Visa to Anchor PayPay’s $14B IPO as SoftBank Fuels Its AI Push
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
Just landed in London 🇬🇧 this morning. 11 degrees, grey skies, straight into meetings.
From 27 in Curaçao to one of the world’s key FinTech hubs overnight. The UK keeps driving serious conversations around payments and capital markets, so being here always sharpens the lens...
In between sessions, this hit.
Visa is reportedly joining Qatar Holding and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority as anchor investors in PayPay’s upcoming US IPO, with more than $200 million expected.
Reuters says SoftBank is targeting a $14 billion Nasdaq valuation. Founded in 2018 by SoftBank and Yahoo Japan, PayPay has grown to roughly 72 million registered users.
Earlier this month, it partnered with Visa to expand into the United States. The IPO also connects to SoftBank’s broader capital strategy.
The group is seeking liquidity to fund artificial intelligence investments, including a $30 billion commitment to OpenAI, on top of the roughly $41 billion investment it said it completed in December for an estimated 11 percent stake.
And from London, big valuations are hard to ignore...
Revolut’s FY2025 results are expected in about three weeks, with reports pointing to roughly $6B in revenue and $2B in net profit. Investors are reportedly pushing for a $100B+ secondary valuation.
Taking this opportunity, I'd like to ask you: Is $100 billion justified?
I shared a quick poll. The score is already visible, and it’s tighter than you might expect. Tap below and let me know.
How about checking out all of today's industry news? Scroll down and take a look. I'll be back tomorrow with all the latest news.
Cheers,
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FINTECH NEWS
🇭🇰 PhotonPay unlocks new growth with strategic Hong Kong financial licenses. PhotonPay has obtained a TCSP license and secured SFC approvals for Type 1 (Dealing in Securities), Type 4 (Advising on Securities), and Type 9 (Asset Management) licenses. These additions strengthen its ability to provide integrated financial solutions that help businesses manage treasury, risk, and capital alongside global payment operations.
🇺🇸 Visa to be anchor investor in PayPay IPO. Visa is reportedly joining Qatar Holding and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to invest more than $200 million as anchor investors for the forthcoming US IPO of Softbank's PayPay. Read more
🇬🇷 Klarna: Exceeded 280,000 monthly users in Greece. Klarna is recording strong growth, as announced, as the application now exceeds 55 million active users on a monthly basis, while 9 million users use it daily. Keep reading
🇬🇧 Strategic Imperatives has expanded its partnership with GoCardless by integrating the FinTech’s Outbound Payments feature into its Elevate IQ platform, enabling telecom and utility providers to issue customer refunds in minutes instead of days.
PAYMENTS NEWS
🌎 Getnet launches global developer community, Get Code to drive payments innovation. Through networking events, hackathons, and content sharing, the platform aims to connect tech talent with real market needs, supporting innovation and giving developers access to resources, visibility, and global opportunities.
🇧🇷 Brazil’s Pix payment system now processes more transactions than the two global payments giants. According to data from Brazil’s central bank, Pix handled over 224 million transactions in a single day in early 2025, a figure that dwarfs the combined card transaction volumes of the two global payments giants operating in Latin America’s largest economy.
🇧🇷 Pix turns one year old with modest numbers and an Apple freeze. In numbers, Pix's contactless payment system moved R$ 46.5 million in 1.06 million transactions in January 2026. In the same month, Pix as a whole registered R$ 3.2 trillion in just over 7 billion operations, according to data from the Central Bank.
🇬🇧 Payhawk’s newly verified AI agents collect invoices and save 4 years of manual work for customers. The agent automatically downloads, codes, and submits invoices, removing repetitive manual work and helping customers save the equivalent of four years of processing time in 2026.
🇮🇳 FinTech Pine Labs to launch stablecoin payments outside India across nine countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia by the end of April, marking its entry into the growing digital asset payments space. CEO Amrish Rau said the rollout will target markets with a stablecoin-friendly regulatory stance.
🇿🇦 GoTyme Bank is changing its relationship with Pick n Pay. While Pick n Pay will remain a cash-in and cash-out partner, the bank plans to expand through dedicated mall-based Customer Hubs and continue kiosk operations in TFG and Boxer stores as part of its evolving growth strategy.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇳🇱 Bunq must pay 315,000 euros to unblock a bankrupt customer. That person then received payments to withdraw or transfer them to other accounts. The bank must also pay €8,477.04 in legal costs. The judge rejected Bunq's argument that the entire course of events is attributable to the actions of the trustee.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇪🇺 Crypto.com receives a limited financial institutions licence in Europe. The approval allows the company to continue delivering its full suite of stablecoin services across the European Union, without disruption. This additional licence is for the provision of services exclusively in relation to electronic money tokens (EMTs).
🇺🇸 Morgan Stanley files for crypto-focused Trust Bank License. The proposed trust bank would mainly offer custody for digital assets held on behalf of clients. It would also support transactions such as buying, selling, transferring, and swapping tokens within investment portfolios.
🇸🇪 Sony Bank to explore real-time Yen stablecoin purchases from deposits. The initiative, which is being developed in partnership with stablecoin issuer JPYC, aims to streamline the move from yen deposits to on-chain digital currency holdings for retail clients to potentially engage with tokenized money.
🇬🇧 Paysend and Nodu bring stablecoin payouts to bank accounts & wallets. The integration allows institutions to convert stablecoins into 43 currencies and initiate payouts across 62 countries via Paysend’s global network. The companies said the offering is among the first off-ramp solutions at this scale.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇬🇧 Santander and Mastercard complete Europe’s first live end-to-end payment executed by an AI agent. The solution allows an AI system to securely and transparently complete a purchase through existing payment networks while maintaining strict standards for security, privacy, and consumer protection.
🇨🇳 WeChat Pay HK becomes the first e-wallet to participate in the 'Cross-Border Payment Connect,' partnering with HSBC to provide real-time transfers to bank accounts in mainland China. Users can now transfer funds to mainland bank accounts anytime and anywhere via their mobile phones.
🇲🇽 Moonflow partners with Puntored. The partnership integrates Moonflow’s software with Puntored’s payment network, enabling financial institutions, schools, and service providers to manage collections while offering customers multiple payment options.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
💰 Over the last week, there were eleven FinTech deals in Europe, totaling €237.3m in disclosed funding, including four transactions in the UK, one in France, one in Germany, one in Italy, one in Belgium, one in Spain, one in Switzerland, and one in Lithuania.
🇺🇸 Pluvo raises $5m seed round to build the AI decision intelligence platform for modern finance teams. The company plans to deploy the new capital toward expanding its agentic analysis engine, scaling the product and engineering team, deepening integrations across ERP, CRM, HRIS, and billing systems, and growing go-to-market efforts targeting finance leaders.
🇺🇸 Kobalt Labs raises $12.7 million as AI agents hit FinTech compliance. Kobalt is building AI agents that automate deeply manual compliance workflows for financial institutions, starting with third-party risk management (TPRM), internal audit, and marketing compliance, according to the founders.
🌎 FinTech Oxus Finance raises $2.4 million for global expansion. With the new funding, the company plans to extend its reach into North American, European, and Asian markets from its current offices in Brazil and the United States.
🇩🇪 Hamburg-based DivTax raises €1 million to help investors reclaim overpaid withholding tax on foreign dividends. The company currently only offers its service to German citizens, but plans to expand to other countries in the future. Read more
M&A
🇩🇰 J. Safra Sarasin closes Saxo Bank acquisition and installs new CEO. J. Safra Sarasin Group has completed its acquisition of a 71% stake in Saxo Bank, gaining control of the Danish online broker in a deal valued at about €1.1 billion. Executive Daniel Belfer takes over as chief executive to lead the next phase of Saxo’s growth.
🇸🇪 Incore Invest completes the acquisition of CoreOrchestration and establishes PaymentIQ as a standalone company. As of closing, Incore Invest assumes full ownership and will support the business as an active, long-term partner, with a clear focus on value creation through accelerated product development and international expansion.
🇮🇪 FundBank acquires Irish Layer 1 blockchain firm Trrue. The acquisition comes as FundBank picks up on an increase in demand amongst institutional asset allocators and fund managers with crypto and digital assets in their portfolio. The deal, completed last week, is worth €10 million/ $11m.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🇬🇧 Mastercard hires Whitehall veteran to bolster push for key UK contract. Mastercard is stepping up efforts to secure a leading role in upgrading Britain’s payments systems by appointing Sir Jon Thompson, a veteran public servant and business leader, to chair its UK subsidiary Vocalink.
🇺🇸 Wise strengthens board with appointment of Scott Hill as an independent non-executive director, adding a seasoned FinTech and technology board operator to its leadership. Hill’s background spans senior finance roles at IBM, chairing CS Disco, and board and audit responsibilities at Cardlytics, reinforcing Wise’s governance and financial oversight.
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