Where FinTech Investors Are Placing Their Bets
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
Three massive funding rounds just landed — a comeback king, a new unicorn, and a $100M bet on Venezuela.
Ant International is back in a big way, raising $1.2B in Series A funding at a $10B+ valuation. This is the same Ant Group spin-off that emerged after Jack Ma's empire was reined in by Chinese regulators — now operating independently out of Singapore and serving 150 million merchants and 2 billion user accounts across four continents.
Then there's U.S. startup Augustus, which just hit unicorn status with a $180M Series B at a $1B valuation — built around giving international FinTechs and banks access to the U.S. dollar.
And Venezuelan FinTech Cashea pulled in $100M, proving Latin America's appetite for digital payments is very much alive.
Three very different bets on global financial infrastructure. I love it.
If you're thinking about building financial products rather than just funding them, you'll also find Dashdevs' practical Railsbank (Railsr) guide, covering what happens after the APIs are connected, and why the operational model matters just as much as the technology.
Scroll down for more FinTech news 👇
Cheers,
INSIGHTS
📰 Railsbank Integration Guide. DashDevs CEO Igor Tomych explains that integrating Railsr requires more than connecting APIs, as companies must build customer lifecycle, compliance, and operational processes alongside the technical implementation. Read the full article here
FINTECH NEWS
🇧🇷 Getnet and Mastercard create a biometric Pix solution for e-commerce in Brazil, enabling shoppers to authorize purchases using fingerprint, facial recognition, or a PIN through Open Finance. The solution aims to reduce cart abandonment and improve conversion rates by streamlining the checkout experience.
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇺🇸 Wise Group launches program to repurchase up to £405M of its shares, with Goldman Sachs repurchasing shares through March 2027. The buyback will support employee equity awards and reduce share capital, with 40% of repurchased shares allocated to the company's Employee Share Trust and the remainder held in treasury.
🇳🇿 BNPL Zip pulls out of New Zealand. The ASX-listed FinTech told the market that the decision “reflects Zip’s strategic focus on investing in its Australian and US businesses, which continue to demonstrate strong momentum and profitable growth”.
🇺🇸 Samsung launches the Galaxy credit card to rival the Apple Card issued by Barclays, which integrates with Samsung Wallet. The no-annual-fee card offers up to 5% cashback on Samsung purchases, 3% on Samsung Wallet transactions, 2% on streaming subscriptions and 1% on all other spending.
🇺🇸 Ramp brings stablecoin accounts and payments to all customers. Ramp's stablecoin accounts let companies hold stablecoin balances, earn rewards, pay vendors and reconcile every transaction automatically in their existing accounting system.
🇮🇳 Paytm mints ₹220 Cr profit in Q1, revenue up 28% to ₹2,448 C. Paytm attributed its Q1 growth to accelerating consumer and merchant payments businesses, enhanced B2C monetisation via wealth tech products and deployment of AI.
🇺🇸 Matera introduces first-to-market X9.150 payment QR code software. The platform enables financial institutions, payment providers and billers to deliver secure, interoperable account-to-account payment experiences across multiple payment networks, including FedNow®, RTP®, ACH credit transfers, the Zelle Network® and emerging digital payment methods such as stablecoins.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇧🇷 Nubank strengthens its Brazilian operation with a new banking license. The move comes through the acquisition of Banco Porto Real and deepens the relationship of trust with the company's more than 115 million customers in the country.
🇦🇺 Revolut accelerates global banking expansion with Landmark APAC licence. Revolut is officially launching as Revolut Bank Australia, expanding its financial services to cover everyday banking needs. Australia is the first country in the APAC region where Revolut will operate under a banking licence.
🇫🇷 Revolut’s France hub to face ECB constraints on new lending. Revolut's planned French banking hub is expected to launch with regulatory restrictions similar to those affecting its Lithuanian entity, limiting the rollout of certain new products such as mortgages.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇦🇪 Al Etihad Payments and Mastercard announce the first Jaywan-Mastercard co-badged credit card and expand the UAE's domestic payment infrastructure. The collaboration will introduce advanced switching, processing, and fraud prevention capabilities while enabling Jaywan cardholders to make payments globally.
🌎 LemFi has partnered with BVNK to move its cross-border settlement infrastructure onto regulated stablecoin rails, enabling faster and lower-cost international transfers while maintaining the existing customer experience. The partnership supports remittances across Africa, Asia and Latin America.
🇦🇿 Bir partners with UnionPay to boost global payment connectivity in Azerbaijan. This strategic collaboration facilitates seamless cross-border digital payments for international visitors while expanding the reach of local Azerbaijani businesses to Asian markets.
🇦🇪 KamelPay partners with Paymentology to scale corporate payments in the UAE. Under the agreement, Paymentology powers KamelPay's newly launched AbsoluteCard, a next-generation corporate payments platform designed to help UAE businesses streamline company spending with greater visibility, control, and efficiency.
🇰🇷 HashKey teams with KBank to explore won stablecoin payments. Under the partnership, KBank will assess regulatory compliance, BPMG will develop the payment infrastructure, and HashKey will contribute its digital asset network as the companies evaluate new stablecoin-based payment models across Asia.
🇺🇸 Expensify expands collaboration with Marqeta to bring its card offering into Europe. Expensify customers in Europe can now access the same spend management capabilities that have allowed for the rapid growth of its card offering in the US.
🇺🇸 American Express enhanced its Buyer Initiated Payments (BIP) platform with BIP Connect and automated invoice reporting capabilities to streamline B2B payments. Through a partnership with Bottomline, the new features connect eligible customers to the Paymode network while improving invoice reconciliation, payment processing, and working capital management for buyers and suppliers.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🌏 Ant International raises approx. US$1.2 billion in Series A equity financing to boost cross-border payments and agentic commerce solutions for global businesses. The proceeds will be used to accelerate Ant International’s global expansion and innovation in merchant payment, account management, and other inclusive financial services for SMEs and enterprises across the world.
🇸🇬 PILLAR targets Middle East expansion with US$15 million Series A round. The Singapore-headquartered startup will use the capital to deploy its artificial intelligence mortgage infrastructure across the Middle East. Read more
🇺🇸 Natural raises $30M to reinvent payments for AI agents, and take on Stripe. The company aims to compete with Stripe by supporting both traditional bank payments and stablecoins while rethinking payment authorization and dispute resolution for agentic commerce.
🇸🇦 Saudi FinTech Fina secures a $75 million Shariah-compliant facility from Fasanara Capital. The funding will support Fina's goal of unlocking SAR 3 billion in liquidity for more than 2,000 businesses this year by embedding financing directly into merchants' digital commerce workflows.
🇮🇳 Wealthtech Veriqus secures over $40m in funding. The company plans to expand across Tier II cities while scaling its AI-powered platform that combines wealth advisory, portfolio analytics, risk management, lending, and investment solutions for high-net-worth clients and institutions.
🇺🇸 Augustus announces $180M Series B at a $1B valuation to give international FinTechs and banks access to the US Dollar. This new funding accelerates Augustus' mission to dollarize the world, giving financial institutions worldwide direct access to dollar accounts and rails through a modern, federally chartered bank.
🇻🇪 Venezuelan FinTech Cashea has raised $100 million across Series A and Series B funding rounds to expand its lending platform. The investment reflects growing confidence in the company's ability to scale financial services in a market where access to credit has remained limited.
🇸🇳 Djamo secures $40M funding to support its FinTech operations. The company, which now serves 2 million users, plans to strengthen financial inclusion through digital banking, cross-border payments, remittances, and lending services. Continue reading
🇪🇬 Egyptian FinTech Fawry secures $10.8 million to expand SME lending. Fawry said the funding will be deployed through its digital lending platform, which uses data-driven credit assessments to provide businesses with faster access to working capital and expansion financing.
M&A
🇪🇪 OTP Bank to acquire Luminor. The acquisition of Luminor by OTP Bank will support Luminor’s strategy to further strengthen its position as a top three, universal, pan-Baltic bank, with a digital-first operating model, demonstrated track record, and a modern and scalable IT platform.
🇺🇸 FinWise just bought its card stack, and the quiet trend in bank-FinTech deals. The acquisition gives the bank end-to-end control of its card infrastructure while allowing it to retain a greater share of program revenue previously shared with a third-party provider.
🇮🇳 Zaggle to acquire 19.9% stake in MoneyHop's Unobanc to strengthen cross-border payments. The investment strengthens Zaggle's capabilities in international payments, foreign exchange and remittances as it expands its integrated financial services ecosystem.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🇬🇧 UK FinTech Pockit appointed Kazakh entrepreneur Anuar Utemuratov to its board as the prepaid accounts provider continues to expand its leadership team. The appointment follows Pockit's recent acquisition of Monese and supports its strategy of serving consumers with limited access to traditional banking services.
🇪🇸 Revolut has appointed Thomas Hambrett as the new legal representative of its Spanish subsidiary, replacing Nandan Thakur as the digital bank continues its expansion in Spain. The company is also in the final stages of appointing a country CEO, subject to regulatory approval.
🇺🇸 WasabiCard appoints Former Visa Executive Matt Price as Global Partnership Director. This strategic hire aims to leverage Price’s deep expertise in global payment networks to scale WasabiCard’s ecosystem and strengthen alliances with major financial institutions worldwide.
🇺🇸 Harlow Payments appoints Industry Veteran Ray Sidhom as Executive Chairman. As Executive Chairman, Sidhom will work alongside Harlow's leadership team to help guide the company's long-term strategy and continued growth as it expands its suite of offerings and partnerships.
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