions in the UK, two in Spain, two in France, two in the Netherlands, one in Germany, one in Belgium, and one in Switzerland. 

🇸🇬 Libeara raises US$14 million to expand tokenisation infrastructure. The Singapore-based company will use the funding to support its global expansion and scale its tokenisation infrastructure for regulated digital assets. Read on

🇺🇸 Lama AI raises $12 million in Series A to bring AI agents to banking. The company plans to use the new capital to expand its go-to-market, sales, and marketing teams and to meet growing demand from banks across the United States.

M&A

🇺🇸 Backbase acquires Kasisto, leading the industry shift to Agentic Banking. The deal adds Kasisto’s agentic AI technology and banking-specific intelligence, enabling Backbase to help banks automate customer interactions and workflows through AI agents designed for regulated financial services.

🇺🇸 AI FinTech FUTR acquires a promising platform with a massive consumer base. The deal is expected to strengthen FUTR’s AI-driven lead generation strategy and increase its revenue base by more than 50%, while creating cross-selling opportunities with its payments business.

🇺🇸 Franklin Templeton completes acquisition of 250 Digital. The move expands Franklin Templeton’s active cryptocurrency investment capabilities and reinforces its commitment to serving institutional investors in digital assets. Read more

🇺🇸 FusionIQ acquires Marstone, combining their platforms to expand digital wealth management capabilities for banks, credit unions, and advisors. The deal strengthens FusionIQ’s position in WealthTech and accelerates the delivery of AI-enabled financial planning and digital investment solutions.

🇺🇸 SoFi deepens AI-powered trading ambitions with Composer deal. The deal aims to make sophisticated, institutional-style investing tools more accessible by allowing users to build, test, and execute trading strategies using plain-language prompts.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

🇬🇧 Starling appoints former HSBC Europe CEO Colin Bell as Chair. This strategic leadership transition aims to bolster Starling's international expansion and SaaS growth via its Engine platform, leveraging Bell's extensive experience in global commercial banking and regulatory compliance.

🇩🇪 Former N26 board member Jan Stechele moves to the top risk management position at PAYONE. Subject to formal regulatory approval, he will assume responsibility for the entire risk management and IT operations of the joint venture.

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