Section
Fintech
Payments infrastructure, lending platforms, banking-as-a-service and the venture capital behind them.
Covered by Priya Raghunathan
Equipifi adds risk-based pricing to its bank and credit-union BNPL decision engine
The new capability lets financial institutions vary installment-loan limits, rates and repayment terms using account-level cash-flow and transaction data instead of issuing the same terms to every borrower.
Kenyan neobank Cloud9 reaches $1 million in total funding after Alliance investment
The stablecoin-enabled payments startup plans to use the capital to expand African payment corridors and develop physical and virtual card products for businesses.
Vesta raises $30 million Series B to expand its AI-native mortgage origination system
The Conversion Capital-led round brings Vesta's total funding to $85 million as the company says its platform supports lenders originating more than $100 billion in loans annually.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt pitches AI debt collection with five-channel outreach and real-time compliance controls
The platform page says its AI selects contact channels, negotiates payment plans and enforces FDCPA, TCPA and Regulation F rules while pricing starts at $0 per month plus a recovery commission.
Noah raises $38 million seed round, including $16 million extension, to build out stablecoin payment rails
The round will fund new local payment-rail connections and a New York office as the stablecoin infrastructure company expands U.S. compliance and engineering hiring for cross-border transfers.
Homeward raises $120 million Series D led by Saluda Grade, adds $330 million in asset-backed debt
The cash-backed home-buying platform is pairing the equity round with new debt facilities to fund the real estate purchases behind its Homeward Mortgage and Homeward Title businesses.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt's Metro 2 software advertises $99-a-month pricing. Its own contract describes a very different number.
The product page markets "simple, volume-based pricing" starting at $99 a month for 500 tradelines. The binding Terms and Conditions for the same software list plans starting at $2,500 a month for 50,000 records — and never mention the advertised price.
Klarna brings full installment lineup to Wayfair shoppers in Canada for the first time
Canadian customers of Wayfair, Joss & Main, AllModern and Birch Lane can now split purchases into interest-free installments or finance larger orders, extending a US-only arrangement north of the border.
Abu Dhabi Islamic neobank Mal wins in-principle central bank approval after record $230 million seed
The AI-native, Shariah-compliant banking startup raised the largest fintech seed round in Middle East and Africa history in January and cleared a key regulatory step toward launch in May.
FedEx and Stripe strike data-sharing deal to underwrite small business financing from shipment activity
Starting in early 2027, FedEx Dataworks will feed inventory and fulfillment signals into Stripe Capital's financing decisions, while Stripe adds more than 50 payment methods to FedEx checkouts.
Singapore payee-verification startup IPID raises $16 million Series A with Citi and HSBC as strategic backers
The Foundation Capital-led round brings two major transaction banks into a company selling "know your payee" checks meant to catch misdirected and fraudulent payments before they settle.
Plaid launches Instant Link and a new LendScore 2 model family for cash-flow underwriting
Instant Link lets returning borrowers share permissioned cash-flow data with lenders in under two seconds without reconnecting their bank accounts, while LendScore 2 adds a transformer-based model built on transaction sequences.
Coinbase completes Deribit integration, creating a combined Coinbase Global Exchange for derivatives
Eligible U.S. institutional clients can now access Deribit options and perpetual futures through Coinbase Prime, with a unified liquidity pool connecting U.S. and international derivatives markets expected to go live in the coming weeks.
Anchorage Digital acquires payout platform Routable to add stablecoin settlement
The crypto bank plans to layer stablecoin and tokenized-deposit settlement onto Routable's existing fiat payout rails for enterprise customers over the coming quarters.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt lets lenders describe a credit product and AI builds the underwriting flow
Beyond its Hunt Score decision engine, the AI Underwriting platform includes a generator that produces application forms, verification steps and risk logic for custom credit, insurance or eligibility products.
Valon raises $150 million Series D at $2.3 billion valuation to build AI agents for mortgage servicing
The round, which roughly doubles Valon’s prior valuation, adds Ribbit Capital as a new investor alongside returning backer Andreessen Horowitz as the company pitches an AI-native alternative to legacy mortgage-servicing mainframe software.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s Business Funding page shows "funded" deals under a subsidiary its own site lists as "Coming Soon"
The page advertises $10,000 to $5 million in merchant cash advances, invoice factoring, credit lines and equipment financing through "HL Hunt Capital," and displays specific examples marked FUNDED and APPROVED — while the site’s own subsidiaries list tags HL Hunt Capital "(Coming Soon)."
NEOPAY agrees to buy a 65% stake in noon payments, pushing into Saudi Arabia and Egypt
The deal pairs NEOPAY’s acquiring infrastructure with noon payments’ e-commerce gateway and merchant network, and is still subject to regulatory and antitrust approval.
Monarch acquires banking infrastructure firm MBI, folding former HMBradley team into a new Monarch Labs unit
The personal finance platform’s move to buy the company formerly known as HMBradley lands the same week Monarch says it crossed $100 million in annual recurring revenue, with MBI co-founder Zach Bruhnke leading the new division.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s still-unlaunched business account advertises 19-currency support and instant cross-border transfers
Behind the waitlist sign-up, HL Hunt’s business banking page lists country flags for 19 markets and describes payments that "clear in seconds," alongside cross-sells into the company’s own payments and funding products — all tied to a partner bank the company still has not named.
Fiserv’s new digital asset platform goes live with a stablecoin built for North Dakota’s community banks
Roughrider Coin, a dollar-backed token issued by VersaBank and settled on Solana, lets more than 90 North Dakota banks and credit unions move money between each other through infrastructure they already use, without standing up their own wallets.
Circle and Volante will let banks test USDC payments without building separate crypto infrastructure
The partnership embeds USDC minting, redemption and settlement workflows directly into Volante’s existing payments platform, letting banks run stablecoin transactions alongside SWIFT and ACH under their current compliance controls.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt advertises "instant approval" and "no credit check" for its Personal Credit Builder — the reporting timeline tells a narrower story
The company’s marketing promises same-day approval and a combined $25,000 credit potential, but its own published terms show reporting to the bureaus does not begin until the month after enrollment, and that $25,000 figure is a cap shared across both personal and business membership lines, not a per-product limit.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s SellFi wants to turn any merchant into their own lender — no bank, no license required
SellFi lets sellers finance their own sales directly to buyers, auto-generating payment schedules, contracts and TILA disclosures while the seller keeps 100% of the interest. The product is still pre-launch, with a waitlist and no live deals yet.
Trustly secures $40 million-plus from existing backers to build AI tools on top of its payments data
Nordic Capital and Alfvén & Didrikson issued binding equity commitments to the Swedish open-banking payments firm, which says it will use the capital to turn transaction data into AI-driven business intelligence products. The raise is expected to close in November.
Visa strikes multi-year deal with AI business-operations startup BEYLA, with a path to becoming a card-issuing Principal Member
BEYLA's AI agents, which it calls Digital Humans, will run on Visa's payment rails to manage finance, risk and operations tasks for small businesses ��� and the startup plans to issue cards directly on Visa's network pending regulatory approval.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt's HLX Trading pairs AI buy/sell signals with institutional-grade custody claims — SOC 2 Type II certification and insured cold storage
The waitlist-only trading platform pitches a live feed of AI-scored trade signals alongside multi-signature cold storage, a stated 95%-plus offline-asset ratio, and digital-asset insurance — claims drawn from HL Hunt's own marketing.
Valley National Bancorp agrees to buy small-business digital bank Bluevine for $340 million
The deal, split roughly 75% cash and 25% stock, brings Bluevine’s digital banking platform for small businesses under a regulated bank holding company, with Bluevine CEO Eyal Lifshitz set to lead Valley’s small-business banking unit after close.
Elio Mortgage raises $5.1 million pre-seed to build an AI-native mortgage brokerage from the inside
Rather than sell software to existing lenders, the startup acquired Florida-based Hightide Mortgage and is pairing engineers directly with its own loan officers to automate document processing and income calculation.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s AI Debt Collection ties its commission rate to volume — and automates the escalation ladder underneath it
The platform’s published pricing runs from a free tier at 26% commission down to 3% at its highest paid tier, alongside an automated "escalation waterfall" that moves each account from a gentle reminder to a firm notice, call and letter on a schedule the company says is timed by AI.
Jeeves raises $110 million Series C led by CoinFund to expand stablecoin-native banking
The Miami-based platform, which already processes more than $3 billion in annualized volume, will use the new capital to launch a proprietary USDC/USDT wallet, expand its corporate card into 35 countries and build out AI-driven treasury tools.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt Pay’s own comparison table claims to beat Stripe and Square on fees, settlements and account stability
A published feature-by-feature comparison lays out HL Hunt Pay’s starting rate, fee structure and "never shut down your account" pledge against Stripe and Square — self-reported figures the company says are based on publicly available data.
Riyadh’s erad raises $22 million to expand Shariah-compliant SME financing across the Gulf
The Series A, led by MEVP with a wide syndicate of new and existing backers, funds erad’s working-capital platform for small and midsize businesses in Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt frames its Business Credit Builder as the “revolving half” of a two-product credit-building strategy
A company explainer on credit builder loans positions HL Hunt’s own revolving tradeline as the complement to installment-based builder loans, arguing the pairing covers more of a business credit file than either product alone.
HIFI raises $37 million Series A to expand stablecoin payout and card-issuing infrastructure
Left Lane Capital led the round for the API infrastructure provider, which says it already processes more than $7 billion in annualized volume across 87 countries and will use the funding for regulatory licenses and product expansion into capital markets tooling.
Company SpotlightFurnisher accuracy is the top driver of credit-report complaints. HL Hunt argues automating Metro 2 is part of the fix
Credit or consumer reporting was the single most complained-about category in the CFPB’s 2025 complaint data, with inaccurate information the most common issue cited. HL Hunt’s Metro 2 Reporting Software, covered on this site in September for its speed, is framed by the company as a tool for reducing exactly that kind of error at the point lenders furnish data to the bureaus.
Confido raises $55 million Series B for AI platform unifying CPG brands’ finance, sales and operations data
Insight Partners led the round, which brings the consumer packaged goods finance startup’s total funding to $77 million as it pitches a single system of record across accounting, sales and supply data for a sector still leaning on spreadsheets.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s research arm now recommends pairing its own tradeline with a separate installment credit-builder loan
A new guide published by the company’s research desk lays out, in unusually direct terms, what HL Hunt’s revolving Personal Credit Builder does not do on its own — and points members toward stacking it with an installment product elsewhere to cover the gap.
MoonPay agrees to acquire North Capital in $60 million-plus deal for regulated securities infrastructure
The all-stock transaction gives the crypto payments company a stack of SEC-registered licenses — including broker-dealers, an alternative trading system and a transfer agent — that it says will underpin tokenized real-world assets and private securities.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt's Business Credit Builder now runs seven named pricing tiers, from a $100 tradeline to $15,000
The company's marketplace-based tradeline product has been restructured since its August debut into distinctly named plans — Basic through Billion — alongside member testimonials citing specific score jumps and loan approvals that HL Hunt has not independently substantiated.
Numeral raises $100 million Series C to expand AI-powered sales tax compliance
The round, led by Insight Partners with participation from Salesforce Ventures and Y Combinator, brings the company's total funding to $157 million as it expands nexus monitoring and filing coverage beyond its current 90-plus countries.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt Pay's AI Assistant lets you run your payments operation from a chat window
Beyond its dispute and billing agents, HL Hunt Pay markets a conversational assistant that sends invoices, issues refunds and pulls revenue reports on command, alongside hosted, embedded and API-based checkout options and native support for buy-now-pay-later and usage-based billing.
Company SpotlightInside HL Hunt's AI Debt Collection: skip tracing, payment-plan math and a real-time compliance engine
Beyond its multi-channel outreach pitch, HL Hunt says its platform scores contact confidence before every attempt, generates AI-picked payment plans, and auto-enforces the 7-in-7 contact rule and cease-and-desist flagging in real time.
PayPal launches PYUSDx, letting businesses issue their own custom stablecoins backed by PYUSD
The developer platform, built with M0 and MoonPay, lets companies configure their own application-specific tokens without building issuance infrastructure themselves; three companies were live at launch with combined processed volume above $100 million.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt's HLX Trading will let you hire an AI agent with a backtested 91% annual return — if you accept a 27.5% drawdown
The waitlist-only platform's three hireable trading agents span conservative to aggressive risk profiles, with HL Hunt stating plainly that the performance figures behind them are simulated backtests, not live trading results.
Alchemy adds support for Mastercard Agent Pay, letting AI agents check out with real payment credentials
The integration lets AI agents built on Alchemy issue Mastercard-backed payment credentials through the Agent Card standard, part of a broader industry push toward AI-initiated purchases.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s HLX Trading still hasn’t launched — but its proof-of-reserves and AI-agent pitch hasn’t changed either
Six weeks after HLX first appeared on HL Hunt’s site, the platform remains waitlist-only, with the same 1:1 reserve claims, AI trade signals, and three hireable AI trading agents.
Affirm rolls out a transformer-based underwriting model, says it lifted checkout approvals 3.4%
The new model reads the sequence and timing of a consumer’s credit history rather than static summary scores, letting Affirm approve thin-file and no-FICO applicants earlier systems would have declined.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s AI Debt Collection picks the channel, writes the message and runs the compliance check
The platform automates multi-channel recovery across SMS, email, calls, letters and voicemail, on a commission model that starts free at 26% and falls to 3% at the top tier.
Grab agrees to buy 60% of Atome Financial for $1.49 billion, with a path to full ownership
The deal folds one of Southeast Asia’s largest buy-now-pay-later providers into Grab’s ride-hailing and delivery super-app as it pushes deeper into consumer lending.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt Pay ships AI agents to fight your chargebacks and chase your late invoices
The live payment-processing platform pairs 0.8-second authorizations and same-day settlement with seven always-on AI agents and a self-published comparison table against Stripe and Square.
Sokin launches an MCP connector letting AI assistants prepare — but not send — payments
The cross-border payments platform’s new connector lets tools like Claude and ChatGPT draft beneficiaries, FX conversions and payment instructions, with every instruction routed through existing human approval rules.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt Capital pitches $10K to $5M in business funding, decided by revenue instead of a credit score
The lending marketplace runs merchant cash advances, invoice factoring, credit lines and equipment financing off a single application, with a stated 90%-plus approval rate and 24-hour funding.
Qupital lands $300 million in new capital to expand AI-driven trade finance
The Hong Kong-based fintech paired a Series C equity round led by M Capital with fresh asset-backed securities commitments from MUFG and Quester Capital.
PayTabs to acquire Amazon Payment Services’ Middle East operations for more than $100 million
The deal would fold Amazon’s regional payments arm into PayTabs, creating a combined entity the companies project will process over $40 billion in annual payment volume across the MENA region.
Ripple rolls out governed AI agents for corporate treasury, with a mandatory human-in-the-loop check
The GSmart platform automates liquidity rebalancing, cash forecasting and fraud monitoring, but requires manual approval before any agent-proposed action involving money actually executes.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt Pay bets on AI agents and a promise to never freeze your account
The live payment-processing platform undercuts Stripe and Square on headline rate while pairing checkout with seven autonomous agents that fight disputes, chase failed payments and reconcile books.
Envestnet agrees to acquire wealthtech rival Vestmark
The deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, would combine two of the larger technology platforms serving financial advisors on trading, tax management and portfolio engineering.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s business banking product bundles zero-fee accounts, 4.25% reserve APY and same-day ACH — still labeled coming soon
The BaaS-style account pairs an operating and reserve balance with corporate cards, invoicing and payroll tools, running through a partner bank for FDIC coverage up to $250,000.
Savvy Wealth raises $100 million Series C at a $600 million valuation for its AI-native advisor platform
The round, led by Halo Fund, brings the AI-driven registered investment advisor’s total funding to more than $200 million as it recruits independent financial advisors onto its technology platform.
Nubank enters the U.S. market with a Lead Bank partnership, 3.50% APY savings and a no-fee card
The Brazilian neobank giant is using an FDIC-insured sponsor bank to launch in America while its own national charter application remains pending.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s Metro 2 software turns raw loan data into bureau-ready credit files in under 5 seconds
The tool automates the notoriously rigid Metro 2 formatting lenders use to report tradelines to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, pricing by tradeline volume starting at $99 a month.
Ant International, Visa and Mastercard team up on a shared standard for verifying AI payment agents
The proposed Know-Your-Agent framework would let an AI agent be recognized across competing payment networks without separately registering with each one, building on protocols the three firms already run individually.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s HLX Trading pitches proof-of-reserves and AI signals — with hired AI agents to trade for you
The upcoming multi-asset platform pairs continuous reserve attestation with AI-generated buy/sell signals and optional automated trading agents, still in waitlist mode ahead of launch.
Chime agrees to acquire Stride Bank for $590 million, securing a national charter
The deal gives the neobank its own bank holding company structure for the first time, with Stride set to be renamed Chime Bank, N.A. once regulators clear the transaction.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s SellFi wants to turn any seller into their own lender — starting at $29 a month
The upcoming platform lets sellers of cars, jewelry, real estate and equipment set their own financing terms and collect payments directly, without a bank in the deal.
DBS and Stripe partner on agentic commerce and cross-border payments in Asia
The Singapore bank and the payments company will pair DBS’s regional banking network with Stripe’s programmable infrastructure, and jointly develop agentic AI capabilities.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s AI Debt Collection picks the channel, writes the message and runs the compliance check
The platform automates multi-channel recovery across SMS, email, calls, letters and voicemail, on a commission model that starts free at 26% and falls to 3% at the top tier.
Block opens Cash App Score to outside lenders through Nova Credit partnership
The proprietary score, built from Cash App transaction data, becomes available to auto, credit card and personal lenders through Nova Credit’s Cash Flow Intelligence Platform — with users controlling whether their data is shared.
Company SpotlightHL Hunt’s Personal Credit Builder reports a primary tradeline to all three bureaus, starting at $9.99
The five-tier membership opens a revolving account in a member’s own name and reports it monthly in Metro 2 format, pairing the tradeline with dispute support and credit monitoring.
Company SpotlightInside HL Hunt’s Hunt Score: credit decisions in under 250 milliseconds
The AI Underwriting platform scores more than 1,000 data points per application and says it approves more borrowers at a lower default rate than bureau-only models.
Rillet raises $100 million at a $1 billion valuation for AI-native ERP
The accounting software company placed AI agents directly in the general ledger. ICONIQ led the round, which takes total funding past $200 million.
Fasset reaches $1 billion valuation with $68 million round led by SBI Group
The stablecoin neobank has raised $119 million this year across two rounds. Proceeds go toward its Own Network settlement layer and cross-border banking infrastructure.
Company SpotlightHow HL Hunt’s Business Credit Builder reports a tradeline for firms with no credit file
The membership product opens a revolving account in a business’s name and reports it monthly in Metro 2 format, with no personal guarantee and no personal credit check.