Fintech Highlights - 1/7/2025
Here's what we've been watching this week 👇
Pinned to the Top
The Federal Reserve’s top banking regulator Michael Barr announced he would step down from the position on Feb. 28, or earlier if a successor is confirmed, meaning President-elect Donald Trump can appoint a replacement with a more favorable stance toward crypto and other financial technologies.
Trump will need to pick from existing Fed board members to replace Barr, who was originally supposed to stay in the vice chair role through 2026. Barr said he would continue to serve as a member of the board.
Trump now has the opportunity to appoint key leadership roles at all three federal banking regulators—the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg previously also announced plans to resign.
The BFD
SouthState (NYSE: SSB) of Florida has completed its acquisition of Texas-based Independent Bank Group for around $2 billion in stock.
Why it's the BFD: This could be the opening salvo to a surge in regional bank mergers, even though the agreement was originally signed last May.
The bottom line: Three anticipated drivers are: (1) Regional bank stock price growth, (2) Reduced interest rates, as high ones hurt deposit profitability; (3) Trump's lighter regulatory touch on financial industries.
- Two caveats are: (1) The Fed still gets a say on bank mergers, (2) Regional bankers expected a deal boom after SVB's collapse, and it didn't really happen.
The Other BFD
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued payments network Zelle and three of the banks that operate and own it, JPMorgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, for allegedly failing to prevent widespread fraud on the platform.
The CFPB said customers of the three banks had lost more than $870 million over the seven years that Zelle has existed. The agency said customers who complained about being victims of fraud were largely denied help and in some cases told to contact fraudsters directly to recover their funds.
The three banks also allegedly failed to properly investigate complaints or reimburse customers, while Zelle was accused of failing to stop criminals from making multiple accounts at different banks that use Zelle, or restrict their actions by sharing information about known crooks.
M&A
MetLife Investment Management agreed to buy asset manager PineBridge from Pacific Century Group for upwards of $1.2b (including $800m upfront). More here ->
FalconX, a digital asset trading platform valued by VCs at $8b, confirmed a deal to buy crypto derivatives startup Arbelos Markets, which had raised $28m in seed funding led by Dragonfly Capital, with FalconX among the other backers. More here ->
Bain Capital was rebuffed on its A$2.7b takeover offer for Australian financial services firm Insignia Financial (ASX: IFL). More here ->
Paystone, a Canadian payment processor that's raised over $120m in VC funding, agreed to acquire Canadian payments firm Ackroo (TSX: AKR) for C$21m in cash. More here ->
Equals Group (LSE: EQLS), a British payments firm, is being taken private for £283m by J.C. Flowers and TowerBrook. More here ->
Shift4 (NYSE: FOUR) acquired Card Industry Professionals, a British payments tech firm backed by Mercia Ventures. More here ->
Upbound Group (Nasdaq: UPBD) agreed to buy Brigit, a New York-based financial health startup, for upwards of $460m. Brigit had raised over $120m from firms like Lightspeed Venture Partners and DCM Ventures. More here ->
Crypto.com acquired Abu Dhabi-based brokerage Orion Principals.More here ->
FIS (NYSE: FIS) agreed to buy Demica, a London-based provider of supply chain financing, for around $300m, per Sky News. More here ->
Deel, a payroll and HR platform valued by VCs at over $12b, agreed to acquire Assemble, a compensation management company that had raised around $70m from firms like NEA and Emergence. More here ->
Metallicus, a bank-focused blockchain company valued by VCs at $500m, acquired Bonifii, a Littleton, Colo.-based credit union services group. More here ->
Embedded Fintech
Parafin, an SF-based embedded fintech platform, raised $100m in Series C funding at a $750m valuation. It provides pre-built financial services programs that help merchants grow by offering platforms like marketplaces, vertical SaaS providers, and payment processors with the infrastructure to embed financial services for their small business partners. More here ->
Mynt has raised €22 million. Mynt has now raised around €50 million in total, and this funding values the company at roughly €200 million. The company’s platform, known as the Mynt Platform, is an API-based embedded finance solution designed for banks, ERPs, and fleet and mobility companies, allowing them to integrate spend management and corporate card issuing capabilities into their offerings. More here ->
Fintech
Bureau, an SF-based fraud risk and intelligence startup, raised $20m in Series B funding. It provides a no-code identity and risk orchestration platform. The company aims to tackle friction and fraud by offering end-to-end identity verification, compliance, and fraud prevention services for businesses. More here ->
Leap Financial, a cross-border payments startup, raised $3.5m in seed funding. The company aims to modernize cross-border payments by reducing costs and increasing financial inclusion for immigrants in the U.S. and Latin America. More here ->
Justt, a New York-based chargeback management startup, raised $30m in Series C funding. Justt’s platform integrates with over 40 payment service providers and automates the chargeback dispute process, allowing merchants to recover lost revenue and improve their win rates. More here ->
Volume, a one-click payment startup, raised $6m in seed funding . More here ->
CarDekho SEA, a Singapore-based auto financing service platform, has raised $60 million in equity, valuing the company at over $300 million. It’s the company’s first round of external funding, following a previous $40 million investment from parent company CarDekho Group. More here ->
Tyme Group, a Singapore-based digital bank, raised $250m in Series D funding. It focuses on serving consumers and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets More here ->
Investtech
SandboxAQ, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based company, raised more than $300m on a $5.3b pre-money valuation. The company focuses on creating Large Quantitative Models and AI sensing applications to address complex challenges in various industries, including financial services, healthcare, and telecommunications. More here ->
Finny raised $4.2 million in a seed round to grow its engineering team and enhance its product that uses AI to match financial advisers with prospective clients. Finny’s platform helps financial advisors find potential clients by identifying prospects within their target niche, prioritizing them based on their likelihood of conversion, and handling outreach and engagement on behalf of the advisor. More here ->
Upvest announced a €100 million Series C round. While the company isn’t disclosing its valuation following the round, Upvest said it’s “significantly higher” than its previous one. Upvest’s investment API is used by fintechs, banks, and wealth managers to offer end users access to seamless and affordable investment products, facilitating over 1 million trades per week. More here ->
TA Associates invested in Craigs, a New Zealand-based wealth management firm. More here ->
Crypto
KAST has raised a $10 million seed investment for their dollar-denominated neobank-like platform that lets customers hold and spend stablecoins through traditional payment avenues. More here ->
Avalon Labs, a Bitcoin-backed stablecoin issuer, raised $10m in Series A funding led by Framework Ventures. More here ->
Accountable, an onchain credit analytics startup, raised $2.3m in seed funding co-led by MitonC and Zee Prime Capital. More here ->
BVNK, a stablecoin payments infrastructure startup, raised $50m in Series B funding. Haun Ventures led, and was joined by Coinbase Ventures, Scribble Ventures, DRW VC, Avenir, and Tiger Global. More here ->
Avalanche, a Layer-1 blockchain project, raised $250m in a token sale co-led by Galaxy Digital, Dragonfly, and ParaFi Capital. More here ->
Juicyway, a cross-border stablecoin startup, raised $3m in pre-seed funding. More here ->
Plume, a real-world asset tokenization platform, raised $20m in Series A funding. More here ->
Neverless, a crypto exchange focused on meme coins and small-cap tokens, raised $6.7m in seed funding co-led by Lakestar and Connect Ventures. More here ->
Insuretech
Bikmo, a U.K. provider of cycling insurance, raised £4.75m led by Puma Growth Partners. More here ->
Proptech
StruxHub, an SF-based construction operations platform, raised $4m in seed funding. Brick and Mortar Ventures led, and was joined by FJ Labs and Holcim. More here ->
Hostaway, a Finnish short-term property rental platform, raised $365m at a $925m post-money valuation. More here ->
Jome, a real estate marketplace focused on new construction homes, raised $9.8m in Series A funding. More here ->
Buildpeer, a Mexican construction management platform, raised $2.5m in seed funding led by Brick & Mortar Ventures. More here ->
From the Stash
Editorial Team
Editorial Team
Reports & Webinars
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