Wealthsimple Raises $303M at a $9.8B Valuation
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
Wealthsimple is getting bigger, and investors are betting on its next chapter. The Canadian FinTech has agreed to raise up to USD 303 million at a USD 9.8 billion valuation, with Singapore’s GIC leading the round alongside existing investors.
That’s a 38% increase on its previous valuation of USD 7.1 billion in October 2025. The company now serves more than 4 million Canadians, with USD 120.5 billion in assets under administration, up from around USD 71 billion a year ago.
What’s particularly interesting is how quickly Wealthsimple is moving beyond investing. Over the past year, it launched more than 50 products across chequing, spending, business accounts, credit and trading. In Q2 2026, new chequing account openings even outpaced new investment accounts for the first time.
The ambition is clear: Wealthsimple wants to become the place where Canadians manage their entire financial lives, rather than just their investments. The new funding will help accelerate product development and investment in technology infrastructure.
And speaking of financial results, PayPal’s Q3 numbers tell a different story: Venmo and Braintree are driving growth, while branded checkout remains sluggish and restructuring weighs on profits.
Plenty more happened in FinTech today.
Let’s dive in, and I’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow!
Cheers,
INSIGHTS
💡 PayPal Q3 2026: Venmo Pulls Ahead as Restructuring Shows Up in the Numbers. PayPal reported $487.1B in total payment volume (+6% YoY) and $8.58B in revenue (+2%), with Venmo TPV growing 14% and Braintree continuing to deliver double-digit growth. Branded checkout rose just 1%, marking its fourth consecutive quarter of modest growth and suggesting stabilization rather than a full recovery. Meanwhile, restructuring costs pushed GAAP operating income down 8% to $1.4B, even as non-GAAP operating margin improved slightly. The takeaway: Venmo and Braintree are driving payment volumes while PayPal works to simplify operations and improve profitability. Read the full analysis here
FINTECH NEWS
🇦🇷 Pomelo adds out-of-band card authentication to 3D Secure. Issuers can verify online purchases through app notifications, biometric checks or PINs instead of one-time codes, supporting Mastercard’s authentication requirements under the updated 3DS process.
🇪🇺 PaysafeWallet expands into Croatia, Bulgaria and Estonia. Users in the three markets can access IBAN accounts, Mastercard debit cards and SEPA transfers through the PaysafeCard app, completing coverage across euro-area countries under the wallet expansion.
🇬🇧 NinjaTrader enters the UK retail futures market. The trading platform has launched UK services after expanding in several continental European markets earlier in 2026, providing active traders access to exchange-traded futures.
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇪🇹 Mastercard extends AI and tokenisation security in Ethiopia. Its fraud monitoring systems evaluate transactions using AI, while tokenisation substitutes card details with secure identifiers across digital payment channels.
🇰🇷 Woori Bank expands Samsung Wallet Money overseas payments. A tie-up involving Mastercard extends contactless acceptance to more than 150 million merchants in 210 countries and territories, according to the reported rollout.
🌍 MassPay chief executive outlines global money movement infrastructure strategy. Co-founder and CEO Ran Grushkowsky said the company uses multiple payment rails, banking partners and stablecoin networks to support international collections and disbursements. Its payment orchestration infrastructure automatically reroutes failed transactions, with MassPay maintaining 15 US sponsor bank relationships and more than 80 correspondent banking relationships.
🇺🇸 US appeals court strikes down Federal Reserve debit interchange cap. The Eighth Circuit ruled that the regulator exceeded its authority in calculating permitted bank costs under the Durbin Amendment; the Fed must reconsider the framework following the court ruling.
📊 Visa posts $12.1 billion fourth-quarter net revenue. Quarterly net revenue increased 13%, with payments volume rising 9% and processed transactions up 10% in constant dollars; GAAP net income reached $6.0 billion according to the earnings report.
🌏 Google Wallet prepares Alipay+ QR payments for international travellers. An examination of Google Wallet's Android app revealed development work on a feature called Traveler QR, designed to enable QR payments through Alipay+ partner networks.
🇳🇱 Adyen reports €738.1 million third-quarter revenue and lowers margin outlook. Revenue rose 23% year on year and processed volume reached €451.1 billion; accelerated investment led Adyen to forecast a 50% EBITDA margin for 2026, down from around 52%, according to its business update.
🇲🇾 Malaysia expands overseas DuitNow QR payments through Alipay+. PayNet’s new outbound connection enables customers of participating Malaysian banks to pay at merchants in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, the Philippines and Laos using existing banking apps.
🇺🇸 Stripe launches free instant B2B transfers through Stripe Pay. The new plug-in lets businesses send funds using Stripe profile handles, without transfer fees. Available through Stripe Dashboard and CLI, it requires senders to have a funded financial account and recipients to have an account linked to their Stripe profile.
🇬🇧 PayPal and Revolut weigh in on UK scrutiny of Apple contactless access. The companies have contributed to debate over Apple’s tap-to-pay rules as UK authorities examine competition and access to mobile payment capabilities through the regulatory process.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇪🇺 ZEN.COM and Mastercard expand Pay by Bank across nine European markets. The service has been live since September in Germany, Austria, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Ireland and Lithuania, supporting merchant checkout and wallet top-ups through Mastercard Open Finance.
🇪🇸 Monzo launches in Spain as European expansion continues. The UK digital bank now offers personal, joint, under-18, business and savings accounts, all with Spanish IBANs and Bizum integration. Spain is its first continental European market, following its launch in Ireland earlier this year.
🇵🇱 mBank reports record third-quarter 2026 profit. The Polish lender posted net profit of PLN 1.085 billion, up 29.6% year-over-year, while its net interest margin recovered to 3.57% from 3.47% in the previous quarter despite interest rate cuts.
ARTICLE OF THE DAY
💡 Incognia: The Biggest Risk of AI Agents in Banking Is Sending Money to Scammers. As banks introduce controls to identify and restrict AI agents, André Ferraz argues that authentication and permissions alone cannot prevent scam payments. An agent may have legitimate access to an account yet still approve a fraudulent invoice or transfer money to a scammer. Incognia highlights how physical location intelligence and real-world connections can help banks distinguish legitimate payments from suspicious ones. In its analysis of transactions from a bank with more than 80 million active users, Incognia identified approximately 70% of scam transactions. The key takeaway: banks must assess not only who initiates a payment, but also who receives the money and whether the transaction makes sense. Read the full article here
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇺🇸 Crypto.com and OG.com launch US crypto perpetual contracts. Eligible US traders can access non-expiring derivatives with leverage of up to five times through Crypto.com’s app and exchange, with OG.com providing the regulated trading infrastructure.
🇧🇷 Itaú Unibanco formalises crypto brokerage under Brazilian rules. The bank notified Brazil’s central bank about existing trading and custody operations ahead of an October 30 deadline. The bank has offered crypto services since December 2023, according to the regulatory filing report.
🌎 Google tests crypto security service ahead of 2027 launch. Google Multi-Party Compute (MPC) is in private preview with financial institutions, using distributed cryptographic keys to reduce the risk of a single system compromise. Commercial availability is expected in early 2027.
🌏 Ripple targets $900 million annualised product revenue run rate. The company says it is approaching that exit-year rate and now serves over 1,700 institutions and enterprises, while reporting new multi-product partnerships in its corporate update.
🇺🇸 DTCC launches tokenisation service with 20 participating institutions. The new service allows authorised users to create digital representations of DTC-custodied securities; 20 participants have signed access agreements and integrations include Canton and Besu, according to the launch announcement.
🇺🇸 Chainlink brings S&P Global Ratings vault assessments onchain. The live integration makes independent lending-vault risk data available to institutions and decentralised finance platforms through the ratings collaboration.
🌍 BingX introduces access to Anthropic pre-IPO trading The trading platform says eligible users can access products linked to Anthropic’s proposed public listing alongside traditional-market instruments through its investment offering.
🌐 CFTC re-examines whether Polymarket breached its 2022 settlement. The US regulator is investigating whether the prediction-market operator sufficiently restricted access to its offshore platform by US users; the inquiry has not resulted in a disclosed enforcement finding, according to the reported investigation.
🌎 Coinbase discloses customer-data exposure involving analytics provider. Customer information was exposed through a security incident involving third-party analytics provider Amplitude, rather than a breach of Coinbase's own systems. Coinbase said customer funds were not affected.
STABLECOINS NEWS
🇲🇽 Anchorage Digital adds custody for Mexican peso stablecoin MXNB. The bank now safeguards MXNB across six networks, including Ethereum, Base and Polygon, while Bitso has listed USDPT and USAT in an expanded cross-border stablecoin arrangement.
🇺🇸 Tether introduces USAT through Anchorage Digital Bank. The US-focused stablecoin is separate from Tether's global USDT token and is issued by the federally chartered bank. The arrangement reflects Tether's approach to the GENIUS Act, although USAT has not yet received official approval under the new regulatory framework.
🇳🇱 Ripple and Coinbase extend RLUSD access across trading platforms. The dollar-backed stablecoin is available on Coinbase Prime, Exchange and retail services, with deposits and withdrawals across XRP Ledger, Base and Ethereum under the new agreement.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇺🇸 Klarna partners with Squire for barbershop instalment payments. The Stripe-powered integration lets customers booking services through Squire choose to pay in full, split payments into four interest-free instalments or access financing for larger purchases.
🇧🇩 UCB, Mastercard and Grameenphone introduce co-branded payment sticker. The prepaid sticker can be attached to a smartphone or another item, allowing users to make contactless payments by tapping it at POS terminals. Cardholders can also access cashback, rewards and other benefits.
🌍 Bolt is building Bolt Money with Airwallex, a financial offering for drivers and couriers. Partners would get a wallet, spending card, and access to their Bolt earnings, building on an existing relationship in which Airwallex initially supported Bolt's driver payouts in Canada.
🇺🇸 TransPerfect Legal recognizes 2026 pro bono partners, including Fenwick and six legal aid groups. Reduced rate translation and interpretation help immigrants and asylum seekers navigate the legal system.
🇳🇱 Revolut Pay partners with Just Eat Takeaway.com on rewards. Customers can earn five times the usual RevPoints on qualifying food orders paid through Revolut Pay from October 28 to December 27, 2026, with the reward rate dropping to twice the usual points afterward.
🇮🇹 Revolut Business expands Como 1907 partnership with third-kit sponsorship. The FinTech's business banking brand will feature on the Italian football club's newly unveiled third kit. Beyond the sponsorship, the expanded partnership supports Como 1907's commercial operations across tourism, hospitality, transport and retail.
🇺🇸 Ripple and Robinhood expand partnership across stablecoins and treasury. RLUSD is already available on Robinhood Chain and Bitstamp and is expected in the Robinhood app later this year; Robinhood also plans to use Ripple Treasury and institutional services under the strategic partnership.
🇵🇭 Sumsub partners with MarCoPay on identity and fraud compliance. The Philippines-focused seafarer payments platform will combine identity verification, anti-money laundering screening and transaction monitoring under the compliance partnership.
🇺🇸 MoneyGram selects AiPrise for global verification operations. The payments company will use AiPrise’s AI-enabled platform for selected verification and fraud controls, drawing on more than 100 data sources through the implementation partnership.
🇺🇸 Waymo integrates Ramp to automate business ride expenses. The partnership automatically matches Waymo for Business ride receipts with Ramp charges, reducing manual submission for employees using the expense integration.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇨🇦 Wealthsimple agrees up to CAD $425 million funding at CAD $13.8 billion valuation. GIC is leading the round, comprising CAD $300 million in primary capital and up to CAD $125 million in secondary shares, with proceeds to support products and technology as detailed in the funding announcement.
🇺🇸 Hyphenate raises $45 million for autonomous finance technology. Nexus Venture Partners led the Series A with B Capital and existing backers participating. The firm develops agents for reconciliation, invoicing and finance workflows, according to the funding disclosure.
🇱🇺 Revolut chooses Luxembourg for its venture capital fund. The planned Revolut Ventures offering, developed with Carne Group, will allow eligible customers to invest in private technology companies through the Revolut app, with a launch expected in 2027.
🇺🇸 Casap raises $56 million Series B for agentic financial operations. Base10 Partners led the financing with participation from Experian and Synchrony, lifting total funding to $90 million and supporting expansion into disputes, fraud and other financial services workflows.
🇺🇸 Bizcap secures $175 million facility for North American lending. The credit facility, agreed with a US institutional credit manager, will support lending expansion in the United States and Canada; the Australian-founded company says it has provided more than $5 billion to businesses through its funding operations.
AI DEVELOPMENTS
🌏 Mastercard expands Max benefits assistant focus to Asia Pacific issuers. Citi is exploring its use in Singapore and Hong Kong, as Mastercard encourages regional banks to adopt the AI-powered card benefits assistant to deliver personalised rewards recommendations and improve cardholder engagement.
🌏 Bitpanda opens account access to AI investing assistants. Its MCP integration enables customers to connect tools such as ChatGPT and Claude to view portfolio information and initiate trades across supported assets, subject to explicit user instructions and platform permissions.
🇺🇸 Anthropic expands Claude integrations for financial advisers. New integrations with FINNY, Jump and Conquest bring prospecting analytics, client meeting information and financial planning tools into Claude for Financial Advisors, helping advisers access information across different workflows without switching platforms.
🇺🇸 Ramp opens early access to Inspect coding agent. The expense-management company built the collaborative coding agent for internal product development, reporting a rise in pull requests per employee; external early access is described in its product announcement.
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