Builders in Fintech

Builders in Fintech: weekly fintech funding & news, founder podcast, and an open fintech database your AI agent can query via MCP.

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

Lloyds and Visa have completed a 7-day live pilot of cross-border settlement in stablecoins, settling $750K of payment obligations.

Funds moved from Lloyds in Jersey to Visa in the US in under an hour, weekends included.

Lloyds ran its own node on the Canton Network.

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

Adelaide's Eastend Ventures has closed its debut Fund 1 at A$30M, anchored by Funds SA, South Australia's state investment corporation.

It backs B2B founders in SA, WA and Queensland, which get under 10% of Australian VC. A$8.1M already in 7 companies. Brad Feld chairs the LPAC.

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

Volt has obtained an Australian Financial Services Licence from ASIC, covering pay-ins and pay-outs on the New Payments Platform.

It now holds its own licences in the UK, EEA and Australia, all on one API.

Australian merchants include Primer, Pepperstone and City Beach.

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

Argentina's Depay is connecting Venezuela to its real-time payments network, its sixth market after Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.

Banks and wallets on the network can send QR payments into Venezuela with one integration.

Depay raised a $4M seed this year.

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

Absa has picked Thunes as its strategic Multicurrency Clearing partner across Africa.

The deal links Absa's pan-African footprint to Thunes' network of 140+ countries, 90 currencies and 220 payment methods, with 24/7 liquidity.

It builds on Absa Global Pay in South Africa.

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

CoinMENA is the first crypto platform to launch under the Central Bank of Jordan's regulatory sandbox.

Users in Jordan can now deposit dinars via CliQ and buy, sell and store crypto under central bank supervision.

CoinMENA is already licensed in Bahrain (CBB) and Dubai (VARA).

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

Berlin-based mika has raised a €6M seed led by Smedvig Ventures, with Keen Venture Partners and Dutch Founders Fund.

AI-run bookkeeping, VAT returns, annual accounts and tax filings for German SMEs, with qualified accountants overseeing the work. CEO: Agnieszka Walorska.

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

Corridor has launched with a $25M seed led by Bain Capital Ventures, with BoxGroup and Definition Capital.

An AI-native benefits brokerage for small businesses: a licensed adviser per client, AI agents compare carriers, build proposals and handle enrolment.

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

Revolut now lets customers transfer RevPoints instantly to hotel loyalty programmes: ALL Accor, Radisson, Wyndham and I Prefer, across 20,000+ properties, at no extra cost.

Points also go to airline miles, lounges and eSIM data. Revolut Stays earns up to 10x points.

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

Idea Financial has closed its first asset-backed securitization: $100M in notes backed by small business lines of credit.

Senior notes rated A+ by KBRA, 36-month revolving period, KeyBanc as placement agent.

The Miami lender was founded in 2017 by Justin Leto and Larry Bassuk.

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

What's new: Nubank says it is not pursuing a deal with Monzo, days after reports of early talks at an £8-10bn valuation.

In a securities filing, Nu said its capital allocation is unchanged and its focus stays on Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and the US.

Nu shares rose ~7% after.

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

MNT-Halan, Egypt's first fintech unicorn, plans to list its Egyptian business on the Egyptian Exchange.

Parent MNT Investments will sell 320M existing shares, a 20% stake. No price range yet.

The group was valued at $1.4B in June. Completion expected in October.

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

Milan-based Computis has raised a 2M euro pre-seed led by Techshop Capital, with Zanichelli Venture and Vento.

AI does bookkeeping, invoicing and bank reconciliation for Italian SMEs, in-house accountants review it, a partner commercialista advises.

Founded in 2026.

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

Walapay has raised a $4.6M seed led by Generative Ventures, with Commerce Ventures and Polygon.

One API to issue multi-currency accounts, collect, convert and pay out, with local rails across LatAm, Africa and Asia.

$2.5B annualised TPV. Customers include Nuvei and Bastion.

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

Seeds Fincap has raised over ₹100 crore (~$10.4M) in a Series B led by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, with Z47 and Lok Capital.

The Gurugram NBFC lends to underserved MSMEs on cash-flow underwriting: ₹722 crore AUM, 164 branches, profitable in FY25 and FY26.

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

Homeward has raised a $120M Series D led by Saluda Grade, plus $330M in asset-backed debt.

The Austin company offers cash offers and bridge financing through real estate agents: 25,000+ agents, $4B+ in home transactions.

Citi Ventures, Magnetar and Norwest also invested.

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

Mona has raised an oversubscribed $3.5M led by Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, with Alumni Ventures, Wisdom Ventures and angels including Eric Schmidt.

Its AI platform, backed by human coaches, matches US small businesses with loans, grants and government programmes.

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

Portuguese insurtech FRANK has raised €2.9M led by Armilar and Start Ventures.

Its AI Operator logs into insurer portals to get quotes, follow up claims and update client data for brokers. 350+ agencies, 70,000 tasks a month. International expansion planned for 2027.

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

Dig Ventures, the firm of MuleSoft founder Ross Mason, has raised a $120M third fund for early-stage AI infrastructure startups in Europe, Sifted reports.

Its previous fund closed at $100M in April 2025. Portfolio includes Karat, ComplyAdvantage and Taktile.

[Builders in Fintech @buildersfintech]

Galgo has secured a MXN 1B (about $56M) credit line from BBVA Spark to finance motorcycles in Mexico.

The Chilean lender serves delivery riders and gig workers. It has financed 40,000+ people in Mexico and lent to 200,000+ across Mexico, Colombia and Chile.